IronRain

Nope, CA doesn't recognize non-competes.

A lot of comments in this thread defending OEMs from customer's benefits, which is disheartening to me, but I'm sure joyous for shareholders. I see comments saying you should buy premium phones that have SD cards, but there aren't many options. The only one is a $1400 Xperia I V. I would love nothing more to have the SD card on only the "ultra" variants, if costs are too much of an issue for those who don't use the feature, but there's not much "ultra" in the "Ultra" variant besides an extra camera or two.

For those who are baffled by what we hoard on our devices, why does it matter? Do we ask what you do on your phone when there doesn't seem to be anything on them? "I barely use 50GB on my device" and "128GB is more than enough for me" seem to be the prevailing notion here, and it's frustrating since your demographic is already highly represented on the market. It's similar to those who wish there wasn't a selfie cam because they never used it, ignoring all the video calls millions use on a daily basis.

But maybe an answer might stop the "curiosity" of the sparse data hoarders, and they might understand our plight. On my 1TB SD Card, I currently have:

220GB Audiobooks 18GB Music 34GB Pictures 330GB Videos, Movies, and TV Shows 10GB Work and Project Files 12GB Podcasts 14GB Games

As someone who is frequently in low-signal areas, especially while driving, streaming is not an option. My media has entertained me during flights, public transit commutes, working out, jury duty, and the DMV. I also don't want to transfer my media in and out of my device (I do back up my data wirelessly to my own server), nor do I want to bring an adapter when the technology is already embedded inside.

So OP, I feel you, and I'm hoping SD cards comeback.

I knew this would happen around the S21 series when they removed the last hardware item of consequence, the SD Card slot. After that, Samsung focused on being Android's iPhone, except they imitated all of Apple's shortcomings instead of playing to their core values that got them here in the first place: hardware supremacy. Now that the only discernable difference between Samsung and Apple is the OS (folding screens aside), people's choices became binary (iPhone or equally expensive iPhone clone) instead of multifaceted (headphone jacks, SD card slot, etc. vs iPhone). Actually, scratch that - Apple actually added more hardware features* (action button and USB-C) on their latest model, making Samsung look dumber for regressing.

On top of that, other OEMs, like Google, caught up with the only hardware that Samsung has been improving on - the cameras and folding screens - and soaked in customers that feel spurned by Samsung (myself included as of 2 weeks ago), for a lower price. If they don't reverse course and begin concentrating on hardware advantages, especially in an era where consumers are so starved for features that Nothing Phone made a living out of glowing back lights, this may be the beginning of the Korean giant's death knell since younger generations are choosing iPhones.

*Side note - I'm even more pissed about the removal of expandable storage on Android since Apple actually brought them back for the recent MacBooks! So people who claim it's an outdated technology can try and explain why it's making a return on $2K laptops, but not mobile devices other than for greed.

Even if they manage to get big players like Spotify to develop apps for them, a lot of people - at least on the Android side - have smaller, niche apps for audiobooks and podcasts that would never bother to port their apps to GM services. Heck, even Apple Music and YouTube Music wouldn't bother. I smell an upcoming BOGO deal on their overstocked dealerships, just before they get another bailout check.

As someone who exclusively used Samsung flagships as their daily driver (GS2 > Note 4 > Note 8 > Note 20 Ultra), I was a Samsung absolutist and fanboy. But their decisions since the N20U has been frustrating, and has had me eyeing other brands for the first time.

To start about what I love about them: fantastic hardware with solid software. I don't mind their excessive features, because they become so useful, Android/Google adds them to stock 2-3 years later. So it's like a decent beta test for some awesome utilities, like saying "smile" to take a photo with the camera when you can't reach the shutter button. I think several phones now offer this.

What has me eyeing something else for my next phone: shitting on their hardcore power users and greedily taking away options. The removal of the SD card (critical for my usage), the dilution of their features across different models (base, plus, ultra), removing the magstripe, etc. are all anti-consumer with NO benefit to their customers. Even if your typical customer doesn't use a specific feature, it strips the option away from those who do, and it's not like the savings go towards the consumer. If not for these decisions (among other, smaller infractions), I wouldn't be contemplating other brands.

