Why Samsung?

[SomeDudeAsking]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

Why is this a Samsung vs Apple? I never mentioned apple. You just said so your self that the HTC and Motorola handsets you tried had better build quality and better screens, and yet still chose the SG3, why? The One X I had, had pretty good battery life and all the battery test done at anandtech.com show the One X and RAZR all having better battery life than the SG3.

Anandtech can't be trusted for battery life tests. He flip flops like a clown with what gets posted with each article.

[Explicitic]

The reason Samsung is the top Android manufacturer is because they did something similar to what Apple did by creating the iPhone. They "revolutionized" the smartphone market and took advantage of a market in "desperate" need of a good smartphone. This first started, IMO, when they released the Galaxy S2 (international version). It received a lot of hype and buzz from the reviews it was getting, probably the first Android device I owned to not lag much, if at all. Their new Exynos 4 chip they released with S2 didn't hurt either.

Also, Samsung phones are basically Samsung inside-and-out because they make almost all their own hardware. This is definitely another big plus (though, normal consumers won't care). The openness of their phones are also big pluses because it allows people to do what Android is meant for, customization.

The point is, Samsung capitalized on a market that was flooded with "terrible" devices and wide-open (Android), similar to how Apple capitalized on a market that was in desperate need of a good smartphone.

[blackhand1001]

Originally Posted by SomeDudeAsking

Anandtech can't be trusted for battery life tests. He flip flops like a clown with what gets posted with each article.

I know right. He's the only website I have seen post 10 hours of lte browsing on the iPhone 5. All the other websites say 4-5 hours on lte browsing. And that's without doing other things during the day and not being in poor signal areas at all. He also said the 4s got 8 hours on 3g. No one I knew was getting that either. Sounds more like he loaded a page and left it on the screen for 8 hours.

[thekev]

Originally Posted by onthecouchagain

There's no puzzle here.

Apple uses aluminum, therefore aluminum reigns supreme. Why? Because

I'm inclined to agree. In terms of costs, the raw materials used to make the case are most likely a tiny fraction of the total bill of materials. One of the reasons metal was uncommon was due to signal interference. Apple had to deal with this in the past. If you recall the "titanium" (I realize there wasn't much titanium in them) Powerbook G4 or the iphone 4, Apple encountered these issues in shipping products. I don't have any problem with users saying they don't think it feels solid, but the idea that aluminum is some kind of amazing material is just ridiculous. Usually in other industries when aluminum parts are expensive, it's due to the cost of processing rather than material cost. Machining things in low volume can be expensive compared to mold cast parts, but that isn't so much a function of the price of raw materials as it is skilled labor.

[thehustleman]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

What page? The only real time they copied apple was with the first Galaxy phone, and that had horrible reviews. They did offer what apple didn't, but so did all other phone manufacturers. I agree with their marketing push, its the only thing I can of where they completely beat out other android manufacturers in.

As for HTC, their design and built quality are one of the best, the unibody design and HD display on the one x are the best in the business right now. I agree with their power button being hard to press. But battery life on the HTC One X was lauded as one of its greatest features and at the time was the longest lasting android handset not made by motorola. While sense is a step down from stock android, so is touchwiz, and sense isnt as an aggressive skin as it. I would much rather have sense than touchwiz. Is a crappy power button and poor marketing really the reason HTC has fallen on bad times?

I too think Sony is gearing for a comeback this year, though I rank my android quite differently than you:

1. HTC
2. Motorola
3. Sony
4. Samsung
5. LG



Responses in bold



I can see your point, having the Nexus device two years in a row seemed to help their image, I guess this and their marketing could be what propelled them to the top.

1. YES, a replaceable battery is a very big deal because batteries DIE! That was the thing I hated MOST about the iphone - the battery would die in hours before it's time to go home. Now my galaxy S III battery dies (usually lasts me all day though but on power use days, it comes in handy and doesn't leave me looking like an idiot standing around tethered to a wall socket. Only time it isn't is when phones have a battery like the Razr MAXX. ALL phones should have a battery like that - especially if you can't remove it, but making it removable is even better.

HTC are not well-built devices! charging ports are merely soldered on, and not well. I've had to re-solder them several times. SEVERAL. battery cover breaks quickly and easily, I've seen more HTC phones than any other maker come before me for repair. I rarely get samsung phones. Samsung has one of the best BUILD QUALITY (meaning how well it's built, NOT what materials it's made out of or how it feels). A well-built device doesn't have all those issues so frequently as HTC does.


