Community MetaSteam | January 2021 - It's Rare to See a Medium So Well-Done

[Pogi]

Ok, the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G looks very solid overall.
But 188 euros :X
Or an increase of 30 euros in my monthly phone bill which makes the phones 60
Dayum.

A far cry from the 38 euros of the Redmi Note 9 Pro.

Just get the redmi, my current phone Xiaomi 9T Pro / Redmi K20, and before that is Mi A1 (still working since 2017!) and they are really good. Yes, the software is bloated shit, but there is an ADB tool that deletes everything that is unnecessary for the phone to run and disables those which are uninstallable, and this is without rooting. Thereafter, put in Nova launcher and you are set. MIUI is SHIT.

 

[Li Kao]

prudis BFME2 ?

edit. Battle for Middle Earth 2 maybe ? Not surprised you use the acronym

Monooboe
You are not wrong, and seeing the glowing review of the photo part, I'm not surprised you would go for it.
That being said I made my stupid, 4G and 5G versions are different. Mostly the 4G is smaller with a little less autonomy.

 

[madjoki]

I wish Android phones were just Android phones without manufacturers own UIs and shit ton of bloat.

 

[ISee]

I wish Android phones were just Android phones without manufacturers own UIs and shit ton of bloat.

Pixel
But I see where you are coming from. One of the reasons why Nordic gathered loyal followers, until they started "improving" things.

 

[Li Kao]

I concur. If I want to go Android, let me go full Android. Even the thought of having my phone provider apps preinstalled irks me.
I just took a very quick glance at rooting and it seems to be legal, but could void warranty, so hmm...

Funny how I generally hate iOS on ipad these days but wish I could afford an iphone. I don't really care much for privacy but I'm aware that going Android my life will be an open bar. Joke is on them, I have no life.

 

[ISee]

Li Kao

I do not think charging speed is that important. It's more important for the phone to bring you through the day, without charging interrupts.
5G is currently also irrelevant and it will actually drain most batteries way faster when used. Personally I've also not encountered one situation where I thought: Damn 4G ain't fast enough for my mobile on the go needs.

Smaller can often be better by the way. A lesson I had to learn the hard way myself. I'm currently on a 6" phone and I certainly don't want to go bigger anymore.

Don't fall for the "mobile CPU benchmarks" rabbit hole. Mobile CPU tech progressed enough. Core functions like browsing, media consumption, general fluidity of the O,S. are fine now even on cheap(er) devices. Look at it that way: If all you want to do is browsing, streaming, word, email etc. than a modern 80€ Pentium Gold with 2 cores will do the job just as fine as a 900€ 5950x with 16 cores.

If you want stock: Google Pixel 4a. Good Phone for a reasonable price.

If you want a better stock Android experience, get the Pixel 5 and not the 4a 5G.

 

[Le Pertti]

Yeah 5G is good for the ping, like might be possible to even play game pass streaming, but otherwise 4G is enough fast for a long time still.. So no reason to get 5G right now.

 

[Li Kao]

Thanks for your really helping input ISee
We are in agreement about charging speed (put it there... because, I guess) and 5G (I super don't want a 5G plan anyway, I don't shit money).
Your perspective on size helped, as those numbers are a little abstract to me all things considered. I fear going too small for streaming, but I certainly don't want to go ginormous either.
The CPU part also helped.

 

[C-Dub]

I wish Android phones were just Android phones without manufacturers own UIs and shit ton of bloat.

Generally agree. I'm okay with manufacturer bloat if you can change or remove it, but when they lock apps to the device it goes against what Android should be about: user control.

I'm generally happy with my OnePlus 7T, as I've been able to do what I want with it and OnePlus's bundled apps (at least in the UK model) are fine. But in an ideal situation I'd like a phone that comes with features but can be stripped down to as barebones as possible (literally the only function a phone should have baked in and unremovable is factory reset from a default OS image on a hidden partition in case you fuck it up - but that's an extreme view on my part), so I can take all the crap out, use my own preferred launcher, camera app, messaging app and so on. But that's a pipe dream - even on PCs you can't get that level of functionality with Windows, but at least in that case it's trivial to replace it with Linux if that's what you want.

