New Samsung Galaxy S4 Ad Pokes Fun at iPhone

[Lancer]

Let me expand on that. Wouldn't it be cool if I could get in my car, touch the phone to the dash, and have the car and phone work out the Bluetooth setup, passcode, address book, etc? Also put my phone onto car mode, with voice controls, navigation, music, etc.

That's what NFC is for to me.

A few months back I installed a new Kenwood head unit in my 20yo car and now I have full BT for making at receiving calls, I plug in my iPhone (3Gs) to charge the battery or listen to music, there is also BT support for music. I have this now and it cost me next to nothing compared to a 2 year contact on a new phone.

The only complaint is the voice control for making calls is not that reliable depending where the phone is and any excess noise in the car. But the up side is every time I get in the car my phone links to it so if anyone calls me I don't have to pick up my phone.

 

[chairguru22]

You're joking right?

You clearly missed the "I'm a Mac" campaign.

Those campaigns were technically making fun of PCs and not Samsung.

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What sets the iPhone apart from Android is the Apple ecosystem. Syncing music, movies, apps, updating software is all integrated and extremely simple, almost automatic.

My friend had a GS2 running on the original software until he just got the GS4!

 

[WeegieMac]

These aren't insulting, they're saying facts. If you take than as an insult, then that's on you.

iPhone boys just getting all pissy cause it's "Samsung" and they've made of Papa Apple and it's iPhone.

Look at the iPhone and iPad adverts. They always focus around the product and what the product does, whether it's certain apps being featured (Infinity Blade, Real Racing 2, etc) or features like FaceTime or the Retina Display, Apple targets new users by making them see a product in action.

Samsung on the other hand have these woefully cringeworthy ads, basically calling iPhone owners "stupid" (the S3 ad with the Apple store line being the prime example). There's a huge difference between using the Mac/PC rivalry to show the features of a Mac versus those of a PC in a humorous way (where PC was the star of every ad that ran) and making out that the very people you want to switch to your product are thick and "sheep".

I want Samsung to run a product ad that's product centric, that not only tells me what their product does but shows me it in action a manner which focuses on them and not comparisons to iPhone.

I, as an iPhone user of 5 years, know what the iPhone does so I don't need to hear petty lines like, "Oh, my phone doesn't do that" lines at a BBQ while watching an actor wave his hand across his iPhone screen like an idiot to make those comparisons.

Show me your product in action, show me it's merits in a serious manner and as a sensible user if I see something that intrigues me, I'll go check out the product out of my own curiosity.

 

[GerritV]

Look at the iPhone and iPad adverts. They always focus around the product and what the product does, whether it's certain apps being featured (Infinity Blade, Real Racing 2, etc) or features like FaceTime or the Retina Display, Apple targets new users by making them see a product in action.

Samsung on the other hand have these woefully cringeworthy ads, basically calling iPhone owners "stupid" (the S3 ad with the Apple store line being the prime example). There's a huge difference between using the Mac/PC rivalry to show the features of a Mac versus those of a PC in a humorous way (where PC was the star of every ad that ran) and making out that the very people you want to switch to your product are thick and "sheep".

I want Samsung to run a product ad that's product centric, that not only tells me what their product does but shows me it in action a manner which focuses on them and not comparisons to iPhone.

I, as an iPhone user of 5 years, know what the iPhone does so I don't need to hear petty lines like, "Oh, my phone doesn't do that" lines at a BBQ while watching an actor wave his hand across his iPhone screen like an idiot to make those comparisons.

Show me your product in action, show me it's merits in a serious manner and as a sensible user if I see something that intrigues me, I'll go check out the product out of my own curiosity.

+1
Air gestures and touching phones, really?
But the problem is, you expect Samsung to be... creative. I for one won't hold my breath.

 

[twigman08]

What Samsung is missing is that nearly all those "features" they added IMO aren't even useful features at all. It's fluff features. I am looking at it from an outsiders perspective. None of the features seemed useful to me. Moving from page to page or w/e using your hand, that must be halfway up the phone and crossing the sensor. Why not just set your thumb on the bottom portion, or wherever you want, and do a simple swipe? Bam one hand. Don't have to use one hand to hold the phone and the other to do a swipe. I can go on and on on the features they added. They seem like fluff to me. I think I've only seen one or two features the S4 has that I like, that I do hope the next iPhone has. Though those features are the same features the HTC ONE has, which happens to be the phone I'm currently looking at. Very close to pulling the trigger on one of those.

Though am I the only one who doesn't get S-Beam? You bump phones together and it sends something? how is that revolutionary or w/e? What's the difference between that and Bump for the iPhone? Sure I can see some differences (I know their are some things you can't send over Bump that you can with S-Beam), but Bump is like any iOS Device to any iOS Device. What is S-Beam? Must have a S3 or a S4? I had two people demonstrate S-Beam to me. Then my friend and I opened Bump up and was like "we've been doing that for years, even before iOS had MMS, and demonstrated it to them. They didn't bring up S-Beam again.

