> Samsung hardware is top-notch

Sometimes. In some ways. Their appliances (washer/dryer/etc) are notoriously unreliable, and their phone batteries appear to swell more than others.

Can speak to that. We went with a Samsung kitchen about ~5 years ago. 2 Dishwashers, 1 Refrigerator, 1 Robot Vacuum, and 2 Stoves later... well, we still have the 2nd Samsung Refrigerator (covered in dents though because the "stainless steel" is apparently super thin) and the Microwave (though we have been told it has a critical flaw, so treat the door gently), but everything else isn't Samsung anymore. It just all broke in one way or another. We also had a Galaxy Note9 in the family that became ludicrously slow after a year and started dropping phone calls - apparently a known software issue that randomly plagued people, absolutely no fix to this day, software reset will not fix.

We basically went to all Bosch and Apple after that. Heaven help anyone who bought recent high-end Samsung SSDs and doesn't read the news.

> Their appliances (washer/dryer/etc) are notoriously unreliable

Yep. I am in a house that is all Sanmsung appliances. The Dishwasher's intake valve started leaking, the Oven's LCD panel broke and only showed garbled information, and the dryer's heating source broke. These were all appliances bought in 2019.

Thankfully, I was able to get replacement parts for the first two and fix easily enough, but there was no way to easily fix the dryer (I ended up getting a new dryer).

There is no way I would buy a Samsung Appliance again, and it frankly makes me question the quality of anything they make.

LG seems to be the more reliable alternative in each of these areas.

Possibly might want to stay away from their fridges though.

I think LG fixed their inverted linear compressor problem. I had to buy a few fridges a few years ago, and they all work great and completely silent still.

I went with AEG specifically because they guarantee at least 10 year of replacement parts availability on those specific devices.

To me that's more valuable than a 2 or 3 year warranty.

> Their appliances (washer/dryer/etc) are notoriously unreliable

What I don't get about this is that consumer reports continues to frequently recommend their appliances. We bought a Samsung fridge, and that experience told me "don't buy any more Samsung appliances" but when we needed a new washer and dryer, CR rated a pair of Samsungs as top of the list. I thought "well, CR is supposed to be reliable, so maybe I am okay to get these."

Both broke within the first 18 months of ownership and left us unable to wash clothes until a repair could be scheduled.

Fool me twice, yep. I'm the fool. But I can learn, and never another Samsung appliance shall be brought into my house. With the possible exception of a TV; my current TV is a big Samsung and it's been flawless. I think it's actually a different company entirely, even though the appliances and electronics all claim to be "Samsung"

Friends of mine own an appliance store. They begrudgingly sell Samsung appliances and TVs because that's what people want to buy. No matter how much they tell their customers that Samsung is crap, and that they'll be replacing their appliances in 18-24 months. Cue the customer's surprised when they're back 22 months later buying a new non-Samsung washing machine or dishwasher, paid out of pocket, because Samsung came up with some ridiculous reason why warranty won't cover it.

What do they recommend?

Samsung makes good components but they make lousy products. If you’re tempted by a Samsung TV, find another brand that has their panels (e.g. I know Sony used their QD-OLED panels).

That's a good piece of advice I hadn't thought of. I hope my Samsung TV lasts many more years, as it seems to be one of the last "smart" TVs that isn't preloaded with ads (and I've never connected it to the 'net, nor will I). That's going to be my major bit of research whenever it comes time to buy the next one. If I must, I'll get a commercial unit.

> my current TV is a big Samsung and it's been flawless.

The TVs are better... but the OS was too much for me. Not only because it is full of ads and unlikely to get updates for very long, but also because it's Tizen (which one security researcher, admittedly in 2017, said "may be the worst code I've ever seen" and "Everything you can do wrong there, they do it." He also single-handedly found 40 separate flaws.) Considering Samsung's track record, I find it hard to believe that they would have improved in the last 5 years.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/04/samsungs-tizen-is-ri...

CR relies on user surveys for their reliability metrics/estimates. Are those failing to appropriately capture appliance reliability for some reason?

That's the only explanation I can think of. Out in the wild I hear nothing but bad reviews of Samsung appliances from other owners. On the repair forums, they have a similar reputation (they're great for business, if you are a repair pro).

