The Official Android Thread Part XV: Time For Some Oreo!

[The Underboss]

Previous thread: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1958909


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[Stories]

In general, I think Anandtech has a tendency to poopah a lot of phones relatively minor annoyances and don't mention some of the really incredible aspects of a phone. Almost in unbalanced ways. If all I read were Anandtech reviews, I'd almost feel like no phone is worth owning... every phone is just negative, negative, negative.

Anyway, just the overall tone I get from reading the article just felt very negative. I don't necessarily get the same sense from other hardware reviews they do--but Samsung reviews in particular this year have been pretty negative. I think over time, Joshua Ho has become more and more jaded. He has a discernible lack of praise in his reviews now.

In particular, the display, which seems to be objectively stellar and places like Displaymate have called it the best ever, is subdued and lacking enthusiasm. Yeah, it isn't perfect, but no display is.

EDIT: Just makes me a little sad that the best in-depth hardware-focused reviews are so negative. Just wish they could also talk about the good points a bit more, too.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Maybe thinking of trying to switch to T-Mobile, not sure haha.

 

[Jori]

Actually preordered a Note 7 (work phone), first Sammy phone in three years. For those who have used Samsung phones, worth sticking with Touchwiz or should I just go with a third-party launcher?

 

[Stories]

Maybe thinking of trying to switch to T-Mobile, not sure haha.

Former Verizon user. If you live in a metro area, go for it. I've been on T-Mobile for 4 years now with no regrets. It's been great. Saving lots of money and still have great service. It definitely isn't as good in rural areas, but 99% of the time, it's great.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I'm in a rural area, but my girlfriend has T-Mobile and it works pretty well at my place (mainly live around farms and woods), works great at a place that used to not have any T-Mobile service at all and works great in city areas near me.

 

[Power Man]

Actually preordered a Note 7 (work phone), first Sammy phone in three years. For those who have used Samsung phones, worth sticking with Touchwiz or should I just go with a third-party launcher?

S6 here

The new Touchwiz launcher isn't bad tbh

You can edit the grid and if you apply a theme from the Samsung theme store the icons will look different

Ultimately I went back to Nova Prime because of the gestures and scrollable dock.

Love that I can change the theme system wide.
Using either Dark Material or Vanilla themes - both are free and look great.
**** white backgrounds

 

[Jori]

S6 here

The new Touchwiz launcher isn't bad tbh

You can edit the grid and if you apply a theme from the Samsung theme store the icons will look different

Ultimately I went back to Nova Prime because of the gestures and scrollable dock.

Love that I can change the theme system wide.
Using either Dark Material or Vanilla themes - both are free and look great.
**** white backgrounds

Thanks for the feedback. I've been using Action Launcher on my 6P, but will look at using Nova again with the GN7.

 

[V13]

Actually preordered a Note 7 (work phone), first Sammy phone in three years. For those who have used Samsung phones, worth sticking with Touchwiz or should I just go with a third-party launcher?

Touchwiz has improved quite a bit since the S5. There is much less bloat than before and with a bit of customization (disabling those samsung essential ads etc) it can look clean. Been using it on my S6 and i don't mind it at all.

If it's still not to your tastes then you can always roll with nova launcher.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Based on everything I'm reading, the Note 7 is the new high bar. Samsung has been on fire the last few years.

 

[member 51464]

I just learned of the Yotaphone. What an amazingly fun concept!

 

[Peter Zezel]

I just learned of the Yotaphone. What an amazingly fun concept!

Oh wow never knew it existed, very cool. I always thought a tablet with a LCD screen on the front and e-ink on the back would be the best combo. When I bought my Nexus 7 I was also debating a kindle, but figured I wouldn't use it as much.

 

[Satan]

My Galaxy S7 Edge keeps turning the Wi-Fi On and Off... anyone know if this is a problem on the modem's end or the phone?


I've never noticed it do this before. I've restarted my device and it's done me no good

 

[M.C.G. 31]

My Galaxy S7 Edge keeps turning the Wi-Fi On and Off... anyone know if this is a problem on the modem's end or the phone?


I've never noticed it do this before. I've restarted my device and it's done me no good

Do you mean constantly disconnecting and reconnecting? When it happens to me on my iPhone it's usually the modem.

 

[Satan]

Do you mean constantly disconnecting and reconnecting? When it happens to me on my iPhone it's usually the modem.

no like i'm literally watching the toggle swipe left for on and then swipe right to turn off and it continues forever.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Wtf lol

 

[Satan]

Its stopped doing it now.


If it does this again I'll take it to Bell

 

[MikeyMike01]

In general, I think Anandtech has a tendency to poopah a lot of phones relatively minor annoyances and don't mention some of the really incredible aspects of a phone. Almost in unbalanced ways. If all I read were Anandtech reviews, I'd almost feel like no phone is worth owning... every phone is just negative, negative, negative

I love their reviews for this reason. They point out everything I could possibly not like, and I decide if I care about those things or not.

Everything-is-always-fine B-Plus-for-everyone reviewers are worthless IMO

 

[V13]

My Galaxy S7 Edge keeps turning the Wi-Fi On and Off... anyone know if this is a problem on the modem's end or the phone?


I've never noticed it do this before. I've restarted my device and it's done me no good

You should try a factory reset if the issue persist and see if it fixes the problem.

Don't forget to backup your stuff before proceeding though

 

[crazychimp]

Nexus 6p and 5x owners expect Android N next week!

http://mobilesyrup.com/2016/08/18/android-7-0-nougat-expected-to-arrive-august-22nd-says-telus/

Also that Moto G 3rd Gen (2gb ram) I bought for my mom came in and is working great! Really good budget phone.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Can't ****ing wait .

 

[Stories]

I love their reviews for this reason. They point out everything I could possibly not like, and I decide if I care about those things or not.

Everything-is-always-fine B-Plus-for-everyone reviewers are worthless IMO

There's gotta be a middle ground. The "nothing is good unless it's an iPhone" and the "everything is great because if we don't give positive reviews we'll never get review units again".

I think Android Police is pretty good on giving phones a fair shake--and they do write a decent amount of negatives with the goods.

 

[JonathanK]

I just got the Galaxy S5 Neo, previously had the S4. I can hear a soft static buzzing when listening to people on the phone. Anyone else encounter this? Does the Neo use cheaper hardware than the S4? I can hear people clearly and they can hear me, but the buzzing is a bit annoying.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I have the Note 5 and was waiting for Note 6 but they skipped the name and just called it Note 7 instead. I do miss the expandable memory, is it worth it to upgrade to Note 7 or just keep the note 5 and wait it out?

I usually just give my phone to my fiance, she's happy not having to spend any money and get an upgrade on what she previously had (she had Iphone 5s, then that broke and I gave her my Note 4 and got the Note 5, if I get Note 7, she gets the Note 5...win/win?).

I just want to know, is it even worth it?

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Based on everything I'm reading, the Note 7 is the new high bar. Samsung has been on fire the last few years.

Yeah and I was waiting, I have an upgrade I haven't used....reading the specs on it (camera isn't as high Megapixel as Note 5, but who cares right?) and I really like what they did to it, not a fan of putting the Micro Sim and Micro SD on the same tray that pulls out (not a good design) but just having the expandable memory makes me happy.