u/FrostieWaffles

Will try the submit/qr code later today (i'm a customer not employee). I'm using the Android version.

- For some reason, you can't start a smoothie from scratch. It forces you to pick strawberry, mango, pina colada, peach, wildberry, and blue pom, at which point you can add flavors to that. Seems like an oversight considering you can do it with the other categories edit: see below

• There's a sweetness option, like you can do 1/4 sweetness. Wasn't aware that existed

• You can also customize the smoothie milk used (ice cream mix default, skim, whole, no milk, etc), or also go with alternative milks like oat and almond.

• Finishing details like sprinkles, cinnamon, whipped cream

• You can also do sugar free options easily from the app, easily

• you can redeem points for merch (bad use of them)

I'm kind of surprised how you can add up to 6 "finishing details" or unlimited (yes its unlimited) flavors for free. People will abuse this now and create franken-drinks that they'll regret ordering. Would they have ordered all that in person, nah. But yeah with apps weird things happen when the social pressure is removed. ie: for finishing details, someone could do whipped cream + sprinkles + 4 kinds of drizzle

Just a customer, but got an email about this. I searched this subreddit and apparently it's been a couple years in the making, but:

• My stand here just has a small walkup area. Wont a lot of people now attempt to do walkups to skip the drive thru line for picking up? Not a lot of space for that.

• Probably means orders will start going to doordash / ubereats if the app supports delivery? Means it'll be getting busier

Despite having a ton of cards myself, I've never put anyone on as an AU. I'm thinking of putting my elderly mother on there and just having her use my card for all her bills, and she can pay me back once a month. Previously she's been using a debit card and writes a lot of checks. But yeah, I would put a lot of her bills on autopay too.

Question 1: is it really 40 dollars to "upgrade" an AU to a metal card? And if don't pay the 40 you get a plastic card with numbers on it? And you'll have to pay 40 dollars every time it expires every few years or you'll just get a plastic one next time? I don't care that it's plastic but it really would be nice to give her one without any numbers on it.

Question 2: general impressions? Good spending limits/controls?

Didn't request it. It just came unexpectedly but I think I got an email awhile back

Was one of my last holdouts that didn't have tap to pay (but it had Google pay anyway so whatever)

They've also cheapened the design a bit: dulled out the stars, the aod logo, and Visa signature aren't reflective. Not as glossy. And for whatever reason they now have the number and expiration both on the front of the card, and that part is in big very bold font and reflective. it's probably the easiest to steal details from with a camera of all the cards I have.

Just a headsup, as you know BofA transferred to a modern autopay system instead of using their Bill Pay UI

Unfortunately, the actual mechanics of the autopay hasn't changed, and if you make an early payment for whatever, it'll won't reduce the autopay amount

I'm assuming this also affects refunds and the many people getting paze credits, so I figured I'd share that they're still in the stone ages with this

https://www.sofi.com/smartcard/faq/

So now we have two secured 5% options in the sofi smart card and chime prime card, along with the PayPal debit

I was one of those who didn't actually receive an email (granted I never do) and the offer page didn't mention anything other than something about excluding whole foods in the fine print.

There's a "bad offer" circulating around, and I got it: 3000 after spending 3,000 on gas, groceries, dining before Sept 30th. Confirmed via secure message

I haven't been able to get Messages for Web to work since they killed qr code pairing. I unpaired, and started the repairing process, which was: "log into google account" on another phone through Chrome, matched the emoji on the original phone, it said it's paired on ther Device Pairing page as the device is listed, but yeah I just get an error on messages.google.com

Google messages is up to date on the original phone

However, the original phone is on Android 12, so maybe that has something to do with it and they're not wanting to support older devices anymore

original thread from when they announced qr code deprecation:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1s1n6z8/googles_killing_qr_code_signins_for_messages_on/

Just a fyi, there's really only been one kind on Amazon US since launch, took about a month to arrive, and they're not great.

The bottom part fits ok, and gives me a keyhole to add a cheap google tag to it but the top is kind of worthless. It crops part of the screen that you need to swipe, and the bottom-portion of that top piece gets caught when trying to close it. Which I guess isn't surprising because the lid has a diagonal slope to it.

Also the bottom portion cutout for the recording/microphone hole isn't correct and almost covers the hole, but it doesn't

Still keeping it for the bottom portion and more than anything I wanted the screen protector for the top part because I know it's going to drop on concrete at some point

Discounted price of 19.99 for a single or 69.99 for a 4pack (which is what they should be all the time imo considering how cheap trackers have gotten)

Not an audiophile, but what's everybodys opinion of this feature that's tried it out? Obviously you have to give up voice control which sucks, and also head tracking. Is it noticeable?

