Showing posts with label samsung. Show all posts
Showing posts with label samsung. Show all posts
Saturday, April 2, 2016
Monday, March 2, 2015
Samsung Galaxy S6 Reactions
I just published this story on Medium. Please check it out. There are all sorts of photos and cool formatting things on the original post, which is why I've just chosen to embed it, rather than copy the content over.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Reactions
Let me know what you think in the comments, and please leave a recommendation on the Medium post if you liked it.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Reactions
Let me know what you think in the comments, and please leave a recommendation on the Medium post if you liked it.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Thoughts on Galaxy S6 Rumors
Rumors are finally rampant regarding Samsung's next flagship phone. The three main rumors are that it will have (some varying degree of) a special, curved display, cleaner software, and a housebuilt processor. Here are my thoughts about it.
Lots of people are pointing to the Galaxy S6 coming in an edge variant, not unlike the Note Edge that was released in the fall. Some suggest that the main S6 will have two curves on it, covering both the left and right sides. Others, however, are suggesting that Samsung will look to mimic YotaPhone and put a screen on the back of the phone as well as a curve on the side.
If Samsung decides to put curved displays on the Galaxy S6, I will not be terribly impressed. It'd be yet another use impaired gimmick from the king of gimmicks, which is exactly what they don't need right now. But, if they do decide to go the way of the YotaPhone, they could create a really compelling success. The dual screen display could be useful, if implemented well, and Samsung is probably the only major company that could actually succeed in the implementation of this idea.
Will Samsung drop TouchWiz in the Galaxy S6? If so, would their phone be compelling? There is certainly a huge market for stock Android on more phones, particularly Samsung phones, but I'm not sure that I believe Samsung would be willing to do this. Also, most mainstream users actually like Samsung's TouchWiz, so I'm not entirely sure that it's a good idea to get rid of it.
Samsung is rumored to be using a home brewed processor instead of a Snapdragon. This would essentially knock us back to the pre-2013 Android roots of a dysfunctional app store where nothing was universal. This is a bad thing. Snapdragon is the reason for so much success in Android recently.
I remember the days when Android apps weren't universal in any definition of the term. Trying to download anything was a nightmare, because it was almost always guaranteed to not support my processor. The beauty of the dominance of Snapdragon processors is that recently, apps have run basically universally on all ~2013 and later devices. This is one of the biggest advantages of competing platforms: if you can download it, it runs. Dividing the ecosystem is a bad move, even if Samsung has the biggest market share in US Android.
In the end, I think the Galaxy S6 is going to be a really telling device for Android going forward. It may start a trend, and change the entire mobile industry, or it may create division within Android, rotting away the ecosystem, or it could totally flop and kill Samsung. We'll see what happens.
Lots of people are pointing to the Galaxy S6 coming in an edge variant, not unlike the Note Edge that was released in the fall. Some suggest that the main S6 will have two curves on it, covering both the left and right sides. Others, however, are suggesting that Samsung will look to mimic YotaPhone and put a screen on the back of the phone as well as a curve on the side.
If Samsung decides to put curved displays on the Galaxy S6, I will not be terribly impressed. It'd be yet another use impaired gimmick from the king of gimmicks, which is exactly what they don't need right now. But, if they do decide to go the way of the YotaPhone, they could create a really compelling success. The dual screen display could be useful, if implemented well, and Samsung is probably the only major company that could actually succeed in the implementation of this idea.
Will Samsung drop TouchWiz in the Galaxy S6? If so, would their phone be compelling? There is certainly a huge market for stock Android on more phones, particularly Samsung phones, but I'm not sure that I believe Samsung would be willing to do this. Also, most mainstream users actually like Samsung's TouchWiz, so I'm not entirely sure that it's a good idea to get rid of it.
Samsung is rumored to be using a home brewed processor instead of a Snapdragon. This would essentially knock us back to the pre-2013 Android roots of a dysfunctional app store where nothing was universal. This is a bad thing. Snapdragon is the reason for so much success in Android recently.
I remember the days when Android apps weren't universal in any definition of the term. Trying to download anything was a nightmare, because it was almost always guaranteed to not support my processor. The beauty of the dominance of Snapdragon processors is that recently, apps have run basically universally on all ~2013 and later devices. This is one of the biggest advantages of competing platforms: if you can download it, it runs. Dividing the ecosystem is a bad move, even if Samsung has the biggest market share in US Android.
