Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone unveiled
bbc.com
bbc.com
This phone is in many ways a better device than the iPhone 4S. While Apple's accomplishments in mobile have been incredible, the fact that Samsung has closed the gap and in many ways surpassed the iPhone is extremely impressive. I don't think Apple is going to get much more mileage out of the "3.5 inches is the right size for a phone and the current iPhone form factor is the perfect design" argument. When you look at the 4S and then the S3 and then the 4S again, it feels like you are going back a generation.
Now I have no doubt that Apple will impress with the iPhone 5, but I don't think that is coming until the October timeframe, so in the meantime, Samsung has jumped ahead of Apple in innovation. I can't wait to see what comes out of these two companies over the next several years.
My point is not to criticize Apple, but rather that I would like to see a more open approach to Apple competitors. Samsung is for real and is developing devices that are at least as good as Apple in many ways and they deserve equal consideration, and that is good for everybody.
I also don't like the fact that Samsung seems to be going ever heavier with Touchwiz, instead of the opposite direction like HTC with Sense 4. At this point they are basically fighting Google's improvements, and just replacing them with their own. I think that's the wrong direction for them to take.
It's one thing to have the Apple and Microsoft communities against you, but it's quite another if the Android community turns against you for screwing with Android too much. I don't like Samsung's direction, and I think they will feel it in revenues by the end of the year if they keep this up with other flagship devices.
The Pentile screen was a real downer, too. I couldn't believe it myself that they actually used Pentile. That was probably the most shocking and disappointing thing for people expecting better hardware from Samsung.
One thing I like about the Galaxy S3 - perhaps the only thing - is the processor. It's probably the best on the market right now in both CPU and GPU performance (the only one that beats the iPhone 4S in GPU right now). It seems to have crazy fast browsing. I saw Engadget loading their own website on it, and it was like instant. The benchmarks seem to confirm a significant increase in browser peformance compared to everyone else in the Browsermark test:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5810/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-perf...
This only makes me more excited for the upcoming Exynos 5250 chip with a totally new CPU (Cortex A15) and a totally new GPU and architecture (Mali T604). I'm hoping this chip will come out in both the next Nexus phone and in the Galaxy Note 2.
Android really needs to sort this UI layer mess out.
Except for those rare individuals who can focus at 4 inches, there's no visual value in a 330dpi screen vs. the 280+ pitches we're seeing elsewhere.
Bullshit, really. It doesn't matter _in real life_.
I guess the criticsm only comes from people scared by those i-hold-a-microscope-on-the-display "tests". I very rarely use a microscope on my mobile.
Also Engadget covered it with at least 20 posts. So not sure what you were expecting ?
Apple re-releases the same form factor the've had for a year and a half with an HD camera and the world climbs up their asshole. Samsung releases a phone with an updated OS and an entire host of new features including cordless charger and auto-dimming, and it's crickets. I'm just saying that a lot of the "meh" factor lives only in your mind. Perception is reality. Apple has a cool factor so anything they release is assumed to be superior. Their competitors are viewed as stodgy, clueless copycats incapable of an original idea. That was true for a while, but not anymore.
Ultimately sales are what matter, and I think that the gap is going to narrow more and more between Samsung and Apple in the smartphone space. There are a lot of hardware companies that can be accused of mismanagement and an utter lack of innovation. Samsung is not one of them.
- The reason people cover Apple is because they release one phone per year at one big event. Which sells in vast quantities, often has unique features and most importantly generates lots of user clicks i.e. revenue. That is why it gets coverage.
- There were other differences between iPhone 4S and 4 e.g. single->dual CPU, single->dual HSPDA, GSM+CDMA in one phone, much better GPU, single to dual antenna, Siri as well as the camera.
- There isn't anything particularly new in Samsung 3 that hasn't been seen elsewhere. Cordless charger was pioneered by Palm and auto-dimming has been on iPhone for ages. Again if there was some stand out feature it would probably get more attention.
