The Real Reason Samsung is Beating Apple - pretty amazing

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Try playing with the new One for an hour and then choosing the S4 with no qualms whatsoever. It's a harder choice than you might think.

What really puts me off the One is the moron 2-button layout they've chosen. It's no-man's land, either go old style and give us capacitive buttons for the necessary features, or embrace the Android way and give us none but on-screen buttons. Two buttons that force some apps to display a black bar for menu, and forcing you to hold for multitasking is moron in the extreme.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I was a Samsung girl for a long time -- my first two flip phones were Samsung...

I'm still a Samsung flip monkey

[frahse]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm still a Samsung flip monkey

The flip monkey with the two handed monkey grip.

(Not sure what that means but it sounds good.)

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by afv011

What really puts me off the One is the moron 2-button layout they've chosen

Yes, that put me off in theory, too, but when I actually used the One, it didn't bother me.

It's yet another example, however, of HTC's odd way of being responsive to customers. They're too quick to remove options on the basis of surveys.

They also reduced the number of available home screens to something like four because customer responses told them most users didn't need more than that.

Here's the thing: Android isn't simply about what most users do, since Android isn't iOS. Apple's genius has consisted partly in knowing what to leave out. Google's genius, by contrast, manifests as simplicity which is inclusive -- in a deceptively simple presentation of myriad options.

As Samsung knows, the whole point of Android is to focus on what most users do but accommodate as many variables as are practical (which seems a logical solution for an OS descended from a search engine). We can all choose to have fewer screens in the settings if we like; no need to do that for us preemptively.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by frahse

The flip monkey with the two handed monkey grip.

(Not sure what that means but it sounds good.)

I shan't be commenting on that lest my membership should fall into dire straits

[Razi]

Samsung's cheif attraction is cheaper tarriffs that are available to pay for a cheaper phone. In UK you can get a Samsung for less that £20 a month, an iphone would cost you nothing less than £30 a month on a 2 year ago. All this doom and gloom about Apple is nonsense. Apple will go back to their original role as 'creators' of high quality appliances and people who could afford would pay, the rest would go to Korean and Chinese brands. Remember the dark days made bright by the colourful iMacs, they were not cheap although Apple was struggling at the time. In worst case scenario, Apple would become like Sony, coasting along, driven by past success.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Razi

In worst case scenario, Apple would become like Sony, coasting along, driven by past success.

Remember, Sony made a small profit last quarter after years of heavy losses. And Sony was being propped up by their movie studio. If Apple will be "coasting along" that will mean a share price of $100 or less, not $4-800. Nobody said Apple will go under, just that they will have to settle for a 20% or so market share and a much smaller share of the profits than they do now. Being #2 or 3 isn't bad, I suppose. To stay on top they will need something big. Share prices reflect future earnings prospects not past successes. They can keep prices up for a while by distributing their cash booty.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

Samsung should have put the internal memory into the phones sooner -- that was one of the reasons I defected. I exclusively used Samsung branded phones for over 15 years until I finally decided that my faith was unfounded. My "smartphone" experience was unstable internet connectivity (Instinct, 2 years), poor reliablity and slow response (Moment, 1 year) and low internal memory (Epic 4G, 18 months). There were other issues, but those were the ones that prompted my upgrades. "Pretty" and "feature rich" doesn't do much for me if I'm always waiting on the phone to connect to the internet, perform some action or finish its random reboot.

The internet connection is one thing, but didn't you test the phone with slow response before buying, and didn't you read on the box how much internal memory it had?

[Gazella]

I've been a long time iPhone user. I currently have an iPhone 5. I'm seriously considering switching to Samsung with the release of the Galaxy S4. To be honest, Apple is not innovating, I've lost interest, I'm tired of waiting and I've lost faith in Apple to innovate.

The S4 is extremely impressive. So many groundbreaking features that I wish I could see in an iPhone.

[vaughnmr]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Yes, that put me off in theory, too, but when I actually used the One, it didn't bother me.

It's yet another example, however, of HTC's odd way of being responsive to customers. They're too quick to remove options on the basis of surveys.

It wasn't HTC, this was a new Google Android design requirement released in 2012. Some of the software hasn't caught up with the new design specs, and that's why you see the black bar.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

The internet connection is one thing, but didn't you test the phone with slow response before buying, and didn't you read on the box how much internal memory it had?

The Moment had a better response when I first bought it (and was miles better than the Instinct it was replacing) but it seemed to slow down after each OS update (bought with 1.6 and later upgraded to 2.0 and 2.1), even when I didn't change anything about the way I used it.

And as for the internal memory -- no, because at the time the Galaxy S Epic 4G was Sprint's flagship Android and there really wasn't any better choice.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I look at that as a big plus. That way, I'm able to customize my Nexus 7 the way I want it; not the way someone else thinks I should have it.

That's the all-or-nothing mindset that is so prevalent today. And it is what gives Android the "it's for propellerheads" reputation.

There is nothing stopping Google or any other manufacturer from using a vanilla ROM and having a "convenience pack" added on that is not baked into the firmware.

Include an icon on the homescreen to "Remove the Convenience Pack" and with a single tap, vanilla Android.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

That's the all-or-nothing mindset that is so prevalent today. And it is what gives Android the "it's for propellerheads" reputation.

There is nothing stopping Google or any other manufacturer from using a vanilla ROM and having a "convenience pack" added on that is not baked into the firmware.

Include an icon on the homescreen to "Remove the Convenience Pack" and with a single tap, vanilla Android.

Things like TouchWiz and Sense are not "convenience packs". They are not even skins. They are customized OSs. That's why when Google releases an update, the OEMs can't just push it out. They need to rebuild their version of Android using the new base.

They continue to do things this way to differentiate themselves in a tough market and also provide for more revenue streams. You can't make money selling stock Android, heck, only Samsung is able to make much of anything with customized Android. The competition is too fierce.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

The Moment had a better response when I first bought it (and was miles better than the Instinct it was replacing) but it seemed to slow down after each OS update (bought with 1.6 and later upgraded to 2.0 and 2.1), even when I didn't change anything about the way I used it.

Did you complain to customer service?

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

And as for the internal memory -- no, because at the time the Galaxy S Epic 4G was Sprint's flagship Android and there really wasn't any better choice.

I'm confused, was it the best choice in regards to the internal memory, or despite of it?

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

And as for the internal memory -- no, because at the time the Galaxy S Epic 4G was Sprint's flagship Android and there really wasn't any better choice.

As I recall, the original Evo was also being offered, so I don't quite understand the apparent lack of choice.

I chose the Epic because of its physical keyboard/touch screen/powerful processor combination. It was Samsung's last flagship model with keyb; besides which, the DAC actually sounds better than that of later Samsung models stateside. For equal or better sound without a DAC, you need the international S3/S4/Note2 and a carrier like T-Mobile.