Quoting the tl;dr in the linked article:

  • Samsung could be stepping up its game by offering seven years of major Android updates for the Galaxy S24 series, and the generous update policy might extend to other Galaxy flagships.

  • The Galaxy S24 series might also introduce charges for AI features like Live Translate and Pixel-like photo editing tools after 2025.

  • There’s speculation that users may need to sign in to their Samsung accounts for certain AI functionalities.

  • Dyskolos
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    5310 months ago

    That is not the only big thing of pixels. To me it’s the openness. These are, ironically, the best and easiest phones to leave google. Or at least root them without the evergrowing hassles of each iteration of samcraps.

    Noone would ever buy a PC if they wouldn’t get admin-access and mustn’t install Linux or whatever. With phones they managed to keep us out.

    • @[email protected]
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      2710 months ago

      i always found it funny that the best method of having a privacy focused phone (without having significant tradeoffs like the pinephone) is to buy the phone from the company who violates privacy the worst, and flashing over it.

      • HiramFromTheChi
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        10 months ago

        True. This is why the general recommendation is typically to buy used. That way, they don’t get additional revenue from the sale of a new phone, and it also decreases e-waste.

        (Sure, the revenue may be a drop in the bucket, but it’s still something.)

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          There’s an argument to be made that buying used improves resale value and thus increases the price they can sell new, but I will not make it 😂

          I think they probably break even or even sell these devices at a loss. The money is in the data-mining. And they want to show other OEMs/consumers what a “flagship” Android experience can/should look like.

          Kinda like video game consoles are sold at a loss to subsidize game sales.

    • @[email protected]
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      510 months ago

      Noone would ever buy a PC if they wouldn’t get admin-access and mustn’t install Linux or whatever. With phones they managed to keep us out.

      Realistically this only forms a tiny part of the population though, that’s pretty much the only reason why they’ve been able to keep people out.

      • Dyskolos
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        510 months ago

        If only a tiny part of people care at all, why even make it sooooo complicated and change every damn update? Let people that WANT control, have control. The others don’t care anyway and are scared enough by a “are you REALLY REALLY REALLY sure you know what you’re doing here?”-security-question.

        I don’t pay 1000,- for a phone that isn’t mine, and I hate that this has become the default.

        • @[email protected]
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          310 months ago

          On the one hand, I could see bad actors taking advantage of easily rooted/unlocked systems. Maleficent resellers could also take advantage.

          Definitely give me the warnings and let me know what could happen, but let me unlock it and own it completely.

          • Dyskolos
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            210 months ago

            That’s how it is usually when rooted. A confirmation is shown.

            Or let it be set do decline by default and let the user explicitly change this. Problem solved. Of course malign intent wouldn’t be benefical with pre-rooted-no-confirmation-phones 😌

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          I agree with you but to play devil’s advocate, even for the simple issue of app sideloading on Android, there’s no shortage of dumb users out there that willingly bypass all sorts of warnings and install apps that are very obviously malware.

          • Dyskolos
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            110 months ago

            … And? Does a system have to be adjusted to the lowest denominator?

            If you use a thing, of which you have zero clues about, and still fuck around with it, you get what you ask for. People don’t understand the slightest thing about the internet and still use it to go to “free” streaming-sites and whatnot.

            I don’t say rooting-per-default. But an easy option to do so. And also unlocking the bootloader. It’s ok if it’s hidden. And let it come with 5 security questions á la “u rly sure?”. If someone doesn’t know what he’s doing, and still does it, and screws up, so be it. Charge the dumbnut in support.

    • @[email protected]
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      310 months ago

      Noone would ever buy a PC if they wouldn’t get admin-access

      Why not? They do it with phones all the time.

      • Dyskolos
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        10 months ago

        “you can’t uninstall a system-app” (while trying to get rid of all the bloatware like mcaffee)

        “you cannot upgrade to win8, but you can factory-reset your win7”

        “you can only factory-reset 3 times, please call <insert company>-support!”

        “you don’t have access to this file”

        "defender has removed this ‘malware’ and there’s nothing you can do about it’

        “You can’t install linux on this machine, this machine came bundled with Win7Home”

        “you cannot install this program”

        “you are not allowed to enter the bios”

        “you cannot boot from this non-licensed device” (usb-stick)

        etc.

        One of these would probably do it :-)

    • @[email protected]
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      210 months ago

      exactly. the golden age was like 2015ish. great roms, easy to root, headphone jack, flat screens.

  • @[email protected]
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    10 months ago

    Samsung could easily win me over if their bootloader was unlock able.
    Edit: Apparently it’s just US variants that can’t be unlocked

    • @[email protected]
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      1010 months ago

      Well, bootloader unlock toggle in developer options and fastboot eom unlock are available, am I missing something?

        • @[email protected]
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          610 months ago

          I have Snapdragon variant of S23U (UAE version) and the bootloader is unlockable, are you sure it’s snapdragon specific and not just US-specific, or carrier-specific?

