Which is just common sense with a high end £500 device.
It's a very funny world where cracks, scratches and bad reception are 'in; but one creaks or any sign of the plastic that makes for robust and great reception are 'out'.
It's a very funny world where cracks, scratches and bad reception are 'in; but one creaks or any sign of the plastic that makes for robust and great reception are 'out'.
What's this about common sense?
Ceramic and unibobody poly-carbonate are just as transparant to radio signals as cheap molded poly-carbonate. There is no excuse for making a cheap feeling phone as a top end device.
And the thing is Samsung can do superb build quaity with premium materials. Just look at their Series 9 ultrabooks. They are the best built and most attracive laptop you can buy, better than any MacBook. Why can't they do this with a phone?
Of course they won't - flexible displays are still a while away.
As for the ceramic, I don't think there was ever anything to suggest that the rumours about Samsung using ceramic on the S3 had any grounding in reality, so I don't see that being likely either. Aluminium would be more realistic as they've used it occasionally in the past.
Whilst I agree that it may not feel as expensive as some competitors, I'd rather have a well made plastic handset (something Samsung do well) than a shoddy handset that uses 'premium' materals (like the HTC One).
Personally, this is what I'm much more interested in.
The hardware will be of a high standard, we know that. It's what Samsung do to set the S4 apart in terms of software functionality that I'm interested to see, because that's an area few other Android OEMs have put any real effort into.
:
AT&T will have taken HTCs code and crapped all over it. That is what American carriers do. They install loads of bloat and then take ages testing it. Just be pleased we don't have to use them.
Ceramic is just a wish as is a flexible display. One thing Samsung are very good at though is keeping things under wrap. So far there have been no credible leaks for the S4 unlike the iP5 which was leaked.
Why are you calling the HTC One a shoddy handset? Have you used it? Don't be a Samsung fan boy, have an open mind. You are coming across as if you will accept anything they push out. You have said that we know the hardware will be of a high standard, how do we know? Because it is made by Samsung? There are guarantees.
Samsung concentrating on functional software is debatable. Multi-window is good and I hope Google roll it into AOSP. The incorporation of a Wacom digitizer into the Note was inspired and showed how Samsung can innovate and I like S-Memo and S-Note. But the rest of the Samsung software innovations leave me cold. Mind you so do Sony’s, LG’s and HTC’s
It's about putting a mobile device that may of cost as much as £400+ and will probably get dropped at some point and slid in and out of a pocket 20 times a day into a protective case.
With a wireless charger you can move all the wires to the charger where you want and tidy, then just set your phone down on it with no trailing wires.
If you get a call you don't have to mess about trying not to reject the call whist unplugging the device.
You can pick it up to check a notification and set it down again quickly without plugging and unplugging.
But on the other side of that:
A wireless charging pad is a more permanent fixture. As you said, you can move all your wires there so it's a neat and tidy solution. But you're still going to need a standard charger if you want to charge the phone in other places easily.
The main drawback for me is that you can't use the phone as it's charging. I do this all the time and I expect many, many other people do as well. If your phone is attached to a cable, you can still use it and it continues to charge. With the current implementation of wireless charging, you just can't do that. Fine for overnight charging, for example, but not when you want to use it and charge it at the same time.
AT&T will have taken HTCs code and crapped all over it. That is what American carriers do. They install loads of bloat and then take ages testing it. Just be pleased we don't have to use them.
I know how network's work and if you think American networks are the only ones who are that bad, just be thankful you've never bought a T-Mobile (UK)-locked Android handset.
But nothing you've said there explains the disparity in release dates between the JB updates for the One X and S3 on AT&T. All the crapping-on and bloating-up of the One X firmware will have been done to the S3 firmware as well, yet it was released much earlier.
You're blaming AT&T but they are a common factor in both releases, so logically the difference must lie with the OEM.
Ceramic is just a wish as is a flexible display. One thing Samsung are very good at though is keeping things under wrap. So far there have been no credible leaks for the S4 unlike the iP5 which was leaked.
I suspect the specs have been revealed, though I wouldn't say they were leaked just put together through rumour and some basic deduction.
Why are you calling the HTC One a shoddy handset? Have you used it? Don't be a Samsung fan boy, have an open mind. You are coming across as if you will accept anything they push out. You have said that we know the hardware will be of a high standard, how do we know? Because it is made by Samsung? There are guarantees.
I'm calling it shoddy because that's a fair summary of initial hands-on experiences of people have purchased it - a number of people in Germany who pre-ordered received handsets that were literally coming apart at the seams. And it's not exactly new for HTC, they had QC issues when releasing the One X as well.
It's hardly being a Samsung fanboy to call a spade a spade.
