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No, not this. The initial iPad software was just using incredibly blown up apps to fill the screen size of an iPad. So yes, why would anyone want that? It was only when apps were being designed for tablet size devices did their popularity really take off.

I think you're getting iPad and Android tablets mixed up. At the iPad launch event, Steve Jobs demonstrated how many of the 1,200 iPad apps at launch were specially designed to make better use of the larger screen. For example, the widely copied mail app which changes views depending on portrait or landscape mode. Android apps when launched were, and for the most part still are, just blown up phone apps.
 
I think you're getting iPad and Android tablets mixed up. At the iPad launch event, Steve Jobs demonstrated how many of the 1,200 iPad apps at launch were specially designed to make better use of the larger screen. For example, the widely copied mail app which changes views depending on portrait or landscape mode. Android apps when launched were, and for the most part still are, just blown up phone apps.

I was just going to say... I remember the iPad having a handful of apps at launch. Ok, so if the number is 1200, that's slightly more than a handful. Android, after 3 years, STILL has a handful of apps optimized for tablets? Oh, and you still get to play the game of "Guess the Android version for your brand new tablet!"
 
FYI - my argument was never over convenience or quality of apps.

I got your argument. What I meant was that its this convenience that keeps people onto apple and which techies and business folks refer to as the ecosystem. People who use iOS devices (and these are millions upon millions of people around the world) and mac computers do use facetime and this is something that keeps them onboard. I had the desire to purchase the nexus 5 when it launched as my Iphone 5S was to be delivered around the same time the nexus 5 got launched. I love my 5s but wanted to try out nexus 5 for a year before I bought the larger 6..The only reason i didn't was because my entire freinds and family circle is on facetime and with some my only interaction is through the weekend facetime (those that are abroad)..I would have to call each and everyone and tell them to download skype to get them around which would have been imposible for some of the older family members. iTunes is a similar convenience for many users..The iPod was a remarkable success and many bought it ( LOL) and were therefore onto the iTunes band waggon and are familiar with it and most are happy with it..To switch for them would mean to download of a bunch of apps and figure out ways to transfer itunes music onto android devices which a lot of folks that are busy with their lives simply do not want to do...Same goes for apple TV..The convenience of using an iOS device with apple TV is enjoyed by many iOS users..Its simply that simple..Google is itself trying to build an eco-system because they see the advantage of having it as people and consumers love simplicity and familiarity, and most do not have the time to learn or relearn things when the alternative is simple...This is one of the first design goals for all consumer electronic companies...i.e. to add simplicity and familiarity to their products so not to overwhelm users..

And I agree with WhatsAPP vs Imessages..I have almost stopped using I messages now and just use whatsapp..but I have also closed down my facebook account and just use whatsapp to talk to and share stuff with my freinds and family. Its a great app...I do not see people leaving facetime and hopping onto skype or other apps (iOS users that is) but then i can only speak about people i know.
 
I was just going to say... I remember the iPad having a handful of apps at launch. Ok, so if the number is 1200, that's slightly more than a handful. Android, after 3 years, STILL has a handful of apps optimized for tablets? Oh, and you still get to play the game of "Guess the Android version for your brand new tablet!"

I don't think it was quite 1200, there were a few optimized but by and large they were scaled.

The Android tablets that really began to bear fruit were designed with OS 3.0 "Honeycomb" in mind.
 
But.... But... 3.5 inch screen is the perfect size. Why do the blind loyalist now want a 4+ inch screen. The loyalist said a 4 inch screen couldn't be used with one hand. But on the iPhone it's possible. They said 4.3 inches was too big too, now they say 4.7 inch is the sweet spot. Why does the loyalist's goal posts keep moving?

People's needs evolve over time. It's why we still aren't using Nokia brick phones even though they used to be the best. More than ever people are using their phones like a computer. A larger screen makes sense, especially if the other size factors such as weight, thinness, and bezel can be reduced. It makes even more sense once you begin to introduce API-level features to assist in using a larger size screen. For example, a common argument against a larger screen iPhone was that the thumb couldn't reach with one handed use. iOS 7 helped remedy that problem with a new gesture for navigating forward and backward. Developers can easily implement these new gestures into their apps. Problem, meet solution. Done. And it will only get better over time as they introduce new software features for even larger devices.

They said a cheaper iPhone will kill Android, but somehow it didn't work out that way. They all laughed at the bigger screens, but now they follow Samsung who has made bigger screens and smaller bezels since the beginning.

Apple didn't release a cheaper iPhone. They have always sold the previous model for $100 less. This time they just packaged it up in a colorful way and gave it a modified name.

Samsung didn't make bigger screens from the beginning. It's a recent trend. They started with small screens, and the only way they got any market traction was when they decided to make a bigger phone. Do you know why they made those huge phones? Because they decided to put in LTE chips super early and needed a bigger battery. Not even that, but those first-gen Phablets could only run for a few hours before needing a charge. Giant batteries and battery-hogging LTE chips. Does everyone forget how that started? Seriously? Apple was the one making silky smooth animations in 2007 combined with amazing touch input from the beginning. Samsung has copied so much from Apple that it's amazing. Look at their dock cable that looked like the 30-pin, look at the charger cube that matches the Apple one, look at their stores (the layout, materials used, even stealing App Store icons), look at their Notebooks that rip off the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. They're only now starting to differentiate on look and feel of their phones—marginally at best.