I said it before and I'll happily say it again. Removing hardware features while increasing prices will always cause stagnation down the road. When software features, camera bumps, and folding screens are all you have to offer, people will just keep their phones longer and use a $3 app to fill in the missing "feature" on One UI 6, Pixel's exclusive feature drops, or even Apple's Dynamic Island.

Funnily enough, I had this conversation with some friends that Taylor Swift would probably sweep the electoral college. Highly popular, progressive, white (to get a few of the Republican voters whose vote is base on the way their rep looks), and has a fan base that can potentially outmatch MAGA if her name was on the ballot.

Whether she would be a successful politician, on the other hand, can be cleared by the fact that we survived 4 years of Trump. So it can't be worse than that fiasco.

Cookies & Cream is my go to, but so far this summer, I've been eating more high-end strawberry ice creams from local shops, and the fresh strawberries make all the difference.

Not surprising, and many Android enthusiasts called this a few years ago. Other than folding devices (some of which costs enough to buy an Iphone Pro Max + iPad), how is Android differentiating themselves from Apple on the hardware front? The few things they could have done to separate themselves, like SD cards, headphone jacks, etc. are now gone with some niche exceptions. And now that Apple is finally adding some customization on iOS, plus being dragged kicking and screaming by the EU to conform to universal standards, the feature set differences continue to diminish.

Copying Apple only benefits Apple, and we're seeing this occur quarter by quarter. Pixels may be the exception simply because they cost two-thirds (half, during their generous sales) as much as Samsung's. But if they continue their trend of raising prices, I think their sales will eventually stagnate too.

Speaking for my favorite game of all time, New Vegas, you need to push through until you find something that captures your attention. There's nothing you can really reach in the first 2 hours (for a first play through) that will pop out at you. But once you get that first "whoa" moment, you're completely immersed. But you definitely need to be a patient gamer in the beginning, because a vast desert provides a lot of empty, forlorn landscape (a lot of people hate this, but I love the desolate atmosphere).

Currently on chapter 85 of Pierce Brown's Light Bringer, the latest installment of the Red Rising series! Granted, I'm listening to the audiobook, but audiobooks are still books. And man, like the rest of the series, I can't put this shit down!

After this? Not sure yet. Still waiting on Sanderson's next book in his Stormlight Archive series. Maybe I'll re-listen to The Wheel of Time again while the final books of these two series wrap up.

Exactly! I literally don't know what to do with my SD card if I succumb to OEM's wishes and get a phone without the memory expansion. Nor do I want to spend +$150 per phone to get the 1TB option if they even offer one. I already bought my SD card once, so why would I want to do it again and again and again?

No, Samsung has lost the plot for the origins of their success - hardware supremacy and overwhelming features (e.g. SD card slot, headphone jacks). As I mentioned in another post discussing Apple overtaking Samsung for the first time in a decade in volume of sales, they removed everything that made their phones a compelling device, and decided to be an equally expensive iPhone clone. In an era where consumers are so starved for hardware features that Nothing Phone made a living out of glowing back plates, and iPhone got applauded for an action button, Samsung's leadership has seriously miscalculated and failed.

Tried it yesterday - first time trying any sort of Chat AI, actually - and the app is smooth, if barebones. I've actually found it to be pretty useful as a suggestion bot - best sci-fi books, best zombie movies, etc.! It fills the +Reddit Googling I did before. I'm just hoping for more user customization going forward!

Another year holding onto my Note 20 Ultra, I guess. God, I hate what Samsung has become.

I'm a big fan of Podcast Republic. Great dev, feature-rich, and a much improved UI from when I first started using it.

I respectfully disagree, and I know this is a hot button topic. But isn't the fact that it IS a controversial topic that has trawled for 3+ years on various tech forums not evidence that it's a popular enough feature(s) to warrant consideration?

SD Card: If companies are so afraid of liability, they could simply have an initial warning dialogue about potential hardware failures. Why cripple a portion of your userbase because of the fault of others? I know it's anecdotal, but I have used 9 SD cards across various devices (including my current N20U and Tab S8 Ultra) without ever encountering an issue. I also back up my data as is proper data management. And just as the car company in your example would say to the idiot who filled it up with the wrong gas, they would refer them to the user manual (warning dialogue in this case), and dust their hands of the matter. And let's be honest, this is just a blatant cash grab to force customers to buy the larger storage sizes.

