@Vaul and TDG discuss a month in the Samsung Galaxy - Part 1

TDG: After the big review of the current top smart phones on the market, and after waiting for them all to come out so I could have a hands on play with each of them - I was taken by a sudden whim and got myself the Samsung Galaxy Note.

@Vaul: And I, after careful thought and painful deliberation went for the Galaxy S3.

TDG: So Samsung have done well from us this round!  I really don't want to make that a bad word on HTC though - what I think we're both doing here is answering a call of exploration - giving Samsung a try - I'm not at all dissatisfied by my experience with HTC, in fact, they've left a very high bar for Samsung to clear, and I'm sure I'll return to HTC again in the future.
Let's talk about the S3 first though, since I think it's fair to say that will be the more popular of the two.

Ooh, my phone. I would have had very little criticism of the S3 until yesterday, when the cheapness of the build became apparent. A little bit of the chrome paint has chipped off, it's under my snap on case, possibly caused by the case snapping on, but I know it's there. It's kinda irritated me. I was hoping to keep this phone pristine.

I think it may well age fairly quickly in terms of asthetics. Since I was hoping to sell this phone on after I was done with it, this is quite disappointing. :(

TDG: Build quality is a definite stronghold of HTC's. The Desire just felt right. Durable textured body that doesn't feel like it needs a case, well balanced weight, substantial feel - HTC get this right and Samsung could do to take note.  I've seen a few posts on HTC's Twitter feed highlighting news reports where a HTC phone did something amazing like taking a bullet for someone.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPSY24d6gz4&feature=youtu.be]

After hearing of that, I gave serious thought to keeping my Desire in my shirt pocket instead of my jeans.  On the plus side, you'll survive if someone shoots you in the heart.  However, radiation from our mobile phones is probably going to cause a tumour epidemic in our generation given a few decades of continuous exposure, and as much as I value my testicles, after much debate I figured the heart is more important, so I'm keeping the radioactive activity all in my pants.

@Vaul: I don't know how to respond to any of that.

TDG: Plus the IT crowd made this point:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSaQx1jgM-I]

@Vaul: Yep, an important factor to be sure… soooo… the Galaxy S3?

TDG: Yes!  Please, do go on.  How about battery life? A weakness of just about every smart phone - does the S3 score well?

@Vaul: I was looking at the battery life last night, it was about 13% after 14 hours of usage. Which meant that at about 10pm I was starting to think about putting it on charge.  It hadn't had a hugely stressful day, just a regular one, so I think thats a good indication of it's battery life. A full day isn't a bit stretch.

I have to confess I don't really use my phone for music, I love my iPod Nano too much, but for the purposes of this review I did try it (it was not just because I totally forgot to take my iPod to work - it's because I'm a committed tech review blogger person), and there is a single irritating scratchy noise that's repeated every minute or so.  No, that's not the right way to describe it.  It's more a crackle, for like a quarter of a second, if that. It's an artefact I guess. possibly a problem with the way it creates the sound. I have heard it on all plugged in headphones. It's not terrible, but it's there, and it irritates me a little when I do use it.  The headphones are way better than the HTC equivalent that were packaged with my last phone (that was the 'pre-HTC with Beats' era though), but not a patch on my Sennheiser CX299's that I use with the ipod.

The key place that I do use the mp3 player habitually, is when I shower! I stick an album on super loud on the speaker and set it down out of range of the water jets. It's loud enough to be heard over the shower noise happily, and that's not something every phone could do.

TDG: On the whole… this isn't a massively positive review.  To recap, cheap feel, so-so battery life, and a weird noise in the background for music.  So far, it's only doing well in the 'Shower Music System Metric', and I've never ever seen that displayed on a feature card in a phone shop, which tells me it's not considered a key factor to most consumers.  And what of the Sfeatures? Do you make Snotes? Talk to Svoice? Swatch Svideos swhile smulittasking? Sbeaming swith sanyone s'yet?

@Vaul: It's true, I have been pretty negative so far, but now we've come to S-Feats, the special Samsung software… I will continue in exactly the same tone.

