Our favorite—and least favorite—tech of 2017

Five members of Ars’ reviews team share their personal picks.

Read the whole story

 

[wk_]

If increasing the character count is so bad, decreasing it would probably be good, then. After all, what are the odds they got the exact perfect character count on their first try? You sure could fit a lot of 80-character tweets on a screen.

Regarding tweet size, I'd like to remind that historically, most people that wanted to describe great ideas usually wrote books, not haikus.

Which still does not mean that Tweeter is useless, just that it should be used for right purpose. E.g. announcing some news, properly written at web page linked in the tweet.

 

[BoCaro]

No one mentions Adaptative icon as the absolute worst idea in 2017?

 

[WangChung]

I'm done with Fitbit as a company on the whole. I bought a Fitbit Surge, which was their flagship watch at the time. And then?.... Nothing. No firmware updates (last one was 2015, no communication, and when the blaze came out it all but became abandonware. They promised to release all this extra functionality but can't even get basic activity reminders like their much cheaper Alta.

They finally just released an update last month (Nov 2017) and it's a small security update with the ability to turn off real-time tracking. So now I can TAKE AWAY a feature. yaaay...

To top it off, at the beginning of this month they announced it's discontinued.

Done. So done.

 

[cbreak]

I don't even know what to say about Peter Bright's opinion that Twitter used to be full of thoughtful tweets and the 280 character limit ruined it. I mean, man, I'm speechless.

Not speechless enough to use less than 178 characters to write about it.

 

[cbreak]

My most favorite tech in 2017: Tensorflow.
My least favorite... I can't really recall anything super terrible I've used, but that juicero thing sounded negatively braindead.

 

[Deleted member 174040]

And no, the notch doesn't bother me at all.

The media should stop cutting this much slack to Apple and start being more critical to them.

Like how NOBODY covered the slowdown thing on the iPhone 6’s, right?

 

[whquaint]

glorious TrackPoint nipple, which remains the finest mobile pointing device that mankind has ever invented

Amen.

Nope, sorry, not for me. I've used ThinkPads for years with my job, and MacBooks for years at home. The Apple trackpads are the current pinnacle of pointing for laptops.

 

[lysergicl]

I don't even know what to say about Peter Bright's opinion that Twitter used to be full of thoughtful tweets and the 280 character limit ruined it. I mean, man, I'm speechless.

Seriously. Now at least major policy announcements from POSPOTUS can go into a little more detail.

 

[JKT]

The problem I have with twitter’s 280 character change is not the number, it’s the total lack of any thought or adaptation they gave to its impact on the legibility of a tweet in an UI specifically designed for 140 characters. Where were the UI changes to make it work properly? They changed the defining characteristic of their platform without a single thought about its impact on the usability of that platform.

Great that people can now say what they want with fewer constraints. Terrible that it makes your eyeballs hurt trying to fricking well read it.

 

[tipsy.trex]

Correction, the pixel 2XL is Google's greatest achievement yet. They've managed to push out a half baked product and used the public as their QA department. What makes this so special is that they've managed too get the press to praise such horrible tactics. Well jobbed Google!

Meanwhile Bixby, which is not a replacement for Google assistant but a way to control your phone at a hardware level is thrown under the bus by "tech enthusiasts" that haven't even tried to figure out what is intended purpose is. Hurr durr... it doesn't work like assistant so me no likey!

It's called a digital assistant, therefore it is competing with Assistant. Just because it can do some neat stuff that Google can't do doesn't forgive the unbelievably terrible state it was released in or the fairly dismal state it's in now.

 

[ewelch]

And no, the notch doesn't bother me at all.

Of course it doesn’t Samuel, with those Apple tinted glasses it doesn’t.

The media should stop cutting this much slack to Apple and start being more critical to them. That will only benefit consumers.

Maybe you should try one for a few hours before you make yourself sound like a Samsung Astroturfer.

Notch doesn't bother me one bit, and I was a little worried it would.

 

[ewelch]

people claiming they are no longer bothered by the notch on the iPhone X is akin to saying they married someone with a massive mole on her face and after a while stopped seeing the mole. While it's true, it's still a massive design flaw (the notch, not the mole) and should be criticized as such. The practical workaround while watching a video full screen, making the screen smaller also defies the idea of having a bezel-less phone.

I'm also surprised Uber losing their license in London, along with other scandals this year, didn't pop up on anyone's list.

