[HN Gopher] Try Galaxy: A web app to demo Samsung's OS on an iPhone
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Try Galaxy: A web app to demo Samsung's OS on an iPhone
        
       Author : ouked
       Score  : 141 points
       Date   : 2023-05-10 11:42 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (trygalaxy.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (trygalaxy.com)
        
       | Toutouxc wrote:
       | IMO it's fine. I had a Galaxy S9 a few years ago for two weeks
       | (had to return it because of hardware issues) and it felt nice to
       | use, smooth and modern. I've used many kinds of phones in my
       | life, dumb phones, Symbian, Windows on PDAs and smartphones,
       | Android from 1.6 up until now, and even though I'm firmly team
       | Apple at this moment, I have to say that not having a dedicated
       | "back" button or gesture and only occasionally showing a "back"
       | arrow in the top-left corner (i.e. the one you can't reach one-
       | handed) really stands out among the stupid UI decisions I've
       | seen. Yes, iOS is fast and polished, it's just that pretty often
       | I'm not sure how I got somewhere and how to get out.
        
         | TetOn wrote:
         | Swiping left to right from the leftmost edge of the phone onto
         | the screen will execute the "back" function with or without the
         | presence of a "back" arrow at the top-left corner.
        
           | joekrill wrote:
           | Not on iOS, which I believe OP is referring to. On Android
           | you can swipe back. But I just tried this on my iPad and it
           | does not work. For the longest time I never even _noticed_
           | that "<back" link in the upper-left corner!
        
             | kitsunesoba wrote:
             | As an iOS app dev, swipe to go back definitely works on
             | native iOS apps. If you find an app it doesn't work in it's
             | probably an app built in whatever cross platform UI
             | framework which doesn't implement the gesture.
             | 
             | Additionally, one can always swipe the bottom bar to switch
             | between apps.
        
             | thiht wrote:
             | You definitely can swipe back on iOS, I do it all the time
             | and AFAIK it's the primary recommended way to go back. You
             | have to swipe from the edge though.
        
             | Etheryte wrote:
             | Yes it does on iOS, it might just be that you misunderstand
             | how the mechanic works. Swiping back will never exit you
             | out of an application. But for example if you go Settings -
             | General - About and then swipe back two times you'll end up
             | back on the Settings screen.
        
           | boterock wrote:
           | but now they added this task switcher to iPad which also
           | appears when dragging from the left edge, and now going back
           | is like rolling a dice. you don't know how how to go back
           | without triggering the task switcher so it ends up taking
           | multiple attempts to go back without the OS consuming the
           | input
        
             | zgk7iqea wrote:
             | you can disable stage manager. i believe it is off by
             | default
        
           | Yizahi wrote:
           | You can't swipe across the opposing screen edge with your
           | thump without letting go of the full grip on the phone and
           | holding it only partially, risking it to fall. Glass phone
           | body only makes things much worse. You can do it with a back
           | button in a sane position though, without compromising a
           | grip. Android allows navbar gestures since ver.10 and I never
           | enable them because buttons are simply better, even though
           | they take away some space on the screen.
        
             | iSnow wrote:
             | I switched to iPhone 13 Mini because there's no recent and
             | small Android phone anymore. On the Mini, you can easily
             | reach that screen edge. Which just drives home the point
             | that those gigantoscreens are a bad idea.
        
             | pyr0hu wrote:
             | Dropped my iPhone 13 around 4-5 times, on the floor, in the
             | bathtub without water, on the desk. Not even a scratch. I
             | was afraid of the glass back but this thing _is_ sturdy.
             | "Risking to fall" was a good reason about 4-5 years ago,
             | but since then the devices got much better protected from
             | falling IMO
        
           | cglong wrote:
           | As a leftie, I really appreciate that on Android you can pull
           | in from the rightmost edge too.
        
           | Toutouxc wrote:
           | I was actually looking forward to this coming to iOS, but
           | it's one of the things that work great until they suddenly
           | don't. Back from a photo in Photos? Swipe down or top left
           | corner. Hide the keyboard? Middle right. Back from someone's
           | profile in Messages? Swipe down or top right. Back from a PDF
           | in Files? No swipes, just top right. Some of these do make
           | sense if you follow closely how the UI elements fly onto the
           | screen, but are confusing if you don't.
        
           | cassepipe wrote:
           | Dedicated back and home button is the reason why I always buy
           | a refurbished Galaxy S7 after I break/lose it. This is my
           | third is six years. I like that the price to pay to maintain
           | the same experience actually goes downwards. Who knows how
           | long it will keep working like that? Hopefully I will be able
           | to put lineageOS or postmarketOS on it when the software
           | eventually stops working. Maybe some day I get to be an
           | amazing linux hardware programmer like Caleb Connolly and am
           | able to mainline S7 support in linux like he did for the
           | SnapDragon 845, whatever that means
        
             | realusername wrote:
             | > Who knows how long it will keep working like that?
             | Hopefully I will be able to put lineageOS or postmarketOS
             | on it when the software eventually stops working.
             | 
             | You'll be fine, if I break my current phone, my next one
             | will be a Galaxy S4 as well, some people do run Android 12
             | on it nowadays, the battery is replaceable and the phone is
             | so cheap used that it's not even worth worrying about.
        
