Samsung Announces $1,000 Galaxy Note 9 Smartphone With Last-Gen Android Software Out-of-the-Box (engadget.com) 197
The Galaxy Note 9 touts a slightly larger 6.4-inch end-to-end screen, a 4,000mAh battery that promises "all-day" use, and a minimum 128GB of storage -- there's also a 512GB version that, with 512GB microSD cards, can give you a full terabyte of space. It runs Android 8.1 Oreo -- not Android Pie, which Google and Essential rolled out to some of their devices earlier this month. Engadget: Samsung is also bringing over welcome improvements from the Galaxy S9 family, including stereo speakers and the variable aperture f/1.5-2.4 primary camera (there's a second camera on the back, of course). This year, though, the most conspicuous change revolves around the S Pen. This is Samsung's first S Pen to incorporate Bluetooth, and that lets you do a whole lot more than doodle on the screen. You can use it as a remote control for selfies and presentations, and Samsung is providing a toolkit to let app developers use the pen for their own purposes. And no, you don't need to load it with batteries or plug it into a charger -- it'll top up just by staying in your phone. The base model of the Note 9, featuring 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, is priced at $999. The other variant will set you back by $1,250. Preorders begin on August 10th, and the phone will be available on August 24th at all major carriers or direct (and unlocked) from Samsung. CNET writes about the camera sensors on the new handset: The Galaxy Note 9 keeps the same hardware setup as the Galaxy S9 Plus. That is, dual 12-megapixel cameras on the back, one of them that automatically changes aperture when it detects the need for a low-light shot. (Samsung calls this dual aperture, and it's also on both S9 phones.) There's also an 8-megapixel front-facing camera for your selfies. What's different is AI software that analyzes the scene and quickly detects if you're shooting a flower, food, a dog, a person. There are 20 options the Note 9's been trained on, including snowflakes, cityscapes, fire, you get it. Then, the camera optimizes white balance, saturation and contrast to make photos pop.
Which percentage is used by unwanted apps? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Zero. Pretty much all of these apps do nothing, and if they do just disable them and Android will prevent them from executing, updating, and doing anything other than using a very small amount of storage space.
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With Samsungs you measure the percentage that isn't; it requires less digits.
..or (Score:5, Informative)
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or you can buy Kindle Filre 8.9" for $60 that does 90% of things Note does.
The most important thing the Note will do is not have Alexa.
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but it will have two spywares preinstalled instead of one. Google and bixby
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or you can buy Kindle Filre 8.9" for $60 that does 90% of things Note does.
The most important thing the Note will do is not have Alexa.
It's still just hardwired spyware from Google, though.
Actually, in this case it's spyware from Amazon....
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or you can buy Kindle Filre 8.9" for $60 that does 90% of things Note does.
But, I WANT the actual "fire" feature from my phone.
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or you can buy Kindle Fire 8.9" for $60 that does 90% of things Note does.
..except make phone calls.
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Yeah but I prefer having a phone that does those 90% of things today rather than tomorrow when that underpowered piece of shit finally starts responding.
Also first reply, at least it would have been but it took me 45min to post this from my 386.
Brand new phone, but OS isn't up to date (Score:5, Insightful)
I know this is normal in Android land, but I don't understand why people are OK with it.
Re:Brand new phone, but OS isn't up to date (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish Windows laptops still shipped with 7.
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They do (Score:2)
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That seems a bit pedantic, but yeah, OK, I wish current generation hardware was commonly available with Windows 7.
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Re:Brand new phone, but OS isn't up to date (Score:4, Interesting)
I wish Windows laptops still shipped with 7.
I wish Microsoft would make an home edition of Win10 Enterprise LTSB and for that they'd pretty much just have to disable domain support. No Edge, no Microsoft Store, no Cortana, ability to turn off all telemetry, 5+5 years of normal/extended support and optional version upgrades every 2-3 years. Seriously, it's 2018 and operating systems are pretty mature technology that don't need upgrades every six months. They have actually improved things under the hood quite a bit since 2009, it's just the "extras" that are killing the appeal. With Chrome/VLC/Steam etc. I don't need Microsoft's tools, I just need something that runs Windows software.
