Was going to get the s7 edge but they gatta lock the BL... WTF mate.

3/21/2016 1:27:21 PM

Same on the Note 5. I still got it though. Lately the only reason I want to root anymore is for tethering on AT&T but I can still use FoxFi/PDANet to tether over USB or bluetooth so it's not a deal breaker.

I do hate not having insight into kernel wakelocks and all that stuff. It's much harder to manage battery drain when you can't root your phone. I'm hoping Marshmellow helps with battery life (as it says it does).

[Edited on March 21, 2016 at 2:52 PM. Reason : s]

3/21/2016 2:51:49 PM

^ I was able to unlock hotspot mode by changing the APN settings with ##DATA# and the MSL. (Actually this may only be for Sprint so my bad)

That said, I'm still taking mine back for this reason. I used AOSP/Cyanogen based roms for years and switched to an iPhone for the last 18 months. I came back to android and picked s7 edge. It's a fresh change, but ultimately I still feel like I'm tied to Samsung. There's no multi-user mode or guest mode (one of the main reasons for the switch back). Touchwiz is made mostly irrelevant by Nova Launcher, but ultimately shows it's face enough to be frustrating. Samsung Pay with the mag strip compatibility is nifty. The display is gorgeous (once you enable native dpi scaling) and the camera is an obvious step up from the iPhone 6 especially in low light situations.

I disabled the edge functionality because it didn't really offer me anything useful and I kept swiping it by mistake. It makes hitting some menus annoying as well. I'm consistently hitting the multi-task/app switcher button when I want to use voice text in swift key or when I want to attach an image in Hangouts. It's too thin, but so was the iphone 6. The spigen case I have doesn't make it comfortable to hold because it's still slippery, but a leather case probably would do the same to fix this as did the apple leather case. The glass back scares me, but I feel like I already had my iphone scratched by this time and the s7e glass is still flawless.

I guess I like the phone but I don't really love it and the quirks combined with a locked bootloader just makes me not want to keep it. I'll keep an eye on the HTC M10, but I've been most happy with android when I've owned the Nexus phones, but the 6p is already too deep into its life cycle for me and I get a credit on service if I finance a device.

3/22/2016 8:52:29 PM

Get a nexus it does not have all that excess shit preloaded.

3/24/2016 10:29:52 AM

I almost got a Nexus 6p but there were too many things i liked about the Note 5. I do use the stylus and the Gear VR for $99 was a steal. Also Samsung Pay is pretty cool and much more useful than Apple or Android pay.

^^Yeah I use Nova as well. Touchwiz has gotten better over the years but I still prefer the flexibility of Nova. The Galaxy Note 2 was previously my all time favorite phone so I was happy to get the 5 after being disappointed with the G3.

3/24/2016 10:35:26 AM

I got a Note 5, opened it up powered it on, looked at all that excess shit in disgust..then immediately listed it back for sale on swappa.

3/24/2016 11:23:15 PM

Also the fingerprint unlock on the back middle is the shit

3/25/2016 12:26:58 AM

^^Haha compared to previous versions of Touchwiz it's almost vanilla Android now. After putting Nova Launcher on it it's quite clean. A much better experience than I've had in the past.

^On the 6P? I do use the fingerprint unlock on the home button the Note 5 and it's quite flawless.

3/25/2016 10:11:54 AM

Decrapify your Samsung Android phone with Package Disabler Pro (well worth the $2):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ospolice.packagedisablerpro&hl=en

I bought an unlocked Note 5, so it doesn't have any carrier software on it and the hotspot isn't disabled.

3/28/2016 10:14:05 AM

Yeah I'm using package disabler pro. It's great. Samsung has way more bloatware than AT&T so even if I got an unlocked one it'd still have that on it.

3/28/2016 10:54:51 AM

Samsung returned. Looks like I'll be on the iPhone train until a Nexus phone comes out that Sprint will carry.

4/1/2016 8:54:45 PM