Don't be fooled, without Google Samsung's phones would be complete crap. Samsung doesn't actually do anything aside from making good components such as SSDs, displays and chip fabs. But even there they are replaceable as there are many alternatives. I wouldn't be surprised if they copy those techniques from smaller companies in Asia and they just happen to have to have the money to produce at a larger scale and get the better contract with reduced prices. Google is the innovation, especially in services, and more recently in some of their design. Apple is the innovation, especially in software and design, and the fully integrated device solution. Both these companies have been going back and forth swiping ideas and improving on each other. Apple wants to get better at services, Google at software and UI design. Google first borrowed from Blackberry, then freaked out when the iPhone was unveiled and changed direction. Apple started copying some Android features (though some of those could have been stolen from the iOS jailbreak community) and improving on them. But Samsung? I don't think they've ever had an original thought, especially when it comes to software or design.

Honestly I really miss the days when Apple and Google were friends. It was great having the best of both worlds—Apple's excellent design, UI and content offerings paired with built-in support for Google's services. Though back then it didn't support many of Google's services, if they had remained friends we could have seen much deeper integration over time. But then again we might not have seen much in the way of competition and therefore less progress.

I don't really know if Apple will ever get their act together with services. They certainly have the money to put a plan into action, but do they have the talent? I think that should be a main focus for them because that's where Google will leave Apple in the dust. I also think these larger iPhones are really going to eat into Samsung during 2015—unless Android can save them with services that are compelling enough to leave Apple behind. Apple would be well suited to release a new iPhone during the summer and show the SDK this Spring like they used to so that they can stay in the lead. iOS 8 doesn't need a whole lot more outside of better services. 7.1 will bring the stability when it launches in the next month or so.
 
FYI - my argument was never over convenience or quality of apps. My point was that personally (and everyone is different) - I prefer 3rd party apps because I have family and friends on more than one platform that I video chat and message with. And (for example) when I'm sending pictures, text of videos of my daughter to both sets of grandparents - it's far easier to do via whatsapp than to do it twice (imessage and whatsapp, etc)

How does that work? Did everyone standardize on Tango? Or do you have multiple video chat clients?
 
wouldn't China be the most profitable smart phone market in the world. They have more people using smartphones than the U.S. has citizens IIRC...
Nope. Most phones in China are sold at little to no profit. The money that shareholders get to keep comes almost entirely from developed countries.
 
How does that work? Did everyone standardize on Tango? Or do you have multiple video chat clients?

Everyone is on Tango. And Whatsapp. That covers video chat, pictures and text.

And given that both sets of grandparents aren't savvy at all - it took them all of 20 seconds to be up and running and be able to figure out how to call or get a call answered.

Whatsapp took a little longer just because there's groups,individuals and I had to explain how to do attachments (photos or otherwise). But I'm pretty sure if I had to explain iMessage it would have been the same process regardless.
 
More = easy

The megahertz race
The megapixel race in compacts
The dpi race in printers
The megapixel race in phones
The pixel race in video
The screen size in phones

More is just a clear sign of absent innovation. Thankfully Apple knows when enough is enough... and what not to do.
 
Not sure I agree 100% with the above (in bold).

For me and the wife, as consumers, we gravitated to the larger-screen form factor based on appearance; we used our eyes. We looked at our 4ses, looked at the iPhone 5, looked at the S4 and Note 3. We chose the Sammys based on the screen size. Everything else is somewhat equivalent (despite a bit of an initial learning curve after being on iOS for years).

While I prefer Apple's simplicity in many cases (I don't cure cancer with my phone), the small screen suddenly became a deal-breaker, when coupled with Android's functionality today.

I'm not saying a larger screen isn't beneficial; for some, it is. But the larger screen size was not driven by a desire to improve user experience, but rather a race to out do the other guy in specs. That's generally how product decisions are made by OEMs. I should know, I work for one.
 
I'm not saying a larger screen isn't beneficial; for some, it is. But the larger screen size was not driven by a desire to improve user experience, but rather a race to out do the other guy in specs. That's generally how product decisions are made by OEMs. I should know, I work for one.

I guess I'm more a "glass half-full" type of guy. Perhaps you're right, but we can't be sure that was the reason. After all, they have to be able to sell the things, and a bigger screen did became a desirable differentiation in user experience.

So I see it as "what is Apple not doing, that people want?" It was, after all the mentality behind whole "Droid does" thing. From a personal, consumer-type standpoint, a larger screen is an improvement in user experience, and I don't think it escapes the OEMs.
 
