I went window shopping today. Right after finishing my gym training, I visited a mall in the city where my gym is located and spent some time browsing a gadget store. I've had my eye on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra for a while, but I can't afford it right now due to the bear market.

However, it's on my bucket list because of the incredible photos that the Samsung S22 and S23 Ultra can capture. Check out some of @galenkp's posts to see the S22 Ultra's capabilities. Interestingly, some people claim that the S22 Ultra outperforms the latest Ultra model in terms of photography.

A friend of mine who owns the S22 confirmed this when he compared the results of the older model with his sister's newer one, stating that the photos on the S22 were punchier and of overall better quality.

I've even compared my own S21 with the latest flagship, and while there are slightly better details, there isn't much difference between the two.

However, when I got home and opened my laptop, I was once again welcomed by that blue screen updating my Windows OS. I don't have a license for it, and I've deactivated every auto-update feature, yet I still get updates.

I'm starting to wonder, "who really owns my laptop if I can't even decide on such basic stuff?" Some people might suggest switching to Linux, but I tried it about ten years ago and found it challenging to use. While I appreciate the privacy and speed it offers, Windows is more convenient for me.

Next on the list of gadgets that provoked frustration is an old smartphone that I received from my mother as a spare phone. She changed hers about a year ago and gave me the old one after a factory reset. However, I can't use it anymore because whenever I try to log in with my Google account, it asks me for the first Google account and password that was used on the phone.

My mother barely knows her Facebook password, so it's unlikely that she saved the Google account and password she used on the phone. As a result, Google has turned this old smartphone into an unusable gadget.

This raises the question once again, "to whom do our gadgets belong?" If the answer is us, then try using an Android device without a Google account, or better yet, try using a smartphone without an Android or iOS operating system and see if it works. The entire purpose of smartphones is to be connected to Apple or Google all the time.

Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for these companies to make and distribute them. Is your phone too old but still functioning? A new update will likely "turn it into a vegetable" so that you'll buy a new one.

If I were more tech-savvy, I might try switching to Linux, but in the meantime, I have to accept the "perks" of using a pirated version of Windows 11, or whatever version it is. What do you think? Do we truly own our gadgets, or are we just mere users of them?

Thanks for your attention,
Adrian