this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

My label printer. Horrible UI. How do I switch to capital letters? How to numbers? It can print two small lines instead of one, but how? It also has bold, italics, underline, but getting there is a game of trial and error.

And the display is not WYSIWYG, but just five or eight characters. You never know what you will get when hit the print button. And you cannot save labels you successfully designed - it just remembers the one in the system when you switched it off.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Any phone larger than my 2016 iphone SE. I have a fairphone and it's everything I've ever wanted in a phone but it's SO BIG. It has a one handed mode, but that turns itself off whenever you tap the back button, which is so annoying it's making me aggressive. I used to lie in bed, chilling, looking at memes with one hand while the other arm was cosily under the blanket. That's a thing of the past. I also can't rest the hand I have chronic pain in because I always need to use both hands to not keep dropping my phone and reach all of the screen.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I'm the opposite as my hands are big af

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

It'd be nice to have variety to choose from so you can suit your needs. But I guess fulfilling everyone's needs isn't profitable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

I dread when people ask me to help them with their phone because they're usually tiny as hell 🤣

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

for your bedtime browsing, you might be able to solve your problem with some form of gooseneck phone mount.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the tip, I hadn't heard of that! Would only solve part of the problem though, since I still won't be able to reach even half of the screen.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm left handed. What's the character limit around here, 'cause I have much to add.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Did you love those college desks? Lmao when I was in college ironically they only had left handed ones. If only we had full desks that were for whichever.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago

Maybe I'm lucky, but at the community college I attend I have never had to sit at a desk. Only tables. As a left handed person, I am pretty happy about that, even though I have not had to write much because computers/laptops.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Probably a forklift, those things are heavy af.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Off the top of my head a Fuji FinePix S5700 I had borrowed from a friend for some time (that was more than 10 years ago). That thing was doing continuous focus while on and idle, and it would lock focus when you half-press the shutter button - so completely backwards to what you'd normally expect from a camera.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Windows on my family members' devices.

I've been in Linux land for so long now that I've forgotten windows' idiosyncrasies... rather they've changed since XP.

Everything is hidden/obscured/cryptic. Just recently I needed to my account on my child's laptop, no way on the login screen to do that. Just their account visible. Turns out that is a feature and requires three different registry settings to disable according to MS's appalling community support.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

A continuous passive motion machine.

I had arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a cartilage tear and shave down some bone overgrowth. For 3 weeks after surgery, I had to put my leg in this machine for an hour four times a day. It slowly bends and straightens your leg, which is supposed to help stave off scar tissue formation inside the hip. And it was rough. I needed my husband's help to get strapped into the thing, I could never find a comfortable way to position my leg, the thing was noisy as hell so I couldn't nap while I was using it, and I was lying flat on my back so it was hard to read a book or watch a show without hurting my neck. It sucked and I was so glad when I was cleared to stop using it.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Probably the iPad

Got it for free from a relative who had bought a newer model (he always has the latest iShit)

Played around with it for a week

Sure. It's smooth. That screen was drop dead gorgeous.

.... And yet everything I tried to do on the thing felt like I was fighting against it. Everything was restrained and needlessly clunky. It made me think "golly gee, windows cooperates more"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

When I hear stories like these I'm always curious: what were you trying to do?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

For me it was accessing media on my file server. I ended up having to buy an app and it still sucked. Someone told me apple products let you do that now though so maybe it's not an issue anymore.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Man it wasn't even anything crazy. It's just.

All my android devices have a syncthing service that... Syncs. Things. Between them and my PC/Homeserver.

Now, the only app for Syncthing I could find on the Apple App store was a paid app, but I was actually fine with that: It seems Apple stuff is made for rich people, and I had accepted that everything would be paid for.

Except.

When you use Syncthing on Android it just. Drops things into folders. Like a normal program on a normal computer. And other applications can just access that.

But nope, not here. Everything is in its own cage, and the user has exactly ZERO control over this (unlike, say, the likes of Flatpak on Linux, where it's just a matter of granting permission manually)

My comic book folder? I had to go through a cumbersome process to manually import all the cbr files into the comic reader app. Same for my video files.