       | butz wrote:
       | I remember when in early days of J2ME enabled mobile phones I was
       | downloading development kits just to test out how UI on one or
       | other mobile phone worked. They usually had very limited OS part,
       | being targeted to development. Later some "simulators" build with
       | Flash appeared on web, allowing to test out some phone features.
       | Seems we came back full circle?
        
       | ConanRus wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | marcodiego wrote:
       | How do I try it on my desktop browser?
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35886531
        
       | sugardough wrote:
       | At least they were honest enough to let me know that ads are just
       | a swipe away from the home screen.
        
       | jptoto wrote:
       | No amount of these gimmicks will turn folks on to non-iOS devices
       | if their friends/families/social circles are using iPhones.
       | Messages, photo sharing, and the close paring with Apple devices
       | is too much to walk away from.
        
       | curling_grad wrote:
       | Kind of irony that there is no Korean language option...
        
         | neodymiumphish wrote:
         | I'd assume that they don't feel any see a need to market Galaxy
         | devices to Korean speakers.
        
       | semireg wrote:
       | Android forever reminds me of an unwritten chapter in David
       | Foster Wallace's Supposedly Fun Things I'll Never Do Again.
        
       | tiffanyg wrote:
       | The incessant Apple (iOS) / Google [and manufacturers] (Android)
       | sniping is truly a sight to behold.
       | 
       | People going out of their way to declare (or at least make clear
       | with varying degrees of intensity) just exactly which feudal
       | overlord they're ready to "bleed for" (i.e., give money, personal
       | data, and free promotion to). People who often act as if they
       | have an appropriately suspicious view of corporations in just
       | about any other interaction, come out boldly declaring that this
       | company or that company is GREAT when it comes to privacy, or
       | consumer choice, or <fill in the blank>.
       | 
       | One of the strongest and most consistent weaknesses of human
       | psychology is the effect "flags" have on otherwise reasonable
       | minds.
        
         | samstave wrote:
         | Said " _flags_ ", typically, have the ability to tax, control,
         | imprison and murder you either domestically or send you into a
         | meat grinder in the name of "national security" etc..
         | 
         | So yeah, people tend to fall in line under a flag through a
         | lifetime of indoctrination and threat of financial or physical
         | violence...
        
           | tiffanyg wrote:
           | There's something more fundamental, though - humans are a
           | "social species". Evolutionarily, we are adapted to requiring
           | (generally) at least something of a group / tribe. Other
           | organisms solve survival (of the species, ultimately)
           | problems differently - incredible and 'cheap' reproductive
           | capacity, strength and versatility enough to be much more
           | solitary as a rule, etc. - those niches are somewhat to
           | rather different.
           | 
           | In any case, at this point in human history especially, I'd
           | argue it's time to consider "the group" to be ALL humans -
           | "by default". There are nuances, and I'm out of time for
           | commenting further right now, but, that's my take on it.
           | 
           | Hopefully, this comment is of some use to you / someone /
           | etc. - hope y'all have a great day!
        
             | valeness wrote:
             | [flagged]
        
               | classified wrote:
               | Right, jaded cynics are much better entertainment.
        
               | samstave wrote:
               | Halp
               | 
               | Am I the cynic? Did I fuck up, ELI5 your interpretation
               | of my comment?
        
         | JumpCrisscross wrote:
         | > _People going out of their way to declare_
         | 
         | Isn't this a bit dramatic? It's a demo to which people are
         | replying with their preferences. Some fly flags, but most
         | debate features and priorities.
        
         | Y_Y wrote:
         | > "From my tutor, [I learned] to be neither of the Greens nor
         | the Blues, the Parmularius nor the Scutarius; to bear hard work
         | and have few needs; to do my own work and mind my own affairs;
         | also -- have nothing to do with gossip."
         | 
         | That's Marcus Aurelius in the "Meditations" talking about
         | supporting teams at the chariot races and gladiator fights. It
         | seems very human to get all tribal about something subjective
         | and inconsequential. Ancient Rome had the same fanboyism, just
         | in a different arena.
         | 
         | (I have a phone that just runs Alpine Linux, but I know better
         | than to try and tell anyone about it.)
        
           | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
           | > People going out of their way to declare (or at least make
           | clear with varying degrees of intensity) just exactly which
           | feudal overlord they're ready to "bleed for"
           | 
           | What about people who hate their overlord?
           | 
           | > (I have a phone that just runs Alpine Linux, but I know
           | better than to try and tell anyone about it.)
           | 
           | I wish you would! That sounds interesting!
        