 

[Alextended]

There are also Android One phones for vanilla experience, I'm pretty happy with my Mi A2 but I guess you can get better battery, 5G, for cheap nowadays. It's only my second smartphone mind, I only switch when my shit dies, my last one was the original Motrola Moto G, it felt almost like vanilla Android and was ace.

 

[Wok]

Again, not a peep about that topic after today (or very occasionally), you just help me organize my thoughts

Just to be clear, the primary purpose of your phone will be to receive text messages from your bank, right?
Personally, I would go with the cheapest option which fulfils this requirement.

I don't really understand how you can go from "I cannot authenticate on the website of my bank because I have no phone" to "I need a big space for streaming", and potentially "I will have to pay an additional 30€/month for N months to get an even better phone". It is a big additional monthly expense.

 

[Le Pertti]

Just to be clear, the primary purpose of your phone will be to receive text messages from your bank, right?
Personally, I would go with the cheapest option which fulfils this requirement.

I don't really understand how you can go from "I cannot authenticate on the website of my bank because I have no phone" to "I need a big space for streaming".

Finally getting a smartphone because he needs texts, might as well enjoy the other joys of smartphones.

 

[Wok]

Finally getting a smartphone because he needs texts, might as well enjoy the other joys of smartphones.

I see, but it still sounds like consumerism rabbit trap hole. Plus, texts can be received on all kinds of mobile phones, not necessarily smartphones.

 

[C-Dub]

Just to be clear, the primary purpose of your phone will be to receive text messages from your bank, right?
Personally, I would go with the cheapest option which fulfils this requirement.

I don't really understand how you can go from "I cannot authenticate on the website of my bank because I have no phone" to "I need a big space for streaming".

There's a degree of sunk cost fallacy going on here I think.

"If I pay $X more I can get X, Y and Z."

And it just snowballs from there. Sometimes thinking about what you can do with a smartphone and stretching your budget a bit further to get some neat features is fine, but there's definitely a point where it can get out of hand.

I've fallen into the trap before and paid £100s for phones which I then never make full use of. Once my current (rather expensive) phone is past its prime I will definitely be going for a midrange. All I do is scroll Twitter and Facebook and use my phone for MFA on different apps/sites - I do all my more heavy duty tasks on my tablet which, ironically, is currently less powerful than my phone.

 

[Le Pertti]

Speaking of unnecessary consumerism, I have a good phone, the Oneplus 6t but I'm thinking about getting the iPhone 12 mini, just because I kind of dislike android and just want to finally have my MacBook pro and phone synch nicely!

 

[Wok]

I have a good phone, the Oneplus 6t but I'm thinking about getting the iPhone 12 mini

Out of curiosity, what would happen to the old phone? Do you intend to sell it, or is it purchased by the phone provider when you switch to a new phone?

 

[ISee]

The CPU part also helped.

The high end Apple A14, with the awesome Apple OS optimizations that the company is known for versus the mid range Snapdragon 765G on stock Android.
Benchmark wise there isn't even a competition between both SoCs. The A14 runs circles around the 765G.
And yet, during normal usage: It's fast enough.


And before you flip out, the 4a is just as fast.

 

[Swenhir]

Having been there myself, I would advise perhaps buying a refurbished or second-hand phone. I got a Galaxy S8 at around 300 bucks, I feel pretty happy about that one.

 

[Li Kao]

Just to be clear, the primary purpose of your phone will be to receive text messages from your bank, right?
Personally, I would go with the cheapest option which fulfils this requirement.

I don't really understand how you can go from "I cannot authenticate on the website of my bank because I have no phone" to "I need a big space for streaming", and potentially "I will have to pay an additional 30€/month for N months to get an even better phone". It is a big additional monthly expense.

