The phone WE want vs. the phone THEY tell us we want...

[anon(5630457)]

This is your opinion.

It's not an opinion. Samsung has a history of being slow with updates while Google and Apple comes out with consistent updates for the software.

 

[Aquila]

Maybe Google should make sure to optimize their update so that it works with their number 1 vendor's phones instead of constantly treating them like they're the enemy.

That's not how any of it works. Google creates the base and then everyone else takes the code and modifies it. Including Google, for the Pixels. The Android that all of the OEMs, Google, Samsung, HTC, etc. doesn't really look like anything we use.

 

[jamezr]

S8/S8+ are Q2, these numbers should be final. What's interesting here is that 1st and 2nd basically didn't change shipment volumes since last year, while everyone except for "other" went down substantially year over year.

Not correct...OPPO and Huawei showed BIG YOY sales increases.....

 

[donm527]

OMG I hope Google can make a prettier phone. I think it'd be hard to make an uglier phone lol.

If they can make a prettier phone and they can work out the distribution they can take more share and basically have more control in the direction of Android.

It's grown on me. I still like what Samsung and LG are doing better. I suspect the Pixel 2 will be better looking.

 

[donm527]

The number to really take notice in that chart is the year-over-year change specifically for Huawei and OPPO and vivo. It affects Apple but not as much as Samsung because I believe they are taking from Android share more than Apple and don't see the double digit rate to slow down. Those companies are not going anywhere.

Not correct...OPPO and Huawei showed BIG YOY sales increases.....
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2017/04/idc-smartphone-growth-q1-2017-100720224-large.jpg

 

[Aquila]

Not correct...OPPO and Huawei showed BIG YOY sales increases.....
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2017/04/idc-smartphone-growth-q1-2017-100720224-large.jpg

lol my fault, I read it backwards. You're right, Apple slightly down, China way up and "others" slightly down.

 

[Aquila]

The number to really take notice in that chart is the year-over-year change specifically for Huawei and OPPO and vivo. It affects Apple but not as much as Samsung because I believe they are taking from Android share more than Apple and don't see the double digit rate to slow down. Those companies are not going anywhere.

Yep, Apple has basically given up on China for the time being.

 

[anon(10185658)]

Samsung is no longer making what I want - a flagship smartphone with a FLAT, rather than curved, display panel.

Buy the G6

 

[djrakowski]

Buy the G6

I did - as a secondary device. It'll arrive tomorrow!

 

[donm527]

They haven't given up but I do have to make a correction when I implied didn't affect Apple... yeah from earnings call yesterday their sales did slide in China... having a hard time competing with the those companies there.

Yep, Apple has basically given up on China for the time being.

 

[Aquila]

The variety of options is part of what makes no perfect phone. If you want a flat display, you might lose the industry leading display. If you want a metal back, you're losing wireless charging, even though it's possible. If you want more internal storage, you're paying a premium for it. If you want great audio, you're losing out on this or that. Kinda sucks that there isn't one phone that does it all - but if there were, the other phones would have no reason to exist. Also doesn't help that we don't all want the same things from our phones. Some people want what oem A is doing while others hate that and want what B is doing. So we all buy the one that has the package of features that comes closest to our wish list. At least I hope that is what we're doing.

 

[Almeuit]

Maybe Google should make sure to optimize their update so that it works with their number 1 vendor's phones instead of constantly treating them like they're the enemy.

But they don't? They hand Android over as they give it to their phones -- then Samsung modifies. Google can't be held for how Samsung does the modifications since Google doesn't program those changes in.

 

[donm527]

Man... OPPO with their OnePlus 3/3T... one model per year, 25.6 million sales... with no carrier support!

I've said elsewhere 3T is one of the best flagship/flagship killers of the year for the price. All those others with minimum carrier support which mainly helps Samsung's numbers. If OPPO and others can get carrier support that would be something.

Not correct...OPPO and Huawei showed BIG YOY sales increases.....
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2017/04/idc-smartphone-growth-q1-2017-100720224-large.jpg

 

[frellingfrakker]

Just saw this thread. I love Android and love my S8+ but I'm pretty sure no one was asking for 18.5:9 ratio or a curved screen or oddly placed FPS. Samsung markets just as well if not better than Apple.

 

[Highrisedrifter]

Over the years I have swapped between Apple and Android for the simple reason that I use whatever device fits my needs at the time.

One thing I will say about Samsung is that they are usually first (or among the first) to innovate but that technology can be implemented in its infancy.

For instance, Iris scanning is pretty hit and miss for me and the Smart Lock is a royal pain in the posterior as it seems to lose the GPS lock on my home location, necessitating me 'pinging' the map to get it to lock on again. I'm not saying that I am representative of everyone with these comments, by the way, just that on my iPhone, things just work well all the time and on my Samsung I am tearing my hair out to find out what app or system process just used my text message notification to tell me something utterly irrelevant and usually unwanted.

Apple would only bring these things to market once they were usually 100% working perfectly but this would mean that it would be a year, two, three or more years after Samsung did, by which time the technology is old and people, myself included, are clamoring for new things.

IOS is a lot more robust because the apps don't have to compete with hundreds of different processor and screen combos like Android does. Also, the policed walled garden makes it harder (not impossible) for garbage to be thrown in.

This post seems like I am a typical Apple fanboy. No, I love my Samsung S8+ far more than my iPhone 7 plus. I prefer the size, the screen, the expandable memory, the drag-and-drop interface between PC, the lack of iTunes (god I hate iTunes), the fact that it has a headphone jack and many other things that my iPhone simply cannot do. I swapped back to my iPhone for a day or two to see if I was making a mistake in swapping over. In my hands now it just reminds me of a Fisher-Price child's toy. It's big and cumbersome and the screen feels dull and lifeless. I know this is far from the truth but compared to the S8+, those are my perceptions.

The two ecosystems are for different people though. iOS is for people that just want a phone that has email, internet, text etc etc and they don't have to worry about it. Android is for people who want the same things but want a granular control over their device.

Both ecosystems are needed to keep the other one in check to a degree and I find the 'fandroid' vs 'iSheep' argument to be stultifying boring. If internet warriors really do hate on someone else for their choice of smartphone then I feel they have far bigger problems in their own life to worry about...

 

[jamezr]

Man... OPPO with their OnePlus 3/3T... one model per year, 25.6 million sales... with no carrier support!

I've said elsewhere 3T is one of the best flagship/flagship killers of the year for the price. All those others with minimum carrier support which mainly helps Samsung's numbers. If OPPO and others can get carrier support that would be something.

Totally agree on the OPO3 t...great phone for the price! I had it for a while but ultimately the camera let me down too many times compared to my 7+ and Pixel XL i had at the same time.
I will probably get the OPO5 when it comes out to see if they improved the camera and it is on par with say the S8+ and G6.

 

[donm527]

One major update per year (for example iOS 9 to iOS 10)... but in between that time they had about 10 minor updates throughout the year.

And if you look at the changelog at each update, there are a lot of fixes that I feel go towards trying to maintain a smooth system year round. I can't imagine Android phones not being a positive by that type of support all year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_version_history#iOS_9

Not true. Apple gives one major update to the OS per year and so does Samsung.

 

[anon(5630457)]

Not true. Apple gives one major update to the OS per year and so does Samsung.

I'm not talking about those updates.

 

[keno101]

Ditto to the nth degree. Hopefully the curved screen fad will fade as quickly as Samsung's no-SD card phase did.

I think both companies know exactly what they're doing. For it being the phone "they want" the iPhone certainly doesn't seem to be doing too shabby in the US market.

Don't think it's going anywhere. People like me overwhelmingly love the curve.

 

[dov1978]

What was wrong with last year's camera that you felt needed to be changed? And are you saying that some inexplicable Force caused you to buy the S8 rather than the LG phone which you prefer?

I never said I preferred the LG? I said I prefer flat screens. The s8 Plus is a better package overall. And yes that force is Samsung's marketing which really is pretty powerful.
As for last years camera, it wasn't the best and a year later it still isn't the best. It's good but not great and to be honest I was hoping the s8 would have got the dual camera set up that the Note 8 will probably have.