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[Android] Thread v. 2018: Pixel 6 is out. Google might be bad at phones.

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Posts

  • Magus`Magus` The fun has been DOUBLED! Registered User regular
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    Magus` wrote: »
    An issue I've always had with Android but never found an answer:

    Whenever I'm on WiFi, websites in Chrome load kind of... stuttery? Like, the load bar goes to 50%, pauses for a second, goes to 80%, pauses and then finishes loading.

    This doesn't happen on mobile data - it goes right to 100% with no pauses. It's not a speed issue since the bandwidth is 3.5x higher for WiFi.

    Admittedly, browsing has always seemed surprisingly slow.

    Am I missing something? Is Chrome the worst? Help!

    Note: OnePlus 7T but has happened on previous phones.

    Chrome does suck kinda, but that sounds like an issue with either latency or jitter on your line.

    9bee397pb19s.jpg

    Seems to be fine. Not a major issue, just irritating.

  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited February 2021
    Magus` wrote: »
    This doesn't happen on mobile data - it goes right to 100% with no pauses. It's not a speed issue since the bandwidth is 3.5x higher for WiFi.
    I'd be inclined to test for bufferbloat on the WiFi connection. Some tests may call it jitter. It's more likely to rear its head when the internet connection is being used by multiple bandwidth hungry clients.

    Barrakketh on
    Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
  • ButtersButters A glass of some milks Registered User regular
    Is it all Wi-Fi or just your home Wi-Fi? To eliminate a similar issue, I had to turn off the "smart band" settings on the router my ISP provided. The point of the setting was to have one SSID and then the router would determine if 2.4 or 5G band was best suited at the time. The problem was it would go through this routine on almost every single query from a mobile device. Turning it off and having separate SSIDs for the two bands fixed the issue.

    PSN: idontworkhere582 | CFN: idontworkhere | Steam: lordbutters | Amazon Wishlist
  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    Is this a good thread for watches?

    While doing some DIY stuff in the basement, the clasp on my band came loose without me realizing and my Galaxy Watch has slowly died after a fall to the bare concrete: the rear sensor glass cracked and it slowly started getting more and more cranky about overheating and rebooting until now it cannot charge. I looked up replacing the battery but not sure what else inside might be broken, so leaning towards replacing instead. I could replace it identically or upgrade to the Watch 3, but the Garmin Vivomove Style has been fascinating me from a gadgety standpoint and would have much longer battery life, as well as a week's time of fallback to 'analog watch' mode. The only third party app I ever used on my Samsung was 'flashlight' so I'm not too worried about lack of apps but perhaps I was missing out on something?

  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular
    Garmin's are more rough and tumble but definitely has a smaller pool of apps. I think you can download the companion app right now and browse what's there to get a feel. I've heard good things about their sensors tho

    I'd say overall they feel more utilitarian but for sure won't break after one fall to the floor. They're marketed more as outdoorsy type thanks to the maps and stuff included.

  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    I discovered via reddit that logging into my health insurance web page and finding the discounts list got me a very substantial discount on Garmin so I went with them, should hold up better, with the discount I went ahead with the more traditional watch material options.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    I'm slowly starting to integrate Bitwarden into my accounts. If I use it to set a new password for my main Google account, do I have to manually enter the gibberish to get my Pixel to cooperate?

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    I know, I know, I'm bitching about change again. But the new Chrome tabs management and tabs grouping on Android is gonna take some getting used to. Funny, the tabs screen looks more like how Firefox on Android used to do it.

    It seems to scroll quicker and smoother than it used to, though, so that's nice at least.

  • subisubi Registered User regular
    Magus` wrote: »
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    Magus` wrote: »
    An issue I've always had with Android but never found an answer:

    Whenever I'm on WiFi, websites in Chrome load kind of... stuttery? Like, the load bar goes to 50%, pauses for a second, goes to 80%, pauses and then finishes loading.

    This doesn't happen on mobile data - it goes right to 100% with no pauses. It's not a speed issue since the bandwidth is 3.5x higher for WiFi.