In the end, I think the Galaxy S6 is going to be a really telling device for Android going forward. It may start a trend, and change the entire mobile industry, or it may create division within Android, rotting away the ecosystem, or it could totally flop and kill Samsung. We'll see what happens.
Monday, November 24, 2014
King of the Tablet Market, If the Market Even Exists...
So, here's a thought:
iPad is the undisputed tablet king. No, that's not the thought, I just needed to lay that out as a bit of exposition.
iPad is the best tablet on the market today. But perhaps that says more about the industry than it does Apple's own design and marketing prowess.
Perhaps iPad is the best because tablets are not the future. Perhaps tablets existed to help us transition to larger screen phones. Apple capitalized on this the most. Other manufacturers, meanwhile, realized that this wasn't part of the long term tech end game, and put out half-hearted attempts or nothing at all.
Think about it, though: what were the best non-iPad tablets? The Nexus 7 lineup were the only good selling flagship tablets. Why did these devices sell well? Primarily, they sold well because they were (are?) cheap, but still work well enough. Google and Asus didn't build the Nexus 7 to radically alter what a tablet is or what we could/should do with it. The Nexus 7 is/was simply a device designed for content consumption.
I think size is relevant as well to this idea. Non-iPad tablets have never really been successful in the ~9-10" range, but sell acceptably in the sub-8" category. This is reflective of the idea that the tablets are for media consumption; these tablets are for doing things on the couch or in bed. iPad, on the other hand, tries to be more with its 9.7" screen. There's room to do more than just read and watch videos. Sure, the Surface Pro 3 has succeeded (on a curved grading scale) at being a "productive" tablet, but I would argue that particularly because of its unoptimized operating system, it's actually a touchscreen laptop, not a tablet.
One of the biggest problems with iPad, though, is that despite Apple's best efforts to make the tablet useful, and despite excellent efforts from developers, iPad is still not the *best* tool for a lot of jobs that I do. There are CAD apps for iPad, but my computer is better for that. There are video editing apps, but a Mac would be better for that. I can bang out a paper, blog post, or long email on my iPad, but my laptop is better for that.
I'd say there are only two areas where iPad is equal or better in experience to a laptop/computer, and those would be photo editing and music making. The caveat here is that I'm talking about photo editing for people who have insufficient experience with Adobe Lightroom, Aperture, and/or Photoshop for the desktop. User-friendly photo editing (you know, for amateurs) is excellent on iPad. Music making follows the same line, in that powerful composing apps like Logic Pro are only available, or just far better on a laptop/desktop. Even some of the more serious elements of Garage Band are just better with a mouse than with a touchscreen. That being said, there are some excellent composing apps like Novation Launchpad, Beatwave, and Figure for just goofing around with music, or composing amateur electronic beats. I imagine apps similar to Finale would work pretty well on a touch interface.
In any case, where tablets are great is reading, web browsing, and watching video. But really, for these things the best device for the task is the one that you have with you. And as a culture, we always have our phones with us. This is why Samsung is putting heart rate monitors on their flagships, and Apple, HTC, and LG are putting motion trackers in theirs (but that's a post for another day).
Because of this, our phones have been steadily growing in size, to the point where the 5.7" Samsung Galaxy Note 4 no longer seems like the giant it once did. I can definitely image a world and a day where the value of the tablet is miniscule. With proper interconnection between large phone, computer, watch, and television, there would be little need for the tablet.
So here's my thought: perhaps Google recognized this, and that's why they didn't make a more serious play at the market. I mean, they literally didn't update the Nexus 10 for three years. And the Nexus 7's were always meant as budget devices. Perhaps Google saw the long haul even as well all held out with our 3.5" iPhones claiming superiority. Perhaps Google was willing to watch the tablet market slip to Apple, because they knew it wouldn't matter in the long run.
And look, they may be starting to be right. Apple's iPad sales are slipping. Consumers aren't upgrading their iPads.
