Samsung Galaxy S20

The S20 is my 5th attempt to find a proper replacement for my Mate10Pro from 2017, I never truly appreciated this phone until I got the Samsung Galaxies ( a total of 4 Galaxys so far ) and until I broke it (by dropping it----great phone but it's fragile seemingly, this 2017.)

The first replacement attempt was the S21 Plus, which was disappointing. THe screen appeared soft when the resolution specs are identical to the old 2017, the fingerprint responseness was terrible I had to tap and press often just to get it to unlock, the speakers were definitely inferior, and it didn't really feel all that fast (when it was benchmarked to be about 2.5X as fast as the old 2017 phone.) As much as I hate returning stuff that I bought, I chose to return it since that was an available option.

The second replacement attempt at a suitable replacement was the S10 5G (a super big Ultra-like phone comparable type of phone with nascent 5G technology,) I figured why not "go big or go home." It's not a bad phone but the WIFI would need to be reconnected every few times a month (slight annoyance.) The fingerprint reader isn't very responsive, so I use it in combination with facial recognition which helps but it's kinda annoying and less secure, seemingly. The cameras are pretty good and the speakers are acceptable but nowhere near as good as the 2017. It's also heavy.. and feels oversized for my girly hands.

I figured since I'm going backwards looking for a replacement, I might as well go further back to the S9 so I got a "base model" S9 for super cheap. I figured why not try it and I hear the speakers are good on this one. Well, it's the best Samsung speaker so far but this thing in spite of being 2018 is **SLOWER** than the 2017 (irrespctive of what the benchmarks say, maybe the reason is that it was 4Gb of ram vs the 6GB that the 2017 has.) The rear fingerprint reader that I expected to be snappy like the 2017?? It's not, it seems to "break" often, some real weird quirks. That said, the screen is beautiful packing 560 PPIs. BUt the 2017 in spite of being lower resolution was really sharp! Having learned how good this thing feels in my hand and how light it is, I decided on my next phone.

So, now we have the S20 base model which is what I'm using now and it's great actually in many important ways EXCEPT the stinking speakers which are total garbage! For the S20 I made sure to get the most ram available (because the previous S9 had only 4Gb and felt slow, this one has 12GB.) The fingeprrint reader is very responsive! and the ergonomics are pretty good: the buttons are easy to press and are in the right locations. The battery is very good, best so Galaxy so far. Everything is good except for the speakers. SIGH. I guess I can live with this.

Anyways, I still haven't found a truly 100% proper replacement for my 2017. All these phones are good phones in the sense that if I had to use them, I absolutely can! BUT they're not the near complete package the old 2017 flagship was.

I can't understand why Samsung can't get something basic like speakers right, even on a flagship phone. How can the 2017 have such amazing speakers but these newer phones not??

I could buy the 2017 again on Ebay (will have to wait because it's rare.) But it's using outdated Android 9 which many apps no longer support. Google voice will discontinue Android 9 support in about 2 years, and many banking apps no longer support it. So it will be obsolete in time.