CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Non-Audio Stuff => The Geek Cave: Home Theatre, Computers, and More! => Topic started by: Marvey on July 08, 2015, 10:26:29 PM
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Samsung Galaxy S6
It seems all these random websites (CNET, Engadget, etc.) say the Samsung Galaxy S6 is super awesome, but this has been far from my own experience. There seems to be something very very wrong with sites like CNET, Engadget, etc. I wonder how much Samsung pays these professional review fookers?
To give you some background, the non-profit organization that I work for (my other job) has standardized on Samsung Android phones, so I really didn't have a choice. My personal phone is still the Sony Z3, so my frame of reference will be from the Z3. (I also owned HTC Incredible, and the trusty G1 in the past, so I am used to Android and how it has evolved.)
In a nutshell, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is a piece of shit. The people who designed it are a bunch of faggots (using the South Park definition of "fag": super annoying dudes riding Harleys with loud exhausts). The Galaxy S6 is super annoying to use. In my typical style, I will succinctly explain why in bullet points:
- In hindsight, I am glad the dude behind the counter at T-mobile told me to go for the Sony Z3. Even the girl who was helping me at the T-mobile store said the Samsung TouchJizz was super lame and ghey.
- Samsung places the camera button in the lower right of lock screen. Guess what happens when I grab the phone from my pocket with my thumb and index finger? Yup, I end up accidentally activating the camera. Dammit. Now everyone thinks I'm a pervert wanting to take photos under ladies' dresses. Maybe having the fastest camera launch in the business isn't such a great idea.
- The volume buttons are located on the left side up toward the top. Like way up. WTF? All other phones I've owned have had easy to reach volume buttons. I don't have hands the size of Le Bron. Changing the volume is a two handed affair. This is BS. I call BS on you Samsung.
- The right most icon at the button on the home screen is fixed to bring up the Apps. On every other smartphone I've owned, I placed the phone icon in the right most bottom position. I don't know why Samsung is locking that prime position of real estate to the Apps. Isn't the point of Android customization? WTF Samsung? What kind of faggotry is this?
- To add more insult to injury, Samsung has placed the back button on the right side and the task switcher button on the left side. This is totally opposite to other Android devices I own, including an older POS Samsung tablet. Now every time I think I am pressing the back button, I bring up the Task Switcher. WTF Samsung? What kind of faggotry is this?
- It gets even worse, the back button and task manager touch "buttons" are way way way too close to the bottom or side edge of the phone. When I am gaming, the base of my index finger and thumb accidently brush these buttons and fuck me up. This horrible design has cost me millions of gold and elixir in Clash of Clans. FU Samsung.
- And finally, what's up with the tactile home button in the middle? Really, Android isn't Apple iOS and doesn't need to copy them. No idea what the people at Samsung were thinking.
- The camera lens on the backside protrudes from the body of the camera. Minor complaint I guess, just that is seems weird to have such a nice planed surface, and then have a funky bump sticking out from it.
- The speakers are on the bottom side and get blocked by fingers if holding the phone in landscape orientation to watch videos or play games. I believe Apple has the same problem. The Sony Z3 has speakers in the front of the phone.
- The touch screen is not as responsive as the Sony Z3 or Apple phones. It doesn't recognize certain quick light swaps (from muscle memory) that I can execute on the other phones.
- The screen contrast is poor and has a sickly yellow greenish tint. Sony's screen doesn't get as bright, but contrast is so much better and color balance is neutral.
- The Galaxy S6 simply feels cheap. Heck, even the original iPhone felt like a higher quality product. The metal trim and huge seams that surround the edges of the phone give it a cheap appearance far worse than what the fancy photos on the Internet would indicate.
CONCLUSION:
The Samsung S6 is a lewser phone designed by lewsers for lewsers. Unfortunately, I have been forced to be a lewser because of this piece of shit.
P.S. And Apple has to sue these guys? Really?
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Always felt this way about most Samsung gear including TVs. Media hype and overrated. Unfortunately their latest TOTL TV's (as of 2015/16 models) are the real deal so I can't crap on those anymore. They have that BMW marketing hype down pat.
Can you jailbreak it and put a custom ROM on it?
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After being forced to use a Samsung product, I now understand your views on Samsung gear better. The Galaxy S6 is a $99 phone. It shouldn't be priced anywhere near like the iPhone or Z3.
Samsung does make good refrigerators though.
