Writing anything here will lead to a post filled with opinionated comments, with a vast majority of them being harsh. However, I’m on the fence and I wonder how many people feel the same way. I actually like Samsung (Android) devices, and TouchWiz for that matter, and I’ve never had any issues with them that I didn’t directly cause. While I know other people have had mixed experiences with both software and hardware, there’s also a vast majority that absolutely love their devices.
Which leads me to my first question and issue, software. Samsung has been notorious for holding out on the customers, starting with the Vibrant and continuing on with the newer devices. Because of that, developers have had to base their ROMs off unofficial releases/leaks, which I don’t see a problem with, and figure out work-arounds for glitches in the software. I thought that was the basis of Android. Open source, you don’t like what you were given then fix it up to your liking. If you have a bug, find a similar phone that doesn’t and port it over. Trial and error, the victories are much sweeter when they’re not simply given to you. Who cares what’s official or unofficial. I know rooting your device and flashing ROMs is not suggested by the company, but if it fixes your issues and you’re no longer bound to the corporation, who cares? I’m not telling you to do it I’m just saying there’s an alternative. How many people were already running Froyo before it was released for your device? How many people are still running that build over the official release?
As far as hardware goes, like I said I never had any issues I didn’t cause (screen durability test, threw Captivate across bar, broke digitizer but the screen was still perfect), although I will admit I think it was a miss by Samsung by not releasing the Vibrant and Captivate with LED flash, and notifications (not really an issue but the only complaint I have). I have heard people talk about issues they’ve had, and I’ve had my share of lemons, not with Samsung, it sucks. I can honestly say if I had repeated hardware issues with one specific company I’d be furious and would boycott them as well, but I wonder how many of these hardware issues were actually just software issues. Glitches, bugs, whatever, causing the phone to act in an unsatisfying manner. While I know this only leads up to what I discussed already above about Samsung not releasing updates in a timely manner, it’s still curious. Have you had any hardware issues with your Samsung device, and if so what were they?
At the end of the day, this all means nothing. It’s just thoughts that have occurred to me and as someone who likes Samsung phones, and also someone who hasn’t experienced problems with them. No this post is not some way of brown nosing Samsung, I just see lots of comments day in and day out every time anything is posted that makes reference to them. I don’t see a reason for some of the comments but that’s just me. Granted the updates are an issue, but like I said, devs make it work, and usually do a great job. As far as hardware, every company is going to have issues with some of their devices especially when they’re mass produced, can’t all be perfect. Feel free to leave your opinions below, and I will ask that you try and keep them clean and intelligent. Looking forward to the feedback, good or bad.
[Like I stated, these are MY opinions and not the views of AndroidStory.]
