I've owned a Samsung feature phone (3 years ago) and a Samsung Android phone for a short time (~1.5 years ago). They are the reason I'll never buy another plastic Samsung phone again.
----------
Funny, because the Nexus 4 shares the same weakness.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Why are all Samsung made from cheap plastic?
- Thread starter surjavarman
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I've owned a Samsung feature phone (3 years ago) and a Samsung Android phone for a short time (~1.5 years ago). They are the reason I'll never buy another plastic Samsung phone again.
----------
Funny, because the Nexus 4 shares the same weakness.
I guy i work with dropped his 4S on the floor yesterday from a height of a foot and a half and the back shattered.
----------
Suit yourself i dont care what phone you use. Doesnt mean everyone shares your repetitive opinion on the matter. The 4S is heavy with fragile glass. How the hec is that being a well built phone?
Seems to me it is in the eye of the beholding Apple fan where nothing is flawed. Its nice looking, ill give ya that but Suddenly lighter is better and 4" is now the perfect screen size from the perfect size of 3.5"
The N4 isnt even out yet and your telling us its weakness?
Heh - until a couple of years ago - mobiles / cells were always made of plastic - never seen a metal / glass Nokia before
And, I've never seen a plastic nokia, or any older phone, My old Blackberries/Windows Mobile/PALMs shatter when you drop them.
Alot of new phones are to fragile compared to the old ones. This inculdes the IP5, yay! You can drop it from 6 feet a few times before it breaks, I dropped my HP IPAQ off second story decks before, like more than once, never once broke, somehow. My NGAGE QD ( dont judge ), was the same way, most of the older phones, you could jam them in your pocket, full of change and keys, drop them, generally not take very good care of them, and failures were VERY rare.
----------
Alunium is no better than PolyCarbonate when it comes to a phone for durability. Many of my older Polycarbonate/plastic phones of old are FAR more durable than an iPhone.
And you said Apple has some kind of amazing machining, they don't. There is NOTHING special about how an iPhone CASE is made. At all, gimmie the exact measurements and a block of ****** aluminum and my CNC can cut one out for you. And its far from prescience, you want pricense maching? Look at Jet Engines, or something as simple as the engine in your car, has MUCH tighter tolerances than an iPhone.
----------
Best built phone? Its the best looking imo, but its not the most durable phone, not at all.
----------
This phone is going into production rather soon, and it pretty much is. Considering you can drive a car over it, throw it off a 5 story building, or throw it in a lake.
And, I've never seen a plastic nokia, or any older phone, My old Blackberries/Windows Mobile/PALMs shatter when you drop them.
Alot of new phones are to fragile compared to the old ones. This inculdes the IP5, yay! You can drop it from 6 feet a few times before it breaks, I dropped my HP IPAQ off second story decks before, like more than once, never once broke, somehow. My NGAGE QD ( dont judge ), was the same way, most of the older phones, you could jam them in your pocket, full of change and keys, drop them, generally not take very good care of them, and failures were VERY rare.
I had 2 plastic Nokia phones: 6126 and N97. The 6126 was the best flip phone ever. Never had an issue with it. I don't recall dropping it, so I don't know its durability. The N97 was the worst smartphone ever. However, it really took a beating. I dropped it multiple times. The worse was when I was going down some stairs and I dropped it. It fell 10 feet onto a cement floor. Back cover and battery went flying. When I put it back together, it still worked.
And, I've never seen a plastic nokia, or any older phone, My old Blackberries/Windows Mobile/PALMs shatter when you drop them.
Alot of new phones are to fragile compared to the old ones. This inculdes the IP5, yay! You can drop it from 6 feet a few times before it breaks, I dropped my HP IPAQ off second story decks before, like more than once, never once broke, somehow. My NGAGE QD ( dont judge ), was the same way, most of the older phones, you could jam them in your pocket, full of change and keys, drop them, generally not take very good care of them, and failures were VERY rare.
----------
Alunium is no better than PolyCarbonate when it comes to a phone for durability. Many of my older Polycarbonate/plastic phones of old are FAR more durable than an iPhone.
