Samsung Universe, How in are you?

[VidJunky]

they're not bloat.

Well I did say "for me" because they're not things I use. For the most part I kinda dodged a lot of bloat by getting an unlocked model so at least no carrier stuff.

 

[Adam Frix]

There's definitely a strong case that a hell of a lot of them are bloat.

Samsung loves it's bloat.

it's not bloat. It's why you buy a Samsung. Those are DESIRABLE features, reasons we buy the product, differentiators that Samsung uses to compete in the world.

If you don't want Samsung's features, don't buy a Samsung. It's that simple.

It's like buying a car. Not complicated.

 

[Mike Dee]

There's a current thread over in the S8 forum about a guy who dinged his screen and now he can't unlock the phone with his swipe pattern. Samsung's Find My Mobile can unlock it remotely--I have that turned on in addition to Google's Find My Device. The Samsung thing can do so much more than the Google thing does.

And all it takes is a Samsung account. Well worth it.

Minor point....if you have a Verizon variant Verizon doesn't allow you to use Find My Mobile.

 

[me just saying]

it's not bloat. It's why you buy a Samsung. Those are DESIRABLE features, reasons we buy the product, differentiators that Samsung uses to compete in the world.

If you don't want Samsung's features, don't buy a Samsung. It's that simple.

It's like buying a car. Not complicated.

so not true. most buy phones because of the hardware. nobody in their right mind will pay 1400 bucks for a phone just because they like the dialler or some of the other individual apps. bloatware is defined as any unwanted oem software that comes with the phone. It is not considered bloatware if person wants it. as far as its like buying a car, nope, not true. you can remove and replace any feature that comes with a car. most bloatware can be replaced but cannot be remove.

 

[Adam Frix]

Minor point....if you have a Verizon variant Verizon doesn't allow you to use Find My Mobile.

ha! Of course. If you buy a VZW phone, you are automatically in the VZW universe and are in no other.

I suppose VZW is happy to sell you THEIR such service, for a monthly fee.

 

[Adam Frix]

so not true. most buy phones because of the hardware. nobody in their right mind will pay 1400 bucks for a phone just because they like the dialler or some of the other individual apps. bloatware is defined as any unwanted oem software that comes with the phone. It is not considered bloatware if person wants it. as far as its like buying a car, nope, not true. you can remove and replace any feature that comes with a car. most bloatware can be replaced but cannot be remove.

not true at all. There are many phones out there with equivalent hardware specs. There's zero need to buy a Galaxy if all you want is the hardware.

It's the software that completes the phone.

 

[mustang7757]

[Ok thread reopen, did cleanup also]
Let's not go back and forth and insult each other.

 

[Mike Dee]

ha! Of course. If you buy a VZW phone, you are automatically in the VZW universe and are in no other.

I suppose VZW is happy to sell you THEIR such service, for a monthly fee.

I don't know if they offer one but the thing is you can use the Google version for free, just not Samsung. I just buy unlocked... problem solved.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Not too far in at all... I like my S10e a lot, and while there's specific software features like theming support that i really like, i prefer to use either Google or third party apps rather than the Samsung blo... Alternatives, because I'm not married to Samsung and i don't want to be invested in a bunch of apps that won't necessarily be available if I buy my next phone from someone else... Especially given most of them already have a Google version that's often better.

Except the wear OS app, which is horrible compared to the wearables app.

 

[Adam Frix]

Alternatives, because I'm not married to Samsung and i don't want to be invested in a bunch of apps that won't necessarily be available if I buy my next phone from someone else... Especially given most of them already have a Google version that's often better.

But many of those apps and features are better than Google's, and then there are the Samsung-specific apps and features that are incredibly useful that you simply can't get anywhere else.

And that's the point: Samsung gives you useful features you can't get anywhere else, and that makes you want to buy Samsung instead of something else.

Frankly, it's nice--not bad--that you have the option of using something other than the built in factory apps (I'm looking at you, Apple). Who cares if the Samsung app is sitting there unused.

Except the wear OS app, which is horrible compared to the wearables app.

