Samsung shamelessly steals the iPhone 3G design, again

i have been a loyal mac guy for over 10 years. i love their industrial design and the user experience. 2 months ago my iphone stopped providing me with sound alerts for texts messages and incoming calls.. the ATT rep where i purchased the phone simply said "yeah that happens sometimes..." i called ATT for an early upgrade. i was not due for an upgrade for another 7 weeks. however they allowed me to upgrade with one caveat, i could not upgrade to the iphone. they said apple does not allow for early upgrades. ouch and ok.

i'm not a techie guy but i do research my phones every 2 years. i learned what LTE was and that NYC had it. my carrier had 2 LTE phones and i went with the samsung skyrocket.  the transition was bumpy, but i am loving this phone.

is samsung UI as intuitive as the iphone? no. it took me a week to figure out how to program different sound alerts for the email and the texts messages. many android forums had many users posting this same question. a samsung rep told he he did not know how to assign different alerts. this almost caused me to return the phone, but i figured it out.

i tried android one and a half years ago with the motorola droid x the day it came out. it  was a frustrating 3 weeks. when i called motorola because the browser was slow, they blamed verizon's coverage in nyc at the time. i live in brooklyn by the east river and the GPS 75% of the time placed me in the east river closer to manhatten and when i used around me app i would get results for businesses in manhatten. verizon said this was a google problem. i tested all my friends iphone GPS and it was quick and spot on! i continued to have a slow browser experience and when verizon said it might be malware in an app i downloaded. i also became frustrated with the uncertainty of my phone receiving that latest android update and all the teasing rumors i read online that it was going to happen soon.

i returned my droid and got an iphone. i did not regret that decision.

i am concerned with getting updates on my skyrocket. i know ATT just announced that i will be getting ice cream sandwich. but with the nature of the android eco-system being fragmented, i do worry about being abandoned in the future. heck i just updated my old iphone a few weeks ago ( i use it for pandora, slacker and itunes on my home sound system).

the flip side of the android market being flooded with phone is that my skyrocket having being released 4 months earlier was discounted to $115 from the original $250. i get a consistent 20-25 mbs download speed. if i had been able to get the iphone when my phone broke, i would not have access to nyc's LTE network.

thank you apple.

the screen on the skyrocket, although not as good as the retina display, is great. the market on the android, though not as large as apple, has allowed me to get  apps that provide the same functions as the iphone app store. the one exception is the hipstomatic camera app. i do miss that. i am happy with the media players i have downloaded. on my double twist music player (which was free on the market) i can even make playlists on my phone.

when i use my iphone for music now, i am amazed at how tiny the screen is. the 4.5 inch screen on the skyrocket allows for the ultimate user experience. watching movies i downloaded on a train ride from nyc to philly is wonderful. i simply could not do this with the iphone. and watching a movie with subtitles on the iphone was impossible! i have subscribed to the nytimes since they offered this online option. much better experience on the 4.5 inch screen.

my android phone is fully customized from the keyboard, media players, lock screen and too many other features to list here. people complain about battery life. on the skyrocket i purchased a charger and battery for $40 and only need the second for the above mentioned train trips. i believe the reason apple has not gone to the larger screen is battery life and realizing that without the option to replace the battery, the iphone would get horrible reviews.

so phone and battery cost me $155. the new iphone would have cost $200. but the bigger cost would have been 2 yrs off of the blazing fast LTE network. i consistently get 20-25 mbs on the download speedtest.

i think apple has to reconsider this once a year release of their phones. i read that one android phone maker (HTC?) has committed to releasing fewer phones and focusing on quality products. apple has erred in the other direction. i know i am not the only user to be "forced" to switch because of an early update issue. apple has to start producing phones with larger screens.-size does matter.

and while doing research on phones i watched a "drop test". you know where this is going. the iphone 4 belongs in a museum...simple, beautiful design- but so impractical. drop it and there is a very good chance your home screen will receive multiple cracks. and the insurance on the iphone was very expensive. great ideal... release a product that is fragile and force your loyal fan base to purchase this insurance.

rest assured samsung will not be copying this design. with regard to copying industrial design and the OS. the phone has to be rectangle and research has clearly indicated consumers prefer a "rounded" phone to grip. with regard. with regard to the OS, again there are only so many ways to design this system. 

even steve jobs quoted picasso- "good artist copy, great artists steal". apple has to reassess how often it releases new phones. i really think steve jobs liked the once a year launch to feed his ego. it also has to offer different size phones and if it can't develop a battery with longer life, to give the user the option to use a spare battery.

wanna compare user experience? i can't tell you how much i enjoy my skyrocket knowing i don't have to worry about running low on my battery. i'm not limiting my data usage now like i was with my iphone when out on the street. this is the ultimate user experience!

apple set the standard for the smart phone. other manufacturers may have "stolen" some of their designs. apple needs to do the same. their hubris of only offering their phone on ATT for years opened the door to android and their focusing on law suits instead of basic redesigns (battery and screen size) along with infrequent phone releases is not nimble enough for the smart phone market of today.

i am curious to see how tim cook manages apple and especially the iphone.

brooklyn11222

lol why do u think samsung is copying? u expect them to make square smartphones?...

I'm as much an Apple fanboy as the next guy that checks tuaw.com and other sites of the ilk practically every 30 minutes.  But lets not dilute ourselves into believing that Samsung is some evil and/or stupid company for seeming to copy designs.  While copying is ethically wrong every company copies from others when they see good ideas.  Apple's no less guilty of this than anyone else (there's even a word for it).  The best thing about, as far as I see it, is they patent the things they make and even some that they steal.  They know how to survive and fight in the business world and do so to their advantage.  Samsung's biggest mistake, it seems, is not doing due diligence in searching copyrights/patents and making sure their modifications would be sufficient to make its way through court.

what is its price in Pakistan

Oh the horror! How DARE Samsung make a rectangular phone with a curved back.

who fucking cares

this is an example of sheep.....yall act like apple is just invented everything......apple has stolen alot...they even say that n steve jobs bio.....one word XEROX.....is where he got the mouse.....GUI.......and alota other stuff.....he didnt make any thing......his marketing skills r awesome no doubt....his partner STEVE WOZNIAK...MADE THE FIRST APPLE COMPUTER.....STEVE JOBS HELP SELL IT....so whose the copy cat.....

That would include apple products since they use samsung electronic products.  In case you did know. :)

stop crying u pathetic apple fanboys! lol

Shamesung truly believes the international and US courts will side with them. Thats why they can do whatever the hell they want. Like slavishly copying Apple. The US/International courts are afraid of Samsung and will probably protect them rather than defend the real innovator like Apple.

Oh Samsung, really? Here's some free business advice:

You can continue copying Apple's designs, but what you cannot copy is the OS in terms of user experience and polish. You also can't copy Apple's ecosystem and business attitude.

People are already starting to realise that they won't get OS updates for their six month old top-of-the-line Samsung phone, which means that in a few months*:
- 30% of current customers will not notice anything, because they don't use the internet on those devices but for posting their latest Angry Birds achievements;
- 50% of current customers will dump your product for the "real thing", which is an Apple device and realise how nice it is to get major updates for more than two years (25% of those will wonder how they could have enjoyed Angry Birds on something other than an Apple device);
- 10% of current customers will be so aggravated that using Android devices over Apple's stuff has become mainstream and switch back, because iPhones are hip again;
- 10% of current customers will continue using your stuff because they never used your OS variant anyway and chose your stuff for reasons regular consumers don't need to understand or care about.

As long as you don't respect your customers you won't have them for long.

———
* Numbers sourced from a recent study done by the analyst firm "Cavern where the Light won't Shine".

Do you mean end user products or also things by Samsung that they sell to other manufacturers?
That would be a stupid idea, because this company probably has made at least one part inside each of your gadgets.

No, there shouldn't be a boycott against Samsung. People aren't stupid… well no, they are, but most of them will still be able to tell apart this and the real thing.

Agreed that this phone is a mirror image of the 3G, but, aren't a lot of phones out today? When I walk past the mobile line-up at any store I can't tell the difference between the makers. All nice and slim, sleek, touch screen pretty much the same size as the rest. I won't hold it against Samsung, or any other company. I'm an iPhone'r so I'm always in the lead anyway :)

Without the Samsung logo on your TV, would you know who made it?