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The M$ responce to that, honestly, fuck you, fuck your privacy, fuck your control over your computer, do as you are told and shut the fuck up before we shut down you down. They want control over you, over you computer, they want to install what ever software they want, when ever they want. They want to monitor all your use of your computer and scan your hard disk drive when ever they want to.
M$ already know exactly what their customers want, the M$ response is basically fuck em. M$ want total control over
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You won't when you get pwned by a bug that's been fixed in more recent versions.
No one ever promised you that they would maintain software from 2009 past 2019.
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Alrighty, I would have thought it obvious, but just so we're clear:
An updated, maintained version of Windows 7. This was meant as a relatable comment on how an older version of an OS can actually be better than a newer version of an OS - don't worry, I'm not trying to freeze us in time. I use Windows 10, and it has some improvements over 7 - but it still has vestiges of the clumsy tablet features that made 8 such an abortion. On the whole, usability is less than 7 (though improving).
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On a new laptop? Surely you are kidding? Where would one even get all the drivers?
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On a new laptop? Surely you are kidding? Where would one even get all the drivers?
Wow, every now and then a post like yours reminds me just how far Windows has fallen behind Linux.
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Over the years, I've adopted a "leave whatever the hell it came with on it" attitude towards laptops. While modifying install images sounds fun, I just accept my fate and run Windows 10.
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Linux runs in the VM :)
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I bought a refurb HP Envy with an i7, 16GB of RAM, and a 500GB SSD, and 4k touchscreen for less than this phone...
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Samsung is likely working on an update for this very reason. My Note 5 got a couple of Android versions though the years I owned it.
I've become disillusioned with samsung phones. They provide updates for a year, and maybe you'll get a update in the second year if a really bad exploit happens. Sometime in the 3rd year, it will start working like crap because the cell phone infrastructure is always changing.
Google is better for that second year, but....
Phone manufacturers need to be held responsible to update software for 5 years. They don't want to do that though because they want you to buy a new phone every year.
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Indeed! My Samsung phone got major OS updates six months+ after the fact and now after three years get no updates at all, even though it's a perfectly fine and fast phone.
Meanwhile my wife's five year old iPhone 5s is running the latest iOS beta and yes; fast too (once she put in a new battery).
I' looking at the Pixel 3 next, hoping at least the updates will be timely.
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Meanwhile my wife's five year old iPhone 5s is running the latest iOS beta and yes; fast too
Sometimes I wonder if people just have very different ideas of what fast is than I do.
My work 6s is so slow on new iOS versions that I've found myself using my personal Android phone more often than it now.
Battery's been replaced (that wasn't an option- it wouldn't hold a charge for more than about 3 hours of standby)
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My 6 recovered its speed after a complete reset and restore. I guess the storage needed the flashing after having become too full for years.
I thought I’d need a new phone this year but new battery and reset have made it good for another year.
Re: Brand new phone, but OS isn't up to date (Score:2)
My 6s is fine. You must be holding it wrong or something.
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my wife's five year old iPhone 5s is running the latest iOS beta and yes; fast too (once she put in a new battery)
Of course. Apple has to update old phones to slow them down. [cnn.com]
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But thing is, manufacturers love to have full power over your cell phone hardware, especially the part of making it obsolete when they want and thus forcing you to buy a new
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Re:Brand new phone, but OS isn't up to date (Score:5, Insightful)
because phones have a 2-3 development and testing time frame and by the time the Note 9 began field tests it was too late to have it ship with pie or wait for pie and delay the testing
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Samsung is improving when it comes to security updates, but they really aren't d
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No, because we DO know better.
Here's a list of Android Pie features:
Adaptive Battery : Samsung has had this for 2 years already.
Adaptive Brightness : Samsung has had this for 2 years already.
Adaptive System (e.g. reacts and executes things when you plug stuff in) : Samsung has had this for 2 years already.