I still rely on CR, however, in the absence of personal experience, bias, or that of someone else I trust. I just bought a new induction cooktop and Samsung was nowhere to be found on their recommended list, so I thought maybe they were starting to get wise to all the problems, but I noticed that the top gas cooktops are Samsung. Maybe those particular models are that good, but I'd never risk finding out. Gas cooktops are awfully simple devices, though, so the risk is limited.

For anyone worried they were going to need to adjust their world view, don't worry. Samsung makes a line of "Smart" gas cooktops and managed to Samsung-ify them.

Lots of reviews of poor build and materials quality ("stainless" surfaces bubbling or being scratched by paper towels, knobs breaking, the finish on the grate coming off during regular use and it rusting, etc), burners failing, burners melting the knobs, samsung denying warranty for various and sundry reasons, service techs being unavailable in many areas, service techs saying samsung doesn't supply parts and half the cooktop needs to be replaced for these issues, etc.

In products ranging from a couple weeks to a year old.

I'm dreading the day when we have to replace our decades old propane cooktop + oven.

Can't edit my old post, but I went and checked, and for the actual appliance reliability ratings on CR, Samsung rates pretty low currently: https://www.consumerreports.org/appliances/which-brands-make...

Sandwiched between "Fisher & Paykel" and Asko.

Surveys seem like a reasonable methodology for products where you can get large user samples, like with appliances and cars, but I have often had reason to question how well they understand what they are doing. For example, in the days of pre-digital photography, I was a close follower of technical reports in magazines like Modern Photography. When CR would do testing of of photography equipment, they seemed to be relatively clueless.

As we are discussing anecdotes, my Samsung fridge is over 15 years old and still ticking along ok. I've cracked one of the plastic shelves and it's hard to get replacement parts, that's all.

And for a nearby post: Older phone batteries tend to go out if stored fully charged and left for ages. Turning them off at 50% is the better option, especially if cycled once in a while.

That's the one positive I can say for my 11 year old fridge, and yes it is an important one. It still makes things cold. It eats front displays like candy, so I stopped feeding it those, but as long as I can work around that then the fact that it still gets cold is why I haven't caved and bought my wife the new fancy fridge she's been eyeing.

Nice. I'm all for making the most of my purchases, and when the time comes I'll get something more efficient etc - nonetheless, fingers crossed that'll be another decade.

My hi-fi system is 25 coming up on 26 years old. Rotel. :)

I replace fridge plastic shelves with thick glass shelves when the originals inevitably crack. Ask your nearest locksmith for references.

Oh thanks! I didn't realise this was a possibility.

Edit: Ah the flat ones are still fine, they have decent glass in them - it's the plastic milk/bottle door bins (also called bottle shelves or guards) that are cracking up. Sorry my original post wasn't precise. Good to know about the actual flat shelves, they're the main thing.

We bought a sumgsung washer and a Samsung dryer 6 months ago. Top of the line. I've never had a front loader before, didn't want one, but here were are.

Every month or so the bottom filter sensor says that its blocked. So you have a machine full of water that can't drain, and the lowest point in the machine saying there's a blockage. There's not. There never is. Is an optical sensor that gets dirty. The thing is, at that point, the only way to drain the machine and clean the sensor is by undoing a little 3mm ID hose and pulling the stopper out that they have helpfully supplied. You get water everywhere.

To remedy that, I have a 12v laptop adapter + a 12v bilge pump for a boat and some spare drain hose, put the bilge pump in a baking tray, let the bilge pump take care of sending the water to the shower or sink, and drain the machine. Clean off the sensor with water from a spray bottle, maybe a little vinegar or glass cleaner. Replace everything, and start the load.

Well over $1,500 of machine and in my mind it's a piece of crap. I wished for a small commercial top loader. It didn't match the nice theme. Now we have a Rube Goldberg disaster mitigation plan that gets actioned quite frequently.

Also, booking a Samsung service tech is hard.

That is an awful experience. I guess I'm 'lucky' that I don't have that particular sensor (or at least it never malfunctions). But on my machine, the narrowest part of the drain system is were the hose from the tub connects into the filter box. So when something finally gets lodged there, you have to use really long pliers and then just pull as hard as you can and hope the box doesn't crack as it comes through.