And you said Apple has some kind of amazing machining, they don't. There is NOTHING special about how an iPhone CASE is made. At all, gimmie the exact measurements and a block of ****** aluminum and my CNC can cut one out for you. And its far from prescience, you want pricense maching? Look at Jet Engines, or something as simple as the engine in your car, has MUCH tighter tolerances than an iPhone.
----------
Best built phone? Its the best looking imo, but its not the most durable phone, not at all.
----------
This phone is going into production rather soon, and it pretty much is. Considering you can drive a car over it, throw it off a 5 story building, or throw it in a lake.
Image
Like anyone here is going to carry that thing around.
Well, people who care about a phone being durable will.
The military already uses phones ( some smart, some dumb ) that are very like that one.
There are many applications were looks dont matter. If I were to take an iPhone or GS3 camping with me, they wouldnt come back alive.
----------
Well, people who care about a phone being durable will.
The military already uses phones ( some smart, some dumb ) that are very like that one.
There are many applications were looks dont matter. If I were to take an iPhone or GS3 camping with me, they wouldnt come back alive.
I'd personally rather carry a phone that you can run over with a car, than a phone that gets damanged by coins.
Because..,
- Samsungs business model is to come out with the cheapest product they can while trying to make it sound as impressive as possible.
- They do that by making big check lists to make it sound like it has lots of features. Any spec someone will pay attention to.
- They try to move ahead by copying successful designs. This is not debatable. The only debate is if that's ok to do or if its ethically wrong.
- They sell at a lower profit margin, employing cheap labor worldwide including for design.
- They try to iterate quickly to try everything and see what works including random features and product sizes.
- They are ethically challenged. See their CEOs conviction on corruption that was somehow pardoned.
Not defending Samsung here, but most of those things can be said about Apple. My only point is wtf cares?
Those things cannot be said of apple. Apple is the opposite, apparently you haven't bought an apple product.
Apple doesn't focus on big deceptive lists of features. The features they include they strive to do well. Apple tries to avoid specs. Their focus is on how the device can help the user, the end result, with best usability. Specs confuse the issue since it isn't directly related to the user experience. You can have a stuttering experience on a high powered android device and a smooth experience on a much slower device if it is architected well and efficiently implemented.
Apple does not strive for thin profit margins. They strive to do premium products which often carry higher prices. However, their prices are usually competitive is comparing similar marterials.
Etc.
I have plenty of Apple products. I don't consider something cheap because the CEO is corrupt, or because the CEO abandoned his daughter and made it a point not to donate to charity for example. I have owned plenty of "premium" Apple products which stopped working or had issues, phones, tablets, laptops, just yesterday my 1 year old Superdrive stopped taking in disks mysteriously for some reason, becoming one big "premium" paper weight. I've also owned a lot of "cheap" Samsung plastic products and they fail with about the same frequency as Apple products do.
Apple has a higher profit margin because it also employs foreign slave labor, and because it markets its products as "premium" and has successfully perpetuated this marketing to the common consumer. As for Apple avoiding specs, that's hilarious as it's usually there main center point, especially when they refresh product lines. What was the big sell for the ipad4 versus the ipad3 for example? Yeah I'll give you a hint, take my ipad3 and see about that "stuttering experience".
Which products has Samsung had a "focus on big deceptive lists of features"? I'm curious, which model and/or deceptive feature?
Once again I'm not defending Samsung at all, but at the same time I'm not a fanboy of one company who takes my money, I will buy the best product whether it's from Apple or Samsung, not because it's from them but because it's the best product.
Good lord, this thread is full of people spouting their opinion as fact and calling anyone who disagrees an idiot essentially. Sadfully I see more diehard Apple boys being more militant.
We get it you like this material over the other. That is your opinion and some people disagree with you. *Gasp* People like different things! Too many people are confusing build quality and build materials here too. It is really ridiculous.
Oh yea and as for the "Aluminum is not a cheap material and is premium" comment. We drink fluids from Aluminum containers and then just throw them away after they are done. So much for Aluminum not being a cheap material huh?