Integration with Apps that causes your personal info to be spammed to 3rd parties like Lyft : DO NOT WANT.
Switch between apps with gestures : Samsung has had this for 5 years already.
See which apps you use
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See which apps you use most : errr. why?
Set daily limits on your apps : err why?
Oh no, my device doesn't have ${Feature}!
Obviously that means ${Feature} doesn't count.....
Until my device does have feature, then that's why it's the bestest.
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It's clearly much better on the Apple camp with Apple supporting their hardware for a long time.
I guess it's the price to pay for having so many manufacturers and devices to choose from.
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I think it falls mainly in testing. The time it takes to get the phone designed and the OS integrated there is a new version out. Thus will always be a racing cycle to make sure you are up with the latest version.
Apple having full control of everything. May release the next version of iOS with all the specs in mind for their next device. If you troll macrumors you find that people can often predict what features the next phones will have based on what the Beta iOS has in its settings.
Android doesn't work
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Because the smartphone industry has become the fashion industry, and the masses only care about having the "latest style", not the best technology. Hence we've got phones with distorted edge displays, notches, locked bootloaders, etc... All because the masses only care about bragging on social media how they just dropped a grand on Samsung or Apple's latest polished turd.
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Not really. It is just not very important to get a new Android release on day one, in fact as with any OS it makes a whole lot more sense to git it a couple more months and get the .1 release. I for one don't take any marks off at all for going back one release on a flagship to give the developers a bit more time to work out the wrinkles. Quite the contrary.
Your fashion analogy is really just the opposite of what's happening here.
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I know this is normal in Android land, but I don't understand why people are OK with it.
What choice to we have? I don't want an iPhone, nor a Windows phone. I want a droid. They all come with old software, preinstalled crap you can't uninstall, etc etc.
Best I can do is ensure it's got a headphone jack and SDCC slot, and I can afford it.
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Get a phone that updates with LineageOS. It solves all the problems outlined in all the threads here: only latest base android, you can install just google play and that's it if you really want and everything else can be considered optional (select pico: https://github.com/opengapps/o... [github.com]) and you still have a phone that works fast and lean. The issue is drivers and support sadly, the list is very limited.
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I know this is normal in Android land, but I don't understand why people are OK with it.
People are okay with it because unlike Apple the hardware and software are on different release cycles. It is normal in every land that if you go buy a cutting edge PC or gadget that it won't have the OS that was literally just released to vendors a couple of weeks earlier.
Also I do have to ask, what are you missing? What is your killer app? What about Android Pie do you think makes it even worthwhile downloading the update when available? Its biggest selling features have been part vendor ROMs as it is any
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Being a bit of tech echo chamber, I don't know if some people on here don't realize that the majority of Android phone owners couldn't tell you what version of the OS their phone is running and couldn't care less. If it makes calls and plays their favorite apps then they're all good.
In fact I would hazard a guess that the majority wouldn't even want to be upgraded to the most recent version if it meant they'd have to adapt to changes to their interface except for those rare occasions where some killer feat
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1. It is preposterous to demand that Samsung (or anyone else) releases a brand new device with the version of Android that came out just days or weeks ago because the test and release cycle for the new hardware products is taking MONTHS. Why should Samsung push the release of a new phone down to say November or December just because a few weenies who think they _must_ have the latest version of Android NOW?
2. The list of changes between subsequent Android releases tiny and insignificant from the perspective
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I know this is normal in Android land, but I don't understand why people are OK with it.
Because software integration takes time. I thought this was a tech site? Why are we getting such stupid questions?
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You know what I don't understand? Why you can't read properly: I didn't ask a question, stupid or otherwise. I made an observation. Here's a clue: questions have these things called question marks at the end of them. HTH.
As for the substance of what you wrote: I understand the rationale. I just don't think it's good enough. Which is what led to my observation.
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As for the substance of what you wrote: I understand the rationale. I just don't think it's good enough. Which is what led to my observation.
So what would you rather, the release on other devices be held back for integration on this device? How does that work with 10s of different manufacturers and 100s of new device releases? Because if you accept why there's a staggered rollout, then if you want to unstagger it you have to delay something else? Or you have to do some other magic? What would that be then?
It's really easy to spout judgements like "it's not good enough" but in the real world you have to pick your compromise. Either put the whole
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You could infer what compromise I prefer by how I phrased my original comment.
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What about security, privacy etc? Whatever the equivalent is of iOS 12's USB Restricted Mode?
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I know this is normal in Android land, but I don't understand why people are OK with it.
Because OTA update is no big deal, you're only pretending not to know that, right?
Update on the fly is deep rooted part of the Linux culture, at least Google didn't break that too horribly. But update without reboot is also perfectly possible and normal on a proper Linux distribution, so I have to blow a stupid person raspberry in Google's general direction for that one.
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1000 (Score:5, Insightful)
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Is that because you can't because it would eat up too much of your income? Or is it that you easily could, but won't because off some missing utility value to you?
I see so many of these "I won't spend $x on a phone" posts and I'm never sure if people are just thrifty or if they're dressing up lack of disposable income as thrift or some kind of insight into lack of utility.
Re:1000 (Score:4, Insightful)
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$20k rollex shows time the same way $20 timex does. To some people it is disposable income to some it is a choice what to do with it (invest, travel, etc.).
People who buy Rolexes usually see it as an investment - in 10 years it's easy to recoup most of the $20k you spent, if not have a gain to show for it. Also it's used as a way to move large amounts of money using fake invoices to launder money: https://thevelvetrocket.com/20... [thevelvetrocket.com]
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I some day smartphones use a "real" OS (regular Linux for example) and I were to use them as a primary computing device (i.e. a PC) I would spend more on a more powerful device.
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I see so many of these "I won't spend $x on a phone" posts and I'm never sure if people are just thrifty or if they're dressing up lack of disposable income as thrift or some kind of insight into lack of utility.
"Not spending $1000 on a phone" is not being thrifty, it's just not being stupid.
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Is that because you can't because it would eat up too much of your income? Or is it that you easily could, but won't because off some missing utility value to you?
I see so many of these "I won't spend $x on a phone" posts and I'm never sure if people are just thrifty or if they're dressing up lack of disposable income as thrift or some kind of insight into lack of utility.
Is that an actual question?
Like all economic actors, I won't trade $1000 for something that doesn't seem worth $1000 to me.
A phone is less important to me than a desktop, so generally speaking, I am unwilling to spend more on a phone than on a desktop. And I can get a desktop that does what I want for much less than $1000.
In any case, the Moto E4 that I got for $100 last year does everything that I want quite nicely.
I probably have more "disposable" income left over than most people who buy $1000 phones
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I won't spend $1,000 on a computer because I can build one that meets my needs for less. There is such a thing as "good enough".
I paid about $300 for my Moto X Pure, it does everything I need. I have even done software releases on it using an SSH client. Why would I spend any more than necessary? Just because I have thousands of dollars in disposable income each month doesn't mean I'm okay with pissing it away.
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That is good to hear.
Luckily for you there is a wide range of phones with different pricing and features.
For some they want what the Note 9 has and are willing to pay for it. Other may need less and want to pay more.
Free Market Economy for the win. I know people with Flip phones, and they are not getting hunted down by the Smart Phone Police to upgrade.
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I won't even buy a desktop computer for $1000.
That makes sense. Most people use their phone a lot more than they use a desktop.
Re: 1000 (Score:2)
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Are your desktops used for little more than browsing?
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That's fine. The Samsung Note series focus on delivering state of art technology and user experience. It's the Mercedes-Benz S-class of smartphones. You don't have to buy it, but it does remain oh so desirable regardless.
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I won't even buy a desktop computer for $1000.
I will, because time is money. In fact that's just the parts cost these days since I got into my own builds. Next build will be $2000 parts cost because it will be a top of the line Threadripper 2. You could even go crazy and do an overclocked 64 core (upcoming) Epyc on EATX but that's where I draw the line. No problem at all with dropping $2K on a box that delivers the value.
