Let's Talk Tech
Note 20 Ultra Camera Conclusion!
A BIG phone with BIG cameras and a BIG price tag! Expectations are always high for a Note. This has historically been Samsung’s crown jewel workhorse phone.
Following the S20 Ultra, and selling at a PREMIUM tier, what should we expect from this camera hardware? Samsung says this phone is “pro grade”, so let’s see that in action! Continue reading “Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Camera Conclusion: A STEEP price for RAW capability…”
This is an interesting position for me to be in. As an overall brand, I’m not the biggest fan of Samsung these days.
I feel they buy their market position more than they earn it. They pour advertising dollars into media to sway consumer behavior and manipulate search engine popularity algorithms. They set a toxic tone of mocking rivals in their ads, but quickly copy those same rivals when it benefits their profits. They were one of the higher profile phone manufacturers caught cheating benchmarks back in the day, and likely copied Apple’s update policy of slowing down older phones. As a corporation, they’ve abused their market position to inflate prices on components. Their PR has been the most punitive I’ve ever worked with (and failed to work with), over several media publications.
While I appreciate individual products, I don’t like Samsung as a company.
Which is why it feels funny writing a defense for one of their most expensive phones. I’m not the guy for this job, but I’ll try my best.
The Note 20 Ultra is a great phone at a very good price. Continue reading “Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: The case for SPECIALTY Hardware”
The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is a beast of a phone.
For 2020, we can call this slab “Peak Samsung”. A prime example of a company pushing its current manufacturing to the limits, and delivering the absolute best “standard” form factor smartphone it can. The Note has a rich history of being the crown jewel enthusiast and productivity device.
We can’t overlook however, the Note 20 Ultra also starts at $1299.99 for 128GB of storage. For that price we should expect the bleeding edge of technology, and a spec sheet packed full of premium-tier exotic options.
Samsung doesn’t disappoint for spec sheet junkies in the United States. Including a Snapdragon 865+ chipset, UFS3.0 storage, and 12GB of RAM, the Note should be leading most of our performance testing.
And it does. But it doesn’t always win…
Performance testing is more involved than running a synthetic bench and comparing who’s number is bigger. Let’s dig a little deeper than that. Here’s the Note 20 Ultra: By The Benchmarks! Continue reading “Galaxy Note 20 Ultra By The Benchmarks: Samsung’s Fastest is PRETTY Good for the Price…”
Our third yearly phone swap challenge! TK Bay and I are getting to work!
Our format is going to be a LITTLE different in this age of social distancing, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun with a showdown.
This year we’re looking at productivity devices, but first we have to trade some gadgets…
Let’s see if we can keep this on the DL… Continue reading “TK and Juan Phone Swap Challenge 3! The Exchange!”
How DO cameras work?
As I’ve been talking about the Galaxy S20 and LG V60, people seem surprised by some of the performance I’ve been describing.
We might complain about compromises on one phone, but how do those changes compare to the competition?
How closely should we examine marketing claims? Should popular manufacturers be graded on a curve JUST because they’re popular? Let’s take a look at the Galaxy S20’s spec sheet here…
Continue reading “Does the Galaxy S20 use a FAKE Zoom?”
There’s a minor controversy brewing around the Galaxy S20. I’ve been asked to comment on the issue, and my feelings on this topic are a little messy.
Samsung’s newest phones are apparently plagued with a few issues. While no one would argue against the new S20 series as powerful options in the Android ecosystem, camera gremlins are souring the experience for early reviewers. Some encountering an experience struggling to live up to inflating price tags.
Techies online are debating how seriously these camera gremlins should be factored into the conclusions of their reviews. It’s very likely many of these issues can be fixed with some software patches, and there’s a decently high probability a day one patch could be pushed to consumers.
Should a reviewer review the phone as it was sent to them under embargo? Should a reviewer anticipate what the phone MIGHT be after some polish? Should a reviewer hold a review to see if Samsung delivers the promised improvements?
How do I feel about this issue?
The short answer, I think reviewers should stop playing Samsung’s media circus game.
The long answer is, well, longer… Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy S20: What is a reviewer’s responsibility?”
Motion control showdown! We’ve been dancing around Jedi controls for years. Alternative actions are NOT easier. Google is taking a simpler approach to air gestures. Here’s how it stacks up against the other methods used by LG and Samsung!
I think simpler is better… Continue reading “Pixel 4XL vs LG G8 vs Galaxy S5: Air Gestures Are HARD”
And the immediate reaction by consumers will likely be a shrug.
“What can you do?”
The problem is, that apathy shouldn’t be a surprise. We don’t have much room to “vote with our wallets” these days. The reality of the tech market, these supposed “upgrades” happen way too quickly for consumers to react. Gadgets sales paced out over years from individual consumers don’t guide manufacturing decisions.
The in-display fingerprint sensor can apparently be unlocked by ANY finger. I discussed this on the #SGGQA podcast while the story was fresh, and the general sentiment from Samsung fans was that this had to be a case of user error. We’re getting confirmation now that this is a flaw in the current software from Samsung. Users are starting to test this flaw, and it has nothing to do with improper setup or using Non-Samsung approved accessories. BBC confirms Samsung will release a software patch for the problem.
Here’s a video of a Galaxy S10 owner on Twitter demonstrating the problem, freshly training a thumbprint, and then bypassing the fingerprint lock with a different finger. Continue reading “Smartphone design “improvements” are not progress: Prettier is less practical”