Plus like. Just the lack of options in general. It felt like I was in an airport -- Stuck in an, admittedly nice, environment and only having access to whatever overpriced products existed inside that environment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours ago

Your airport analogy is hitting on the nose. I'm going to ~~steal~~ borrow that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

When using an iPad (or an iPhone) the one thing to keep in mind is it's NOT a computer. You cannot treat it like a PC, or expect it to behave like one. You cannot apply your decades of experience with PC operating systems, you need to forget what you know.

The iPad is an appliance. It is designed for consuming apps from the App Store. That's all.

Android has been trying to do the same for years, but the benefit with Android is it's Linux based, so we can always install a terminal emulator, and a file manager, and other admin tools that allow us to use the familiar PC patterns we've become accustomed to.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 21 hours ago

You can jailbreak it and own it also

[–] [email protected] 2 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

I understand.

I even respect the general idea.

.... But I will literally never willingly pay for an appliance-like piece of technology. I even sold off the one I got for free.

Android at least lets me sideload stuff and/or install it from F-Droid.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago

I agree. I've never bought an iPhone or iPad myself, but I've had old ones given to me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Not really relevant for an iPad, but it's a good example:

Have you ever tried putting a custom ringtone on an iPhone?
In Android you just put an audio file in the ringtones folder, either by plugging it into a pc or with an on-device file manager.

For an iPhone you need to either buy the ringtone from the store or put it on the device through iTunes (🤮). Also it can't be just any format. It needs to be a specific profile of AAC (if I remember correctly), then rename the file to have a specific extension. There is no way you could do all that without reading a guide.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Any smart TV. Please just let me have a TV without having to navigate spyware or the sluggish UIs.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago (6 children)

I truly don't understand how to use an apple computer. It's terrible to use.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Designed by a stupid hippy that died to a somewhat survivable cancer because he was a fuckin moron.

He had some good ideas for sure, but the man himself was just manipulative twat. His products are insufferable to use. Even as an apple certified repair technician for years I despise everything about apple and it's many products.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago

How do you screw up the most basic fundamental things like window management and a basic file explorer, I'll honestly never understand.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 days ago

A single-furrow plow that was built so that it had to be pulled by a horse.

We didn't have a horse (it was about 50 years too late for that), but we did have a small tractor, and somehow hitched the thing to it. My father drove the tractor. And then I had to guide that plow with a very firm hand. We needed it to dig a drainage ditch on the already flooded plot. It was the only way to do that. Any other machines would have been too heavy on that wet ground. After a day of hard work with the feet deep in the water, it was done.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Windows 11 in a corporate environment , Jesus wept, what a fucking disaster of a system. It just gets in your way.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They're slowly upgrading our work machines and I'm not looking forward to finally being forced to use it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

Just did mine last week, I hate it so much

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Not THE most cumbersome, but any time I'm at a friend's place or visiting my little brother and we play on their Nintendo Switch consoles, I'm so surprised by how stupidly slow and shitty the OS is. Especially the store is so fucking bad.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

One of my friends tried to fix his car, but somehow made the steering wheel wiggly. Turned driving into a terrifying experience, like i was trying to convince this lump of metal and plastic to do what I wanted

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

That's just user error. Some people should not be allowed to handle a wrench.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (2 children)

One of the original Windows CE-based PDAs. Fuck that thing was a nightmare to use and even worse to sync to your PC. Early mobile technology was a lesson in frustration and disappointment.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Thank goodness PocketPC and later Windows Mobile 5/6 were much better designed. I still prefer my Palm device, tho.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

My pixel 6a...

Bought new 2 years ago through Google Fi, camera stopped working after 2 weeks. Literal hardware failure. Used warranty and was sent another which was refurbished. (Bullshit by the way, I paid in full for the damn phone new 2 weeks prior.)

