Gadgetory

welcome to the 359 I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Jeff Bakalar Samsung is feeling the heat from Huawei which is developing better and better phones that means Samsung needs to come up with something good for it's expected Galaxy S 10 early next year seeing that phone and reviewer Jessica dull Court has a rumor roundup about the s10 so let's run through some of the weirder ones okay six cameras that's five too many wait a minute most phones have two pixel my pixel has one and it's just fine hold on hold on six cameras four in the back and two in the front great I just I understand why that's needed and for HDR and for like I read something that like oh it might take different angular options at once and you'll be able to choose or maybe hot-swap someone's face in real time like okay come on what are we doing these are not really gonna get people to buy more phones I don't know if you could ship Photoshop on the fly and superimpose on the fly is that a selling point I mean I don't know it was so maybe this will be as well you're absolutely right okay okay next one so instead of a knotch apparently it's gonna have like a like a pinhole for the front-facing camera so that's gonna be like a little dot on the side yeah for the camera it's a it's a chad i that's actually the one thing i think is really cool I don't like notches I think they're dumb I realized why they exist but if they could fit the technology into something where the obstruction is just a tiny sort of hole punch in the front of the screen I think that would look really sharp and yeah now that I have like a notch phone I can never go back to something that you know impedes on top yeah oh you don't like the knife I don't like the notch on any phone but I realize why it's there but like I said I just would like something that's completely getting with a little dot for the camera I realized you need something for a camera to be there yeah I mean I don't even like the pinhole I kind of feel like you should try to you want somehow a camera to go through a screen somehow yes yes look that's not it's technology you're right it's not completely out of the realm possibility I endorse that let's skip the whole punch go right to the invisible camera I would say so so speaking about in screen technology potentially in in screen fingerprint sensor well I hear though interesting I hear their crap I got an insider friend your friends on it's a guy that crap you don't want them I mean even if the first generation isn't that good I like this idea I go back to the camera concept was that just a simple sheet of glass that's it that's how it should be you shouldn't have to like fish around for a spot to where you need to press your fingerprint against I am all down for that if they could incorporate those two big picture big deal features I think the essence got something going for it yeah I would say so the last one and I know we're running out of time a bit here maybe there's gonna be a virgin that's gonna have 5g and because I have a high bitin in front of me I'm gonna press it yes 5g phone next year that deserves a high button oh you'll have service in all of one city I'm sorry all of one block in one city cuz you think five g's gonna roll out fast you don't know what you're talking about not only that but the first leg probably the first year at least a 5g is gonna be not that good you remember how 4G rolled out how terrible it was I don't know it was no I don't remember I don't know kindergarten back then yeah it was really bad okay and when you had a 4G phone your battery lasts about three and a half hours that's a good point all right so anyway next up wanted to get to an interview that our own Apple reporter Shara tip can had with apples VP of Product Marketing he said he told Shara the iPhone 10 R is selling great better than the 10s and the 10s max which okay that's good news I guess for Apple but I can't help but read this story and feel like there's there's this like odd desperation that's not well what are your impressions on that I don't know I think like ever since they talked about how they were gonna change the way they talked about yeah sales things have felt a little weird in the room that they're trying to hide something right it seems like they're trying to conceal something about it I don't know I think it's more of them saying like oh that doesn't accurately reflect how well the company's doing I mean I feel like it would reflect that right like you guys sell stuff I mean like more information to me feels like that's good but anyway it's just forcing them that somehow justified the fact that they're selling these things well which I think comes off a little strange sure either way if you want to read more about these stories check them out on CNET I'm Ben Fox Ruben I'm Jeff Bakalar thanks for listening we always I think we did a great job I think it was the best podcast we've ever done all right thanks everybody for joining us for the recording of the audio podcast you can subscribe to that and take it along in your pocket using the links below until then we're gonna go ahead and take your questions and comments from the chat starting right off with one from our old buddy Matthew dacher who says how freakin expensive will the s-10 be the mainstream phone vendors have lost me with these outrageous prices yeah you're totally right I switched over to Android and