I don't know about wear OS. I've had a Galaxy Watch for awhile now, and it and the Samsung wearables app are very nice. I've always used it with a Samsung phone; my wife initially used hers with a Moto, and then she switched to an S9+. That's how I know that the Galaxy Watch integrates better with a Samsung phone than a non-Samsung phone.

I would say, Samsung is earning my business and convincing me not to wander around manufacturers looking for "the next best thing" that likely isn't.

 

[Rose4uKY]

How do you like the keyboard? I've seen several complaints about it. Earlier this evening I accidentally switched to it and the keys seem really small in about the same footprint as Gboard.

My keyboard had an update I switched to it for a minute but I can't Swype good with it and speaking with the mic isn't as good for me I don't know why. It used to be the keyboard matched your theme which is why I wanted to try to switch back and for the AR Emoji insert. But the last 2 themes I had the keyboard didn't change to match and I just like Gboard. I would like to be able to have the mic in a different place though and don't think you can. I am always hitting the thumbs up button in FB Messenger when trying to hit the mic to speak my message.

 

[VidJunky]

My keyboard had an update I switched to it for a minute but I can't Swype good with it and speaking with the mic isn't as good for me I don't know why. It used to be the keyboard matched your theme which is why I wanted to try to switch back and for the AR Emoji insert. But the last 2 themes I had the keyboard didn't change to match and I just like Gboard. I would like to be able to have the mic in a different place though and don't think you can. I am always hitting the thumbs up button in FB Messenger when trying to hit the mic to speak my message.

There are a lot of things I missed about actual Swype keyboard, I don't think SwiftKey did them any favors when they bought them out. I haven't noticed any issues with the swipe function on the Gboard but it's been awhile since I've tried anything else so maybe I'm just used to the irregularities at this point. Now you got me wanting to try something else to see what I'm missing. Anyway the one thing that springs to mind about Gboard is that sometimes it just won't give me a word I want. I'll swipe and backspace a couple of times to be sure I'm hitting all of the right keys and it just won't give me that one word so I'm left to type it out. I only use the mic if I'm really stuck trying to spell something. That's one thing Google got right, it may not know when you're saying Hey Google (from another thread) but it get's the word I need practically every time.

 

[Rose4uKY]

There are a lot of things I missed about actual Swype keyboard, I don't think SwiftKey did them any favors when they bought them out. I haven't noticed any issues with the swipe function on the Gboard but it's been awhile since I've tried anything else so maybe I'm just used to the irregularities at this point. Now you got me wanting to try something else to see what I'm missing. Anyway the one thing that springs to mind about Gboard is that sometimes it just won't give me a word I want. I'll swipe and backspace a couple of times to be sure I'm hitting all of the right keys and it just won't give me that one word so I'm left to type it out. I only use the mic if I'm really stuck trying to spell something. That's one thing Google got right, it may not know when you're saying Hey Google (from another thread) but it get's the word I need practically every time.

I just love G-Board and they have themes so I try to pick a color that matches my theme that I have. But I don't know why I can Swype better then on the Samsung one and I speak a lot of my text and G-Board just gets it better even though both are using google voice. I don't know why! I like how I can type a word and it will have an emoji of what I typed. Don't think Samsung does that unless I don't know about it. Like when I spell out cake or cat you see a picture of it to use.

 

[VidJunky]

I'll likely go back to Gboard for the simple fact that I like how they do voice. As you mentioned, other keyboards use the Google bit to do voice typing but most that I've seen or tried actually use the Google Voice Keyboard that comes on almost every Android anymore. After this or maybe another discussion somewhere around here I figured I'd try out another keyboard just for S&G to see if there was anything I'm missing. I settled on Go Keyboard, akin to Go SMS, and it's kind of annoying. So you know that thing you mentioned that you like with Gboard where it also suggests an emoji, well Go Keyboard just auto inserts it. Then you have to select the word you wanted. Then the thing I mentioned that I don't like about other keyboards, when you press the mic button to do talk to text, it completely changes your keyboard to the Google Voice Keyboard. Not for a word or two or until you're done talking, no , it changes it until you change it back. Or if it changes it back it doesn't do it fast enough for me so I just change it myself. Anyway 4.6 stars, yeah not from me.