    Admittedly, browsing has always seemed surprisingly slow.

    Am I missing something? Is Chrome the worst? Help!

    Note: OnePlus 7T but has happened on previous phones.

    Chrome does suck kinda, but that sounds like an issue with either latency or jitter on your line.

    9bee397pb19s.jpg

    Seems to be fine. Not a major issue, just irritating.

    Amazing speed for wifi ! My phone max speed test is less than 50Mbps ..

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Welp, got myself a Note 10+, 256GB Aura Glow, barely used in pristine condition, for not a lot of money (relatively speaking). The seller had accidentally left it logged in to his Samsung and MS Office accounts, but fortunately I'm an honest person so I let him know. I also factory reset the phone from safe mode and told him so.

    It's definitely a jolt going from LG to Samsung, just getting used to the different ways they handle some stuff - some better, some worse, mostly just different I guess. It's a nice phone overall, and its over-spec'd-ness is both hilarious and luxurious; but if I can't get used to its differences, the price I paid was good enough that I should be easily able to make it back if were to turn round and sell it on. Which I probably won't, but, giving myself a just-in-case to calm my anxiety down which did a right number on me yesterday when I started the process of moving stuff over.

    Funnily enough, a thing I had been worrying about - transferring 2FA stuff - was pretty painless.

  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    edited March 2021
    Yo, chrome's tab group update is straight doodoo. It somehow manages to be both annoyingly intrusive when you're not using it and a pain when you do want to use it, I couldn't turn it off fast enough

    Carpy on
  • emp123emp123 Registered User regular
    I don't really care for the folders, but I like the windows vs tabs thing. Allows me to rearrange the windows which isn't something I could do with tabs so I'll put up with the folders.

  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    edited March 2021
    I turned then back on this morning to give them another shot. I think my biggest complaint so far is making the tab button go to the top level of groups. I know there's the bottom bar that's just my current group but I've got a lot of muscle memory forcing me to the button. Being able rearrange tabs is aces though, I'm with you on that.

    Edit: tabs being in a different order on the group page than what they are inside the group is also throwing me

    Carpy on
  • SirToastySirToasty Registered User regular
    At one point, Chrome had everything on the bottom and I loved it. Made it get easy to change tabs with one hand. I kinda wish they'd give you that option again.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Maybe just me being dumb, but I don't see an option to turn them off?

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    After almost a week since it arrived, I have a few observations to, er, note (sorry) about the Note 10+.

    Pros:
    - The stereo speakers are a massive step up, extremely loud when cranked, clear, and even with some notable bass in a very well rounded sound. It's worth noting that speakers were a relative weakness of my previous phones so I'm not sure how these ones compare to more similarly specced current devices. But so far so good.
    - Multitasking is a breeze, but I guess that's what that 12GB of RAM does for you! General speed is excellent too. (99% sure this is an Exynos chip version.)
    - Main camera setup is nice. The 2x telephoto is a game changer for portrait shots and pet pictures (the latter of which I take a lot of) by producing more flattering/natural looking proportions without compromising detail. Night mode not up there with Google's (whose is?) but still pretty good. I still miss native 16:9 sensors, though (my old LG G4 spoiled me).
    - The punch hole for the selfie cam isn't much of an issue, honestly. I notice it but it doesn't bug me. And the actual camera it accommodates is just as good as the rear ones, which helps.
    - I'm told call quality is better on the other end. Apparently I'm louder and clearer.
    - Battery life is solid so far. The top 10% of the battery seems to go very quickly but then it settles down and lasts well. Put that down to a quirk. Recharging is also very fast, and that's even without Samsung's optional 45w charger.
    - Samsung keyboard is excellent. Can be set to have symbols on the keys to access with a long press and in the same layout as the LG keyboard, which my muscle memory appreciates mightily.

