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Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

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Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#91

Looks great but no way am I going to go back to Samsung now I have a Nexus 6P. In the past the Nexus phones have always been kinda "nice but not great" but the 6P is easily one of best phones you can buy. The camera is top-notch, the screen is stunning, performance is awesome and battery life is incredible. And stock Android is bliss. I can't really fault it :)

I bought a 6P late last week after the screen on my 5 died (it was a replacement I DIY'd after cracking the glass on the original). Probably the worst timing possible given the MWC is on. First impressions have been great. The build quality, speed and screen have all been a nice incremental improvement. The Nexus 5 had been rock solid and I probably wouldn't advise anybody rush into the upgrade. Stock Android is fant…

> Stock Android is fantastic.

Yes, and I don't think I could go to some manufacturer-customized bloated version ever again. The only thing I'd like to be better on my Nexus 5 is camera. Otherwise it's an awesome device.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#92
post #28
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Galaxy S5 has been terrible since the 5.1 upgrade. I actually don't want any software updates. My phone used to be a fast nicely functioning phone and now it's a sluggish piece of trash that's unusable. Like just stick with the current phone software and give me security updates and that's it. I've tried factory resetting and uninstalling most apps (and a factory reset is a huge pain with 2-factor set up everywher…

Without updates your phone is even more of a security nightmare than it is already.

Where are all of the security exploits? I keep hearing about that Android armageddon that was supposed to happen because of the Stagefright bugs, but nothing ever happened and the FUD fizzled out into nothingness. As long as you stick to the Play store and don't install apps from shady app sites or downloads then you have nothing to worry about.

I suggest you watch Adrian Ludwig's State of Android Security on YouTube to see how really ineffective malware on Android really is.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#93

Looks great but no way am I going to go back to Samsung now I have a Nexus 6P. In the past the Nexus phones have always been kinda "nice but not great" but the 6P is easily one of best phones you can buy. The camera is top-notch, the screen is stunning, performance is awesome and battery life is incredible. And stock Android is bliss. I can't really fault it :)

Not to rain on your hyperbole parade ;), but how long is the "incredible" battery life? Asking for a friend with an ageing nexus 4, who swore not to spend that much on a phone again...

Good luck. The nexus 4 was one of the cheapest flagship smartphones of all time.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#94
post #30
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without updates your phone is even more of a security nightmare than it is already.

I explicitly said that I do want security updates, I don't need the next version of Android though. If the current software I have is broken, please just fix that and not ship me something my phone can't deal with.

The S5 can deal with it. Considering my Nexus 5 has dealt with all versions of Android including the current version means that the S5 can too. The S5 has a more powerful CPU than the Nexus 5.

The problem is with Samsung and their terrible UI.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#95
Samsung has good hardware, but their software is so bad. I didn't mind because I could root it and install cyanogen. But they made that impossible to do on the S4. That's just malicious. I'm convinced their software engineers have a competition to see who can write the worst code without getting fired and get it shipped. Clearly nobody has ever been fired at samsung.

Their awful software combined with their pathological paranoia about people rooting their phones means I'll never buy a samsung product again.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#96

Looks great but no way am I going to go back to Samsung now I have a Nexus 6P. In the past the Nexus phones have always been kinda "nice but not great" but the 6P is easily one of best phones you can buy. The camera is top-notch, the screen is stunning, performance is awesome and battery life is incredible. And stock Android is bliss. I can't really fault it :)

One con about Nexus phone is... well, try and buy one anywhere outside of US or some large country. You can't. I can't understand how that's possible with a company of that size.

Despite Huawei making it, you can't buy it throughout Asia (or at least China)?

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#97

I love the Samsung hardware, and own an S6 - mostly because I was excited about Gear VR - but I really wish I could root my phone without forever tripping some "Knox" bit that might theoretically have repercussions in the future, and at the very least would affect resale value. In an ideal world, root would be a built-in feature, which can only be accessed through some obscure code, like the developer settings. It wo…

From a security standpoint, allowing a user root access means allowing others to modify the underlying filesystem without validation. This means things like Samsung Pay become vulernable. Tripping the Knox counter is the only way to ensure that the software hasn't been modified by a malicious party. The majority that enjoys using Samsung Pay is a bigger than the minority that benefits from rooting. While the reasons you state are a probably factor, I think security is the biggest reason for the bit.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#98
post #87

I love the Samsung hardware, and own an S6 - mostly because I was excited about Gear VR - but I really wish I could root my phone without forever tripping some "Knox" bit that might theoretically have repercussions in the future, and at the very least would affect resale value. In an ideal world, root would be a built-in feature, which can only be accessed through some obscure code, like the developer settings. It wo…

The actual reason to not do it: They don't want you to. We sold you this, don't fuck with it like that. You technically own it and can root it, but then if it slows down you don't blame the root you blame the phone. When your friend sees your non-factory clean S6, he associates all those custom features with an S6, and not a rooted S6. They made a product and want everyone to use it and see it as they intended, rooti…

When your friend sees your non-factory clean S6, he associates all those custom features with an S6, and not a rooted S6.

Wouldn't the fact that "you can do all these cool things once it's rooted" increase the perceived value and help drive sales and push towards manufacturers making it easier to root? IMHO the big selling point is all the apps, not just what software came with the hardware.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#99

Samsung has good hardware, but their software is so bad. I didn't mind because I could root it and install cyanogen. But they made that impossible to do on the S4. That's just malicious. I'm convinced their software engineers have a competition to see who can write the worst code without getting fired and get it shipped. Clearly nobody has ever been fired at samsung. Their awful software combined with their pathologi…

I always find Samsung devices have more consistent performance on weaker hardware than the pure-google alternatives, and I assume their choice to trail Google's releases is part of that. For example, I don't blame them for maintaining the stock browser over Chrome.

Re: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

#100

Looks great but no way am I going to go back to Samsung now I have a Nexus 6P. In the past the Nexus phones have always been kinda "nice but not great" but the 6P is easily one of best phones you can buy. The camera is top-notch, the screen is stunning, performance is awesome and battery life is incredible. And stock Android is bliss. I can't really fault it :)

One con about Nexus phone is... well, try and buy one anywhere outside of US or some large country. You can't. I can't understand how that's possible with a company of that size.

I'm in NZ and bought my 6P from the Google store and it arrived safely 3 days later. I think it got shipped from Singapore (?)

I was a little worried Customs would stop it and try to charge me some kind of duty but nope :)

Nexus 6P is amazing, SO much better than my Galaxy S3

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