Disqus - Latest Comments for khouryrt

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 03:52:37 -0000

That's the goal!

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 11:47:02 -0000

Yes, I feel they're a bit more reliable. But I haven't done any intensive testing since NYE to confirm that.

Honestly, my husband is tired of taking a bunch of trackers with him and getting pinged randomly by people who think the trackers are stalking them 🤣 and I'm tired of looking at a stack of trackers on my desk and thinking "ugh, one more time, just to be sure." We're both taking a much-deserved break from trying to find random places and scenarios to test BT trackers.

I'm sure I'll come back to these in a few weeks, but for now, I can finally think about something else.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 11:39:00 -0000

"Obviously, though, the biggest dealbreaker is with Samsung and Tile’s trackers. Both of them offer unknown alerts, but you have to have a Samsung phone with the SmartThings app installed and the setting enabled for the former, and the Tile app installed on your Android phone or iPhone for the latter. There’s no interoperability across platforms, nor is there a default alert system if you don’t take these steps, which the grand majority of people won’t do. They’re both a stalker’s dream and a normal human’s tech nightmare."

I never said it doesn't have it. I said it's there, but doesn't work across phones and OSes, unlike Google's and Apple's. If someone sneaks a Galaxy SmartTag2 in my backpack to track me and I have an iPhone or a Pixel phone, I will not be notified of stalking. That's a big shame.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 05:19:54 -0000

The number of times his backpack started ringing randomly because someone thought the tags with him were stalker tags!!! We thank him for his services 😆

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 02:02:05 -0000

Forget the the trackers, you got two puppies and we're all jealous. Tell them I said hi.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 18:36:11 -0000

Based on the replies here and on Reddit, it seems that people either love the Moto Tag either have similar issues with it as I did with the Pebblebee and Chipolo.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 16:01:36 -0000

Yup, heard about it, but it's not available for purchase in France. I hear good things, but I don't think it's a hardware problem more than it is a network problem. Google has a lot of things to fix with its tags and networks.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 15:58:25 -0000

Ah, I have one SmartTag so I didn't know about that limitation. I'll check the Tiles and AirTags tomorrow and update this comment.

Edit: 3 Tile trackers in my app right now, 4 Apple Find My trackers. I could enable the left-behind reminders on all 7 of them. Doesn't seem like there's a limitation for how many trackers you get notified about. At least not one as silly as Samsung's silly two-only trackers notifs.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 15:57:25 -0000

The fact that a Bluetooth tracker can't be found on Bluetooth still boggles my mind. And yes, your experience is on par with mine through the article (and the 8 months of testing). One day it works, the other it doesn't update its location for several hours. Even in the same airports, under same settings.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Sat, 18 Jan 2025 13:34:32 -0000

Rechargeable ftw. Glad they do work for you and I hope you never need them at some point when they decide to go silent like mine have over my extensive tests!
Even if they did everything right, though, they still don't support separation alerts, nor can you use the Google FMD app over Bluetooth if you have a spotty connection / offline. Google should fix those two points, quickly.

Re: Tested: Google's Airtag competitor trackers are as unreliable as ever

Rita El Khoury — Sat, 18 Jan 2025 13:32:27 -0000

You're right, Ben. The Moto Tag is still missing from my collection and yes, I did wonder if the standalone app would bring something extra to the table. Glad it does. But then again, the whole point of using the Google FMDN is that you don't need a third-party app for each tracker brand 😮‍💨. If we're installing standalone apps, we're nearly back to square 0.

Re: All I want from Samsung's The Frame TV is Google Photos support

Rita El Khoury — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:03:57 -0000

Speaking from the experience of someone who has used them, and gotten more frustrations from them, I see.
Yeah, for me, the bar to entry was G Photos, but since that's not there, I'm questioning whether it's worth getting a Frame/Pro or not.

Re: I swear by my NAS, but I wouldn't trust it without a Google One subscription

Rita El Khoury — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 11:54:00 -0000

Don't you dare come close to my ice cream photos, Grousey! 😆
I mean, I get your point, but these are just parts of the memories that rotate on my Nest Hub and Pixel Tablet. Love the randomness that I get there from travels, events, outings, etc.

Re: I swear by my NAS, but I wouldn't trust it without a Google One subscription

Rita El Khoury — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 07:01:42 -0000

Ah, maybe "mount" isn't the exact terminology, but it shows there. I use the official Google Drive app for Mac, which allows me to show all 3 of my Google accounts right inside Finder. This makes it so much easier to drag, drop, rename, move, save, etc... files as I'm using keyboard shortcuts all the time vs struggling through Google's web interface.
By default, Drive simply displays stuff (it's not locally sync'ed to ur Mac), but you can choose to keep some folders available offline.

Re: All I want from Samsung's The Frame TV is Google Photos support

Rita El Khoury — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 06:56:55 -0000

As far as I know, anything that isn't the default screensaver/art mode consumes power. So if you're displaying media from any input, you're not using the Frame's power-friendly mode.

