Complexity of modern Android Phones
 

Hello,

My Phone Samsung Galaxy S9 is so much complex. The interface shows up millions of popup, which are coming from all directions. There is a missing of buttons. There is no classic "Home" button. Well, to find contacts, just to make a single phone is hidden in where ever places.

The modern world of popups... Making a single phone call requires so much energy.

It is bit like the modern web. Stuffed with millions of cookies to accepts and ads.

Android 8.0 Oreo
Samsung Experience 9.0

... classic phone herewith ... and the classic web. ;)

https://postimg.cc/jCxcQYdR

https://i.postimg.cc/wTpGTSzf/classic-web.png


https://i.postimg.cc/jCxcQYdR/classic-phone.png

https://i.postimg.cc/230w09Vh/classic-web.png

Agreed. And I have it worse than you, because I have use only of 1 hand.

I have a cheapo version - the A10. My policy is to buy last year's phone and wrap it in a shatterproof type case.

It comes packed with bloatware Google excrement; Samsung feces; Social media manure. I individually disable all except Google Maps, & drive. You can't uninstall them, but you can remove all updates & disable them. Then I disable all notifications except apps that I will allow to talk to me. It's kinda stupid to disable notifications on whatsapp, for instance.

It's not perfect, but it helps.

I have no way of knowing if this can work for you but it is my understanding an S9 can be rooted which means you could install any number of De-Googled option operating systems. I'm using Calyx on my Pixel 5 and though I am a rank N00B on smartphones (it's my 1st smartphone ever starting just a few months ago) and the only and rare notifications I get are updates, mostly for "Signal" which is an encrypted SMS/Phone app. The only downside, if one can call it that, is there is a safe substitute fro Google Store so quite a few apps are not available but those are the ones that invade your privacy and stay active all the time.

If that sounds good to you, and you can always go back, a simple web search on your PC will get you specific instructions for your phone and your desired OpSys.

I'm thinking I really don't recommend this.

I've had zero problems with Samsung and Android for years, none of the complaints cited. Bearing in mind that the complaints seem to more be a rant and not very clearly worded. I've had a Samsung 9 now I have an A71, three years or so old. Same buttons as always, never had popup problems unless I went to some questionable site I'd end up never visiting again. I do nothing non-standard and install nothing but apps from the play store, and do so rarely, once it's all configured.

I think a lot of it is operator error/impatience.

So rmistler, you're recommending against a less intrusive system that doesn't track your activities and data and sell them like Google does? Interesting but a bit odd. In LQN's Linuix Smartphones thread a few chastised me for Calyx not being private enough, preferring Graphene. Since each individual has differing degrees of security concerns I suggest Xeratul and others who read this thread look up the 7-10 alternatives and decide for themselves. Benefits exist. Risk is minimum at least to anyone who actually owns their PC(s) instead of buying one from Walmart or similar with Windoze 11 preinstalled and calls that "good enough". Installing an alternative OpSys on Android is less risky than flashing PC Firmware.

You can cover your tracks as much as you want. But you should know that the phone software regularly pings for the nearest cell tower. The first 3 replies allow calculation of what's called "First Fix" geo-location, accurate to +/-5 metres.

The police only get one answer, the tower you attach to. Buy the phone calculates the Location. With that information on your phone, it's difficult to imagine it not getting out if anyone smart is half bothered about where you are.

FTR, the phone's gps sensors refine that to +/- 2 Metres, iirc and the GPS Satellites give +/- 1 Metre.

In short, when it comes to privacy on your mobile phone: It's heads, they win; Tails, you lose. In a recent court case here, part of the State evidence was a log of location for Gerry Hutch's phone which was one of these physically modified totally encrypted phones sold to big criminals :D.

I don't think the OP was complaining about data privacy, instead they sounded like they complained about phone operation, whereupon my experiences seem to be contrary to their complaints. I'm not sure getting more complicated about it will be the best solution for them, however that is their choice.

I have an LG and my friend has a Samsung (sorry, don't know the model).

On the rare occasions when she asks me to help with her phone, I must say I find her Samsung's interface quite confusing. I'm not saying that the LG interface is optimal, but, in my limited experience, the Samsung interface is not very friendly.

Just FTR telemetry says a phone is located "here". If it has no defined identity, so what? research privacy options in different Android alternatives to see what works for you

For OP and anyone else experiencing too many popups, you may find settings that will reduce them with the OpSys you have. If not, there are alternatives. That's all.

I guess the interface is down to what you are used to.
i have Samsung and no real issues. (inc no pop-ups).

Otoh, I can confirm that your phone can be asked to leak a lot of info if asked nicely ... ;)

This complaint, about an older and now unsupported device, seems out of place here.

I have a newer Samsung phone and "pop ups" - I assume you mean notifications - are minimal. Just uninstall and disable all the crap.

The privacy concerns, regarding telemetry, surveillance, tracking, etc are a whole other debate - and the real problem with these types of devices. Unfortunately humanity has sleepwalked into a situation where their lives are being spied on and influenced by Big Tech and by extension, the establishment.

So who says you have to have a smartphone at all? I've never had one and hope never to acquire one. I have a £25 dumbphone that I use when certain sites require 2FA for logging in. I don't need to use it as a telephone because I have a landline for when I am at home, and I don't want to be pursued by callers when I am out.

It's a valid point if you have no family or social life and every other member of your family and friends have one...

It's inertia that drives adoption of these devices. A bit like facebook, it snowballed and the next thing "everyone is on it" (except me).

I kept a "dumb phone" for years. Everyone who sent me texts was able to type away at top speed, while I was pressing buttons on a traditional keypad (click, click, click), then ran out of message space, etc. I don't miss that. Having data and access to email (mainly for work as well as family and friends) and applications such as maps and the rail network information is very useful to me. I'm also an ebayer, so having access to ebay on the move is also very useful. The rest of it? The social network crap, etc they can keep. I intend to get rid of my landline as soon as I can - another expense I don't need.

Regarding the need for a smartphone, I think it is just like any other previous form of communication. They start as a luxury and over time, as all the bugs get worked out, they become necessities, especially for those young enough to have developed along with such devices. I remember Televisions being referred to as "The Idiot Box" and I've read that telephones and radios had similar detractors and while it is true that plenty of idiocy is available on TVs and maybe even moreso with modern Net connected Smart TVs, there is also very serious access to deep and important information available as well, not to mention the hugely important aspect of global networking with people one would have never even been aware existed just a decade or so ago.

These are simply tools and just as one can build a home with a hammer (assuming distribution of planks and nails is available as well) or bash someone's head in, tools are only as good as the user and available support systems. There are plenty of bugs to work out but it is highly unlikely Smartphones will become less valuable anytime soon. It is more likely they will become absolute necessities, then passe, then obsolete and fade away, replaced by some next level means of communication.

If you have a mobile phone (Dumb or smart) you can be tracked to your nearest cell tower anyhow. If you have internet, they have you down.

One surprisingly effective way of circumventing this is to lie about your age :D. When I registered my wife as existing with Apple for an ipad, I gace her a birth date of 1885. Apple's interface puked on that, but did accept 1886. Who wants to advertise to someone that age?:rolleyes: I've never had her complain about ads, though the odd one arrives.