SVoice isn't something that I talk to. He can regularly determine if I'm swearing at him, and censor it with asterisks, but other than saying " I don't know what you mean by: 'You're a C*** head'" He doesn't usually take my meaning particularly well.

I saw a Siri advert on TV last night halfway through the walking dead and tried to replicate a Siri search on Svoice, he was pretty lousy.

TDG: In fairness, we did a similar test in the office with Siri on a 4S, and it performed almost as badly, so I suspect… ready yourself for gasp mode… the advert is staged.

@Vaul: But I think Siri is at least a shadow of what they pretend it is in the adverts. Svoice, not even that.

TDG: Yeah, I have to agree.

@Vaul: Snotes - meh, not really looked at it, I still use note everything, as it auto backed up all my notes on my sd card on my old phone.  There's a million apps already well matured and doing a good job at note taking, and Samsung's own brand version does nothing worth moving for.  S-Calender is okay, though I wish it would learn (or allow me to change) my preferences to save stuff automatically to my google calendar rather than the samsung calendar but the interface is nice enough. Not spectacular, but nice enough.  The S-video picture in UI feature is... there. To be quite honest, I haven't really found a use for it yet, beyond showing people it's there.

TDG: Perhaps if you commuted by train or something and you were in the habit of watching a series on your way to work - you can now check the headlines at the same time.

@Vaul: I guess. *shrugs*

S-beam, I haven't met anyone with a compatible phone. My flatmate's Samsung Galaxy Nexus won't do it with me so I can't say, but we did 'Android Beam' something, which I've learnt can't do pictures - only links.

TDG: Oh!  That's… disappointing.  I thought it did pictures and stuff.

@Vaul: That's what S-beam is meant to do, but like I say, haven't been able to try it, and to be honest, the Android beam was all a bit fidley and unimpressive so if that's an indication then don't get your hopes up.
Also, I haven't found anywhere I can use my phone as a magic payment brick but then I don't live in New York so I didn't really expect to.

TDG: Right.  So….

@Vaul: So it would appear I pretty much hate my new phone.

Which is not the case at all - I love it!  It's fast and peppy. The battery does last all day.  The camera is magnificent, in fact, I haven't talked much about that and I should because it's really where the S3 takes the top prize over all other phones.  I always fancied myself as an amateur photographer, but carrying a camera around is such a ball-ache. I have, for the first time, uploaded entire albums of photos to facebook. I really enjoy the camera. The pictures look great, and crucially, in good light the picture snap is almost instant.

TDG: Now the HTC OneX is instant right?

@Vaul: Yes - but I've done side by side testing with the OneX and the S3, while perhaps a 5th of a second off being 'instant', is visibly better in every other way.  It handles zooming much much better, copes better across different light conditions, and takes a slightly crisper picture.  If that's the cost of a fraction of a fraction of a second, it's worth it.  It's the same camera as found in the iPhone4S, but faster.  The video is good too, been really enjoying being able to record nice quality HD vid.

Having a front facing camera has been great with google hangouts, I know it's not exactly new, but it's new to me!

TDG: Yeah I've enjoyed our Google Hangouts and the video I get from your end is unbelievably good quality really.  We've tested Skype recently against G+ Hangouts, and I've tried them both on other Android devices too, as well testing FaceTime from my iPod touch to my friends 4S, and G+ Hangout form the S3 is notably the best.  These are all conducted over similar broadband conditions and a number of times across different days - hangouts with your S3 are super clear not only in video quality, but also the sound is spot on.  That's where many other devices fail - bad noise cancelation or low mic quality (I'm looking at you Motorola Xoom).

So ok, it's fun, light, bright, and great with cameras.  Has it changed your life?  Has it transformed the role of your phone?

@Vaul: The Desire was great but was getting too weighed down in its old age and of course, had a much smaller screen - it served me well on the go but where I had a real computer, I would use that instead to do most things.  With the S3, I use it out and about, around the house, everywhere.  Unless I'm sat with my laptop or at my PC, I use my phone, at least for quick searches and social networking.

TDG: Ok, before we move onto the Note then, how's the leap to ICS?  I've had Honeycomb for a while on my tablet so I was quite used to it, but it must have been a more abrupt change to you coming straight form 2.3.