As far as support, look how quickly the Galaxy S III got Jelly Bean as opposed to the one X/Evo LTE/One S. The GS3 came out months AFTER, but got it months BEFORE. Samsung is trying to hold onto their #1 spot.

3. Again, how is the GS3 better than the One X, Nexus 4, Xperia, and Moto RAZR? The Note 2, there really isnt another large screen device like it, so for now it stands alone in that category.

easy.

one X - faster, snappier, bigger screen, lighter, replaceable battery, microSD slot, motion/voice control (and no I'm not talking about S-voice, that sucks), better build quality, better video camera, fewer issues

Nexus 4 - replaceable battery, microSD card slot, motion/voice control, smart stay, swipe for screen shots, better camera

Xperia - who knows? Sony doesn't promote this phone for crap! But I bet it doens't have half the things I mentioned

Razr - replaceable battery, lighter, snappier, motion/voice control features, much better camera.

4. What new functional features has samsung brought to the table? The Nexus is bringing wireless charging, Moto has ridiculous battery life, Sony brought Playstation, and HTC was the first to bring out LTE.

Voice Control - you can take a picture by merely saying shoot, capture, or cheese. Unlock your phone by simply repeating your unlock command. Control your music player hands free by saying "next" "previous" "pause" and "play"

motion control - swipe for a screen shot, just turn the phone to zoom, tap the top of the phone to go back to the top of a list (or web page), shake the phone to refresh

Smart Stay. Long as you're looking at the phone, it stays on and doesn't dim.

Pop up video player. Do whatever you want on the phone, you can keep a small window of the video playing. move it where you want. very convenient when you are watching a video or movie, you get a text, now you don't have to stop watching the video to check that text and reply, or surf the web, or anything else you want to do.

S-Beam - more advanced version of Android beam useful for transferring pretty much anything -including entire movies

6. You can say the same with the other manufacturers, and most people don't load a custom rom anyway, so not sure how this could be a reason.

I didn't say anything about a custom ROM, I said just a download. As in a Launcher.

[dmelgar]

Originally Posted by flameproof

Apple is behind time with its products. Once it was leading, but now it's trailing.

This is baiting. It's not the point of this thread. It's not why not apple, it is why Samsung.

[corvus32]

Originally Posted by thekev

I'm truly puzzled by the obsession with aluminum over plastic. Both are fairly cost effective materials. Both are used at extreme ranges of the cost spectrum, and in both cases the price of the raw materials isn't much. Your phone uses at most a few dollars worth of aluminum when you include the scraps from cutting it down. Even though that adds up over the number of devices Apple ships, it is only an issue if the device margins are low or the company has trouble overcoming development costs. I don't think that is the case for Apple or Samsung. The idea that build quality has anything to do with metal or plastic is just nonsense to me.

Originally Posted by thekev

I'm inclined to agree. In terms of costs, the raw materials used to make the case are most likely a tiny fraction of the total bill of materials. One of the reasons metal was uncommon was due to signal interference. Apple had to deal with this in the past. If you recall the "titanium" (I realize there wasn't much titanium in them) Powerbook G4 or the iphone 4, Apple encountered these issues in shipping products. I don't have any problem with users saying they don't think it feels solid, but the idea that aluminum is some kind of amazing material is just ridiculous. Usually in other industries when aluminum parts are expensive, it's due to the cost of processing rather than material cost. Machining things in low volume can be expensive compared to mold cast parts, but that isn't so much a function of the price of raw materials as it is skilled labor.

It seems you're obsessed.

Two giant paragraphs, and there's no point being made.

[thekev]

Originally Posted by corvus32

It seems you're obsessed.

Two giant paragraphs, and there's no point being made.

It's one of my rants. I can't believe people delude themselves into believing that metal = quality.

[Fernandez21]

Originally Posted by thehustleman

1. YES, a replaceable battery is a very big deal because batteries DIE! That was the thing I hated MOST about the iphone - the battery would die in hours before it's time to go home. Now my galaxy S III battery dies (usually lasts me all day though but on power use days, it comes in handy and doesn't leave me looking like an idiot standing around tethered to a wall socket. Only time it isn't is when phones have a battery like the Razr MAXX. ALL phones should have a battery like that - especially if you can't remove it, but making it removable is even better.

Ok, thats a great feature for you, but generally people dont even have second batteries, so thats why I dont think of it as a main feature on why Samsung would be so successful when compared to other android manufacturers.

