[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

I think if somebody has a budget of around 30K, he should simply go for the OnePlus. I started my OnePlus 7

Agreed mostly, already have OP at home. My only grief is the camera and lack of IP certification in guise of cost where OPs are costing almost similar to Samsung and iPhone.
Second, I am bit apprehensive on recent US-Huawei story, you never know when OP would be the next target.
Right now, I am contemplating on Samsung S10 Lite, seems like a competitive device with an excellent camera and a pathetic built quality.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Agreed mostly, already have OP at home. My only grief is the camera and lack of IP certification...

There have been reports of upcoming camera enhancements and though there's no official IP rating, tear-down videos show rubber seals being present in most sensitive spots for potential water/moisture ingress, similar to phones that carry an official rating.

No manufacturer provides coverage for water damage anyway, do they?

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

There have been reports of upcoming camera enhancements and though there's no official IP rating, tear-down videos show rubber seals being present in most sensitive spots for potential water/moisture ingress, similar to phones that carry an official rating.

No manufacturer provides coverage for water damage anyway, do they?

You are right, no one provides water damage coverage. But, having IP rating is like having GNCAP rating, it boosts confidence. Whenever we headed to any beach or pool, my wife' OP stays in the car where we are absolutely OK to take my LG along.

What I am trying to explain here, there are certain things which are part of flagships, kind of ritual. When you charge almost the same and do not provide those citing cost will definitely raise eyebrow. At least, 7tPro should have it.

I like OP7T, but still couldn't find any significant +ve over my wife' OP6 in day to day regular use (I don't game). But, considering cheap plastic body of Samsung, yeah OP still retains some charm. There is a dearth of good phone in humanly price range.

I would have waited for OP8, but I need to decide by this month. Unfortunately, my beater LG don't support dual VoLTE rendering my Jio sim useless.

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by revvharder

Nah, have the M20, M30, M30s only the galaxy store used to give ads which is not used in my case and remains disabled a

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

If Samsung of all goes for it, then God save us all. But I highly doubt that considering they have a reputation to keep.

As revvharder has written Samsung's case isn't as bad as Xiaomi yet, but who knows what the future holds.

I get galaxy store related ads on my Note too and unfortunately can't disable it as I use most of their apps

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Phones carrying ads just makes my number-one question about any potential purchase even more important... Is it easy to root?

If you have not noticed, they waited till rooting withered away to (re)introduce bloatware.

I remember buying a normal phone for ₹1700.00 some years back - but it insisted on keeping me subscribed to some VAS - that I threw it away. The brand too sank. Anybody remember Micromax?

And I believe rooting has become tougher over the years.

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

But, having IP rating is like having GNCAP rating, it boosts confidence. Whenever we headed to any beach or pool, my wife' OP stays in the car where we are absolutely OK to take my LG along.

I read somewhere that OP does not submit its phones for waterproof certification as a cost saving measure.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

As revvharder has written Samsung's case isn't as bad as Xiaomi yet, but who knows what the future holds.

I get galaxy store related ads on my Note too and unfortunately can't disable it as I use most of their apps

You can go to settings->Notification and disable notifications from Galaxy App store , If for some reason you do not want to disable all notifications from Galaxy store just disable promotions.
Other thing which you can disable is MyGalaxy App if you have enabled it.

Best way is to disable all app notifications first and only selectively enable what you need.

I keep notifications disabled for almost all apps and enable only for few of such as banking apps , Messages, Google Maps and Samsung health and Samsung Pay

[shashank.nk]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Best way is to disable all app notifications first and only selectively enable what you need.

Thanks for the tip! I'd done this for annoying apps like Flipkart,Amazon,MyAirtel etc, don't know why I left out Galaxy Store. I disabled all notifications just now, let's hope it solves all issues.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

The Samsung A51 has arrived. The Samsung website (screenshot with light background) says it runs Android Pie, which is , AFAIK, 9.0.


GSMArena (screenshot with dark background) says it runs Android 10.0.



RAM specs too differ.

And I am like Grr...

[padmrajravi]

Pre-ordered the Galaxy Note 10 lite with exchange offer from Flipkart a few days back. This is going to be my first Samsung. I have always liked the idea of the S-Pen from the day Note series was launched, but after all these years, this is the first time I felt a Samsung phone is worth the money they are asking. I was thinking of spending more for the original Note 10 and then launch of the lite series settled the confusion for me.

My point of view of Samsung started changing when my wife started searching for a phone a few months back. She settled for an M30. Except for the weird colour options that Samsung provides in the lower spectrum of phones, it was super value for money. She was a Mi customer till then but felt Mi phones lately are not durable as the older ones.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Ditto here. Prebooked S10 lite on FK.

For me, the competition was between OP7T, the S10 lite siblings, and A70s/71. Oppo Reno 2Z / 2F was dropped for the processor. And Reno 10x was pricey.

Lack of expandable memory and NFC made me drop OP7T. Since I use Galaxy A8+, that was the reference point for me, and felt that price difference between A70s/71 (almost at same price point as A8+) was marginal.

It also helped that S10 lite came with an extra 3k off on my credit card. I would have preferred it had a dedicated micro SD slot rather than a hybrid one though.

The search was also a bitter reminder not to trust the online reviews and / or specifications and rely on manufacturers data sheet.

once owned a Moto phone which used same speaker for the loudspeaker, earpiece, and ringer. This resulted in lack of privacy while on phone. Saddened to notice that most reviews ignore call / audio quality and clarity in their reviews. And worse, there is no real attention to specifics of the specifications. (One reviewer says that A70s has no expansion slot for microSD). IP ratings too are often ignored both in reviews, as well as sites of both manufacturers and retailers.

[mvadg]

I still have a Samsung S2 that is usable for other purposes. I haven't tried using it as a phone recently but I think it would work.

Xiaomi and even Google have slyly avoided getting negative press for the shortcomings of their phones.

Samsung tends to be very thorough in their implementation of standards and you are never left holding "gotchas", like in the case of Xiaomi or Google (I'm sure most other manufacturers are the same). I find my wife's OP5 has a strange Wi-Fi slowdown problem, that has not been fixed. Caveat emptor!

[naveenroy]

Finally ended up buying the OP 7 Pro - 256 GB. My other option was the Mi Note 10 Pro. Got a good deal - cheaper than the price in India. Should receive it in a few days. This also gives me the option to move to Google Fi. Been paying through the nose for ATT here.

[PapaBravo]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

The Samsung A51 has arrived. The Samsung website (screenshot with light background) says it runs Android Pie, which is , AFAIK, 9.0.

As per online YouTube reviews, it comes with Android 10/One UI 2.0.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by PapaBravo

As per online YouTube reviews, it comes with Android 10/One UI 2.0.

Looks like it was a copy paste error / typo. Now, it says Android 10.0.

People here would recall a discussion about the need for a proper compass sensor to get the pointer on maps pointing accurately. Nowadays, some phones have an e-compass and some have a magnetic compass. Search results for difference between two read like the small print in an insurance policy. And then, there is this "sensor core" about which Google the search engine has no idea about.

If manufacturers are not transparent about hardware features on devices, someday, consumers will end up fatigued searching for proper details.
A BA in literature / creative writing / copywriting talent is no substitute for the technical stuff in some standardised vocabulary.

[Gansan]

The Samsung M30s I bought recently restarts every morning automatically, sometimes once again during the course of the day. A bit of Googling shows many people face this and it seems Samsung is yet to issue any fix for it. Anybody else facing this issue?