Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra VS Signal
Verdict DROP IT BUY IT
The Reality 9to5Google's hands-on and LTT Labs' independent lab testing confirmed the Privacy Display effect is real and functional at narrowing the viewing cone. But TechRadar reported a wave of real user complaints that the effect makes the screen genuinely nauseating to look at even for the primary user, not just people at an angle — a side effect none of the marketing mentioned. Wired's full review and The Register's iFixit-based teardown also flagged Samsung's repairability regressing again this generation. As of 2026-09-11, the Signal-Android GitHub repo has 29,311 stars and 6,881 forks, with a commit as recent as today — a large, actively maintained codebase, not an abandoned open-source gesture. 499 open issues is proportionate to a project of this scale and real-world usage.
SHORT ANSWER
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: The Galaxy S26 Ultra's Privacy Display genuinely narrows viewing angles as advertised, but real users report it causes nausea during normal use — a tradeoff Samsung didn't disclose.
Signal: Signal's Android app is a genuinely large, actively maintained open-source project — 29,311 GitHub stars and a commit as recent as today, not just a privacy marketing claim with no real engineering behind it.