Sound - Not an audiophile, but yeah out of the box it does sound worse than other earbuds. I'll mess with the EQ. Very hollow. I read that this was because they went with the wool-paper composite drivers, which give a more natural sound and less ear fatigue. But apparently they also degrade faster?

Case - I really just wanted the bigger touch screen for the case, but now that I have it I've been thinking, isn't this screen going to get scratched up in my pocket? If they sold a screen protector for it I would buy it. Also seems impossible to keep the screen from getting smudged or dirty, but it gets plenty bright so not much of an issue

AI note-taking: I'll be honest, I hate subscriptions. Says you get 120 mis/free transcribed per month, and that's only for 2 years. Can't you just record with your phone and upload to another ai model and have it transcribed for free instead. Honestly is anyone going to pay 10-20 dollars a month for the subscription? I'd be curious if the mic pickup is better than my phone though, maybe it is

ANC: Yeah it's top tier, one of the best, could be better maybe if

Ambient mode - weaker than the buds 4 pro transparency, especially because you can't adjust the strength of it

Easy chat - both samsung and this have this feature, and honestly the samsung implementation works perfectly, whereas this one randomly activates ambient mode when it hears a random cough or sneeze or other nearby people talking, and other Youtube videos mention this. They really messed this feature up

touch control responsiveness - this works perfectly

touch control customization - you cant customize the slide up and down unfortunately. not sure why. also have to open the app to turn on wind noise reduction, for some reason they do this with all soundcore earbuds

latency - soundcore rarely makes this much of a priority, but while the liberty 5 had a gaming mode, this one doesn't??? that's a glaring omission. latency according to reviews can be in the 300+ms range. i always use gaming mode. that's one thing i really like about the earfun buds is they use aptx and have a low latency/gaming mode on top of that, which yields 40-50ms+.

triple device multipoint - so far, this has one of the best implementation of multipoints that ive seen. if im playing audio on one device and start it on another it will automatically switch. i need to see if i can be playing audio for one, while still getting notifications from another device. it also restarts audio once the other device is done playing, which can be a good or bad thing i suppose. But yeah, so far I'm impressed, and to my knowledge only one or two other earbuds have triple multipoint. The Samsung buds don't even have proper multipoint. And some other implementations of multipoint on other buds just don't work or switch devices properly.

Calls - mom hasnt had issues hearing me. The videos I watched with noisy environments and wind seemed to hold up well. will try some voicemails. I have a feeling it's not going to be as good as "Ultrawide band" speech on a Samsung phone with the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, as this feature seems to help a lot with the airpods implmentation of it.

Comfort - Great. So it's difficult for earbuds to fit in my left ear properly, usually need to go to Small or XS and even then a lot of earbuds are uncomfortable because I have this really sensitive part of my left ear. These are an oval shape and feel actually comfortable, which is the same thing that the OnePlus Buds 4 does, so I guess they copied them. The oval shape helps tremendously. Doesn't give you as good of a seal though but I care more about comfort

Battery - not sure yet, on some of the youtube videos I watched it might just be average at best. Probably below average. Anything less than 3 hours would be disappointing but we'll see how long it lasts with ldac off and anc on. I never use ldac because it consumes more battery, increases latency, and you can't use multipoint with it. UPDATE: it's already at 40% after not playing music for 3 hours with it in ambient mode just sitting in my ears. granted ambient mode uses the mics but yeah...kind of weak.

Voice commands - this doesn't work half the time but its a cool feature, wouldnt use it in public if its not going to work on the first try. I'm wondering if this is draining the battery more too. still a welcome feature that i might actually use, if it works all the time. Like Easy Chat it just doesn't work all the time.

tldr: if triple multipoint works and it has good call quality and comfort, then i'll keep it. sound quality isnt a big deal to me. battery life is a little important. latency, yeah that bugs me too. and im also concerned this screen will bescratched up in my pocket without a screen protector

Update: Ok I see there's a screen protector and case on amazon now, takes like a month to get here though. ali has cases for the standard pro but not the max

Just a fyi, before this week it didn't provide a deadline date

I have a few devices I've set up on my account but share with my moms Google account. So if she loses her keys I can see the location and remotely ring it. My devices don't come in Bluetooth range with her/her tags more than a couple times a month

Anyhow, I set these devices up on my s25 last year, then shared to her Google account/her phone. I can see the locations on my s25, but not with any other device logged into my Google account, just says unavailable. Same thing if I use the web UI.