           | tiffanyg wrote:
           | Thank you for this insightful comment!
           | 
           | (Love the aside at the end ... seriously, though, Aurelius
           | had an incisive eye, his writings have great value and much
           | to teach just about anyone ...)
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | quaintdev wrote:
           | Marcus Aurelius thoughts have survived 2000 years. He did not
           | even wanted them to be published. What a legend!
           | 
           | > I have a phone that just runs Alpine Linux, but I know
           | better than to try and tell anyone about it.
           | 
           | What phone is this?
        
             | noja wrote:
             | Could be https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Pine64_A64_LTS
        
             | Y_Y wrote:
             | Sibling comments are correct, it's a pinephone (non-pro,
             | with keyboard)
        
             | Moto7451 wrote:
             | Possibly the Pine Phone.
        
           | alvarezbjm-hn wrote:
           | During a conflict, that mindset requires a large quote of
           | power to be exercised. If you don't belong to a tribe, you
           | will be declared an enemy. Picking no tribe doesn't make you
           | "neutral" It makes you everybody's enemy.
        
         | stronglikedan wrote:
         | The best thing about us Samsung fans is that we get to give our
         | personal data to both Samsung _and_ Google!
        
           | SketchySeaBeast wrote:
           | My theory is that if everyone has my data it becomes useless.
        
         | abvaw wrote:
         | What does human psychology say about people who feel superior
         | to the plebs who post online on whether they like iOS or
         | Android?
        
           | tiffanyg wrote:
           | [flagged]
        
           | tiffanyg wrote:
           | [flagged]
        
       | rvcdbn wrote:
       | Kind of wish this actually worked as a phone by running Android
       | in the cloud. Would be really useful to have a second phone
       | inside an app for all sorts of things.
        
         | SketchySeaBeast wrote:
         | That's how yet another service ends up hosting a bunch of
         | malware and crypto farmers.
        
         | denkquer wrote:
         | for example? I don't see how it would be useful at all
        
           | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
           | Android for Work already lets you isolate some apps in their
           | own little container with separate data, but this would let
           | you keep it safer by never having that data even physically
           | present on the phone.
           | 
           | Actually generalize that: Depending on your exact threat
           | models, this is a great way to have data that can't be lost
           | or stolen just because your device is.
           | 
           | For a large enough app it's probably less data intensive, not
           | to mention much faster, to run the app in a cloud data center
           | where it has effectively unlimited bandwidth, and just stream
           | a video of it over a smaller network connection to the phone.
           | 
           | Creating virtual phones in cloud is probably an easy way to
           | create a lot of them, which allows you to do things like run
           | untrusted apps in complete isolation without access to any of
           | your data or other applications.
        
       | throwaway4good wrote:
       | Now that everyone can see what is possible with webapps, it is
       | time to drop the centralized app stores and free the world from
       | the shackles of google and apple ...
        
         | zuhsetaqi wrote:
         | For this stuttering experience and pages losing context and/or
         | have to reload when navigating back? No thanks.
         | 
         | I know that it's possible to do (better) but fact is most web
         | developers don't (or can't?). Even VS Code, the prime example
         | of how good Web Apps can be always reloads the page of an
         | extension when you switch the tab and go back. Don't get me
         | started on MS Teams which is just horrible to use
        
       | can16358p wrote:
       | Thank you Samsung...
       | 
       | For making me glad that I use an iPhone once again.
        
       | Sirikon wrote:
       | Surely fun to develop. Worst spent marketing budget in history.
        
       | JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B wrote:
       | It's restricted to Safari on the iPhone, the language cannot be
       | changed, the demo cannot launch, and I have an iPhone for a
       | reason, I know that I don't like Android and Samsung. The fact
       | that it's broken confirms it. I don't know what they are trying
       | to do with this.
        
         | KomoD wrote:
         | A trashy web app being broken confirms you dont like android?
        
           | wiseowise wrote:
           | Half-assed ecosystem and OS is the reason why I left for iOS.
           | 
           | So yeah, they couldn't even make it proper, which reinforces
           | my belief.
        
             | KomoD wrote:
             | Samsung couldn't make a proper web app so therefore Android
             | sucks, love that logic
        
               | wiseowise wrote:
               | Samsung is one of Android vendors.
               | 
               | If the biggest vendor can't make it right, who can?
               | 
               | I love Android, it's a great scaffold to base your
               | product on, but all implementations just suck.
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | The demo does work, though? Apple has some weird requirements
         | about having to install apps to the home screen (through the
         | share menu, of all places) before they can go full screen, but
         | once you get around that it works fine.
         | 
         | I'm not sure what the point of trying it is if you already know
         | beforehand that you're going to hate it.
        
         | kichimi wrote:
         | A webapp being broken on an iPhone is proof that android sucks?
        
           | markeibes wrote:
           | A company launching something broken is proof of their poor
           | quality control.
        
             | kichimi wrote:
             | But it works, I just tried it.
        
               | wiseowise wrote:
               | It's janky, half complete and shows nothing but an empty
               | shell.
               | 
               | I've seen better OS "emulations" on HN made by devs in
               | their free time.
        
         | madoublet wrote:
         | It works fine.
        
