Android How’s Samsung phones these days?

[tech3475]

For one reason or another I’m thinking of upgrading from my iPhone 8 Plus and I’m thinking of getting a Note 20 Ultra through my network.

I’m curious as to what Samsung is like these days though, particularly when it comes to their software since that in the past was a let down for me e.g. Siii after about a year, slow updates, etc.

Any opinions?
Thank you

 

[Lostbhoy]

Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole! Absolutely full of bloatware these days that cannot be removed and seriously affects performance.

I'm not Apples biggest fan at all but I would recommend you stick with them unless you really want android, I'd recommend a model that has stock android for performance.

I have been using the same Huawei phone for 3 years which is close to stock android and still performs as it did the day i got it. Battery is the best ive ever had since GSM nokias!!! Previously to this I had a Samsung Note 3 i think as a work phone and it really let me down within the year on many factors... Signal, speed of loading apps and menu transitions, using internet, would constantly put itself on silent, ridiculous battery drain..... They are worse now from what I hear from colleagues using the last Note generation.

Just my opinion tho!

 

[McPringles]

My S10e is going on two years old and still gets monthly security updates during the first week of the month, and feature/Android upgrades a few times a year. It runs smoothly and has software features like DeX for using your phone as a desktop, and Samsung Pay supports card readers that don't accept standard NFC payments. My biggest gripe is that a number of official Samsung apps have banner ads placed inside them, but if you have other weather or fitness apps you prefer it's not as big of a deal.

Still, if you're interested, you should probably try finding an unlocked international/US model with a Snapdragon processor - the ones sold in Europe and the UK use a custom Samsung Exynos chipset that doesn't perform nearly as well. If buying through your carrier is your only choice, you might find a newer iPhone to be a better experience.

 

[Deleted User]

the new ones don't come with a power cable

 

[Purple_Heart]

the new ones don't come with a power cable

no they come with a cable but no plug connector

 

[SecureBoot]

Get a used note 9. It's a great phone and the bloatware is minimal. I've heard the newer stuff gets rid of some features.

 

[Mnecraft368]

I use one of their midrange phones (A70) and have never had any issues with it. Only thing that makes it any different to a flagship seems to be the SoC. Despite that, it runs great. Only ever have performance issues if I try and run something demanding, like Dolphin or Citra.

 

[Purple_Heart]

I use one of their midrange phones (A70) and have never had any issues with it. Only thing that makes it any different to a flagship seems to be the SoC. Despite that, it runs great. Only ever have performance issues if I try and run something demanding, like Dolphin or Citra.

but on other side you cant expect to run Dolphin and Citra smoothly on an A70

 

[Mnecraft368]

but on other side you cant expect to run Dolphin and Citra smoothly on an A70

Well that was my point. It's obviously not able to run those, but it runs everything else I've tried smoothly.

 

[Ryccardo]

Samsung used to be THE leading brand of Android stuff around 8 years ago - and for good reason (their software may have always been the symbol of bloated shit, but you could find top notch 3rd party roms and install them very easily, second barely to a Nexus, since they all had unlocked bootloaders) - the S2 may be the Android phone with the largest number of versions it can run decently!

Then both they and google clearly started regretting giving users such freedom, and it clearly shows in their efforts to discourage modding

 

[Purple_Heart]

so i myself have a Razer Phone 2 but what i dont like about my phone is that you dont have any custom rom for that

 

[D34DL1N3R]

Absolutely full of bloatware these days that cannot be removed and seriously affects performance.

Untrue. CAN be removed and even if it wasn't, performance impact is not "seriously" effected.

 

[Lostbhoy]

Well we'll agree to disagree because bloatware can only be removed by rooting the phone (not something the average user can or will do) and when you have lots of apps you dont need, it does seriously affect performance.... ie background data and battery drain.... I'm speaking from experience not lies lol

 

[tech3475]

Well we'll agree to disagree because bloatware can only be removed by rooting the phone (not something the average user can or will do) and when you have lots of apps you dont need, it does seriously affect performance.... ie background data and battery drain.... I'm speaking from experience not lies lol

Can it be disabled in the settings?

 

[Lostbhoy]

Again from my own experience, not always. I know for a fact that Samsung recently signed a contract with Facebook to have all of their apps fully locked and loaded to every Samsung device since late last year iirc. They cannot be removed.

Now that may not bother most people but personally I don't use Facebook or any of their affiliate apps and not being able to remove them is a real problem for me. The same would be said of similar deals samsung have struck with other app devs which i dont have a full list of im afraid but again.... It should be totally upto the user what they want and do not want clogging up their storage space imo.

I don't have a problem with Samsung as a company personally but since using my huawei and stock android phones (Xiaomi for instance) I have seen a remarkable difference for the better.

The only problem i have with huawei is that they stopped providing bootloader unlock codes so we cannot root the handsets. That sucks!

 

[WheelOfFornication]

Can it be disabled in the settings?

Yes it can and samsung s10 user here which is fantastic you even delete them without root with adb( it require some stuff but it can be done)which make the phone capable of multiple new stuff including mapping bixby button like i did , i use it as a flashlight and double tap bring me multi tool apps , to be honest samsung is very customizable and you even can put it in performance mode , i recommand a samsung s10 for you and you wont be deceived!

Well we'll agree to disagree because bloatware can only be removed by rooting the phone (not something the average user can or will do) and when you have lots of apps you dont need, it does seriously affect performance.... ie background data and battery drain.... I'm speaking from experience not lies lol

your experience doesnt mean it is true in that case you just didnt research enough..

 

[Lostbhoy]

Well i must be talking shit then and obviously missed something the xda guys didn't know or want to share regarding said removing of certain apps.

To recap.... My own personal opinion..... Dont touch Samsung. Stay on iPhone and I DO hate Apple with a passion so I've nothing to gaim or lose here.

Sorry if i have muddied the waters further for you @tech3475 and I wish you well in the minefield of buying a new phone.

 

[depaul]

Samsung is struggling with competition from Chinese brands. They've now created more entry and mid-range classes (M, A...).

If you can afford premium S and Note they have better build quality and last longer.

Anyway I think smartphones are becoming unnecessarily more and more powerful

 

[Ryccardo]

Well i must be talking shit then and obviously missed something the xda guys didn't know or want to share regarding said removing of certain apps.

It's a relatively new feature, and it's not necessarily implemented on all roms (it came with multiuser support) - while without root you can't edit /system, including removing apps, you can remove them from your own user: pm uninstall -k --user 0 the.apps.titleid

 

[Rafciu]

Avoid Exynos !