Imagine you created one of the best pieces of equipment ever made, on the total cutting edge of technology, and then the advertising company hired to promote it managed to make the name synonymous with Hitler? I imagine that’s sort of what the developers of the Samsung Galaxy S4 must be feeling like today.
Samsung spent yesterday promoting their new Samsung Galaxy S4 with a bizarre stereotype and sexism filled off-Broadway event that evidently was aimed at losing those pesky female consumers via multiple cheesy and poorly written skits.
HTC then decided to imitate the Samsung Galaxy S II and S III commercials (in which Samsung fans visit the iPhone lines), and dropped by the event to give people waiting in line snacks and HTC One promo materials. HTC’s Twitter feed started in on the snark fairly early, too, calling the S4 the “Next Big Flop.” All in all, it was a pretty bad night for Samsung, but that was mostly due to the event and not the product itself.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 comes in at 5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches, has a removable 2,600mAh battery and screen resolution of 1920 x 1080, and comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. It also packs in a 1.9GHz quad-core processor or a 1.6GHz octa-core processor, supports 802.11AC WiFi, and features a microSD slot capable of handling up to 64GB.
The Galaxy S4 supports dual camera, which allows you to record from and back camera at the same time, and might be kind of cool if you’ve got the camera mounted on an extension arm and want to record the surroundings and your reactions. An example that immediately springs to mind would be cringing at the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch event.
Based on specs and the Galaxy S III’s legacy, I think this will most likely secure somewhere around third place in the smartphone market this year, probably behind the iPhone 5 and the HTC One.
Not having either the One or the S4 in my hands, I can’t really compare, but with how Samsung shot itself in the foot with the launch event, it’s going to have to go a lot farther to gain traction. And at the moment, Apple could probably release a brick for a phone at this point and secure first place in the smartphone market.
It was a pretty miserable launch for a phone I really want to like. I should have known something was up with the event yesterday when my Twitter feed filled up with comments such as how nice it was that the S4 came installed with all that software because, as a woman, having to go to the Play Store and download it was downright tiresome.
Having worked with literally hundreds of Galaxy Tabs, and a few Galaxy S IIIs, I have historically liked most of Samsung’s products. Let’s hope it can flog whomever came up with and approved yesterday’s offensive, sexist, boring, and bleh event, and move on to producing a great phone.
It’s been really hard to beat HTC for bad PR recently, but I tip my hat to Samsung for yesterday.
WOW! I might have believed your statements if they had come from Jenn.
I cringe when I see things that might bother my wife, like vomit on TV, but it never bothered me. I think that is what makes Politically Correct soo wrong. We are offended by what we think might offend someone else.
My Wife Loves her WP8 “out of the box” Don’t knock the pre-intstalled angle, some people want it to just work. That is why the iPhone is soo popular, it is housewife and non-techie friendly.
Peace
PS. I read a blow by blow account of the event written by a woman. She never used the words sexist or racist.
Where did I say racist?
I also read blow by blow accounts of that by several women, they did say sexist. All in who you read.
Also, I’ll point out that what you’re saying I say is mostly links to articles written (mostly) by women saying that. Those are by Molly Wood of CNET, Rebecca Greenfield of The Atlantic Wire, and the one male Doug Bary of Jezebel.com. I can provide plenty more links if you need them.
What I saw of the event had me cringing. That’s my take, the blow by blow I read differed from yours.
I can’t take personal offense much of anything Samsung did as it wasn’t directed at me, I can however drop a few links to people who were, which is what I did. I feel they’re probably valid in their opinions unless you can direct me to instances where they’re wrong.
The only thing I can claim personal offense on is the event itself… it was facepalm worthy all around, and offended my sensibilities.
Well, I am just assuming Hitler was a racist, but I could be wrong.
I went back and read your links.
Yes, I see there were some offended attendees. Even though they see it was supposed to be campy.
Who can blame Samsung. They probably watch alot of American TV, And just think we all act that way.
