mikestevens

joined 1 year ago
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Samsung announces One UI 6 beta with Android 14, then deletes it | 9to5Google in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hmm. What you've posted isn't far off Samsung's shade, except for some weirdly wide buttons at the top and a media controller that doesn't add anything to the experience.

Yes it's got minor but not insignificant aesthetic differences, but to say Samsung's is awful and then hold this up as an example of good design... πŸ€”

Here's my Samsung's shade in its two positions (which can be changed to open fully on the first swipe if preferred).

Exclusive: Google Pixel Watch 2 to feature UWB, new chipset, and more - android authority in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago

I've got the Galaxy Watch4 and I love it. I get nearly two days of battery, which is fine by my standards, and the UX is snappy as hell.

Xiaomi reveals first Mix Fold 3 details: Everything the Z Fold 5 isn't? in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Pretty tempted to order one of these. I really want a folding phone, but damn it's hard to talk myself into a Fold 5 when I know this exists.

10 years ago, Google launched the 2nd-gen Nexus 7, and no tablet has captured its magic since in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sorry yes, those are all Samsung model names that I was listing.

Well, I can't speak for the Lenovo experience as I've never used one, and I'll happily admit that any Samsung device needs a little tweaking to begin with, but I use my Tab S8 regularly for editing 60mb RAW photos off my full-frame camera and I can confidently say it performs very well.

My daughter uses my Tab S6 Lite and it's more than up to meeting her demands β€” which includes a lot of educational games and so on.

My son uses my Tab S4 and he's had no complaints either.

I mean, there's not much else a tablet is meant for, really!

10 years ago, Google launched the 2nd-gen Nexus 7, and no tablet has captured its magic since in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year ago

Honestly can't say enough good things about my Tab S8. I use it for editing photos in Lightroom Mobile, and it works so damn well with the stylus. Very responsive and fast.

10 years ago, Google launched the 2nd-gen Nexus 7, and no tablet has captured its magic since in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Hmm. I have a Tab S4, a Tab S6 Lite and a Tab S8, and the S8 is markedly quicker.

10 years ago, Google launched the 2nd-gen Nexus 7, and no tablet has captured its magic since in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had the first gen, and it wasn't great in terms of performance, but damn I Ioved it. Very fond memories.

Google delays its upgraded Find My Device network until Apple can add safety alerts in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Extremely frustrating, but I suppose I get it.

I'll probably get some airtags. I have an iPhone I don't use, but I've taken to carrying a bag more often when I'm out, so I guess I can just keep the iPhone in there for these sorts of things. (And hope I don't lose the bag. πŸ˜‚)

Google says it will start downranking non-tablet apps in the Play Store in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year ago

What carrot? A carrot is an incentive. Google didn't embrace the tablet format until very recently, in the grand scheme of things. They haven't offered devs any special deals that I'm aware of β€” say a revenue split from the play store or paying them to deliver a tablet version of their app β€” so they didn't incentivise devs to focus on Android tablets.

iPads have dominated the market for so long, and remain a fairly predictable and consistent device to develop for, so... why would an app developer have poured time into an app for Android tablets in years past?

Google says it will start downranking non-tablet apps in the Play Store in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 3 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't be surprised if the unsaid part is that they're focused more on productivity apps than social apps, but I could be wrong. Also wouldn't be surprised if Instagram doesn't care about getting downranked, given its brand and market awareness somewhat transcends the need to appear in top-apps lists.

Google says it will start downranking non-tablet apps in the Play Store in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 3 points 1 year ago

That's what he said.

33
Samsung might make a shock return to Exynos for the Galaxy S23 FE and Galaxy S24 models (www.pocket-lint.com)
 

Pocket-lint has been told by a reliable source that Samsung may be considering using its own Exynos hardware again for the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE and potentially the 2024 Galaxy S24 series in some regions, moving away from Snapdragon.

The return to Exynos hardware raises questions about whether fans will be happy.

While Snapdragon may still be used in the US for the Galaxy S24, Europe is currently expected to have the Exynos variant, which has previously been unpopular with some technology enthusiasts and network operators.

Can't say I'm stoked about this... Australia had Exynos for a long time and didn't get Snapdragon until the S22. I skipped the S22 when I had an S21 Ultra, but I am loving my S23U.

This Exynos chip is claimed to be awesome, but it'd be pretty impressive if it's more awesome than the Snapdragon chips.

There may still be some hope for some though, as Wood also said: "I'd be surprised if Samsung decided to return to Exynos for the important European market, but we might see it in some smaller markets to ensure Samsung's in-house platform stays in the game. There's also likely an element of Samsung wanting to keep Qualcomm on its toes too, which may be what is driving these recent rumours."

Related reading on Lemdro.id: Another Samsung Galaxy S23 FE leak details the phone’s diverse chipsets in different markets

First time I saw this Gboard feature in c/android@lemdro.id
[–] mikestevens@lemdro.id 2 points 1 year ago

Hmm, yeah, I don't have it yet here in Australia. I tend to prefer SwiftKey anyway, but this looks like a pretty handy feature!

4
Samsung: Long-exposure 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘀𝘡 (not simply pro mode) from motion/live photos? (lemdro.id)
 

Ahoy all,

I know Samsung's phones don't do it natively (apart from using the actual shutter settings in pro mode), but does anybody know if there's an app that can emulate the iPhone's live photo long exposure effect (as seen here), using Samsung's motion photo function?

On the iPhone, you can open any live photo, then tap a menu option to have it stack each frame to create a long-exposure effect.

Blows my mind that Samsung hasn't dived into this type of thing, especially considering the Pixel now also has some great post-processing motion effects

Cheers!

125
What's your favourite keyboard app? ⌨️ (lemdro.id)
 

So, up front, I'll admit I'm one of those guys that gets hung up on tiny, largely irrelevant quirks in apps. Yeah, I'm great fun at parties.

So, what's your favourite keyboard app? I keep coming back to SwiftKey. I feel like it's the best typing experience for me, with fairly accurate prediction and correction β€” although it's far from perfect, of course. I've seen plenty of people complain about it, and apart from Microsoft adding Bing to it, it's not received much in the way of innovation or useful updates since they bought it.

I particularly like that a long press on the backspace key will delete one whole word at a time, speeding up the longer you hold it down. I simply haven't found the backspace methods on Gboard or the Samsung keyboard (which used to be Swype I guess?) to be as predictable or reliable. Gboard's swipe back doesn't feel predictable in what it will do, and Samsung's backspace is more like iOS.

I also find SwiftKey to be the best at remembering sequences of words; if I start typing my address, it'll generally remember each successive word and offer it as the main prediction on the top row. Samsung and Gboard both do that to some extent, but I just haven't found them to be as reliably predictable in the results.

On the other hand, I hate that SwiftKey doesn't can't add an image to its clipboard. Copying and pasting images is a breeze with both Gboard and Samsung's keyboard, but with SwiftKey I pretty much have to download/screengrab and upload any image I want to insert in a chat or post.

So, that's it. Rant over! What's your favourite keyboard app, and does anything irritate you about it?

61
The Verge's review of the Pixel Fold as an image editor (lemdro.id)
 

This is good to see, but as Welch notes, the lack of stylus support is a real miss here.

As a Samsung user myself, I'd obviously just look to the Galaxy Fold, although not being able to store the stylus onboard (without a case) does suck.

All that said, I'm very happy with my S23 Ultra for editing photos. Yeah I've gotta zoom in a lot, but it's not that big a pain. I actually start most of my Sony A7RV edits in Lightroom on my phone, only moving to desktop when I need to switch to Photoshop for final edits.

Any mobile photo editors in our growing community here?

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