Overall if Samsung wants to be like Apple then they need to stop releasing a million phones and release one per year at one big event. And then support it.
So you say a dual CPU and and improved GPU are worthy of the coverage and nothing in the new Samsung hasn't been done elsewhere. Well to me it is just the opposite. There is virtually nothing in the 4S that hasn't been done elsewhere, save Siri, which is a pretty much overhyped feature anyway.
Tell me, which iPhone is it that dims the screen when you stop looking at it and automatically dials the number you are texting when you pick up the phone? I would love to get my hands on that one. They must have been sold out at my Verizon store when I went in.
Siri, first BT4/LE device, wireless mirroring, iMessage, double antennas, no one had those. On top of that, hardware evolved (just like the S3) and was best in class. Apple is always just slightly ahead (sometimes behind) in the tech specs, and that is enough to make astounding success. Hardware alone doesn't sell anymore.
This especially. I have been left quite bitter by the support situation on Android. When one takes into consideration that the low-end, but current-generation iPhone and a new Android phone cost about the same it adds insult to injury.
I bought a Nexus One (this is an HTC phone, to be clear), and liked where things were going. Just shy of two years later, support was dropped. Then, my power button encountered a common fault, and I would have to mail the thing in to fix it, paying some indeterminate amount of money (but probably around $50, I gather), as well as being out a phone for a couple of weeks.
It so happens I managed to acquire a Nexus S, but I would never have paid market rate, and the direction and velocity the both the built-in applications and the greater ecosystem has taken since then have left me with a very sour impression, even though there are features on Android that I very much like.
Basically, I can't justify paying more than $300 for a current-gen Android device, or roughly half that of an iPhone. After all, in all but the most rare cases, your length of support from the manufacturer is less than half as long...
All told, I've been an Android user for three or four years on the flagship devices starting with a G1, and since about a year ago I would have to say that my pessimism is basically monotonically increasing.
> Ultimately sales are what matter
If I were running a company I'd argue it's profits. Nokia had (still has?) higher sales volume that anyone else in the market and look where they're at.
There is only one iPhone every year.
You might say it’s not fair, but that different strategy is paying off for Apple.
(Hey, and there was lots of coverage. I saw it everywhere, no matter the medium. From The Verge to a German weekly news magazine. That’s not so much less than what the iPhone gets, in fact it might even be about equal. Is that your persecution complex flaring up?)
Some people love the iPhone and that is fine- to each his own. I just refuse to believe that the love affair is based on anything other than marketing.
> (Hey, and there was lots of coverage. I saw it everywhere, no matter the medium. From The Verge to a German weekly news magazine. That’s not so much less than what the iPhone gets, in fact it might even be about equal. Is that your persecution complex flaring up?)
Really? You did? Hmm, if my memory serves me, I remember seeing CNBC and CNN covering the last iPhone launch all day like it was the Presidential inauguration. Worldwide television vs. niche tech blogs. Yep, you're right, that is about the same. I retract my statement.
I would argue that the iPhone and indeed most Apple products embody a "Quality without a name" as originally described by Christopher Alexander in a "A timeless way of building" http://www.munnecke.com/islands/qwan.htm . Very few other companies are able to achieve this. I believe that it is for this reason that people develop a greater emotional attachment to Apple products then the products of companies like Samsung. For example Apple products generally feel great to hold and touch while the same cant be said of Samsung's products.
Right now I have a shitty laptop I bought for $400 that has sipped coffee, water and soda. I did have to clean its keyboard as it got sticky, but it's running just fine.
It's the same with my iPhone 3GS ... my son dropped it on the floor, and the screen cracked. He's 2 years old and he likes to throw things ... he did the same with my Galaxy S1, like 3 times already and it isn't even scratched.
The point I'm trying to make here is that Apple's products look and feel great, but I'm kind of disappointed about their fragility.
Your requirements for water-proof and hardened equipment are trumped by other features in most Apple products. Motorola makes phones just for you!
