Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsWill be my last Samsung phone - A+ hardware, bloatware destroys it
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2019
I've had Samsung phones for the past 8 years. Upgraded pretty much every other version. This will be my last.
The hardware is fantastic, screen is incredible, camera is a huge upgrade, but the Samsung bloatware is now untenable. Some examples:
1. I tried to switch to Google Messages, but sent messages are lost as Samsungs stock app does not save them in the same place, to NO new message app can get to your sent messages. What does this look like when you enable Google Messages (which can work across many devices, unlike Samsung) - all you see is the stuff you received, nothing sent
2. Contacts - I tried to switch to Google contacts, but Samsungs Contacts has control and I see nothing. Didn't even bother trying to debug it
3. Removing my Samsung Account - I enabled it thinking it would help. Big mistake. I've been trying to remove it for hours. Their website says it's in the "more" menu, but when I bring up my more menu their is no option to remove. I gave up and just filled a complaint with the EU data privacy team - maybe they can do something.
4. Bixby - is just horrible and they constantly push it. You can enable Google assistant but there's no way to just remove Bixby and the bloatware around it.
My suggestion if you are looking at this phone is to consider the Pixel or some other phone without all the bloatware instead at this point. Samsung should do what they do best, hardware. That's why I've always liked them. It's 100% clear that Samsung engineers are incapable of developing even modestly decent software.
I did do research before I bought this, but now release most of the positive reviews saying Samsung has fixed their software are likely paid or endorsed reviews.
