TIL today: There are people that still use SMS!
Ah, that’s too bad. I get 5G and WiFi calling with the OP8 Pro, but I’m on T-Mobile.
I’ve tried almost every Galaxy S series, including the S20, but after a week the Samsung UI wears on me too much. You can install a 3rd party launcher, Nova is probably the best to achieve a more stock experience, but it still requires compromise.
I always kinda liked some of the extras Samsung adds to the experience (their screenshot features were miles ahead of stock stock and other companies’ UIs for what felt like forever), but was also enough of a tinkerer that things like changing the launcher and disabling the Bixby button just became routine upon new phone acquisition. Hell, I’d install Nova on a Pixel; it’s way better than some of the default behaviors on the latest versions of Android IMO.
The thing about the Samsung extras is that they are (more often than not) so much barely-considered, barely-coded & piled-on garbage intended to add bullet points to feature lists. I’d rather have fewer well-considered and well-functioning features for sure. When I’ve had Samsung phones int he past the ENTIRE OS experience has felt like that too. Even a heavily-skinned HTC phone felt awesome by comparison back in the day.
Diego
Yeah, this is so bizarre.
All we want to do is have a group text going between family members, but the two family members that have iPhones, when they reply to us, it doesn’t come into the group text, it comes to all of us individually for some reason. And they also send messages like the one you’re describing where they “like” your message, which just repeats it back to you.
The only solution we’ve found so far is to switch everyone to Google Hangouts. That way everyone can send messages normally, so far.
Likes don’t work like that on the iPhone, it doesn’t repeat back to you. They just don’t know any better that those things don’t work right when taking to Android users. There probably isn’t a good way of doing it, but if you can, let those people know that Messages features don’t work right when talking to green people (Messages shows blue bubbles when the person is on an Apple device, green bubbles for anyone else).
The Editor in me needs you to change this thread title to “Apple-Free Challenge”
If their iPhones aren’t sending group text messages (MMS), they’ve messed up their settings or have weird carriers. Group texting works perfectly.
Same. It doesn’t happen when I message w/ all Apple users, but my iPhone-user stepmother sends texts to my sister and I, and they’re always split so we each receive them individually. It’s a PITA to keep the convo going and know who read what.
The S20 Ultra arrived and my first impression is that this phone is long as opposed to “big”. It is a bit narrower than my iPhone 11 Pro Max and a tad bit longer.
To @cornchip point, have your Apple users check that they have MMS and group messaging on in Settings under Messages. I would think they are on by default though.
This is so true. And without rooting the device, you are stuck with these taking up space even if you make no use of them. Sorry to continue the derail into Samsung apps suck.
Foobar 2000 FTW!
Let me say, I support your challenge, but more then that, I 100% support this thread about your challenge! The last one was fun and informative and nerve wracking. It was like watching a weird Soap Opera. You have set a very high bar.
As Abed Nadir once aid “A satisfying sequel is difficult to pull off. So many geniuses have defeated themselves through hubris making this a chance to prove I’m better than all of them…I’M IN!!!”
Apple sucks, Atari rules
Day 0.5 Musings:
Not a full day 1 yet because I do not have all the parts in one place. My S20 Ultra, case, and microsd card arrived. I must say that Samsung’s setup is much improved from what I remember. I was even able to log into my iCloud account and sync pictures, contacts, etc. as part of the Samsung setup process.
Soooo many choices! This is both good and bad thing. When I upgrade an iPhone, it is a very simple and boring process, I click a few times, and I am done. Setting up the S20 Ultra is stage one – I can now get to the home screen. Stage 2 is – wait while 100 dings go off and stuff is updated and downloaded. Stage 3 is - woohoo I have a functional phone, but things are not quite right. That leads to stage 4 – a deep dive into settings, turning programs off, downloading new apps, messing with the display, etc. I have not begun stage 5 – connect my watch and Buds+ to the device yet.
Dark mode is simple, one click, and everything Is dark. I like the S20 Ultra’s screen, how it fits in my hand, and the weight is about the same as my iPhone Pro Max. I feel that it will be about a week before I have everything set up to my liking. So yes, with an iPhone it takes five minutes to get everything in order because you have no choice (really). And yes, I get a ton of options with the S20 Ultra. It will take me a while to get thing just right on the phone, but I am guessing that I will be happier with my experience.
The first issue I encountered was my visual voicemail. I purchased the device directly from Samsung, popped in my old iPhone sim, setup the phone, and…no visual voicemail. I looked through a couple of tutorials but remembered that something needed to be done by AT&T to change me from Apple to Android. Here is where the pain began, but it is not Samsung’s fault, it is AT&T’s. First, they wanted to tell me that because I purchased the device from Samsung they could not help me. Then, 30 minutes of arguing with them that (1) this is an AT&T phone with (2) a brand-new AT&T sim that (3) should have all features working on AT&T.
AT&T truly sucks.
Now I await the supervisor that is going to help me with this problem…
Edit - Problem solved, but going to try the Google Voice solution below. I also saw a real “5G” (not 5Ge) for the first time.
I have an alternative suggestion for voicemail. Use Google Voice for your voicemail.
If you have not already, go to voice.google.com and get your free number. FYI, YOU NEVER HAVE TO USE THIS PHONE NUMBER. it’s nice as a number to use places you don’t want to give your cell, but not needed for this voicemail purpose. Set up your voicemail message on Google Voice.
Download the Google Voice app. Link it to the Google account you used for Google Voice. When asked, tell it not to use Google Voice when placing calls. (unless you want that option. It messes w/ car bluetooth calls though).
Go to this page and see the bit for AT&T customers.
https://support.google.com/voice/answer/165656?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en
Basically, tell your phone to conditionally forward your calls. Only if you don’t answer, or your line is busy. Then it gets forwarded to your Google Voice account. That’s it!
All missed calls will go to Google Voice. Within the app you can see all your voicemails transcribed and available for playback.
I’ve been using this for maybe 10 years? It’s great.
Wow, this is pretty cool. Well, they are provisioning the feature on my phone, but I do like this plan. Will give it a try.
It doesn’t matter if they provision or not. You can let them make the change. However if you turn on conditional forwarding, right now, or after they’re done, whenever, voicemails go to Google Voice. if you prefer not to use it, turn off conditional forwarding.
You can continue to use Google Voice if you ever go back to an iPhone, if you prefer it to Apple’s VV solution.
Set it up and works like a charm! I thought I was going to miss the voicemail transcripts but this works better than Apple’s transcripts (at least my two test calls did).