Thanks for your usual wise perspective !
But you simplify maybe a little much ? I mean it's not because I don't currently use a smartphone and only need one for SMS that I never wanted a smartphone and only want one for SMS. You are absolutely right on the cost slippery slope though, no argument.

My use :

[MAJOR] Internet / Mail / 2FA
- while these young'uns always glued to their phone look ridiculous to my grumpy old man eyes, I... may do the same ? I use a tablet for out of desktop browsing, and I'm fucking tired of always carrying this big thing everywhere around the house. If a smaller display can be comfortably used, I'm game.
And that's without talking about some really worrying signs from the tablet, but that could be on Apple. They fucked my ipad for months after all.

[IMPORTANT] Music
- granted, not important right now, but if, let's hope for the best, I'm to go out more often this year, I want that

[MAJOR] Streaming
- I'm paradoxically generally uneasy with playing a game that is being processed on another device. The dichotomy is strange, seems like a waste of power, etc. That being said, if the tech is there, it's a Steamboy. I would do dirty things for a Steamboy.

[IMPORTANT] Photo
- Interested, I have grown more and more lazy these past few years, not giving enough of a fuck to charge my old and surely dying camera and just using the ipad. A mobile makes sense.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[RELATIVELY WHATEVER] Mobiles games
- You never know, I have my once or twice a year mobile rut.

 

[Tizoc]

I dont like how closed iPhone is :/
Android may have jts flaws but the fact i can jusr copy paste various files to help back ups and such is the main appeal to them for me.

 

[prudis]

Li Kao, yup and especially the name of the expansion is crazy long
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II – The Rise of the Witch-king

 

[dex3108]

I have Samsung Galaxy S9 since it's release and i have no complaints. It did cost me like 650 euros but i am buying phones for 3-4 years at least so that was reasonable price (i pay all of my tech in full when i buy them not in installments). And honestly Samsung really surprised me with their version of Android. There is very little bloat but tons of useful features.

 

[Li Kao]

I dont like how closed iPhone is :/
Android may have jts flaws but the fact i can jusr copy paste various files to help back ups and such is the main appeal to them for me.

Yup, it's a sad trade as Apple stance on privacy is cool, but not ever having to use itunes or annoying workarounds to do simple transfers is dreamlike to me.

 

[Le Pertti]

Out of curiosity, what would happen to the old phone? Do you intend to sell it, or is it purchased by the phone provider when you switch to a new phone?

I'll save it, both as a backup phone and if I ever have children, a phone they can watch cartoons on and play simple games.

 

[ISee]

[IMPORTANT] Photo
- Interested, I have grown more and more lazy these past few years, not giving enough of a fuck to charge my old and surely dying camera and just using the ipad. A mobile makes sense.

I bought a Pixel Phone this year and in my unprofessional experience:
Great Pictures if there is enough light, though not perfect. What I like is the more true to nature colors, than the "comic" look of my old Samsung Phone.

Some Pics I took last November:

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201104_122152910ekeh.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201104_15393830m3k97.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201105_07123845t1j1o.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201106_07243831leki8.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201111_13250679rlj0g.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201111_13131819tbksg.jpg

 

[Li Kao]

I forgot another minor things I'm very much interested in trying : Reading !
I use an Ipad for that and when all is said and done, it's a little too big and heavy. Not unusable at all, though. I'm very curious to see what the UI is on a phone. I fear it could be too small, but there is potential.

 

[Tizoc]

I forgot another minor things I'm very much interested in trying : Reading !
I use an Ipad for that and when all is said and done, it's a little too big and heavy. Not unusable at all, though. I'm very curious to see what the UI is on a phone. I fear it could be too small, but there is potential.

In this case a 6" or so phone may be worth getting
My galaxy s9 plus is that dimension and i personally can read well with it

 

[ISee]

For book reading:
Tablets are too heavy and even big phones too small imo.
I bought a plain 70€ Kindle eight years ago and I'm still using it for that. No regrets.