@Vaul: Yeah, it was abrupt. But awesome. I guess thats one of the big reasons. I love it. It's just 2.3 on steroids. Nothing is hard to do or complex, it's all nice and intuitive and sensible and amazing.

TDG: Awesome!  So just one more time, cos… I'm still left a little confused by the overall jist here - are we saying the S3 is:

a) fantastic or b) terrible?

@Vaul: It's fantastic.  I love it and whole heartily recommend it.  I guess I'm saying it's a brilliant phone that really stands at the top all by itself, but that they added a load of crappy gimmicks to decorate the marketing materials with, and they're mostly silly or just not very good.  But it doesn't stop it being a great phone.

TDG: Makes sense.  Anyone in the UK looking to pick one up, I think I'm right in saying, when you did the maths on this @Vaul, it works out cheaper to buy the phone outright and get a 10/month GiffGaff sim card instead of getting it from a network on a bigger contract?

@Vaul: Much. Usually when you subtract the value of the phone and 10/month from the price of the contract over it's full term, there's a small saving to getting the contract, or slightly better Minutes and Data allowance, but not with the S3.  It could have changed by the time people read this but when I bought the phone, the best value contract worked out to be significantly more expensive over all, as well as having a lower data allowance.  I would recommend to anyone they sit down and work it out based on current deals and go with GiffGaff if they reach the same verdict as me (and live in the UK!).

TDG: Next post, we'll talk about the Samsung Galaxy Note and my first month living with that beastie.
Until then, be good!

__
Phil (and @Vaul !)
Read. Comment. Subscribe.

@Vaul and TDG discuss new phones

TDG: It's a great time to be a phone geek.  Those little mobile magic boxes have evolved from a distant voice throwing device, to an all singing all dancing life long friend and guide.  I wouldn't say I couldn't function without a phone, but living without mobile data as I currently do (living over seas for a few months and not splashing out for the pricey tourist data packages), I certainly feel the loss.

A phone upgrade then is a big decision, and this year I think it's the toughest choice yet because frankly, they're all just so awesome.

For my part, I'm firmly caught in the Google ecosystem, so Android gets an early head start on other OS's, but even if we ruled out iOS and WinPho at such an early stage (which I don't), there's a huge range of 'droid handsets to choose from, and the current King of the hill has to be the recently released HTC One X.



HTC's new flagship phone is bringing the spec, with 4 cores (or technically 5), generous internal space, NFC, a gorgeous screen, and Ice Cream Sandwich flavoured Android.  All this, along with HTC's superb and distinctive design, their durable, solid feeling handsets really deserve their reputation as being the best build quality of any phone.

Now this is a big phone.  It's going to fill your palm and certainly you shoud get used to hearing, "Hey!  Is that a smartphone in your pocket or are you just.. oh... it.. it is your phone. Sorry."  4.6" screens might be too much for some, but many others say that bigger is better, and you're certainly have a better user experience for the extra space.

NFC (near field communication) is worth pointing out too.  If the phone has 'NFC', it can communicate with other devices by brushing them against one another. Okay it's not in full swing yet - but expect it to start coming out as a payment method in most high street stores (it's in some now, especially coffee shops and fast food), as well as a way to effortlessly pass files and share web pages with friends when you're in the same physical space (no more "It's probably easiest if I email you the link/photo/file!" when you're sat in the same room).  I can see a lot of apps using this tech in innovative ways in the next 18 months, so if you're going to get a new phone - might as well get that NFC chip in ready!

The only rival the OneX really has is the Samsung Galaxy S3, but while it has been revealed, it's not yet available to buy, so I'm leaving the crown on the OneX until it is.

Once released though, will the S3 take the lead?  It's a toughie.  Samsung aren't synonymous with the same level of quality that HTC are.  Their phones are often accused of feeling 'cheaper' and 'plasticy'.  I've nothing against plastic myself, and the lighter, thiner bodies seem like they should be counted as plus points, but I find myself in a minority here, and I know several people who've had one problem or another with their Samsung handsets.