         | murukesh_s wrote:
         | will only launch if you add it to the home screen.
        
           | carstenhag wrote:
           | Ironically this option does not exist for me. Pretty much
           | sums up Apple's desired usage level of PWA: Almost 0. Of
           | course it can be caused by a Samsung issue, but this UI is
           | generally so well hidden because they don't want people to
           | use it.
        
       | kernal wrote:
       | I just tried this. The UI and UX are hideous. I don't see why any
       | iPhone user would even consider switching to a Samsung phone
       | based on this very underwhelming demo.
        
       | 32gbsd wrote:
       | Get rid of the "you are already on Android" message.
        
         | sundvor wrote:
         | Try it on a Samsung!
         | 
         | Then it'll say you're already on _Samsung_..
         | 
         | (I'd like to see that it looks like too.)
        
       | eddieroger wrote:
       | This demo does consumers a disservice by downplaying the
       | relationship between Galaxy and Android, I'd argue. If this neat
       | demo is effective, it's not a clear story for a novice end-user
       | (so non-HN readers) that asking for a non-iPhone at the Verizon
       | store /may/ have this experience, but may not. They sort of
       | address what device and experience this would provide, but the
       | text is small, doesn't meet contrast suggestions, and only seems
       | to appear on the desktop, which actually makes me think my
       | statement is more true in that just asking for a Galaxy phone may
       | not match this experience.
        
       | Takennickname wrote:
       | Can't try this on Android. Wtf.
        
         | aceazzameen wrote:
         | They want you to buy an iPhone to try it.
        
         | CharlesW wrote:
         | For the same reason many apps are iOS-first -- because testing
         | on Android is incredibly difficult (and expensive) to do well.
        
         | mensetmanusman wrote:
         | It would create a recursive catastrophe and generate a black
         | hole destroying space and time.
        
       | ppetty wrote:
       | I'm not switching but this is a good demo approach. And if it
       | gets better over time might seem ironic to early iPhone owners
       | who were told that web apps would suffice... you can accomplish a
       | lot with SPA / PWA.
       | 
       | It also makes me wonder if an Android "container" could run as an
       | app on an iPhone. Maybe sideloading leads to that?
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | Apple probably won't allow a full, dynamic Android container on
         | their app store because of restrictions regarding loading code
         | from the internet.
         | 
         | From a technical standpoint, I suppose it's possible, but you'd
         | be stuck with a very barebones Android system without all the
         | system daemons for notifications and such. You'll also need to
         | write some kind of EGL-to-Metal driver to get decent graphical
         | performance out of it.
         | 
         | Seeing how far Anbox and Windows' Android implementation have
         | come, I do wonder if it's possible to take an Android app,
         | stick it into an emulator, and bundle that as an .ipa for use
         | on iOS and macOS. It would certainly make porting easier.
        
       | sintezcs wrote:
       | I've just tried it, and looks like I'm never going to buy Samsung
       | instead of my iPhone :)
        
         | saiya-jin wrote:
         | [flagged]
        
           | doix wrote:
           | Funny that you pick on the hardware. I'd use an Apple phone
           | if it could run Android, the hardware is the only positive
           | thing I say about Apple stuff. My girlfriend has an iPhone 14
           | Pro Max and camera/microphone are good and and the lidar
           | stuff is pretty cool.
           | 
           | The software is completely and utterly unusable for me. It
           | reminds me of when I used to help my grandparents with
           | technology, except now I am the grandparent. Nothing works
           | like I'd expect and I just find it frustrating.
           | 
           | There are Android phones in a similar price range and I'm not
           | really tempted to buy any of them. I would buy an iPhone
           | running Android though.
        
             | smm11 wrote:
             | I'd buy a iPhone in a heartbeat if I could run "Galaxy" as
             | a VM on it, saving data to the cloud, blah, blah.
             | 
             | Which I guess is an option by this afternoon at least.
        
           | pixelpanic360 wrote:
           | [dead]
        
           | olliecornelia wrote:
           | Curious about the "seriously subpar hardware" claim. What are
           | you referring to specifically?
        
             | elboru wrote:
             | Yeah, I don't get it, I used to be an android user since
             | the first Galaxy S up until the Galaxy S7, I'm really
             | sensitive to slow devices, so as soon as my androids got a
             | little slow (usually after a big update) I switched to the
             | new shiny one. Then I got tired of buying flashy and
             | expensive phones that lasted 2.5 years so I give the iPhone
             | X a try. It's 2023 and I still use the same phone I still
             | get updates and what's more important to me those updates
             | haven't slowed my phone a bit. It still feels the same. I'm
             | not coming back as long as Apple keeps my old phones fast.
        
