Thanks, samsung.
I literally don't need any of those AI nonsense on my s23+. And my next upgrade will be s23ultra.
And a fun fact: those AI features are free from google, but since China baned google, the AI features are handled by local companies. You need to pay another monthly subscription to use those built-in AI features which should be free outside China.
https://9to5google.com/2024/01/25/samsung-galaxy-ai-devices-2023/
@skyblond One Plus still supports unlocking. You can do away with the AI (which should have been able to be handled on the device thanks to Hexagon).
Well, if it's a trend, you can't really resist it.
Somehow those manufacturers thought their customers would be happy with the new AI things. Samsung's S24 series is a bit retreat on hardware, but a lot of new things happened on software, but not necessary.
For people I know, most of them are not happy with the s24 series. For example the camera. S23Utlra has an optical 10x zoom lens, but on S24Ultra it changed to 5x zoom, and now you're relying on AI post-processing to get hopefully the same result from optical 10x lens. But if I had 10x zoom lens in the first place, why do I have to fake my picture? (Yeah, I think AI post-processing produces a fake photo.)
When they bundled features together, you have to give up a set of features to avoid one thing.
@skyblond I started using the Camera2 API in Android to take raw images years ago. I got an OP Nord and the pictures were the most disturbingly melancholic images I've ever seen. I just use Open Camera from F-Droid to avoid that or I try to find the Pro settings on a Samsung to get RAW images.
The S23 was impressive. I remember trying the burst mode at max speed. It was under an LED light and I could see the fluctuation of 60Hz in action. I did the math and found that a 45acp fired 10m away from me would lead to several photos of the bullet in flight before exiting my FOV.
I also remember the fake Moon. Never forget the fake Moon.
@skyblond It should have it. It would need to be processed to be visible but there should be a setting to take a jpeg of the same picture at the same time.
RAW isn't a better camera but so much can be done in processing that the quality is night and day. The raw image format is essentially a data dump from the sensor so it includes everything. The Camera2 API makes this functionality available if it's not in the default photo app.
@AmpBenzScientist Yeah, I also remembered the fake moon. That level of modification would cause problems if you try to take a picture to proof something in legal related events.
For casual use, I'd say it's fine to use the default camera app. But taking picture of a bird or something I want no additional processing, hopefully the pro settings will disable the post-processing.