We get it you like this material over the other. That is your opinion and some people disagree with you. *Gasp* People like different things! Too many people are confusing build quality and build materials here too. It is really ridiculous.
Oh yea and as for the "Aluminum is not a cheap material and is premium" comment. We drink fluids from Aluminum containers and then just throw them away after they are done. So much for Aluminum not being a cheap material huh?
The real question are all Apple phones made from fragile glass and aluminum? People here keep saying how "premium" their iPhones feel, yet they slap on a plastic/rubber $10 case.
Why wouldn't they? If their line of work would introduce a lot of shock, vibration and the potential of water damage it would seem smart to carry that device if they wanted a smart phone without risking it on the job.
I'm glad you have this gargantuan amount of cranial power to go beyond the capabilities of our normal human brains to read everyone in the world's mind to discern that no one will ever need this. What are you doing on Macrumors... shouldn't you be doing something for the good of humanity with your vast and awesome powers??
Is it me or are many here in denial over Apple not being "all that" anymore?
Times do change and the company on top today may not be on top tomorrow. That's just the way it is.
I watch the new Iphone being introduced on a platform coming out of the floor and I say, "meh". I see the new Imac being very thin and I compare it to the many new windows based touch screen PC's being introduced and I say the same thing.
I have a housep full of Apple products such as Ipads, Ipods, Iphones a MacBook and an Imac, and after a few years of using Apple products, I am starting to have more of an interest in products other than Apple.
I'm sure I am not the only one. I purchased my 3 sons MacBook Air's for school and then I purchased myself a Samsung Series 9 laptop, and all of us prefer the Samsung.
I really feel like Apple was " the innovator" for a good few years but now I feel as if they are releasing products with marginal upgrades assuming that the masses will keep buying them. The coolness factor is fading, and so is the stockprice. Fast forward to a year from now and I feel that "left for dead" Microsoft will once again regain it's mojo.
We'll see.
Times do change and the company on top today may not be on top tomorrow. That's just the way it is.
I watch the new Iphone being introduced on a platform coming out of the floor and I say, "meh". I see the new Imac being very thin and I compare it to the many new windows based touch screen PC's being introduced and I say the same thing.
I have a housep full of Apple products such as Ipads, Ipods, Iphones a MacBook and an Imac, and after a few years of using Apple products, I am starting to have more of an interest in products other than Apple.
I'm sure I am not the only one. I purchased my 3 sons MacBook Air's for school and then I purchased myself a Samsung Series 9 laptop, and all of us prefer the Samsung.
I really feel like Apple was " the innovator" for a good few years but now I feel as if they are releasing products with marginal upgrades assuming that the masses will keep buying them. The coolness factor is fading, and so is the stockprice. Fast forward to a year from now and I feel that "left for dead" Microsoft will once again regain it's mojo.
We'll see.
What deceptive features are you talking about? Please list those for us.
As for Apple they sure as hell do, do some of those things.
The got busted for the sweat shops they were using to have their phones made while paying them next to nothing. Their Maps is in shambles and released it and then appologized to the public. They didnt give you basic features out of the gate til many complained about it so please spare us the "they want to give you the best user experience" crap.
I dont see how selling at a lower profit margin is a bad thing. They are still making millions. If you want to give Apple more profits, ...who is the dummy? Just keep paying those higher prices for something that doesnt do as much. Thats your prerogotive.
And im sorry, an aluminum back is not a premium material.
Seems you are a bit clouded by Apple envy.
Bingo, I can read it in the Verge now "The plastic used for the (insert idevice name here) is amazing, it enables what Apple is calling CloseContact (NFC to the rest of the world); CloseContact is like nothing before, tap your device to pay for things, amazing, only Apple could bring such inovation! But the plastic feels good in your hands, warm and solid. Unlike the aluminum and glass products, which are cold and slippery; Apple has done an amazing job with their plastic selection. It feels similar to the dashboard in my Toyota Corolla, only much much more cool and amazing"