    Cons:
    - The in-screen fingerprint scanner is, in a word, crap. Slow (enough that it has time to play its own animation, which really is a tacit acknowledgement) and fails on the first try too often. And sometimes on the second. Or more. I think five fails in a row is my record. Not having any tactility means my aim probably isn't always spot on, but that's a side-effect of its positioning. I'm sad that back mounted ones are disappearing. (The one on my V30 was perfect, and that phone integrated the power button there too, which made so much sense, and why that never caught on is a mystery for the ages.)
    - Chat head bubbles materialize in the same place each time, not where I last put them. Why? There's a reason I put them there, and every other smartphone I've ever had has remembered where I left them.
    - AOD doesn't go off when the proximity sensor should make it, e.g. in my pocket. Its only options are always on, always on for a scheduled period, or "tap to show for 10 seconds". Also no shortcut controls on the AOD which is a bummer, have to at the very least get to the lock screen to pull down the quick panel/notification panel.
    - Seems to have a tendency to drop my home wifi periodically and not want to reconnect unless I reboot the phone.

    Other notes:
    - S pen hasn't shown itself to be a ton of use so far, except perhaps as a remote camera shutter (and coincidentally I already had one of them I got with a phone tripod!). I find writing on a screen with it as difficult as any other stylus/glass combo without the resistance you get from paper etc. But its hovering tricks and things are quite slick. It clearly packs in some interesting tech; it's more than a typical stylus, that's for sure. Doubtless it will come in handy at some point. Even just that remote camera shutter being physically stored in the phone is kinda neat, really.

  • CarpyCarpy Registered User regular
    Jazz wrote: »
    Maybe just me being dumb, but I don't see an option to turn them off?

    Had to go to chrome://flags/ and turn them off there.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Carpy wrote: »
    Jazz wrote: »
    Maybe just me being dumb, but I don't see an option to turn them off?

    Had to go to chrome://flags/ and turn them off there.

    That'd be why, then! Cheers :+1:

  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    I have a Note 10+ and I use the stylus constantly at work to take quick notes. It was way more useful than trying to write things down.

    I paid an obscene amount of money for this case, but it's rad and I highly recommend it. At first I was turned off by the pricetag, but I realized that for a $1,000+ phone it's a good idea to buy a nice case, and seeing who is calling with custom LED icons (and being able to ignore them) without opening the case is nice.

    I don't use the fingerprint scanner because biometrics and the 5th amendment are a gray area, so I can't comment on it. Still though, I love this phone.

  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    Samsung phones are totes ridics expensive here
    so I bought a xiaomi redmi note 9 pro
    it's so fucking good.

    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
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  • Ed GrubermanEd Gruberman Registered User regular
    My wife currently has an S7 and she's actually still pretty happy with it though the battery life is not great anymore. But her new corporate plan through her work is changing to 65% off the full price of a phone through Bell (the carrier) and then $20 per month for 6GB of data and normal phone stuff.

    She's never had Apple anything and neither have I so the likely new phone would be an Android one. So here's the list of phones she has to choose from: https://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Smartphones_and_mobile_internet_devices

    I'm thinking the Pixel 5 is the way to go because she's happy enough with the S7 that she doesn't need a SUPER powerful phone and all the Samsung phones seem crazy expensive - even at 65% off. Does anyone have any suggestions to go another way? Worth noting that she does like to take pictures and we have kids but she is by no means an avid photographer.

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    SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular
    I'll just say I love my pixel, it's not perfect but even my 4a can perform above and beyond. I can play among us and use discord at the same time which is impressive. I assume the 5 is only better.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Samsung phones are totes ridics expensive here
    so I bought a xiaomi redmi note 9 pro
    it's so fucking good.

    That's a nice looking phone :+1:

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Crossposting from the Networking Thread. Sometime when I was asleep last night my phone decided to drop the 5Ghz band of our wireless router. Every other device on that router is still on the 5G band (laptop, three rokus, etc.)

    I tried deleting the 5Ghz from my phones remembered networks and re-searching for it, but the phone will won't see any 5Ghz networks.

    For fun, I deleted the 2.4 GHz remembered network and it immediately picked up the 2.4 GHz without problem.

    It's a Google Pixel 3 XL, Netgear WNDR4500.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    Crossposting from the Networking Thread. Sometime when I was asleep last night my phone decided to drop the 5Ghz band of our wireless router. Every other device on that router is still on the 5G band (laptop, three rokus, etc.)