I'll ignore the nonsense in the first paragraph and get to the second.

Über can DIAF.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Favorite tech of 2017: Twitter's 280 character limit. No more sorting through numbered tweets, and more importantly, since the 280 limit came out many people largely thought to be hypocritical donkeys have made themselves complete fools via Twitter rants. the 280 character rants are worth far more laughs, and bring out worse behavior and thoughts, then 140 ever did.

Least favorite tech: The pixel 2. Google continues to charge way, WAY too much for what should be a nexus device, slapping every nexus fan in the face with a reminder of how much it costs to join the google club, while still only providing half the updates that apple does, suffering from numerous hardware bugs like the screen and dongle bugs which should have been ironed out long before release, and removing the headphone jack just as a final screw you (seriously, $1k for an android phone with only 2 years of feature updates and 3 of security? Screw that).

The nexus 5 was a fine phone with fewer problems fora fraction of the price of the pixel phone. The pixel simply continues to be a reminder of how out of touch google is becoming.

The iphone X is a close runner up, for its hardware problems, fragile design, and absurd pricetag, but cant really nominate it worse then the pixel because apple continues to sell the flagship price iphone 8/8+, and the wonderful iphone SE.

 

[Sajuuk]

Favorite tech of 2017: Twitter's 280 character limit. No more sorting through numbered tweets, and more importantly, since the 280 limit came out many people largely thought to be hypocritical donkeys have made themselves complete fools via Twitter rants. the 280 character rants are worth far more laughs, and bring out worse behavior and thoughts, then 140 ever did.

Least favorite tech: The pixel 2. Google continues to charge way, WAY too much for what should be a nexus device, slapping every nexus fan in the face with a reminder of how much it costs to join the google club, while still only providing half the updates that apple does, suffering from numerous hardware bugs like the screen and dongle bugs which should have been ironed out long before release, and removing the headphone jack just as a final screw you (seriously, $1k for an android phone with only 2 years of feature updates and 3 of security? Screw that).

The nexus 5 was a fine phone with fewer problems fora fraction of the price of the pixel phone. The pixel simply continues to be a reminder of how out of touch google is becoming.

The iphone X is a close runner up, for its hardware problems, fragile design, and absurd pricetag, but cant really nominate it worse then the pixel because apple continues to sell the flagship price iphone 8/8+, and the wonderful iphone SE.

The Pixel 2s are going to receive 3 years of OS upgrades and security patches. Sure, still not as good as Apple, but at least be accurate.

 

[dimathiel]

The iPnone X is nice, but that notch got too annoying, plus IOS 11 is still a steaming pile of junk, nothing consistent, it is just a mess

I have no issue with the notch, and as for iOS11, it does what I need it to.

 

[nevernow]

So a $500 smartphone at the end of of year 2017 is "cheap, good"? Wow. My phone was $120 almost two years ago, runs Nougat and suits me just fine. That's what I call cheap and good.

 

[Digital Dud]

Wasn't the OnePlus phone that one that would reboot when you tried to call 911?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Favorite tech of 2017: Twitter's 280 character limit. No more sorting through numbered tweets, and more importantly, since the 280 limit came out many people largely thought to be hypocritical donkeys have made themselves complete fools via Twitter rants. the 280 character rants are worth far more laughs, and bring out worse behavior and thoughts, then 140 ever did.

Least favorite tech: The pixel 2. Google continues to charge way, WAY too much for what should be a nexus device, slapping every nexus fan in the face with a reminder of how much it costs to join the google club, while still only providing half the updates that apple does, suffering from numerous hardware bugs like the screen and dongle bugs which should have been ironed out long before release, and removing the headphone jack just as a final screw you (seriously, $1k for an android phone with only 2 years of feature updates and 3 of security? Screw that).

The nexus 5 was a fine phone with fewer problems fora fraction of the price of the pixel phone. The pixel simply continues to be a reminder of how out of touch google is becoming.

The iphone X is a close runner up, for its hardware problems, fragile design, and absurd pricetag, but cant really nominate it worse then the pixel because apple continues to sell the flagship price iphone 8/8+, and the wonderful iphone SE.

The Pixel 2s are going to receive 3 years of OS upgrades and security patches. Sure, still not as good as Apple, but at least be accurate.

I missed they changed it AGAIN, after doing 18 months for awhile, then doing 3 years for awhile then switching to just two years (three security) with either the pixel or nexus 5x/6p.