               | Yizahi wrote:
               | My iPhone 4S and iPad 2 were destroyed in performance
               | after update from iOS6 to iOS7 (and helpfully without
               | possibility of downgrade, thanks Apple), plus a lot of
               | apps were deprecated in that update due to some API
               | changes or whatever. That's just adding more data points
               | to the legend of "perfect updates on the iPhones".
               | 
               | My Samsung phone is 3 years old, it got 3 major updates
               | over these years, and last update was 29/03/2023, a
               | little more than a month ago. It also didn't slow a bit
               | over time.
               | 
               | People making a cult out of some common industry
               | standards are tiring really. Sure, Apple lead the way
               | with those standards (and destroyed some when it was
               | profitable for them too), but that happened ages ago. You
               | might as well remember some Android phones from 10 years
               | ago and compare them to iPhone 14.
        
               | Lalabadie wrote:
               | I don't think a three-year support period is the argument
               | you are making it out to be.
               | 
               | As a side-note, you've used your comment to remember some
               | Apple devices from 13 years ago and compared them to an
               | Android device bought in 2020.
        
               | opan wrote:
               | My solution is to never use the vendor ROM. I only get
               | phones with LineageOS support, and then I unlock the
               | bootloader and flash LineageOS ASAP. Stays fast and gets
               | updated longer than the official way. Even the Galaxy S3
               | still gets pretty good community support.
        
           | yett wrote:
           | "seriously subpar hardware" Apple's ARM chips are years ahead
           | in competition
        
             | behnamoh wrote:
             | I think the GP meant RAM.
        
               | marcellus23 wrote:
               | Why do you think that?
        
       | redbell wrote:
       | This is a piece of art!
       | 
       | Since this is -I guess- a project made for fun, it would nice to
       | open source it, so we can learn from it. Maybe then, we can make
       | the opposite project, TryiOS.com
        
         | Uehreka wrote:
         | I'm pretty sure this is an ad for Samsung phones, not a project
         | made for fun. It also isn't as deep as it first appears. This
         | isn't "Samsung's Android compiled to wasm", it's "a web app
         | that acts like Android until you click on the wrong thing
         | whereupon it stops you from going too deep". Like, most of the
         | Settings screens aren't even built out.
        
           | circuit10 wrote:
           | Yes, I think I've seen ads for this site
        
       | netbioserror wrote:
       | Yeah, I'm just chomping at the bit to "experience" a bloated and
       | proprietary half-Android franken-OS, and do it in a browser SPA.
       | Sign me up!
        
         | neodymiumphish wrote:
         | I was a hardcore proponent for custom ROMs and unlocked
         | bootloaders for the first ~10 years of my mobile phone
         | experience, mostly Nexus and Pixel devices. With OneUI that
         | came with the S10, I've changed my opinion. It's a much better
         | UI and UX than AOSP or Google's default Android experience. I
         | still support the devices that include unlockable bootloaders
         | for long term updates and customization, but OneUI is hard to
         | beat, and Google and Samsung have been working much more
         | closely lately than ever before.
        
           | netbioserror wrote:
           | I use my phone as little as I can bear. Barebones GrapheneOS,
           | Fdroid for most things, browser for bank/maps, and four days
           | of battery life. Every proprietary Android ROM is a downsell
           | for me.
        
             | neodymiumphish wrote:
             | That's fair, but your use case is far from any average
             | users out there, and probably would scare most users away
             | from Android entirely.
        
               | netbioserror wrote:
               | It can do emails and VPN just fine, so I'm wondering what
               | the "average user" is missing. Grubhub? Crappy mobile
               | games? Social networks that are making their lives worse?
               | Definitely not YouTube because NewPipe is full-stop
               | better. I'm just surprised that "Maybe I don't need all
               | this toxic crap" is such a niche, extreme position that
               | draws me funny looks and scorn.
        
               | neodymiumphish wrote:
               | I'm not arguing that it's better or that ant of those
               | things are good, but there will never be mainstream
               | support or even k owledge about them.
        
               | pixelated_music wrote:
               | Probably not the right place for a suggestion, but since
               | you mentioned NewPipe, I would also suggest checking out
               | LibreTube[0], been my choice of Youtube app after their
               | redesign.
               | 
               | [0] https://github.com/libre-tube/LibreTube
        
       | cuoco wrote:
       | Awesome app! It would be awesome if it could be used as an app
       | launcher or something.
        
       | basisword wrote:
       | I've got a Galaxy for work (S20). I got it the year it was
       | released and I can't believe people choose to use it. It just
       | feels horrible compared to the iPhone. Delays in the keyboard
       | showing, UI lag all over the place, constant updates and
       | notifications for Samsung things I'm not interested in. It was so
       | bad I did a factory reset, thinking I'd screwed something
       | up...but no, still the same. It's a similar feeling to when
       | Windows XP needed defragged or reinstalled - but at least when
       | you reinstalled XP it was quick again.
        
         | hrrsn wrote:
         | I was given an S21 FE for work last year and I tried giving it
         | an honest shot (similarly resetting it in the hopes it would
         | improve) but after a few months I gave up and put the work SIM
         | in my personal iPhone.
        
       | mattl wrote:
       | It thinks my iPhone SE 2020 is older than an iPhone 7 and won't
       | let me see the demo.
        
