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Samsung just handed all their competitors an opportunity

omnius

Android Enthusiast
Mar 24, 2011
397
40
Canada
Well looks like Sammy just pulled an Apple with the S4. Samsung are not Apple, they can't afford to pull a "same old same old" because they're not the only Android maker, while Apple are the only iPhone maker.

By launching what is basically nothing more than just a spec refresh of the older GS3 with a few touchwiz gimmicks, Samsung just handed every other Android OEM, Apple, MS, and Blackberry a golden opportunity to attract buyers to something more unique and different. Both Motorola and HTC learned the hard way after their initial popularity with Android fell due to not maintaining their momentum. It seems that being the most popular Android OEM has a very short lifespan, and now it's looking like this is the beginning of the end for Samsung's turn at the top. There's already a ton of "I'm not impressed" buzz from this launch everywhere you look.

I'm actually glad this happened. Samsung haven't been going in a good direction with Android and it's time for companies who are willing to put more effort into it to balance out the marketshare.
 
Idk, I think this phone will have a strong release when it's all said and done. It may not impress some GS3 users, but a lot of people coming off 2 year contracts will view it as full of win. And maybe so much has been done to improve the devices over the last few years that the incremental gains will seem less to many consumers. Just a thought.
 
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They ARE bringing something different- Other than the odd LG phone, they're the only ones still delivering a physical home key, and putting the back+menu buttons on the same sides they always have - it's everyone else who's left this party.

At least the camera has been upped, last year I thought Apple would stuff a 10mpx unit in the iphone 5 to get an edge but they didn't for some reason.

I have faith in the 2600mah battery, 2100 wasn't suitable for the S3 and 1650 not suitable for the S2, but this should be a bit more than enough.
 
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As said a couple posts up, for current s3 owners, I don't think the s4 would be worth paying to upgrade early or even paying full price, probably $800 for it once it launches. Like me, I'm very satisfied with my s3 and probably won't even look into purchasing the s4.

That's unless you feel you need to have the latest and greatest of everything.

But for owners of the s2 or the likes, it would definitely be worth the upgrade I'm sure.

I do like that it kept the physical home button, that's my favorite design feature on my s3.

I didn't see the unveil video, read a lot of feedback on here and it is a disappointment that only physical thing that changed was the screen being enlarged to 5".

Soon enough its going to be as big as the OG Note, which would turn me off from buying it. 4.8" is a perfect fit for me, any bigger than 5" would just be pushing it.

I could see this being a big seller, but probably not as big as the s3 was though.
 
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As said a couple posts up, for current s3 owners, I don't think the s4 would be worth paying to upgrade early or even paying full price, probably $800 for it once it launches. Like me, I'm very satisfied with my s3 and probably won't even look into purchasing the s4.

That's unless you feel you need to have the latest and greatest of everything.

But for owners of the s2 or the likes, it would definitely be worth the upgrade I'm sure.

I do like that it kept the physical home button, that's my favorite design feature on my s3.

I didn't see the unveil video, read a lot of feedback on here and it is a disappointment that only physical thing that changed was the screen being enlarged to 5".

Soon enough its going to be as big as the OG Note, which would turn me off from buying it. 4.8" is a perfect fit for me, any bigger than 5" would just be pushing it.

I could see this being a big seller, but probably not as big as the s3 was though.

The screen size is larger, but the phone is not. It's actually even slightly narrower.
 
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I think Samsung was smart. All the specs that could be improved, they did. They added some more features to Touchwiz which will sell well with the mainstream public. But the S3 if I'm not mistaken is the bestselling Android phone of all time... I don't see a huge reason to get away from that on their part.
 
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I do like that it kept the physical home button, that's my favorite design feature on my s3.

I agree. I like the physical home button.

Soon enough its going to be as big as the OG Note, which would turn me off from buying it. 4.8" is a perfect fit for me, any bigger than 5" would just be pushing it.

