Samsung makes bad software?

[Spaz888]

So I read a sticky in this forum that Samsung makes bad software. I do agree with this.

Given the above, would you still buy another Samsung Smartphone or would you go with another Android device or even a Windows or iPhone?

 

[anon(94115)]

Having had nothing but Samsung phones, I have to agree their programmers seem to suck. Maybe it isnt just them, but that the three major program entities (Sammy, android and carrier) do not play well together, sammy being the common denominator, IDK.

Would I buy another, right now, without a doubt I would. I am about to begin a flirtation with HTC, so we will see after that but I like the screens, the TW isn't bad and most everything works right. It seems as though they have an issue with the calls and without a doubt the GPS.

 

[Lanhoj]

I've had 4 Samsung Android devices and all seemed fine...though to be fair 2 were the Nexus S & GNex. My others were a Galaxy S2 which replaced a Galaxy Ace - I knew it was entry-level when I picked it up, it was better than my crap Optimus One which replaced my Nexus One.

After all I've had I'm pretty much sold on pure Android on Nexus devices no matter the OEM. I hate all the skins (though haven't tried Sense on a personal device as of yet).

 

[UCLA 15]

Having had nothing but Samsung phones, I have to agree their programmers seem to suck. Maybe it isnt just them, but that the three major program entities (Sammy, android and carrier) do not play well together, sammy being the common denominator, IDK.

Would I buy another, right now, without a doubt I would. I am about to begin a flirtation with HTC, so we will see after that but I like the screens, the TW isn't bad and most everything works right. It seems as though they have an issue with the calls and without a doubt the GPS.

And HTC with Sense is the solution to bad software problems? As a Sensation owner, the majority of the problems in custom ROMs aren't the devs fault-the problems have to do with the fact that Sense on the Sensation is inherently buggy in the first place. Even non-Sense ROMs that have been stripped can still have problems that lead ultimately back to the fact that HTC released incomplete software.

 

[JayWill]

Sorry what sticky are you referring to?

Outside of seeing what the post says, I would tend to agree. From my experience, software does seem to be Samsung's weak spot, especially in writing radio drivers for CDMA devices. Their ROMs on the Galaxy line have also had some weaknesses. They just seem to do some weird stuff.

 

[LuayS]

Def my S2 def seemd a little weak in some regard wrt to software

 

[jontalk]

So what sort of advice do you have for someone about to make the switch from iOS to Android then? Samsung has some of the coolest phones (Skyrocket/Note), but most here seem to feel the Touch Wiz and drivers suck. I prefer staying with ATT but the HTC One X while nice, has some things I'm not wild about (sealed back, no microSD slot, etc).. not into the Windows OS.. and the other 4GLTE options don't seem that great. And now Amazon wireless has dropped the price on the Skyrocket to $80 and will likely drop lower after May 3rd..

Who's software is the best? And if there really is none, does rooting help and if so, how difficult is it to accomplish for a newbie. Also does rooting cancel the warranty? Thanks.

 

[MrSmith317]

So what sort of advice do you have for someone about to make the switch from iOS to Android then? Samsung has some of the coolest phones (Skyrocket/Note), but most here seem to feel the Touch Wiz and drivers suck. I prefer staying with ATT but the HTC One X while nice, has some things I'm not wild about (sealed back, no microSD slot, etc).. not into the Windows OS.. and the other 4GLTE options don't seem that great. And now Amazon wireless has dropped the price on the Skyrocket to $80 and will likely drop lower after May 3rd..

Who's software is the best? And if there really is none, does rooting help and if so, how difficult is it to accomplish for a newbie. Also does rooting cancel the warranty? Thanks.

On AT&T...I'd go with the OneX or SGSII(or wait for the 3). Then I'd throw my phone against the wall because I was on AT&T lol....just kidding.

Those would be my phone choices were I on AT&T though. As to rooting, it definitely helps if your phone has source released and you can go AOSP. That takes the programming(minus radios usually) out of the hands of Sammy, HTC, and the like and back to Google. Also rooting itself doesn't normally void your warranty. Usually the process and what you do with it after does though. Rooting is normally more of a TOS violation than anything.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

The Skyrocket HD should be coming out any time now. People forgot it about it, though, LOL. It should be a pretty solid device.

 

[MrSmith317]

The Skyrocket HD should be coming out any time now. People forgot it about it, though, LOL. It should be a pretty solid device.

This is a slightly disturbing trend. I mean the Droid 1,2,3,4 and the SGS 1/2 are proper sequels in my mind but this is something different. Droid RAZR, then 5 seconds later.... oops we goofed, here's the RAZR Maxx. Sorry RAZR customers but you're stuck with the crappy one unless you pay full retail.

 

[Tkbredx]

Samsungs software is pretty bad but theyre hardware makes up for it. And I've noticed its software is slowly improving.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Touchwiz 4.0 was a huge improvement as far as usability. As far as coding, from what I've heard, it isn't much better.

They've always made up for it with really fast and good hardware, though. If you throw enough horsepower behind poorly written code it'll still run plenty fast.

 

[MrSmith317]

Why can't these guys all make their proprietary UI's add on/market apps? Give them free for owners of their phones and charge a few bucks for people that don't....EVERYONE WINS

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Why can't these guys all make their proprietary UI's add on/market apps? Give them free for owners of their phones and charge a few bucks for people that don't....EVERYONE WINS

They go way deeper into the inner workings of Android than an app would ever be allowed to. What WOULD be nice is if they put the framework in their, but shipped it with vanilla Android, and made the specific apps downloadable. I'm sure they thought of that, and decided against it for some reason. Or maybe it's not possible. I'm not a dev, so I don't know what all that would involve.

 

[jontalk]

More interesting comments..

Re: Skyrocket HD.. Last I heard it was going to be exclusive to Canada or something like that.. Nobody at any of the ATT stores has heard a peep about it. I played with the One X briefly yesterday and it's indeed a nice phone, fast, very nice big screen and light as a feather. Have concerns about the camera lens getting scratched, small battery, no microSD etc though.

Am going to wait until the Samsung conference next week and see what they announce. As of now, I'm on hold..

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Last I heard about the Skyrocket HD was that it was going through ATT testing, but who really knows.

Early reports of battery life on the ATT One X look positive.

 

[MrSmith317]

They go way deeper into the inner workings of Android than an app would ever be allowed to. What WOULD be nice is if they put the framework in their, but shipped it with vanilla Android, and made the specific apps downloadable. I'm sure they thought of that, and decided against it for some reason. Or maybe it's not possible. I'm not a dev, so I don't know what all that would involve.

Honestly I've dug around in Sense (3.5 and 3.6) enough to know that they could cut down the physical size of it if they removed duplicate icons and code. So as integrated as it is, I'm sure it could be cut down to a 50MB app for the launcher and then use HTC hub to download any additional components.