Apple has A LOT of self made enemies.
Apple is behind time with its products. Once it was leading, but now it's trailing.
NFC is a good example, a technology that's out there for a while. But Apple thinks users don't need it. That's were they err. They should supply it and let the user decide what they need and not need.
Apple said - our screen size is the best after long research and you don't need any other screen size. Again, the market has another opinion.
Simple fact is now, many people stop buying simply because the brand is Apple and start to compare. And once they compare Apple will lose.
I'll bite.
As I own both the iPhone and Galaxy series (formerly 3GS, 4S, and now 5 and formerly the S2 and currently S3) I feel qualified to give my take on this ridiculous post.
First, your contentions about build quality and screen are just stupid. Is the S3 as "sturdy" as the 4S? I would say no. But that doesn't make it a bad phone. You fail to mention the problems the 5 is having...the fact that Apple used substandard aluminum that bends easily (and then made the phone only longer so as to make it MORE easily bent).
You say Samsung phones are "ugly". That's a matter of opinion and I don't agree. We'll leave it at that.
Crappy displays? You've obviously never seen the screen on the S3. Is it as great outside as an IPS display? No. But its clear, bright, and easy to read. And you probably hate the over saturated colors, right? Oh, but you don't mind that Apple over saturated the 5's screen? Hypocrite.
UI is all a matter of choice. You know, that word that Apple hates? Don't like Touchwiz? Then install a custom launcher. Done.
There's no puzzle here.
Apple uses aluminum, therefore aluminum reigns supreme. Why? Because
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I think your signature says it all.
Nothing horribly built about my S3. Screen is gorgeous.
Frankly I think the S3 pulls its pants down and takes a big dump on the iPhone 5.
No. They are the same people who deluded themselves that aluminum was great for the first iPhone. Then plastic was great for the 3G and 3GS. We all know what happened next... another 180.
If Apple made the next iPhone out of dried dog chit it would be the greatest material for a phone ever.
Michael
And Samsung is positioning itself as the competitor to Apple - i.e. they're the guys who are giving you the options to your phone(s) that Apple hasn't.
Choices. Samsung did the Apple thing, and didn't change the user experience from device to device or carrier to carrier, they kept it as consistent as they could.
After that alone we get to the UI. After Android 2.3 I was sold, and no matter what most say it was then that Android was on par with a lot of what Apple offered in iOS. Now with 4.1 . . . .
Then the specs. Some iPhone fans may balk at specs and make childish claims that it's all Android folk talk about but in the end they DO matter, especially if you use them, or plan on using them in the near future. My wife and I have used Beam consistently since we got our handsets, I picked up some NFC tags and am finding ways to use them at home and at work, and every features marketed in my Note 2 has been used consistently, even down to replying to forum posts while looking up factual info on the web in another window while on a phone call with a note pad open to jot down points.
Oh, you mean "sturdy" as in permanently bending with normal use? Or scratching up like paint falling off a rusting car? The iPhone 5 is anything but sturdy, it is quite weak.
Haha but when apple finally uses nfc and brings out snart tags they will be the worlds most amazing thing right?
I also love the "cheap plasticy feel" comments concerning the S3, disregarding the fact that the iPhone 3G, and 3G(S) were both made of plastic. Case in point, Samsung makes the best Android phone, and in my opinion they also make the best smartphone as well. Apple needs to catch up before they become the next RIM in the mobile world.
Thats funny, I never mentioned Apple and the debate on this thread was suppose to be why Samsung was on top of the android pile instead of the others (ei. HTC, Sony, LG, Motorola, ext.). But people keep bringing up Apple and making the comparison to apple. This to me really shows how well Samsung's marketing is and positioning themselves as the anti-apple brand.
I'm also seeing a lot of "innovation" credit being thrown at Samsung for things that were started by others, much like Apple a couple of years ago. NFC was first used by Nokia in 2007, and the version Samsung is using is propriety and incompatible with other Android devices. The large screen revolution was started by HTC with the Evo in 2010, and the One X had the largest screen when announced until Samsung announced the GS3 a month later and beat it by .1", and now the Droid DNA has a 5". And in the phablet category, Dell was first with the Streak. And there is even a thread lauding about the flexible displays Samsung showed of at CES completely forgetting that Sony has been showing this technology since 2007. Yet Samsung is receiving all the praise because of their strong marketing.