I don't think it will get any bigger. I think phone screen sizes have reached their optimum dimensions and resolution. 1080p in 5 inches is great, but people don't want physically larger screens than that. Apple in their arrogance believed they knew what people wanted and that it was a smaller screen, until they saw their customers jumping ship in droves. I doubt Samsung would make the same mistake, and they will settle on the 5" optimum. However, it means that each refresh cycle is going to be less impressively different, physical design-wise. It is ergonomics, after all, which evolves to an optimum. I think the s5 is going to be maybe even less impressive again. I think they will probably turn to energy efficiency from now on as a design direction. I like the upgrade to a 2600 mAh battery. That is a significant improvement to my mind.

I see the phone evolution as similar to that of the car. Steering wheel and seat sizes won't increase in size, but the engines will become more efficient, the profiles more streamlined, and materials more durable. New cars look pretty much like the ones they replace, once the basic design has become optimized.

I think Samsung was smart. All the specs that could be improved, they did. They added some more features to Touchwiz which will sell well with the mainstream public. But the S3 if I'm not mistaken is the bestselling Android phone of all time... I don't see a huge reason to get away from that on their part.

Yes, most of the specs that could be improved, they did. I don't think there can be much to complain about with this iteration. The International S3 had only 1GB ram, leading to complaints, but they've fixed that. They've also changed from a pentile display. We will have to wait and see if the new design is an improvement, as this is one of the areas where the S3 got a sticking. And the plastic body of course. They haven't changed that yet, but then again it didn't hurt the sales of the S3 ;)
 
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I think Samsung was smart. All the specs that could be improved, they did. They added some more features to Touchwiz which will sell well with the mainstream public. But the S3 if I'm not mistaken is the bestselling Android phone of all time... I don't see a huge reason to get away from that on their part.

The S3 was a huge seller, and still is! However aside from the camera on the S4 I'm just not all that impressed. Maybe I've just grown tired of my former favorite Super Amoled screens...lol!

It's a build quality thing for me man, I've just grown so tired of the shinny cheap plastic, throw some high grade aluminum or metal on there already.

Hey this is off topic but didn't it surface that Samsung is thinking of taking touchwiz out on it's own and moving away from android pretty soon?
 
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Well they've changed from a pentile to something else that's still got 2 greens for each RB pair.

I imagine that anyone who claims they can actually see this without a magnifying glass on 5" 1080p will be kidding themselves, but some people will complain anyway ;)

Don't you know people use magnifying glasses on they're phones these days..lol

Like seriously, anyone picking pixels of that screen needs more then a new phone, they need help.
 
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I think the S4 will be just as successful, if not more so, than the S3. We phone nerds love to wank on about the specs & minute details of different handsets, but the average person will go for it in droves just like they did for the S3. It could be argued that Apple has done nothing but "incremental" updates since the iPhone 4 & they have been stupidly successful. It's true that there are lots of Android folks that are always looking for something new, but I think Samsung is trying to offer some stability and consistency in the Android market that I bet a lot of folks will dig.

I think Samsung played it a little safe, but they also poured an amazing amount of publicity into the S3 and now have some serious brand recognition that the Note series & the S4 only reinforce. I read somewhere that Sammy spends more on advertising than Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and a few other massive corporations combined- pretty astounding.

And last but not least, I'm happy with the design decisions for the S4 because my S3 will still look current a year from now.

My two cents' :)
 
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I have faith in the 2600mah battery, 2100 wasn't suitable for the S3 and 1650 not suitable for the S2, but this should be a bit more than enough.

Maybe when it was rumored that they were going to use the PHOLED screen, but now that the SuperAMOLED 1080p screen has been confirmed, it may negate some of the increase in battery power.

Also, I wonder how the new processor demands will have an effect on the battery (especially considering the US variants that may be getting the Snapdragon processors, not the Exynos Octo-Core 4+4 processors)

Bigger / Higher Resolution Screen + Upgraded Processor may wash out the 500mah increase in batter capacity
 
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I thought the upgraded processor are supposed to be more power efficient, thus negating the extra power consumption used by the bigger and more high resolution screen.

I know the DNA gets really good battery life considering the 5" 1080P screen and 2020mAh battery. Actually it slightly edges out the S3, which has a bigger battery and 720P screen. So I would hope your statement is true for the S4 as well.
 
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