Comment on Samsung's latest update is a serious gut punch to Galaxy power users
postnataldrip@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sigh. I haven’t actually run a non-standard firmware for a while now, but I’m finding the mindset of a lot of these big companies exhausting, the relentless push for them to control every aspect of everything. Particularly when they’re charging huge amounts for the device and to my mind at least can’t claim they’ve somehow subsidised the hardware.
As long as they don’t encounter any resistance, they have no reason to renounce their enshittification process.
Will the sales slow because of this? Unlikely. I would assume the power users are in the noise.
Will they make more money? Probably, either through their own data collection and brokerage, or from third party editors paying to have their app bundled in the OS.
So, no catch! (for them…)
I dont run custom ROMs anymore either but I have needed Odin a few times over the last few years to flash different OEM firmware to devices. Examples are a couple of work phones the company let me keep after upgrading which had Sprint firmware. I was able to flash Tmobile firmware to them while simultaneously removing all the locked-down work stuff that was preventing me from doing anything with the devices like activating developer mode.
As far as my personal device, an S21 Ultra, I’ll probably need to upgrade it in the next couple of years and I think its finally time to ditch Samsung. I had similar feelings before getting the S21 but compromised since the market was shit for higher-end devices (I typically get a higher end device and then keep it for years and years) and i have no interest in Apple. It sucks because the market is still weak as hell in the US. Every device I’ve come across that looks decent is a EU device that doesn’t support all of Tmobile’s bands.
alpha1beta@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
The only answer is regulation. We need laws that say, if you own a device, you can do anything you want to it, including wipe it, hack it, resell it, etc.
If they want to control your device, or lease it to you provided you pay a monthly fee, etc, they need to say “Lease”, “Rent” or similar, not buy.
And they shouldn’t be able to void your warranty for it - voids should be limited to the parts of the device you mess with. Like, if you flash your phone, they should be able to say, we can’t give you support, including how to re-install the original OS…but if your battery fails and it shocks you, they should have to replace the battery under a warranty.
We also need laws that say, if you pay for a device, that device itself, can’t have ads. So like, when talking about Android TV boxes, they can put recommendations on the homepage, but not ads, and those recommendations can’t be paid. Now, if you open youtube, they can make you watch ads.
Infernal_pizza@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Best I can do is a bunch of age verification laws to take even more control away from you
alpha1beta@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
There’s a special place in hell for those Republicans. It’s always the Pedo-Conservatives who want that.
I’ll compile my own linux kernel before I install OS level age verification.
Infernal_pizza@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Republicans are absolute scum but they only exist in the US and are nothing charge of every state. This is a bipartisan push around the globe.
JayGray91@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
The regulations won’t come from S. Korea in the case of Samsung. And I doubt any other big market for Samsung is going to regulate them as well.
It’s just a fucking shit show. I specifically gotten my s24u because of good lock and the BT stylus. Shouldn’t have trusted the Koreans when they’re already boring cyberpunk dystopia before anyone else
batshit@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah I agree! In general, a product should be either software or hardware, and companies shouldn’t have say on the other one. If you’re selling hardware (phone, TV, computer) you have no right to lock the software. If you’re selling software (apps, games), you have no right to lock it to a specific hardware.