3 ms·
I think a lot of people were underwhelmed by the design. They've been iterating on pretty much the same design for years. It might make some sense if it was an
by nextparadigms 14y ago
I think a lot of people were underwhelmed by the design. They've been iterating on pretty much the same design for years. It might make some sense if it was an iconic amazing design to begin with, but it never was.
I also don't like the fact that Samsung seems to be going ever heavier with Touchwiz, instead of the opposite direction like HTC with Sense 4. At this point they are basically fighting Google's improvements, and just replacing them with their own. I think that's the wrong direction for them to take.
It's one thing to have the Apple and Microsoft communities against you, but it's quite another if the Android community turns against you for screwing with Android too much. I don't like Samsung's direction, and I think they will feel it in revenues by the end of the year if they keep this up with other flagship devices.
The Pentile screen was a real downer, too. I couldn't believe it myself that they actually used Pentile. That was probably the most shocking and disappointing thing for people expecting better hardware from Samsung.
One thing I like about the Galaxy S3 - perhaps the only thing - is the processor. It's probably the best on the market right now in both CPU and GPU performance (the only one that beats the iPhone 4S in GPU right now). It seems to have crazy fast browsing. I saw Engadget loading their own website on it, and it was like instant. The benchmarks seem to confirm a significant increase in browser peformance compared to everyone else in the Browsermark test:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5810/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-performance-preview http://www.anandtech.com/show/5810/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-perf...
This only makes me more excited for the upcoming Exynos 5250 chip with a totally new CPU (Cortex A15) and a totally new GPU and architecture (Mali T604). I'm hoping this chip will come out in both the next Nexus phone and in the Galaxy Note 2.
- taligent 14y agoI have to agree with the adding more and more layers on top of Android. It is ridiculous and will do nothing but increase the delay between updates which is already unacceptably poor. Android really needs to sort this UI layer mess out.
- eco 14y agoDoes a pentile layout matter on a "retina display"? The pixels shouldn't be discernible at these resolutions. When the Galaxy Nexus came out there was a lot of confusion and argument about whether it was pentile or not. If you can't tell by looking at it it's kind of a moot point.
- ajross 14y agoAmen. The "retina" nonsense has to stop. Apple ended up with an extrarodinarily high resolution for their screen because of design constraints, not aesthetic appeal. They had to match the physical size of the existing phones with an integral increase in pixel count (so as to not break the existing pixel-aligned artwork in deployed apps). Except for those rare individuals who can focus at 4 inches, there's no visual value in a 330dpi screen vs. the 280+ pitches we're seeing elsewhere.
- esolyt 14y agoBy retina display, I assume you mean displays with high PPI. Yes, it is still noticeable. Not everyone notices it of course, but people who notice it (like me) define it as "grainy" or having a "green tint".
- buster 14y agoI really never got it. I had a Nexus One for one and a half years and now a Galaxy Nexus since launch. The pentile display never bothered me, i never knew there was a difference until i came across those articles, stating how bad Pentile looks. Bullshit, really. It doesn't matter _in real life_. I guess the criticsm only comes from people scared by those i-hold-a-microscope-on-the-display "tests". I very rarely use a microscope on my mobile.