3 ms·

> Look at the following photo and tell me that Samsung > didn't completely rip off the iPhone's look and feel, > right down to the icon layout A grid of

> Look at the following photo and tell me that Samsung > didn't completely rip off the iPhone's look and feel, > right down to the icon layout A grid of icons with text underneath is considered ripping off Apple now? Are you serious? > Samsung had an opportunity to innovate in a way that > would make the Galaxy S2 look and feel nothing like an > iPhone and instead look and feel like a new, innovative > product. They clearly didn't do that. Have you actually used a Samsung Android phone? The "look and feel" is nothing like an iPhone. In some cases this is to Samsung's detriment. Just because one screen happens to look similar to an iPhone doesn't mean the entire UI is copied. > Comments like "My G2 has a back button unlike the iPhone" > or "But the icons have square corners instead of rounded > corners!!", in my opinion, completely miss the point. But they're entirely the point! You can not say on one hand that Samsung is incapable of differentiating their product, and then wave away all the ways in which their product is differentiated. > The point is that Samsung is clearly trying their hardest to make their > products look very similar to Apple's products. Recall that iOS 5 has been announced with a notification tray that is a carbon copy of Android's notification tray. Taking good features from the competition and iterating on them is par for the course.

evilduck 15y ago
But they're entirely the point! You can not say on one hand that Samsung is incapable of differentiating their product, and then wave away all the ways in which their product is differentiated. You can unless the difference is attributable to Samsung. The back button was present on Android prototypes in 2007. Samsung didn't hop on the Android bandwagon until 2009.
SnowLprd 15y ago
A grid of icons with text underneath is considered *ripping off* Apple now? Are you serious? As I said in another comment here: It's not just the app icon layout. It should be obvious to any casual observer just how many things Samsung copied: the highlighting on the bottom row of icons, the dots that represent different pages of apps, the overall aesthetics of the handset itself, etc. Pointing out one of these things and saying "Should Apple have a monopoly on X?" is, once again, missing the point. It's the combination of X, Y, and Z that makes the product look like an iPhone instead of a differentiated product. You said: Have you actually used a Samsung Android phone? The "look and feel" is nothing like an iPhone. [...] Just because one screen happens to look similar to an iPhone doesn't mean the entire UI is copied. If Samsung's Android phones have differentiated user experiences that aren't evident from the home screen, then I applaud them. That doesn't, in my opinion, negate the fact that their home screen and phone design looks entirely too similar to the iPhone. You can not say on one hand that Samsung is incapable of differentiating their product, and then wave away all the ways in which their product is differentiated. I never said that. My point is that those minor tweaks are, in my opinion, insignificant in relation to how similar the rest of it looks. To proffer a crude and admittedly horrible analogy, it seems like Samsung is painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa and selling it as a separate product. In any case, I'm guessing we disagree on how much differentiation Samsung has done here, but different opinions are what make the world go 'round. :) Recall that iOS 5 has been announced with a notification tray that is a carbon copy of Android's notification tray. Taking good features from the competition and iterating on them is par for the course. I agree completely, which is why I've said all along that this whole patent litigation silliness should go away.
- andylei 15y ago
  > If Samsung's Android phones have differentiated user experiences that aren't evident from the home screen, then I applaud them. That doesn't, in my opinion, negate the fact that their home screen and phone design looks entirely too similar to the iPhone. why would you expect these two products to be differentiated on every feature? do you actually expect two touch screen phones to be different in every way? is it ridiculous that iphone's voice calling feature (where you can talk, and someone on the other side can hear you) is a "carbon copy" of old dumb phones?
- patrickas 15y ago
  > their home screen [...] looks entirely too similar to the iPhone Maybe that's a small nit, but Samsungs's home screen looks nothing at all like the iPhone. You have to go to the less used "applications list screen" on their phones and compare that to the iPhone's default home screen so that they look similar. It is less used because on android you put you most accessed stuff on the main screen and click the icons/widgets form there. Here is a pic: http://www.itworld.com/sites/default/files/iPhone_vs_Galaxy-600.jpg http://www.itworld.com/sites/default/files/iPhone_vs_Galaxy-... Left is iPhone's main screen, middle is Samsung's application list (I heard it repeated so much even I used to think that was Samsung's home screen), right is Samsung's actual home screen which is very different.
cjboco 15y ago
> A grid of icons with text underneath is considered ripping off Apple now? Are you serious? People keep using this same argument, but there's a little more too it than that. For example, if a graphic designer took the Coca-Cola logo and changed it just slightly. By your logic, they are in the clear because it's just "type", it's not like Coca-Cola invented fonts, right? I think most people agree that there are enough similarities between the phones that it could be confusing, hence Apple is trying to protect it. You don't hear anyone complaining that MS ripped off Apple. MS came up with something that is different. All though it's still just a "grid of icons with text underneath".
- vacri 15y ago
  A grid of icons with text underneath has been with us since the start of WIMP interfaces, and every OS that has a GUI has displayed this. Comparing it to the static image of a highly-stylised corporate logo is utter nonsense.

evilduck 15y ago

But they're entirely the point! You can not say on one hand that Samsung is incapable of differentiating their product, and then wave away all the ways in which their product is differentiated. You can unless the difference is attributable to Samsung. The back button was present on Android prototypes in 2007. Samsung didn't hop on the Android bandwagon until 2009.

SnowLprd 15y ago

A grid of icons with text underneath is considered *ripping off* Apple now? Are you serious? As I said in another comment here: It's not just the app icon layout. It should be obvious to any casual observer just how many things Samsung copied: the highlighting on the bottom row of icons, the dots that represent different pages of apps, the overall aesthetics of the handset itself, etc. Pointing out one of these things and saying "Should Apple have a monopoly on X?" is, once again, missing the point. It's the combination of X, Y, and Z that makes the product look like an iPhone instead of a differentiated product. You said: Have you actually used a Samsung Android phone? The "look and feel" is nothing like an iPhone. [...] Just because one screen happens to look similar to an iPhone doesn't mean the entire UI is copied. If Samsung's Android phones have differentiated user experiences that aren't evident from the home screen, then I applaud them. That doesn't, in my opinion, negate the fact that their home screen and phone design looks entirely too similar to the iPhone. You can not say on one hand that Samsung is incapable of differentiating their product, and then wave away all the ways in which their product is differentiated. I never said that. My point is that those minor tweaks are, in my opinion, insignificant in relation to how similar the rest of it looks. To proffer a crude and admittedly horrible analogy, it seems like Samsung is painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa and selling it as a separate product. In any case, I'm guessing we disagree on how much differentiation Samsung has done here, but different opinions are what make the world go 'round. :) Recall that iOS 5 has been announced with a notification tray that is a carbon copy of Android's notification tray. Taking good features from the competition and iterating on them is par for the course. I agree completely, which is why I've said all along that this whole patent litigation silliness should go away.

andylei 15y ago
> If Samsung's Android phones have differentiated user experiences that aren't evident from the home screen, then I applaud them. That doesn't, in my opinion, negate the fact that their home screen and phone design looks entirely too similar to the iPhone. why would you expect these two products to be differentiated on every feature? do you actually expect two touch screen phones to be different in every way? is it ridiculous that iphone's voice calling feature (where you can talk, and someone on the other side can hear you) is a "carbon copy" of old dumb phones?
patrickas 15y ago
> their home screen [...] looks entirely too similar to the iPhone Maybe that's a small nit, but Samsungs's home screen looks nothing at all like the iPhone. You have to go to the less used "applications list screen" on their phones and compare that to the iPhone's default home screen so that they look similar. It is less used because on android you put you most accessed stuff on the main screen and click the icons/widgets form there. Here is a pic: http://www.itworld.com/sites/default/files/iPhone_vs_Galaxy-600.jpg http://www.itworld.com/sites/default/files/iPhone_vs_Galaxy-... Left is iPhone's main screen, middle is Samsung's application list (I heard it repeated so much even I used to think that was Samsung's home screen), right is Samsung's actual home screen which is very different.

cjboco 15y ago

> A grid of icons with text underneath is considered ripping off Apple now? Are you serious? People keep using this same argument, but there's a little more too it than that. For example, if a graphic designer took the Coca-Cola logo and changed it just slightly. By your logic, they are in the clear because it's just "type", it's not like Coca-Cola invented fonts, right? I think most people agree that there are enough similarities between the phones that it could be confusing, hence Apple is trying to protect it. You don't hear anyone complaining that MS ripped off Apple. MS came up with something that is different. All though it's still just a "grid of icons with text underneath".

vacri 15y ago
A grid of icons with text underneath has been with us since the start of WIMP interfaces, and every OS that has a GUI has displayed this. Comparing it to the static image of a highly-stylised corporate logo is utter nonsense.