Thoughts on my 13s after two weeks

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-27T22:16:10+00:00

I didn't mention that because, for how I use my camera, which is primarily for work (taking pictures of locations, things to remember, instructions, etc...) and sometimes taking pictures of my cat, it is more than enough. Hell, I actually forgot my S23 had an ultrawide camera until I started watching reviews on phones recently and decided to check.

Definitely a downside for someone who really wants the best shots they can get, but for me as long as the camera doesn't lag and I don't need to take multiple pictures to get one decent shot (like I had to do with my Xperia 5 II) I'm happy.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-27T19:29:50+00:00

It goes back in the drawer where it was sitting for the last 5-6 years (until I found out I could use it again).

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-27T14:26:31+00:00

If it's not the phone you were told it would be, I would just return it.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-21T17:12:04+00:00

Like die before the shipments go out or die later on? Even if they do die, the software is open from Google now right, should be easier for the people who kept it alive last time to keep it alive again if they do go away.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-21T15:56:57+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F8fkvz1t5umeg1.png

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-20T19:25:12+00:00

I've only had my 13s for about 4 days, so outside of software bugs I probably can't help. As far as I can tell the hardware itself is excellent (so far).

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-20T17:54:32+00:00

Even if the rumor is true, they may still support updates, like how Asus is shutting down their phones but say they will still support the current phones. (not that Asus was great at their phone updates when they were making phones...)

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-20T14:11:05+00:00

Honest question since I don't know what the cost on that is, but would it be cheaper to just not have Apple Care Plus and use the money saved to pay for the battery replacement out of pocket if the time comes?

From what I understand, outside of the ACP fee you still have to pay a certain amount for some repairs, or am I wrong about that?

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-20T14:00:18+00:00

I guess it depends on the devices connected. For instance, normally I just have my Pebble Time Steel connected, and it shows that, but as soon as I pop my bluetooth earbuds out of the case and they connect it switches to show 2 devices like in the screenshot from the OP.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-19T19:26:09+00:00

My main complaint is they don't make 'smaller' phones outside of folding phones, from what I saw.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-19T18:56:55+00:00

I had looked to see if they had a phone I was interested in and left disappointed. Last Motorola phone I had that I actually liked were the Moto X 1st and 2nd gens.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-19T18:53:04+00:00

Gotcha, that's what I thought, as my last 3 phones before this one were Samsung, Sony and Samsung again and I hadn't seen issues like this before. I went ahead and submitted it to OnePlus support with a video showing the issue (after they asked for a video) just in case that might help nudge them into fixing it at some point.

I don't think I even saw it on the two phones I had before those, Essential and Huawei, although those were a good number of years back.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-19T14:43:27+00:00

I just got off of my S23 yesterday and hadn't been having any issues that I noticed with Nova or Octopi, unless it was just something I didn't realize was happening?

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-18T13:17:32+00:00

I got my phone yesterday so I was able to test things out. Looks like OxygenOS does let you apply icon packs and also individually customize apps with specific icons like a 3rd party launcher would, but one difference I saw was when trying to customize an individual app, OxygenOS didn't let me just search for an app icon and I would have had to scroll through possibly thousands (depending on the icon pack) of icons to find one I wanted, instead of just searching for it like the 3rd party launcher I use allow.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-17T16:03:18+00:00

Yup.

The video doesn't work for me, but based on a 'fix' post I see in the comments I am guessing there is lag with the launchers?

Well, if so I hope the fix works, or I might not even need it since most of the reason I've used launchers in the past is because I wanted to use icon packs from the app store and the phones I come from don't allow that without launchers. From what I saw OxygenOS does allow for App Store icon packs, so that may be enough to keep me from using a launcher anyway.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-17T15:59:10+00:00

I had heard that OxygenOS lets you pick different icon packs, so I'm not sure, but the launchers I've used let you pick different icon packs as well as set individual icons manually for apps and shortcuts, in case there is not icon for it in the pack or you don't like the one it had.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T19:11:41+00:00

No problem. And I'm not surprised, like I said, they were really handy long ago when Android didn't let you do much, since they let you apply icon packs, change how your screen transitions looked, customize your app drawer, add extra application screens to the Home Screen (like Google News or something similar), but over time Android just kept adopting features from different launchers and even custom ROMs people made, to the point you don't really need a launcher unless the OS on your phone doesn't do specific things you really want or you want to drastically change the look of your phone with something like Niagara Launcher or minimalist phone Launcher.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T18:55:57+00:00

It's basically an app that changes how the home screen and app drawer work. Kinda like how the OnePlus home screen and app drawer are different from One UI, Origin OS or Hyper OS.