Only can see the location from my s25, the device I originally shared it from. Which if I ever stop using this phone in the future then I guess I'd have to unpair and pair everything and share everything over again

Just some meta talk here, as if we haven't had enough CCC threads in the past 24 hours already.

If you were recommending Citi Custom Cash before, what will you recommend now in the main 4 categories it's used for? Maybe you have different feelings about recommending major vs non-major banks, or other factors.

I'll list some options here, and you can chime in with how you feel about recommending them. Not a comprehensive list by any means, just some conversation starters:

Groceries:

• AAA Daily doesn't get the hate that it did when the card had issues in 2024 (lots of horror story threads). But it's still Comenity and everyone has their own inclinations as to whether they'll recommend a less reputable issuer or not.

• Paypal Debit really isn't being nerfed in August, just an extra step. At the time of this writing you can still redeem points 1:1 for various mainstream gift cards like Amazon and Walmart. No credit pull.

• Amex BCP, major bank, annual fee is waived for the first year. However, the "Amex elevator" downgrade to BCE/BCP trick hasn't been yielding the $150/waived AF upgrade offers lately, so it's not an automatic reupgrade. Lot of us seem to be stuck with meh $75/no waived AF, which is the bad offer. But the BCE still gives 3% too even if they're stuck with it.

• CO Savor 3% card, Amex BCE 3% card, Citi Strata 3% grocery/gas/selectable category, Venmo Visa for its broad coverage, other 3% cards

• BofA CCR, can get the 10% tier with a checking account, first year +3%, and some workarounds with online shopping

• Aven 6% version. Has autopay hoops to jump through, not for beginners. Not a major bank. Also not available in 11 states and locks you out of the catch-all version

• Chime Prime Secured, works on various categories. 3k/dd to deal with might keep you recommending it. Or the extra hoops of a secured card.

• USB Shopper Cash, no AF first year but then a high AF which can make it hard to recommend, but maybe you're fine with mentioning it for year 1. Product change availability is inconsistent, but there's some good options

Gas:

• AAA Travel, Comenity again, locks out of AAA Daily unless you have a P2.

• SYW 5321, some of the broadest coverage, 5% gas and transit, 3% groceries and dining, but it's a waitlist and you might not like recommending waitlist cards, and has had issues like AAA Daily at first, not a major bank

• Abound Credit Union, I see it recommended sometimes, you can out of footprint but it's an archaic process and they're picky

• Altitude Connect 4%, feel like this ones going to be brought up a lot more, major bank, although with current gas prices its very possible to go over the 1k/quarter, just depends on how the OP fills out the template. Has other useful benefits that are the card's actual selling points. Hopefully USB doesn't hit this one too

• WF Autograph: Enough has been said about this card lately. Already the most recommended 3% card, simple, Wyndham transfer flexibility

• PNC Cash Rewards, 4%, with potential boosts to 4.2 (25k held), 5 (100k held), or 5.4 (500k held). Can obtain this in 27 states, which is decent but still a coin flip whether they're eligible or not

• Citi Costco, 4% elsewhere 5% Costco (CCC was a MC though anyway), major issuer

• Sams Club. Synchrony, Sams Club membership required, so hard to recommend, but it is 5%, so if they mention they have the membership sure why not.

• BofA CCR, Chime Prime Secured, Paypal Debit

• Various 3% cards

Dining:

• USB Altitude Go 4%, 2k/quarter, major bank, was always overshadowed by CCC

• BofA CCR, Chime Prime Secured, Paypal Debit. Note that some users here were already using Chime Prime Secured because they were hitting the 500/mo limit on Dining and freed up multiple CCs.

• WF Autograph, CO Savor, Chase Freedom Flex (and rotator benefits), various other 3% cards

• Paypal Debit

• USB Cash+/Elan Max Cash Preferred, "technically", if you're already recommending someone to get one for Utilities, Fast food kind of works as a second option. Nothing you might outright recommend though, especially since Fast Food spend isn't apart of the template. Provided they want to cover their non-fast food spend with a 3% card or something

Home Improvement:

• BofA CCR

• Rotators consistently cover this but only one quarter a year, like Discover It has an elevated SUB at the moment and it's decent enough for general purpose use the rest of the year

• USB Shopper Cash for a year

• Might need to recommend a catchall otherwise, dont know of other cards, and again Discover It works as a catchall.

• Kroger cards are closed to application unfortunately

• Lowes CC, 5%, if they use Lowes. Worth mentioning now with the CCC nerf and there's not a lot of major home improvement store options. Maybe it'll get more people shopping at Lowes

The solution is definitely having a dedicated travel card, but I'm just curious how commonly these transactions code as offline. I feel like it's fairly common, but maybe I'm wrong