Phones without a pointless button

I'm finally considering replacing my HTC 10, and I've run into a snag - why do all the decent name-brand midrangers have a google assistant button? No-one needs this - there's already a swipe action built in to summon the assistant - but they insist on including it.

My requirements are simple:
- decent upgrade in horsepower to last me as well as the HTC 10 has, so something like the 765
- good photos (decent macro lens a plus)
- stock android

The moto g 5g + g plus and nokia 8.3 fit the bill nicely, except they both insist on that damn button! I even asked moto support and there's no way to remap it to something useful like the camera either. I'd suspect it's some new requirement for android one, but even google doesn't include this on pixels! I'm aware of the nord, and could wait to see if the U20 5g gets here, but they both have worse camera setups. It's got me seriously considering the pixel 4a just because it's got less google integration, which is mad

Go with one of the Nokias, theyre pretty good, just disable the silly Google Assistant button, its what I did.

If its a Google One requirement, its a small price to pay to ensure you get OS updates.

Disable, or use a button mapper app to have it use a different function.

Personally I lament the lack of Home button on the newer Samsung phones, so if ever I upgrade I'd remap Bixby (or whatever it is) to a Home function.

Huawei make various phones for all budgets i have a p30 pro personally and love it .

As others have said just remap it (I think you can remap it to a camera button). Got a Nokia 7.1 I've been fairly happy with. Had some lock ups recently but improved that by pairing everything back but its a lot older spec than an 8.3.

OnePlus Nord (close to stock) or Pixel 4A

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Originally Posted by BobF64

Go with one of the Nokias, theyre pretty good, just disable the silly Google Assistant button, its what I did.

If its a Google One requirement, its a small price to pay to ensure you get OS updates.

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Originally Posted by cheesemp

As others have said just remap it (I think you can remap it to a camera button). Got a Nokia 7.1 I've been fairly happy with. Had some lock ups recently but improved that by pairing everything back but its a lot older spec than an 8.3.

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Nokia let you remap it? That's good to know

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Originally Posted by jimborae

OnePlus Nord (close to stock) or Pixel 4A

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The nord has clearly saved money on the camera setup, but otherwise looks decent. Pixel 4a has good cameras, but then it's only a 730 rather than a 765 or similar (with the newer & shinier ARM cores) so I'm leery about how well it'll age several years down the line

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Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster

Disable, or use a button mapper app to have it use a different function.

Personally I lament the lack of Home button on the newer Samsung phones, so if ever I upgrade I'd remap Bixby (or whatever it is) to a Home function.

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That.

Though IMHO, the biggest drawback to Samsung is that Bixby is not only a useless pile of steaming .... canine effluent, but a right PITA to thoroughly disable. It's like fighting a necromancer app - the damn thing keeps reanimating.

When, oh when, oh when will the morons at these companies get it through their overly dense, boneheaded numbskull peas-for-brains that all attempting to force garbage like Beffing Fixby on people actually achieves is to get them very, very annoyed at the arrogant jerks doing it.

I'm seriously tempted to run a field test on my kitchen blender's supposed ability to blend a smartphone. Why? Bixby. Unfortunately, my blender just does what it says on the box, and isn't festooned with useless data-gathering dogpiles .... like some phones, and I actually want to keep the blender.



/ deep breath
/ another deeper breath
/ exit rant mode
/ feel better for that

:D

I got a nokia 8.3 and I am very happy with it. It has a great camera and I just switched the button off.

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Originally Posted by Saracen999

Though IMHO, the biggest drawback to Samsung is that Bixby is not only a useless pile of steaming .... canine effluent, but a right PITA to thoroughly disable. It's like fighting a necromancer app - the damn thing keeps reanimating.

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https://www.androidcentral.com/how-c...-disable-bixby

Sounds pretty straightforward to me.....?

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Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-c...-disable-bixby

Sounds pretty straightforward to me.....?

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Only once you either find that site (or oe with similar advice) or spend ages getting more and more frustrated (as I did) trying to fix it.

I finally killed it about 3 months ago, but I don't even remember how. What I expect is if someone like Samsung (and they're far from the only guilty party) are going to foist that kind of tripe on customers, they should either ask first, or at an absolute minimum, provide a simple-to-find option like, oh, "Disable Bixby, without forcing us paying customers, Hitchhiker's Guide style, to find their equivalent of the "Beware of the Panther" door for the planning department. And no doubt, hoping we'll give up before we do.

I upsold myself to an xperia 5 II - sony support were able to confirm that I can turn the assistant off when I asked (unlike motorola), and I'm enjoying the camera so far.

It still brings up a "do you want to turn on the spyware?" popup the few times I've accidentally pressed the button, but I can live with that (and I might see if superglue will fix it in place)

Value for money and long update support I would also recommend Nokia.

Any way to remap the bixby button?

Google Pixel 4a would be a good price and no silly button.

I'm on a Galaxy S9+ and Samsung did add the option to settings (under advanced features) at some point to remap the Bixby key to either another app or routine. Well, mostly... you still have to allow a double press to open Bixby.