Originally Posted by thehustleman

HTC are not well-built devices! charging ports are merely soldered on, and not well. I've had to re-solder them several times. SEVERAL. battery cover breaks quickly and easily, I've seen more HTC phones than any other maker come before me for repair. I rarely get samsung phones. Samsung has one of the best BUILD QUALITY (meaning how well it's built, NOT what materials it's made out of or how it feels). A well-built device doesn't have all those issues so frequently as HTC does.

I never had any build quality issues with HTC phones I've had in the past (inspire 4g, surround, vivid, and one x), of course I also never had problems with my samsungs either. I have seen complaints online, but just the same as anyother company. I would also think that materials and how it feels would effect sales more, since at the point of sale if you held product a in one hand and product b in the other you would most likely chose the one that felt better all things being equal.

Originally Posted by thehustleman

As far as support, look how quickly the Galaxy S III got Jelly Bean as opposed to the one X/Evo LTE/One S. The GS3 came out months AFTER, but got it months BEFORE. Samsung is trying to hold onto their #1 spot.

What are you talking about? The GS3 came out late may/june depending on your network (HTC early may) and updates to jelly bean began coming out in october/november, same as the one x.

Originally Posted by thehustleman

easy.

one X - faster, snappier, bigger screen, lighter, replaceable battery, microSD slot, motion/voice control (and no I'm not talking about S-voice, that sucks), better build quality, better video camera, fewer issues

Nexus 4 - replaceable battery, microSD card slot, motion/voice control, smart stay, swipe for screen shots, better camera

Xperia - who knows? Sony doesn't promote this phone for crap! But I bet it doens't have half the things I mentioned

Razr - replaceable battery, lighter, snappier, motion/voice control features, much better camera.

I cant really comment on those since I've never used those side by side, but from reviews I've read (engadget, verge, cnet, and android central) the nexus 4 is the smoothest and snappiest and the razr has the best battery life, while the one x has the best camera.

Originally Posted by thehustleman

Voice Control - you can take a picture by merely saying shoot, capture, or cheese. Unlock your phone by simply repeating your unlock command. Control your music player hands free by saying "next" "previous" "pause" and "play"

motion control - swipe for a screen shot, just turn the phone to zoom, tap the top of the phone to go back to the top of a list (or web page), shake the phone to refresh

Smart Stay. Long as you're looking at the phone, it stays on and doesn't dim.

Pop up video player. Do whatever you want on the phone, you can keep a small window of the video playing. move it where you want. very convenient when you are watching a video or movie, you get a text, now you don't have to stop watching the video to check that text and reply, or surf the web, or anything else you want to do.

S-Beam - more advanced version of Android beam useful for transferring pretty much anything -including entire movies

Finally, some one actually mentions some actual features as to why samsung is on top instead of just mentioning apple for some reason. Though the quality of those customs may come under question (some have said they suck while others really seem to like them), they do seem compelling on the surface. How well do they work? Does the video stutter or skip when miniaturized? Smart stay would also be nice, does it affect battery life since the camera is monitoring your eyes? And how does it work, like if you glance away does the screen turn off?

[corvus32]

Originally Posted by thekev

It's one of my rants. I can't believe people delude themselves into believing that metal = quality.

The same people also deluded themselves into believing fire = hot about a million years ago.

[matttye]

Originally Posted by SomeDudeAsking

Apple has A LOT of self made enemies.

It's easy to think that when you're on an Apple hating forum like this one, but the number of sales they had indicate otherwise.

Ahhh I love facts!

[flameproof]

Originally Posted by dmelgar

It's not why not apple, it is why Samsung.

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).

[kevinof]

I think your signature says it all.

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

Something has been kind of bothering for the last few months, and that is Samsung's rise in popularity, I just don't get.
__________________
USF student. 3 years ago I was an apple hater, today:
11" Macbook Air, 1.8 GHz Intel core i7, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD ; 64 GB iPad 3 LTE ; 64gb iPhone 5 ; Apple t.v.
The koolaid tastes gooood.

[Mr. Retrofire]

Originally Posted by dmelgar

This is baiting.

No, reality.

[MonkeySee....]

Originally Posted by onthecouchagain

They took a page out of Apple. The only difference is they then took it further and offered people what Apple wouldn't.

Also, major marketing.

Samsung deserves to be where they are.