       | jeroenhd wrote:
       | A virtual smartphone experience is a pretty cool demonstration of
       | how smooth web apps can be. I'd love for other companies to also
       | make these types of demos available so you can try out the
       | software design before you spend money on it.
       | 
       | I didn't know about the dialer/Google Meet integration, that's a
       | pretty smart move. The messages app being labeled "Android
       | Messages" was also a surprise, I don't know any other brand that
       | uses this exact messenger. Maybe the point they're trying to
       | bring across there is that texts are just as good as iMessage?
       | 
       | It all feels pretty close to native though the web UI is still a
       | lot choppier than the real UI. For any real UI demo you'd
       | probably need an app rather than a web app, but I don't think
       | Apple would allow such an app on the app store.
       | 
       | I'm not sure why Samsung is trying so hard with the ads, though.
       | I get it, you really like the New And Exciting Samsung Galaxy S23
       | Ultra Plus, you don't have to repeat it every other screen. I'm
       | also not sure why they've gone all in on these influencer videos,
       | the acting in them is so obvious it made me cringe. Is this what
       | American ads look like?
        
         | dclowd9901 wrote:
         | The way phone makers seem to be making phones more averse to
         | web apps (apple's 7 day eviction of web site data springs to
         | mind), I don't think this is the takeaway they want you to
         | have.
        
       | NexusGS wrote:
       | Thanks Samsung, that is a great reminder for all iOS users that
       | they still get the best experience in the market (not to mention
       | privacy)!
        
         | cornedor wrote:
         | In the "settings app" they show of a few features. For some
         | reason they decided that one of those great features is a
         | mallware scanner...
         | 
         | I don't think this site will be very convincing, there are a
         | lot of glitchy animations and unresponsive areas that look as
         | if they should be working.
        
         | stronglikedan wrote:
         | I've tried to make the switch to iOS a few times, but it's
         | hardly the best experience on the market, and I always go back
         | to my Galaxy. Not that it's the best experience, since that's
         | purely subjective, but it's just peoples' preferred experience.
        
         | gbil wrote:
         | Demo performance is shit for sure which doesn't help but having
         | daily experience with both devices I can say that it is not
         | black and white
        
         | kernal wrote:
         | I use both an iPhone and a Pixel and like both. It's
         | unfortunate most people base their opinions of Android based on
         | the Samsung UI/UX.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | windexh8er wrote:
         | > not to mention privacy
         | 
         | I believe it's a stretch to say that Apple has the best privacy
         | experience in the market, unless you believe Apple's marketing
         | pitch on "privacy" verbatim. I think the best privacy on a
         | smart phone today is likely GrapheneOS. Apple has sold it's
         | users on privacy, but in actuality Apple is a for profit
         | platform that has, and will, target it's users data as it needs
         | to delight it's shareholders. For example ATT has issues [0],
         | there's a class action against them [1], and it's hard to take
         | them seriously when there's concern from a number of other
         | angles [2]. A walled garden doesn't imply security and that's
         | how Apple sells "privacy".
         | 
         | [0] https://publicknowledge.org/apples-privacy-promises-are-
         | unde... [1] https://9to5mac.com/2023/01/09/apple-privacy-
         | tracking-lawsui... [2]
         | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/23/apple-use...
        
           | jbluepolarbear wrote:
           | Which phone comes with GrapheneOS in the market? For off the
           | shelf phones, Apple is still one of the best option for
           | privacy on the market. Market is being able to buy a phone as
           | is, not install a 3rd party OS.
        
             | smoldesu wrote:
             | If they're the best the market has to offer, we ought to
             | start demanding better competitors. Apple is a cardholding
             | PRISM member with proven backdoors in their OS. They're
             | also a noted pushover and were fine instating total iCloud
             | surveillance when China asked nicely.
             | 
             | It's a victory if you want it, but utterly pyrric when both
             | of the options on the "market" are useless for privacy.
        
               | CharlesW wrote:
               | > _If they 're the best the market has to offer, we ought
               | to start demanding better competitors._
               | 
               | Any legitimate competitors will follow the law in the
               | jurisdictions it sells to, which is why this requires
               | political solutions first.
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | It _could_ be solved with a political concession, but it
               | could also be solved by developing your OS in public so
               | you 're accountable for any "accidental" security
               | mistakes.
        
             | windexh8er wrote:
             | I disagree completely with this sentiment. We've been told
             | that's how you buy a phone. Do you also buy generic servers
             | or PCs that way? Where you can only run one OS? Apple is
             | the anomaly here. Phones should be able to run different
             | OSes as well. The fact that there's a defense of Apple's
             | not-so-great privacy record with "the market says this is
             | what Apple says a phone is" - is an unfortunate, and
             | successful, marketing campaign by Apple.
             | 
             | Whether or not I can install a different OS on a phone does
             | guarantee an erosion of privacy. What you're arguing is
             | that I should be fine with Apple because you can't install
             | another OS. No thanks. And, yes, people do buy Pixel phones
             | just because they _can_ install a privacy respecting OS.
             | Now, baseband is another problem, but - that 's one that
             | Apple has no claims to solve for either.
        