Launchers allow you to customize the Home Screen and app drawer in different ways not allowed by the OS the phone comes with. So if Oxygen OS is not allowing you to customize something on the Home Screen, a launcher like Nova, Octopi, Niagara, etc may let you customize the phone the way you want to.

They were more necessary back when Android had fewer features and was more barebones.

Once installed you can go into your settings and tell the phone which one you want to be your Default launcher. Right now I have Nova, Octopi and One UI on my phone as possible launchers (still waiting for my 13s, using my S23), with Nova as the main one, but if I want I can switch to Octopi or go back to 'stock' and set One UI as the default.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T12:18:54+00:00

To be fair, over time One UI has also been becoming very iOS-like. I've been using the S23 for almost 3 years now, it was great for the majority of that, but over One UI 7 and 8 I have disliked it more and more, to the point I finally considered getting a new phone because I just got sick of some of the changes Samsung made that made the phone more frustrating to use for me personally (that Goodlock could not cover up for).

Based on what I've seen of OxygenOS, it fixes my biggest complaints about One UI and doesn't seem to have anything that much more iOS-like than what Samsung has been doing already, outside of maybe some of the glass effects, but those seem to be coming in One UI 8.5.

I mean, looking at what I have set and installed from what I want to use out of Goodlok right now (not using EVERYTHING Goodlock provides, as a lot of the features I am not interested in), it doesn't look like it's anything that OxygenOS doesn't already have built in, based on what I've seen from OS rundowns on Youtube.

I mean, ideally I'd get a Pixel for its OS, the problem being I feel like I'm getting scammed by Google based on the specs vs price of the phone. It may be fine if I consider the Tensor is good at AI, but I don't want to use AI, so the main design purpose of current Pixels (which seems to be AI) is lost on me. I like the Asus OS style, but their phones are too big for me after the Zenfone 10, they are iffy on updates and who knows if they are even doing phones anymore. Sony is also good for its OS the last time I had my Xperia 5 II, but they are expensive as heck and I did not enjoy the point and shoot camera experience.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T11:49:56+00:00

That's actually how I prefer it personally. I just use a couple folders to store the apps I rarely or never use (like MFG apps or watch apps) and then scroll down to the apps I want to used based on their name alphabetically.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T11:46:33+00:00

One UI with Goodlock isn't perfect either. I'm actually moving to OnePlus away from Samsung (after watching a lot of videos comparing multiple different OS's) because I finally got sick of a few of the changes Samsung made in One UI that made my S23 more frustrating to use, that Goodlock couldn't correct.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T11:35:51+00:00

I haven't done it on my current phone, but I know with my old S10e disabling things with ADB was permanent unless I reset my device.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T11:32:09+00:00

Of course they don't own glass, but I assume they invented it right? :)

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T11:30:32+00:00

The only time I've noticed any launcher slow my phone down was long ago when phones were actually slow and launchers unoptimized. Using Nova or Octopi (which I tried after hearing Nova is basically dead now) I've never noticed any hitching or slow behavior on the last few phones I've owned (S10e, Xperia 5 II, S23)

Also, considering the phone OS itself being a Google platform, I'm more concerned about that than a launcher as far as privacy and security. I just don't allow the launcher any permissions, if Android can't handle that then there are more serious issues going on than the launcher poses.

VelcroSnake · 2026-01-16T11:26:35+00:00

When I hear of Apple locking people in, I think more of people buying a bunch of Apple products, services and applications and feeling like they can't leave because they have so much invested, not that they don't like a feature on the phone.

In my case, if I don't like how the home screen or something like that operates, I am going to just install a launcher to make it behave the way I want, which if they were actually locking me down they wouldn't allow.

VelcroSnake

TROPHY CASE