Don't know why people hold HTC to such high praise. Their battery life is notoriously bad (and small), and their wake/sleep button manages to be harder to reach and press with each progressive device released. Sense also adds virtually nothing to Android. Not sure why people are surprised by their downfall.

I predict Sony is going to make a come back. Xperia Z and ZL look great and could contend for second place.

1) Samsung
2) Sony
3) Toss up between LG or Googorola (depending on what they do)
4) HTC

Didn't they just.

[SlCKB0Y]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

Samsung devices...have crappy displays.

Nice try.

[daveathall]

Why Samsung? IMHO, they probably makes the best and most up to date phones at this moment in time.

[KentuckyHouse]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

Finally, some one actually mentions some actual features as to why samsung is on top instead of just mentioning apple for some reason. Though the quality of those customs may come under question (some have said they suck while others really seem to like them), they do seem compelling on the surface. How well do they work? Does the video stutter or skip when miniaturized? Smart stay would also be nice, does it affect battery life since the camera is monitoring your eyes? And how does it work, like if you glance away does the screen turn off?

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.

[ChrisTX]

The HTC OneX had the looks that won many of us here over. However the battery life was terrible(non removable battery), and no expandable memory leaving many of us with 16GB as the only option. If HTC changes this then perhaps they can regain some lost ground. Otherwise in my opinion there's no other Android OEM as good as Samsung.

[blairh]

This is going to be a US centric reply.

One X had no shot in America. Crippled multitasking for starters. Power button on the top of the device. No SD card slot. A camera protruding from the back with no protection. No chance. A beautiful screen only means so much. Plus Sense, IMO, is uglier than TouchWiz. HTC continues to make mistakes by placing the power button of the DNA on the top of the device and in the middle. Puzzling.

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.

My guess is that the SIV and Note III will only continue Samsung's hot streak. I'm not holding my breath but I do hope Apple realizes that there is a serious market for phones featuring both a 5" and 5.5" display (and perhaps with the Note III a 6.3" display).

[corvus32]

Originally Posted by blairh

My guess is that the SIV and Note III will only continue Samsung's hot streak.

They'll ship with Jelly Bean and be more of the same.

[TheHateMachine]

Originally Posted by thekev

I'm truly puzzled by the obsession with aluminum over plastic. Both are fairly cost effective materials. Both are used at extreme ranges of the cost spectrum, and in both cases the price of the raw materials isn't much. Your phone uses at most a few dollars worth of aluminum when you include the scraps from cutting it down. Even though that adds up over the number of devices Apple ships, it is only an issue if the device margins are low or the company has trouble overcoming development costs. I don't think that is the case for Apple or Samsung. The idea that build quality has anything to do with metal or plastic is just nonsense to me.

My Phone made out of the same stuff as soda cans is better than your phone made out of the same stuff as soda bottles.

It boggles my mind as well.

----------

Originally Posted by corvus32

The same people also deluded themselves into believing fire = hot about a million years ago.

See above. Also include preference.

[NumberNine]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

Something has been kind of bothering for the last few months, and that is Samsung's rise in popularity, I just don't get. Samsung devices are horribly built, very ugly, and have crappy displays. Even touchwiz is probably the worse android skin other than LG's. I get that android is pretty darn good and someone picking an android device over the iPhone is fine, but why Samsung when there are so many competent android manufacturers. HTC makes extraordinary handsets, beautifully crafted with high end specs and great displays (HTC One X, Droid DNA). Motorola has great battery life and its handsets feel really solid (RAZR MAXX HD). Sony again has great style and build quality (Xperia). And even LG, they finally made something good with the Nexus 4. But for some reason everyone gravitates towards the samsungs. What am I missing? Is it just because they advertise themselves as the anti-apple so all the apple haters go for them? The only device I can see going with Samsung is the note 2, and that's only because no other manufacturer is making a phone with a display that large.

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.

[TheHateMachine]

Originally Posted by Fernandez21

How well do they work? Does the video stutter or skip when miniaturized? Smart stay would also be nice, does it affect battery life since the camera is monitoring your eyes? And how does it work, like if you glance away does the screen turn off?

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.

[Liquorpuki]

Originally Posted by dmelgar

That does nothing to explain why Samsung has done so well at the expense of all other Android manufacturers.

Samsung has the overwhelming majority of Android profits. Google doesn't make much, they give Android away for free. LG, HTC, Motorola can barely make any profit at all. Its been all Samsung all of a sudden.

The question is why Samsung.

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.