Oh yeah, that was not calling them racist. I was saying “imagine if you did the world’s most awesome thing and it got associated with Hitler…” and then that…
Yeah, just was a comment on a great product getting associated with an image and outrage it didn’t deserve as a product.
While I absolutely cannot stand the whole “political correctness” garbage of today’s society, I don’t necessarily agree with your statement. The iPhone isn’t popular because it “just works.” It’s popular because Apple’s marketing team wants you to BELIEVE that it “just works”- and they’ve done a darned good job of creating this image. In all honesty, if the iPhone (or WP8) worked right out of the box exactly how we wanted them to, there would be no reason for 3rd party applications. We would not need to install anything else on our phones.
However, the fact that the developer industry is booming is proof that everything you hear about a device “just working” out of the box is solely related to perception and marketing- not functionality and user needs.
Regardless of Samsung’s approach for the launch event of the SIV, this phone will sell like hotcakes, because they understand how to market a device ( just as well as Apple). Furthermore, the majority of the buying public didn’t watch the launch event anyway. They will surely see the TV commercials though!
If you have a gs3 or note2 you dont need the gs3s i mean gs4.. HTC One is the way to go!
although I understand HTC’s non-replaceable battery stance, they seriously need to perfect the fast charging and power cases before I think that’s the way to go.
It sure is a pretty phone though
I get the charging time and i agree. But people complain about the battery and honestly i dont. I get 1 1/2 to 2 days depending on how heavy i use it. I use viper4g and they do a pretty good job at battery management. I might be one of maybe 10 people that actually uses their phone as a phone and not a music player movie player or whatever else there is. I do browse a lot and use my cam a ton. the 16gb is enough for me but i also have an 8gb sd card added from my og evo so i know 32 is too much for me on a phone.
People need to stop complaining HTC is always innovating and trying to set standards and that is what they are trying to do with the ultrapixel cam and non-removable batt. Thats the reason why they partnered up with dropbox to give people 25gb free of storage because lte is soon going to be up and running and u wont need to have your data stored on a physical card. Unfortunately i didnt have a good attempt at trying lte yesterday but the fact that i am getting a signal near my home is a great sign.
Without using my phone I get 30 hours of batter life.
With using my phone I get 5-14 depending on where I’m at (cell phone reception) and what I’m doing. The problem for me of not having a removable battery is generally when I’m in the 5 hour timeframe I need the ability to work and don’t have a plug handy.
With a removable battery, I can take a couple of very small things with me and swap ‘em out. Without it I have to bring along a very large (comparatively) external charger.
Unfortunately not everywhere has a decent signal, so mileage varies. And when it varies you have to look at the low end of the spectrum rather than the upper end, and the EVO 4G LTE to mean that means only about 5 hours when I need it.
I get great reception in ny. Ive never had a dropped call and there might be just one place where i only get 2 bars instead of the regular 6 full bars. I work at yankee stadium and on average i work from lets say 1-2pm until midnight so it would make sense that i have a phone that can swap batteries or i can set the charger. Even then i am leaving my house around 1230 ish so its more time my phone is spending on battery than near a charger.
I think its more about battery management, i dont keep auto sync on because i manually check for updates so that cuts down on battery consumption and i also toggle my mobile data but i still consider myself a moderate to heavy user.
Since i do get great signal coverage my phone doesnt spend all day looking for a signal and i think thats where most of the battery is being spent.
It’s not about battery management if you’re in an area where the phone drains because of a very poor cell tower signal.
I definitely prefer the HTC One over the S IV. It’s not only fast and powerful, but extremely premium in every way. But I think HTC could have still created a fully aluminum phone- with a removable aluminum backplate for a replaceable battery. The reason HTC moved away from removable batteries was to create thinner phones. But heck, Samsung’s last two flagship phones are thinner than any of HTC’s, and they still have removable batteries!
With that said, I don’t think the lack of a removable batter outweighs all of the positives of the HTC One. I would still take it in a heartbeat over the Galaxy S IV.
You really think the S4 will be BEHIND the HTC One? Even with the HTC parts shortages? I’ll believe it when I see it!
From what ive read online the shortage is for the UK.