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Used to make good HDDs and SSDs too. I can give credit where credit is due. Will I pick a Samsung over LG, Kitchen Aid or some other uber fridge later? Remains to be seen. Don't like how you ice keeps dropping out of the dispenser even after you stop and have to kick the cubes under the fridge though. Just sayin', lol.
I can tell you I've been done buying anything from GE for a long time now. The GM of appliances...
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Most of your complaints are centered around TouchWiz. If you're on T-mobile, the bootloader is most likely unlocked, and you can flash CM, or ParanoidAndroid or any other distro that you wish. If you're on one of the other big four, the loader will likely be locked and you're stuck with what you've got.
You can still largely deal with the software issues though with a simple launcher. The hardware is what it is of course, but Android allows a multitude of ways to change things in software that you don't like, you don't have to accept what Samsung gives you. This isn't an Apple phone. Things like the locked placement of the app drawer can be dealt with in about two seconds. I could easily flash my Note 1 with anything, its an unlocked international variant, but I'm content with Nova Launcher running over the default Samsung ROM.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.launcher
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
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Most of your complaints are centered around TouchWiz.
I read two (lower left camera icon at lock and Apps icon fixrf in lower right). 2 / 12 <> most. No, I'm not spending the next six to eighteen hours of my life possibly borking the phone so it works OK.
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Back button on the right side? Just be lucky they don't make cars. Accelerator and brake pedal might get swapped too.
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P.S. And Apple has to sue these guys? Really?
LOL
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Back button on the right side? Just be lucky they don't make cars. Accelerator and brake pedal might get swapped too.
It didn't occur to me like that. But now that I think about it, someone at Samsung went full retard. If I were CEO of Samsung or VP of that division, I'd totally go "nut rage" over that oversight; and I would be in the right too.
P.S. I miss Steve Jobs going Vader on people in the corridors of Apple HQ for going full retard (e.g. Mark Papermaster and Antennagate). Their ideas and products were better executed back then when he was alive and kicking. Apple is getting kinda ghey with the watch stuff and all.
P.S.S. The guy on the left is what would have happened to the guy responsible for Apple Maps if Jobs were alive today (it's not the cosmetic or map error issues, it's the poor usability and shit directions)
(http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120104152652/starwars/images/b/b1/Ozzel_croaks.jpg)
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Speaking of the apple watch, it seems they are not even breaking 10,000 per month. It's clear Apple also has failed to captivate market. Only company which actually makes a usable smartwatch is Pebble.
The reason why Samsung put the buttons in such weird way, among with physical middle button, is because it's pretty much iconic physical aspects at this point for Samsung android. It's been same buttons since first Galaxy S.
That said, I would had bought Galaxy S6 if Samsung had not gone to crappy metal/glass build + removal of replaceable batteries and SD-card slot. I will see how they are going to change their Note lines, and I might getting LG or Sony if they remove these features as well.
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This is the Galaxy S2, which is when Samsung went from four buttons on the bottom to three, with the physical home button. They've been doing it the same way ever since. Back on the right, menu (now multitask) on the left. GS3, 4, 5, and 6 are the same way. Just because you're not personally used to that layout I don't think is an excuse to call them all retards. They're under no obligation to copy how others design their phones. In fact, since Samsung is #1 in the market, if anything HTC, LG, et all should have to copy THEM, but I don't agree with that either. That's sort of the point of Android. If you want all phones from all manufacturers to look and work identically, buy a Windows Phone.
(http://images.samsung.com/is/image/samsung/uk_GT-I9100LKAXEU_001_Front?$TM-Gallery$)
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Sorry, they are retards. Anyone who knowingly chose to purchase and use the S6 is a lewser. As I said, even the cute T-mobile girl said it was for lewsers. It's more the totality of the shittiness of the S6 than one button in the wrong place.
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If samsung built cars, I wouldn't be surprised if they used square wheels which apple would immediately patent. Called it.
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Sorry, they are retards. Anyone who knowingly chose to purchase and use the S6 is a lewser.
Lol. It is what it is. I don't love the glass back or the fact that the too small battery is now sealed in place. Overall though, I still think it's an improvement over the crap quality of the GS4 and GS5. Believe it or not, TouchWiz is also a lot better than it was. If you're not bothered by the button placements and such, it's perfectly usable running Google Now launcher or Nova Launcher, though it probably doesn't deserve the "best evar" reviews its getting. I DO strongly prefer it to the HTC One M9. It's probably more of a wash against the G4.