 

[Burger Thing]

What Samsung is missing is that nearly all those "features" they added IMO aren't even useful features at all. It's fluff features. I am looking at it from an outsiders perspective. None of the features seemed useful to me.

Exactly. All useless gimmicks. No wonder Samsung is now so aggressive in marketing their stuff, because while their phones are ok, they are certainly don't live up to the hype. Probably they were caught by surprise with the direction HTC is going after they unveiled their beautifully designed One.
So they scrapped whatever they could find and stuffed the S4 last minute with all kind of semi Beta Software and called it innovations because otherwise it would have been a total lackluster

 

[pikkpoiss]

So the sauce-gesture thing really works IF you have the phone on the table next to you facing up and you don't mind others hearing the conversation. Imagine... phone in pocket, saucy fingers. Or reading the message with airgesture while fingers covered in lotion. And then you need to answer that message.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

I wasn't impressed with the S4 when it was announced, but I think this ad is great at advertising its features.

I thought the features like waving to answer the phone, and hovering with a finger were pointless, but this ad actually shows how they can be useful. The remote control feature is something I hope will make its way to the iphone some day.

Still prefer my iphone 5 at this point, but my sister is getting an S4 soon so I hope to see how it compares.

Those of you getting mad at an ad for "picking" on your phone or its users: lol. It's an ad guys. Get over it.

 

[Rogifan]

Look at the iPhone and iPad adverts. They always focus around the product and what the product does, whether it's certain apps being featured (Infinity Blade, Real Racing 2, etc) or features like FaceTime or the Retina Display, Apple targets new users by making them see a product in action.

Samsung on the other hand have these woefully cringeworthy ads, basically calling iPhone owners "stupid" (the S3 ad with the Apple store line being the prime example). There's a huge difference between using the Mac/PC rivalry to show the features of a Mac versus those of a PC in a humorous way (where PC was the star of every ad that ran) and making out that the very people you want to switch to your product are thick and "sheep".

I want Samsung to run a product ad that's product centric, that not only tells me what their product does but shows me it in action a manner which focuses on them and not comparisons to iPhone.

I, as an iPhone user of 5 years, know what the iPhone does so I don't need to hear petty lines like, "Oh, my phone doesn't do that" lines at a BBQ while watching an actor wave his hand across his iPhone screen like an idiot to make those comparisons.

Show me your product in action, show me it's merits in a serious manner and as a sensible user if I see something that intrigues me, I'll go check out the product out of my own curiosity.

The audience for these ads is not the general public, it's for the tech press, for the geeks/fanboys/trolls that inhabit the comments sections of tech sites.

 

[AaronEdwards]

People keep telling me that Android phones or tablets aren't selling, instead they're either given away when you buy something else, they are lying around on store shelves (shipped! not sold!), or they are dumped in landfill somewhere.

And yet the same people are now crying about this ad. Why do they care, do they think this ad will change anything?

If they didn't think Samsung and Android were threats, they wouldn't care.

Did Windows users care about Apple's "I'm a Mac" commercials? No. Why? Because Apple wasn't a threat and they all knew it.

The reactions in this thread to the commercial are quite telling.

 

[geta]

The biggest problem is not the hardware, is the OS aka Android...

Looks like i can't connect Galaxy tab 2 to my mac for sync,backup or file transfer... I've tried to do this with 'android file transfer' but no luck...

On top of that, all the market full of useless app's, at list for me as musician...

 

[samcraig]

The biggest problem is not the hardware, is the OS aka Android...

Looks like i can't connect Galaxy tab 2 to my mac for sync,backup or file transfer... I've tried to do this with 'android file transfer' but no luck...

On top of that, all the market full of useless app's, at list for me as musician...

Really? You can't use KIES? Or Airdroid? Or just mounting your TAB as a drive?

Where shall I start?

- iTunes
- App Store
- iCloud
- iMessage
- AirPlay
- Better customer support
- More revenue for developers
- Way more polished SDK

etc....

For some people this is irrelevant, but for others it's what's keeping them on iOS (me, for example). I refuse to develop for a platform where I get less revenue for more work. Not to mention Objective-C being way more efficient than Java at most tasks.

Ok - but that's developers vs customers. Android has Doubletwist. Several App Stores. Everything is backed up via the cloud (Google services). There are plenty of apps like iMessage. And that are far more reliable with greater features and uptime. And so on. In short - very few of your list are unique to iOS.

I want Samsung to run a product ad that's product centric, that not only tells me what their product does but shows me it in action a manner which focuses on them and not comparisons to iPhone.

The ad did that. Let's not confuse this ad with any previous ad. Let this ad stand on its own. And Samsung promoted what the phone could do and showed it in action. Whether or not they were YOUR use cases is another matter. And there was ONE comparison to the iPhone. And it wasn't just a comparison to iPhone. You're aware that blackberries and windows phones don't have the feature they were showcasing? And they didn't mention the iPhone.

 

[saha-med]

+1
Air gestures and touching phones, really?
But the problem is, you expect Samsung to be... creative. I for one won't hold my breath.

lol ur right

all of those who are bashing samsung's ads, u expect creativity and innovation in anything sammy?