    I tried deleting the 5Ghz from my phones remembered networks and re-searching for it, but the phone will won't see any 5Ghz networks.

    For fun, I deleted the 2.4 GHz remembered network and it immediately picked up the 2.4 GHz without problem.

    It's a Google Pixel 3 XL, Netgear WNDR4500.

    Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again? (phone and then router, just for funsies)

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    wunderbar wrote: »
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    Crossposting from the Networking Thread. Sometime when I was asleep last night my phone decided to drop the 5Ghz band of our wireless router. Every other device on that router is still on the 5G band (laptop, three rokus, etc.)

    I tried deleting the 5Ghz from my phones remembered networks and re-searching for it, but the phone will won't see any 5Ghz networks.

    For fun, I deleted the 2.4 GHz remembered network and it immediately picked up the 2.4 GHz without problem.

    It's a Google Pixel 3 XL, Netgear WNDR4500.

    Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again? (phone and then router, just for funsies)

    Oh yeah, went through a bunch of shit and finally got it working. Think I'll be getting a new router sooner rather than later.

    New question, I just upgraded to Duckduckgo and Bitwarden like an adult after reading just how much data Chrome hoovers up on my daily use.

    Having some problems getting all my saved shit to autofill but it's nice having Duckduckgo avoid all those ads and stuff .

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    My wife has her S21 Ultra and likes it a lot, not a huge fan of how big it is though.

    I have to say it takes some amazing photos and video. I am still on an S8 that is getting a bit long in the tooth but has at least a full year, maybe 18 months left and her phone is crazy nice.

    I do feel like we are hitting the limits of what a phone can really do or be. It's getting more and more incremental and until someone develops a better interface that has been mostly static for a decade, you just can't do productivity on one.

  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    zagdrob wrote: »
    My wife has her S21 Ultra and likes it a lot, not a huge fan of how big it is though.

    I have to say it takes some amazing photos and video. I am still on an S8 that is getting a bit long in the tooth but has at least a full year, maybe 18 months left and her phone is crazy nice.

    I do feel like we are hitting the limits of what a phone can really do or be. It's getting more and more incremental and until someone develops a better interface that has been mostly static for a decade, you just can't do productivity on one.

    That's kind of how I feel after going to a low/mid range device now - it's as good or there just abouts as my flagship device from 3 years ago. (Pixel 4a from Pixel 2) for a fraction of the cost.

    Steam | Nintendo ID: Naphtali | Wish List
  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    I bought an S21 and I'll admit I really regret shifting off the core Pixel. I hadn't realized how much I hadn't missed the bloatware, and how many feature apparently were Pixel specific. Even the spam filtering works differently, and less well, on the Samsung.

    What is this I don't even.
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    I think where the reason is to buy the high end phones are today is almost solely on camera. Midrange phones have good cameras that will take really good photos in good light. but outside of that, that' where the flagship phones and their cameras shine. That's not to say a S21 Ultra can replace a dSLR if that's your thing, but if your phone is your primary camera and you care a lot about the photos, then spend the money.

    Otherwise, yeah there's not many reasons to buy a S21 Ultra over something like an S20 FE.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • Local H JayLocal H Jay Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    I bought an S21 and I'll admit I really regret shifting off the core Pixel. I hadn't realized how much I hadn't missed the bloatware, and how many feature apparently were Pixel specific. Even the spam filtering works differently, and less well, on the Samsung.

    I'm not gonna lie, I love the call screening feature. I haven't picked up a call I didn't want to in over a year.

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Yeah. I could upgrade from my Pixel 4XL, but I still really like the camera, and there are too many tiny compromises stepping out of pixel land.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    I'm still debating whether to replace the dying battery in my Pixel 3 or getting something like a Pixel 4 (or newer) to replace it. I still don't feel a need to get a device that supports 5G

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    My Pixel 4a (5G) has been good so far. A few small upgrades compared to the 4a, but nothing huge i don't think.
    Not using 5g and probably won't, but figured i'd get the latest model if i was getting a new one.

