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.<p>Their awful software combined with their pathological paranoia about people rooting their phones means I'll never buy a samsung product again.
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 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.<p>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 would show a big scary warning, and it would have su app controls included. Rooting the phone could trip some bit, sure, but a full factory reset should reset it.<p>The only reasons I can see not to do this are 1) extra work supporting people who've messed up their phones. Easy enough to fix: we don't support phones while they are rooted. 2) allows removal of built-in apps. But really, just because you can't uninstall the stuff doesn't mean you have to use it, so is there really a benefit there? And 3) it would take a bit of development effort to add the feature. Perhaps the demand just isn't sufficient to justify it. But I find that hard to believe. Unless there's a 4) that there's a segment of the buying public that would actually be scared to learn a phone could be rooted or something?
Still happy with my S3 and feel I'm not missing any key features. The more generations go on you realize just how incremental the phone upgrades have gotten for quite some time now.
The hardware quality of Samsung's flagship products has always been excellent. However the software issues make the price ridiculous.<p>Good luck getting rapid Android updates for your carrier-modified Samsung Galaxy S7. I'm stuck with a T-Mobile Note 4 with 5.1.1.
I've been a Samsung supporter for a long time. I've had the note 2, 3, 4, and now 5. I really do love the Note 5 but I'm really mad at Samsung for creating another generation with no removable battery. I maxed out the storage in the Note5 when I got it since it also wasn't removable and I've never had issues with that.<p>However, the battery life which was pretty decent at the beginning is now horrible. At home, on wifi, I'm lucky to make it 12 hours with minimal usage before needing to charge. On previous notes about half a year in I swap the battery with a replacement and get full life again. Can't on the Note 5 and looks like the S7 series is going to be the same :/ Really poor choice Samsung.<p>I see why they're doing they're not making the battery removable though. They're pushing portable chargers.....
The most important feature of my S5 is the fact that it's waterproof - glad they carried that over to the S7. My kids like to throw stuff in the toilet, including any phone that is not actively being held, or splash on them from the bath, so it has saved me many many times already.<p>That's what sets it apart from the Apple devices for me as a daily device and I'm surprised more phones don't do that - but apparently consumers don't care that much.
nice to see that sd cards are supported again as well as waterproofing, now if they could figure out a way to removable battery with the same form-factor (because if they had a plastic back they'd be crucified in the press, despite the fact that a plastic back is just as good IMHO) it would be amazing
Samsung has copied Nokia N9 icon style? <a href="http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nokia_n9_review_sg_25-820x420.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nokia_n9...</a>
I stopped considering Samsung's phones because we don't get timely OS upgrades and security fixes. I now bought an iPhone. There is a significant price overhead but at least I get software updates and security fixes. No deceptive surprize of defective device when receivîng it like some had with nexus phones. The apple phones are so expensive because all other phones sucks.
> Perhaps the most significant change this year comes in the S7’s new 12-megapixel camera. It’s lower resolution than last year’s 16-megapixel shooter, but Samsung says its larger pixels let in 56 percent more light than before for better low light images.<p>What?
It never ceases to amaze me the price Samsung pays for sticking with shitty software. The main criticisms of the s6 and S6 Edge were:<p>* poor battery life
* you can't uninstall all the bloatware.<p>As someone who is running a custom rom on an s6 edge, I can confirm: the software us also the reason for the poor battery life. I regularly get 10 hours usage time out of my phone. It easily survives 24 hours of light use. My rom isn't anything special or battery oriented; it's just a version of TouchWiz android with all the S-features removed.<p>Imagine what Samsung could do if they shipped that way. Their 2015 offering would have been one of the best built phones on the market, also leading the pack in performance AND battery life. Imagine the S7 series if they didn't have to pack extra battery into the enclosure.<p>Their business plan must hinge on selling the extra data collected through S-crap. But I can't imagine it's worth more than, say, raising the price by $20 per unit.<p>Hell, they could offer a "vanilla" version of the phone for $100 more and get plenty of takers... And silence the critics.
I do love the screen of the Samsung S-line. Not the size, but the actual display, the colors and brightness is why I keep coming back to it.<p>Any other phone with comparable screens?
I was pretty amazed at that last beauty shot of the S7 edge next to the iPhone, to my taste it looked better. I have mixed opinions about the software issues, on the one hand if the stock software is good enough, well its good enough, but when it isn't the lack of choices is always painful.<p>My current phone is a Moto-X 2nd Gen which is good enough, not great.
Samsung Galaxy S7 will be shipping with Android 6.0 and Vulkan API support. Exciting to see how Vulkan performs on mobiles.<p><a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Galaxy-S7-Launch-Event" rel="nofollow">https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Galaxy-S...</a>
I am very disappointed by the lack of USB Type-C which is clearly the new standard. Compatibility with their Gear VR is surely not good enough reason since it will only affect minority of the users, besides there's always an adapter.
Samsung and LG both introduce their annual flagship smartphone so early in the year. Doesn't it give Apple plenty of time to counter them spec wise if any? Just curious, if you're Apple competitor, what's the pros and cons of launching your flagship before and after Apple's launch?
I few months ago I lost my 3 years old HTC One, so I had to get a new phone.<p>For the first time I decided to get an iPhone. So I got a 6s.<p>Worst mobile phone I've ever had.<p>The battery life is terrible. Now I understand why people have 'Power banks' with them all the time.<p>The phone also dies with 40% battery! I turn it on, it shows a splash screen meaning low battery, turns on, shows 40% battery, then dies after a moment again.Funny thing is that I try restarting it several times and at some point it starts working for hours (which means it actually does have 40% battery and its not a calibration issue).<p>The user interface (which it was supposed to shine at) is just bad. I can never find items I'm looking for.
I had to read an article to find out how I'm supposed to turn on the Hotspot feature (And it actually seemed like editing xorg file!)<p>Viber/Skype start ringing and I cannot respond immediately, as the ringing dialog doesnt even show up until I do to the application.<p>ios has only a few keyboard layouts and misses my language (Farsi) and I have to rely on third party keyboards to type and third party keyboards are so unstable. Sometimes the keyboard just doesnt show up until I close/open the application.<p>My GPRS just started working when I inserted the SIM card to my HTC phone. On ios? I had to configure it manually! Again, felt like Linux +10 years ago!<p>I know this is totally off-topic to this thread but I had to say this rant. iPhone is only a fashion item. Its nowhere as usable as Android.<p>If you want a phone that just works do yourself a favor and give a decent flagship Android phone a try. You'd be surprised.<p>(And I'm not a fanboy of Google/Android, I wish we had a FOSS OS with an open ecosystem, but Android just works, unlike ios)