    • voxel
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      10 months ago

      wdym, you just go to dev options and allow it, then reboot and do fastboot unlock.
      press power button a couple of times (THIS WILL TRIP KNOX E-FUSE PERMANENTLY WITHOUT ANY WAY TO RECOVER), wait for data to be erased and boom it’s unlocked

    • eatham 🇭🇲
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      110 months ago

      They aren’t? My phone has an option to unlock it, tho I haven’t used it.

  • HidingCat
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    3410 months ago

    To talk about the article instead of ranting on about niche wants:

    • 7 years of updates would be really good. Given how mature the hardware is nowadays, I can see a phone doing 7 years, save for the battery. Will Samsung be able to keep batteries in production?
    • I’m less sold on the AI things, I guess that’s the buzzword now. AI AI AI everywhere. Also the two features mentioned are already in Google products, and I’d rather use those if I have to, unless Samsung pulls out a surprise and show that they are better at software development than Google is.
  • @[email protected]
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    2810 months ago

    Things I want in a phone:

    • Decent camera
    • Aux Port - because I want the option
    • at least one mappable button
    • Expandable SD card slot
    • Debloated OS
    • good speaker phone
    • water resistant and drop resistant

    My favorite phone in the last 10 years was the Samsung S8 Active, before that, the HTC One (front facing speakers). Before that, probably the Samsung FlipShot and LG Chocolate.

    I miss innovation in phone designs. They’re all the same phone now.

    Anyone have any recommendations for the US? I was thinking a fairphone but I think that’s UK only.

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago
      • Aux Port - because I want the option
      • at least one mappable button
      • Expandable SD card slot
      • Debloated OS

      These are user-centric features that stifle revenue for the corporations that make these things, and unfortunately consumers have told corporations that they don’t care enough about them.

      • lemmyvore
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        110 months ago

        You can get last year’s model or the year before that cheaper. It’s not like there are huge differences year over year anyway.

        • @[email protected]
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          210 months ago

          But Sony only provides 2 to 3 years of software and security updates, so getting an older model might not be the best idea either.

          • lemmyvore
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            10 months ago

            You can switch to a community ROM like Lineage when they stop. They’re A/B devices that support GSI images, you can install any GSI UI over the Sony firmware. In practice some of them support more features than others but they do work.

            Also, I wouldn’t get my hopes up about all these promises about 7 years of updates. Google is notorious for going back on their word and Samsung only parrots them to look good

            I honestly don’t see either of them delivering. Even if they wanted to, neither of them has the logistics for long term support of their devices and I doubt they’ve developed them overnight.

    • @[email protected]
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      310 months ago

      After a couple of Redmi Note phones, I’m currently looking at Motorola. I need to see how ROM development is on their phones.

      • Gunpachi
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        310 months ago

        Motorola has been making a lot of midrange devices lately with Mediatek chipsets and I owned one for 2 years. My particular device (edge 20 fuaion) sold pretty well but there was no ROM development at all.

        So pick one with a Qualcomm chip and you will probably have a good time. I Think the recent Moto Edge 40 pro got some Custom rom development lately.

  • Pika
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    1910 months ago

    unless that comes with either a 600-700$ decrease in price or the readdition of a microSD card slot I’m not interested.

    • Chewy
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      1810 months ago

      After phone storage got beyond 32GB, I thought I won’t need a microSD slot anymore. I was wrong and my 128GB are full again. Downloading shows and music in high quality needs quite a bit of storage, not to mention videos. As if to make matters worse, the OS takes up more storage than my first two phones had at all.

      • @[email protected]
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        410 months ago

        I never understood why anybody wouldn’t need SD access… There’s no way to have a reliable backup location in the event you can’t reach the internet for whatever reason.

        • Pika
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          510 months ago

          for myself I have about 250 gigs of photo/video from my camera since I use it a lot. then about 50 gigs of apps, the lack of an SD card slot is my exclusive reason that I never upgraded from my s20 to newer models. It’s also why I’ve decided to ditch Samsung when my phone finally dies. I just have yet to find a decent alternative that works in my area

          • @[email protected]
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            110 months ago

            Dont take me wrong, i will never defend a manufacturer taking away features for profitens while increasing price… I feel most manufacturer fucks there customer because most people bend over and accept, and the more people do, the more they try to get away with. F hate the current tech climate

        • Chewy
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          110 months ago

          I can delete most of the 20 GB of video, as it’s also uploaded to my photo gallery (Immich). Maybe another 5GB of apps that aren’t necessary, which often need a few hundred MB (Paypal 0,5GB).

          Anyway, an SD card would solve those issues. Hopefully 256GB will finally be enough storage.

          • @[email protected]
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            310 months ago

            Nah you’ll still run out. Just because you have more storage you start downloading more shows/filmsin higher quality.

  • @[email protected]
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    1810 months ago

    Miss me with that AI bullshit, just make the screen completely flat on S24U and I’ll be more than happy.

    • @[email protected]
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      910 months ago

      Please. Who is interested in the curve anymore? I know they just do it for the people in the store.

      • DVNGY
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        1110 months ago

        I like the edge curve on my S9+ and Note 20U. Makes the bezels feel smaller and makes for a smoother swipe finger-feel.

        But if I could trade that for removable battery/storage/repairability I would.

        • @[email protected]
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          410 months ago

          My only complaint about curved screens is that it makes it impossible to properly protect the screen, and offers ??? in exchange.

          • DVNGY
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            010 months ago

            I’ve had screen protectors on all my edge-curved screens 🤷‍♂️

            • @[email protected]
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              210 months ago

              I said “properly”.

              Proper screen protection doesn’t mean a 1mm thick reflective grease-magnet on top of the display. It means a case that provides several millimeters of much softer materials.

        • @[email protected]
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          310 months ago

          I guess I always use a case so for me it just feels like anothervpkace for dust to settle.

  • @[email protected]
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    1210 months ago

    Full disclosure: I didn’t read the article and only read the bulletin points. However, that last point really convinced me leave Scamsung. When I got my current S21 Ultra, I was bummed to find out that I couldn’t root it. I’m about to buy a Pixel 7 Pro and never look back.

  • @[email protected]
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    1110 months ago

    Will they be bringing SD support back? I don’t get how people can use phones without SD support…

    • @[email protected]
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      310 months ago

      Which is funny because I don’t get why people want it. Unless you’re shooting a whole bunch of 4K video, i have no idea why it’s needed.

      • @[email protected]
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        810 months ago

        Here are a few examples of why someone would want it:

        Not everyone lives in areas with great wireless connections.

        Some are also limited to how much data they can use. So most store their music/movies/pictures on the local SD drive because they don’t use cloud storage.

      • @[email protected]
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        10 months ago

        I have a large music collection and store them on various SD cards in addition to my usually hard drives. When I want to listen to music I pop it in my Sony phone and listen to them. I refuse to use music streaming apps. I’ve tried SoundCloud, Spotify, and Google Music and each one didn’t have niche songs I enjoy. I Also there are various songs across various streaming services that I listen to but none all on the same service. I would rather own the files myself and put together my own comprehensive playlists. So I just pop it into my phone, enjoy the music I like, at no cost to me and I don’t have to worry about my Internet service in various places that I work out of that are deep in a building and don’t get any reception. I have lots of movie files and pornography that take up terrabytes. I need these on a Micro SD card because my phone’s internal storage isn’t large enough. I have another SD card with all my gba roms and saves that I can pop into my phone and play GBA games if I’m waiting around at the DMV, public spaces. Theen when I’m home I can pop that same SD card out with all my saves and roms and put it in my ez flash and play on my actual modded Game Boy Advance or into my modded a GameCube and play them without having to copy and paste save files, etc.

  • @[email protected]
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    910 months ago

    I’ll be leaving the Samsung ecosystem after 10 years. They simply don’t offer a phone for me anymore. I WANT an SD card, and waterproofing. And the A line camera is too shite.

    I’ll probably get some Chinese phone next and give them a shot. Samsung can get fucked with the 1000$ phones that continuously remove features.

    • HidingCat
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      10 months ago

      Which Chinese phone does that? They were the first to copy Apple when they removed all that. The only ones that still have card slots and headphone jacks are all the low-end phones, and heck, even those are going away. Xiaomi has been removing the card slots on the higher-end Redmi Notes.

    • Maximilious
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      -310 months ago

      Why not try a Pixel then? I’m on the S22 Ultra and already thinking of giving pixel a go on my next upgrade. They touted 4 years of support for this model but if they increase to 7 then I’ll just need to wait and see what’s out there at that time.

  • @[email protected]
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    810 months ago

    7 years of updates is the tour of competition I like to see

    Nickle and diming “AI” features isn’t.

    • @[email protected]
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      810 months ago

      I’m pretty happy about that, I don’t want AI features and not paying for them seems to guarantee they won’t be involved with the phone.

      I hate all the AI upscaling they do, those moon shots suck.

  • @[email protected]
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    510 months ago

    So, when is the camera tech finally going to be good enough to make the camera flush with the phone body?

  • Gunpachi
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    310 months ago

    I hope someone releases a build of LineageOS or any AOSP based custom ROM for the s23 series.

    • Mkengine
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      210 months ago

      This takes time, there is only just now a lineage OS release for my S20 FE.

    • @[email protected]
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      1210 months ago

      Do you mean the custom chips they make, exynos? Tizen is their operating system for televisions.

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      Fuckin hate my Pixel.

      Edit: didn’t realize you guys were up Google’s ass this much.

      • @[email protected]
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        310 months ago

        As someone that is interested in getting a pixel to use GrapheneOS I’m interested to hear what you hate about it. I’m still a little bit on the fence about it.

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          If you’ll be slapping a different OS on, I’m sure it’ll be fine. The hardware leaves a bit to be desired at the MSRP price point, but they depreciate pretty hard- a used one might be a win. I just know that it’s a touch buggy for me, especially with StOcK aNdRoId and all.