About 1 month after that one showed up Wi-Fi and Bluetooth began randomly turning off then on. Then it just flat out failed to even find any Wi-Fi networks unless I rebooted it multiple times. Bluetooth would randomly cut in and out while connected to my car. Reboot multiple times would occasionally fix it. The real problem here is I have unlimited (see -limited to 35 gigs) data. Watching YouTube in bed and falling asleep the phone would say fuck Wi-Fi and stream all night on 5g eating my data in days limiting me to 2g speeds for the rest of the month.

Eventually doing the reboot to fix this shit it would just start randomly boot looping for hours. Had to hold down volume to enter the setup mode or whatever, power off, snack the phone a couple times, restart, and if I was lucky it would start up, and I was really lucky the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth might work.

This led to eventually the phone just randomly restarting itself. Especially if the Bluetooth was working and I was using headphones and someone called me. It would just turn off then boot loop again lol. If and sometimes if I powered it off it would just be stuck on the powering off screen for an hour.

I had insurance and warranty and Google did their fucking damnedest to fuck me around. I called them (Fi) multiple times and had the issue eventually escalated to management or something. Was promised a new phone was being sent out. Never showed up. This happened twice. I filed a complaint and it was eventually (see months) followed up with a call to inform me I was officially out of the warranty period (of course I was, by the time you actually reached out) however they would ship me one if I sent mine back. They would put a hold FOR THE FULL PRICE of the NEW phone on my bank account until they received my faulty device. OR I could just send it in and they would send me a new after it has been received leaving me without a phone for up to 2 weeks. Effectively paying again for the phone I already purchased in full.

I finally broke down last week and just got a Moto stylus 5g which has been great so far. However, I got it through Fi of course because they're simply the cheapest option for me as I've had it since it came out and I am grandfathered in with 3 lines "unlimited" for $65/month. When I ordered the moto I noticed they have a trade in offer... :D I of course choose yes, followed by questions to see if I was eligible...

  1. Does the phone have any cracks or damage? A - No! 👍 (A miracle honestly with how often I slammed this thing out of frustration)

  2. Does the phone power on? A - Yes! (Technically it does...)

You're eligible for the trade in offer! You will receive a $76 bill credit once we receive your device!

Awesome! Google will be receiving the biggest, most useless piece of shit device I have EVER had the displeasure of owning and I'll receive a credit essentially making my new phone free!

It took 2 years and I suspect they'll try to fuck me out of the credit unless I get lucky and the device actually starts up normally when they receive it. But, in my own very small and admittedly petty way I feel like I'm getting revenge on these fuckers.

Tldr - pixel 6a is worthless. My wife has the same phone and hers is flawless but I was delivered 2 that were both fucked in some way. Google did nothing to fix it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I had the original and now the 5. My kid got the same (5) and the battery was swelling. But the process to get a new one was smooth as silk, I had bought the insurance because that kid is hard on phones (they bought the phone but I am covering the insurance).

What was funny to me was we said "the battery is slowly exploding" and they said "mail it back in the packaging the new one arrives in" which was just a cardboard box. That can't possibly be safe!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

The first time using a zweihander.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Soloing an Alaskan Chainsaw Mill. Bro didn't show up one day and I had logs to cut.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I got some video goggles about 10 years ago. The picture on the box? A guy wearing cool shades. Me? It felt like 10 pounds strapped to my face in such a way I had to look straight up to sort of see a blurry, blocky video through a screen door. This had to be plugged into a DVD player or a VHS player (yes, really) with three separate cords, but still also ate four AAs more than once an hour, and had built in earbuds in exactly the wrong size. Also, there was a separate cord to a remote control that managed to get tangled up very easily despite being too short to fit in a pocket while the goggles were on your head, so I just kinda looped it over my shoulders. Claimed to have a 3D mode. Never found it. 300$ well spent.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The Red One, Red’s first camera/the first affordable (relatively speaking) 4K cinema camera. Talk about a heavy, temperamental machine

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

the original Microsoft surface. no, not the laptop, the 60" touch sensitive table. they had these great demos of nfc-enabled DnD miniatures getting stat overlays when you put them down on the map shown by the table, but trying to actually build stuff for the device was nightmarish and the input latency was frequently more than half a second. the worst part that it ran stock windows 7, which is not made for touch interactions.

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