Sigh. Is it really so hard to believe some people prefer an iPhone because they genuinely prefer certain aspects of the device/platform? This isn't the 90's, were you could argue that the product sucked and many of the people using Macs were doing so out of some misguided emotional attachment to the company. The iPhone is a world wide phenomenon with far higher adoption than the Mac ever, or likely will ever, have.
Do you seriously believe the millions of people around the world who opt for an iPhone are doing so because of the magic pixie dust in Apple's marketing?
So what's there for people to get excited over? All of the new crapware Samsung are piling on?
iPhone/iPad's Processor, Display and few other parts are made by Samsung at the moment. So yes, they make 'stuffs' at least as good Apple.
I am always tempted to feel pretentious about my preference in this regard (likewise, with my inability to use a PC with noticeable mouse acceleration). So many people either cannot notice the UI performance differences or don't think it's a deal breaker (I've even heard people says the best Android devices perform better than the iPhone), but I can't shake it.
Bright spots seem to be a GPU that can finally compete with what Apple's shipping, and some imagination put into hardware/software features like the eye tracking and proximity-sensor-triggered calling, though TouchWiz is probably still a net loss.
Fool me once and all that.
Edit: Grammatical mistakes
http://cdn.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/files...
I've tried a 4.3" Galaxy S2 recently (I own a smaller older phone right now), and I could easily use it with just one hand, and yet there's this myth around the Internet ever since that misleading Curtis article that only 3.5" is the "perfect size" for one-handed use. It's not true. And no, I don't have large hands.
I'm honestly confused about what this nebulous hardware wow factor is that the iPhone has that this phone doesn't[1]. Not every Android phone has great hardware but this one does.
I personally prefer a larger screen because it just makes reading and browsing so much nicer and at this size, a relatively small increase makes a drastic difference. Though I know a lot of people who like the smaller screen. Every time I use a Galaxy Nexus and go back to an iPhone I feel like it is just not as nice of an experience.
I often wind up accidentally hitting buttons with my wrist when reaching across the screen with my thumb
This is how I want smartphone providers to make their android-based devices: Either use just AOSP and focus on supporting that well (updates), or make a very unique and improved experience for your customers.
Adding differences "just to be somehow different" will only make your phone worse.
I don't care much about the gesture stuff, but what they do with the face detection API that came with Android 4 is very interesting.
The idea that the screen will not go black as long as I look at it solves one of the most annoying problems I have when using computers. E.g. you think for a few seconds about what you just read on your smartphone, and when you're back you have to turn on the screen again. So annoying.
There are also a lot of little nice touches to the ui, like this one:
"Pick up the phone when you've got a missed call or text and it will vibrate gently in your hand in combination with the notification light to let you know you're a popular bunny."
or that you can hold the phone to your ear while you're texting someone and it will call the person you're texting.
Or that you can select a person in the camera and the focus will stay on that person.
Or that you can burst 10 photos with one shot and then have the phone automatically recommend the best picture to you.
The wireless charger and the HDMI dongle are also very nice.
It has a big screen and fancy processor, but it's still Android, and until that blemish is removed, Samsung will always be a second rate cell phone manufacturer.
I say this as someone that will only buy Samsung in almost every other category.
It's because comparing hardware specifications is easy - it's quantifiable, it's numbers, and techies are familiar with them. How do you objectively compare the effect on that hardware on the software experience, and the quality of the software experience itself (qualitative)?
FWIW, ICS (Android 4.0) is a big step in the right direction compared to earlier versions, especially when it comes to making the most of the hardware underneath.
iPods do video? No-one wants their iPod to do video... [pause] One more thing... iPod now does video
Single core, dual core? No-one cares, it's about the experience... [pause] One more thing... the 4S is now dual core!
because not everyone buys Apple's stories.
And Apple talks about Specifications all the time. If they have a lower resolution screen than the competition, they don't talk about it. But as soon as they manage to ship a competitive high resolution screen themselves, they make it the center of their complete ad campaign.