New Galaxy A51 - nice phone, but buggy software

[ultrarunner2020]

Hey guys;
I apologize in advance for the long post.

I just got a Galaxy A51 (Tracfone) and am gradually 'warming up' to this phone. My previous was Moto G7 Optimo Maxx (also TF), and I liked that phone for it's long battery life and generally pleasant interface.
But I wanted an upgrade to A11 at least, and the Moto G7 Optimo Maxx was not eligible for an OS upgrade (it had already been upgraded from A9 to A10)

Now the A51 is certainly an upgrade from the Moto G7. The OLED screen is nice, but there are some bugs I would like to discuss:

The first thing I did after charging the phone was to upgrade the OS from A10 to A11.
I then did a factory reset - advised by some here and in other forums.
I transferred my TF service from the Moto to this phone.
I began installing apps, and using the phone.

Now I have a few 'gripes', which I think are mostly software bugs.

1. Cannot use any GPS app while in Power Saving mode.
This appears to be a universal 'bug' with Android OS. It was the same on my Moto G7 with A10.
There really should be a way to use GPS apps while battery saving is turned on; the OS should be smart enough to do that.

2. My music player is PowerAmp. It ran nicely on the Moto G7, and didn't seem to drain the battery too much.
Now, on the Galaxy A51 with A11, PA seems to be consuming more power - whether I used wired or Bluetooth headphones.
Note that I use EQ on Poweramp, and I understand that EQ does use significant battery power. However, this was not so much of an issue on the Moto G7.
When I look at battery usage by app, Poweramp is way up there over 10% while everything else is below 2%.

I keep the screen timeout set to 30 seconds, use dark mode and have screen brightness set to about 30% and not using adaptive brightness.

3. When I have the clock/timer app open, the screen will never blank - it will only dim - unless I hit the power button.
When the timer is done and alarming, there is a message about this app keeping the screen turned on and battery usage.

4. Samsung Health app is very buggy
I also have a Galaxy Watch 4 Classic paired with this phone.
It's nice to be able to control (transport only) my music player from the watch, but whether or not the transport controls are displayed on the watch seems a bit random.
When I start PowerAmp on the phone, the transport control does appear on the watch when I turn on the screen. But after a while, if I use another app on the watch, the PA controls will disappear.
Sometimes there is a tiny musical note icon at the bottom of the watch screen which I can tap to bring up the PA transport controls. However, this icon disappears if I have opened another app on the watch, or even if I fiddle with PA on the phone. This seems a bit random - buggy?

This is only the beginning. Perhaps I made a mistake to 'commit' myself to one technology company - Samsung, but I thought I wanted to try out some of the features offered by this combo.
I realize that I've only had the phone and watch for about a week, so it will take me some time to get comfortable with this new tech gear.

I would appreciate any tips or tricks for using the Galaxy A51 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.
I have tried Googling my questions, but mostly don't find anything useful - thus I come here asking others who own these products.

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner

 

[B. Diddy]

See my reply here about GPS and Power Saving mode: https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/1036019-why-cant-gps-power-saving-mode-get-along.html

 

[ultrarunner2020]

Thanks B. Diddy;
I am becoming frustrated with this phone and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic I also purchased.
First, I hate the Samsung Health app. It is very annoying. I wasn't able to find a way to disable only some features - like step counting - and those notifications! I don't want the notifications bugging me every time I reach a goal or anything else.
So I have revoked privileges for the app under privacy on the watch and disabled it on the phone. Funny (well, not really funny at all) that even after I disabled the app on the phone, the watch was still bugging me so I had to revoke the privileges for activity.

I would just like to have more control over what I see or hear on my phone and watch. But it appears that Samsung doesn't want it that way.

In addition to these annoyances, I feel that the phone is not as responsive to my finger touches than the Moto G7 was. I did turn on Touch Sensitivity, and am now in the process of trying it out. So far seems to help, but I really should not have needed it since I'm not using a screen protector. I think the problem is that in winter my hands/fingers get dry, and thus less capacitance on the screen. I am using a moisturizer, but perhaps there is one that works better for this sort of thing.

 

[B. Diddy]

I can't comment on the watch issue since I don't have a Galaxy Watch4 nor use Samsung Health (I know that the Watch4 is technically Wear OS, but I'm only familiar with Wear OS 2.0, not 3.0). You might want to post this issue in the Watch4 forum.

Does the screen still seem poorly responsive even in Safe Mode? https://www.t-mobile.com/support/de...galaxy-a51-5g/safe-mode-samsung-galaxy-a51-5g

 

[ultrarunner2020]

I haven't tried safe mode yet, but it is more responsive with Touch Sensitivity turned on. I'll try safe mode in the near future.

 

[ultrarunner2020]

And then there's the issue with some apps. The clock for one; it wants to keep the screen on, so when the timer runs out and the alarm is sounding, there is a large pop-up warning me of this and that the app is consuming battery power. I don't have any apps set to keep the screen on, yet the clock seems to want it on - at least for the timer function.