Everyone I showed the GS4 to frowned and wrinkled their nose as if it smelled bad, before rubbing their fingers on the back of the phone and then handing it back to me. It’s very comfortable for such a large phone, but I can’t get over the gross feeling I get holding it. That’s going to be a huge problem for Samsung, because the GS4 and One are likely to be next to each other on store shelves, and at least on first impression there’s absolutely no contest between the two.
I need a phone that feels good in my hand, looks good on my desk…
To me, the preceding quotes regarding the design of the GS4 makes the reviewer, and whoever he showed the device to, sound like spoiled, first-world children. Are they seriously saying that they would rather have the superficial equivalent to a piece of gaudy jewelry, rather than an excellent piece of futuristic technology, in the palm of their hand? I understand the need to have good design aesthetics, but unless the GS4 looks like the first Motorola cellphone, then I don’t think the design should even be a consideration to anyone’s purchasing decision. It’s a great looking phone regardless.
Samsung’s proven repeatedly that people don’t care about build quality, or at least will overlook it in favor of features and performance, but the landscape’s different now.
Um… no. The build quality of the GS4 is excellent, but I would prefer features and peformance, because those are the things that you will notice whenever you use the device. It doesn’t matter how good the phone looks if it runs like crap. Performance and features will always be the lasting impressions of a device. Not it’s case design. Just look at the Nexus phones for a good example.