As for the S4, we know it will be of a high standard because every Samsung flagship going back to the original Galaxy S has been and Samsung have shown with the unveiling of the likes of the Exynos 5 Octa that they remain as competitive as ever in areas like chipset manufacturing.
There is nothing to suggest that they will be caught out by any of the recent handset releases from Sony, HTC, LG et al.
Samsung concentrating on functional software is debatable. Multi-window is good and I hope Google roll it into AOSP. The incorporation of a Wacom digitizer into the Note was inspired and showed how Samsung can innovate and I like S-Memo and S-Note. But the rest of the Samsung software innovations leave me cold. Mind you so do Sony’s, LG’s and HTC’s
Multi-window and the S-Pen are good examples of what I was talking about, I have a Note 10.1 and whilst it may be relatively lacking in some areas (screen resolution), I'm not sure I would want an Android tablet without those features now.
That's not all though, little things like S-Beam also illustrate my point. Google introduced Android Beam with ICS but it used bluetooth, Samsung then took the idea and improved it by using wi-fi direct instead and then with 4.2, Google actually changed Android Beam to match S-Beam.
Though I think we can pretty much rule out Google ever adding multi-window to AOSP unfortunately, it doesn't seem to gel with their vision for Android. But I suspect Samsung would prefer that - it makes sense for something like S-Beam to be copied by Google because it makes it more useful but I doubt Samsung would be happy with Google taking all their hard work and giving it to their competitors.
... a number of people in Germany who pre-ordered received handsets that were literally coming apart at the seams..... but I doubt Samsung would be happy with Google taking all their hard work and giving it to their competitors.
Just like the launch of the iPhone 5 then.
Anyone ever listed this crapware? And lots of so called crapware just sits there if you never use it.
There is no excuse for making a cheap feeling phone as a top end device.
Surely a tough and glossy plastic phone is premium compared to scratchy dented cheap aluminium.
That is exactly how it works with cars so obviously it is only a marketing perception thing here.
A wireless charging pad is a more permanent fixture. As you said, you can move all your wires there so it's a neat and tidy solution. But you're still going to need a standard charger if you want to charge the phone in other places easily.
The main drawback for me is that you can't use the phone as it's charging. I do this all the time and I expect many, many other people do as well. If your phone is attached to a cable, you can still use it and it continues to charge. With the current implementation of wireless charging, you just can't do that. Fine for overnight charging, for example, but not when you want to use it and charge it at the same time.
Yes you can. I use my N4 all the time when its on the wireless charger. I find it much easier when I go to bed to plonk it on the pad without having to footer about with cables. When I'm anywhere else I use the cable.
Ceramic and unibobody poly-carbonate are just as transparant to radio signals as cheap molded poly-carbonate. There is no excuse for making a cheap feeling phone as a top end device.
And the thing is Samsung can do superb build quaity with premium materials. Just look at their Series 9 ultrabooks. They are the best built and most attracive laptop you can buy, better than any MacBook. Why can't they do this with a phone?
It sells well, but I do agree, it could look more expensive.
Reply to ACU:
What is there to learn from Apple or Nokia though?
The situations between the three companies when they were the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world are so wildly different that there's little that can be applied from one to the other.
Nokia were only top because they slapped Symbian onto every mid-range and high-end handset they sold, regardless of whether people wanted it or not. People bought handsets like the N95 because it had a (relatively) good camera, not because of the OS. Most N95 owners had probably never heard of the word 'smartphone'.
I guess the one lesson Samsung could learn from Nokia is to move with the market but they already do that, it's part of their company's culture and has been for the past 20 years - they had a massive shake-up of the management and the focus on the sorts of products they produce that survives to this day.
As for Apple, their time at the top was always going to be limited because of their business model.
That just doesn't apply to Samsung.
I wasnt suggesting in my post that Samsung should learn from Nokia and/or Apple. I was using them as examples to companies that were at the top and no longer are.
However just because Samsung are at the top, it is somewhat silly to suggest that they can not learn something from other companies. Maybe the mistakes made by (for example) Nokia, were taken on board by Samsung years ago and helped contribute to them rising to the the top. There is always something you can learn from other companies. For me Samsung can learn a lot from HTCs design team. Yes I am aware what looks good to me, may seem like total crap to others. However I do think that the design of the HTC phones are much better than Samsung phones, IMO. You just need to go back to when the S3 was released, the design was slated quite a bit. Who knows if the designs of the Samsung phones was better, maybe they would increase their dominance in the mobile arena.
I wasnt suggesting in my post that Samsung should learn from Nokia and/or Apple. I was using them as examples to companies that were at the top and no longer are.