Wait...so you've never HAD the S3? And you're sitting here talking about how crappy the displays are, how horrible the build is, and how cheap they are??? WTH qualifies you to make those judgements when you've never used one in day-to-day life??? Picking it up for 5 minutes at the closest store doesn't qualify you and playing with your friend's phone for an hour doesn't qualify you. Until you've used one for a month (or nearly 7 as I have), you don't get to go throwing around phrases like "crappy displays" and "cheap build"!
The things that keep bringing me back to my S3 and selling or trading off my backup phones (again, 2 One X's, a One X+, Galaxy Nexus, and Atrix HD) are the things that only the S3 has.
SD card slot...I've got 80 GB of storage on my phone. That's insane. Do I need that much? No...but I've got it if I do.
The speaker...it's the loudest, clearest speaker I've ever used on a phone, any iPhone included. I don't use it for playing music...rather I use it most of the time when I'm on a call. The ear piece speaker is loud and clear as well, but I like going hands-free (and I hate Bluetooth headsets).
The screen and it's size...it's a GREAT screen and once you've used a screen this big, it's almost impossible to go back to a smaller screen.
The replaceable battery...while this obviously isn't an issue for you (as stated earlier), for others it is. I can use my phone like a mad man and when the battery starts to run out (may I remind you that's after 5 HOURS of screen on time) I can just pop in another battery and I'm good to go. Or, I can pop in my Seidio extended battery and get 7-8 hours of screen on time from the get-go.
The openness of Samsung phones...it's pretty obvious they're more concerned about what their users want than any other phone OEM. They don't mind people unlocking their bootloaders and running whatever they want. True, the hacking portion of the owners group is tiny in comparison to the overall number of owners, but the fact that they're ok with people hacking away at their phones impresses me.
The camera...again, I've got the iPhone 5 as well and the camera on the S3 is just as good as the 5's camera. Every other phone I've tried that's supposedly had a great camera has paled in comparison to these two. The One X camera is crap compared to the S3 and iPhone 5 (don't let One X owners tell you any differently). The One X+ camera is better than the One X, but it's still awful compared to the S3. And the Lumia 920, which I tried for a week or two, the camera is one of the biggest things Nokia pushed. They said it was an amazing camera. Wrong. It was worse than my Atrix HD camera, which is notoriously bad. Supposedly the Portico update for the 920 has fixed most of the problems, but I couldn't stand it long enough to wait for the update. It was THAT bad.
You wanted actual features that make the S3 (or Samsung) come out on top...there you go. From an actual user.
Things such as the display and the feel of the device are things you can judge just by picking it up and looking at it, I dont need to own the phone for a week to figure out it feels flimsy, creaky, and has an over saturated screen. There are other things that you do need to own the phone for a while to comment on, I agree, things like battery life, reception, and performance.
All the features you mention (large screen, removable battery, sd card slot) are avilable on other handsets as well. So why do a majority of the people pick a Samsung over those phones?
I had the One X for over six months and took several pictures and they all look just as good as the pictures I take on my iPhone 5. And I have seen pictures taken with the 920, and in low light they look incredible, but its during the day that the shots look kind of soft.
The quality of the loud speaker might be more opinionated, but lets just say that it does have the best loud speaker, would this feature alone make it as popular as it has been? I don't think so.
Popout video does not stutter or skip ever. Smart stay only turns on for a few seconds when your phone is about to lock due to inactivity. If you glance away at that moment it will shut off.
Both are honestly awesome features that I use all the time. One of the reasons I went back to the official Touchwiz rom, that and it seems to be snappier compared to Cyanogen Mod.
Another fantastic feature worth mentioning is Direct Call. When I am texting someone and suddenly need to call them I just put my phone up to my ear and it just dials them.
Those seem really cool, I like the idea of pop up video and direct call. Not sure I would want to give up stock Android for those features, but definitely something cool and innovative. Maybe its these little things when added together nudge people over Samsung?