I got an S aid what was it a year ago because it was way cheaper than the iPhone and boy was I right because the newest versions of the iPhone have been really really expensive now granted I got my wife an iPhone 10 which is now a discontinued model through Verizon on Black Friday for under $500 that's pretty good that's a reasonable price for a new phone especially for three years that's not a new phone I mean it's a brand new out of the box phone it's not reflexive use right it is a year old model and it is discontinued which is why you got it cheaper but what justification do I have for buying a brand new absolutely new phone for this year's model for twice the price no it's not simply not worth it plus like when you have an iPhone and again like I own I have an Android I don't I I think iPhones are fine I think when you get an Android when you get an iPhone it's like living in SF or New York there's just like the cost of living is higher you know I mean like you the things you need to buy for it or more expensive what for a knife yeah it just feels like a more expensive product to own as opposed to getting by with maybe a cheaper Android maybe not a flagship Android but like a cheaper one so there might be a budget s10 which I think would make - happier but also that they're still like three versions of it yes three versions one of them would be that 5g version right also be a budget model and also a plus model who the hell are you buying a 5g phone when there's no 5g it's literally bleeding edge people that just want to tell people and they have a fight and they want to fly to want some 12 hours order where it works and that's gonna be it's gonna be somewhere and yes it's just like um it's just like you know when when the TV's come out like people who own 4k TVs and watch nothing but like you know 720 cable on it I don't understand these people I their light show it's just insane you're filling up your rocket ship with like you know unleaded it's just it's it's crazy to me my hope is that the budget phone stays well below a thousand bucks yeah I really hope so usually Samsung does the note more expensive but my s phones they tend to be a little bit more reasonable this is another thing I mean is it really gonna kill you to get an S 9 or like the like an older model I don't know like maybe maybe everybody wants to get the absolute brand-new technology but generally speaking you're gonna get a much better deal if you buy a new phone but it's a year old model or two years old and I think we're at a point now where phones are so good like anything you buy is pretty pretty damn good pretty good and they last long - I had my original pixel for two years and it was that's not even that long it's not even that long usually I keep a phone for like at least three years minimum that's that's all let's I feel like that's above real urge oh you know what I mean like I put it in a velvet case every night yeah I guess a good night what you mean like those are important I get it you know it's your baby you take care of it I'll carry your phone my point being you don't need to get a new one every year to feel that effect of like the brand new thing like you can get a phone that's one maybe two years old and still feel like you have this new fast thing yes especially when it comes to 5g I mean this thing won't be out till March right or so right yeah run February or March so I don't know if I can't see 5g like making a miraculous turnaround plus who knows if this thing will even have it yeah anyway great question - lets get to some more well a lot of people are still talking about 5g lost legacy Mario chambers wondering if the upgrade is going to be in time for this March release you really well covered this but I like syringe always follow up saying 5g drooler czar literally drooling for red phone until last month where are they now silent mm-hmm 5g jewelers those are some fighting word that is that's a tough like word combination to say 5g jewelers yeah yeah we could make out like a dr. Seuss book about 5g drew lers drool drooling like egg I don't got 5g in my house I don't get 5g in my car I don't get 5g on my roof I mean do you with it I get some freaking secret either like it is very is very public information that 5g is not where it needs to be to support it feels very clear to me that this is a marketing ploy I would think from Samsung to come out with something this early to say we had one of the first five drones or we had the first 5g phone in the US or something like that right just to plant their stake in the ground sure it's just about as valuable as being first in the comments on YouTube totally less so pays at least there's posterity on YouTube comments right yeah just remember to spell it right it's first you think people do that a lot I think people do that on purpose as to be funny white Frist yeah yes exclamation point don't at me Jeff don't at me all right here's one from Joseph asking if we think that the actual upgrade from our to the s10 from the s9 will be a significant one enough to justify actually paying that money we've talked about like what the gaps are Jeff you're saying you got at least two years out of your last phone do we think that with any of these rumored implementations on the s10 that drop in the s9 this early on in your experience with it would be valuable enough to go to that s10 I don't know I'm a I'm a cheapskate I I think you