The winning example of tight product management is right there for them, but they continue to act like 'feature factories' without any concious 'whole product' design philosophy.

Probably many people within these organizations are aware, but they don't have the power to resist ingrained operational culture.

You are entitled to your opinion, but the S series is objectively considered a premium android phone by basically everyone. By your standard, the only possible contender is Google’s Pixel lineup, but I get the feeling you might consider Google’s forced 1st party apps as intrusive too.

I entirely agree with you, and profoundly dislike them, but it's clearly working for them if their financials don't lie. While most other manufacturers bleed money, Samsung had healthy profits on smartphones last time I checked. It still puzzles me that anyone would buy them at all, but I've long accepted that I'm not a representative sample.

So given that, I don't see why they would bother coming up with a vision after all this time.

To me, the benefit of the S series was "Android on decent hardware". I would have preferred as close to stock Android as possible. I mostly use F-Droid stuff anyway, though of course that means I am far from the average consumer.

They are primarily a hardware company - it seems reasonable to expect them to innovate there, and leave innovation in software to the software companies.

Yes

Google Pixel devices are well made and took 4 out of 10 Editor's Choice picks here: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/best-android-phone/

I think the iPhones are out in front a little, but in a way that I'm not sure really matters. I loved the iPhone hardware I've owned, but the difference in build quality isn't noticeable unless you look carefully and isn't noticeable in a case. The only way I'd say it's noticeable is if you're a hardware nerd who knows how the things are manufactured, or if you get a repair bill. What Apple have done with iPhone hardware is a huge achievement, but said as someone who likes owning nice things, I'd happily take a Pixel 10.

Nintendo Switchphone2 - it is a Switch that can make phone calls.

Microsoft could do it if they wanted to, and didn't bungle it like the last three times. (lol)

The key in my mind is to NOT compete for the high-end, but as a feature phone.

I can't tell you that I use the phone differently than I did then, because I don't. The camera on a phone, for me, is a nice to have in the moment, I'm not a photographer and I have never felt the need to have such an incredible camera at my disposal (except that my eyes are failing so using the zoom to see the distance has been nice... twice).

I've been thinking of dumping the phone entirely, except I have my cards on there (yes, cards are smaller) and, crucially, my online banking.

I thought about going to a 5SE, which isn't supported but would still kinda work, but my own one is bricked somehow and Apple doesn't allow it to be restored via Finder anymore. :(

Bear in mind, I still have an iPhone 17 for work, and a 15 Pro for home...

I hate this duopoly.

It had the most bizarre solution; airplane mode, set time to one year in the future, reboot, wait a few minutes, set time to 6mo in the future, reboot, wait a few minutes, set time to now, reboot. Went from 200GB to like 15GB. Was ridiculous.

(For anyone looking at this and considering doing it, you also need to ensure iMessage retention is forever, otherwise the iPhone will think it's a year old and delete the messages)

My 14 Pro Max has been a champ (though I never upgraded to Liquid Ass, iOS 18 for life on this thing). I have almost zero real reason to upgrade, esp since it'll only cost me $100 or so to have the battery replaced in a few months (I'm at 84% and treating it poorly to get it to a point I can justify the expense).