Comment by ChuckNorris89 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ChuckNorris89 | Hacker News Reader

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>I’ve avoided Samsung anything for years because of their total disregard for security and total contempt towards their users.

The thing is, if you live in the west then all the other major Android brands aren't better at all. There just are no good options anymore. HTC went bust, OnePlus turned to shit, LG threw in the towel, Sony's SW updates cycle is unimpressive for how expensive they are, Google Pixels are buggy as hell and not available in every country, and Motorola, Nokia and Blackberry are basically rebadged Chinese OEM designs. This lack of good options explains why Android lost so much market share to iOS in the last years.

Excluding Chinese phone makers, Samsung is pretty much the only big player in town from a western aligned nation, that has its shit mostly together as of present, promising 5 years of updates, having service and distribution centers in most countries around the world and a wide portfolio covering all price brackets.

For example, if you're in the market for a new relatively affordable mid-range ~300 Euro phone, then Samsung is pretty much your safest bet in the Android space.

Sure, there are better option like Fairphone but those are far away from being globally mainstream.

> Google Pixels are buggy as hell,

That hasn't been my experience.

That's funny since the Pixel 6 has had so many people complaining about various bugs.

Google has no quality consistency both with SW and HW, it's all hit and miss with their Pixel range. Some turned out great, some were abasically e-waste.

IMHO they peaked with the Nexus 5 and then went downhill after that. Then current Pixel 7 seems to be an exception.

> That's funny since the Pixel 6 has had so many people complaining about various bugs.

Like what?

* Buggy pull down brightness switcher. * Buggy do not disturb mode * Camera app bugs out when taking photos, random frame drops in video recordings. * Sharing menus - slow, suggestions are poor. * broken launcher + third-party launcher support. * buggy compass calibration * buggy 911 support

I haven't needed to call 911 or use a 3rd party launcher but I haven't noticed any of those other issues.

Hm...

1. GPS didn't work in the background for me. A few OS updates and some Waze updates later it seems I do get turn-by-turn directions.

2. GPU artefacts in Minecraft and Firefox. A few OS, Minecraft and Firefox updates later and it all "just works".

3. Fingerprint sensor works well except when you need it. Murphy's law for sure.

4. I'm in a low signal area and it seems to be unable to receive calls sometimes. I've had people tell me they called and my phone just didn't ring (it's not do not disturb).

Overall is a decent phone but it was a struggle for the high price it had.

> . I'm in a low signal area and it seems to be unable to receive calls sometimes. I've had people tell me they called and my phone just didn't ring (it's not do not disturb).

My 5G/LTE performance definitely seems much worst than the Pixel 3a XL I had previously.

For about 300 eur you can get 1.5 used iPhone SE 2020 in perfect condition. I know, I’ve bought several recently. Not saying Apple is the greatest in general but that’s an alternative. I personally don’t regret switching over to iPhones years ago. And I only ever buy iPhones from Apple. And I buy them used because they’re insanely expensive otherwise.

That aside, Samsung’s shittiness extends far beyond smartphones. Their TVs are a disaster, their appliances fail just outside warranty, their wearable and speakers are spyware just like the rest of their products… the only thing from them not on my shitlist are semis or components like ram because there isn’t much that can go wrong on this kind of commodity product.

You're moving the goal-posts. I was talking about new phones, not second hand one, as many people prefer buying new for the full 2 year warranty and that added peace of mind. A basic new SE is 550 Euros, far away from the ~300 Euros price bracket. Also, I haven't found used iPhones to buy directly from Apple in EU. Maybe you can point me in the right direction.

I tried to get my mom a 2020 SE since that's the phone my employer gave me and she hated the tiny, dim, low resolution display but she loves her Samsung A52 though, with its big and bright OLED display while being cheaper than the SE. Also battery life is longer on her A52 than on my work SE.

Different people have different requirements for a smartphone that go beyond the brand and reputation (display size, brightness, USB-C, etc). iPhone SE is not a one-size fits all solution for everyone.

Used iPhones from Apple in the EU:

https://www.apple.com/de/shop/refurbished/iphone

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