Technology Android

[dilla]

The iPhone has been surpassed in overall aesthetics. It still feels more solid in your hands, but in terms of design and the curves, the S3 blew the 4S out of the water, and with the release of the 5 a few months later it remained inferior to Samsung's design.

Apple is starting to spring some leaks now. The CEO Tim Cook had his approval rating drop. Zuckerberg's actually went up. Apple stock has been high but shaky and people are bemoaning the introduction of a "budget-iPhone" tarnishing and diluting the Apple brand and the quality normally associated with it.

Someone needs to get a Ouija board and start talking to Jobs from the dead to figure out how to fix this. I hate to admit the doomsayers might be right about their prediction of Apple failing after Jobs' passing. I thought he had plans to sustain the company for at least another year or two.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Fighting a losing battle. Would he spend so much energy of his last few weeks on it?

 

[ARon]

The iPhone has been surpassed in overall aesthetics. It still feels more solid in your hands, but in terms of design and the curves, the S3 blew the 4S out of the water, and with the release of the 5 a few months later it remained inferior to Samsung's design.

Apple is starting to spring some leaks now. The CEO Tim Cook had his approval rating drop. Zuckerberg's actually went up. Apple stock has been high but shaky and people are bemoaning the introduction of a "budget-iPhone" tarnishing and diluting the Apple brand and the quality normally associated with it.

Someone needs to get a Ouija board and start talking to Jobs from the dead to figure out how to fix this. I hate to admit the doomsayers might be right about their prediction of Apple failing after Jobs' passing. I thought he had plans to sustain the company for at least another year or two.

I think this was going to happen regardless of Jobs being alive or not

 

[Casey]

This has been a long time coming - http://www.droid-life.com/2013/03/18/google-to-release-unified-chat-serviced-called-babble/

 

[Casey]

With regards to Apple, even the Apple fanboys have admitted that Google has gotten better at design and hardware (Apple's traditional key strengths) MUCH faster than Apple has gotten better at web services. Apple point blank do not understand web services. Apple Maps being a prime example.

And really, Apple have been following the crowd for a while. They said nobody wanted smaller tablets. Then the Nexus 7 was a hit, all of a sudden there's an iPad Mini. They said nobody wanted bigger phones. Then the S2, S3 and other Android phones all sold a lot of units, all of a sudden the iPhone 5 display increases and there's rumors of a Galaxy Note style Apple "phablet". It's pathetic.

Their business model is still 20th century. They want to sell hardware and lock you in to it and they want you to purchase software for it. That's the exact thing that Apple have been doing since the late 1970's and it doesn't work in a 21st century enviroment. Look at Angry Birds - the exact same game is free on Android and yet has generated more revenue on Android compared to the iOS version which costs money. Concepts like the lock-in to iTunes for file transfer and backups etc. That's just a joke. And forcing people to use their shitty apps. Chrome for iOS is limited because it simply doesn't have the access that it needs to be as great as it is on Android, because Apple want you to use piece-of-shit Safari. This kind of lock-in is for suckers. Imagine buying a laptop and being forced to use a specific browser, etc? People wouldn't stand for that, and people are waking up to realise that behaviour is unaceeptable on mobile devices also.

If Apple really believed in their software they would launch it on other platforms. But nobody would use it because it sucks, and they know that. Nobody uses Safari on Windows because it's inferior to other software. If Apple Maps is as good as they think it is, launch it on Android and see if anybody uses it!!! Launch Siri on Android and see if anyone uses it. I guarantee they will not. So why the fuck would you buy a phone where you're forced to use this bullshit software?

 

[ARon]

Anyone running custom roms on their nexus 4? if so what are you using

 

[masta247]

This has been a long time coming - http://www.droid-life.com/2013/03/18/google-to-release-unified-chat-serviced-called-babble/

Yeah, good idea. They need a good unified instant messanger.

On a side note I find Google+ integration a little annoying. I won't lie, I don't really like G+ too much and I don't plan on using it yet Google are trying to force me more and more to do so. I needed a G+ account just to add comments to Google maps places or to add Google Play comments, you can't do that without a G+ account now, which I think is a very bad thing. I think this was done to show off the amount of active users, very much artificially. No wonder the amount of users is so high now if I count as an active user as well.

 

[dilla]

I think this was going to happen regardless of Jobs being alive or not

I think the fact that he is gone has caused some analysts and consumers to lose confidence, hence the doomsday predictions. Under Jobs, it was authoritarian rule and it seemed like product lines were very distinct from one another. Under Cook, he seems to be just like any other CEO of a failing company, like Nokia, where he doesn't seem to have the final say on what is being released. And even if he does, it's shit that deviates from Apple's philosophy. You know, the one that made it the most valuable and profitable company.

I don't know if Apple is being forced to bend to the market/competition's demands when it made the iPad Mini and it certainly would be breaking one of Jobs' rules of not making a budget iPhone.

