|
Thermopyle posted:I liked this zinger from The Verge's article on Bixby, Samsung's new AI assistant: Everyone is betting big on these things, and I really don't get it. Using a voice activated assistant in public is extremely awkward, especially if you have to repeat yourself if it doesn't understand what you asked (which is a lot). From the Creative Strategies study: quote:only 1.3 percent at work and 6 percent in public [percentage of people who use their AI assistants in these situations].
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2017 13:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 15, 2024 23:52 |
|
|
gently caress You And Diebold posted:Day and a half in with my pixel and I'm in love with the fingerprint unlock, even though from what I understand it isn't the best security wise? Ignoring that you're "securing" a device covered in the very fingerprints you're using to lock it, cops can compel you to unlock your phone if it's locked using biometric data, whereas the same is not true of a passcode etc. If you're a minority, or going to any protests, or passing through airports, you should not be using fingerprint unlock. Really, in general, you shouldn't be using fingerprint unlock. It's security theater rather than security.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2017 04:33
|
|
|
redreader posted:I figure, since the alternative was the 128gb pixel XL that we were looking at: if we buy a new similar-tier phone every single year for three years rather than keeping the pixel for 3 years (which is how long we'd have held on to it if we'd bought it, in order to get our money's worth) we'd MORE than break even (240 x 3 = 720, vs pixel for 869). Also, if we want to buy a new phone that's pixel tier in 1 or 2 or whatever years, we'll have got our money's worth from this phone after 1 year anyway. Just posted a... bit of a rant... in the phone recommendation thread with a similar argument. It goes double when you consider that the $250 phone you buy in a year (and definitely the one the year after) will likely far out-spec the Pixel/{insert 2017 flagship here}. So it's also the better option in terms of average phone power over time. It can make sense to buy a flagship if there's a premium feature you absolutely need right now, but you're otherwise better off saving the money. I just replaced a Galaxy S5 I spent >$700 on three years ago (a phone that I never really loved to be honest) with a $250 phone that is comparable in specs to the Pixel XL, and it's super freeing. I'm not as paranoid about dropping it, nor would I feel bothered by replacing it with another phone that struck my fancy in the future.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2017 02:18
|
|
|
dissss posted:Curious as to what phone this is. Even looking for solely at specs and ignoring user experience I can't think of only that fit the bill. LeEco Le Max 2. I got the 128GB internal storage, 6GB RAM version for $248. The 64GB/4GB can be had for around $190. 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2017 02:36
|
|
|
DangerZoneDelux posted:With regards to the budget phone talk, the budget phones never offer a decent low light capable camera. Yep, also the case with the Le Max 2. It doesn't bother me too much because I very rarely take photos. Fortunately it's still an upgrade over the Galaxy S5, which had horrendous autofocus in low-light.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2017 03:11
|
|
|
Is there an android VR thread? Since my phone has a quadhd screen, I figure it could be fun. I've literally never used VR before and would like to try it out with a cheap headset (not Cardboard). There are a billion different ones available on Amazon between $20-$35, is there a consensus on which is best in that price range?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2017 18:11
|
|
|
Tokit posted:lol at switching to a phone without a removable battery or headphone jack I've been using wireless bluetooth headphones for a couple of years now (the phone also comes with USB-C buds), and am not super bothered by the lack of the microsd slot since it's got 128GB of internal storage. Not having a removable battery isn't ideal, especially since the battery is a bit small given that it's driving a Snapdragon 820 on a 5.7" QuadHD display. But it has QuickCharge 3.0, and I have a battery pack if I need it. Yes, it lacks a few bells and whistles from some $900 phones (though the iPhone 7 also lacks a headphone jack, and the Pixel has neither a removable battery or a microsd slot). These are all things I'd prefer to have, but again, $250.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2017 22:34
|
|
|
I never looked back after getting a pair of these: https://www.amazon.com/Plantronics-...cs+backbeat+fit They last 6-8 hours and never fall out or get caught on anything (after being used to wires, it's kind of amazing being able to take off / put on sweaters without issue), and are waterproof. At first I was skeptical of the lack of a seal to ambient noise, but it pairs well with how secure and compact they are. Just hit pause (there are 4 buttons on the headset itself) and you can carry on a conversation without any problems. Put them in and forget about them. Sounds quality isn't brilliant or anything, but hey.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2017 01:57
|
|
|
Wrist Watch posted:Is this the price range for a decent pair of Bluetooth headphones now? I remember my old rear end LG Tone only being $40 or $60 or something when I got it forever ago. It's also the reason I went back to getting a $10 pair of earbuds and just replacing them when they inevitably break every 6-8 months. The brighter colors are like $30 cheaper. https://www.amazon.com/Plantronics-...cs+backbeat+fit You can definitely find cheaper, but these were the only pair I could find that were both waterproof and compact. Last time I looked (admittedly, a while ago), most everything else has a lot more machinery bulging out and around the ears.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2017 02:54
