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?.
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
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).
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.
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.
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.
Honestly, with how powerful modern Smartphones are, you can just buy one now, flash an open source version of android and use that for a decade, assuming the OS gets supported that long.
By “connected” I meant controlled by the 3rd party with or without my knowledge/permission. If I cannot set what and where is being sent from a device I don’t use it. And yes, you can call me paranoid :)
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.
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.
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.
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.
I don’t trust any of the major phone manufacturers to update my device for an extended time. It is intrinsically against their interest to support a platform long term at the expense of a missed sale on a new device.
Not that I like Motorola, but they do offer an unlocked bootloader on most of their phones. LineageOS supports a number of them officially, which makes for a very easy install and extended support model. Not bad for a $300 phone.
I’ve used samsung s2, s4 mini, s6, s10e and now s23. They’ve all been perfectly fine products in my opinion. Their ssd as well. Not to say others aren’t better, but I’ve just never had a reason to switch
The Galaxy S5 was amazing. Unlocked bootloader, IR blaster, replaceable battery, waterproof during an age when most phones weren’t, and was overall an incredible phone. Much better than most of the new Samsung ones.
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!!!
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.
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.
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