And as you say, draining is a great big PITA. I've gotten okay at doing it without any water hitting the floor, but it took some flooding before I nailed my technique.

No more Samsungs. Every time ours fails my wife gets a little more amenable to the idea of a Speed Queen toploader.

If I have a larger say in regarding our next machine it will be something like that speed queen. Whatever the medium commercial units are. Easy to service and replace parts. Few sensors. A dirty water pump that can move hair and solids.

Since we're telling anecdotes on Samsung appliances, well I have to say my Samsung fridge bought in 2008 works just fine today. It's just a fridge though, not much to go wrong with that I guess.

Ha ha, I just made a post that reads almost exactly like yours. Saw yours after. We might have the same model fridge. :)

Interesting, my Samsung front loader has been chugging away faultlessly for several years now. I must have bought one on a good day.

> Their appliances (washer/dryer/etc) are notoriously unreliable […]

Yale Appliances in Boston, MA, runs their own service department (instead of sub-contracting it out), and so have in-house statistics. According to them, Samsung are relatively reliable as compared to other brands they sell:

* https://blog.yaleappliance.com/are-samsung-appliances-reliab...

One thing they note is that Samsung has become quite popular, and so even if you have a low rate, if the total units are high, then you're going to get a number of service calls, which can raise visibility.

Android has a bloat problem in general. I uninstalled almost everything on my new iPad. On my Pixel 6A, I can only disable stock apps (they are still there taking up space). Its 2023, I should be able to completely uninstall apps I don't need.

You can't uninstall apps contained in the OS image; you're just hiding them. Applies to Android as much as iOS and macOS, too, for that matter.

Afaik on Android you can still uninstall updates so you're left with the OS image app version instead of OS image app + updated app

On the other hand, now you have an old app version lingering

adb pm uninstall is pretty strong on stock unrooted Android

This functionality can ONLY be accessed via ADB. It is DIFFERENT from "hiding."

You can break lots of stuff, even Google spyware (Play framework), which is the evidence I need that adb pm uninstall actually works to disable prepackaged manufacturer malware!

Don't wait - try it today: https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater

pretty sure that just removes it for current user. the app still sits around on the image bloating things up that way. although it does save a little space.

You can uninstall for all users using the adb helper tool I don't know the command line to do it manually.

Yes it's not removed but at least the guarantee it won't run is quite strong.

True... but in that case isn't it the same thing as using the "uninstall" feature in Android app management settings for bundled apps that just deactivates and removes all updates, basically just keeping the bundled installer?

That's likely because Apple is doing the same thing but just lying to you about it. You can't uninstall stock apps because they came on a read-only system image that was signed by your device manufacturer.

Depends on the app. You can get rid of the real ones like Pages or Sheets or Clips.

Mail or Calculator or Find My is just getting hidden.

This isn’t true. Deleting apps does actually remove that app and usually user data too. Associated system frameworks might stick around because other parts of the OS depend on them.

> This isn’t true. Deleting apps does actually remove that app and usually user data too.

It is true. Factory reset your iOS device and they will come back. That happens because the app is stored still, Apple just creates a second copy that it deletes when you remove the app.

LineageOS (Android build without Google Play) is generally <500MiB. Google apps usually had on something like 500MiB-1.5GiB depending on what you install. Usually OEM devices have at least that much plus whatever their own stuff is piled on

For that kind of futuristic functionality you’ll need to go to the year 2000.

> Samsung hardware is top-notch, but the software bloat is ridiculous.

Their self developed UIs are also garbage. My Samsung tv remote has no source button and source menu is hidden in home all the way to the left. If I make the mistake of clicking on an unrecognized device, it spends forever trying to detect it.

I may just be complaining about smart tvs in general, but my old TCL was not this much of a pain to use.

Same. I had a TCL "smart" TV which was pretty straightforward to use, and then my teenage daughter decided to get tripped up on the cord. Ruined the TV, decided to buy one with sturdy feet that won't trip, ended up buying Samsung.

Man, the UI is a clusterfuck. A lovecraftian horror show.

At least the feet are stable.

LG+ ROKU seems to be a good alternative to Samsung's Bloat.