Depending on what OnePlus does with the 2, I may end up going that route, otherwise I'll end up with a Note 5. I can't stand on screen buttons, and I don't want a screen smaller than 5.7", so that rules most phones out.
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If samsung built cars, I wouldn't be surprised if they used square wheels which apple would immediately patent. Called it.
ROFL. Apple would make the square wheels round - and patent that instead. Apple under Jobs did not tolerate Full Retard.
Lol. It is what it is. I don't love the glass back or the fact that the too small battery is now sealed in place. Overall though, I still think it's an improvement over the crap quality of the GS4 and GS5. Believe it or not, TouchWiz is also a lot better than it was. If you're not bothered by the button placements and such, it's perfectly usable running Google Now launcher or Nova Launcher, though it probably doesn't deserve the "best evar" reviews its getting. I DO strongly prefer it to the HTC One M9. It's probably more of a wash against the G4.
Are you serious? The earlier iterations were even worse? I guess I'm just sorta shocked and let down based on what I've read about these Samsung phones.
Button placement is everything for me. Putting the volume controls out of reach that is like putting the stick shift in my car on top of the passenger side dash. Putting the back and task buttons right next to the edge of the phone is like putting brake pedal 1mm to the left the gas pedal.
Retarded physical UI design is retarded physical UI design. There is no way around it.
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- Samsung places the camera button in the lower right of lock screen. Guess what happens when I grab the phone from my pocket with my thumb and index finger? Yup, I end up accidentally activating the camera. Dammit. Now everyone thinks I'm a pervert wanting to take photos under ladies' dresses. Maybe having the fastest camera launch in the business isn't such a great idea.
- And finally, what's up with the tactile home button in the middle? Really, Android isn't Apple iOS and doesn't need to copy them. No idea what the people at Samsung were thinking.
- The screen contrast is poor and has a sickly yellow greenish tint. Sony's screen doesn't get as bright, but contrast is so much better and color balance is neutral.
Nexus 6 has the same camera icon in the bottom right corner of the lock screen. It doesn't work exactly like TouchWiz, but similar concept. Swipe left on the lock screen with the N6, camera opens. Swipe right, opens the phone portion. Can do this at an angle too, till about 45 degrees or so (coming from the bottom corners, not the top). Swipe up and you unlock the phone as usual. That said, I activate the camera much less accidentally this way than I did with my S5. Learned to get around it regardless, but I do have big, nimble, clown hands. This might also be adjustable on N6, but I haven't checked. I also only have it set to turn on the screen if I press the power button.
I actually kind of liked the tactile home button, since it would turn the screen on. Easier than power buttom at times depending on how you were holding the phone. I guess I don't care either way, tactile button or not. I do prefer the more ergonomically placed buttons on the N6. I will say I'd accidentally turn the screen on more often than I intended with that tactile button on the S5, though.
The S5 had a section in the display settings that let you change the color profile of the screen. The cinema profile actually looked pretty nice. Can't speak for S6. Might be different. (Quick research makes me think S6 has a "Basic" color profile that is best: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-Galaxy-S6-Review-of-the-various-display-modes_id69968)
I did think the camera on the S5 was pretty decent. Guess anything felt good coming from the shit picture taker that was the HTC M7. I guess I liked the S5 overall, really, but I still preferred the M7 (just hated the camera, main reason I ditched it). Nexus 6 is waaaay better to me regardless. Again, big, lanky, clown hands. 6" is nothing for me. It makes the phone feel like it should to me, not some small toy.
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Samsung does make cars and has for a long time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Samsung_Motors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21DRB9I4eU8
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Never liked Samsung's amoled. Despite tweaks it still has those radium like greens. However , wouldnt call z3 neutral either. Yes, the colors are fine but the whites are bluish. Phone arena measured color temperature at 10k kelvin while the standard is 6.5k
But then sony also has the option to adjust white balance that may fix the cold display.
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ROFL. Apple would make the square wheels round - and patent that instead. Apple under Jobs did not tolerate Full Retard.
Are you serious? The earlier iterations were even worse? I guess I'm just sorta shocked and let down based on what I've read about these Samsung phones.
Oh yes, they were awful. Samsung's MO for the GS4 and GS5 was throw in every stupid gimmick they possibly could, the dumber the better. Total kitchen sink. The ROMs were so bloated and so crammed full of crap that the phones were already slow and laggy fresh out of the box. The gallery app would take like a full second to launch. Compared to that the GS6 is way better.