And sure, Google released the new Nexus 9 with HTC, but by most reviews and impressions, the tablet is a very budget device released at too high of a price point. I also think it's worth noting that the tablet only comes in 16 or 32 GB, which seems to place it in a less serious light than iPad, which you can get in 16, 64, and 128 GB.
Samsung hasn't been so willing to surrender the market, but I really hope that their tablet releases (up until the Galaxy Tab S) have not been an honest effort at winning the market, because they've been terrible across the board. The latest tablets from Samsung are only notable because of the thinness, light weight, and excellent (if oversaturated) screens.
This is just my thought, though. Let me know if you agree, disagree, or your feelings are more complicated than that in the comments. Do you think tablets have a future? Do you do awesome things with your iPad?
iPad is the undisputed tablet king. No, that's not the thought, I just needed to lay that out as a bit of exposition.
iPad is the best tablet on the market today. But perhaps that says more about the industry than it does Apple's own design and marketing prowess.
Perhaps iPad is the best because tablets are not the future. Perhaps tablets existed to help us transition to larger screen phones. Apple capitalized on this the most. Other manufacturers, meanwhile, realized that this wasn't part of the long term tech end game, and put out half-hearted attempts or nothing at all.
Think about it, though: what were the best non-iPad tablets? The Nexus 7 lineup were the only good selling flagship tablets. Why did these devices sell well? Primarily, they sold well because they were (are?) cheap, but still work well enough. Google and Asus didn't build the Nexus 7 to radically alter what a tablet is or what we could/should do with it. The Nexus 7 is/was simply a device designed for content consumption.
I think size is relevant as well to this idea. Non-iPad tablets have never really been successful in the ~9-10" range, but sell acceptably in the sub-8" category. This is reflective of the idea that the tablets are for media consumption; these tablets are for doing things on the couch or in bed. iPad, on the other hand, tries to be more with its 9.7" screen. There's room to do more than just read and watch videos. Sure, the Surface Pro 3 has succeeded (on a curved grading scale) at being a "productive" tablet, but I would argue that particularly because of its unoptimized operating system, it's actually a touchscreen laptop, not a tablet.
One of the biggest problems with iPad, though, is that despite Apple's best efforts to make the tablet useful, and despite excellent efforts from developers, iPad is still not the *best* tool for a lot of jobs that I do. There are CAD apps for iPad, but my computer is better for that. There are video editing apps, but a Mac would be better for that. I can bang out a paper, blog post, or long email on my iPad, but my laptop is better for that.
I'd say there are only two areas where iPad is equal or better in experience to a laptop/computer, and those would be photo editing and music making. The caveat here is that I'm talking about photo editing for people who have insufficient experience with Adobe Lightroom, Aperture, and/or Photoshop for the desktop. User-friendly photo editing (you know, for amateurs) is excellent on iPad. Music making follows the same line, in that powerful composing apps like Logic Pro are only available, or just far better on a laptop/desktop. Even some of the more serious elements of Garage Band are just better with a mouse than with a touchscreen. That being said, there are some excellent composing apps like Novation Launchpad, Beatwave, and Figure for just goofing around with music, or composing amateur electronic beats. I imagine apps similar to Finale would work pretty well on a touch interface.
In any case, where tablets are great is reading, web browsing, and watching video. But really, for these things the best device for the task is the one that you have with you. And as a culture, we always have our phones with us. This is why Samsung is putting heart rate monitors on their flagships, and Apple, HTC, and LG are putting motion trackers in theirs (but that's a post for another day).
Because of this, our phones have been steadily growing in size, to the point where the 5.7" Samsung Galaxy Note 4 no longer seems like the giant it once did. I can definitely image a world and a day where the value of the tablet is miniscule. With proper interconnection between large phone, computer, watch, and television, there would be little need for the tablet.
So here's my thought: perhaps Google recognized this, and that's why they didn't make a more serious play at the market. I mean, they literally didn't update the Nexus 10 for three years. And the Nexus 7's were always meant as budget devices. Perhaps Google saw the long haul even as well all held out with our 3.5" iPhones claiming superiority. Perhaps Google was willing to watch the tablet market slip to Apple, because they knew it wouldn't matter in the long run.
And look, they may be starting to be right. Apple's iPad sales are slipping. Consumers aren't upgrading their iPads.
