Samsung innovating hard

[Sevanw]

To me it seems the only company innovating at full stream non stop is Samsung. Whether its the CPU, Display, Camera, Storage, and now Battery, Samsung is the only do all true OEM. This company does not get the credit it deserves for its contributions to the mobile industry.

http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-doubles-lithium-battery-capacity-620330/

 

[epicrayban]

Samsung is relentless. You can call it "kitchen sink" tactics all you want, but when things stick, they make a difference.

It's unfortunate people's blind loyalty can't recognize how much they're doing for the mobile industry and general tech-world.

And it's a shame things aren't always a given in the world. The best mobile device should sell the best, but we all know that's not happening. It's a shame. But Samsung will continue truckin' along. They are by no means unsuccessful.

Go, Samsung. I hope their successes this year lights a fire under the rest of the competition (be it Apple or HTC or Microsoft).

 

[cube]

I'm dissapointed all versions of the S6 and maybe also the Note 5 don't have removable batteries. No, a big internal battery is not enough.

 

[that be me]

Can’t innovate anymore my ass!

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Samsung is relentless. You can call it "kitchen sink" tactics all you want, but when things stick, they make a difference.

It's unfortunate people's blind loyalty can't recognize how much they're doing for the mobile industry and general tech-world.

And it's a shame things aren't always a given in the world. The best mobile device should sell the best, but we all know that's not happening. It's a shame. But Samsung will continue truckin' along. They are by no means unsuccessful.

Go, Samsung. I hope their successes this year lights a fire under the rest of the competition (be it Apple or HTC or Microsoft).

I admire what Samsung do for the mobile industry but 'best' is always going to be subjective with a product. Each product has its strengths and its weaknesses and the consumer has the job of determining which are important to them.

I may have tried another Samsung phone like the S6 or S6 Edge but my contract ended in August last year and there was no way I was hanging on another 6 months just to see what the S6 was like. The iPhone stole a big chunk of the high end market this time around unfortunately for Samsung. Unless they bring their launches forward to compete against Apple, they will miss the next round of upgrades again. Samsung also don't market their innovation well enough IMO.

 

[The Game 161]

I'm dissapointed all versions of the S6 and maybe also the Note 5 don't have removable batteries. No, a big internal battery is not enough.

64GB, 128GB isn't enough?

I like my removeable batteries on my note 4 but the longer i've had my note 4 the less I've used them.

I only use them when I badly need them...when i'm on hoilday in july I will take my two spares but apart from that i just charge one battery.

 

[MRU]

I actually think what Samsung need to do is innovate less.

They need to spend less time concentrating on what new hardware feature they 'have to have' to outdo the previous model, and instead focus solely on what matters most... The software driving it.

Often the software especially on new hardware features feels like its there merely to try and justify new hardware existence rather than to enhance user experience in any meaningful way.

I just wish one generation they went big on 'Refinement'.

The S6 Edge was one of the most beautiful devices I've bought and yet I feel the software didn't do it justice.

Edge features were minimal - just enough to acknowledge the new screen hardware - and fundamentally touchwiz was still as bloated under the hood as it ever was.

Imagine them saying this year were making minimal changes to hardware just subtle improvements here and there - but were going to make massive software changes. Touchwiz rebuilt from ground up making it the fastest & efficient Android skin on the market. Software that was coherent and designed with one ethos in mind. Anything extraneous stripped and only things that serve the end user beneficially in a meaningful way.

Then they really would have a totally amazing handset.

As it stands - its like a relentless race to bigger better hardware undermined by halfbaked software to support it based on a legacy of redundant heavy software.

Come on Samsung - please listen to me and make my wish cone true so that the S7 edge really is a truly killer handset in 'every regard' and not just on some.

 

[epicrayban]

I admire what Samsung do for the mobile industry but 'best' is always going to be subjective with a product. Each product has its strengths and its weaknesses and the consumer has the job of determining which are important to them.

I may have tried another Samsung phone like the S6 or S6 Edge but my contract ended in August last year and there was no way I was hanging on another 6 months just to see what the S6 was like. The iPhone stole a big chunk of the high end market this time around unfortunately for Samsung. Unless they bring their launches forward to compete against Apple, they will miss the next round of upgrades again. Samsung also don't market their innovation well enough IMO.

