Google Pixel 5

michty_me said:
Just the bundled Samsung stuff including Bixby etc. The phones just felt sluggish all the time to me. They may have reduced it in newer iterations but I just couldn't get along with it when using my brothers old S8 for a little bit.
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oh they've come a long way since the s8 mate lol what's that, 3 years ago? I think they are on about par with oneplus for bloat these days. Not 0% like a pixel, but much better since the horrible days of the s8.

I had an s8, and sent it back after an hour. God it was terrible! I know what you mean about bloat and slowness. These new ones give you a list of apps at initial setup stage so you can simply deselect them all. Plus oneui 2.5 and the upcoming 3.0 gives a very clean experience.
 
TheOracle said:
oh they've come a long way since the s8 mate lol what's that, 3 years ago? I think they are on about par with oneplus for bloat these days. Not 0% like a pixel, but much better since the horrible days of the s8.

I had an s8, and sent it back after an hour. God it was terrible! I know what you mean about bloat and slowness. These new ones give you a list of apps at initial setup stage so you can simply deselect them all. Plus oneui 2.5 and the upcoming 3.0 gives a very clean experience.
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Ah nice! I hadn't realised that was the case. I may have to look into that then as it drove me mad.
That was coming from a Nexus 5X too and it just felt too slow for my liking. The build quality was good however.
I'll keep an eye on reviews then see if I can get a shot of one in store.
 
Squink said:
Can you deselect Facebook, out of interest? If not, can you remember what other apps Samsung insist the owners of their phones are lumbered with?
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I know facebook wasn't on my tab s6 or s7, but my s20 is arriving tomorrow so I'll have a look and post some screenshots of what it's like out the box. My pet hate is bloat, so if it's not clean I'll be saying so :D

One thing I do love about samsungs now, is that they have merged samsung cloud with microsoft onedrive, and future plans means some nice integration between the two. Stuff like samsung notes syncing to onenote and whatnot. Good if you are a windows 10 user.

I've not really used it much yet, but I'm hoping that everything syncs nicely between google and microsoft.
 
Squink said:
Apple hardware is absolutely top notch. Ignore the paper specs, the hardware is built to the most exacting standards.

It all comes down to Android or iOS
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What would you recommend for a first time iPhone user... Might sound stupid but is it best to just go straight for the newest gen or go for e.g. one gen behind or what's your advice/opinion?
 
-AndyH95- said:
What would you recommend for a first time iPhone user... Might sound stupid but is it best to just go straight for the newest gen or go for e.g. one gen behind or what's your advice/opinion?
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The answer depends on your budget and preferred screen size. The iPhone 12 is likely to be announced mid October, including a new 5.4” version. I personally wouldn’t buy an iPhone until after the announcement.
 
Well, today's the day, it's a telling sign that this phone has only generated 13 pages of interest up to launch. Its been leaked to death, only surprise left I guess will be the price, still hoping for sub £600 (my guess is £599).
 
thebandit said:
Well, today's the day, it's a telling sign that this phone has only generated 13 pages of interest up to launch.
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It's going to be another mid range handset, overpriced, with stock Android and a camera that isn't noticeably better than that found on last year's Pixel or the 4a.

Given the plethora of competing products, the Pixel 5 doesn't stand out. I hope I'm wrong - I like tech to be exciting, but it's hard to be thrilled at a mid-range chipset for an upper midrange price.
 
Personally I feel that there really isn't much innovation lately in the phone market to gain a lot of interest. Everything is just a more expensive slight upgrade over the previous.
 
Squink said:
Can you deselect Facebook, out of interest? If not, can you remember what other apps Samsung insist the owners of their phones are lumbered with?
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Right mate, I've had a look

Netflix (same as oneplus)
Facebook (same as oneplus)
Onedrive

Neither of the above can be uninstalled, but you can hide the icons from the app draw

Oneplus phones (which are regarded as pretty much bloatfree) also add facebook messenger and instagram, neither of which are on samsungs.

Not sure if this is bloat, but samsung also install something called AR zone which I think is for adding dinosaurs and the like to videos. Other than that, there's no more bloat than a pixel or a oneplus.

When you first set it up, it asks you if you want stuff like samsung pay, samsung browser, voice recorder etc etc which I de-selected. The only thing I added was samsung calculator and samsung notes which I both like.
 
TheOracle said:
Right mate, I've had a look
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Cheers - thanks for that :)

I dislike Facebook, I dislike its owner, I dislike what it represents and I dislike the way it harvests data. In fact, there's nothing about Facebook I do like, so it grinds my gears whenever it's preinstalled on a phone and I can't get rid of it.
 
Squink said:
Cheers - thanks for that :)

I dislike Facebook, I dislike its owner, I dislike what it represents and I dislike the way it harvests data. In fact, there's nothing about Facebook I do like, so it grinds my gears whenever it's preinstalled on a phone and I can't get rid of it.
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I know, especially when you use whatsapp and want an oculus vr headset :(
 
TheOracle said:
Right mate, I've had a look

Netflix (same as oneplus)
Facebook (same as oneplus)
Onedrive

Neither of the above can be uninstalled, but you can hide the icons from the app draw

Oneplus phones (which are regarded as pretty much bloatfree) also add facebook messenger and instagram, neither of which are on samsungs.

Not sure if this is bloat, but samsung also install something called AR zone which I think is for adding dinosaurs and the like to videos. Other than that, there's no more bloat than a pixel or a oneplus.

When you first set it up, it asks you if you want stuff like samsung pay, samsung browser, voice recorder etc etc which I de-selected. The only thing I added was samsung calculator and samsung notes which I both like.
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The thing is about this, if they offer the ability to deselect applications during setup but don't allow you to deselect certain applications then I can on assume it's because Samsung are taking payments for these apps to be preinstalled. This is certainly the case with Onedrive as MS and Samsung have confirmed that tie up ages ago. This is what baffles me as it's essentially saying we'll allow you full control of your device unless it hurts our bottom line.

Samsung are irritating me no end lately and they're not giving me any reason to consider their devices as an option for me. Their latest trick is launching ECG and blood pressure monitoring for their Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 3 wearables, but only launching those features for those who are using said wearable with a Samsung phone. This is despite the fact this limitation wasn't made clear when they announced these features would be 'coming soon' to these watches.

The crazy thing is - there's no technical reason why these features can't be supported on other Android phones as someone on XDA has already found a way to get the Samsung Health Monitor app to work on non-Galaxy phones. It's purely a way for Samsung to force you to use their phones. Only this doesn't make me want to buy a Samsung phone, this actually makes me want to ditch the Galaxy Watch 3. The TicWatch Pro 3 is looking very good from a UI responsiveness/battery life point of view, but the current review sites don't state if you can set targets for your runs such as distance, pace or calories.

Hopefully someone comes out with a SD 4100+ WearOS watch with ECG and good workout tracking options soon. Would be great to get rid of Samsung completely if this is the sort of **** they're going to pull, not to mention they keep stripping out features from Samsung Health such as caffeine tracking and weight management (net calorie from eating/working out).

@AndyCr15 - Any chance you'll be reviewing the TicWatch Pro 3 soon? If so, can you actually go into more detail about the tracking features such as setting a target for runs?
 
Pixel 4 and 4XL prices just dropped today at certain retailers £464 and £543 respectively (wont link as never sure about the rules) but makes the 4XL compelling.
 
The Pixel 5 is all about the WA lens right, what else does it significantly offer over other recent Pixels?

And if it's output matches the main lens for quality it may be worth the punt, at price point anyway.
 
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