should hold your phone for at least two years aside if you're if you're a power user I know there are a lot of iPhone people out there that they get the newest one every single year and that makes them very happy I mean I don't think that that's what every consumer needs to do or should do there's two sides to it you know one it's a thing of whether or not money is an issue for you personally I think like a lot of people who do the year-over-year upgrade wind up selling their old one or whatever it is the the the value for use phones in just a year kind of stays pretty high yes you know you can get your phone if you sell it on eBay just don't sell it back to your carrier because oh yeah unless unless they're a good deal rare unless there's a deal but yeah I mean like that is a good point because yeah my wife yeah so my wife is had an iPhone 6 for years good for her so it has no value to sure and just like oh that screen is cracked yeah there is no money attached to it whatsoever so what we purchased it for four years ago guys mean that we've run it into the ground though it has no resale you you drove that 1989 Honda Civic right into the ground that's right four hundred and thirty thousand miles on it it was on its last leg and you just like why is it ever donated it to charity all right fine eight hundred cars for kids so yeah I think like for most people the year-over-year upgrade is kind of a silly thing again you can do whatever the hell you want it's don't more money it's your money you ultimately have to make the decision like I feel like I realized people want advice and you you you heard it but it's good you know whether or not you're gonna do it right you're not gonna not do it because we told ya I mean you know what you're gonna do just be smart about it is what we consider wow you're such a good dad advice you know look I'm a dad now so I got dad that's great that advice personally I think if you got any extra expendable cash you should just go ahead and get a Honda Civic yeah here's one from tech slacker why is Samsung struggling so much isn't the note nine the best Android available I don't mean I don't mean to give the impression that Samsung is struggling they definitely they had a real big problem with the note 7 right that was a very dark time for them the issue that I was the point that I was making especially with that headline was Huawei is now the number two phone maker just below Samsung Samsung still number one but Huawei is definitely nipping at their heels and they're coming out with better and better phones and that's why Samsung needs a good phone it needs to show up really well for this under no circumstances do I want to present this as Samsung is in crisis because that's not the case if say if if I and I think this is kind of unrelated for me I will never buy a phone that's not a pixel unless the Google could somehow work it out with these third-party manufacturers and offer a vanilla version of Android on their phone that's the only reason I stay away because I want the latest update right away I want pure I want vanilla oregan Android I don't want your dumb ass overlay that has like Bixby or whatever the f Samsung uses I don't know what it is it's pointless it's worthless they know it everyone knows it right I enjoyed that soapbox but does anybody like I bought my galaxy for Bixby no nobody no one's ever said that I think it's a long-term play for for Samsung I get it like they want they want to somehow like have a foot in the door between and they were in Google they want the data I mean look it reminds me of Apple maps which came out and was a hot mess I mean the greatest navigational software in the history of phones yes yes exactly that was leading people into lakes and they yes but that was a couple years ago after they rolled it out they got a lot of data they fixed the bugs there were a lot of bugs it has improved is it as good as Google Maps no it probably hurt you know not reuse it I think a lot more people use it than you think what I would who love Maps is still the gold standard like what like I would love to see what the with the what the pie chart looks like for I don't I don't have a say yeah I want to say the sliver that's Apple Maps this is not even a slice no I I don't actually know I wish I had that context but I feel like they've definitely improved it to the whole not a mess let's get that data on the screen I'll get verses Google Maps I'll get right on that until then take another question Marcus Marcus tube 80 will the s10 have the snapdragon 845 I don't know I don't know I used to cover chips I don't cover chips anymore I'm gonna punt on this one yeah I'm actually going to punt as well I'm actually going to turn around and kick the ball through my own goalposts on that okay this is a little I know about chips now if that is the newest chip from Qualcomm then great that probably will go in the s10 because usually Samsung gets the first bite and that's also usually why they come out with that phone in February or March usually it's time for Mobile World Congress it's this nice handshake that they do with Qualcomm where Qualcomm is like hey here's our latest and great rep one guess what it's going in the you know this phone from a major carrier but unfortunately I apologize that it's not an area that I look into nearly as much as I used to yeah I don't yeah I have really nothing to add besides snarky