 

[Pogi]

I forgot another minor things I'm very much interested in trying : Reading !
I use an Ipad for that and when all is said and done, it's a little too big and heavy. Not unusable at all, though. I'm very curious to see what the UI is on a phone. I fear it could be too small, but there is potential.

Reading is terrible on a phone outside of message board / social media surfing and 500-word clickbait PC Gamer articles. It is not just the UI and readability you must also consider your neck, back, arms, or eyes since you will rest in a weird posture because of the size of the phone and how you will hold it while reading.

 

[Li Kao]

Reading is terrible on a phone outside of message board / social media surfing and 500-word clickbait PC Gamer articles. It is not just the UI and readability you must also consider your neck, back, arms, or eyes since you will rest in a weird posture because of the size of the phone and how you will hold it while reading.

Oh, very true ! I imagine posture could be a big issue indeed !

edit
The more I think about it, I'm unfair in using 'could be'. Outside of a small miracle, reading a book in bed looks like muscular hell.
Unfortunate, but hey my ipad isn't going anywhere and there will always be Kindle / Kobo option down the line.

 

[Mivey]

I love my Pixel 4a, which I got a few months ago. Great phone, especially as I love smaller form factors. I had a Moto G5+ before, and the Pixel 4a is smaller than that, while having a larger screen.
And stock Android with 3 years of updates (including any new Android versions that come out in that timeframe).

 

[Swenhir]

I bought a Pixel Phone this year and in my unprofessional experience:
Great Pictures if there is enough light, though not perfect. What I like is the more true to nature colors, than the "comic" look of my old Samsung Phone.

Some Pics I took last November:

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201104_122152910ekeh.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201104_15393830m3k97.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201105_07123845t1j1o.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201106_07243831leki8.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201111_13250679rlj0g.jpg

https://abload.de/img/pxl_20201111_13131819tbksg.jpg

Those are some really nice images! Especially the second one, nice restrained focus and framing. Loved it!

 

[ISee]

Those are some really nice images! Especially the second one, nice restrained focus and framing. Loved it!

Oh thank you.

 

[curi0usBystander]

For book reading:
Tablets are too heavy and even big phones too small imo.
I bought a plain 70€ Kindle eight years ago and I'm still using it for that. No regrets.

I got a kindle (5 i believe) about 8 years ago and it was one of the best decisions I made. The only reason I upgraded to a paperwhite was because it litterally felt from some height, it didn't break the device but half the screen became corrupted/unusable. Althought currently I'm not a fan of the amazon ecosystem (but then again I backup and remove the DRM of any book I buy from them so ¯\(ツ)/¯).

As for phones I upgraded to a pixel 3A (at some point in 2019) from my old phone (that couldn't keep more than 50% battery) and no complains there, but I don't ask much of a phone anymore (I keep them until the battery goes to shit).

 

[Dragon1893]

Came to see what's up and legit had to check if I was in the right thread lol.
I'm counting the days until the release of the Yakuza games, can't wait to revisit the PS3 entries, though I'll only buy Y3 for now because I'm broke as always.
It's also the only one of the 3 I haven't played, only watched a recap before playing 4. I love this series so much.
Speaking of series I love, replaying the Banner Saga trilogy is cementing it as one of my favorite games of the last decade.

 

[curi0usBystander]

Came to see what's up and legit had to check if I was in the right thread lol.

You know that. in reality, this is the everything goes thread

 

[lashman]

You know that. in reality, this is the everything goes thread

... except for animu

 

[Li Kao]

Yeah I already have two old kindles and I'm sadly not really a fan of eink. And let's not talk about reading annotations without touch.
On the other hand the newer ones are touch based, but I certainly resent them nuking the page turn buttons.

Still will probably be a purchase down the year. AT LEAST one, because if my mother's Kindle bite the dust, it's 'happening bunker' ! You don't fuck with her books

 

[curi0usBystander]

I certainly resent them nuking the page turn buttons.

You just have to pay a premium for that.

