Samsung has released a new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3, including voice control, wireless beaming of content and exclusive apps, as it aims to consolidate its position at the top of the mobile sector.
The S3 has a super AMOLED 4.8in screen, larger than its predecessor the S2, with an 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.9MP front camera which offers "intelligent camera features" that the company says will adapt to what it sees you doing.
The phone runs on Google's Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) software, but has a number of Samsung additions – including voice recognition and eye tracking.
The phone will go on sale on 30 May in the UK, with Orange and Phones4U already lined up to sell it. No price has yet been given. It will go on sale in the US this summer. Samsung said it will go on sale with 296 carriers in 145 countries. It can connect at "4G" speeds in compatible countries.
"S Voice" can respond to spoken orders such as "wake up" when its screen is off, "snooze" for an alarm, or to play a particular song, change volume settings, and take pictures. It also responds to gestures, so that lifting the phone to the face while sending a text message will dial the recipient's number instead.
Samsung has also souped up Google's Android Beam (which can pass data such as business card details) so it is capable of sending a 1GB file between two S3 phones in three minutes, or a 10MB file in two seconds by touching them together.
It comes in a 15GB or 32GB version, though the company said a 64GB model would come soon. Buyers can get an optional wireless charging pad, similar to that offered with the now-defunct HP TouchPad last year.
At 4.8in, the screen size is only just below the minimum 5in that most analysts class as a tablet – indicating Samsung's confidence that top-end users will want larger screens. The first-generation Galaxy S in 2010 had a 4in screen; the S2, a 4.3in screen.
The company sold an estimated 44m smartphones across its entire portfolio in the first quarter of 2012, more than any other company. It dominates the Android sector too, selling around 50% of phones on a platform which itself makes up 50% of smartphone sales.
Jason Jenkins, editor of CNET UK, said: "The Samsung Galaxy S3 is a cracker of a smartphone that makes the iPhone look a little like yesterday's model. It cements Samsung's place as one of the leading phone manufacturers and really puts the pressure on Apple to come up with something different for its next iPhone later in the year.
"It's also starting to look like this will be a two-horse race – Samsung and Apple fighting it out for the number one spot with everyone else left to pick up the crumbs. HTC, Sony, BlackBerry and Nokia are the ones with the real work to do."
Ian Fogg, an analyst at IHS Suppli, said: "What's striking is that Samsung is focusing on software and the experiences, more than the hardware (although that is excellent too). Features like Pop over, social tag, and S Voice all aspire to differentiate from the opposition through the user experience that Samsung's software customisation delivers.
"Samsung have been leading up to this for a while, but this is the first time they've led their product positioning on user experience and software."
Francisco Jeronimo, IDC's smartphones analyst, was downbeat, saying: "It is not an eye-catching device that will overwhelm consumers."
He noted that analysts had not been given the chance to try out the voice control in pre-release demonstrations of the phone. Of a brief test, he said: "Overall, [it] seems very similar to Siri, but my first impression was that is not as well integrated with the phone as Siri is with the iPhone."
Carolina Milanesi, smartphones analyst at the research group Gartner, said that Samsung was looking for ways to remain ahead of rivals in the Android space, as well as Apple.
"They need to push the boundaries in order to remain ahead," she said. "It will be interesting to see how many of these new features [in the S3] will be open to developers so that they can take advantage of them in their apps."
However, if developers start to target Samsung APIs for apps, that could potentially split the Android platform still further beyond the individual versions produced by Google – and would also tend to increase Samsung's control of Android.
Such an "embrace and extend" manoeuvre would build its control of the platform, where it already presently has half of worldwide sales and is the biggest profit-maker.
Jeronimo observed: "Samsung definitely embraced Android, and is extending it. We shouldn't also forget that Samsung has a quite opportunistic approach to market trends.
"If Android is now the new kid on the block that can best contribute to its success, they will invest and nurture it to maximise the opportunity. But if the trend changes (and they are very good at anticipating that), they will also change the platform they embrace in the future."
But, he added: "It is clear that Samsung has no other strong options at the moment."
No price was announced, though Milanesi suggested that it would be priced similarly to the Google-branded (but Samsung-made) Galaxy Nexus, released last October, and that prices of the year-old Galaxy S2 would be cut to boost Samsung's already dominant share.
Milanesi was generally impressed with the device, though with some reservations. "The design is much improved, and despite the fact that it is still plastic it feels much less cheap than the Galaxy S2 and the Nexus," she said.
But she thought the S Voice control was less convincing: "It came across as a little gimmicky when I played with it. But to me the main issue is that these features are quite buried in the device, so might not be that obvious to consumers. S Voice is not as complex as Siri – more like voice activation for simple commands."
Overall, she suggested: "I think Samsung has similar challenges to Apple but with a less convincing overall package and a weaker brand."
But Fogg suggested that the real problem would be for other companies. "For Nokia, this must be deeply concerning," he said. "One of Nokia's stated reasons they opted for Windows Phone was because they believed that it would be impossible to differentiate using Android.
"Samsung is showing with the the Galaxy S3 that it's perfectly possible to innovate with Android software. In fact, Android is enabling faster innovation than any handset maker has managed with Windows Phone."
But the new Galaxy S3 could also pose problems for the smaller players in the Android space, Fogg suggested. "Samsung's marketing spend and brand awareness are second to none. This combination of marketing spend and channels will cause serious problems for smaller handset makers such as HTC, LG and Motorola."
Jeronimo warned that Samsung needs to consolidate its position: "Samsung needs to come up with unique features and not to catch-up once again with other vendors. What is there that's completely unique on the S3 that we haven't seen on other devices? Maybe slight differences on the features, but nothing disruptive.
"They entered a new era. The only way to succeed is to set the pace of innovation. I believe that's exactly what they want to do, but they still suffering from the 'follower-syndrome': to improve what others created. That's why consumers will compare the S Voice to Siri and not the other way around."
If you're going to copy/paste an article that someone else wrote, I believe common courtesy would be to cite the source. Also, what is the point of starting a thread like this? There are already a ton of other GS3 threads, why not post your OWN opinions in one of those threads instead of starting a new thread with someone else's words?
All that said, I don't think Sammy is going to dominate anything with this phone, it is downright hideous. I really hope the US variants look a lot nicer.
Related
looks like this will get nasty
We always knew the Apple / Samsung lawsuit would produce some major fireworks, and Samsung just lit off a corker: the company filed a motion Friday night asking Apple to turn over the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 as part of the discovery process. Seriously! Samsung claims that it needs to see Apple’s future products because devices like the Droid Charge and Galaxy Tab 10.1 will presumably be in the market at the same time as the iPhone 5 and iPad 3, and Samsung’s lawyers want to evaluate any possible similarities so they can prepare for further potential legal action from Apple. It’s ballsy, but it’s not totally out of the blue: the move comes just a few days after the judge ordered Samsung to hand over pre-production samples of the Droid Charge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 so Apple could determine if those products should also be part of the lawsuit and potentially file a motion to block them from the market.
Now, the key difference between the two requests is that Samsung had already announced its products, while Apple has maintained its traditional iron silence about future devices. But there’s some additional nuance involved as well, as well as some bigger-picture implications — let’s walk through the entire situation, shall we?
Last week, Apple asked the court to order Samsung to hand over samples of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, the Galaxy S II, the Infuse 4G, and the Droid Charge so Cupertino could figure out whether they should be part of the lawsuit — and whether to ask for a preliminary injunction preventing Samsung’s products from going on sale.
The court sided with Apple, in large part because Samsung had already released review units and photos of everything listed. In fact, the ruling came just days after Samsung handed out thousands of Galaxy Tab 10.1s at Google I/O, so really the only unreleased product on the list is the Tab 8.9 — a product that was announced in March and has been handled on video.
The court imposed one important condition on Apple in order to protect Samsung’s competitive edge, however: only Cupertino’s outside lawyers are allowed to look at Samsung’s pre-release hardware, not anyone from Apple itself. (Of course, there’s nothing stopping someone at Apple from running out and picking up a Droid Charge or Infuse 4G at retail, but pre-production samples that come from Samsung under this order are protected.)
Apple hasn’t yet filed for that preliminary injunction, nor has it said it’s going to anytime soon.
Now, given that most of the Samsung products on the list were already either available or fully disclosed, it wasn’t surprising that Apple won — in fact, it’s more interesting that Samsung had chose to fight back on such a minor issue in the first place, since it had so little at stake. (And it’s also somewhat interesting that Apple even asked for Samsung’s products in discovery instead of just filing for an injunction from the get-go, since they had all been announced already.) It’s a tell: no little compromises means no big compromises are in the works. So now let’s step through Samsung’s motion to see the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 and try to get a sense of what’s actually happening in context.
Samsung’s asking for a court order requiring Apple to produce “the final, commercial versions” of the next-generation iPhone and iPad and their respective packaging by June 13, 2011, so it can evaluate whether there’ll be confusion between Samsung and Apple’s future products. If the final versions aren’t available, Samsung wants “the most current version of each to be produced instead.”
Samsung doesn’t actually know Apple is planning to release a new iPhone or iPad; the motion is based on “internet reports” and “Apple’s past practice.” Obviously this is a critical difference between Apple’s request and Samsung’s — Samsung had already disclosed its new products, and Apple didn’t ask for anything that wasn’t already announced.
Samsung says it has to see the next-gen iPhone and iPad because it believes those are the products that will actually be on the market against future Samsung devices, so it has to be prepared for Apple’s potential motion for a preliminary injunction. That’s kind of a stretch: Apple can’t really file for a preliminary injunction based on potential confusion with unannounced, unreleased products, so Apple’s lawyers will almost certainly focus on confusion with the company’s existing products.
Indeed, Apple told Samsung on May 23 that any potential motion for a preliminary injunction “would be based on products Apple currently has in the market.”
Samsung says that doesn’t matter because Apple tends to discontinue previous products when it launches new ones, and it has to be prepared for what might be in the market when and if Apple actually files its motion. This is also a bit strange, since Apple kept both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS on the market after launching new models. You can bet Apple will point that out.
Samsung’s also promised to abide by the same rules as Apple — only its lawyers will get to see anything Apple produces, not anyone at Samsung. (Or us, unfortunately.)
Lastly, Samsung says “fundamental fairness” requires Apple to give up its future products, since Samsung had to do the same. Tellingly, Samsung doesn’t reference any precedent or law to bolster this line of argument — it’s basically just asking the court to be nice.
So that’s Samsung’s motion. It’s pretty strange, if you think about it: Samsung is arguing that Apple might file for a preliminary injunction, and that it might happen sometime after Apple might release a new iPhone and iPad. That’s a lot of assumptions — and Apple can basically kill this entire line of argument dead by filing for that injunction Monday morning and saying that Samsung’s already-announced products should be blocked from market because they’ll cause confusion with the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 for however many months remain before the new versions are released. Neither the court nor Samsung really need to see Apple’s unreleased products to deal with that. And even if Samsung wins, Apple will definitely appeal the decision, putting the entire case on hold while things get sorted out… a process that will almost certainly stretch past the iPhone 5′s expected release in the fall, rendering this entire argument somewhat moot. And what happens if Samsung eventually gets the iPhone 5 and determines that the Droid Charge infringes Apple’s patents and trademarks? Is it going to change the Droid Charge? The potential outcomes aren’t entirely favorable here.
So why is Samsung even pursuing this? I think it’s a calculated gamble for additional leverage. Apple and Samsung held negotiations for a year before giving up and heading to the courts, and I’m reliably informed that there haven’t been any substantive settlement discussions since Apple first filed its complaint. That means talks have been at a standstill for a long time now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung was trying to put some additional heat on Apple to try and kick negotiations back into gear. It’s an interesting and aggressive move in its own right, but it also highlights the fact that neither Apple nor Samsung have addressed the actual merits of their complaints in formal replies — this is a minor skirmish before the real battle begins. We’ll see if this sideshow accomplishes anything beyond clever lawyerly maneuvering, but for right now it’s clear that Apple and Samsung aren’t planning to back down anytime soon.
click here !!!!
Doesn't samsung give apple most of the iphones parts...
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Jmatch said:
Doesn't samsung give apple most of the iphones parts...
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yup, I wonder if apple's lawyers took that into consideration before they brought up these charges
Wow Cheezynutz Nice long synopsis. Some of your ideas make sense about the tactics of these 2 companies, but here is the Gist of the whole thing:
Apple knows their market share is waning in the cell phone market so, trying to throw roadblocks is one tactic to delay the inevitable.
Apple has little chance to win this since the market that makes the difference is outside the USA It is all of the world and our court rulings no matter the outcome will have little to no bearing on that market. Compound that, along with some of the development problems Apple is having causing release delays (now 1st Q 2012) just translates into Android as a whole is like a Tsunami taking over everything. Beating on Samsung is nothing more than a side show, the real show is watching if Android consolidates their app market into more cohesive products and less version sensitive. That in itself will be the straw that breaks Apple's back. The hardware out there is not going to be the game changer at this point ads all of them are really very good.
Legal wrangling is not going to change any of this dynamic....... so to me I think Samsung actually wins all because the Apple legal team made the original demand to have access to Samsung products.......... Just like a chess Gambit Losing a piece early ends up giving you a winning position in the long run. Apple's legal team fell for it.... too .........And That is the most amusing part of all this....
Jmatch, yes samsung makes some of the components as does Foxconn (China) but I believe the final assembly is done elsewhere. Samsung pretty much has a lock on amoled
Great posting thanks !!!
That's the irony in this all, Samsung is actually apples provider. Lol and apple goes and sues them, that's really a dumb move on apples part.
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I bet Samsung loses this one. IPad 2 was launched last month and Samsung is asking for non announced products, apple may release a IPhone 4S instead a IPhone 5, both are 5th generation. While Samsung products were announced and being released.
the fight between these 2 COs will never end.
Jmatch said:
Doesn't samsung give apple most of the iphones parts...
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The SoC's Apple uses are done on Samsungs Fab process just like their own, it's a different market from phones to phone parts.
lol x10
It is called discovery, right?
Apple products are very similar to previous versions so I doubt Samsung will have anything to gain besides annoying Apple. If it wasn't for the iPod touch I wouldn't even have anything to do with Apple.
Apple are arrogant regarding these kind of matters. "I have the genius I have the power" ... but that power without the manpower, the raw materials, the technology ... is nothing.
Meanwhile Apple products are churned out in Chinese factories, with poor pay and appalling conditions for the assembly workers.
It must be a relief for them to know that Apple have such a big legal team watching their backs. Oh, wait...
DirkGently1 said:
Meanwhile Apple products are churned out in Chinese factories, with poor pay and appalling conditions for the assembly workers.
It must be a relief for them to know that Apple have such a big legal team watching their backs. Oh, wait...
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Samsung is out of Korea, and has shops in Korea and China. I don't think the conditions are that much better, plus it's foxconn that assembles the products. Apple only pays for the assembly. There really isn't a lot in this world anymore that isn't made in Chinese factories, with poor pay and appalling conditions for the assembly workers...
Well topic/discussion purposed is Samsung's muddled delivery of ICS part of a larger rumoured back lash from manufacturers whom seem to be upset at Google for three reasons? First is Google’s acquisition of Motorola mobility apparently still doesn’t sit well with OEM's, the discontent has been amplified by reason number two. Some still don’t buy the party line of patent purchase only. This seems ungrateful from an outsiders point of view should this speculation hold true.
See such an article here:
http://www.androidauthority.com/google-motorola-deal-android-manufacturers-73966/
Second is Google trying to execute more control as many in blogs and tech articles have suggested Google should. This has been to address the issues of diversity and “fragmentation” that Google has faced criticism for. To what degree is Google executing control still remains to be seen. On a side note I and others have suggested the OEM’s give a stronger and narrower focus with fewer new devices but more polish and support.
Third is that Google with Android has not shown the preferential treatment the big players would have preferred; allowing smaller brands to gain ground and market share using this open platform. Brands like Archos, ZTE, and Huawei. Also allowed ASUS to gain a foot hold in the mobile market, ASUS who now seems to have a strong relationship with Google.
Samsung’s fudged ICS upgrade alone may mean nothing. But with HTC recent delivery and overhaul of ICS, combined with Sony decision to possibly hold ICS upgrades because it feels they miss the mark of quality could be indications of such unrest with the Manufacturers is more than just rumours. If such unhappiness is present and being actioned or plotted that’s where things turn interesting or concerning.
Many would think this unwise considering the lack of success with Manufacturers own proprietary OS’s. Nokia's Symbian slowly lost out, Bada is nowhere near the success Sammy had hoped for, despite cited as being more popular at the beginning of this year than Windows Phone. Meego didn't see much of a life.
Let me hear what you have to say on this topic
I think regarding the purchase of Motorola, it is definitely seen as simply a patent buyout. There are plenty of rumours of them already trying to sell the hardware side of Motorola.
Gaining 17,000 (or was it 12,000) patents is going to be a very good thing for manufacturers, knowing that they are much less likely to be sued with the added protection from the extra patents. However, if rumours are true and Google is looking to sell to Huwaie (?) then that will be another manufacturer up there all vying for a shot at the big time. The good thing is competition breed competition, so we will see devices continuously being updated and bettered, whereas the iPhone will not see this at such a rate.
I think Google trying to take a bit more control over Android is overall a good thing, even if manufacturers may not like it so much because it means it is harder to put out the cheaper handsets that have been selling so well.
siravarice said:
I think regarding the purchase of Motorola, it is definitely seen as simply a patent buyout. There are plenty of rumours of them already trying to sell the hardware side of Motorola.
Gaining 17,000 (or was it 12,000) patents is going to be a very good thing for manufacturers, knowing that they are much less likely to be sued with the added protection from the extra patents. However, if rumours are true and Google is looking to sell to Huwaie (?) then that will be another manufacturer up there all vying for a shot at the big time. The good thing is competition breed competition, so we will see devices continuously being updated and bettered, whereas the iPhone will not see this at such a rate.
I think Google trying to take a bit more control over Android is overall a good thing, even if manufacturers may not like it so much because it means it is harder to put out the cheaper handsets that have been selling so well.
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So far Google hasn't appeared to have had much influence on Motorola, many because it hasn't been fully approved/finalized. Oddly enough the hold up is China. The strength of the rumour Google selling the Hardware division to Hauwei is the ability to capitalise on the lucrative Chinese market where Android already is dominating.
Time will tell about the patent side, although no evidence is apparent that supports its more than a patent purchase. We'll have to see who gets the next Nexus smartphone and tablet.
Before returning to Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs said that there was one thing wrong with Apple, "The products suck! There's no attraction in them anymore!" what he meant was that they had become boxes with generic designs and some chips thrown inside for good measure. They failed to induce lust within the consumer, did not make them wait in lines for their release, did not make them think about selling vital organs, apendages, wives, anything, just to lay their hands on a new Apple product.
Android OEMs seem to be suffering from a similar fate as Apple in its Jobs-less era. Though it has become highly successful in the low and middle-end market, Android has been unable to usurp the iron throne of the iPhone on top of the high =-end market, where all the large profit margins reside. A few phones are able to make a splash, but none of them have had as huge an impact as the iPhone. Even developers are getting tired of the highly fragmented platform and journalists are getting bored of reviewing similar looking devices coming out of a thousand different camps, as everyone and their mother, maybe even their grandmother along with a few nephews, think that it’s a good idea to 'develop' a new Android device.
What Android needs is a super sexy halo device, a flagship that through amazing design, stands out in the crowd and attracts customers towards it in droves. The iPhone was such a device and now even Microsoft’s Windows Phone has such a device in the shape of the Nokia Lumia 800 and it’s upcoming follower the Lumia 900.
The iPhone offers a perfect mix of stellar hardware married to beautiful, yet simple software. People are attracted by the design, and once they get it in their hands and explore the UI, it’s the begining of a love affair. With its latest iteration, Ice Cream Sandwich, Android has, for the first time, gained as beautiful an interface. All Android needs at this point is for some OEM to build a design, attractive enough to give consumers that initial push to fall in love with their OS and to take them to the level of sophistication, as their competitors.
Here are a few of my thoughts about what leading OEMs in the Android world can do to have any hope of being as sexy as their competition:
Samsung
Of all Android OEM’s, none have been as successful in the Android arena as Samsung. Owing to the fact that they produce their own chipsets, they are able to optimize their software much closer to their hardware and are thus able to create a blazing fast user experience. Even their designs are mostly serviceable, but they lose out on one key aspect: material quality. They tend to make all of their phones with cheap looking plastic, which is not preferable for customers who are spending exorbitant amounts of money to purchase their high-end phones. We need more metal, glass and polycarbonate, people!
HTC
Initially, HTC were on the right path; they made some pretty cool devices, like the Nexus One, the Desire S and the Legend, which proved successful for them. But they took that success to heart a little too vehemently. Now, all their devices seem so similar that one would need a microscope to differentiate them, the same wide speaker grills and curved edges; do not make a sexy device! Add to that the sheer volume of devices they produce, customers can get confused far too easily. Guys, churn out low to mid-end devices, all year, but focus all your attention and all your design chops on one high end device per year and build a brand around it. Fortunately, their new One series seems to be on the right track, let’s see what kind of impression it makes.
Motorola
Motorola, just needs focus! They are being acquired by Google, which is a huge deal! One would think that their collective vision of software would be better. After their ridiculous experiments with MotoBlur, their new skin is a major improvement, but there’s still a long way to go to achieve design parity with their competition. Also, they need to maintain the integrity of their brands; it wouldn't exactly inspire customer loyalty to have their newly minted devices one-upped just months after they bought them. For example, the Droid Bionic was released in September 2011, the Razr, two months later and the Razr MAXX a mere three months later, all at the same launch price of $299.99 on a two year contract. Such tactics do not inspire customer loyalty, as customers buy high-end phones with the assurance that theirs would be the best phone on the market for the foreseeable future. Again, focus on one flagship slab phone, coupled with another flagship QWERTY slider per year, and you're golden.
Sony
Sony is one of the strongest Android OEMs, right now in terms of design. Both the Xperia Arc and the newly announced Xperia S are pretty well-designed phones, but Sony always commits one fatal error, it does not iterate fast enough! The fact that the Xperia S is going to be launched with Gingerbread, instead of Ice Cream Sandwich and that it is using last year’s silicon (i.e. the Snapdragon S3, instead of the S4) cumulatively makes it a bittersweet deal. Good design needs substance as well, so ramp-up your game Sony, catch up already!
Android has now evolved into a pretty compelling platform with the advent of ICS. OEMs need to do justice to such attractive software and combine it with, simply put ‘amazing hardware’, to make sure that this sweet lass called Android, finally becomes sexy enough to attract as large a cult following as iOS.
Basically you've addressed the strategy each of the major players in Android need to take. I have generalised it a bit more other threads, saying that they need a strategy close to Sony and HTC, meaning more polish and support on a range of fewer phones. Although I do agree about Sony being behind on both OS and tech. While churning out numerous various iterations each year seems to be profitable, it is conversely damaging to these companies. The company's reputation becomes tarnished, and when they perfect the 'smaller range of phones with more polish' strategy, the companies should see more profitability.
Samsung while needing to put better build materials, also needs to reduce the sheer range of phones they put out each. Galaxy S series (1, 2 and upcoming 3) Galaxy Note, and Ace series really comprised the quintessential range of Samsung Android phones. The Galaxy Beam could be included when released. However you can't say that about the Galaxy R, W, Fit, Mini, Gio etc. It fails to really bring meaningful variation. Android is about options, but the difference in choices should be substantial or tangible.
I, often, go as far to say you have three level for consumers; high end, mid level, and budget. Now the major players excluding Sony, usually like to intergrate the lastest tech, which means that 4 - 5 months later the manufacture can introduce a new phone on just two levels or all three. So you've got a base range of 9 phones more or less each year. You might have a catergory of Special phone category for unique features like the Galaxy Beam or Xperia Sola or Padphone. A company should easily be able to provide excellent support for 9-10 phones. It might be a little more with 4g(or next gen)/International variations but is a new budget phone every 4 months necessary?
I really think customers would get this, but what do you think.
Agreed with pretty much all of it. Ever since after the Nexus One (arguably, before it as well), there have been too many Android devices that are practically clones. Although this is good because the more phones there are the more people will use Android (I guess), it's just overcrowding crap. And yes, Samsung's phones major downside is the stupid plastic they use, haha!
charmthief88 said:
Basically you've addressed the strategy each of the major players in Android need to take. I have generalised it a bit more other threads, saying that they need a strategy close to Sony and HTC, meaning more polish and support on a range of fewer phones. Although I do agree about Sony being behind on both OS and tech. While churning out numerous various iterations each year seems to be profitable, it is conversely damaging to these companies. The company's reputation becomes tarnished, and when they perfect the 'smaller range of phones with more polish' strategy, the companies should see more profitability.
Samsung while needing to put better build materials, also needs to reduce the sheer range of phones they put out each. Galaxy S series (1, 2 and upcoming 3) Galaxy Note, and Ace series really comprised the quintessential range of Samsung Android phones. The Galaxy Beam could be included when released. However you can't say that about the Galaxy R, W, Fit, Mini, Gio etc. It fails to really bring meaningful variation. Android is about options, but the difference in choices should be substantial or tangible.
I, often, go as far to say you have three level for consumers; high end, mid level, and budget. Now the major players excluding Sony, usually like to intergrate the lastest tech, which means that 4 - 5 months later the manufacture can introduce a new phone on just two levels or all three. So you've got a base range of 9 phones more or less each year. You might have a catergory of Special phone category for unique features like the Galaxy Beam or Xperia Sola or Padphone. A company should easily be able to provide excellent support for 9-10 phones. It might be a little more with 4g(or next gen)/International variations but is a new budget phone every 4 months necessary?
I really think customers would get this, but what do you think.
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My Personal opinion differs for every company,
1. HTC - Last year, they produced many handsets, but none of none them was able to catch up with Samsung's flagship. They even produced two variants of their previous flagship Sensation which are Sensation XE and XL. In terms of design, XL was just a re-branded sensation with the beats logo, colored grills and increase in the CPU speed, while the XL was Xtra Large and was really costly. This played a major role in their loss of profit or revenue last year, Although i liked the Explorer, it was quite cool handset and showed improvement over it's predecessor Wildfire S.
2. Sony- Previous year, they just focus on their Xperia line of phones, one by one they just released Xperia series phones. They completely forgot their legendary series viz Walkman, Although the xperia smart phones were good- looking, sony's strategy failed to appeal to consumers much.
P.S. Sorry, it was Sony Ericson previous year.
3. Samsung- They are the most successful company in the Android smart phones arena. Producing smart phones like Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note, i think i don't need to say much about them. But, whereas they produced great phones, they also made some goofy mistakes, like producing clones of their previous flagship like Galaxy S Plus, Galaxy S advance and the recent Galaxy S blaze. In my opinion, Samsung currently holds a powerful portfolio of smartphone varying from Low-end droids to high end. But they also have some obsolete stuff in their portfolio which they should clean viz. Pop, fit, mini etc.
This is from a article I was just reading. I just had to share it.
The iPhone 6 from an Android user's perspective
http://www.appy-geek.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=1&articleid=28711005
I went trough the article and all what it reads it is true and correct.
Anyhow Apple is not just about phone specs, it is a philosophy, a different way of thinking.
They are always on research of perfection, their devices are stylish and perfect in details.
No matter how much ram they put on their devices (1Gb?), the OS runs always smooth.
Instead, to have Android OS running nicely you need to buy a top device with good specs, otherwise you will always see lags etc.
Apple may me behind compared to Samsung on pure specs, but Apple does in a perfect way what it promises to do, this at least till new version of iOS come out... but that's marketing... otherwise who would buy new device?
This said, I am now using a Samsung S4 PLUS after several years of iPhone and that is because I can now get a top device, running nicely with 1/3 of the price of a new iPhone. Till Samsung S3 this was not the case, but Samsung S4 is a big step forward and I am pleased with it.
I compared iPhone just with Samsung devices because they are the biggest in the market, of course there are other Android top device to take into consideration as well, but then this would get too far
J1897 said:
..., to have Android OS running nicely you need to buy a top device with good specs, otherwise you will always see lags etc.
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That's not a fair comparison between Android and iOS. To have iOS running nicely you need to buy a iphone or ipad which have top specs and are always priced among the highest
I like many many things about iOS, iphones and ipads. I just hate Apple's walled garden approach, closeness, and super greediness. That's why I buy Android devices over and over still. Apple's attention to details however is something all its competitors should emulate. Top notch components that may not have the top specs on paper but are indeed very very high quality e.g. camera, cpu, battery, screen. Little to no lags, smooth operation all around, just solid overall. Can't say about most Android devices even high end ones. My Asus Transformer Prime had a ton of lag, GPS problem, short battery, slow storage. It was $500, though with more storage, had the same price as iPad2 yet nowhere near iPad2's performance in almost any category. I felt it's shameful for Asus to release such a product. To compete with Apple, you have to be God damn serious. A lot of vendors sneak in second, third grade components or have poor software in their flagships that ruin otherwise perfect devices, e.g OPO (screen issue), Moto X (poor camera and rather bad screen). My Note 3 is excellent and have more capabilities than iPhone 5S but still needs to be better to level with iPhone 5S's smooth operation.
Last point I want to make is Google needs to drive the market better. Take mobile payment as an example. Google Wallet and NFC came long time ago. I just didn't find a lot of merchants having POS terminals to accept Google Wallet. Now Apple is looking to be taking over the world of payment by a mobile phone. Whose fault is it that Android mobile payment hasn't caught on fire? Google. They seem to lack the business or marketing savviness to drive a business initiative. It takes convincing merchants to get POS terminals to support mobile payments. If Apple truly succeeds, that's just shame, shame, shame on Google.
Some the "new" things have been years on Android and even on Symbian. Like week numbers in calendar..
I have to admit im a big samsung fan. Got the note edge and think it still is the greatest handset ever made (have refused to upgrade as a result). But the approach samsung took with it was heartbreaking - seemingly releasing it and seeing if third parties made it sink or swim. Safe to say i think it sunk and functionality never moved on much from launch day. Have a Gear2 Neo - really not much happened post launch either from Samsung or third party devs.
3+ months on from launch of the S2 it's starting to feel eerily similar. We've had a firmware update that delivered a few watch faces and a notification dot and they're talking about a payment system some time next year. The Samsung App Store environment leaves a lot to be desired itself, let alone much of the content. Seems samsung doesnt get a lot of love from big name apps/developers (eg - no official facebook app on a tizen watch, ever?) for its quirky and unique hardware, should they be doing more themselves? I'd have thought they'd want to back Tizen as hard as they could, given Android Wear's foothold and Apple's ability to flex its strength in the market. The advertising blitz in my home city has been pretty remarkable.
Dont get me wrong, i love the watch and what it does out of the box - but is it starting to feel again like a class leading device is struggling to reach its full potential? Perhaps this is really all a smart watch will ever do, or really needs to do.
Couldn't agree more!! I have had several Samsung products. 2 -Tv, 2 - tablets, 2 - watches, note 2, 3, and 4. Tizen has been this way for a while, and Samsung loves selling you an item more than maintaining it with updates. My poor galaxy note 8 languishes with no updates. If you buy Samsung products you just have to know what you buy is pretty much the way it's going to be for they will be moving on to selling newer tech and forgetting about you and your last month's tech..
Rsmin said:
Couldn't agree more!! I have had several Samsung products. 2 -Tv, 2 - tablets, 2 - watches, note 2, 3, and 4. Tizen has been this way for a while, and Samsung loves selling you an item more than maintaining it with updates. My poor galaxy note 8 languishes with no updates. If you buy Samsung products you just have to know what you buy is pretty much the way it's going to be for they will be moving on to selling newer tech and forgetting about you and your last month's tech..
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Agreed. Samsung makes great products but what you get at purchase is basically what you get, period. Anything new afterwards, if anything, is a bonus...unfortunately.
I pretty much agree with your statements so far. Samsung is a huge global institution making everything from memory chips to washing machines. Each individual product is a tiny piece of their overall efforts, and so they're basic strategy is to make al kinds of stuff and see what sells. They don't have the control-freak perfectionist attitude of Apple. (Apple makes sure things work smoothly, and locks them down -- the first iphone had no apps whatsoever for quite a while).
But the Gear S2 is a runaway success compared to earlier Samsung smart watches, and there has been some action from small developers (and a few large ones: Uber, Ebay) since launch. And smartwatches in general are still in the early adopter phase; even many Apple fans say the iwatch is more a toy and/or fashion statement than a must-have device so far. So I'm not giving up hope for some interesting development just yet. If Samsung pay comes out and starts to be successful and useful, that could mean something.
Tstreete, I hope you are right..
tstreete said:
But the Gear S2 is a runaway success compared to earlier Samsung smart watches
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Definitely seems to have struck a chord where other products have failed to. My non-techy friends even recognise the device, perhaps due to it being advertised on every bus stop in our city.
At any rate it seems I have been proven wrong with the release of the Gear Watch Designer application. Certainly an instance where im happy to be made a fool of lol.