stuff so I'm gonna just why you're here right here alright I'm still digging for this information but I think I got something I just want to make sure we validate it before we move on to that so take another question Ryan says isn't the dot more annoying than the knotch though he's disruptive to me I still hate the notch though there there this goes on Iowa Thatcher says I would prefer bringing back the bezel instead of getting rid of the notch I don't know why I don't particularly like notches but the pin hole in the screen would make my OCD go crazy oh no I don't I don't agree I think like if you look at your phone and if you have a notch already it like it's also about real estate too right like yeah pinhole will take up so much less real estate if you if they put the look we're talking Android anyway right so you don't have to worry about it being like this awful you know unlockable Apple disaster if you just build it into the software like where you're where the time is on an Android phone just move the time like they could program it to move the time over a half a centimeter and you're done and then your phone's perfect and everything's perfect like it's not you know what I mean like yeah you kind of have a point there I'm saying like it is so easy to do for Android it is so easy for that to be a thing you kind of have a point there however and everything's really over whoever commented and said it would drive them crazy from an OCD perspective god they're wrong you know I totally disagree with you it would really drive me at all I don't want to show my screen cuz I got I got nasty stuff on here but it's just you just push everything over to the right a couple millimeter okay stop looking at porn while we're doing this a personal working on when people see in my email fair enough yeah enough yeah I mean if it's any validation we're only running at 1080p so a resolutions not good enough to read your email anyway so it's fair haha fine it's fair what else we got well let's go ahead and talk about the the market share in this one so the first thing I came across was this article from Colton Mac that says Apple maps is dominating Google in the UK if you look post it's actually from 2014 so that's only a coven Apple maps came out aggressively stole a significant portion of the market within only a couple of years now but wasn't Google also not on the app store for a very long time I don't I don't recall that I don't know hey that's super old and be it's the UK no one has phones there nobody had phones in the UK everybody knows that the UK doesn't have smartphones I mean I realize you know it's not your job Brian I realize but like that's you know what else we got so here's the more relevant one that actually shows a little bit of the market share and how its fluxed and this is from 2017 and this is coming from The Guardian showing another British thing god forbid whoa he's doing it on the fly I mean we are in the US but nevertheless either way we're actually seeing that there was a chunk taken out of the Google Maps by Apple maps right but Google still leads overall it looks like people have settled into their ecosystems and if you're there you're there and if you're not you're not and that's exactly right that I think you are failing to consider the fact that iOS is a very powerful operating system it's like people don't even know they're just like I'm Maps this is Maps if that's the default basically you open the email you open an email click on your iPhone you click on it and it opens up Apple Maps sure it takes is a different it takes a certain type of person maybe somebody that's a little bit more sophisticated like their technology change my default no not even changed my default I'm gonna I'm gonna copy this and then I'm gonna open Google Maps and then I'm gonna put it in Google man you do that and I do it all the time no no and then iPhone can you yeah change default apps you have to be able to I mean I really it's like the most lockdown OS on earth but you have I have an iPhone for work and I don't believe you can do that it's the way I could it would make my life a lot easier I don't necessarily know the the ins and outs of all that but anyway if any of the commenters know that question know the answer there's no way apples always like nope we're first there's no way I was like a very Apple thing to do so maybe Apple in like 2012 that's when it came out I'm saying like Apple in 2018 maybe they're a little more flex we're gonna we're gonna try to do some more research on the fly on that one all right what else we got alright we're closing in on the end here so let's just kind of see how many we can fly through on the fly our wallop wants us to throw back to the in screen fingerprint reader seems like a lot of tech reviewers had favorable thoughts about using in screen fingerprint reader I don't recall which one you made the comment but he wants you to expand on why you think they are not working well cuz Lydon Lin review it we we reviewed one yes there are some early and she was like this is dog poop she said she's like this is that's not a direct quote she did someone said I I'm positive I read her I don't know if it was like what the hell is the one the one with the in screen one that's out now like I'll leave it one way Huawei Huawei mate 20 me to me yeah leave and she said it's not great and it's also slow which is a deal-breaker for me once you