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    Home Unlabelled Android What should I buy Thursday (Oct 15 2020) - Your weekly device inquiry thread!

    Android What should I buy Thursday (Oct 15 2020) - Your weekly device inquiry thread!

    October 16, 2020

    Android What should I buy Thursday (Oct 15 2020) - Your weekly device inquiry thread!

    What should I buy Thursday (Oct 15 2020) - Your weekly device inquiry thread!

    Posted: 15 Oct 2020 04:11 AM PDT

    Credits to the team at /r/PickAnAndroidForMe for compiling this information:

    Note 1. Join us at /r/MoronicMondayAndroid, a sub serving as a repository for our retired weekly threads. Just pick any thread and Ctrl-F your way to wisdom!

    Note 2. Join our IRC, and Telegram chat-rooms! Please see our wiki for instructions.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    Song stuck in your head? Just hum to search - Google Blog

    Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:12 PM PDT

    This new technology may restore trust in photos and videos against the rise of deepfakes

    Posted: 15 Oct 2020 06:31 AM PDT

    Keys Cafe is a new Good Lock module to customize the Samsung Keyboard app

    Posted: 16 Oct 2020 02:54 AM PDT

    The latest on Google Hangouts and the upgrade to Google Chat

    Posted: 15 Oct 2020 09:01 AM PDT

    Quick thoughts on my Pixel 5

    Posted: 16 Oct 2020 04:02 AM PDT

    I received my Pixel 5 yesterday, after debating hard over Pixel vs Samsung S20FE. Below are my thoughts for others who are as detail-focused as I am.

    Performance

    Uh oh...

    I was initially concerned about performance when I read this wasn't shipping with a flagship CPU. Then the marketing material and YouTube reviews assured me that I didn't need a flagship processor, as I don't game or edit on my phone (I have a very powerful gaming PC and editing suite for that). The 765g should be enough to keep things smooth.

    I can unhappily report that is not the case. The performance is notably worse than my 2 year old OnePlus 6t.

    • The very first thing I noticed after powering the device on is that the little 'Google coloured' loading animations were struggling. I've been through the installer countless times on multiple devices and this is the first time I've noticed this animation not being completely smooth.

    • It's the first time that I've noticed slowdown during setup as apps are installing in the background. System animations stuttered until it had finished downloading and installing my apps from the Play Store.

    • As I detail below, there are stutters on animations when using Nova or Armchair Launcher.

    • I have never noticed loading screens on apps for as long as I can remember before now.

    • I have haptic feedback on my keyboard, and there is a noticeable lag between pressing a key and feeling the feedback which is very distracting when trying to type.

    • Sync (my Reddit app) crashed and exited whilst writing this review. I'm guessing a memory limitation? I've never seen the app crash before.

    None of these are dealbreakers in isolation, but they add up to a underwhelming experience on a brand new device. More concerning, I just can't see this hardware holding up in a year or two's time as apps become more intensive. Our Xiaomi A2 was buttery smooth when we got it, but is now very slow after 2 years to the point that the moment has passed by the time the camera has opened. I can see the Pixel going the same way. This shouldn't be a concern on a £600 flagship handset, but it is.

    Software

    Vanilla Android has historically been my preference. After unpleasant experiences with OEM software from the likes of Samsung and Xiaomi recently, I lean towards Pixel in terms of software experience. I'm more concerned about UX and polish than tonnes of features and in that regard, Google has always been my favourite.

    As expected, setup was great and there isn't much bloat.

    That said, this Pixel has unpleasantly surprised me I'm a few ways which shows how Google are losing the edge here in terms of useability.

    1. The gesture navigation on the Pixel sucks. The back gesture interferes with the keyboard and hamburger menus. There are workarounds, but they can't make up for a stupid back gesture being Google's choice here. It feels like Google has never actually used the phone to allow these to make it into release. I have managed to disable the left edge gesture entirely via adb to improve the situation, but it isn't good and there is no way most users will know how to do this. Sure, I could use Fluid Navigation Gestures from the Play store, but then I'd lose some of the smooth animations that make the device feel modern. I shouldn't have to choose.

    2. Pixel launcher is not flexible. The 'at a glance' widget with weather and calender has an ugly drop Shadow on it that looks so old fashioned, and the widget can't be removed! Nor can the Google search bar at the bottom. Sure, I can switch to Nova, but then I lose the nice app closing animations of the stock launcher and I've found Nova and Lawn chair animations actually glitch a lot when exiting some apps like camera and Chrome, presumably due to hardware performance bottlenecks.

    In summary, it feels like Google have lost touch here. I'm actually tempted by OneUI.

    Camera

    Seems good so far, but honestly not as much of n improvement over my OnePlus 6t as I expected. The cinematic video looks great.

    Size

    The Pixel is the only device I'm aware of with a decent camera, no bezels and reasonable size.