However just because Samsung are at the top, it is somewhat silly to suggest that they can not learn something from other companies. Maybe the mistakes made by (for example) Nokia, were taken on board by Samsung years ago and helped contribute to them rising to the the top. There is always something you can learn from other companies. For me Samsung can learn a lot from HTCs design team. Yes I am aware what looks good to me, may seem like total crap to others. However I do think that the design of the HTC phones are much better than Samsung phones, IMO. You just need to go back to when the S3 was released, the design was slated quite a bit. Who knows if the designs of the Samsung phones was better, maybe they would increase their dominance in the mobile arena.
Are samsung at the top? What measure are we using? I assume just phone sells as I can't think of any other measure which would put them anywhere near the top.
...as as I can't think of any other measure which would put them anywhere near the top.
So why ask? Exactly the same as Android is at the top by a country mile.
Elsewhere, does taking lots and lots of money off a few generous people make an Aga or a Bose top?
Are samsung at the top? What measure are we using? I assume just phone sells as I can't think of any other measure which would put them anywhere near the top.
In terms of maket share, they are at the top I believe. Certainly top of android manufacturers.
Are samsung at the top? What measure are we using? I assume just phone sells as I can't think of any other measure which would put them anywhere near the top.
Dont they sell more phones than any other company at the moment ? (as in combined sales of all models)
I assume that suggests they are 'at the top' doesnt it ??
Are samsung at the top? What measure are we using? I assume just phone sells as I can't think of any other measure which would put them anywhere near the top.
For all the whining on here about how 'cheap' it feels, the tech press has consistently lauded the S3 as the best phone out there,even after the iphone 5 came out.
So why ask? Exactly the same as Android is at the top by a country mile.
Elsewhere, does taking lots and lots of money off a few generous people make an Aga or a Bose top?
You are correct, I would not say taking the most money makes you top either.
That is why I asked what criteria the poster was using, but thanks for your reply. Shame you haven't answered some of the questions I asked you;)
For all the whining on here about how 'cheap' it feels, the tech press has consistently lauded the S3 as the best phone out there,even after the iphone 5 came out.
Yes you can. I use my N4 all the time when its on the wireless charger. I find it much easier when I go to bed to plonk it on the pad without having to footer about with cables. When I'm anywhere else I use the cable.
Where did you get your wireless charger for the N4 ? I can't see it on the Play Store or Amazon (or did you get it from the States ?)
Comments
But surely that should be user choice, rather than a necessity for a phone to be functional?
With a wireless charger you can move all the wires to the charger where you want and tidy, then just set your phone down on it with no trailing wires.
If you get a call you don't have to mess about trying not to reject the call whist unplugging the device.
You can pick it up to check a notification and set it down again quickly without plugging and unplugging.
What's this about common sense?
Ceramic and unibobody poly-carbonate are just as transparant to radio signals as cheap molded poly-carbonate. There is no excuse for making a cheap feeling phone as a top end device.
And the thing is Samsung can do superb build quaity with premium materials. Just look at their Series 9 ultrabooks. They are the best built and most attracive laptop you can buy, better than any MacBook. Why can't they do this with a phone?
Ceramic is just a wish as is a flexible display. One thing Samsung are very good at though is keeping things under wrap. So far there have been no credible leaks for the S4 unlike the iP5 which was leaked.
Why are you calling the HTC One a shoddy handset? Have you used it? Don't be a Samsung fan boy, have an open mind. You are coming across as if you will accept anything they push out. You have said that we know the hardware will be of a high standard, how do we know? Because it is made by Samsung? There are guarantees.
Samsung concentrating on functional software is debatable. Multi-window is good and I hope Google roll it into AOSP. The incorporation of a Wacom digitizer into the Note was inspired and showed how Samsung can innovate and I like S-Memo and S-Note. But the rest of the Samsung software innovations leave me cold. Mind you so do Sony’s, LG’s and HTC’s
It's about putting a mobile device that may of cost as much as £400+ and will probably get dropped at some point and slid in and out of a pocket 20 times a day into a protective case.
But on the other side of that:
A wireless charging pad is a more permanent fixture. As you said, you can move all your wires there so it's a neat and tidy solution. But you're still going to need a standard charger if you want to charge the phone in other places easily.
The main drawback for me is that you can't use the phone as it's charging. I do this all the time and I expect many, many other people do as well. If your phone is attached to a cable, you can still use it and it continues to charge. With the current implementation of wireless charging, you just can't do that. Fine for overnight charging, for example, but not when you want to use it and charge it at the same time.
But nothing you've said there explains the disparity in release dates between the JB updates for the One X and S3 on AT&T. All the crapping-on and bloating-up of the One X firmware will have been done to the S3 firmware as well, yet it was released much earlier.
You're blaming AT&T but they are a common factor in both releases, so logically the difference must lie with the OEM.