Appart from the shell though, there's no much in it the average user would care about.  The S3's screen I'm sure is awesome (though pentile I understand?  Seems odd to me but I also heard that it's still awesome owing to the AMOLED so not to worry), and for anyone counting, 0.1 inches bigger than the OneX.  It's also packing NFC, and, unlike the OneX, the S3 has both a micro-SD slot and a removable (and therefore replaceable) battery, which is a killer feature for any phone in it's end game months.  It seems strange to me that the S3 would have these, but the OneX doesn't, as HTC have aways been big fans of the SD slots and removable batteries.

You also get a bunch of bespoke apps and software features, including an AI assistant called S-Voice (much like Apple's Siri), Pop-up Play (watch video in a thumbnail while you browse the web, answer a txt, or whatever you want to do behind it), Smart Alert (if you miss calls and txts all from one number, it will vibrate when  you next pick it up to make sure you realise you've missed an important call), and, it watches your eyes when you're looking at it so it knows you're reading the screen and not to time out and switch off while you're doing so.  Clever stuff if you ask me, and then they've ripped off a bunch of stock Android features and re-branded them as their own as well.

The only thing is, the S3 is a bit more pricey, even for the base model with lowest internal capacity.

But it's not all about Android!  @Vaul and a few other friends of mine have been eyeing up the Lumina 900.  This seems like insanity to me, and please understand I say that with just as much nostalgic fondness of Nokia *and* as a loyal supporter of the Windows OS and even smart phones al the way back to the turn of the millennia.  I can even see a hope for the platform if Windows8 and Xbox really start leveraging some killer features into WinPho that no other mobile OS can get as seamlessly.  But we're not there yet, and in the mean time, the WinPho world just ins't as developed as Android and iOS.  Why then are my friends considering this?  Perhaps value for money, and just to try something different and new? @Vaul responded...

@Vaul: http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/lumia-free-monster-headphones/?intc=na-fw-ilc-na-monster_teaser-na-home-gb-en-1320720

They're throwing in a pair of £200 value headphones (actually retailing at £160) with their lumia 800 and 900 mobes.

Does this make it any more tempting?  Apparently the lumia is nice, and the windows phone OS is coming along somewhat.  Maybe it's still not a match for the newest androids, and it seems odd to me that the Nokia is even tempting me. But it is.

Still, maybe it's just that EVERYONE has an android phone now. >.<

I miss the days when it was just me and you ^_^

@TDG: So ok, free headphones and I will admit the times I've used WinPho, it's been slick and fun.  I'm not going though - at least not for one more round, I'm afraid I'm just an Android boy now.  But I do admire the value for money in that deal - both the OneX and the S3 are a hell of a cost.  Ok here's my curve ball - consider, the Samsung Note. I'm currently in Hong Kong, and the Note is huge over here (not only proportianlly given the smaller hand size of your average chinaman), and they score well into the majority models you see on the street, perhaps equal to the iPhone and second only to the Galaxy S2.

For those who don't know, the Galaxy Note is a big beast.  It's a full 5.3" screen, but it's still just in the phone, not tablet category (unlike it's bigger brother, the Galaxy Tab).  It's been around a while now, and it's not rocking the same powerful processors that the new top end phones are (and if I'm honest - load it up with enough widgets and the UI will trail a little), only some version of it (seems to be the LTE models) are packing NFC goodness (although in many cases it appears the functionality is locked down - so it's worth checking on this point before you buy - shop around - the working ones are out there!) and even then, without a security chip that will make Googles secure payment system work, but it's got great battery life, and a few unique tricks the others don't have, most prominently (other than the screen), the S-Pen, a precision stylus that docks in the base of the device and can detect and respond to different touch pressures.  Complete with a bunch of apps that make use of that and a customised UI... I think it's got a place, especially for professionals and commuters.

But is it too big?  My thinking is.. at a certain point, a phone reaches the size where it shows in tight trousers, and prevents you making sudden athletic manuveours or cool spinny kick moves against potential Agent Smith attacks. The S3 and OneX both cross that line, and once you've crossed it, why not go the whole hog and just go Note? You get a smidgin more space, great battery life, and a precision stylus.  While not top, it's spec is still solid, and it is much cheaper than the new boys.  So here's my question - what about keeping your old phone (in my case the HTC Desire) and buying a Note.  Use the Note for daily use, especially office etc... getting a great user experience while wearing your suit or coat, and then switch to the old phone when you're going out in skinny jeans or climbing a mountain, or doing something where the Note is just a bit too big.  How about that huh?