No one -- not bloggers, professional writers, reviewers, nor people -- seemed to have any problem proclaiming the iPhone was the best smartphone all those years when it was the best smartphone. Myself included.

Now, if something non-Apple takes the claim of "best," suddenly, best is subjective and we can't really call anything best. What does "best" even mean? Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. Blah blah blah.

Strange.

 

[Lloydbm41]

Don't care about any other part of the phone that Samsung makes, except the display. Samsung leads the industry in mobile display tech and they are the only ones pushing innovation in this area. Truly flexible displays with quantum matrix displays in 5 years? Only if Samsung is doing it will pricing become realistic for the average consumer.

 

[Sevanw]

I'm dissapointed all versions of the S6 and maybe also the Note 5 don't have removable batteries. No, a big internal battery is not enough.

With killer battery stats like this from a big battery, I'm totally fine with a closed form factor. The S6 Active is the new King of the hill in GSM Arena's battery life torture test. Unbelievable. Can't wait for the Note 5.

 

[Abazigal]

To me it seems the only company innovating at full stream non stop is Samsung. Whether its the CPU, Display, Camera, Storage, and now Battery, Samsung is the only do all true OEM. This company does not get the credit it deserves for its contributions to the mobile industry.

http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-doubles-lithium-battery-capacity-620330/

Nobody ever said Samsung wasn't innovating.

However, Samsung's strengths seem to be more in the way of supplying components to other companies. For all their hardware prowess, Samsung's software capabilities really stink, even moreso than Apple's, and it mars the end user experience of their products. The end result are phones which are clearly less than the sum of their parts. And it shows when their products don't seem to offer the performance you think a product of those hardware specs should.

 

[spinedoc77]

I actually think what Samsung need to do is innovate less.

They need to spend less time concentrating on what new hardware feature they 'have to have' to outdo the previous model, and instead focus solely on what matters most... The software driving it.

Often the software especially on new hardware features feels like its there merely to try and justify new hardware existence rather than to enhance user experience in any meaningful way.

I just wish one generation they went big on 'Refinement'.

The S6 Edge was one of the most beautiful devices I've bought and yet I feel the software didn't do it justice.

Edge features were minimal - just enough to acknowledge the new screen hardware - and fundamentally touchwiz was still as bloated under the hood as it ever was.

Imagine them saying this year were making minimal changes to hardware just subtle improvements here and there - but were going to make massive software changes. Touchwiz rebuilt from ground up making it the fastest & efficient Android skin on the market. Software that was coherent and designed with one ethos in mind. Anything extraneous stripped and only things that serve the end user beneficially in a meaningful way.

Then they really would have a totally amazing handset.

As it stands - its like a relentless race to bigger better hardware undermined by halfbaked software to support it based on a legacy of redundant heavy software.

Come on Samsung - please listen to me and make my wish cone true so that the S7 edge really is a truly killer handset in 'every regard' and not just on some.

I wonder who is to blame though. My Note 4 on KitKat ran incredibly well, rarely lagged except for the app selector and was a dream to use. The same Note 4 on Lollipop is bordering on being a POS, bad lagging, crashing apps, apps staying resident in memory and heating up and eating battery. I've gotten to the point where sometimes I want to go back to an iPhone since it was so rock solid, but then again I would hate to be a technological caveman returning to iOS. I feel like I'm stuck in the middle, settling on either end.

I do highly appreciate Samsung efforts though. I think Apple has the edge in refining technology to seem like it's "new", and having a knack for knowing what features are powerful to introduce, where Samsung just throws anything out and sees what sticks. Samsung seems like they don't really study the market very much or just don't have a great grasp of what people truly want or what sells. Don't get me wrong they've had some huge hits such as inventing the phablets market. In terms of OS though Touchwiz is miles ahead of iOS (but what isn't?) and a far distance ahead of vanilla android or any other OEM flavor IMO. It truly is a pretty awesome skin and has some insane features like multi window, minimizing phone call info while in another app, etc.

Now with that said, if Samsung truly comes out with the first foldable screen IMO that will revolutionize the industry. The entire tablet segment would probably disappear overnight, at least 8-10" tablets I bet. It's the one feature I've been looking forward to for years and years. Give me a foldable screen and heck I can forgive everything else.

 

[tbayrgs]

I actually think what Samsung need to do is innovate less.

They need to spend less time concentrating on what new hardware feature they 'have to have' to outdo the previous model, and instead focus solely on what matters most... The software driving it.

Often the software especially on new hardware features feels like its there merely to try and justify new hardware existence rather than to enhance user experience in any meaningful way.

I just wish one generation they went big on 'Refinement'.

The S6 Edge was one of the most beautiful devices I've bought and yet I feel the software didn't do it justice.

Edge features were minimal - just enough to acknowledge the new screen hardware - and fundamentally touchwiz was still as bloated under the hood as it ever was.

Imagine them saying this year were making minimal changes to hardware just subtle improvements here and there - but were going to make massive software changes. Touchwiz rebuilt from ground up making it the fastest & efficient Android skin on the market. Software that was coherent and designed with one ethos in mind. Anything extraneous stripped and only things that serve the end user beneficially in a meaningful way.

Then they really would have a totally amazing handset.

As it stands - its like a relentless race to bigger better hardware undermined by halfbaked software to support it based on a legacy of redundant heavy software.

Come on Samsung - please listen to me and make my wish cone true so that the S7 edge really is a truly killer handset in 'every regard' and not just on some.

This^

Nobody ever said Samsung wasn't innovating.

However, Samsung's strengths seem to be more in the way of supplying components to other companies. For all their hardware prowess, Samsung's software capabilities really stink, even moreso than Apple's, and it mars the end user experience of their products. The end result are phones which are clearly less than the sum of their parts. And it shows when their products don't seem to offer the performance you think a product of those hardware specs should.

And This^.

Both are spot on IMO. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[spinedoc77]

64GB, 128GB isn't enough?

I like my removeable batteries on my note 4 but the longer i've had my note 4 the less I've used them.

I only use them when I badly need them...when i'm on hoilday in july I will take my two spares but apart from that i just charge one battery.

I hate running out of space when recording video, at the insane resolution the Note 4 uses that's pretty darn quick. I definitely have no need for a removable battery and think most don't either with low power mode, quick charge, etc. But the loss of removable memory would really make me think twice about a Note 5. But then again almost nobody has removable memory anymore, sigh.

 

[scott craft]

I've never been a Samsung fan, but with the S6 they did a lot of things I like. Fingerprint scanner, screen, camera and form factor have the S6 as a phone I'm seriously considering. I can't wait to see what the Note 5 is like. Good job Samsung!

 

[I7guy]

No one -- not bloggers, professional writers, reviewers, nor people -- seemed to have any problem proclaiming the iPhone was the best smartphone all those years when it was the best smartphone. Myself included.

Now, if something non-Apple takes the claim of "best," suddenly, best is subjective and we can't really call anything best. What does "best" even mean? Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. Blah blah blah.

Strange.

A breakthrough in battery technology has lots of positive implications regardless of who developed it. What does this have to do with the iphone? It's manufacturer agnostic and I'm sure if this can actually come to fruition, Samsung will be selling this technology to the competitors because it's a cash cow.

 

[minimo3]

I'm glad Samsung is pushing the envelope with hardware so that xiaomi, hauwei, oppo, etc can see which features take off with consumers and they can copy them in their handsets which sell for half the price of Samsung.

 

[jamezr]

I'm glad Samsung is pushing the envelope with hardware so that xiaomi, hauwei, oppo, etc can see which features take off with consumers and they can copy them in their handsets which sell for half the price of Samsung.

Ha ha thanks a good point. They all copy from each other. We consumers win from all that!

 

[Sevanw]

Nobody ever said Samsung wasn't innovating... For all their hardware prowess, Samsung's software capabilities really stink, even moreso than Apple's, and it mars the end user experience of their products. The end result are phones which are clearly less than the sum of their parts. And it shows when their products don't seem to offer the performance you think a product of those hardware specs should.

This^



And This^.

Both are spot on IMO. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Funny you should say that, it seems most have no problems with the new software. No software experience is perfect, and in the end I prefer facts to measure performance. What I perceive isn't running smoothly could be far from the truth. Apps refreshing may look like it's an issue, but what if the overall time to perform desired functions is still faster than the rest. Here's a shootout using real life tests.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/fastest-smartphone,review-2881.html

 

[mi7chy]

Kudos to Samsung for pushing to have the best of everything with S6. The Note 5 will expand on that and will have things that the competition don't even have.

 

[tbayrgs]

Funny you should say that, it seems most have no problems with the new software. No software experience is perfect, and in the end I prefer facts to measure performance. What I perceive isn't running smoothly could be far from the truth. Apps refreshing may look like it's an issue, but what if the overall time to perform desired functions is still faster than the rest. Here's a shootout using real life tests.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/fastest-smartphone,review-2881.html

So, of those 9 tests, 4 are benchmarks, another is video encoding (yup, we're all doing that everyday), and the last one is wifi speed test--of which all phones are achieving data transfer rates far faster exceeding the speeds the vast majority of us will never see on any networks we connect to. Yes, those are perfect representation of the everyday use of a smartphone.

This shootout is a perfect example of exactly what myself and others are talking about. We're not disputing the hardware Samsung uses isn't top notch--it's almost always near the top of the benchmark results. The display is industry leading and the camera on the S6 is arguable the best available on a flagship smartphone. What this 'shootout' doesn't show is widely reportedly memory issues, the documented lag in app switching (plenty of videos over on YouTube illustrating this), the often subpar battery life many (notice I didn't say all) are reporting, or the general malaise many of us have with the overall UI design.

And what about the Note 4 issues Spinedoc mentioned (also, very widely reported) since updating to Lollipop? Same hardware that was running KitKat--all that's changed is the software. Maybe the Android base software is too blame? I don't know but a great many of the other devices that have also received Lollipop are reporting better performance with each Lollipop update. Why is the Note suffering so badly?

Nobody here is claiming the S6 is a bad device--it's likely the best Samsung has ever made. The problem is that with the hardware and horsepower is has 'under the hood', it should be blowing away everything else and that's simply not the case. What I don't understand is that it's the same tune every year--why can't Samsung see it?

 

[kdarling]

I wonder who is to blame though. My Note 4 on KitKat ran incredibly well, rarely lagged except for the app selector and was a dream to use. The same Note 4 on Lollipop is bordering on being a POS, bad lagging, crashing apps, apps staying resident in memory and heating up and eating battery...

A lot of us feel similarly about iOS devices upgraded to iOS 8. It's like all the big players are not doing enough testing these days.

Now with that said, if Samsung truly comes out with the first foldable screen IMO that will revolutionize the industry.

The entire tablet segment would probably disappear overnight, at least 8-10" tablets I bet. It's the one feature I've been looking forward to for years and years. Give me a foldable screen and heck I can forgive everything else.

This times a million.

 

[The Game 161]

I hate running out of space when recording video, at the insane resolution the Note 4 uses that's pretty darn quick. I definitely have no need for a removable battery and think most don't either with low power mode, quick charge, etc. But the loss of removable memory would really make me think twice about a Note 5. But then again almost nobody has removable memory anymore, sigh.

Depends what the lowest built in storage is for you...64GB might be the lowest amount i hear

 

[jamezr]

It looks like Qualcomm wants to get it right with the Snapdragon 820. They want Samsung to make it...
Samsung said to be manufacturing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 with 3.0GHz Kyro CPU cores

http://www.sammobile.com/2015/06/26...ms-snapdragon-820-with-3-0ghz-kyro-cpu-cores/

 

[Sevanw]

It looks like Qualcomm wants to get it right with the Snapdragon 820. They want Samsung to make it...
Samsung said to be manufacturing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 with 3.0GHz Kyro CPU cores

http://www.sammobile.com/2015/06/26...ms-snapdragon-820-with-3-0ghz-kyro-cpu-cores/

Wouldn't be surprised if this rumored agreement was part of a deal to get the 820 for cheaper than usual to put in the Note 5 in certain markets.