A phone is a different story: what is exactly is the payback for the flagship tax, particularly knowing that this year's flagship is
Seems a bit early to complain about that, no? (Score:2)
I mean, Android Pie was just formally released a few days ago. Samsung customizes the OS quite a bit, so I wouldn't think it fair to expect it to show up on their phones for another 3 or 4 months.
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I mean, Android Pie was just formally released a few days ago. Samsung customizes the OS quite a bit, so I wouldn't think it fair to expect it to show up on their phones for another 3 or 4 months.
That's not good either. Not that the average Samsung customer knows or cares.
No Google (Score:2)
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Siri exists, try again.
But you can disable it.
https://ios.gadgethacks.com/ho... [gadgethacks.com]
Try again, yourself.
.6 Inches (Score:3)
Make it .6 Inches bigger and call it Nexus 7 Model 3.
Better come with... (Score:2)
5 year warranty, 5 year guaranteed updates to android latest and patches, a dog and all it's shots.
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5 year warranty, 5 year guaranteed updates to android latest and patches, a dog and all it's shots.
And a fire extinguisher to put out the battery fires? Yea, I know. You want to Bash Samsung... But consider their competition...
Apple's flagship phone offering is a dollar less, it comes with ONE year warranty and will likely be supported for at least 5 years with ever slower releases of IOS being released until you get tired of it and upgrade. Everybody has their issues.
What am I missing here? (Score:2)
What will this phone do that an S4 won't? If I had it to do over again I would get more memory, I admit, but does this new phone actually have abilities that the old phone does not? I know it has better cameras and all that, but what is the killer app that would make me want this new phone?
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Gee, first you admit that this Note device is superior to your ancient S4. Then you proceed to ask why would you want to upgrade from the S4. I guess if you don't care about having a modern up to date Android version, better screen, better camera, fingerprint sensor, bigger and faster storage and memory, stateofart SoC, new large capacity battery, modern USB interface, etc etc, then you can continue using the ancient S4. At this point you don't even need to seek the Note. Even a cheap chinaphone will domina
no way (Score:2)
App Compatibility (Score:2)
I picked up an Essential on Prime day for $250 and I could brag that it's 4 / 128, all day battery, running Pie right now, but I'm not updating it's because there's a really good chance that some of the apps that I use every day are not going to work. It would be nice if everything just automatically worked on the bleeding edge, but that's not how it actually goes. If Samsung pushes out an update in one to two months, that may be the best thing for its customers.
Dumb (Score:2)
It's almost like you can pickup Android P in a day and port it entirely over to a new device in a matter of weeks!
-Bixby (Score:2)
You can disable Bixby [androidcentral.com]. I have.
I do wish I could find a way to re-purpose the dedicated button, though. It's just wasted real estate now.
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I guess if you're one of those who MUST have the latest/greatest of EVERYthing, and you have money to BURN, this could be considered a good deal, but I sure the hell don't.. My phone is a well-used rooted Nexus 5, that I bought for $65 on Glyde, and it uses the Ting MVNO, that saves me a lot of $$$ on monthly charges. I guess to each his own...
Have you seen the price of Apple's flagship phone lately?
It is suspiciously similar to the Samsung Note 9 price.. Imagine that.. I'm guessing that's what the market will pay.
That you don't mind running the older, less capable phones is fine, but some folks like to be more on the top end. If they can afford it, fine.
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They are UNBELIEVABLY incompetent and uncaring.
There is nothing else to say about a ridiculous, anti-consumer Dickish move like this; done JUST to beat Apple by a few weeks. And that is ALL it is.
Apple needs to make that iOS "Event" date more random, JUST to fuck with Samsung!
*tries to work out what you're complaining about*
Nope... no I don't get it. Could you be more explicit?
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Keeping your music in FLAC format on a smartphone is simply a waste of very expensive storage. 320kbit mp3 will use 10 times less storage and won't make any difference to your perception of sound quality.