|
|
|
The note 7 cost them $5B. Even if you don't believe in their competence, you can likely trust their greed. Another battery issue would mean the end of the company, so I'd suspect they are actually taking things seriously. The tiny 3000mAh battery in the S8 is evidence of this, I think. That said, that the general response to this wasn't "always have a removable battery" (from all phone companies) kind of blows my mind.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2017 15:33
|
|
|
Consumers don't actually care about today's design considerations that much, even if they think they do. Having a beautifully thin enclosed metal or glass frame doesn't really mean anything when everyone rushes to put their phones in super thick cases the moment they buy them. In large part because those same design considerations make phones harder to hold, more likely to experience catastrophic damage with even a modest drop, and almost certain to scratch the camera which is too thick for the phone. "The all glass design of this super thin phone is sooo stylish" *puts into inch thick plastic case. Arcanen fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Mar 30, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2017 15:49
|
|
|
Consumer surveys indicate people would gladly take on a few extra mm for a larger battery though. It's just not being offered or marketed to them.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2017 16:06
|
|
|
LastInLine posted:Consumers say they want all kinds of dumb poo poo because money isn't on the line and they want "the best". Exactly. Unnecessarily thin phones are being marketed as being "the best". If a big company marketed a flagship that was slighly thicker for a much bigger battery, who knows?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2017 16:16
|
|
|
If the more expensive flagships are thicker, they'll be the phones pushed by "the guy". The point being, these design considerations are being pushed on users, rather than demanded. Arcanen fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Mar 30, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 30, 2017 16:23
|
|
|
I wonder how quietly Samsung will back away from Bixby, now that it's completely redundant in the face of Google Assistant. Will they continue to insist it's super amazing? Or quietly take it behind the shed when it's clear that no one is buying it? At least the dedicated button might be worth remapping to the home button or something.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2017 13:56
|
|
|
RVProfootballer posted:I'm sure they'll admit Google's version is superior and stop including the redundant and subpar alternative, just like they did with their email app, calendar app, music app, S Voice, and software in general. Right, they still include those things, but they don't really use them as features to sell their phones. Right now Samsung is yelling "BIXBY~" at the top of their lungs, but it seems quite likely that they'll want to stop doing so pretty soon, given how poorly received Bixby seems to be in S8 previews.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2017 14:31
|
|
|
RoanHorse posted:The phone has been totally fine in every other regard. Google pushed out an update that conflicts with nougat on several phones. It's not a Pixel or a Moto G, so the thread can't get its kickbacks.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2017 15:27
|
|
|
RoanHorse posted:Also a small clarification, the navigation button positions are 'killing me' at night and the only viable alternatives in phone models on the market at the moment are: onscreen buttons which will literally kill me; going back to the Samsung ecosystem which I do not want to do; or lit navigation which will make me go loving blind.new apps and my old phones had much worse issues. Remap hardware buttons.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2017 20:08
|
|
|
DangerZoneDelux posted:Meh who cares, the daydream viewer sucks compared to the Gear VR and why the gently caress is the Pixel XL so god drat blurry compared to my Note 7 in VR use? Those advanced fire effects you're seeing? Not part of the VR.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2017 20:10
|
|
|
cage-free egghead posted:http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/04/07/oneplus-silent-nougat-oneplus-2-oneplus-x-owners-pissed/ Who are these people? Anyone who cares enough about Android updates to get pissed about a lack of them and complain on the internet should be comfortable flashing LineageOS.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2017 14:37
|
|
|
Have we talked about this incredible screw-up yet? https://www.cnet.com/au/news/samsung-bixby-voice-assistant-wont-ship-with-galaxy-s8/ quote:Don't expect to start talking to Samsung's Bixby voice assistant when you boot up your new Galaxy S8 later this month. I think the Samsung hate / Google love in this forum is a tad extreme, but this is hilarious. Bothering to push Bixby as a thing when it was announced Google Assistant would be released on non-Pixel devices just made no sense. There's just no way that Samsung can compete with Google and Michael Collins, and it was clearly an enormous mistake to publicly try. And now, Bixby won't debut with voice support. It's dead on arrival. Time for Samsung to push the "dedicated Bixby button" as a custom remappable button (would be neat for phone manufacturers to do this more often, people resent the removal of physical home buttons, but there's no reason it can't just become a button on the edge).
