According to tipster Ice Universe, Samsung has disabled Odin, a proprietary firmware flashing tool typically used to install stock firmware, install custom ROMs, and restore devices. It also appears that Samsung has removed “Download Mode,” which acts as a gateway for Odin. This change appears to have been made in the latest One UI 8.5 firmware and currently affects the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and recently launched Galaxy S26 series.
Samsung is a no-go again anyway, as they have decided to go back to their shitty Exynos CPUs for the S26. The CPU itself is fine, but their modems are awful.
Going from my Exynos S22 to a Snapdragon S25 was night and day mobile reception wise.
My s24 ultra is still almost perfect except for the inexplicably mediocre cameras.
What would you get for a new phone nowadays?
Honestly: I could see myself waiting for the Graphene Motorola.
Other than that, I’ll stay (atm) with Pixel.
Sorry, did I misread or did you edit your comment? I might have been half asleep :)
Like were you asking for phone recommendations? If so, what do you mainly use it for, will you use stock ROMs or do you like to mess around with things?
Probably stock unless I find a reason to mess around.
I’m very satisfied with my S25 so far. But I wanted a smaller phone, not a big fan of the tablet sized monsters people use.
Camera could be a bit better, but it’s decent enough. I’m using the stock ROM, unfortunately if you tinker certain banking and government apps no longer work :-/
The only other option would be an iPhone at that size, which I’m not a fan of.
Though there’s plenty of cheaper mid-range phones nowadays if you want to save some money. Like the OnePlus Nord.
For me: Just for the modem and battery life :)
But now that my new phone works well, no reason at all. I don’t game on my phone, so any more performance is utterly wasted and the cameras barely seem to be getting upgrades either.