    For anyone with a separate device for media creation and video consumption, this device is a much better size than a phablet. It fits in my hand and can already feel my OP6T induced RSI subsiding. This alone is enough to keep me on this device.

    Hardware

    Looks and feels amazing. The slim, symmetrical bezels are beautiful. This is the best looking Android device I've used, maybe even the best device altogether.

    The device has a 90hz screen but in honesty I can't tell the difference versus my 60hz OP6t screen. I can spot when my PC games drop below about 110fps, so I am quite attuned to this stuff, so I'm pretty confident when I say that high refresh rate screens offer diminishing returns above 60fps outside of gaming. It may be the case that the underwhelming CPU in this device just isn't managing to push 90fps in animations.

    The linear haptic motor feels much better than the one in my OnePlus 6t, but causes a loud rattle that sounds like it is coming from the camera module perhaps. As I enjoy haptic feedback on typing, this is actually really annoying and a huge quality issue.

    Conclusion

    If you need a new device on a budget, this is a good candidate. It's especially good if you prefer a smaller device and value aesthetics.

    However if you have a flagship, even an older one, this is probably going to be a pretty disappointing upgrade. In fact it's really more of a downgrade when performance is notably not flagship level and the camera hasn't improved for a couple of generations.

    submitted by /u/getmoneygetpaid
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    I just got a buy-back offer from Samsung in Europe, 400 euros for my S9+ to buy an S20 FE

    Posted: 16 Oct 2020 01:36 AM PDT

    I thought these offers were USA exclusive, but i was so surprised to get a notification this morning.
    Not sure if it will be available in other countries too, but if you get it, please write a comment here. Screenshot

    submitted by /u/tightcall
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    Samsung Reminder and Microsoft To-do Sync beta is live!

    Posted: 15 Oct 2020 10:46 PM PDT

    I saw an update tonight for Samsung Reminder version 11.6.01.1000, dated Oct 16, 2020. In the changelog it says "Sync with Microsoft To Do (Beta)". I'm a MS ToDo user and have been anxiously awaiting this update that was announced a couple of months ago. I updated and it asked me if I wanted to sync with my Microsoft account. I did and within a couple of minutes everything had synced up (you can only sync one MS ToDo list but it let's you choose which one). I tried adding a new reminder via the Reminder app, and it showed up immediately in MS ToDo. I tried the reverse in MS ToDo and Reminder grabbed it within a couple of minutes. I marked a task done and both apps synced that as well. It's officially a beta but so far I don't see any issues.

    The reason I'm most excited for this is, believe it or not, Bixby. I don't use Bixby much, but when it comes to reminders, she has a big advantage that the MS ToDo android app hasn't had yet (Cortana did, sometimes, but that's no longer an option)... Smart Task dates and times. I can hold down the Bixby/power button on my Note 20 Ultra and say "Remind me to do ____ at 9:30 tomorrow morning" and Bixby sets the reminder with the correct date and time automatically. MS ToDo has been lacking this for some unknown reason. But I wasn't ready to switch to Samsung Reminder because I do as much or more of my ToDo management on my PC. This is now the best of both worlds, and so far, so good!

    submitted by /u/maks327
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    LPT: Samsungs Ads in the OS are opt-in, go into the settings to disable them.

    Posted: 16 Oct 2020 12:31 AM PDT

    I keep seeing people complain about Samsungs ads.

    Those are opt-in. Your phone asked you during setup if you want to see ads and you most likely just clicked Accept All.

    At least in the EU (and US) you can disable the built-in ads and "special offers".

    Go into settings, click your profile icon in the upper right corner. This opens your Samsung Account settings. Go to Personal information, scroll all the way down and uncheck the "Get offers and marketing from Samsung and its partners".

    TL,DR Settings -> Profile Icon (upper right corner) -> Personal Information -> uncheck Get ads and offers

    submitted by /u/Pfundi
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    2020 has been the most confusing Flagship lineup ever.

    Posted: 14 Oct 2020 01:34 PM PDT

    Samsung Note lineup sabotaged regular Note 20 to push Note 20 Ultra and made S20 FE in-addition to regular S20, S20+ & S20 Ultra.

    OnePlus announced 8T while they already have 8 pro as thier flagship and I bet 8T pro is on the line very soon.

    Google ditched Flagship processor on Pixel 5 which has almost the same specs as Pixel 4A 5G for $499.

    Apple now has the latest flagship processor A14 Bionic in all their lineup from $699 to $1099 iPhones.

    The definition of flagship is slowly starting to change for the alll the OEM's.

    Some are touting best processor phones as flagship and others are providing mid-range processor with flagship camera as flagship. On top of that Lite, Max, Pro, Mini, Ultra, Plus are all seem to be made to confuse the average consumer and clever way to increase the price.

    submitted by /u/BorBor20
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