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Gotta market full retard so you can sell the next slightly less full retard thing. Was perfectly fine with my 5 year old Nokia N8 (and Symbian) until I launched it into a drink hard braking at 78mph on Ortega hwy. All it needed was 1GB more RAM. Symbian still does some things better than Android which is kind of embarrassing.
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Phone arena measured color temperature at 10k kelvin while the standard is 6.5k
Phonearena needs to learn how to do measurements properly. I assure you the the temp is not 10k. 10k is really fricking blue. ~6.5K is my eyeball guess. Cool indoors, just right outdoors.
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Gotta market full retard so you can sell the next slightly less full retard thing. Was perfectly fine with my 5 year old Nokia N8 (and Symbian) until I launched it into a drink hard braking at 78mph on Ortega hwy. All it needed was 1GB more RAM. Symbian still does some things better than Android which is kind of embarrassing.
My last experience with Symbian was S60 V3 I think on my old E90. I don't remember it too fondly. Definitely the worst part was dealing with apps, which were locked to IMEI numbers, hard to find, and would sometimes just fail to install for no apparent reason. I replaced that phone with a Dell Streak, which was one of the greatest marketing blunders in history. Dell wasn't quite sure what it was, and so they marketed it as a tiny tablet that happened to make phone calls. It shipped with Android 1.6 Donut and was locked into landscape mode because they thought that was how people used tablets.
When Dell released the 2.2 Froyo update, and I saw how you could use ADW Launcher to flip the orientation between portrait and landscape at will, I snapped it up. There was just nothing like it then. A 5" screen in 2010 was unheard of, and you could just get so much done on it so easily. I never missed my E90 after that for a minute, and that was with Froyo. Compared to that, the early versions of Symbian S60 Touch looked like complete trash, and I never gave another thought to Nokia.
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So sounds like you never used Belle then as the E90 was 8 years ago. That was basically my intro to Symbian as an actual user. Sometimes Google and Android just try to be too cute and minimalistic to the point it makes basic functions either too difficult or impossible to perform efficiently. a few of the basic additions in Lollipop prove my point as they are things Symbian was doing years ago already. Kind of silly. I'm still not too heavy on 3rd party apps even on lollipop. I see my friends Droid do crazy shit with all the stuff he's got on that thing.
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Anyone knows how to change icon size without using another launcher?
Recent update on my Z Ultra resulted in ugly large icons. Do not want to use another launcher as the stock is plenty polished.
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So sounds like you never used Belle then as the E90 was 8 years ago. That was basically my intro to Symbian as an actual user. Sometimes Google and Android just try to be too cute and minimalistic to the point it makes basic functions either too difficult or impossible to perform efficiently. a few of the basic additions in Lollipop prove my point as they are things Symbian was doing years ago already. Kind of silly. I'm still not too heavy on 3rd party apps even on lollipop. I see my friends Droid do crazy shit with all the stuff he's got on that thing.
No, I've never tried a Belle phone. The last time I paid attention to Nokia was when they first responded to the iPhone and Android with this, which was the de facto replacement for the E90, since there wasn't going to be another communicator style clamshell phone. It's hard to overstate what an absolute piece of dog shit it was. Given the choice between this and the Streak, it was a no brainer.
https://youtu.be/vJpEuMidcSU
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There seems to be something very very wrong with sites like CNET, Engadget, etc. I wonder how much Samsung pays these professional review fookers?
cnet used to be sponsored by Samsung and LG. I don't know if they still are because I stopped reading them years ago.
GS6 eliminated the only reasons why someone would consider buying a Samsung: removable SD card and battery.
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cnet used to be sponsored by Samsung and LG. I don't know if they still are because I stopped reading them years ago.
GS6 eliminated the only reasons why someone would consider buying a Samsung: removable SD card and battery.
IMO there are a few others. The GS6 has the only workable touch ID setup on Android. A few other phones have finger print readers, but they are all as bad or worse than the one in the GS5. It's also one of very few phones to still have capacitive touch buttons, which for me are an absolute must have. On screen buttons simply cannot replicate "always on" AND "always hidden" at the same time, making them infinitely less practical.
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Apple under Jobs did not tolerate Full Retard.
This. This is the biggest change since Steve. That said, how many years of iTunes have we had under Steve? What was their last good year? Oh wait, never.