 

[Snakethesniper]

Just as a reminder. You have 8 hours to get this deal if you are an XP member




This is the cheapest that this offer will be. You will also get Pre-order DLC and early purchase DLC. Did KT ever let you buy the Summer DLC for the first game? Or is that DLC moddable into the game?
-----

By the way the Ultimate Edition cost $103.99 but with the 15% off offer it's just $88.39 and you get all of those skins and season pass stuff.

My Wallet!!!!

Also they have Nioh 2 on discount as well but that deal doesn't seem to be ending soon.
------

Also it seems that a certain H game is releasing on Steam. I'm guessing that that one Japanese Eroge company more or less plans to just do that going forward. Also I'm guessing that they just ended up cancelling that one game that they were going to release during the summer 2 years ago.

FYI it seems CDkeys has it lower: Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy PC

 

[Arc]

 

[Li Kao]

Imgur now detects my uBlock Origin.
You got spared a pic of the monstrosity I will have to settle with if they don't have 4a.

 

[dex3108]

I think that i will put Obduction on pause, i really don't enjoy playing it I really don't like putting away games i already started but there is no point forcing myself to spend hours on something i won't enjoy.

 

[Jav]

Busy day on MetaMobile

 

[Swenhir]

I think that i will put Obduction on pause, i really don't enjoy playing it I really don't like putting away games i already started but there is no point forcing myself to spend hours on something i won't enjoy.

I struggled with it too. I really liked the idea but all the backtracking wore me done. You aren't alone.

I think that i will put Obduction on pause, i really don't enjoy playing it I really don't like putting away games i already started but there is no point forcing myself to spend hours on something i won't enjoy.

I struggled with it too. I really liked the idea but all the backtracking wore me done. You aren't alone.

 

[fantomena]

I could not care less about any sort of phone rivalry. My first smartphone was actually iPhone 3GS then I went to Samsung Galaxy just because I found the Apple systems and the iPhone itself to be "boring". I hope my current Galaxy S8 lasts many years because I don't care what so ever about phones and not interested in buying any phone. I have no hatred or dislike for Apple or other phone companies, I just don't care abot phones in general and if suddenly find Android to be boring I can just jump to Apple or something else.

Just like Playstation vs Xbox, I don't give a shit about it, got no sort of brand loyalty to them or my PC pars. Like I will buy PS5 not because it's Playstation ,but because games like Ractch Rift Apart and Sackboy looks really fun to me.

Like how I don't really look at Intel vs AMD as a race, I get whatever I feel gives me more value. The last 2 PCs had an Intel CPU, next might me AMD for all I know.

I also don't really give a shit about Epic vs Valve. I buy my games on Steam because Steam serves my needs and values of what I want from PC gaming more than what Epic does. It's why Im pissed about Epic exclusives because EGS doesn't, until further at least, serve my needs like Steam currently does. When Epic does start serving my needs I won't have any problem with using both. Right now Im just claiming free games.

 

[Tizoc]

I see PCSX2 is at 1.6.0 and various games got fixes in the latesy build and nighties
For one thing jak 1 eye rendering issues are fixed

 

[Wok]

:cavepog: ugHI:

:frogChamp: :cooked:

Community - MetaCouncil's PC Games of the Year Awards 2020

Welcome to the third PC Gaming MetaCouncil GOTY (Games of the Year) awards! The main award focuses on PC games which we deem GOTY worthy. This year, we will also vote for the best ongoing game, the best Early Access game, the best VR game, and the most disappointing game. Previous Year's...

metacouncil.com

 

[Stone Ocean]

I was not ready for the "insect" fighting game on Yakuza kiwami...

What could you possibly mean?

 

[Li Kao]

You knew how it would go, I knew how it would go.
Narrator in the background : All according to keikaku.

I'm now the proud owner of a cheap dumb phone. And I'm not even jelly, so happy to be able to check my bank accounts.

How it went :

• I would like a Pixel 4a.
• We only sell them on the Internet.
• Ok, give me your cheapest shit.