Linked List: March 8, 2018

Thursday, 8 March 2018

Dan Seifert: Galaxy S9 Is ‘Predictably Great, Predictably Flawed’ ★

Dan Seifert, writing for The Verge:

In an obvious attempt to replicate Apple’s Face ID system, Samsung has introduced a new combination face-scanning / iris-scanning feature that can be used to unlock the phone instead of the fingerprint scanner. It will use either the more-secure iris scanner or the quicker-but-less-secure face scanner, depending on the lighting conditions you’re in. However, it’s slow, blinks an annoying red light when it activates the iris scanner, and never feels as seamless as Face ID. Good thing the fingerprint scanner is easier to use now.

Seifert’s review echoes David Pierce’s: the hardware is very good — great display, great camera, great performance — but all of Samsung’s software additions to Android are shitty gimmicks.

David Pierce: ‘Samsung Galaxy S9 Is Impressive and Infuriating’ ★

David Pierce, reviewing the Galaxy S9 for The Wall Street Journal:

Samsung paired this lovely hardware with half-baked software. I love Android and use it every day, but I don’t like any of what Samsung does to it. If Samsung would just get out of its own way, build hardware and let Google handle the software, the S9 might be the best phone on the market. Instead, I found myself longing for simpler, smoother features to better suit this good-looking phone.