Mag-Stripe: There are still more shops that don't have the standard contactless payment where I live than there are that do. And I'm in Southern CA. Big box stores are not an issue, but the mom and pop shops that I frequent don't have it set up. I'm sure this is an issue that will eventually be solved, but it's just frustrating that the option was taken away from us.

Dilution of Features: Samsung already makes a huge range of phones. From $120 semi-disposable ones to $2K Folds. The consumer is confused enough. From A series, J, S, M, Fold, and Flip, every price is covered. And yet, what's the flagship (mainstream) phone? The S23U? For $1400, you get an extra camera compared to the S23+. You get a larger screen - which used to be the Note's job - plus another camera from the base 23. That $400-600 difference adds up to 1 camera (plus some sensors) and a larger screen and battery. Point being, the reason why I gravitated to the Note series before was because of all the jammed packed features in a single phone. I didn't have to decide if I wanted to feel FOMO for saving $400 and losing an extra camera. What I paid was what I got, and I knew I got the most bang for my buck.

I know this is controversial, but this is the hill I'm dying on. Samsung's reputation was built on "everything but the kitchen sink" when they were competing with LG, HTC, etc. Now? They're a naming convention from Pro and Pro Max away from another lawsuit with Apple. Who, by the way, brought SD cards back onto their flagship laptop series!

I started off with Kbin, and it was great because it was initially more straightforward with a more sensible UI. But since they didn't release an API quickly enough, apps like Voyager came in, so I've switched to Lemmy.

It also looks like the UI/UX hasn't changed much when I logged into Kbin, so it feels significantly more stagnant. And once Sync for Lemmy hits the Play Store, I'm probably going to stick with it.

Someone mentioned a rumor on Reddit about the possibility of the Ultra having the SD Card returning. Anyone have the Vegas odds on that, because that would be the most exciting news a Samsung release would have had in years.

Great device, with long term support. Occasionally buggy for periods of time, but somehow fixes itself randomly. I only wish it didn't use up as much of my phone's battery.

I really wish my sports communities migrated over. Even a few dozen users would be better than talking to the play by play bots, although I think the bots here are much better than the ones on Reddit.

I love audiobooks, haha. There's also some by a studio called Graphic Audio, which is a dramatized version of audiobooks filled with a full cast of voice actors, music, and sound effects! It's pretty cool, but each audiobook is like 4x the size of a normal book. I also read books that are part of a series. Each one is usually 5+ books long.

Interesting. I LOVE the feeling of nostalgia. It brings me back to a simpler and more peaceful time, when adult responsibilities and modern complexities didn't exist yet. Whenever a late 90s/early 2000's R&B song comes on, I'm automatically transported back in time and just relish in its bliss.

For those who prefer an app, so they aren't tied to an OEM's settings, I use BuzzKill for notification history, along with it's more infamous tool set - deep notification management. Its a paid app, but it's a one time purchase of less than $5 when I bought it.

Yup! I really wanted a Sony Xperia for the hardware, but the 2 years of updates were a deal breaker. So for the price of a base model 128GB (lol) S23U, I got a 1TB Pixel 8 Pro and a case with enough money leftover for dinner with the price difference. Their holiday sales were pretty generous!

It doesn't have a SD card slot, unfortunately. At the moment, only Sony Xperia still carries it on the flagship level, so I'm eyeing that one for now. Fortunately, my N20U is still going strong, so I'll see what the field looks like when I upgrade. I guess whichever OEM decides to include a $0.50 piece of hardware will probably get my $1K+.

I was a Samsung loyalist, up until my current phone, the Note 20 Ultra. Their decisions since then have me questioning what's out there for the first time in my life. There is almost NO significant differences between Android phones anymore once they stripped away what made them unique - hardware superiority (e.g., SD card slot, magstripe payment, etc.) with solid software. Had they kept their $0.50 pieces of hardware, they'd have whatever the profit margins of the upcoming S24U would be from my wallet, and probably more valuable to them, blind loyalty without brand curiosity.

But at this point, I'm just waiting for more reviews for the Sony Xperia I V.