So I guess add google's ADHD response to everything they do to the list of things wrong with the pixel.

 

[svgpithon]

And no, the notch doesn't bother me at all.

Of course it doesn’t Samuel, with those Apple tinted glasses it doesn’t.

The media should stop cutting this much slack to Apple and start being more critical to them. That will only benefit consumers.

Are you seriously trying to tell Sam his opinion is wrong? If the guy doesn't have a problem with the notch, he doesn't have a f***ing problem with the notch.

 

[svgpithon]

people claiming they are no longer bothered by the notch on the iPhone X is akin to saying they married someone with a massive mole on her face and after a while stopped seeing the mole. While it's true, it's still a massive design flaw (the notch, not the mole) and should be criticized as such. The practical workaround while watching a video full screen, making the screen smaller also defies the idea of having a bezel-less phone.

I'm also surprised Uber losing their license in London, along with other scandals this year, didn't pop up on anyone's list.

What you're saying is that "these are analogous, except they aren't because I don't want to come off like I'm shaming people with minor skin defects." You're either making an offensive analogy or not making one at all, obviating mention of the mole because you're conflating your opinion with objective fact and trying to support it with a self-inconsistent argument.

 

[Sajuuk]

Favorite tech of 2017: Twitter's 280 character limit. No more sorting through numbered tweets, and more importantly, since the 280 limit came out many people largely thought to be hypocritical donkeys have made themselves complete fools via Twitter rants. the 280 character rants are worth far more laughs, and bring out worse behavior and thoughts, then 140 ever did.

Least favorite tech: The pixel 2. Google continues to charge way, WAY too much for what should be a nexus device, slapping every nexus fan in the face with a reminder of how much it costs to join the google club, while still only providing half the updates that apple does, suffering from numerous hardware bugs like the screen and dongle bugs which should have been ironed out long before release, and removing the headphone jack just as a final screw you (seriously, $1k for an android phone with only 2 years of feature updates and 3 of security? Screw that).

The nexus 5 was a fine phone with fewer problems fora fraction of the price of the pixel phone. The pixel simply continues to be a reminder of how out of touch google is becoming.

The iphone X is a close runner up, for its hardware problems, fragile design, and absurd pricetag, but cant really nominate it worse then the pixel because apple continues to sell the flagship price iphone 8/8+, and the wonderful iphone SE.

The Pixel 2s are going to receive 3 years of OS upgrades and security patches. Sure, still not as good as Apple, but at least be accurate.

I missed they changed it AGAIN, after doing 18 months for awhile, then doing 3 years for awhile then switching to just two years (three security) with either the pixel or nexus 5x/6p.

So I guess add google's ADHD response to everything they do to the list of things wrong with the pixel.

So now you're complaining that they're offering longer support? That's impressive, really. As far as I remember though, they've been pretty consistent since the Nexus 4.

 

[joey jo jo jr]

people claiming they are no longer bothered by the notch on the iPhone X is akin to saying they married someone with a massive mole on her face and after a while stopped seeing the mole. While it's true, it's still a massive design flaw (the notch, not the mole) and should be criticized as such. The practical workaround while watching a video full screen, making the screen smaller also defies the idea of having a bezel-less phone.

I'm also surprised Uber losing their license in London, along with other scandals this year, didn't pop up on anyone's list.

the iphone x width in landscape mode is wider than 16x9. So any video shot with the phone wouldn’t fill the screen anyway. As for content like movies, there is no “standard” so you’d again be faced with letterboxing on either the top or the sides. So to sum up, the video playback argument against the notch doesn’t make sense.

 

[postadelmaga]

Lol 500$ phone now are considered cheap ...
.. you guys should write then have Christmas party not the opposite.

I just got a redmi 5 plus ... it looks exactly like the OnePlus 5T but cost 100$ .... 5x less that is cheap ( and the phone is not 5x less good )

 

[Deleted member 678393]

And no, the notch doesn't bother me at all.

Of course it doesn’t Samuel, with those Apple tinted glasses it doesn’t.

The media should stop cutting this much slack to Apple and start being more critical to them. That will only benefit consumers.

*rolls eyes*

My first iPhone was the X. Every phone previous was an android. I already know I will switch back but I am glad I had this experience and can also confirm the notch is a non-issue. You will ignore it or forget it is there for general use. This isn’t a case of tinted glasses.

The only time it intrudes is when you absolutely fill the screen with video...which you generally won’t do anyway because it actually zooms in the video, cutting the top and bottom off in addition to the notch.