You do realize Samsung isn't the only phones with larger than a 4" screen, right? S4, LG, G2, Nexus 5... the list goes on. The problem with this graph is Apple is the only manufacturer selling a phone with iOS on it. Look how many companies sell Android phones. A more fair comparison would be Apple vs. Android phones. If you add all the other companies that make Android phones up, it clearly blows Apple away. I'm sure if other comanies made phones with iOS on it, it would not look nearly as skewed as it does here.

It has nothing to do with "fair." If you're comparing the hardware companies, as this post is, Apple crushes the competition. If you're comparing the software companies, Apple's market share is smaller than Android in smartphones and Windows in computers.

Not that Apple cares about either number. They just care that they can keep doing what they're doing and make most of the profits. :D
 
So Huawei are excluded from your list? Just asking because you know much more about this than I do. Obviously.

Huawei has never made a product that actually mattered or threatened Apple. Last I checked they just made the "netbooks" of smartphones.
 
How do you justify this then? Seriously asking, not trolling. Because if you don't like Samsung, how can you have it in any of your products? How do you draw that line?


I'm not the one who wrote the post you are referring to but for me-

The division within Samsung's corporate structure that produces chips is entirely separate from the division that makes consumer electronics products. I won't buy Samsung consumer electronics products because I've had problems with every one of them I've purchased in the past. On the other hand, the chips manufactured by Samsung's chip devision seem to be high quality chips.

For me it has nothing to do with liking or disliking Samsung.
 
Pretty good figures given Apple only makes the iPhone (okay 2 models now but still... Samsung makes a LOT of phones for different markets, many of which are significantly cheaper.)

I'm an Aussie and the iPhone is definitely a 15-20% kind of product. Samsung's definitely conned people into thinking they are the best Android manufacturer. Wonder how long that will last? If I were to buy an Android it would most likely be so that I could run Ubuntu and I would buy a cheap Chinese one (because Samsung's no better, they just charge more and lock you in.)
 
Which ones of them will allow me to FaceTime with my friends and family who have iPhones, iPads and Macs?

Which ones of them will allow me to Airplay to my Apple TV?

Which ones of them allow me access to the content I have access to via iTunes?

There is Hangouts which is much more robust and works with ALL platforms. Plus you can talk to more than just one person at a time. Facetime only works with Apple products which is very limiting.

Chromecast

Funny how I can take all my digital media and get any iOS device and play all of my music and movies however I want but you have to have a Apple device while having to download iTunes to use it. I have no downloading at all.
 
Nope. Most phones in China are sold at little to no profit. The money that shareholders get to keep comes almost entirely from developed countries.

I meant that the Chinese market not the US market is the largest and most profitable market for smartphone makers (including apple and Samsung)
 
I meant that the Chinese market not the US market is the largest and most profitable market for smartphone makers (including apple and Samsung)

It may be in the future, but for Apple the most money is made (hence most profit) in the US iirc..I think it may be the same for Samsung (Talking countries not continents). Size wise china may be the largest market, but that is yet to translate into profits from mobile phone sales.
 
I found this post somewhere. My apologies to the author for not giving you credit.


"If you're Pepsi and you're getting outsold by Coke, why not print headlines that statistically compare Coke to every cola on earth, or perhaps every drink containing caffeine? Poor Coke! After inventing such news its "market share" would now ostensibly be slipping into irrelevance, calling into question the fact that it sells the most product in its actual market, makes the most money, and people everywhere pay a premium for its name brand. What a miserable loser Coke suddenly is, just with some creative reporting of meaningless, contrived statistics.”
 
Except that I use a Nexus 4. I would gladly use an iPhone but since I like to buy my phones outright (to use with my T-Mobile family plan), it's difficult to justify spending 2x as much for the iPhone 5s when I can get something like the Nexus 5 for $300. Yes, Android is not as nice as iOS but it's come a long way since Gingerbread. Personally, I'd rather buy a cheaper smartphone (but still a nice one) and use the money I save to upgrade my iPad more frequently (although I just got an Air so I probably won't upgrade too soon). :)

Android not as nice as iOS? That’s the reason why I switched back to Android.
 
I don't think it was quite 1200, there were a few optimized but by and large they were scaled.

The Android tablets that really began to bear fruit were designed with OS 3.0 "Honeycomb" in mind.

April 2, 2010

"There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That's on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store."

There were plenty of apps and developer support before the iPad even launched. And it skyrocketed from there. Developers couldn't wait to build new apps and rebuild their existing apps to take advantage of the iPad's larger screen real estate. They knew what was coming.

Sure... some of them were just slightly modified iPhone apps at launch... but they were still modified with the iPad in mind. They had to get approved in the App Store to be listed as an iPad app.

There were many true iPad apps in the mix too. Once the the iPad got some traction... we started to see even more great apps that really took advantage of the iPad. And the rest is history.

6AI8M.gif


In contrast... there was no developer excitement for the first batch of Android tablets that ran Froyo... they literally ran blown up phone apps. And even when the proper "tablet optimized" version of Android Honeycomb was released... it still didn't do much.

Android tablets didn't really gain developer support until much later. But even then it was no match for the excitement that iPad developers had.

.
 
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