I suspect the specs have been revealed, though I wouldn't say they were leaked just put together through rumour and some basic deduction.
I'm calling it shoddy because that's a fair summary of initial hands-on experiences of people have purchased it - a number of people in Germany who pre-ordered received handsets that were literally coming apart at the seams. And it's not exactly new for HTC, they had QC issues when releasing the One X as well.
It's hardly being a Samsung fanboy to call a spade a spade.
As for the S4, we know it will be of a high standard because every Samsung flagship going back to the original Galaxy S has been and Samsung have shown with the unveiling of the likes of the Exynos 5 Octa that they remain as competitive as ever in areas like chipset manufacturing.
There is nothing to suggest that they will be caught out by any of the recent handset releases from Sony, HTC, LG et al.
Multi-window and the S-Pen are good examples of what I was talking about, I have a Note 10.1 and whilst it may be relatively lacking in some areas (screen resolution), I'm not sure I would want an Android tablet without those features now.
That's not all though, little things like S-Beam also illustrate my point. Google introduced Android Beam with ICS but it used bluetooth, Samsung then took the idea and improved it by using wi-fi direct instead and then with 4.2, Google actually changed Android Beam to match S-Beam.
Though I think we can pretty much rule out Google ever adding multi-window to AOSP unfortunately, it doesn't seem to gel with their vision for Android. But I suspect Samsung would prefer that - it makes sense for something like S-Beam to be copied by Google because it makes it more useful but I doubt Samsung would be happy with Google taking all their hard work and giving it to their competitors.
Anyone ever listed this crapware? And lots of so called crapware just sits there if you never use it.
Surely a tough and glossy plastic phone is premium compared to scratchy dented cheap aluminium.
That is exactly how it works with cars so obviously it is only a marketing perception thing here.
I can pick it up quickly anyway and it still be charging as I have a 2m lead.
Very mid range and very overpriced phone you mean.
You shouldnt have to use a case to make any device work correctly. Surely that's common sense?
Yes you can. I use my N4 all the time when its on the wireless charger. I find it much easier when I go to bed to plonk it on the pad without having to footer about with cables. When I'm anywhere else I use the cable.
It sells well, but I do agree, it could look more expensive.
I wasnt suggesting in my post that Samsung should learn from Nokia and/or Apple. I was using them as examples to companies that were at the top and no longer are.
However just because Samsung are at the top, it is somewhat silly to suggest that they can not learn something from other companies. Maybe the mistakes made by (for example) Nokia, were taken on board by Samsung years ago and helped contribute to them rising to the the top. There is always something you can learn from other companies. For me Samsung can learn a lot from HTCs design team. Yes I am aware what looks good to me, may seem like total crap to others. However I do think that the design of the HTC phones are much better than Samsung phones, IMO. You just need to go back to when the S3 was released, the design was slated quite a bit. Who knows if the designs of the Samsung phones was better, maybe they would increase their dominance in the mobile arena.
Are samsung at the top? What measure are we using? I assume just phone sells as I can't think of any other measure which would put them anywhere near the top.
So why ask? Exactly the same as Android is at the top by a country mile.
Elsewhere, does taking lots and lots of money off a few generous people make an Aga or a Bose top?
In terms of maket share, they are at the top I believe. Certainly top of android manufacturers.
Dont they sell more phones than any other company at the moment ? (as in combined sales of all models)
I assume that suggests they are 'at the top' doesnt it ??
Its a similar position to Nokia years back.
awards?
T3 phone of the year
GSM Association Awards phone of the year
MWC best smartphone
http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/02/27/samsung-galaxy-3-beats-apple-iphone-to-best-smartphone-award/
Stuff smartphone of the year
http://www.stuff.tv/news/stuff-gadget-awards-2012/stuff/stuff-gadget-awards-2012-%E2%80%93-smartphone-of-the-year-winner
Pocket-lint awards
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/48550/pocket-lint-gadget-award-winners-announced
For all the whining on here about how 'cheap' it feels, the tech press has consistently lauded the S3 as the best phone out there,even after the iphone 5 came out.
You are correct, I would not say taking the most money makes you top either.
That is why I asked what criteria the poster was using, but thanks for your reply. Shame you haven't answered some of the questions I asked you;)
Agreed, so I will assume that is what the poster meant.
That is a phone, not a company.
Where did you get your wireless charger for the N4 ? I can't see it on the Play Store or Amazon (or did you get it from the States ?)
You're absolutely right. Have the best phone on the market has no bearing on being a top phone manufacturer.
Who, as if we couldn't guess, would you say is 'top' then, if not Samsung?
edit: oh, "device manufacturer of the year"
http://companies.mybroadband.co.za/blog/2013/02/28/samsung-recognised-with-major-gsma-awards-at-mobile-world-congress-2013/