And sure, Google released the new Nexus 9 with HTC, but by most reviews and impressions, the tablet is a very budget device released at too high of a price point. I also think it's worth noting that the tablet only comes in 16 or 32 GB, which seems to place it in a less serious light than iPad, which you can get in 16, 64, and 128 GB.
Samsung hasn't been so willing to surrender the market, but I really hope that their tablet releases (up until the Galaxy Tab S) have not been an honest effort at winning the market, because they've been terrible across the board. The latest tablets from Samsung are only notable because of the thinness, light weight, and excellent (if oversaturated) screens.
This is just my thought, though. Let me know if you agree, disagree, or your feelings are more complicated than that in the comments. Do you think tablets have a future? Do you do awesome things with your iPad?
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Large Screen Optimizations
It's interesting to see Apple finally battle Android OEM's in the giant phone space.
To my perceptions, Apple's strategy to justifying the larger screen is to fit *more* of whatever content you're working with on the screen at once. This can be seen in the two columned landscape view. This can also be seen in the Messages app, for example, where contacts' photos are displayed. This is really smart, especially considering that the brain can't actually multitask. There is some argument for more than one window, but I'm not convinced of the user experience of that on a phone screen: A laptop, yes, a tablet, maybe, but not a phone.
On the other hand, Samsung and LG have opted for putting more apps on one screen as the justification. Samsung has opted for windowed apps on their Note devices, which are their truly "large" screen devices. This "true multitasking" is more reminiscent of traditional desktop operating systems, and thus sits better with the "windows types" as I refer to them. Sony and LG support certain apps working in small windows, but they are not nearly as well developed as Samsung's offering, and honestly I'm okay with that. LG and Samsung also support a split screen function, which I actually think works okay, though I argue that given proper app store support a la Apple, this split screen wouldn't be necessary.
Google, in partnership with Motorola, on the other hand (yes, I have three hands) seems to have made no justifications for the big screen. Stock Android 5.0 is as Lollipop on the Nexus 6 as it is on, say, the Nexus 4, 5, or 7. This is not the right strategy for a truly consumer device, but the argument could be made that the Nexus program has always, and still is, about developers and OEM's not consumers.
How do you want your large screen to be used? Do you even want a large screen phone? Let me know in the comments.
To my perceptions, Apple's strategy to justifying the larger screen is to fit *more* of whatever content you're working with on the screen at once. This can be seen in the two columned landscape view. This can also be seen in the Messages app, for example, where contacts' photos are displayed. This is really smart, especially considering that the brain can't actually multitask. There is some argument for more than one window, but I'm not convinced of the user experience of that on a phone screen: A laptop, yes, a tablet, maybe, but not a phone.
On the other hand, Samsung and LG have opted for putting more apps on one screen as the justification. Samsung has opted for windowed apps on their Note devices, which are their truly "large" screen devices. This "true multitasking" is more reminiscent of traditional desktop operating systems, and thus sits better with the "windows types" as I refer to them. Sony and LG support certain apps working in small windows, but they are not nearly as well developed as Samsung's offering, and honestly I'm okay with that. LG and Samsung also support a split screen function, which I actually think works okay, though I argue that given proper app store support a la Apple, this split screen wouldn't be necessary.
Google, in partnership with Motorola, on the other hand (yes, I have three hands) seems to have made no justifications for the big screen. Stock Android 5.0 is as Lollipop on the Nexus 6 as it is on, say, the Nexus 4, 5, or 7. This is not the right strategy for a truly consumer device, but the argument could be made that the Nexus program has always, and still is, about developers and OEM's not consumers.
How do you want your large screen to be used? Do you even want a large screen phone? Let me know in the comments.
Monday, May 26, 2014
The case for a "Google Experience" store
Samsung’s Experience, Apple’s Lifestyle, Nexus… Devices?
Just finished this post on Medium about my thoughts after visiting a local Best Buy. Let me know what you think in the comments, and also tell me whether you like embedded Medium articles, or prefer native Blogger posts.
Just finished this post on Medium about my thoughts after visiting a local Best Buy. Let me know what you think in the comments, and also tell me whether you like embedded Medium articles, or prefer native Blogger posts.
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