    What's a good music player to replace Google Play? I hate Youtube music. Need something for my owned music only, don't really care about 'radio' and doubt want to be nagged about upgrading constantly. Happy to pay a one time purchase.

  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    I haven't managed to find a single app that works as well and as simply as Google Play Music did. I ended up shelling out for Poweramp, but its a bit cludgy at times and you have to tweak a bunch of settings to make it work like GPM did. Mostly just using it out of a lack of wanting to search through a bunch of other apps anymore. I had tried some other stuff further back in the thread if you wanted to look through it.

    Steam | Nintendo ID: Naphtali | Wish List
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    I'm still debating whether to replace the dying battery in my Pixel 3 or getting something like a Pixel 4 (or newer) to replace it. I still don't feel a need to get a device that supports 5G

    The pixel 3 is only supported until October of this year, so you'd be spending money on a battery on a phone that has only ~6 months of software updates left.

    You're better off buying a Pixel 5 or waiting for the Pixel 6 in the fall and seeing what that brings.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    In terms of software support, since this is a thing that was announced a couple months ago from before I made my triumphant return to the forums: Samsung is currently the leader in Android updates.

    No, you won't get your android version update day and date with the pixels, but Samsung is now going to deliver three android version updates to virtually every phone it sells in the A series, S series, Note series, and Fold series dating back to the 2019 models. And then after that each phone gets a 4th year of security updates. Google does provide those 3 android updates, but not the 4th year of security patches, at least not yet.

    With the sheer number of Android phones Samsung has to support, that's really impressive, and quite the commitment. And while the version updates aren't day and date, the security updates are fast. Samsung has already delivered the *April* security update to The S21 series in Europe, before Google has.

    Samsung isn't perfect, there are things about their software I don't love, and their camera experience is great, except when it isn't. The smoothing in low light on my Note10+ is infuriating. But in terms of Android platform support, Samsung is now outdoing Google, and that's wild.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • Ear3nd1lEar3nd1l Eärendil the Mariner, father of Elrond Registered User regular
    I'm still happy with my 3a and even though it's almost 2 years old, I still get around 24hr out of the battery. But I'll probably upgrade to whatever the next 'a' series is next Spring when the support ends.

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    Naphtali wrote: »
    I haven't managed to find a single app that works as well and as simply as Google Play Music did. I ended up shelling out for Poweramp, but its a bit cludgy at times and you have to tweak a bunch of settings to make it work like GPM did. Mostly just using it out of a lack of wanting to search through a bunch of other apps anymore. I had tried some other stuff further back in the thread if you wanted to look through it.

    Yeah GPM was great for playing local files and the radio stuff was fine. YTM is awful.

    Thanks, I'll give doubletwist a try.

  • NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    edited March 2021
    MichaelLC wrote: »
    Naphtali wrote: »
    I haven't managed to find a single app that works as well and as simply as Google Play Music did. I ended up shelling out for Poweramp, but its a bit cludgy at times and you have to tweak a bunch of settings to make it work like GPM did. Mostly just using it out of a lack of wanting to search through a bunch of other apps anymore. I had tried some other stuff further back in the thread if you wanted to look through it.

    Yeah GPM was great for playing local files and the radio stuff was fine. YTM is awful.

    Thanks, I'll give doubletwist a try.

    doubleTwist was okay, but it just would not read album art for certain tracks (and it seems like it had a lot of teething issues right when android 11 came out, crashes etc. seems fine now). I think almost every music app I've delt with has had some kind of album art issue, either not finding art, not being able to show art in notifications and/or android auto, or whatever. poweramp, while very powerful has a lot of configuration settings you need to tweak out of the box. it still doesn't show album art in android auto for me and sometimes the notification player just doesn't even show up on the lock screen when playing music to a bluetooth source (this just seems to be an android 11 issue, I don't know if its an application compatibility thing or google issue or what), but I've just kind of given up on finding "the" music app that just works after cycling through four or five of them. I can live with it for now.

    Naphtali on
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