 

[samcraig]

+1
Air gestures and touching phones, really?
But the problem is, you expect Samsung to be... creative. I for one won't hold my breath.

Well on the flip side - you have Zooey D in front of a window asking what the weather is

 

[ValSalva]

If we are talking about marketing...

Samsung should be ashamed:

http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-butchers-gangnam-style-indian-galaxy-s4-launch

I used to think Microsoft had a tin ear when it came to marketing but Samsung is much worse.

 

[bigchrisfgb]

The bump thing is stupid, that scene cuts a few scenes out of what you actually have to do, it is still just as easy to use ordinary bluetooth.

Gesture to answer, what happens if I swipe my hand over the phone in order to reject a call?

 

[alexgowers]

I don't really get the advert myself. It seems like random slots for each feature or gimmick one after another.

The photo share thing is so uncool, even a parent would actually say why don't you just email it then at least you can send it to multiple people or even if the other person has a totally different phone.

Also no one says smart phone, they just say phone or mobile because let's face it no modern phone is anything but.

There is nothing in the s4 that makes me think that it has a must have feature.

If there are people with s4s I've never seen one actually use it in anyway shon in the advert.

 

[WeegieMac]

The audience for these ads is not the general public, it's for the tech press, for the geeks/fanboys/trolls that inhabit the comments sections of tech sites.

But these geeks you speak of will already know what "geeky" (gimmicky?) features the S4 has, they'll have read up on them via rumour forums much like this. Which backs up the point I made even more so.

The general public, those less familiar with the inner workings of tech, would be somewhat confused, almost bored with that S4 ad. There's nothing to grab you, nothing to make you maintain interest.

Again it's what the majority of Apple's iPhone/iPad ads have done so well (aside from the celebrity Siri ones which were awful), they make the entire ad about the device and what IT does, not what other devices don't.

 

[mcfmullen]

But my iPhone can control, wait for it... My Samsung tv.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I'm going start selling shirts that say "Yours doesn't do that".

 

[Stella]

And if by magic, once those gimmicky features are introduced to the iPhone they will suddenly become 'innovative' and 'magical'! LOL.

Once iPhone NFC you can be pretty sure there will be a bump feature.

 

[winston1236]

innovation is dead. I have no desire to buy another phone after the iphone 5 for a while. I have LTE, I have a great camera, it's not to big. I'll be using this thing for years.[/QUOTE

there's something about paying and on contract price for a phone after 2 years that sucks so youre alone on that one

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Look at the iPhone and iPad adverts. They always focus around the product and what the product does, whether it's certain apps being featured (Infinity Blade, Real Racing 2, etc) or features like FaceTime or the Retina Display, Apple targets new users by making them see a product in action.

Samsung on the other hand have these woefully cringeworthy ads, basically calling iPhone owners "stupid" (the S3 ad with the Apple store line being the prime example). There's a huge difference between using the Mac/PC rivalry to show the features of a Mac versus those of a PC in a humorous way (where PC was the star of every ad that ran) and making out that the very people you want to switch to your product are thick and "sheep".

I want Samsung to run a product ad that's product centric, that not only tells me what their product does but shows me it in action a manner which focuses on them and not comparisons to iPhone.

I, as an iPhone user of 5 years, know what the iPhone does so I don't need to hear petty lines like, "Oh, my phone doesn't do that" lines at a BBQ while watching an actor wave his hand across his iPhone screen like an idiot to make those comparisons.

Show me your product in action, show me it's merits in a serious manner and as a sensible user if I see something that intrigues me, I'll go check out the product out of my own curiosity.

Well they are are wasting a day waiting for a phone. Thats certainly not being intelligent.

 

[dokujaryu]

What sets the iPhone apart from Android is the Apple ecosystem. Syncing music, movies, apps, updating software is all integrated and extremely simple, almost automatic.

This may have been true a while ago, but this is how much stuff one Google account logs you into and syncs automatically on Android:

Blogs
Calendar
Chrome (Tabs, bookmarks, cookies, passwords, etc.)
Contacts
Drive
Gmail
Photos (Goes to Google+)
Books
Magazines
Movies & TV
Music
Google+
Instant Upload (think photostream)
Picasa

Not shown in screenshot that also syncs:
Apps (Play store)
Voice (which can totally replace your dialer on Android and gives amazing phone features)


It works pretty much the same way iCloud does. Buy stuff on one device, it shows up on the other, etc. I'd say Google's cloud is more complete and works on more devices than Apple's but Apple's is more mature.

 

[vinpages]

Why do they have to make the commercial so boring though?

yes! Could they make it any longer too?

 

[rtdunham]

It's a very well done ad. Illustrates some fun features. And most viewers will aspire to be part of a group like that, well-educated, rich, good-looking and well dressed--or undressed: They didn't script the ad at a swimming pool by accident.

But it's also ripe for parody. I can imagine some indie efforts at that being pretty funny. Unfortunately I don't think Apple rolls that way.