Re: All I want from Samsung's The Frame TV is Google Photos support

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:32:23 -0000

Yeah, the other benefits (and the matte display, since we have a bit of glare in a nearby window) are awesome. The new Frame Pro should also have a wireless connect box, and a better panel, hopefully.

For me, I'm sure I'd love the art part because I already love that aspect on my Nest Hubs and Pixel Tablet, and I take a ton of photos that I like displaying.

Re: All I want from Samsung's The Frame TV is Google Photos support

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:30:00 -0000

I have an Apple TV, and it won't work with Google Photos. I sadly have no desire to ever use the iOS Pictures app.
The other difference is in the TV panel itself. I already have a Google TV Streamer that uses Google Photos as a screensaver, but the panel is on, at full brightness, and it's shiny. If you've ever seen The Frame TVs (and other TVs coming out like it now), you'll see that it has a few benefits when it switches into its screensaver/art mode. The panel is matte, so it looks more like art. The TV hangs flat on the wall and comes with custom frames that look like photo frames. And when the art is displayed, the brightness is lowered and it goes into a low-power consumption mode. That's how I would want my photos to be displayed, not in a high power-consumption mode.

Re: All I want from Samsung's The Frame TV is Google Photos support

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:25:19 -0000

Yup, I mentioned that.
Though, as I said, I feel like they could justify making personal photos a bigger priority if they realized that emotional attachment to memories and photos can create a strong enough brand loyalty and product happiness over the course of us owning the TV. It's sad that some companies don't see that as a perk that can keep people coming back to them.

Re: All I want from Samsung's The Frame TV is Google Photos support

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:22:21 -0000

Hmm, interesting. Would have to wait and see if Roku adopts anything like Samsung's (and other brands now) display proprieties and make it matte, low-power, low brightness, etc... to mimic real art.

Re: I swear by my NAS, but I wouldn't trust it without a Google One subscription

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:20:11 -0000

Removed. That one was an oversight.

Re: I swear by my NAS, but I wouldn't trust it without a Google One subscription

Rita El Khoury — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 18:38:28 -0000

It's a matter of preference, for sure. I'm sacrificing privacy for lots of convenience, but I'm so comfortable with and tied to Google's services (I've been writing about Android for 13 years now!) that it's almost impossible for me to step away from Google and still keep earning a living.

Re: I swear by my NAS, but I wouldn't trust it without a Google One subscription

Rita El Khoury — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 18:36:06 -0000

I said the RAID setup acts as a redundancy for hard disk failure, I didn't say one drive acts as backup to the other. Ideally, I know I should have an off-site NAS as well as cloud storage, but that's if you have the budget to maintain a triple system. For now, though, as I mentioned, I'm happy with the two-tier approach, knowing there's more safety than having my data on one medium in one location, but also more risk compared to the 3-2-1 approach.

Re: I swear by my NAS, but I wouldn't trust it without a Google One subscription

Rita El Khoury — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 18:25:27 -0000

From what I've seen, Immich is a super competent alternative, and the closest one to the finish line, but it lacks a couple of important features that I love about Photos.
1. The digital frame integration with Nest Hub, Google TV Streamer, and Pixel Tablet is a huge one for me. I love the random photos I see through the day; they make me stop, message a friend or relative I haven't talked to in a while, reminisce about moments & specific photos with them, etc... I can't put a price on delightful moments like these through the day.
2. Photos Memories have sneaked up on me and now I love them. I had disabled their notifications for several years, thinking "ugh, not an instagram Stories clone with my own photos, no thanks!" but I've come around. Mostly because I forgot to disable their notifs when I set up my Pixel 9 Pro and I started getting these random notifs every few days reminding me of cool moments from years ago or creating collections from recent events/trips. I think that feature is awesome for resurfacing photos we've forgotten about.

There are a few other small features missing here and there, but these two are the big ones that keep Photos at the helm for me.

Re: I swear by my NAS, but I wouldn't trust it without a Google One subscription

Rita El Khoury — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 18:09:02 -0000

I picked up my first Synology NAS in 2017 and upgraded it in 2021, so I'd say that 8 years of continuous use & experience are a pretty good "advert." In 2017, Syno was the most reliable, low-maintenance system I could find in Lebanon, and the one that integrated the most easily with all the platforms/services I wanted to use. I didn't have time to babysit a NAS and wait for features & integrations to roll out. For 8 years, it's worked very well for me, and I've had no reason to look elsewhere.
To each their own; I can only write about my experience. But if you read the post, you'd see I mentioned our other articles and guides written by other Android Authority team members who have gone another way, with self-built NAS, other software solutions, or transforming a DAS into a NAS.

Re: Samsung is making one big mistake with One UI 7

Rita El Khoury — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 09:03:16 -0000

Hmm, I'm always on stable on most of my phones and I get the notifs on Pixels but not Samsung. Maybe they don't send them to beta users for Pixels? Or maybe you disabled notifs from the Pixel Tips app?