Consumers are definitely letting Apple get away with using the same OS for the last 5 years. I agree, Android has changed a TON in that time, and for the better. I loved the iPhone 4 design and I'll even excuse the 4S for following a tick-tock system with its updates. But the 5 was just a slap in the face to Apple fans.

But here's what I want to see in the next two years: the OG iPhone, and then the 3GS was leaps and bounds ahead (for its time) from one another. Especially the design. The 4 changed it again, from curved to more boxy. The 5 just kind of stretched it a bit because of the bigger screen.

What is Samsung going to do?

The GS was very similar to the iPhone (I'm sure we've heard enough on that), the S2 wasn't that big of a change, but noticeable enough. The S3 change to more curvy was huge and great and all that jazz. Looks like the S4 is to the S3 what the iPhone 5 is to the 4S; just kind of...stretched out. Better camera and processor. What's the next step for S5, which is supposed to be the "revolutionary" one? More features? What about the design of the phone? Will they finally take a step forward in design and bring something new and unique, or will they remain stagnant with it like Apple was between the 4 and 5? You're going to hit a design roadblock eventually which will remain for some time until you come up with some new material or design that just sets it apart from the others (iPhone 4's glass back, unibody, aluminum MacBook Pros).

 

[masta247]

I believe it would be incredibly bad for Apple to release a "budget" Iphone. A "budget" Iphone is basically a past-generation Iphone. It works well for everyone and changing it would be complicating things beyond help.
Anyways, most companies now are going in this direction of releasing a single, hard-hitting phone. Take HTC for example. This year they only have the HTC One. Samsung has some lower end devices for extra profit, but they clearly push the main S flagship and you don't hear much about their other phones, and that's how they like it.

The thing they should do with the Iphone is.. pretty much focusing on making it a better device. They lost their shit with the 4S but it wasn't so far behind everyone else so it was ok and the fact that it was an Iphone was enough. Now the Iphone 5 is so far from what it should have been and so far from the competition that it looks almost irrelevant, even though it's carrying the incredibly powerful brand that people trust.
The problem is that the Iphone 5 didn't change anything (contrary to what the ad says). It's the same old phone, while the competition went miles ahead during that time. Stretching the screen to 4 inches is a laughable change. It barely proves that Apple have lost their understanding of peoples' wants and needs. The Iphone screams for a complete redesign, something that Apple might be afraid of, without Jobs they are scared of screwing it up.

I believe they could pull off releasing 2 or 3 Iphones, but it'd need to be something like with their Macbook lines where they have Air and Pro Macbooks. They could release one ultraslim/small Iphone and one bigger and more powerful. That would be a smart solution and the only thing they need to do to make them succeed is to make them better in new ways - for example make the smaller Iphone stand out by using new tech and slimming down the body even further, cutting down the bezels etc. The Iphones no longer stand out with anything. There's nothing the Iphone 5 does best, plus it looks like they totally lost their skills at doing anything new or innovative. They need to do something new with the Iphone, make it look cool again. A minor design change would no longer cut it since it's so far behind already, and matching the competition wouldn't cut it as well as that would only further the "Apple copycat" opinion. They have to do something very innovative with the Iphone, I'm curious if they still have what it takes to handle it.

 

[ARon]

Let's be real here. The budget iPhone isn't for the US or certain parts of Europe or Japan. Android has such a tremendous growth rate because of all the cheap phones being sold worldwide not because of feature phones like the GS III. Yes those are the main phones everyone looks at but they aren't the bread and butter. If anything I think a budget iPhone would be good for any company but Apple lol. Apple hardware is looked at as the best of the best and it would indeed diminish their brand but think of all the new iOS devices using the app store and itunes if they did sell millions of budget phones. iOS thrives because of the app store and iOS users don't mind paying for that shit either. Apple is the king of turning a profit off of anything so as far as a return on the product is concerned this seems like a no brainer, but for marketing their brand this decision is way difficult. Regardless this will be a very interesting decision.

 

[dilla]

The iPhone has been riding its popularity from day one of the release of the iPhone. They need a new killer-feature that they can use to make consumers think twice about leaving Apple for the GS4, or just Android in general.

Some sites are reporting that Apple already has this killer feature already, but it could just be a false rumor or it could be something that Apple thinks is revolutionary, but really isn't. Like a new screen.

They do need to revamp the OS. The hardware is really fine. No one really complains that their iPhone is slow and the iPhone takes as good pictures as any other phone on the market. No one complains about the screen quality either, just that it needs to be bigger.

It's iOS that needs to be changed completely. I've already said they've kept it the same since day-one. That's six years of the same shit. Even Windows hasn't had this issue.

In order for all of this to happen, Apple needs to get rid of its coonshit rules and mentality and expectations.

 

[masta247]

A very decent preview of the Galaxy S4:

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4-review-910p8.php

Looks like it will be the best Galaxy phone for its time. It's out of this world.

 

[S O F I]

looks boring. passing on that for sure.

 

[Pittsey]

A very decent preview of the Galaxy S4:

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4-review-910p8.php

Looks like it will be the best Galaxy phone for its time. It's out of this world.

It's shit hot and will sell very, very well. Still happy with my N4 though.

 

[masta247]

Yeah, it'll surely sell like crazy. One of our carriers announced preorders and closed them the same day, even though the price wasn't even revealed to these pre-ordering people.
My phone is almost 1.5 years old and this Galaxy tickled my inner nerd so much that I'm considering buying it as soon as the first full reviews appear on the internet, particularly from GSMarena and Anandtech.
There's nothing on the market that is as good with any single feature except of the design, although only the aesthetics because putting in a 5 inch screen in such a small and lightweight phone and still fitting in a removable battery and micro sd slot and bigger battery seems like a pretty awesome achievement. I still think it looks better than the S3 though, and while it doesn't look very good its design kind of grew on me in real life.

What concerns me though is that the SGS line has become what the Iphone used to be - even in the Android world there are some haters, just because it sells better and they prefer the Xperia Z, for example (which is a great phone as well, just not as great overall and it won't sell as great). It leads me to believe that once something becomes big there are people who will hate on it just because of this, even if they're from the same camp and they'd normally praise it and enjoy it very much under different circumstances.

 

[Pittsey]

. It leads me to believe that once something becomes big there are people who will hate on it just because of this, even if they're from the same camp and they'd normally praise it and enjoy it very much under different circumstances.

Summed me up perfectly.

 

[dilla]

I think the S4 is for people that missed out on the S3 last year and didn't want to invest in one several months after its release. Of course, people with S3s will upgrade as well, but this is for those people with 4Ss that want to switch to Android, but could not because the S3 came out almost six months after it.

If I didn't have a phone that was around a year old, the S4 would be great. Better camera, processor, features. But for an S3 owner, it really doesn't provide much of an upgrade. Nothing worth the hassle of selling your S3 and making enough to buy an S4 off-contract.

I know Masta said his Samsung from a few years ago was powerful enough for him, and I feel the same way about the galaxy S3 now. If the phone were to come out with a much better processor I doubt that I would really reap the benefits of it. The S3 is plenty fast for me and I can't see its hardware making me wish for a better processor or more RAM for at least another two years. I think the hardware is good enough that even cyanogen mod will be able to support it for a few more updates thus making it a solid phone to have until support wanes.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

This has been a long time coming - http://www.droid-life.com/2013/03/18/google-to-release-unified-chat-serviced-called-babble/

Saw this the other day. Don't like the name 'Babble' though.

With regards to Apple, even the Apple fanboys have admitted that Google has gotten better at design and hardware (Apple's traditional key strengths) MUCH faster than Apple has gotten better at web services. Apple point blank do not understand web services. Apple Maps being a prime example.

And really, Apple have been following the crowd for a while. They said nobody wanted smaller tablets. Then the Nexus 7 was a hit, all of a sudden there's an iPad Mini. They said nobody wanted bigger phones. Then the S2, S3 and other Android phones all sold a lot of units, all of a sudden the iPhone 5 display increases and there's rumors of a Galaxy Note style Apple "phablet". It's pathetic.

Their business model is still 20th century. They want to sell hardware and lock you in to it and they want you to purchase software for it. That's the exact thing that Apple have been doing since the late 1970's and it doesn't work in a 21st century enviroment. Look at Angry Birds - the exact same game is free on Android and yet has generated more revenue on Android compared to the iOS version which costs money. Concepts like the lock-in to iTunes for file transfer and backups etc. That's just a joke. And forcing people to use their shitty apps. Chrome for iOS is limited because it simply doesn't have the access that it needs to be as great as it is on Android, because Apple want you to use piece-of-shit Safari. This kind of lock-in is for suckers. Imagine buying a laptop and being forced to use a specific browser, etc? People wouldn't stand for that, and people are waking up to realise that behaviour is unaceeptable on mobile devices also.

If Apple really believed in their software they would launch it on other platforms. But nobody would use it because it sucks, and they know that. Nobody uses Safari on Windows because it's inferior to other software. If Apple Maps is as good as they think it is, launch it on Android and see if anybody uses it!!! Launch Siri on Android and see if anyone uses it. I guarantee they will not. So why the fuck would you buy a phone where you're forced to use this bullshit software?

Agreed 100%. I was thinking about Siri on Android earlier today when I read something along the lines of Apple saying that Eric Schmidt was lying about Google Now being submitted to the App Store. Google apps would be more successful on iOS more than Apple could ever hope for their apps to be successful on Android.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

What do people think of the rumours that Google might ditch Android and opt for Chrome OS for it's mobile devices.

I think that if that were to happen, then A LOT of development would be needed for Chrome OS. I don't see why the two cant co-exist, though Android sales would slow the growth of Chrome OS. I'd like to see it happen though, or at least have phones that can dual boot into any of the two OSs.

I think it was Sergey Brin or Andy Rubin that said that features of Chrome OS would be submerged with Android over time.

Don't really know what Andy Rubin's resignation would mean for Android, but it'll be interesting!!

 

[ARon]

Google said a day or two ago Chrome and Android are going to remain separate