               | RussianCow wrote:
               | > Do you also buy generic servers or PCs that way?
               | 
               | Yes, the vast majority of people don't install a custom
               | OS onto their computers, either. So for the average
               | person, this doesn't matter.
               | 
               | > What you're arguing is that I should be fine with Apple
               | because you can't install another OS.
               | 
               | That wasn't my interpretation of the OP. The fact that
               | it's _possible_ , with a lot of effort, to get a privacy-
               | centric device after the fact means nothing for the
               | general public because they are never going to take those
               | steps. So I think it's still reasonable to define "the
               | market" as whatever the devices ship with.
               | 
               | It's great that we have the ability to install privacy-
               | focused operating systems on some Android devices (I have
               | one), but if I were to suggest this to any of my friends,
               | they would laugh me out of the room. There is far less
               | resistance recommending Apple products.
        
       | Zufriedenheit wrote:
       | Impressive what pwa can achieve nowadays. I would like to have
       | one of these for pre iOS7. I like the skeuomorphism in the old
       | iOS.
        
       | codetrotter wrote:
       | Here is a screen recording showing what that web app looks like
       | on an iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 16.2
       | 
       | https://video.nstr.no/w/4uYSJs2a4iMb8R9XBZufn2
        
         | mdev23 wrote:
         | you are a saint
        
         | trimbo wrote:
         | There are dozens here:
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=try+galaxy
         | 
         | From this search I also learned this used to be called "iTest"
         | 2 years ago.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | the_common_man wrote:
         | Video does not play - Too many requests
        
           | codetrotter wrote:
           | I recently added HAProxy in front of my PeerTube server.
           | 
           | Probably the config for HAProxy is set a little bit low or
           | something.
           | 
           | But try again now. And then try again a little bit later if
           | it continues to not load.
        
             | codetrotter wrote:
             | I've had time to look a bit more now.
             | 
             | So when I proxy with HAProxy I was not forwarding client
             | IP. And so Nginx and Peertube ended up thinking all
             | connections came from same source. And this was probably
             | leading to overly aggressive rate limiting at times.
             | 
             | I have now fixed parts of the configs so that now Nginx and
             | Peertube are aware of the real client IP address.
        
         | iamwpj wrote:
         | Just watching the incessant popups was frustrating.
        
           | codetrotter wrote:
           | In their defence most of the popups are in response to
           | tapping things, but in the video that is less apparent :p
        
       | neodymiumphish wrote:
       | Would be kinda funny if some folks left iPhone demo devices on
       | this web app in stores just to confuse potential buyers.
        
       | TazeTSchnitzel wrote:
       | This is surprisingly detailed! I didn't expect there to be such
       | nice animations and for there to be an emoji panel in the
       | messaging app.
       | 
       | It's interesting that they're using Safari's "add to Home Screen"
       | feature so they can use fullscreen. I think that might be why
       | that's the only browser which is supported.
        
         | vbitz wrote:
         | It works on desktop Chrome if you emulate a iPhone display and
         | user agent.
         | 
         | They're just detecting "add to Home Screen" by looking for
         | window.navigator.standalone which you can manually set using a
         | breakpoint.
        
           | prhrb wrote:
           | can you explain more about manually setting a breakpoint. I
           | am little noob
        
             | cthulberg wrote:
             | Chrome DevTools -> Sources -> trygalaxy.com -> _next/static
             | -> pages -> index_... -> CTRL + F and search
             | window.navigator.standalone -> click on the dash to the
             | right (a blue arrow will appear) and refresh the page
             | 
             | The page will freeze, go to the Console, type
             | window.navigator.standalone = true; and unfreeze the page
             | clicking on the blue arrow.
        
               | prhrb wrote:
               | Thanks
        
           | jeroenhd wrote:
           | That explains why I couldn't get it to work on my Android
           | phone despite spoofing the user agent.
           | 
           | Kind of annoying, I was wondering what Samsungs's phone UI
           | looks like these days but I guess they don't want my money.
           | Samsung's marketing department can be weird like that for no
           | well explained reason.
           | 
           | Edit: found out that Kiwi browser allows access to the Chrome
           | extension store and to the Chrome dev tools so I got it to
           | work despite all of Samsung's best efforts.
        
       | password54321 wrote:
       | Felt like I jumped into 2008. After all these years they have
       | failed to get rid of that cheap Android look.
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | That's pretty funny, I always associate the weirdly grey iOS
         | look with cheapness. Probably has to do with how all the crappy
         | apps and websites try to copy iOS for some reason. I guess it's
         | all a matter of what you're used to.
        
         | chickenimprint wrote:
         | Honestly, the post-iOS 7 look looks much, much cheaper. I've
         | always wondered how Johnny Ive got away with icons that look
         | like they were designed in 5 minutes with GIMP. Everything is
         | just a disgusting gradient weirdly cut off by the squircle like
         | a "Download now" scam ad on a shady late 2000s piracy website.
         | Not to speak of the icons that have zero consistency. They
         | don't have the same margins, elements, styles, degree of
         | complexity or anything in common really. It looks like they've
         | been jumbled together from 4 different free svg icon packs.
         | What the hell is that "Health" icon? Have you seen the
         | abomination that is the settings icon?
        