My other question, should price not really be a factor... when do you reckon there'll be a Note2?

@Vaul:  I.... think I saw somewhere a post about the Note2. From memory it would be christmas? Maybe? It could have been a rumour site ofc.
I don't agree. I think that the size of the OneX and the S3 is the limit. The surface area of it isn't such a big deal in the trousers, it's all about the width. I think you could still do a spinny kick with an S3 trousered. I however don't do spinny kicks. My favoured actions include, occasionally sprinting across the road in front of angry traffic, sitting for long periods of time, attempting to touch my toes and assaulting my flatmates with simple jabbing finger attacks. So I don't see that my movement will be impaired. The OneX and S3 size can be weilded monohanded, and I think that's where the note breaks down a bit for me. But... each to their own. The GREAT thing about android is that there is variety and strength in diversity (as well as developer nightmares).

TDG: You might be right there, certainly about your tendency to jab your flatmates.  Well the S3 is still a week or two from being available, and before I make any decisions I plan on holding one in my hand.  I have to say, my plea for the Notes cause aside, I'm leaning to the OneX.  And one thing we've not mentioned at all of course is the option to wait and see what the iPhone5 brings - sure to be pretty damn exciting and I wish it was out in time to be in this blog lineup!  If I had to make a guess on the iPhone5, I think we'll see a bigger screen on it too.  Apple have surely seen the successful trend of these Droids, and the older iPhones now feel positively claustrophobic against everything from the S2 upwards.  They might not go as big as the rest, but they'll widen a smidgin, and take the screen higher and lower into the speaker and button area to get that extra diagonal inch I think. But seriously who knows, and there's rarely a point in guessing with Apple so I'll wait and see!

In the mean time, we're done here folks, hope you get the phone that's right for you!
__
Phil. (and @Vaul !)
Read. Comment. Subscribe.

UPDATE:  So I was so wrong about the Galaxy Note.  While I'd done a fair bit of reading on the OneX and S3, the Note I was only aware of details from shop display models and seeing it used around Hong Kong.  Turns out it does have an ICS update now, and, if you get a late enough version (may only be the LTE models) it'll also have NFC (though no security chip with that so unlikely to support Google Wallet).  Ive edited the post above to reflect these changes.

Apple Claims Invention of the Rectangle

We can't go too long around here without an Apple bashing post :P  I do try and pace them out but when they make it so easy I can't help myself.

You may have heard, Apple is suing Samsung for copying their design.  And on the one hand, I do think that that the Samsung Galaxy S looks remarkably like the iPhone 3GS.  Infact I have said to people, when they've asked me what phone to get, "The GalaxyS is very much like a Desire, but looks just like an iPhone 3GS".  But that was a way of saying "it's a very plain looking minimalist black phone", which is different from the Desire and other phones which have cool things like optical track pads and rugged countered bodies.  I wasn't saying, "It's the same materials, angles, size, aspect, and has got the Apple Logo on the back", because I don't believe any of that is true.  Still... they do look very very much alike so that's a maybe.

The lawsuit though also includes the Galaxy Tab's, which apparently looks identical to an iPad.  This, is stretching it a bit. Sure, they do look a *bit* alike... in that they're... well.. panels.  HTC phones have a distinct look from the iPhone, the Desire is case in point, and since HTC well pre-date Apple with the whole touchscreen phone thing, the idea of having a flat phone with a touchscreen covering the whole of the front... can't said to be copied from Apple.  Yet if the Desire was all one colour... and that colour was black... with a bit of chrome here and there... the HTC Desire would look as much like the iPhone as the GalaxyS.  So... have Samsung and Apple both copied form HTC's 90's evolutions?  Maybe... maybe... but I think not.  I think in fact, it's probably, to anyone but Apple, quite obvious that you cannot claim to have invented the design of 'a rectangular shape with rounded corners', because if you can, 'etch a sketch' would like a word with you Apple. Nor could anyone possibly claim to have invented 'square icons with various colours and rounded edges' (yes, they've included the icon menu in the suit too).