Roku is constantly phoning home and is the chattiest device with PiHole.

Roku considers itself and ad company more than a hardware/software company, also.

Just wait until you try Sony. My mother required a television so I bought her one.

Sony is a good brand right? WiFi drops out at the most random times. The router is touching differences away.

The UI lags as it tries to connect to netflix to download all the latest "trends". So you have to wait many-frustrating seconds upon turning on the TV to actually use any UI feature. You can't even change the channel during that time.

Firmware upgrades when it wants.

BBC iPlayer has a dogtag that appears on any BBC channel "Press Green to watch from beginning" that intrudes any program witb no opt-out setting.

Sigh.

> The router is touching differences away.

Probably not your problem, but too close can actually be much worse than a moderate distance away. Radios struggle with dynamic range, and overly strong signals can be as bad as weak ones.

If it’s that close I’d just use a cable and cut WiFi out of the equation.

it insane how this is often not the reflex of people.

If its closer than 2m, attach a cable.

I've been in the TV business and still have friends there.

Never buy an older person something other than a Panasonic. You won't get bothered by your mom/dad/grandpa compared to any other TV manufacturer. The amount of TVs we've replaced with Panasonics because kids bought their parents a cheap TV and left them to their own was just sad.

My parents-in-law found LG to be much easier to control than Panasonic.

Just get her an AppleTV or something similar. TV manufacturers are about as good at UI/UX as car manufacturers are.

Apple TV hardware + a television with solid, no-nonsense HDMI CEC support (like the Roku TV models) is the best experience nowadays.

I don't understand how anybody on this site would consider using the underpowered mess in their TV.

I use my LG TV's YouTube application as the only media player on my TV because it's plenty fast enough and it does 4K.

On my other television I have an Apple TV, and the only real difference is that I like the Apple remote more.

I guess your needs are small, but I bet there will come a time where your YouTube on your TV suddenly becomes super slow and there’s nothing you can do about it.

At which point I will have gotten many years out of it and will stick an Apple TV on it like the rest of my TVs. Meh?

We bought a Sony with google tv a year or so back. I don't see the issue?

All smart tvs take a few seconds to start up, fill in the UI and that sort of stuff. My LG certainly does and samsungs seem to as well.

Firmware upgrades have so far all been "Would you like to update?"

And given it's basically android, I'm pretty confident that the apps won't go away after a couple of years like they seem to on most tv manufacturers proprietary OS's.

Personally I couldn't be happier.

Their mother might be used to the dreadful before-times when TVs were dumb and just instantly did what you told them to.

1. The before times of CRTs? Go back much before their EOL period and they took a bit of time to switch on and warm up too. Plus if you hit the "TV" button on my sony it goes to the TV pretty quickly because it no longer needs to load the home screen elements.

2. In which case why single out Sony? This behaviour is common across all brands.

3. Pretty sure the "I want everything as separate devices that do their one thing well" war has been lost to a large extent. Apple TV seems popular but the number of separate devices sold is an order of magnitude lower than the number of TVs shifted per year. See also point and click cameras vs mobile phones.

> Sony is a good brand right? WiFi drops out at the most random times. The router is touching differences away.

Barring Playstations, I don't buy Sony anymore.

Wonderful hardware, always with a premium fit and finish. But there's always something wrong with a Sony product. Sometimes ridiculous software design, sometimes ridiculous and unreliable hardware design. But it's always fucking something with them. They always get 90% of the way to an amazing product, and then fuck it up.

They often fuck it up on purpose even. Like back then their legendary "mp3" players that wouldn't actually play mp3 files. Currently their ridiculously short security update available. 3 years only for their 1600$ phone. at least somewhat increase from the 2 years they offered previously.

It is really sad, they have the most issues back in the days of VCR/VHS and still persists. I swear most of the jokes about how things made in Japan are junk is from Sony. Their phones are equally bad, most of the demos in the stores are always frozen.

Well, this sucks. I currently have a Sony TV that I love (bought it c.2019). It's just clean Android TV, there were a few widgets for Sony streaming services that were easy to disable on the settings. I just use the Plex app, Netflix app, Youtube App, and NBA League Pass, without any shenanigans. Traditional simple buttons-only remote (no weird touchpad, no point to click nonsense). Brilliant display panel. It seems I will not be happy when I have to replace it.