           | quenix wrote:
           | Shows how subjective taste is. I like the settings & health
           | icons.
        
         | cubancigar11 wrote:
         | The cheapness is in the eyes of the beholder because in reality
         | it is only cheap compared to iPhone.
        
         | MSFT_Edging wrote:
         | The default app layouts and visuals of samsung devices really
         | don't do them any favors.
         | 
         | You'll find older folks leave it basically default. If you hide
         | some of the ugly samsung app icons, it instantly improves
         | tenfold.
         | 
         | That being said, I only have a samsung because the s22 is the
         | smallest flagship you can buy.
        
       | Maxburn wrote:
       | They had to release this as a web app because it's against app
       | store rules to release something that emulates springboard or
       | otherwise duplicate existing functionality. I understand app
       | store protections help people a lot but silly rules like that
       | prevent some interesting things like this demo experience.
        
       | chunk_waffle wrote:
       | Doesn't work if Firefox is the default browser.
        
       | djvu97 wrote:
       | How did they make it soooo crisp and native looking???
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | It's just a full screen web app, browsers have a lot of APIs to
         | make web app experiences feel more native these days.
        
       | deanc wrote:
       | I worked on a project similar to this for Windows Phone for Nokia
       | about ten years ago. Wonder if it ever saw the light of day :)
        
         | seti0Cha wrote:
         | It did! I tried it out and ended up buying a Lumia. Really
         | liked that phone too. Sadly, the app story was bad and the
         | platform was doomed.
        
       | AndroTux wrote:
       | Wow, they even managed to simulate the choppy animations!
        
         | jsheard wrote:
         | IME Android phones tend to feel smoother nowadays thanks to
         | 120hz displays becoming widespread even in the midrange. Apple
         | has 120hz on their Pro models but if you drop just one notch
         | down from that $1000+ flagship then you're immediately back at
         | 60hz.
        
           | xattt wrote:
           | 60 vs 120 hz doesn't explain animations without v-sync.
        
           | etra0 wrote:
           | My experience, sadly, has been the opposite. I had an iPhone
           | 13 Pro Max with 120hz, and switched to a S22 Ultra, and
           | although I can see the animations at 120hz, most of the time
           | they feel stuttery.
           | 
           | I always was an Android user until that iPhone, I had it for
           | about a year, and switched back to Android again because I
           | thought I was missing some stuff, but I was wrong, I don't
           | miss a thing of current Android, I think current iOS is
           | simply smoother and more fun to use, and stutter free 95% of
           | the time.
        
             | pawelduda wrote:
             | Years ago, back when Androids had even worse animations, I
             | would just speed them up to the maximum (via developer
             | settings), or disable entirely. I got used to it and still
             | do it today. Action feedback is faster, and I don't need my
             | device to be visually awesome anyway.
        
               | [deleted]
        
           | kitsunesoba wrote:
           | True of flagships, but even some low-midrange Android devices
           | struggle to animate at even 60hz without frame drops. My late
           | 2022 Android test device tablet that had an MSRP of about
           | $300 when I bought it is like this, while an entry level iPad
           | from 4 years ago running the latest iPadOS has no such
           | problems.
           | 
           | I haven't actually sat down and compared specs but I'm
           | guessing this happens because Android devices tend to skimp
           | hard on their GPUs at midrange and below.
        
         | worthless-trash wrote:
         | Must be the iphone browser being garbage level.
        
       | Springtime wrote:
       | Reminds me a bit of the early 00s (pre-smartphones) when some
       | phone makers (I know Ericsson, can't remember if Nokia, too) had
       | interactable web app versions of their phone UIs, complete with
       | menus, settings, limited programs and surrounded by an image of
       | the phone.
        
       | thatloststudent wrote:
       | It would be good to let android users and desktop users (even if
       | only through changing user-agents) to browse the website.
       | 
       | Even if I emulate the user-agent of an iPhone, it needs me to run
       | it from the homescreen.
        
         | throwaway744678 wrote:
         | As said in a sibling comment, you can try it in a desktop
         | browser (Chrome instructions below):
         | 
         | - open developer tools, Toggle device toolbar, pick an iPhone
         | dimension
         | 
         | - Network > More network conditions ("wifi" icon) > User-agent
         | > Custom > "iPhone Safari"
         | 
         | - in Sources, set a breakpoint on the 1st line, refresh the
         | page, when the debugger breaks, type
         | "window.navigator.standalone = true" in the Console, and
         | continue
        
       | nttl wrote:
       | oh my, they have a moon marketing video inside. This is
       | embarrassing.
        
         | Yeri wrote:
         | for reference, because I don't see anyone else posting about
         | this: https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23637401/samsung-fake-
         | moo...
        
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