I payed $850 for the S8 because I couldn't wait any longer for the Note. And I'm probably in the minority but I'm paying for features I have no interest in.
I don't use the iris scanner, fingerprint reader or lock screen. Could care less about AOD. I take few pictures. Et cetera. But you take away my IF Blaster, abort my S Finder, and cripple my use of a stylus. I'm paying for stuff I don't use and with every iteration lose what I do use.
But the Edge Panel is cool.
Am I an outlier?
Have to say I agree with the op on the issue of the IR blaster. I really want that back.
Loved it on my Galaxy S6 Active. Kinda bummed when they took it off on the S7. Their excuse is COST, it would add like $47 or something extra to add it and Samsung didn't want to pay for it and have not that many people use it.
Something I just thought of is this...why can't part of the hooks into the ROM be in the OS already, and the remaining be apps you install from the Samsung app store? (I wouldn't be surprised if I just asked for the programming impossible...lol)
This way you can still customize your own experience. Don't want the iris scanner, don't download the app...don't want Bixby don't get it. This can help in a few ways by giving Samsung more info to track used features, and they can update those features faster.
Something I just thought of is this...why can't part of the hooks into the ROM be in the OS already, and the remaining be apps you install from the Samsung app store? (I wouldn't be surprised if I just asked for the programming impossible...lol)
This way you can still customize your own experience. Don't want the iris scanner, don't download the app...don't want Bixby don't get it. This can help in a few ways by giving Samsung more info to track used features, and they can update those features faster.
Well, here's the thing about features.
One person's gimmick might be another's treasure.
When I had the Note 7, I used the edge panels, S Health and especially the S Pen on a regular basis. But I know that some won't bother with at least one of those.
And frankly, that's okay. Samsung has always been known for packing in everything but the kitchen sink. If you're a feature freak like me, you'll definitely find their phones appealing.
If it lacks that one feature you need or you want a leaner experience, no worries. There's a whole bunch of choice out there. You're bound to find what you like.
Samsung probably won't be going leaner anytime soon.You're the voice of reason once again.
Completely agree. Samsung is always going to be the polar opposite to stock Android. If you buy one of their phones, that's what you're getting. We should all know this by now.
Samsung probably won't be going leaner anytime soon.
And I don't mind. While I don't care for Bixby at all, some of their other additions are indeed useful. I especially liked the floating windows and Smart Select on the Note I had.
Agreed.Right. Not everything works as planned and there are some things that are overkill. But overall, this is what the company has always done. Samsung has fans and detractors, and so does stock. It's what makes Android great.
Agreed.
In the end, skins like what Samsung has will eventually see their useful stuff make its way to stock Android.
In a way, I don't want Samsung to stop playing around with experiments. Bixby might not be what Samsung envisioned, but there's other stuff that could make its way into the base code.
I payed $850 for the S8 because I couldn't wait any longer for the Note. And I'm probably in the minority but I'm paying for features I have no interest in.
I don't use the iris scanner, fingerprint reader or lock screen. Could care less about AOD. I take few pictures. Et cetera. But you take away my IF Blaster, abort my S Finder, and cripple my use of a stylus. I'm paying for stuff I don't use and with every iteration lose what I do use.
But the Edge Panel is cool.
Am I an outlier?