I never feel comfortable unless an LCD TV is securely connected to the surface it is resting on. I use nylon straps and wood screws.

I don't use Samsung phones for this reason. The hardware is great but their UI is such total garbage I can't stand it.

I honestly don't like their hardware either.

Well, the camera and battery that is. My huawei and iphone vastly outperform the samsungs I had.

I grade Samsung on the same level as Sony Xperia: great phones, but one too many things that are failing to be acceptable

(Had a Samsung s7, s20 and now an s22 from work, not by choice)

our samsung TV does this as well. You plug your computer into it and it takes like 15 seconds trying to figure out what it is. .Then you have to select manual, and PC.

I thought after a while I was imagining things, but I pluged my laptop into our old "dumb" sony and it was showing to the screen in less than one second.

Oh, but it gets worse. Upon plugging a laptop into our TV, the image is displayed, then it overlays the 'detecting input' thing for about 5 seconds, then it switches back to the image.

I agree re: the hardware but Google's OS feels pristine/top of class in the mobile world, Samsung (and other phone maker's) bloatware just seems annoying.

For a few phone generations, I thought Samsung's OS changes were superior to AOSP. But it seems like they've been degenerating back to the old clunky TouchWiz days lately. But if I'm being honest, I'm not happy with any phone manufacturer's hardware/software anymore.

Man, HTC made some of my favorite phones. I wish they were still doing it.

Some of Motorola's mid-range phones are actually pretty good these days - the moto g100 has performance roughly on par with a flagship from a couple of years ago, a huge battery, a microSD slot, a headphones jack, USB-C video output with "Ready For" which is arguably better than Samsung Dex (aside from the name), and official LineageOS support. I got mine for ~$270 on ebay, and if it broke, I'd probably buy the same phone again.

The Sony Xperia 1 IV and 5 IV are also interesting, with many of those same features, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 CPU is hot garbage and Sony didn't provide sufficient cooling (or tuning) to keep it from overheating and thermally throttling after a few minutes of usage.

HTC devices were great.

I too have had pretty good experiences with motorola lately. In early '21 I wanted a decent and metaphorically disposable phone so I got an unlocked moto G play from the local Target. I expected it to, like seemingly all others, have a locked bootloader and/or completely prevent root access. But I was pleasantly surprised! With a visit to motorola's website IMEI in hand and a couple hours of pulling up XDA pages (like the good old days) I had my device the way I wanted it.

It would be nice if mine didn't ship with the amount of bloatware that it did given that I couldn't find a replacement ROM at the time. But after some filesystem scouring and ADB commands it was cleaned up enough for me.

When I end up needing another new phone I'll likely hunt down another motorola, and probably the g100 given your positive experience; thanks for sharing it

My first Android was the HTC Desire-Z (T-Mobile G2 in the US), it was a great phone, I miss full keyboard phones.

I've had HTC phones since the HTC XDa IIs(Blue Angel/Harrier) Windows 2003 phone. It had Wifi and Bluetooth and a 400MHz processor. It was one of the most versatile phones of its time and helped spawn XDA developers. There were so many ROMs for this phone, even Android. I had a HTC Diamond after that and it was pretty amazing, lasting me over 6 years and i had a ton of maps downloaded to it and wikipedia. It helped a lot in Japan when wifi was just barely starting up and you need to get around with maps and train schedules.

Now Google Pixel has taken over most of the original HTC phone division, so you will have to look there for the spiritual successors.

I had a pixel previously. In general I liked it, especially the software, but I frequently missed the headphone jack and microSD slot.

Also, while mine initially had an unlockable bootloader, I sent it in for a repair of a broken USB-C port and they sent me back a phone with a permanently locked bootloader, essentially cutting it's usable lifespan in half.

I miss HTC.

> a couple years there when HTC was shipping excellent hardware (the HTC One line)

It has been a decade already....

Taiwan should make a great cell phone producer again. HTC 2.0 with TSMC's best chips with a clean android = yes.

TSMC doesn't have chips, they have chip factories; other people design them. That's the basis of their business, they promise not to compete with their customers.