The lack of TouchID and inferior battery life to the 8 Plus were the killers on the X for me, plus I'm not really a fan of bezel-less designs.

Still, a lot of people seem to like it, so good for them. Apple saw fit to release the 8 Plus with the same hardware inside, and I happily bought one and love it. The 6/6S/7/7S/8 design is about perfect IMO, no need to mess with it, and I hope Apple continues to offer it so that I can upgrade to a 9 in a couple of years and maintain my nice bezels and TouchID. Just keep making them faster with more storage and RAM every year and I'll be happy.

There are plenty of critiques one could level at iPhone. Not having ever used touchID I find faceID fine. Of course thats just me. Also, inferior battery life? I haven’t checked usage comparisons but the X does have a larger (albeit combined) battery than the 8p. Though the 8p doesn’t suffer from the video issue I mentioned earlier.

My personal issues with it actually are things like google maps not working properly. I’ve had to pull over twice in my over one months of ownership just so I could force crash the app and get it to start working again. It’ll often stop outputting voice directions or will neglect to tell me when I’m approaching my exit. I usually know my way around but not when going to a completely new place and android never had issues like these...presumably because the google ecosystem is more built in but that is still a deal killer for the future.

Shame too, I’ve otherwise mostly enjoyed my time with the iPhone. It’s clearly more secure and protective of me as a user than android. But I’m pretty good about that myself so that’s less of a requirement for me.

Anyway these are the staff choices so it ultimately doesn’t matter. I wish some of them were more esoteric so as to raise awareness of things which we would otherwise not be (I’m pretty sure everyone here knows about the X) but they’re free to pick whatever they like.

 

[Oldmanalex]

I don't even know what to say about Peter Bright's opinion that Twitter used to be full of thoughtful tweets and the 280 character limit ruined it. I mean, man, I'm speechless.

Seriously. Now at least major policy announcements from POSPOTUS can go into a little more detail.

Then he can sign off as DESPOSPOTUS, which is mercifully so far more of an aspiration than a fact.

 

[Alan H.]

Don't minimize the pure ridiculousness and absolute design misfire of the notch. Jobs would have thrown that shit across the room and you know it.

I doubt he would have been to pleased with the camera bump either. "Hey look my phone doesn't sit flat on the table!! FIX IT!"

Or, would have summoned Jony to his home to have a little “talk”, like with the iMac second generation. Ya know, the one they called the eMac instead?

 

[StarKruzr]

I'm going to disagree on the 280 char twitter: brevity means lack of clarification for understanding and lack of politeness for social lubrication. In other words in actual human language brevity signals hostility and there's no way an encouragement of hostility is a good thing for a social media platform these days.

This is well said. Also, Twitter made an excellent case for it being very difficult to fit some complete thoughts into 140 characters in English and Romance languages, whereas Chinese and Japanese users had no issues.

 

[StarKruzr]

So a $500 smartphone at the end of of year 2017 is "cheap, good"? Wow. My phone was $120 almost two years ago, runs Nougat and suits me just fine. That's what I call cheap and good.

Maybe your requirements are extremely low.

 

[plateshutoverlock]

IIRC, the original limit was due to the company wanting to have the limit the same as SMS. I think at one point it was possible to tweet through SMS (way back in the days of flip phones), but I haven't even been to their site in years so...

 

[NulloModo]

And no, the notch doesn't bother me at all.

Of course it doesn’t Samuel, with those Apple tinted glasses it doesn’t.

The media should stop cutting this much slack to Apple and start being more critical to them. That will only benefit consumers.

*rolls eyes*

My first iPhone was the X. Every phone previous was an android. I already know I will switch back but I am glad I had this experience and can also confirm the notch is a non-issue. You will ignore it or forget it is there for general use. This isn’t a case of tinted glasses.

The only time it intrudes is when you absolutely fill the screen with video...which you generally won’t do anyway because it actually zooms in the video, cutting the top and bottom off in addition to the notch.

The lack of TouchID and inferior battery life to the 8 Plus were the killers on the X for me, plus I'm not really a fan of bezel-less designs.

Still, a lot of people seem to like it, so good for them. Apple saw fit to release the 8 Plus with the same hardware inside, and I happily bought one and love it. The 6/6S/7/7S/8 design is about perfect IMO, no need to mess with it, and I hope Apple continues to offer it so that I can upgrade to a 9 in a couple of years and maintain my nice bezels and TouchID. Just keep making them faster with more storage and RAM every year and I'll be happy.

