THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S4: THE AFTERMATH... PART 1

THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S4:
THE AFTERMATH... PART 1

Good very late evening, Synapse Circuit Readers! I have broken my no PC over the weekend rule and for good reason... The aftermath of the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch! Now that I have been able to calm down and breathe I can survey the damage that the S4 has left in its wake...

ANDROID IN / OUT FIGHTING
Samsung has gone interstellar with the aid of Android and it appears as though the competition aren’t happy that they are still struggling to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. I suspect that the competition was quietly hoping that Samsung would get sucked into a black hole. As you have witnessed, (here comes the pun of 2013) Samsung has entered another Galaxy with the S4!

HTC is likely to have been hoping for the worst for Samsung’s S4. If you have been reading my blogs you’ll know that HTC has been losing a considerable amount of money and it is not surprising. Let me recap:

Confusing naming conventions.
Not establishing a main flagship outright.
Poor advertising campaigns.
Poor camera performance.

Uh-oh, I can see HTC bypassing my request to review their One! Lol! The good thing about being an independent writer is that I can tell it like it is – from my perspective.

From my wonderful or not so wonderful perspective I can’t say that I understand ethos behind what they do... Check this out...

Benjamin Ho, the chief marketing officer for smartphone maker HTC, has allegedly slammed Samsung's Galaxy S4, says the new mobile by the Korean electronics giant "offers nothing new" to its users.

Ho said that with a continuation of a plastic body and a larger screen being the most obvious physical change, "Samsung's new Galaxy pales in comparison to the all-aluminium unibody HTC One".

He also stressed that HTC remains the best option for those people looking for the best technology wrapped in premium design...

Hey, doesn’t that statement remind you of another company? Anyway, this is the state of the infighting amongst the Android handset manufacturers. HTC, for some strange reason, cannot understand why they are not at the top of the chain and others like LG are looking to rise up! Here’s why I find HTC’s stance strange...

Despite the beautiful design of the One they have shot themselves in the foot several times!

1. They made the battery non-removable. C’mon, every good Android manufacturer should know that Android fans want the option to replace the battery when needed. Why did they do that?

2. No slot for memory expansion via a microSD card. Why?  We need space for our photos and videos.

3. A questionable camera with a new concept called “ultapixels” which translates into a 4MP camera with the ability to draw in more light for a more vivid photo. Why didn’t HTC go along with every other manufacturer and put in a 13MP camera?

If the One doesn’t take off then HTC can only put the blame on them. I think it is better to create an all round decent handset than to have the strategy of hoping the competition fails to deliver; and when the competition does deliver it is talked down. If you ask me it is no wonder that HTC is losing money! What would it have taken to add conventional features that Android fans want?

DEFENSIVE, DUMB, DEFEATED
Yes, that’s right! I am describing Apple’s attempt to take some shine off the Galaxy S4! What Apple has done is to create a special preach-vert section to their website extolling the virtues of their iPhone, etc... That’s right; I have invented an apt way to describe Apple’s marketing at people: PREACH-VERT. You read it here first on Synapse Circuit’s blogspot!

I might just take it apart in another blog... Anyhoo, the preach-vert – as you’d expect – is a thinly disguised shot at not only Samsung but Android too! I guess Apple has not learned a darned thing... Every time Apple issues a statement or preach-vert against the competition it is the competition that rightly benefits from it! Keep it up, Apple! By all accounts the pre-order for the S4 has already surpassed the S3 here in the UK! I’ve pre-ordered mine!

What’s so funny is about the Apple preach-vert is that they have had to cancel manufacture of the iPhone 5 due to a decrease in demand and that Apple shares have tumbled! I don’t know who they are trying to fool!

iPhone 5S Rumour: The latest I have heard is that the iPhone 5S scheduled for this summer and it will “blow the S4 away...” Well, this I have gotta see! I am very, very curious! Samsung has packed just about everything I could not think of in such a delightful looking handset that it is unreal!

WHAT I MISSED
Maybe it is due to the fact that there is so much going on with the S4 that not everything could be demonstrated in more detail! For example there was a lot of talk about the 360 abilities of the camera. Instead they concentrated on the dual functions in that you can be a part of the main photo and video with a little trickery! Needless to say that I would have liked to have seen a demo of the 360 function!

I also missed a more elaborate demo of the S Voice; what has changed? If heard correctly, the S Voice assistant sounds more fluent and natural. I could be wrong. I would like to know what progress has been made since the S3 with the S Voice – especially when taking Google Now into consideration. But it can’t hurt to have two great virtual assistants in one amazing handset!

I was going to say that Apple’s talk is cheap, but it is costing them sales and decreasing the value of its shares!

In part two I will wax on about what I thought of the design... Catch you on the flipside...

Thank you for reading!

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