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IMO there are a few others. The GS6 has the only workable touch ID setup on Android.
You've obviously never tried to use it on the GS6.
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This. This is the biggest change since Steve. That said, how many years of iTunes have we had under Steve? What was their last good year? Oh wait, never.
Good point. The coding of the Windows version especially is appalling, it makes you think that they purposefully sabotage iTunes for Windows as a way to push people towards OSX, which wouldn't shock me at all if that were really the case.
Aside from iTunes though, there just seems to be a lot of launch failures with Apple as of late, which definitely wasn't the case under Jobs from what I recall. Things like the Apple Maps rollout for example. If that happened under SJ, heads would've ROLLED.
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You sure are whiney, Merv. :P
I've got the GS4 and Galaxy Tab S. The GS4 has been running problem-free for me for two years now with no signs of slowing down. If it had longer battery life, I would be 100% content with it.
I also hate Touchwiz, but Nova Launcher pretty much takes care of everything for me. I have no issues with the Samsung interface after that.
I actually agree that the build quality of the GS6 is a bit overrated on the regular version. For whatever reason, though, the edge version just feels sexy to me. I know it's a gimmick, but I have no shame in liking gimmicks.
I also really prefer the buttons on the Galaxy line. Physical buttons make me happy and I don't really care for the on-screen buttons of a lot of phones.
Still trying to decide between this and the LG G4. The size of the G4 is a big turnoff to me. I already hate carrying phones in my pocket as it is. I wish there were some alternative other than being 50 years old and carrying a hip holster. I also hate that it feels so light and flimsy. I like heavy/paperweight phones. But, it seems to do a lot of things right...the good manual settings on the camera, the expandable storage and replaceable battery (I like to carry a spare), etc.
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Samsung: Let's take the best hardware and screen and surround it by unusable garbage design and load it with unusable garbage software.
Samsung needs someone else to do everything that isn't the screen and the processor.
my phone doesn't have the severe greenish tint or odd color. In fact, I took a colorimeter to it and got 6514k and on-the-dot srgb primaries (with a gentle green tilt). The fact that this is true makes it even worse because holy shit how bad does their QC have to be?! I've seen better and worse S6s, and that's even worse than if they were uniformly good or bad!
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You sure are whiney, Merv. :P
I've got the GS4 and Galaxy Tab S. The GS4 has been running problem-free for me for two years now with no signs of slowing down. If it had longer battery life, I would be 100% content with it.
I also hate Touchwiz, but Nova Launcher pretty much takes care of everything for me. I have no issues with the Samsung interface after that.
I actually agree that the build quality of the GS6 is a bit overrated on the regular version. For whatever reason, though, the edge version just feels sexy to me. I know it's a gimmick, but I have no shame in liking gimmicks.
I also really prefer the buttons on the Galaxy line. Physical buttons make me happy and I don't really care for the on-screen buttons of a lot of phones.
Still trying to decide between this and the LG G4. The size of the G4 is a big turnoff to me. I already hate carrying phones in my pocket as it is. I wish there were some alternative other than being 50 years old and carrying a hip holster. I also hate that it feels so light and flimsy. I like heavy/paperweight phones. But, it seems to do a lot of things right...the good manual settings on the camera, the expandable storage and replaceable battery (I like to carry a spare), etc.
As someone that owns an S6, the only reason I own it is because the M9 sucked so horribly. I loved my M8 though :(
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As someone that owns an S6, the only reason I own it is because the M9 sucked so horribly. I loved my M8 though :(
Yeah, I was really excited about the M9. What a letdown.
It's certainly got the kind of physical design that I can appreciate (from a weight/heft perspective).
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Need more thermal throttling. Any way go do this on s6
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Need more thermal throttling. Any way go do this on s6
Mount in front of BRZ AC vents for navi.
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Dammit, this Samsung is such a piece of shit. Does it really need to get as hot as a Zana Deux chassis for Clash of Clans?
C'mon Samsung apologists. Tell me what to do. The Nova launcher helped. You guys must have some ideas to make this POS perform like the premium smartphone it's supposed to be.
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Dammit, this Samsung is such a piece of shit. Does it really need to get as hot as a Zana Deux chassis for Clash of Clans?
C'mon Samsung apologists. Tell me what to do. The Nova launcher helped. You guys must have some ideas to make this POS perform like the premium smartphone it's supposed to be.