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2017 14:43
|
|
|
Blue Train posted:I really wish I could have two companies tracking everything I do on my phone Google does this too, right? I got Google Assistant on my phone just before my upgrade, and it seems to require permissions for pretty much everything to function. Everything you type in Assistant, your GPS history, browser history, what your screen is showing at any given moment etc. No thanks. I've seen people caution others from buying Chinese brand phones because of privacy issues, and fair enough. But surely the same warnings should apply to Cortana and Google Assistant? Do we just trust our American corporate overlords more for some reason?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2017 02:45
|
|
|
vyst posted:Yes the finger scanner placement is horrible. The facial recognition though is really fuckin good Just make sure no one has any photos of you.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2017 01:25
|
|
|
Why bother with a security lock that's not secure? Biometric security on phones is a terrible idea in general.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2017 01:35
|
|
|
I go through airports and to protests too much to be comfortable with biometric security.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2017 01:43
|
|
|
buglord posted:Whats the thread consensus on Huawei, Xiaomi or other Chinese companies making high end phones? It seems that a few of the manufacturers have been releasing flagships trying to compete with Samsung/Apple while being significantly cheaper. Aside from lowered cost, do these phones have any benefits or interesting features which would make them a better choice than, say, a current gen iPhone or Google Pixel? I got a LeEco LeMax 2 (6GB RAM, 128GB internal storage version) unlocked for $250 and am very pleased with it. It has specs comparable or better than last years flagships for a third of the price, and really nice build quality despite the price. As long as you know going in that you'll have next to no support (the warranty card that came with the phone? Redirects to a 404...) unless you flash custom ROMS yourself, you can definitely find a Chinese brand phone that suits your needs (as long as those needs don't include amazing camera quality in low lighting). The Pixel is a better phone, no doubt. Is it $750 worth of better? Ehhhhh... I don't think so..
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2017 03:49
|
|
|
nimper posted:PULL UP PULL UP I mean, I know it's not a popular view here, and that I just can't possible understand the life-changing majesty of a phone 4x the cost of my own until I've used one for an extended period of time. But I'm happy with the purchase and comfortable with the downsides (lack of support, crappy fingerprint scanner, smallish battery, no future OTA updates, poor lowlight camera performance). No noticeable lag with any applications (since it has the CPU/GPU combo of last years flagships), and the average smartphone cycle means that it'll stay that way for at least another year. For me, the things that $900 phones have that this phone doesn't aren't worth the cost. People have different requirements, wants, and budgets. This works for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2017 04:13
|
|
|
It'd be one thing to mock high cost phones charging a premium for having unnecessarily high specs, but these phones are 1/4 to 1/2 the price, remember? Yes, they aren't as good as phones 4x the cost, but... that's a given. They may not have the best software before a custom ROM is applied, but neither has any Galaxy phone. I've had my new cheap phone for a while now, and it's honestly fantastic. Would a phone that cost be $600 more be better? Almost surely. I think the psychology of DEFEND YOUR PURCHASE is proportional to device cost; people seem almost personally offended at the idea of cheaper phones with better specs. Yes, specs can be less important than optimization and software. But they are significantly cheaper phones, so duh.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2017 18:23
|
|
|
bull3964 posted:At this stage of the game though, the software IS the thing driving the quality of the device. To a large extent, definitely. But there are important specs that these cheaper Chinese flagships phones have that the budget phones don't that are important to the user experience. E.g. my $250 phone has 128gb of internal storage and a 1440p resolution. I think the decision between budget phone and a cheap Chinese flagships comes down to how willing you are to mess with the OS on the latter to make it not terrible.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2017 19:34
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:I doubt a 1440p resolution is important to the user experience. Hmm, perhaps it's more of an edge case. I think it's useful for VR and remoting into Macs (which share the same resolution)
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2017 20:02
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 15, 2024 23:52 |
|
|
So dumb. If the phone has a bottom bezel, put the front facing camera there. People can get used to the position, or (shock horror), turn their phones upside-down.
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2017 19:01
|
|