There are plenty of critiques one could level at iPhone. Not having ever used touchID I find faceID fine. Of course thats just me. Also, inferior battery life? I haven’t checked usage comparisons but the X does have a larger (albeit combined) battery than the 8p. Though the 8p doesn’t suffer from the video issue I mentioned earlier.

My personal issues with it actually are things like google maps not working properly. I’ve had to pull over twice in my over one months of ownership just so I could force crash the app and get it to start working again. It’ll often stop outputting voice directions or will neglect to tell me when I’m approaching my exit. I usually know my way around but not when going to a completely new place and android never had issues like these...presumably because the google ecosystem is more built in but that is still a deal killer for the future.

Shame too, I’ve otherwise mostly enjoyed my time with the iPhone. It’s clearly more secure and protective of me as a user than android. But I’m pretty good about that myself so that’s less of a requirement for me.

Anyway these are the staff choices so it ultimately doesn’t matter. I wish some of them were more esoteric so as to raise awareness of things which we would otherwise not be (I’m pretty sure everyone here knows about the X) but they’re free to pick whatever they like.

I know the Ars review gave the 8 Plus the edge in battery life, as have others, but the X isn't that far behind. One of the benefits of an OLED screen should be much better battery life though since it doesn't have to power an entire backlight, just the pixels that need to be lit, maybe that's something that can be improved upon in software later, or in future iterations.

I haven't had any issues with Apple Maps suddenly quitting on me, so maybe try that instead of Google Maps? They're pretty much functionally identical, at least for purposes of getting directions somewhere.

 

[NulloModo]

Lol 500$ phone now are considered cheap ...
.. you guys should write then have Christmas party not the opposite.

I just got a redmi 5 plus ... it looks exactly like the OnePlus 5T but cost 100$ .... 5x less that is cheap ( and the phone is not 5x less good )

Does it support US LTE bands? I know that's been an issue with Chinese phones in the past, not sure if that's changed.

On paper that one actually looks very nice for the price. If you can live with the slower CPU it looks like it has a lot to offer.

 

[Arlondiluthel]

Honestly, I'm surprised that the Fitbit Ionic made a "Least favorite" list. I got a pair of them (for my wife and I), and sure, you have to load music on it like an MP3 player from the late '90s/early '00s, but at least it can do it over Wi-Fi instead of being physically connected to the computer. The ability to go for a run and listen to music without having to have my phone (a Pixel XL with a rugged case) physically on me is incredibly liberating! As far as the "only one watch face at a time" thing, I found one that I liked the day I got it, and haven't changed it, so maybe that's just a personal preference thing.

 

[DepressedRobot]

My favorite piece of technology this year: airplanes. If I have tracked things right, this year there was no major airplane accident.

So do you not like planes in years where there are major incidents?

No, I don't.

So I presume you despise automobiles every year?

 

[Voyna i Mor]

people claiming they are no longer bothered by the notch on the iPhone X is akin to saying they married someone with a massive mole on her face and after a while stopped seeing the mole.

Cindy Crawford.

 

[Voyna i Mor]

And no, the notch doesn't bother me at all.

Of course it doesn’t Samuel, with those Apple tinted glasses it doesn’t.

The media should stop cutting this much slack to Apple and start being more critical to them. That will only benefit consumers.

*rolls eyes*

My first iPhone was the X. Every phone previous was an android. I already know I will switch back but I am glad I had this experience and can also confirm the notch is a non-issue. You will ignore it or forget it is there for general use. This isn’t a case of tinted glasses.

The only time it intrudes is when you absolutely fill the screen with video...which you generally won’t do anyway because it actually zooms in the video, cutting the top and bottom off in addition to the notch.

The lack of TouchID and inferior battery life to the 8 Plus were the killers on the X for me, plus I'm not really a fan of bezel-less designs.

Still, a lot of people seem to like it, so good for them. Apple saw fit to release the 8 Plus with the same hardware inside, and I happily bought one and love it. The 6/6S/7/7S/8 design is about perfect IMO, no need to mess with it, and I hope Apple continues to offer it so that I can upgrade to a 9 in a couple of years and maintain my nice bezels and TouchID. Just keep making them faster with more storage and RAM every year and I'll be happy.

