this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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I'm sceptical. With all the added complexity of a foldable, the specs are probably gonna be below average to absymal. I'd love to be proven wrong tho.
Dunno man samsung's mid range phones are exceptionally good.
Is that before or after you remove all the extra crap that Samsung shovel on it?
2015 called, they want their talking points back.
Seriously though, Samsung has a sleeker Android than even Google in 2023. You have to get an AOSP or similar os on a device to beat it. It’s been a long road, but the One UI is just better.
How many duplicated apps are installed on modern Samsung's?
How many browsers? How many app stores? How many games?
To be completely honest I have went and installed couple of Samsung replacement apps even though they were not on my device by default. Samsung's email application is simply miles better than GMail, and more to the point doesn't suffer from known issue like not downloading attachments. Same with notes and similar. Especially on Fold where screen is significantly bigger, default Google stuff simply can't handle it. It looks stretched while Samsung offers better experience.
That said very few duplicates and those that you don't need you can uninstall. It's not that big of a deal.
Here's all the Samsung stuff on my Galaxy Fold 4, two of which aren't ones that it came with:
It's really not a problem nor that bad. I chucked them into a folder and have only touched them to use the files app or manage Good Lock.
So if we're including what Google gives us, that's two app stores, Two browsers, Two note takers. Two messaging apps. Stuff for Samsung TV, Smart things, both useless to me. HP printing app for some reason. Samsung "news" (lol). AR zone (whatever the fuck that is).
I wonder how bloated the launcher is...
Literally none of that ads any value to a "stock Google Android" installation. It's all bloat and crap. Arguably even the stock experience is not bloat free; this just makes it much worse.
And that's only the stuff you see. God knows what other services and background shit is also running, sucking up resources and your battery life.
Yeah, it's no better than it used to be. The talking point is still relevant and any assertion to the contrary is invalid.
I don't consider it bloat. Bloat is preinstalled games or adware, not useful services. Everything preinstalled besides Samsung's stuff was removable, and all of that at least does have a use, and works for what it's supposed to do.
All of that aside, my Z Fold 4 is plenty powerful such that I never experience lagging or slowdowns. My battery rarely goes below 50% with 4-5 hours of screen on time daily. So if there's background stuff, it's not affecting either of the things you would expect it to.
The launcher is fine. No "news section" off to the side like the old Pixel launcher used to have, no frills or extras or adware in your face... it's fine. The only complaint I have about the launcher is that I can't make my app drawer continuously scroll. However, it provides the service for the 'taskbar' at the bottom of my screen:
and I use it a lot for multitasking so I can't get rid of it.
Honestly, from my perspective none of it is problematic. It sounds to me like you're just hating on something to hate on it, none of those extra things being installed cause me any inconvenience. In the slightest.
Calling someone's opinion on such a subjective matter invalid really speaks to your thoughts on other people. Are you ok? Need to talk about it?
Your very obvious and pathetic attempt to insult me under the guise of pretending to care about my mental health was unnecessary and I will not continue this conversation any further as you clearly do not wish to continue it in good faith.
Nah man I'm being genuine. I'm not pretending, nor was it an insult. I refuse to argue in bad faith as well. Which... It's exactly what calling someone's opinion invalid is. You ok? Really, no joke here. Hope you're doing alright and find a phone that meets your standard, fellow member of the fediverse.
Aside from the launcher, they don't change bits and pieces in the lover levels anymore (Knox & co.)? Don't have to every google map a Samsung-equivalent, running from boot in background, anymore?
Samsung A series is almost unbeatable value no matter how you look at it.
Disagree, work gave me an A21s. At least once a day I’ll be staring at a blank screen for 30 seconds before it shows me the buttons to answer a call but by then the caller has hung up. Also randomly it will turn the screen brightness down so low that you can’t see to turn it up.
Heaven knows how awful the A0 and A1 series are!
Yeah sorry bud, work put tracking shit on your phone.
No there’s no tracking, stick out of box experience.
Turn off adaptive brightness. I agree A0x series is utter shit but the A1x (particularly the A13 5G) is a very good low-end phone
I'd say you get better value and a cleaner experience with the lenovomotos.
My over two year old a52 is buttery smooth still I don't see the need for a switch until 2 more years. There's a bit of junk on it but doesn't really affect anything since I never use it, it's all just sitting quietly in a folder.
It has honestly made me question the purpose of expensive and fragile flagship phones that I've been using the last decade.
The A series is an absurd value.