Erm, yes they do! And thats speaking from experience! I have a spare in my work bag and a spare in my car - So theres always a spare battery nearby if I need one. Saves caryying around an iphone charger like a see a lot of people do
No question that having a removable battery is a big feature to alot of users, but Samsung isnt the only one that offers that feature, and users that need a removable battery are still in the minority (though its probably the largest minority, just above the sd card people), most people never open their battery cover. As important as removable batteries are to alot of people, I dont see how this feature would make Samsung as popular as it is especially since it is not an exclusive feature.
Woah, use paragraphs at least for once.
Build quality =/= material type.
I've held a S III and I think it's really well built. It doesn't reek of cheep materials. For that, I could direct you to some knock-off Chinese iPads or Galaxy Tab wannabes.
You're right, it could be worse. But it could also be a lot better. I don't think materials is the problem, while I prefer metal (I have ever since the original RAZR), I have no problem with plastic. Nokia, Sony, and HTC all make great feeling handsets using plastic (don't let "polycarbonate" fool you, its still plastic). Its just the flexibility, creakiness, and shine on the plastic Samsung uses that I really hate.
Fair request! I rephrase: it is why Samsung, and why not HTC, Sony, Nokia etc....?
Samsung's phones is out and available. Have the latest OS, are fast, have a nice screen size, they have most of the latest features, are priced withing the expected range, they get mainly positive REAL news, they get the 'underdog' support. And admit it, the Note 2 is unique and has no competition!
HTC? They are rarely on the radar these days. Sony, struggling, will they be there tomorrow?
Nokia seems risky, WP is great, but has no apps (really, who can survive with only 200,000 apps?). We love new, but don't want to be the first one to buy. You first...
What I see in my local press, Samsung appears HEAVILY in the newspapers (ads), Apple almost never appears. Other brands rarely appear. Samsung gets 70% of the newspaper placements (either direct or via network providers).
Credit Samsung for three things. One, bombarding the States with ads of all kinds (print, TV, billboards, etc). Two, Providing the option for replacing your battery and making a phone that now has competitors scrambling to compete (the Note series). Personally I cannot stomach Amoled displays but clearly many others can. If the Note II had an IPS display I would ditch my iPhone 5 for it. But alas it doesn't and Samsung is going to continue using Amoled's moving forward. Three, the devices are available on all 4 major carriers. The only phone I can think of that exploded in the past 5 years that was available on one carrier exclusively is the iPhone with AT&T.
Because Samsung has the best marketing out of all of them. They marketed the hell out of their Galaxy line over several iterations until it became a brand and now most people who want an Android Phone will buy something with the word Galaxy in it. All the other companies did stuff like call their flagship phones "Droid" until the word Droid became a generic term that didn't mean anything.
I actually think the afore mentioned motion control is embarassing. they don't get the concept of gestures representing something in the real world. Samsung has seemingly random gestures that are plain silly. Really, tilt to zoom? Like that's intuitive.
But I will give them credit, they're trying everything. Reminds me of the scene in Star Trek when Nemo says 'fire everything!'. There are tons of features on the S3, many are lame, but there's enough there to find something new and useful.
Mostly, it's about marketing muscle. HTC's One X is every bit as good as the Samsung S3 but Samsung worked hard at getting real, actual demo models you could play with into the stores (as opposed to the mockups you see in most UK phone shops). I actually had the One X in mind when I went for my upgrade but it was the Samsung I could actually play with in store (and ensure it passed my tap test - the test for that special gorilla glass feel). I still have a preference for Sense though.
As to the OP's diatribe on TouchWiz, I'm guessing someone hasn't played with TouchWiz on Jelly Bean......
I kind of made it seem like the S3 is all about marketing, but I actually meant the marketing plays a big part of it. It is a good phone in many respects, but after constant reminder of the option in ads, you do start to feel interested. In my city, there are countless ads on papers and large signs in public with the S3 coupled with attractive plans (mostly from startup carriers). To be honest, I actually was about to buy the phone because of all the hype and since so many of my friends switched from iPhone to the S3. But in the end, the build quality, Touchwiz (I'm not that keen on customizing or jailbreaking anymore), and mainly the feel of scrolling and animations on Android deterred me.]
I think you guys hit the nail on the head, having the one handset across multiple carriers and throwing as many features into the handset as possible, while having a really strong marketing campaign that feeds on people's emotional response to "rebel" against apple.
