Samsung dropped SD Card support a while back, and it’s fucking stupid. The EU should find a way to go after them.

When you recall that, as a person who knows what a browser is, you’ll likely be in the global minority, you’ll realize it’s a tremendous deal.
And don’t even pretend that running an Android phone without a GooglePlay store is easy

A big part of the problem is this constant catering to the dumbest users. I really wish companies would fucking stop that bullshit. Force people to get smart instead of dumbing down software to the point that it doesn’t do much if anything.

It’s intentional enshitification under the guise of “UsEr FrIeNdLiNeSs” and it’s been a trend for at least 25 years now.

I still don’t see the big deal, takes seconds to drag them into the bin and move on. There are far bigger problems that they should be going after - irreplaceable batteries, locked bootloader, lack of root access on a device you own would be three of the biggest ones.

I would certainly argue that there is a problem with non-critical apps being labeled as “system apps” and being undeleteable. This was only made worse by dropping SD support.

That said, I am still mostly able to use my pocket computer as a pocket computer, which is far more than I can say about the state of iOS, and just whining about Chrome and Google being packed in is such a non-issue when they are replaceable.

I would much rather see a fight that pushes to force unlocked bootloaders, the ability to delete any apps, a way to get end users root access, etc. There’s no reason why a phone shouldn’t be seen the same as a computer.

It’s not forced, though? I have never had an issue opening Google Play and installing Firefox (and then uBlock Origin). If users are too stupid/lazy to change defaults that’s on them. Hell, it couod be worse - it could be like Microsoft where they shove Edge and “news & interests” which are chock full of editorialized ragebait headlines, each one that includes it’s own special comments injection that all just help trick stupid people into voting right-wing.

The bugs ARE features! Twice the new stuff, half the work! #Efficiency f(ಠ‿↼)z

That and they get unlimited money and/or force you to a more expensive model of a phone.

I’m still pissed about the this and morons over on Reddit actually defended it saying “NoBoDy UsEs SD CaRdS. UsE tHe cLoUd”

Yeah ok buddy, like I want to pay infinite dollars for a $50 SD card? What about shit I don’t want on somebody else’s computer? What about if I’m in an area with low coverage? What if I want root my device and have an emergency firmware to recover from?

Eventually the smarter people showed up, but fuck the onslaught of idiots that tried saying cloud storage was better than SD. The future is fucked if the current generation is this brain-dead.

LOL the second I read it I was like “so you want a better Nintendo DS”

Don’t think I’ve ever used the default Samsung browser… Not intentionally, at least. Firefox Mobile has been fine for me. It has basic plugin support, do you can run unlock origin with it, too.

What would be far better is RCS to be exempted from data usage so we can have a more secured protocol for standardized messaging.

Signal, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Google Messages. I guess Snapchat could be on there, too.

Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Google…

But you’re saying there’s one app that will connect to them all and work? I don’t think that’s the case unless there’s something like Pidgin for Android, I guess…

I’d sooner ask “why do people care about messenger apps”? Like what? Why do we need 5 different programs to talk to people because everybody’s on different platforms - none of which are even domestically owned by my country or really controlled at all by it.

RCS is slightly closer to a step in the right direction, but the fact that Google is so deeply latched into it still gives me some concern.

Sadly not always good ones…

Why do we want this when we can already install it via Termux?

Probably hella nerfed in comparison.

No, American iPhone users use iMessage and think they’re superior. American Android users don’t give a fuck and think it’s hilarious that iOS users think they’re superior because they used dumbed down devices that nag for money everywhere.

You should consider staying in your own lane…

A small handful of iOS users might complain about iOS, but a majority of us don’t give a shit and can’t understand why anybody would brag about having an inferior OS.

And sure people make accounts all the time, but if doesn’t mean they enjoy doing it. I doubt most people enjoy having to flip between messenger, signal, telegram, and WhatsApp - and RCS fixes most of that since everybody has access to it, and SMS is still a main go-to for messaging in north America anyway.

Any more stupid takes to share with us?

Which is why Americans use it? Sorry you struggle to put two and two together…

Literally nobody is hung up on bubble colours other than you and iPhone users… Most people don’t give a shit, and the added benefits of RCS basically bring it up to spec with a typical messenger, and since it’s pre-installed it means that you don’t need to worry about messenger app segregation. You don’t even need to create an account.

This is such a dumb take… “Lol Americans all using SMS! We prefer to install 4 different messaging apps to talk to people, and can’t do shit if we end up in an area with low reception”

10/10

I use Boost for all the same reason. The familiarity made the transition much easier

I’m sure if you swipe down from the top, the menu will stop drop down

Pretty sure a lot of apps do this now

Google music, Google+, Google Spaces, they even killed Google Cache recently - which was a fantastic way to get around my work’s brain-dead decision to block the company (including IT) from reaching Reddit.

I switched to T-UI Launcher like 7 years ago and never looked back. The F-Droid version is the best version, the one on Google Play lacks SMS and some other features.

Command line launcher is unironically by far the best and most efficient thing I’ve ever used. I tried T-E-L but I found it was a real battery hog. I may give it another go though. Maybe it was just a problem with the phone I was using at the time.

It will be a really sad day when they kill Termux and Tasker. At the same time, maybe it will be the push for people smarter than me to write a proper competitive OS that we can flash.

Don’t most phones these days generate a spoofed MAC address by default?

I haven’t since my S5, but with the constant regressive changed Google is making, it’s becoming more and more tempting to do it again.

Would be nice if App developers would stop blocking use of their apps if you have a rooted device, though.

Can Textra handle RCS yet? I bought it ages ago but ditched it when it couldn’t handle RCS

I don’t remember ever not having notification history - you’d just have to dig a bit to get there. I think Nova used to even let you make a custom shortcut right to it.

The problem with hardware is that they were one of the last (and possibly the last of the heavy hitters) to ditch the SD cards.

Hear me out:

Samsung Galaxy S5

Pros:

• User replaceable battery
• water resistant and dust resistant
• Custom OSes available, easily flashable*
• Headphone jack
• IR blaster
• Heart rate monitor

*Flashing will vlow the eFuse and disable Knox. It will also make it a bit more difficult to use some apps.

Negatives:

• Its old hardware is prob gonna struggle to run most things these days.

(I’m half kidding. My S23 Ultra is hot garbage for features. Fuckers even stripped the SD card support out so my storage just got cut significantly unless I pay for a subscription instead of a single payment on an SD card that I can access in a Faraday Cage if I wanted to. Idk why they care so much about camera quality - especially when they’ve just made it more difficult and expensive to store images in bulk. If you want pro pictures, get an SLR and take pro pictures. You don’t expect that from a laptop, why do we expect it from a pocket computer?)

Doesn’t mean they couldn’t include an option for a user to pick a default, though.

I sometimes get “Bing Search” where the usual search should be. Drives me nuts - this is the kind of shit Google should be fixing. But instead they’re cutting off actually useful shit like logcat

The version of t-ui (Linux Command Line Launcher) is way better on there than it is in Google Play