• Engywuck@lemm.eeEnglish
    805·
    1 year ago

    As a rule of thumb, after quite a mediocre experience regarding more than a couple of items, I have learned to never buy Samsung, if an alternative exists.

    • coffeebiscuit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4710·
      1 year ago

      So….

      • Never buy Apple because…
      • Never buy Samsung because…
      • never buy Huawei because …
      • never buy oppo because …
      • never buy an android because…

      Well back to my landline I guess.

    • StickyLavander@lemm.eeEnglish
      17·
      1 year ago

      Don’t buy anything Samsung ESPECIALLY their appliances. They got class action lawsuit for fridges that breakdown, and when you call for the warranty to repair you’ll be dealing with months of nightmare of multiple technicians coming and going trying to to repair it. Oh and they only come during weekdays during 9-5 business hours so you have to take time off work for them to come, and if they “fixed it” it breaks down the next day spoiling all your food. I was losing money fast so I told them they have one last chance to make this right before I sue them. After that a manager called saying they’re going to send us a “new” fridge. Our “new” fridge was so badly banged up it had dents all over it. I was so exhausted by everything I just put magnets over it and called it a day. FUCK SAMSUNG never ever choosing to buy any of there products. Do your research before you buy!!!

    • Rouxibeau@lemmy.worldEnglish
      81·
      1 year ago

      I have a fold 3 and I’m on my way to have it warranty repaired for the second time after having already completed three warranty exchanges. At least they’re honoring the warranties; but I shouldn’t have to repair a single phone so many times just have a working product.

      • Engywuck@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Among other things, I was one of these dumb people that bought a Bada phone, back then (Wave II). Hardware-wise it was a wonderful phone. But software wise it was abandoned by Samsung in a matter of months, IIRC. Never more.

        Also bought a middle category Samsung TV a few years ago. It came with an awful IPS panel with a contrast ratio worse than an LCD casio watch and bad luminance. My fault for not swapping it in time. Nonetheless, I didn’t expect such a crappy TV from such a brand.

    • danque@lemmy.worldEnglish
      49·
      1 year ago

      I mean that should’ve been obvious after the battery explosion and battery swelling problems at Samsung. They don’t care as long as it’s cheap. Their bloat was also one of the worst, same for the build quality of the medium phones.

    • tsuica@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      1 year ago

      The only downside to this is that banking apps won’t work anymore. Some of them won’t work without GMS, or with a custom ROM, or if Knox is triggered (Smasnug), or even if the bootloader is unlocked.

      Unfortunately, more and more banks are deprecating their web apps in favor of mobile apps, 'cause who doesn’t have a smartphone?.

      Otherwise, I’d switch back to LOS in a heartbeat.

      • jose1324@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        1 year ago

        Basically every banking app in my country works fine with custom rom. It even works without safetynet and with root. Hell I fucking had more issues with the MCDONALDS app that blocked me

        • tsuica@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Oh man, I wish that we could have that here. One app from one of the bigger banks here, straight up refuses to run if you didn’t download it from the Play Store (like Aurora).

      • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I am lucky enough to be able to avoid the GSM only banks and choose banks that do work on degoogled phones. Honestly, thanks to the ongoing trade-war between China and the US, degoogled phones will become more common and force banks to cater to those people. I’m not worried.

  • slowroll@r.nfEnglish
    171·
    1 year ago

    how samsung know if i bought their phone in gray market?

    • _s10e@feddit.deEnglish
      27·
      1 year ago

      Just guessing. The phone is ear-marked for a target market, e.g. Africa. If it connects to an American network without roaming and without ever having been to Africa, it’s clear that the phone was not sold through ‘official’ distribution channels.

      • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
        17·
        1 year ago

        Yes exactly, the exact same phone can have different variations on the same versions of firmware, depending on the region.

        The solution here is to not run stock firmware. Get a custom ROM and enjoy all the extra features.

        • _s10e@feddit.deEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Some manufacturers require a 5 min phone call in the market where you bought the phone… Easy to meet for someone in the target market, but makes it hard to import a brand new phone from elsewhere. You could still buy used, but this is less attractive.

  • nevemsenki@lemmy.worldEnglish
    968·
    1 year ago

    To be fair, if they don’t do this, they will need to increase prices in poorer countries - otherwise someone will simply buy the phones on the cheap and resell them in more expensive areas.

    • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
      661·
      1 year ago

      Sounds like you’re defining a failure of the free market

      If these devices are so cheap the marginal cost justifies the lower price, why isn’t market competition eating into their margin in the more affluent countries?

      Sounds like somebody’s got their finger on the market balance

      • nevemsenki@lemmy.worldEnglish
        914·
        1 year ago

        A lot of times the cheap prices in low cost countries is (partly) subsidised by the higher profit in more expensive ones. Essentially buying market share and brand recognition for some lost revenue, hoping to recap it by cornering the market and rising prices in the future. At least that’s the theory.

        • 1847953620@lemmy.worldEnglish
          244·
          1 year ago

          Oh, I didn’t realize we needed to manipulate markets in favor of the marketing strategies of corporations, since they need so much help

    • iamtherealwalrus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      152·
      1 year ago

      It’s called the free market where your can purchase and sell goods as you wish, within the applicable laws.

      • nevemsenki@lemmy.worldEnglish
        713·
        1 year ago

        Sure, I’ve personally got nothing against abolishing regional pricing and everyone paying the same price I do in the EU.

    • Dewded@lemmy.worldEnglish
      32·
      1 year ago

      Love how you’re getting downvotes for pointing out the exact reason.

      Diversion is often also a means to fund crime and terrorism when done at scale.

      In some cases of diversion the product also gets altered by changing valuable content for cheaper ones. A good example of this would be medicine or liqour. Worst case is that the end user gets fake medicine.

      Making your product affordable in a region also increases consumer safety as it will curb counterfeiting. In the case of phones this can lead to exploding batteries or electrocutions.

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/samantharadocchia/2018/10/23/hair-product-diversion-is-dirty-business-heres-what-it-will-take-to-clean-up-the-supply-chain/