It's also fairly unlikely that anyone accidentally confused a GalaxyS for an iPhone and bought the former by mistake.  Everyone who bought the GalaxyS will tell you their reason quite happily - the iPhone is far far to overpriced and the Android alternatives are just as good.  IE, if the GalaxyS didn't exist, HTC would just have sold more Desire's and Desire HD's.

The tech press I feel have been a bit biased with their photo imagery.  They've used shots like this to show how the 3GS UI is identical to the iPhone's:

And of course... they do look very much alike eh?  The only thing is... while that's the iPhones main (and only) interface, the one you're seeing on the Samsung is not its' main screen.  In fact on Android, you don't go scrolling through pages and pages of Apps anywhere near as often as on an iPhone - the App Tray is essentially an Options menu for your main screen, where you're picking out of it what you'd like to drop into your main Interface.  This would be a more accurate depiction of the GalaxyS's User interface:

But strangely none of the tech press have chosen this, the default view for this phone, as the image to make the comparison against.

Worse with the Galaxy Tab though - the photos of the hour are along these lines:



That's a very creative way of hiding the size and aspect difference of the two tablets, also neatly omitting that from every angle but the front, which for *all* tablets *must* be a rectangular screen with a bezel, so how different is it likely to be beyond the buttons (which are different) and the presence of more things (like the camera that the Tab has)?

Also with the power of Photoshop, other reporters haven't even attempted to be creative to hide the differences:

Anyway.. the tab is of course much smaller, a different aspect ratio, has flat edges, different buttons and ports, a prominent rear camera (this was before the iPad2), so if they're not claiming their very specific design depends on on any of those aspects... we really are saying *any* rounded cornered rectangle.

So, if Apple are successful in this legal action, they'll be able to go on to sue anyone using rounded rectangles.  Ikea are screwed (possibly using a helpfully uniformed allen key), and homeowners everywhere should rush the square off the edges of their tables and place mats - rounded square mats on a rounded square oblong!  Are you mad!  It's like you're asking to be sued!

And let us not leave out the most obvious of offenders in what is *clearly* a shape/form owned by Apple, the slate board.  Once a staple classroom tool of British and American classrooms, it is clear to me that since these 'obvious cheap copies' of the iPad iconic design (which is totally origin and fresh and the origin of its own shape) act in no way as proof that the simplistic design in question is simply just an obvious and functional form, that *all* developments and business growth that has come about since the establishment of schools, now owes Apple a portion of all earnings made since.



I mean look at them!  All rectangular and panelled.  Look that bevel around the edge.  The OS let's it's down of course - that's how you can tell it's a copy.  And the build is lower quality, but it's pretty obvious who they're trying to look like.  Disgusting.  But what a compliment to Apple eh?  So iconic and fresh are their designs, far beyond they were even founded, governments hired mystic sages to peer into the future at what I'm sure would be great expense to peer at the shapes of their devices and relay it back to their paymasters for duplication.  Incredible effort - what flattery.

Now Apple don't limit themselves to one legal case at a time of course, and in the interest of fairness, the other one they've started recently week is against iHub.  See *this* is a valid case.  A company is selling a USB hub with the Apple logo on it and... umm.. no... that's it - it's just got an Apple logo on, selling on the basis that some people might be persuaded to buy something simply because people will be able to see it's got an Apple logo on it.

The key point is - they're using the Apple Trade Marked logo, purposefully attempting to deceive the consumer into thinking this product is associated with or made by Apple.  If that were a full apple, there'd be no case here either - you can't copyright clear packaging, the letter 'i' (especially if you weren't the first to use it in the Apple tradition), or a rounded square.  As nice as it looks, and as much as we associate Apple with 'looking nice', they can't sue anyone for also 'looking nice'.  So if Samsung ever make a phone bearing an Apple with a bite taken out of it - Apple have a case to make.  Until then, don't be silly!
__
Phil
Read. Comment. Subscribe.