Yeah. Here’s the thing. Samsung is attempting to copy Apple’s gig on advertising – the sexism, agism, etc is the rewording of “it just works”. It doesn’t translate right.
I’m more a fan of the Samsung hardware than I am of the upcoming HTC, however in terms of copying Apple (which didn’t come up with this one but everyone thinks they did,) HTC blew that out of the water with their uni-body aluminum, and more of an “it’s just there” that you can see.
The eyetracking and gestures that Samsung can do – I think it’s going to fail to translate as a “must have” – same with the dual camera recording.
I have no doubt they’ll become standards fairly soon, they’re neat, but not “gotta haves”
I don’t think the HTC part shortages are going to slow them down. I’m betting they slap the old 13 mp cameras in, do a 4 mp camera, and rebrand it as “smart sampling” on the devices that don’t have fat pixels.
But, never know…
The s4 is a beast. Just because it looks like the s3 doesn’t make it any less of a phone. The touchwiz haters gonna hate but depending i’d buy this phone for sure over the htc one because it has overall better specs especially the camera, removable battery, MicroSD card support.
I don’t get the must have a removable battery thing anymore.I have an EVO LTE it lasts a day with heavy use and has never gone totally dead since I had it.I do have a small portable charger from my old EVO days(one with the removable battery). I get more use from it than just a phone battery .charge my Bluetooth or any device that charges by usb. Is the S4 another plastic back phone..no thanks.I would take the HTC One over it but we will see if they can get the phone out without delays.
because when you’re out in BFE with 1 bar you need a backup battery to last more than 6 hours.
At first glance, I think the One is a better phone. And it’s not even close for me. The s4 looks just like the s3. If HTC hadn’t used the aluminum body, maybe the s4′s plastic body wouldn’t bother me so much. I think it’s a huge missed opportunity. I know people say that plastic is more durable, but I don’t buy that argument. It’s not the body I’m worried about breaking or scratching – it’s the screen. Plastic generally looks cheaper than metal for phones. The One not having a removable battery scares me though. I root my phones, and not being able to do a battery pull could be a deal breaker. The fact that HTC is shipping with 4.1 is almost a deal breaker too. Just more of the same from them. 4.2 has been out for a long time. Not shipping with 4.2 is almost criminal.
on the internal battery phones holding power for 10-15 seconds forces the power off. Something below kernel level so not generally an issue.
you think the s4 will sell less than the htc one? are you on crack?
HTCs hope for getting back to the top, like in the days of the OG EVO 4g, will depend on their marketing. If the carriers also decide to advertise the HTC One, instead of the S4, will also be a big help. I never see anymore HTC commercials at least never anything catchy like Apple’s or Samsung’s. No one, other than the tech savvy people who like check up on all new mobile phones, will probably even know about HTC’s new flagship phone or that they even exist. Samsung will outsell HTC by a few longshots if they don’t get their marketing right. I would still love to get a new HTC One, just for the fact that my EVO LTE has some serious connection issues.
Personally the SIV gets the win over the ONE when I am looking at the specs alone. TouchWiz versus Sense is a user preference that I personally dont care much about.
One looks to have a much better build quality, but no removable battery and no microSD slot? For me, those are both deal breakers. -otherwise the One would be a huge contender in my book.
SD slot and removable battery give extended life to older devices. Look 1 year from now, when the average consumer is still locked for another 1 year. They will be holding the ONE wishing they could have a new device because this one has diminishing battery life, and not enough storage, etc…. SIV owners will be fine… purchase a new battery, huge SD card, done.
I mean, do you really want to depend on your network to stream all of the stuff that you have stored in the cloud? This does what?: Eats more battery because you are pulling across the network! My forecast is that 1 year into ownership the One owners are going to be touting chargers or external battery packs while the SIV owners just upgrade 2 pieces of hardware.
I really get the feeling that no expandable memory and removable batter is a design to push consumers to give up that phone sooner to buy another.
I 1000% agree with this guy
. Hopefully HTC will learn to include these features and also unlocked boot loaders or they could do everyone a favour and die as quickly as possible.