[Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Guides, News, & Discussion] scottusa2008:
Much appreciated you went into specifics on your reasoning.. Makes it better to get an understanding and discussion going over what someone is saying. That being said, I wanted to reply to some of what your posting with my own observations/understandings as well (in addition to my previous reply). Took me a bit longer to make this reply, had to do some research on a few things first (wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding a few details) and work has been a bit chaotic due to recent events.

I have used other phones by other manufacturers with varying degrees of responsiveness. So far my note 10+ hasn't let me down with the settings at the max they can go. I do not get any lag and I have ran some rather intensive applications on the phone (as well as multiple apps that use constant data connections). Lately I've been running a total launcher theme that while impressive has multiple active parts.. Zero lag but I will admit a little bit of a hit to battery performance. Given the sci-fi nature of the theme I am totally ok with that, the phone still lasts all day on a single charge.

Now if we had a higher refresh rate on our screens... Oh that would be totally fantastic.

The EQ thing you mentioned, I haven't ran into yet but I can try it later and see if it happens. Mostly I leave my settings on whatever defaults are and dolby atmos turned on. Generally I have to turn down the volume because what movies and music I play sound pretty dang good that the bass tends to get a bit to much.

Three things I'm finding with your analysis that are troubling...

First - Signal bars. They are not actual measurements of signal power but graphical representations via algorithm for us (being the end user) of what the phone signal quality is like from the cell tower to our phone. Because of the various chipsets and components no absolute definitive measurement exists, so it's not all universally the same across each phone manufacturer. This means what is shown as one bar on a phone made by one company will be presented differently (maybe 2 or 3) on another made by another.

Of course if you want to get into the nitty gritty details signal strength information like RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and the quality of signal (RSRQ) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)... These measurements are what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone, and what are shown (via an algorithm) as the signal bars. We can access this by dialing *#0011# into the phone dialer.

Second - If Samsung were "crippling" the phone's radio power then they could only do it on what the phone transmits... They can't control the power of the signal the phone is receiving from the cell tower.

Third - If your having buffering issues that is because something is interfering with the cell signal from the tower to your phone. This can be any number of things and it is true that some phone's seem to handle it a bit better... But none of that has to do with the phone's transmitting power.

I have some serious concerns with the pattern of logic your using. You keep saying that the phone's are crippled but your premise on WiFi and Cell signal examples are based on what the phone is receiving and not transmitting.

Still lets say that the signal bar for your WiFi connections include the phone's transmitting power... You have already indicated you limit the power output of your router, but have you tried turning it up a little to see if the signal stabilizes? You can have the TX power at it's max without issue so long as your WiFi connection is secured with a password.

Have you changed channels on the router to less populated one? How about re-orientate the antennas (if applicable, some don't have external antennas)... I did this with my WiFi 6 router after I bought it and have some pretty rock solid connections. I didn't at first, so it maybe worth trying for you?

You can also try turning off any power saving settings on the phone. You can also try toggling off the setting in developer options that prefers stable wifi over performance. If for some reason it is already turned off then try turning it on.

I did notice the time it takes to connect to an access point and what maybe is a longer wifi scanning interval. I've gone through the phone and have not found a setting that can change this yet. Still if it takes a few seconds longer to connect then I guess it takes a few seconds longer, so long as it connects to the wifi router.

Understood, but more then chipsets are involved in matters like this

Again some problems with the way this is all sounding...

The FCC regulations are about the transmitting power of the radios in our phones. The FCC also has regulations for transmitting power for cell towers.

So if Samsung follows the regulations they can only do so for what the phone transmits... Which again has no impact, bearing or relation to what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone.