The War of Next Big thing Between Apple and Samsung

As per this article on WSJ.. nothing extra ordinary.. WSJ Author/reviewer in-fact urges customers to check out HTC-one instead defaulting to S4!!! That is biggest slap in a way for S4.. especially from my perspective.. couple of months back I had written off HTC as a company all-together.. Now.. it seems that HTC is emerging back.. So far I have heard great reviews about HTC One.. yet to read any single bad or below average review about HTC One..

In fact HTC was one of the first good, cheap smartphone manufacturer.. even before the launch of iPhone.. iPhone really spoiled their market.. But it seems that they are going back to their roots and building great phones and capturing some market back from both Samsung and Apple. I think even their alliance with FB is also helping them.. I am definitely going to test it.. one of my very good friend has bought HTC One recently and I would definitely borrow it for few hours... I am sure many of my friends will also get S4 as well :-)

Good news is that, this smartphone market pie is so big that there is room for many players at the same time and they can satisfy different type of customers with varied needs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578440824138699526.html

However, USA Today's review seems to be much more favorable.. Author/reviewer liked in particular Dual Action camera mode.. Capturing your own reaction for the event happening and also some drama mode where you can focus and follow one particular person..

Seems that they have fixed Display issue.Apparently, S3 had little bit dimmer screen.. This time S4's display has all the great reviews..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2013/04/24/samsung-galaxy-s4-review/2104959/

Both the authors complain that S4 has lot of features and it seems overly complex and confusing. I think in a race to compete with iPhone, Samsung is injecting all kinds of features into their flagship phone.. Which may be true and applicable to many customers.. especially in Asia.. which is still solid stronghold of Samsung. They have really made it big screen and I would love to use it more as iPad mini kind of.. If I go with S4 or its equivalent, my primary reason would be screen size which I can use it as my iPad mini replacement.. So far I am okay..

However, in race to prove themselves better than iPhone.. they miss the whole point of iPhone's popularity.. it is simple and whatever feature they put in there.. it works and it works beautifully.. and most of the customers (including your truly!!) love it.. I am sure there must be many other customers who like all kinds of features offered by Samsung and HTC.

So far, I am still iPhone fan and have no plans to go back to Samsung or Android for that matter. However, I am really happy to see great phones from iPhone's competitors.. as it definitely raises bar for iPhone 5S and I hope to see super great iPhone 5S in near future..

What's up with this Stylus based Notes..

It is like going back to stone ages.. Honestly.. I can't understand rationale for huge success of Galaxy Note. It is good and seems useful but I still feel that stylus makes it really counter intuitive. I think that Samsung tagged on stylus with note mainly to circumvent around Apple patents. However surprising thing is.. it was huge success.. and mostly it is attributed to cool ads Samsung came up with tens of different unique use cases where stylus can be used.. It probably was very risky strategy but it worked.. Not sure, how many people are actually using these so Sam-Cool features. Personally I didn't liked that idea and couldn't imagine using stylus. I have few apps on iPhone/iPad where you can draw or write by free hand and finger works perfectly fine.

On the contrary, I liked form factor of Galaxy Note and could wish iPhone has bigger size.. I think iPhone5 will be slightly bigger for sure in all probability. Keeping my fingers crossed. Some day I will try Galaxy Note as well.. don't know when that day will come..

Updated Galaxy Note, with stylus, coming up

By Peter Svensson

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Fresh off a legal battle with Apple, Samsung is announcing a new version of the Galaxy Note, an offbeat, oversize smartphone that’s become a surprise hit. Samsung, the world’s largest maker of phones, is revealing the Galaxy Note II at a trade show in Berlin. The 5.5-inch screen is narrower but longer than on the first version. The processor is faster, and the software has been further adapted for the included stylus — the phone’s signature feature.

While Apple has been releasing a new smartphone model each year, Samsung makes several to target different types of customers. That includes low-end phones for priceconscious customers. As a result, Samsung has been selling more smartphones than Apple this year. The Note runs on Google’s Android operating system but isn’t among the phones that Apple is asking a judge to ban from the U.S., after a jury in California ruled last week that some of Samsung’s Android phones violated Apple patents. The jury awarded Apple $1 billion in damages in a high-profile case that could force Samsung and other Android phone makers to rethink their designs.

The Note is designed to work well with a stylus for jotting notes and drawing on a screen, while styluses for other devices tend to be an afterthought. The Note’s large screen also makes the phone more like a tablet and more suitable for playing games and consuming content. Samsung started selling a tablet version of the Note this month.

Samsung Electronics says it has shipped 10 million first-generation Galaxy Note smartphone in one year.

Do we really need to make note on tablet?

I don't know about you guys.. but I can't really think of lot of use cases where I will take out my pen (digital pen with tablet) and make notes on my tablet's content.. I think it is yet another trick or I should say another effort by Samsung to try to differentiate with iPad. I hope it works and keeps up bar for Apple high so they continue to build better tablets instead of taking it easy..

Biggest advantage of Apple products in general is User Interface (UI). from rendering to ease of use to intuitiveness to simplicity.. to smoothness to... to.. to... I am real hardcore fan of their UI and will continue to so till I see something better.. which I am yet to see.. on top of it.. Apple's ecosystem and ease of using their devices with TV or otherwise as well are superb..

Let us see how Samsung's new Note does it.. It's price point is attractive.. just slightly below comparable iPad with promise of better processor power and memory.. I don't know if it also has retina display or its equivalent.. I am sure it  must be close..

I guess, Samsung should come up quickly into area of Digital Media Player like Apple TV and complete integration of their devices with HDTV and many more comparable features of Apple TV. Apple TV, once dark horse of Apple is slowly coming up and becoming household thing.. It extends most of the Apple products thru itunes media play.. If Samsung can't come up with good hardware then they should talk to Roku or someone established player in this field. Google's Apple TV equivalent was more or less flop with significant higher prices.. let us see.. what is next from Android side..

Let me know if you use Galaxy Note tablet and ifyou can compare it with iPad.. for now, I don't have any plans to buy it..


Newest Galaxy tablet has pen

By Youkyung Lee

Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics is taking another shot at the dominance of Apple’s iPad with a tablet equipped with a digital pen and a faster processor at the same price tag. The Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Note 10.1 will go on sale in the U.S. on Thursday. The price starts at $499 for the basic model with 16 gigabytes of storage and $549 for the 32-gigabyte model, expandable with an external memory card. Apple’s latest iPad starts at the same price but the Note 10.1 offers some features that the iPad doesn’t have, while its screen resolution is lower than the iPad’s. It is Samsung’s first Android tablet equipped with a digital pen and can run two applications side-by-side on a screen divided in half. The split screen, made possible by the quad-core processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM, can be useful when taking notes while watching a video or surfing the Internet.

Analysts said this capability of the Note tablet is intended to attract business and education customers, a strategy that could be more effective than going all out against the iPad, which already dominates nearly 70 percent of the worldwide tablet market.

Samsung released about a half-dozen Android tablets in the past two years under the Galaxy Tab series but none of them has been as popular as the iPad. Analysts say Android tablets are less successful because of a dearth of applications and higher prices. But with the Note 10.1, the South Korean company believes it has a product that will find favor with corporations and schools despite the iPad’s rich pool of applications and sharper screen.

While Apple makes one new model for the iPhone and iPad every year to meet demand from all around the world, Samsung releases multiple mobile products with variations in prices, screen sizes, hardware and operating systems. This strategy helped Samsung edge pass Apple in smartphone sales but hasn’t paid off in the tablet area, probablybecauseSamsung’s previous tablets were not differentiated enough from the iPad. Samsung’s secondquarter market share in the global tablet market fell to 9 percent, while nearly seven out of 10 tablets in the market were emblazoned with Apple logo, according to IHS iSuppli.

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MARK LENNIHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Samsung's new Galaxy Note 10.1 goes on sale in the U.S. on Thursday, starting at $499 for the 16gigabyte model and $549 for the 32GB tablet.

Is Samsung Galaxy S3 really iPhone Competitor?

S3 is getting great reviews so far and is considered to be most formidable competitor of iPhone 4S. Looking at its feature set it seems to be really great machine. Biggest differentiation seems to be screen size and quad core processor on hardware side and numerous extra features related to touch on software side.

I haven't tried it yet, but I am not big fan of extreme processors. Unless processor power is properly channeled and used all the extra cores are merely nice to have. So it will be really good to see how the marriage between hardware and software is.. that you can figure out only after using it out. all the specs and number are merely marketing gimmicks.

Having said that, I am sure it will put more pressure on Apple to launch bigger screen size iPhone. At least variant with bigger size. For all practical purpose, iPhone is my lifeline and I don't see any problem with screen size as well. But I think there is scope for some extra real estate on phone side. let us see what is in store for iPhone 5. We should be knowing it soon... I guess, June or July?

Coming back to Samsung, it is always good to see great competition in the market. that is what drives innovation. I hope that S3 will turn out to be great phone in market as well. Sad that it is not getting launched in US first.. In my view they should have launched in US as well. They could have taken some advantage of iPhone 5s pending launch and could have gathered lot of iPhone customers who are ready for upgrade cycle, which is typically 20 or 21 months. Assuming, these people upgraded within couple of months of iPhone launch, they would be ready for upgrade and could have opted for S3 instead of waiting for iPhone 5. I am sure Samsung's genius marketing guys must have thought about everything..


Samsung’s latest model emerges as iPhone competitor

Phone will sell in 145 countries, company’s biggest launch so far

By Peter Svensson

Associated Press

NEW YORK — The latest phone in Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy line, which has emerged as the biggest competitor to Apple’s iPhone, will go on sale in Europe on May 29 and in the U.S. this summer, the company said Thursday. The Korean company showed off the phone at an event in London Thursday. It has a high-definition touch screen that’s nearly twice the size of the iPhone’s, but thinner and lighter than Apple’s phone. Samsung said the phone will go on sale in 145 countries with 296 phone companies, making it the company’s biggest launch so far.

In the U.S., Japan and Korea, the phone will use fourthgeneration, or 4G, networks for faster data downloads. Samsung didn’t say which carriers would sell it, but the previous Galaxy model was sold by all four national U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Like previous Galaxy phones, the new S3 will run Google’s Android software. The processor, or “brains” of the device, will be upgraded to include four computing cores. The iPhone and most other high-end phones are “dual-core,” but there are some quad-core devices on sale already.

The added computing power will be put to use in the S3’s expanded voice-command features. When the phone screen is off, owners will be able to “wake” it up by saying “Hi, Galaxy.” They can then give further spoken commands. When Apple launched the iPhone 4S last year, it also made advances in voice recognition a central selling point.
Samsung doesn’t release phone shipment figures, but most analysts believe its smartphones outsold Apple and its 35.1 million iPhones in the January-to-March period. Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley believes Apple and Samsung together accounted for virtually all the profits in the phone industry in the first quarter, with three-quarters going to Apple by virtue of its singular focus on the high-priced iPhone.