Motorola making gains against Samsung

[The_Chief]

Samsung continues to "dumb down" its Galaxy flagships by removing features; keeping many specs as-is for years and years; and adding AI elements that few people asked for - or will use, for the most part. Motorola, however, is being smart about adding features and increasing functionality.

Motorola becoming the anti-Samsung – A problem Samsung should take seriously

Samsung owns Android, which has been true for years, and the Galaxy maker has done little to pretend otherwise, but quietly, methodically, Motorola has been building something worth paying attention to. Over the past few years, Motorola has made a series of smart, deliberate choices. The company...

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How many years has Samsung had 5000 mAH batteries in its flagships, with 45W of wired charging? Only this year, the Galaxy S26 Ultra can charge at 60W. Motorola's new devices can charge at 68W. Samsung removed Bluetooth from the S Pen; and eliminated the digitizer layer from the Z Fold: a phone with a gorgeous screen BEGGING to be used for graphics and design. Samsung decided more people wanted a thin foldable than a feature-packed one. Motorola just improved the stylus on the Moto G Stylus 2026; and the upcoming Razr Fold will have a digitizer layer, allowing stylus use. Motorola still believes that people prefer a microSD slot for storage... while Samsung makes users either pay for additional internal storage or cloud storage.

Frankly, I prefer storing my files on the microSD card. If I drop my Motorola phone with a 1TB card in it and the phone will never power on again, I can remove the card; pop it in a new phone; and keep going. If someone drops their 1TB Galaxy S26 Ultra, all that data is GONE (unless it's backed up). My Moto G Stylus 2026 has shipped: I'll keep my S24 Ultra as a camera device since it records up to 8K video, but my SIM card will be on the new phone.

What are your thoughts on Samsung vs. Motorola?

 

[Milo Willamson]

I think that both companies are erasing a benifactor here, they are really focusing on the leser of evils split up and taken apart, it maybe a buyer bewear way down the line. Still if we can swamp 0ut th0se sims and mem0ry cards that is alright but utlimately leaving a peice 0f pie missing, 0f what pe0ple. acutally want 0ver all.

 

[The_Chief]

I had high hopes for the Moto G Stylus 2026, as the three of you who follow my posts know. However, this is the 15th Android phone I've owned since the OG Motorola Droid in 2009... this Moto G Stylus is the most counter-intuitive phone I've ever tried to set up. I don't know who is in charge of Settings, but they need another job because everything is scattered around; few things are where I'd expect them to be; and some things just aren't there (or I can't find them). Add to my frustration that the Moto Watch is supposed to be a Wear OS device, but the Wear app can't find it and the Play Store isn't even installed on it. Therefore, I can't add apps or watch faces to it!

Google isn't helping things at all: I'm trying to set this up as a trusted device so all of my Google security notifications don't keep going to my S24 Ultra. Turns out that Google has stated it could take 5-7 days for a new device to get registered! So I'm supposed to haul two phones around, waiting to get security notifications on the old phone for things that I do on the new phone! Google's device manager simply shows the new device as " Android " and I can't use anything that generic as a trusted device.

As much as I'd looked forward to this phone, I'm pretty much resolved to resetting it and returning everything while I'm still within Motorola's "generous" 14-day return window.

 

[olbriar]

I was hoping it was a winner winner chicken dinner for you. Sorry to hear differently.

 

[The_Chief]

Yeah, this thing proves Scotty's quote in the future: "the more they tech the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." They customized the menu to the point of way over-complicating it... and the sheer amount of bloatware on it was insane! I'm back to using my S24 Ultra, and apparently will be for the foreseeable future.

 

[puppykickr]

this is but one reason that i use KISS launcher.
it allows me to type settings shortcuts right into the search bar on the home screen.

also, this seems a time to bring up how i put utility apps and other things that i want on any device onto an SD card that i install before i ever turn it on. just a cheap ~$7 ONN 32GB card that has apks for all my utility apps, canta, shizuku, f-droid, etc..

to be honest, i dont like most of the changes i have seen just between android 11 and 12.
even the quick settings tiles are now blocky and ugly, and many things that were done with one touch are now two or three touches.
it seems to me that new devices are geared to keep us 'touching' them as often as possible.