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onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
So basically the GS4 is a thinner GS3 on the outside? Lame......

*mimics critics who said the same thing when the iPhone 5 came out mentioning how it looked just like the 4/4S.......*

But, 441 ppi is impressive. Cool that it is LTE Advanced ready..... Just hope the US doesn't get screwed again and doesn't get the Exynos 5 CPU......

I'll repeat this as much as I have to.

There's a reason why people respond to Samsung's [if true] minor S3-to-S4 upgrade differently than they do to Apple's minor upgrades.

Samsung's smartphone lineup is so much more versatile than Apple's. Samsung has a wide range of phones to cover different sizes and price levels, many of them are current generation, and offer different experiences but still remain smartphones.

With Apple, there is only one screen size that is of current generation. The smaller option is over a year old, and there's no larger screen size at all.

Also, just taking their phones at face value, the S3 offers so much more packed into it than the iPhone 5 -- in other words, it truly is hard for Samsung to introduce many hardware changes (and again, they have other lineups to cover other ground in the smartphone world). Apple, on the other hand, intentionally withholds hardware changes (they don't believe wireless charging is worth it, nor in screen size options, nor NFC, nor notification lights, nor expandable memory, etc.).

Likewise, Samsung doesn't recycle their design for two years, as Apple has been doing, and will likely continue to do with the 5S.

So, is the S3-to-S4 upgrade small? Sure -- as small as the 4S-to-5 upgrade, if you want to really compare. But does Samsung take two years to do it? No.

TL;DR: No one is giving Samsung a free pass. Samsung just has their bases more covered.
 

Drew1204

macrumors member
Nov 6, 2009
39
0
I'll repeat this as much as I have to.

There's a reason why people respond to Samsung's [if true] minor S3-to-S4 upgrade differently than they do to Apple's minor upgrades.

Samsung's smartphone lineup is so much more versatile than Apple's. Samsung has a wide range of phones to cover different sizes and price levels, many of them are current generation, and offer different experiences but still remain smartphones.

With Apple, there is only one screen size that is of current generation. The smaller option is over a year old, and there's no larger screen size at all.

Also, just taking their phones at face value, the S3 offers so much more packed into it than the iPhone 5 -- in other words, it truly is hard for Samsung to introduce many hardware changes (and again, they have other lineups to cover other ground in the smartphone world). Apple, on the other hand, intentionally withholds hardware changes (they don't believe wireless charging is worth it, nor in screen size options, nor NFC, nor notification lights, nor expandable memory, etc.).

Likewise, Samsung doesn't recycle their design for two years, as Apple has been doing, and will likely continue to do with the 5S.

So, is the S3-to-S4 upgrade small? Sure -- as small as the 4S-to-5 upgrade, if you want to really compare. But does Samsung take two years to do it? No.

TL;DR: No one is giving Samsung a free pass. Samsung just has their bases more covered.

One more time?
 

quagmire

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2004
6,986
2,493
I'll repeat this as much as I have to.

There's a reason why people respond to Samsung's [if true] minor S3-to-S4 upgrade differently than they do to Apple's minor upgrades.

Samsung's smartphone lineup is so much more versatile than Apple's. Samsung has a wide range of phones to cover different sizes and price levels, many of them are current generation, and offer different experiences but still remain smartphones.

With Apple, there is only one screen size that is of current generation. The smaller option is over a year old, and there's no larger screen size at all.

Also, just taking their phones at face value, the S3 offers so much more packed into it than the iPhone 5 -- in other words, it truly is hard for Samsung to introduce many hardware changes (and again, they have other lineups to cover other ground in the smartphone world). Apple, on the other hand, intentionally withholds hardware changes (they don't believe wireless charging is worth it, nor in screen size options, nor NFC, nor notification lights, nor expandable memory, etc.).

Likewise, Samsung doesn't recycle their design for two years, as Apple has been doing, and will likely continue to do with the 5S.

So, is the S3-to-S4 upgrade small? Sure -- as small as the 4S-to-5 upgrade, if you want to really compare. But does Samsung take two years to do it? No.

TL;DR: No one is giving Samsung a free pass. Samsung just has their bases more covered.

I wasn't calling the GS4 a minor upgrade. Just making fun of people that made fun of the iPhone 5 saying it was just an iPhone 4/4S just thinner and taller......

I wasn't using it as a serious knock against the phone itself. More towards the people who made fun of the iPhone 5's external design......
 

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,093
22,159
No there does appear to be a dimple/dent there bottom left. Look at the finger/thumb and look down towards the back panel.

No, that is a dent.

To my eyes it looks like a reflection of a camera being horribly distorted by the angle of the bend of the aluminum. Note the corresponding bending of light directly atop that band.

IDK, I trust a major company like Samsung enough to ensure their PR blitz is properly equipped with grade a phones. Why would anyone working the event allow a damaged phone to be photographed instead of swapping it out with one of the other dozens of placeholders on hand? It doesn't make sense to me that this would be a dent.

That said, what is the hole to the left and why does it look so janky?
 

wxman2003

Suspended
Apr 12, 2011
2,580
294
can you guarantee that it came from the factory like that? and the dent DID NOT come from the hundreds of journalists playing with the phones (and dropping them)?

Then that's a major fail on Samsung for allowing those poor pics to go out like that. Samsung read those reviews well ahead of time along with seeing those pictures. I'm sure Samsung would have told CNET that those pictures do not represent their product correctly.
 

joshwithachance

macrumors 68020
Dec 11, 2009
2,106
1,320
I'm not impressed, sadly. I was ready to be thrilled with this launch, but it made me love my iPhone 5 all the more. And on the Android front of things, I find the HTC One to be quite desirable, and may check it out once it's released. Samsung has gotten overly confident, and are releasing a sub-par product because of it. Sure it has a gorgeous display and powerful processor, but so does the One. I guess there's always the Note 3, and next year...
 

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
I wasn't calling the GS4 a minor upgrade. Just making fun of people that made fun of the iPhone 5 saying it was just an iPhone 4/4S just thinner and taller......

I wasn't using it as a serious knock against the phone itself. More towards the people who made fun of the iPhone 5's external design......

And if you read my post, you'll see why there's a perfectly good and legitimate reason to react to the iPhone 5 upgrades in such ways.
 

McCool71

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2012
561
280
That said, what is the hole to the left and why does it look so janky?

My guess is that it is the IR-transmitter.

I personally applaud the comeback of this feature in phones (first the HTC One and now in the S4). Used it a lot back in the day before IR to my great disappoinment stopped appearing in phones a few years ago.
 

wxman2003

Suspended
Apr 12, 2011
2,580
294
To my eyes it looks like a reflection of a camera being horribly distorted by the angle of the bend of the aluminum. Note the corresponding bending of light directly atop that band.

IDK, I trust a major company like Samsung enough to ensure their PR blitz is properly equipped with grade a phones. Why would anyone working the event allow a damaged phone to be photographed instead of swapping it out with one of the other dozens of placeholders on hand? It doesn't make sense to me that this would be a dent.

Then why would Samsung allow a photo of the back plate gap to be used?
 

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,844
1,579
The Verge also now calling it a Galaxy SIII S

Gizmodo also had this to say

There has been a ton of hype and build-up to this device, and ultimately, it left us feeling cold. The S IV feels uninspired. There are small spec bumps from the previous generation and there's a ton of software which will largely sit unused. There's just no wow-factor here.
 

McCool71

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2012
561
280
Then that's a major fail on Samsung for allowing those poor pics to go out like that.
These are photos that Cnet has taken themselves of a pre-production unit.

Thank god we are past the times when reviewers are forced by corporations to use pre-approved and photoshopped photos in their first look/hands-on-articles.
 

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,093
22,159
Then why would Samsung allow a photo of the back plate gap to be used?

Because its a bit unbecoming to snatch a phone out of a reviewers hand. You've got to remember the people handing these things out to reporters are not high level execs, they are the equivalent of booth people at trade shows. There to highlight the product, but probably paid like ****.
 
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