get used to that rise me though of course first once you get once you get used to the instant unlocking with with fingerprint scan tech I mean that's it like I'm not saying it's not gonna get there it will definitely get there it's just not there yet so don't buy something in my opinion that is a step back from what's currently out there in terms of experience just your I mean what are you doing unless you're unless you're willing to you know sacrifice that you know best experience for having you know the first two latest and greatest stuff yeah I I really like the idea for fingerprints on it totally that so like pop although you know what like I really love it on the back just going like that I mean I'm just like Boop done I have that on my ass eight right yeah s82 and I don't love it I don't it's uncomfortable for me and that's a very personal subjective bird fingers maybe that's what it is got this little you've got those little baby bird fingers I don't know I just think it's not nearly it's accurate as I wish it was I miss just being able to I would for one I'd rather it be on the front for two I would rather not have it at all and just use keycode really you can do that you know I know I was trying to give it a fair shot and like after I've had this phone five six months now maybe and everything else is fine I just don't love the fingerprint scan it doesn't work right we both have similar phones dude two years old it's a year old okay yeah sorry but it doesn't work great like if I'm logging into an app and the finger prints quick you saw that yeah yeah mines it's I have to tab it like three times for it to work which can be pretty annoying that is annoying I the first fingerprint one I had I think was a Nexus 6p and that was a subpar experience my opinion so I that was really early on in that it was so I abandoned it and then I just started drawing little patterns to unlock my phone hmm all right shout out to the chat Ryan Williams does verify that Google Maps was not available for a little while was not years though Timothy tells us that when you try to uninstall Apple maps you get an error I'm not surprised by that at all thanks guys but we still don't know if you can change the default map app then go try do it now but I have to dig through settings all right everybody just will let you on tomorrow's 3:59 how this shakes out this is what we call in the business a cliffhanger all right so let's talk about those cameras that thing's gonna have way too many cameras and way too many cooks undef indefinitely fresh Shawn Kumar asks will the s10 inevitably have 8k camera support oh god I really hope not what would the point of that be yeah I don't know this is a k camera support I mean you can't see an 8k there's no point and why would you want it in your tiny little screen anyway marketing marketing ploy yet again a marketing ploy just to say that we've got it just to get you to spend more money you know I don't actually like the fact that the Google whoa is at Home Hub doesn't have a video camera in it why because it's like video chats with the display is a big reason why you would have a smart display in the first place I guess you're right however they don't have the camera and they actually like paid it forward to the consumer and lowered the cost which is beneficial so like if you're gonna have 8 K if you're gonna have 6 cameras you think they're not gonna charge you for that stuff and it's all these additions they like not really necessary but it causes you to spend more money on this stuff yeah the whole resolution porn just drives me crazy like how people get these overly capable pieces of hardware and then don't take advantage of it it's more just like I got this trim line of this car just to say I have it but I don't drive the thing since that is how a lot of stuff works right now it's just awesome Tech slacker says you cannot change the full apps on the iOS but you can choose to open files with another app like a document so there's that's what that sounds like that's a that's a confirmed right that you cannot switch a well you said you gotta cheat the system you gotta cheat the system whoa this is a we play by the book here this is a hot take show this is we can't detour ourselves yeah no no oh good pun to we're talking about maps you got it nice all right let's take one kind of off in the left-field here from sir enjoy do you see a positive effect of Samsung's 1ui program in the Android Market rolling into 2019 I don't know that sure oh god what is one UI I remember we wrote about this to me if from what I recall about one UI it was a lot of promises about them really streamlining their user experience and their operating systems problem is their version of Android overlaid version consistent across all brands yeah and they're gonna and they're gonna make improvements to if I remember like messages and the clock app and the problem is is that it's it's hard to really believe Samsung because they have so much bloatware and they have so much stuff that kind of gets in the way question sorry to interrupt a question you're telling me that the note 10th word of that note 10 I guess the 9 all right whatever run 9 now the note 9s Android is different than the s nines Android no it's the same so then what's what are we talking about so one UI is generally like it's it's the way that they presented it and syringe oi probably remembers us a little bit