I'm surprised it's running so hot. Most of the Snapdragon 810 based phones have to go into throttling hell in order to not melt themselves to death, but I would've assumed that the big.LITTLE Exynos Octa in there would've been better optimized since Samsung makes it.
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Dammit, this Samsung is such a piece of shit. Does it really need to get as hot as a Zana Deux chassis for Clash of Clans?
C'mon Samsung apologists. Tell me what to do. The Nova launcher helped. You guys must have some ideas to make this POS perform like the premium smartphone it's supposed to be.
Not a Samsung apologist, maybe a case can help?
On a thin phone like the S6, the chassis don't have much thermal headroom. It doesn't take much to heat the phone up before you can melt butter with it.
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Most cases are insulators and would make it worse. The phone would likely go into reboot cycles. Adding more metal would only help till it heated up to normal temp and then function like there was no case. You'd need a properly designed heatsink to actually raidate enough via convection.
Try rigging an external peltier. :P
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Dammit, this Samsung is such a piece of shit. Does it really need to get as hot as a Zana Deux chassis for Clash of Clans?
C'mon Samsung apologists. Tell me what to do. The Nova launcher helped. You guys must have some ideas to make this POS perform like the premium smartphone it's supposed to be.
My S4 doesn't get hot when playing CoC. *shrug*
It does get hot when charging, but that's about it.
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Dammit, this Samsung is such a piece of shit. Does it really need to get as hot as a Zana Deux chassis for Clash of Clans?
C'mon Samsung apologists. Tell me what to do. The Nova launcher helped. You guys must have some ideas to make this POS perform like the premium smartphone it's supposed to be.
Maybe this phone comes with a fridge or cooling fan made by Samsung that only Samsung makes.
P.S. Can you take off the body panel on the back, drill minute holes in it and then fix the heat issue?
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My S4 doesn't get hot when playing CoC. *shrug*
It does get hot when charging, but that's about it.
You have an older chip that doesn't need to get hot.
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S4 = 1080x1920 = 2073600 pixels
S6 = 1440x2560 = 3683400 pixels
78% more pixels to render. I wonder why the S6 gets hotter in the same thermal limitations.
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S6 v. S4
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=6849&idPhone2=5371
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Just stick this on the back.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61YegNghIpL.jpg)
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Just stick this on the back.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61YegNghIpL.jpg)
That thing looks cool, weird but cool.
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That thing looks cool, weird but cool.
It can handle a Core i7 without a fan, so I think a mobile ARM chip will be under control.
(http://www.cowcotland.com/images/news/2013/07/ventirad-nofan-cr-95c-spcr.jpg)
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Samsung Galaxy S6
It seems all these random websites (CNET, Engadget, etc.) say the Samsung Galaxy S6 is super awesome, but this has been far from my own experience. There seems to be something very very wrong with sites like CNET, Engadget, etc. I wonder how much Samsung pays these professional review fookers?.......
The Samsung S6 is a lewser phone designed by lewsers for lewsers. Unfortunately, I have been forced to be a lewser because of this piece of shit.
P.S. And Apple has to sue these guys? Really?
The complaints about the buttons/Touchwiz UI are easily fixed:
first of all be extremely wary of advice to install cyanogenmod or some other ROM just to fix such a tiny UI issue. I run CM on some stuff but on more sophisticated devices with a lot of proprietary hardware and functionality you will definitely lose features and hardware support.
The easiest way to get the UI to appear and behave as you prefer is to install a different launcher - the launcher is what dictates the layout and behaviour of homescreen, menus, buttons (both hadware and software) and so on. On my Galaxy Note II LTE I also have very similar reservations about Samsung's UI choices but I also don't want to lose support for S-Pen and multiwindow and various other neat stuff, so I run the Nova Launcher https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher
It is nicely customisable, does not require root, and the free version is so capable that I haven't found it necessary to consider buying the the premium version.
I didn't use an S6 but I do own a Note and a Note 2 and a Tab 2 and in my experience the hardware is actually excellent (totally reliable, durable, huge battery life) and the idiosyncracies of the Touchwiz UI are easily fixed with the installation of a different launcher - there are lots available, I only recommend Nova from experience (no ads, no bs, totally stable, easy to customise, simple to back up and restore settings). Maybe there are better launchers out there or ones you'd prefer.
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Thanks for the review Merv. I was choosing between S6, LG G4, Sony X3 and HTC M9 and based on your review and other posts here, I went for the S6. Thanks again! headbang :wheel: