Has Apple Lost Its Cool To Samsung?

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

Not yet.

I am serious though. Three Samsung flip phones in 3 years had total screen failure, and a 17" monitor that got all fuzzy in twelve months. This wasn't recent. I bought the monitor in 2001, I think the phones were a couple of years later.

I have a Samsung 22 inch monitor which is several years old and still going strong and looks as good as it did the day I bought it.
My Samsung Galaxy S2 is rock solid and stable, no problems at all since I got it mid last year.

Does that make me right and you wrong? No it doesn't but taking a specific example proves nothing.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

I have a Samsung 22 inch monitor which is several years old and still going strong and looks as good as it did the day I bought it.
My Samsung Galaxy S2 is rock solid and stable, no problems at all since I got it mid last year.

Does that make me right and you wrong? No it doesn't but taking a specific example proves nothing.

He is talking about 2001 when samsung was making cheap stuff and he was paying the same. And then he compares it with an Iphone or Apple devices that are the most expensive gadgets out there. .

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

He is talking about 2001 when samsung was making cheap stuff and he was paying the same. And then he compares it with an Iphone or Apple devices that are the most expensive gadgets out there. .

Ah ok I see what you mean.

I also have an old 500gb Samsung HDD which I got cheap in PCworld in the UK years ago which still works fine. I have several other brands too which for the most part work fine (apart from a Western digital HDD which died for no apparent reason, but I raided it anyway) ..
Although I DO take care of my computer equipment.

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

He is talking about 2001 when samsung was making cheap stuff and he was paying the same. And then he compares it with an Iphone or Apple devices that are the most expensive gadgets out there. .

I'm a she, not a he. And were they making cheap stuff back then? It didn't seem all that cheap when I paid for them. Its like anything else. One has good luck with some brands, bad luck with others. I had poor luck with Samsung products. I had good luck with Sony products. I had bad luck with Dell products. Good luck with Apple products. Just the luck of the draw. I'm sorry I ever participated in this thread.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I'm a she, not a he. And were they making cheap stuff back then? It didn't seem all that cheap when I paid for them. Its like anything else. One has good luck with some brands, bad luck with others. I had poor luck with Samsung products. I had good luck with Sony products. I had bad luck with Dell products. Good luck with Apple products. Just the luck of the draw. I'm sorry I ever participated in this thread.

I am sorry if you felt I was disparaging you personally its just that a decade ago Korean companies used to mass produce cheap or low quality stuff something that china is doing now. Over the years Korean companies kept improving to today they are among the best.
Today Chinese products are synonymous with cheap or low quality products same was with Korean products a decade ago. Now Chinese companies are improving their product quality rapidly 10 years from now I would be hesitant to buy Chinese products as I would have the same perception of Chinese goods that you have now of Samsung. That just what I was trying to say that you still perceive Samsung with low quality.
I had to argue with my dad about his new LCD TV as he wanted to get sony and I had a hard time convincing him to go with Samsung. As to him Korean product are synonymous with low quality but today Samsung has one of the best TVs specially LCD.

[HansTWN]

Well, while Samsung's phones are definitely on the cutting edge featurewise, they do look rather cheaply made to me. I was shopping for a new phone lately, and really didn't like the actual products, the look and feel.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

I had to argue with my dad about his new LCD TV as he wanted to get sony and I had a hard time convincing him to go with Samsung. As to him Korean product are synonymous with low quality but today Samsung has one of the best TVs specially LCD.

Ten years ago LG was a purveyor of low-grade "drugstore electronics", rather like Coby is today. A distant follower looking to live off low-end trailing edge products. Now they are industry leaders.

Outside electronics, you see the same effect in Cars: with Hyundai having effectively caught up with the best japanese vendors and they have already left the europeans behind in average initial quality and reliability. All in the last two car generations.

Coming from behind means these companies have to make big strides and big bets to catch up. Meanwhile, the more established companies have gotten used to incremental improvements and they tend to be less aggressive in their product development cycle. (Witness recent Corollas and Civics. Not bad cars at all but their comparative standing in their class has evaporated as both american and korean cars in the same class have caught up in general and bested them on some specifics so they are no longer automatic wins.)

Perception tends to lag reality.
Unavoidable unless you're an enthusiast that keeps track of changes as they happen.

[HansTWN]

LG (LG originally stood for Lucky Goldstar) and Samsung started out as garment manufacturers many years ago --- and not the high-end kind. Cheap OEM stuff. Then they took the money they made and invested in different industries.

[HappyMartin]

This old story. I don't have an opinion on the quality having both Samsung and Apple products. Some ave lasted some have not.

On the quality issue regarding Samsung manufacturing. Components made in one factory are graded for quality after manufacture. Top quality goes in one bin, good in another, reasonable in another and so on. Top quality then sold at higher prices and gets put into better quality products.

Quite frequently a product will fail not because of discrete component failure but because of connections between components, this can obviously vary. Then issues like quality of power supply have an effect. Lots of reasons.

I have 2 Samsung phones and I think the build quality is great. Nice solid feel in the hand and personally better look and feel than the iPhone.

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Well, while Samsung's phones are definitely on the cutting edge featurewise, they do look rather cheaply made to me. I was shopping for a new phone lately, and really didn't like the actual products, the look and feel.

I would argue that whilst the iphone covers look more expensive with the brushed metal backs or whatever, the vast majority of people buy covers for their phones anyway, so the point it moot.
I think a plastic cover would probably not dent like an iphone does if it doesn't have a cover anyway seeing as metal dents, plastic doesn't tend to as it absorbs impact better.
Even if that's not the case, covers are generally designed to absorb impact.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

This old story. I don't have an opinion on the quality having both Samsung and Apple products. Some ave lasted some have not.

On the quality issue regarding Samsung manufacturing. Components made in one factory are graded for quality after manufacture. Top quality goes in one bin, good in another, reasonable in another and so on. Top quality then sold at higher prices and gets put into better quality products.

Quite frequently a product will fail not because of discrete component failure but because of connections between components, this can obviously vary. Then issues like quality of power supply have an effect. Lots of reasons.

I have 2 Samsung phones and I think the build quality is great. Nice solid feel in the hand and personally better look and feel than the iPhone.

Actually I would not consider buying an iPhone again -- we have had 2 in the family, my wife still uses hers. But HTC's and Nokia's phones do look a lot more polished than Samsung's. My personal impression seeing them side by side in the store.

[tubemonkey]

I've been using Samsung flip phones for years and they've always been solid, reliable devices. I'm quite pleased with them.

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

But HTC's and Nokia's phones do look a lot more polished than Samsung's. My personal impression seeing them side by side in the store.

My last phone was a HTC Wildfire, a low end HTC model, but great quality.
On my latest contract I was offered a Samsung Galaxy S2, which has been great.
I didn't look that closely and compare much though and I have no particular brand loyalty.
I generally avoid Apple stuff tho as I find them over priced and very restrictive.

[faithbw]

I just got a Samsung Galaxy S2 and it seems fine to me. Yes, the back panel is plastic, but since I have a Body Glove case on it, I don't even notice it. The phone, even without the case feels just as sturdy as my iPod Touch. My Apple products have metal backs but I put cases on them. I put cases on all my electronics including my Sony PRS 350 because I know that one bad drop without a case can ruin any of them. Case in point, one of my husband's friends dropped his iPhone 3S (a phone which I think most people would say had a solid build and feel) without a case and the glass completely shattered. Plus, he was only in the middle of his contract so he had to wait a year to replace it.

[mewmartigan]

I think quite a few people were turned off by Apple during the iPhone 5 press conference because they kept up their tag line of "incredible stuff, the kind of innovation only Apple can do!"

The innovation only Apple can do:

4" screen
a maps program
pull down notifications (not new to iOS 6)


As others have said, Apple really hasn't changed anything, they keep playing it safe. It doesn't matter though because people have so much $$$ invested in the Apple ecosystem, it would be hard to switch.

By the way, did you see that list of innovations above that could only by possible by a company like Apple?! Amazing stuff right there.


Full disclosure: I own a MacBook and an android phone. My wife has an iPhone 5 and iPad.
I'm not anti-apple but I don't like how they claim all these incredible innovations at every press conference that have been around forever already. I also don't like them trying to throw their patent weight around while at the same time copying things like the pull down notifications.