better than I do is this is this is we're doing an overhaul on the way that we have the user experience we're trying to make it much more like understandable for users much more simplified cuz I remember when I switched to a Samsung phone there were like 15 different ways to do all sorts of stuff okay and so like hey we're just gonna make it a little bit easier to do we're gonna also like just improve some of the basic apps like the clock app to have you be able to do more stuff that you want to do with it so okay it sounds like very positive promises the entire pitch sounds like this is exactly we won you guys to be saying but I would love to see the actual execution of this and that's where I'm a little more skeptical okay all right well there you have it yeah all right we're at the end of the line here so let's just talk real quick about what the future implementations are going to be to actually make phones worthwhile I like this comment from Tim he says I think cell phones have reached a plateau with design hardware design is something that's somewhat overdone software's where they need to aim google has call screen and nitesite that's amazing Akmal says people want folding phone right now bingo that's way more valuable than resolution or about ton of cameras and even modularity could potentially be something on the horizon I know they've kind of shot at that and failed in the past but these are the things that are actually gonna make phones exciting again I don't care about your friggin emojis I don't care about your giant cameras that do the bouquet effect I can do that too I'm with these guys I'd rather see something actually innovative and interesting that bring a new use case to to the form factor like all those voce there was a lot of modular stuff in a meaningful way it just doesn't make sense well yeah I'd rather stand try at that than just shoving more cameras under the hood I mean you know I don't know unless there is some earth-shattering benefit from all of these additional cameras which I feel like I still have yet to be really convinced the coolest thing I saw was like what some someone showed me like a facebook 3d photo I thought that was like marginally cool like on a scale of 1 to 10 that's like a 3 doing the cool cool but where does it become valuable ya know doesn't it does not become valuable that's the guy I just think like you're gonna see the biggest innovations in software and that's really kind of it I'm gonna disagree with you again good did the foldable is I don't want that look what do you need a foldable phone it could end up being a gimmick well why do you need it because the idea would be that you would only have one device that would be both a phone and a tablet for you if you want a bigger screen to actually get more work done how you what is my thing my thing like if it's this thick folded sure I think they might eventually get to that the early designs oh we not years for this stuff that being said this is the first major new innovation and again this is coming from Samsung and it's expected next year it's a first major new innovation on the hardware side that's really gonna get a lot of the stuff out of our like a lot of us out of our funk about all these phones they all look the same they all do the same stuff all they're doing is I've got cameras that being said again it might just end up being a gimmick it might not be utilized properly from a software perspective and I would also argue people need to be patient with it because the first generation it's probably gonna be crappy you know I'd you know if they see enough value in it they're probably gonna come out with more I would expect same something to come out with more regardless I'll admit I am intrigued by the notion of a foldable phone but it is going to be a very fine line for pass/fail for me because if it's if it is significantly thicker than this which is as thick as I will go these days believe me I will not support it until it gets thinner well I think we got a peak at first we've got a peak here at the the folding phone and granite this is just a prototype but it doesn't look too bad I think we've seen what the silhouetted oh nice that was the best Gameboy they ever made that gameboy was the shiz what did you have an SP no I did not you definitely had one Brian no I had og Gameboy and it stayed alive until about four years ago wait wow you had the you had that's was your Gameboy yeah first edition so you didn't play as twenty more advanced friends had him I would borrow them and play them but mine kept running so I stayed with that D s 3ds never owned one interesting okay guys were we are out of time I actually have something else to do soon yeah these were great questions before we go just a PSA we're everyone that tomorrow is international computer security day began in 1988 it serves as a reminder to protect a computer and information run antivirus spyware and malware scans update your passwords and encrypt your backups to the cloud tell us how you celebrate computer security day and then go ahead and take us on out of here alright and that's a wrap for the week that 3:59 is available on itunes tune in stitch or Feedburner google play music google podcast the amazon echo and of course cnet.com Jeff a pleasure you're a gentleman and trap me and Taylor I love doing this okay and we'll we'll see you again on Monday five folks have a great weekend you