While I agree, it is important to note that Valve is a private company. When you don’t have to please shareholders and do absolutely everything to increase revenue, there is possibility for a level-headed leader that keeps the company customer friendly.
But if anything changes (greed takes over or leadership changes), it could still turn.
The S21 is wider by a lot (71mm vs 68mm)
There are just a handful of flagship phones coming out in the last two years that are sub 69mm wide: the zenphones, and the xperia 5 IV and V (and the apple iphone SE 2022)
I did the opposite.
I always found big phones very hard to use (even though I have big hands), so I preferred small phones.
Then I got an S21, which was borderline too big (relative to the S10e), so I was looking for a solution and found phoneloops. Using this is so comfortable, I figured I don’t really need small phones anymore.
I dropped my S21 and a couple of things went broke, so I figured I would try an S23 ultra with phoneloops.
It was comfortable to use with the loops. I liked the huge screen for consuming content and I found the pen pretty handy at times. But I just couldn’t get used to the thickness and weight. I didn’t like using it because of it. After two months I grabbed my old phone and was blown away by it’s small size and weight. I ordered some replacement parts and switched back (daughterboard, loudspeaker, battery, glue). I appreciate it’s size even more now.
I guess if they would make a 170g, 8mm thick phone with a 7 inch display (FLAT), I would definitely give it a try.
But can you completely copy the UX of a shield pro with raspberry pi?
I mean, I can grab the TV’s remote, or the shields remote, and whichever I turn on, both of them turn on. It also wakes up from sleep faster than the TV turns on. I can use the TV’s remote to control the shield. Basically it works completely transparently.
It also makes it work really nice with android phones. I can cast spotify, youtube, google photos, or the screen onto the TV, and it works better than the TV’s cast with the apps.
I used Plex and while it worked nice for most of the time, I got fed up with it trying to steer me away from local streaming, and having a hard time finding my way back to it in the therrible UI. I set up Jellyfin and couldn’t be happier, HDR, Dolby Vision, 4K streaming just works perfectly.
The UI is much faster than a flagship LG TV too…
What I’m asking is… is it possible to set up an RPi to work this seamlessly and user friendly? With apps like netflix, hbo max, jellyfin, etc, with a remote and nice and easy UI so anyone can use it on their first try?
After a couple of free weekends, I was on the verge of buying it but then I saw that they separated squadron 42…
Even though I really want to support them, I don’t think I could get used to it. I really hate large phones, I tried to get used to them but eventually I always switched back. That is the dealbreaker for me, but I also don’t like that it has a slower processor, worse cameras, and worse battery life than my 3 year old phone.