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

With the exception of a headphone jack, this phone is the last Samsung "flagship" to have "everything." MicroSD card is a critical feature for me, and until Samsung brings it back in their upcoming flagships, I'm eyeing the Sony Xperia I V, although this device is still chugging along fine. A few slowdowns every now and then, but quite manageable.

Edit: Also forgot to include the Samsung Tab S8 Ultra, which has been a delight as a media consumption device! I managed to make it a laptop replacement, but extra work or altering your routine is necessary. If they managed to include Windows 11 on this thing, it would be unparalleled! But that's just wishful thinking. I also wish the keyboard cover had the fluidity and features of a Macbook's keyboard and track pad, but again, more wishful thinking.

And Nvidia Shield Pro, if that counts. Best streaming device ever, and has a robust app selection from the Playstore!

You just made me put on my tinfoil hat. Because AI uses so much RAM and resources, and all these OS's are implementing them on-device, this would be the ideal way to slow down all previous generation devices and force customers to buy new ones! Heck, even if they do onboard the AI software efficiently, they'd probably use it as the perfect excuse to slow them down anyway. Imagine how big the OneUI 7.0 update with AI would be. 30GB of internal storage and occupying 90% of RAM at all times, perhaps?

/Tinfoil rant

As a Samsung user, One Handed+ is a game changer. Placed on either/both side of the phone, I don't need to veer towards the bottom of the screen. Much faster and ergonomically superior to buttons or stock gestures.

If you have a Samsung, Goodlock can edit the share sheet down to the very app, as well as favorite contacts. I've also been using LinkSheet (available on F-Droid) with ClearURL to open links notorious for nasty redirects, and it may help with some of these features you're looking for.

Right!? I've used over 8 SD Cards since I first got the Samsung Galaxy S2, starting from 64GB to a 1TB one. Never experienced a single issue! You know what I did see happen though? A buddy's Samsung S21 completely brick and he couldn't retrieve any of his data since everything was stored internally. Luckily for him, at least his photos were backed up on the cloud. Lost his entire music and emulation collection in the process though.

Not sure what Moto's camera gestures are, but if you're now using a Samsung, you can say "smile" or "cheese" to take a picture when in camera mode. Super handy when you're holding something in the other hand. As for flashlight, there are plenty of options, such as MacroDroid & Tasker. I currently have the flashlight on/off bound to double-clicking the Bixby button.

PiP won't work with two media apps? Ugh, I was hoping I could watch two sports games concurrently! Especially during times like now and October, where you have playoff games of one sport and the regular season swing of your favorite teams in the other. I can do this with my Tab S8! If only it could work natively.

Even without score spoilers, just KNOWING that millions of other fans are experiencing the same moment as you is as chilling of an effect as the game itself!

Great dev too! I suggested a few improvements awhile back, and not only did he respond back, he had it implemented within the next update. And a one time payment instead of a subscription, which automatically makes this highly customizable app better than most of its peers.

Yup. How much would it hurt you if your phone had a small space for a SD card slot? If you don't use it, who cares. It's not affecting you a single iota. The only people benefiting are the OEM's, because god knows your phone hasn't gotten any cheaper since they began removing hardware features.

In what way are any of those phones "premium?" You're literally listing the two phones I can get to access an SD card. The $1400 Sony or low to mid-range ones. So I have to compromise my choice in my diminishing feature set so that the common man can have yet another Galaxy, Pixel, or even an iPhone that doesn't distinguish themselves beyond their OS/skin, camera count, and folding screens? Pick any one of these phones in the last 3 years and tell me what makes them unique and more practical than my Note 20 Ultra.

Plus, at least in the US, the common man is going for an iPhone. Apple just got nearly 60% of the market share here, so no, there isn't a plethora of choices, and Android OEMs aren't exactly fighting tooth and nail to provide exceptions in their products. So if I want a phone with actual "premium" features - such as cameras that eat up storage - and includes an SD card slot, it's down to Sony and Sony alone.

How can the data show that these phones are selling less when no phones are selling them at all? With the exception of Sony's Xperia line, who made a profit for the first time last year, what other mainstream phone sold in North America (a direct Android to Apple sales comparison where Apple has grown 10% YoY) has both of these features?

Me too! Although the audiobook version. Hoping to finish this one before the audiobook version of Red Rising #7 comes out!