There are plenty of critiques one could level at iPhone. Not having ever used touchID I find faceID fine. Of course thats just me. Also, inferior battery life? I haven’t checked usage comparisons but the X does have a larger (albeit combined) battery than the 8p. Though the 8p doesn’t suffer from the video issue I mentioned earlier.

My personal issues with it actually are things like google maps not working properly. I’ve had to pull over twice in my over one months of ownership just so I could force crash the app and get it to start working again. It’ll often stop outputting voice directions or will neglect to tell me when I’m approaching my exit. I usually know my way around but not when going to a completely new place and android never had issues like these...presumably because the google ecosystem is more built in but that is still a deal killer for the future.

Shame too, I’ve otherwise mostly enjoyed my time with the iPhone. It’s clearly more secure and protective of me as a user than android. But I’m pretty good about that myself so that’s less of a requirement for me.

Anyway these are the staff choices so it ultimately doesn’t matter. I wish some of them were more esoteric so as to raise awareness of things which we would otherwise not be (I’m pretty sure everyone here knows about the X) but they’re free to pick whatever they like.

I know the Ars review gave the 8 Plus the edge in battery life, as have others, but the X isn't that far behind. One of the benefits of an OLED screen should be much better battery life though since it doesn't have to power an entire backlight, just the pixels that need to be lit, maybe that's something that can be improved upon in software later, or in future iterations.

I haven't had any issues with Apple Maps suddenly quitting on me, so maybe try that instead of Google Maps? They're pretty much functionally identical, at least for purposes of getting directions somewhere.

I get the impression that AMOLED efficiency is far enough behind LED efficiency that the advantage isn't actually that great in practice. AMOLED's perceived advantage seems to be that it is very thin and technically less complicated to fit in a phone, and the lack of illuminators means less bezel needed.
Personally, and I know this is purely subjective, I don't like AMOLED (having tried it) and I hope that it either gets technically better or LED continues to be available. Apple hedged their bets with both the 8+ and the X which may have been production constraints but may have been a fear of losing loyal customers who actually dislike Samsung designs.

 

[lurch1989]

I almost got a 5T, but my 3 is still going strong. Couldn't justify it at the end of the day. I'll probably buy the oneplus 6 next year I guess.

Exactly the same here, it's still very quick and to be honest, I don't get the need for higher than 1080p on a phone. I do wish OnePlus would slow down on the releases though, it seems a bit too quick at the moment

 

[jdunn0]

IIRC, the original limit was due to the company wanting to have the limit the same as SMS. I think at one point it was possible to tweet through SMS (way back in the days of flip phones), but I haven't even been to their site in years so...

You are correct.
The SMS limit is 160 characters so they used a 140 character limit for messages and a 15 character limit for usernames (I'm not sure what the other 5 characters are used for).
According to this twitter help page, you can still get tweets via SMS if you want to.
The page doesn't say what it does regarding 280 character tweets though so I wonder how that is handled.

 

[Causality]

The Google Pixel XL 2 is the best Android phone you can buy,

Are you under some kind of contract, because holy shit Ars Technica you keep saying that when the phone is a goddamned trainwreck. It has a shit-tier LG OLED screen which looks identical to the screens Samsung was putting out in 2011. My 2011 Galaxy Nexus for reference:

The PIxel 2 XL's panel is going to age like milk, because that's exactly how those line-y, muddy OLED panels behave. It launched with terrible color calibration. It has significant blue shift at even slight angles. It has black smear issues, which is something AMOLED panels haven't had problems with in four years.

It has HUGE amounts of burn-in after only a single week:

It's had a myriad of audio issues, including making click sounds and high-pitched tones. The stereo speaking are asymmetrical with the top being much quieter than the bottom. Many phones shipped with a bad USB-3.5MM adapter that failed to signal the phone to switch audio playback from the speakers to the jack. The upper speaker has a resonance problem that causes a noticeable humming/vibrating sound when you make calls.

The phone sometimes crashes and has to reboot when it loses 4G connectivity.

The accidental touch rejection software is bugged and creates dead zones along the edges.

If you can still say this is "the best phone you can buy" you're either a shill or a fucking moron.

 

[Velvet G]

The Facebook problem is easily solved by ditching the official apps (Facebook, Messenger, etc) and installing a good web wrapper. I use Simple Pro. Push notifications, chronological timeline, filtering or posts, night mode, etc without the default top news nonsense or the excessive battery drain or invasive permissions.

Best pocket change I spent in a while.