unnecessary to you perhaps. but the average american watches like 1000 hours of TV per year and pays $600 or so for that. so <$1/hr is good value. for a small minority cord cutting absolutely makes sense, and the more options for that the better.
i’ll call you out on the 10 best shows in the last 10 years thing (dramas, maybe. comedy, definitely not), but I agree. for the vast majority cord cutting is a solution looking for a problem. cable TV is phenomenal value given the amount of quality programming available.
$80-100/month is way overstating the cost of the bundled TV service. I was looking for a cut the cord solution when we move into our new home, and when all is said and done the TV programming only costs about $40-50 month. its 100x easier, has all the live sports, tons of on-demand, etc. obviously different strokes/different folks, but for the vast majority cutting the cord isn’t worth the hassle.
you understand there is a huge distinction between a photo YOU have taken (i.e. your creation) vs. a TV show that is someone else’s creation? I’m not saying that our system isn’t very flawed and doesn’t have tons of room for improvement, but that is comparing apples and oranges.
absolutely its a win-win. and its why iOS fans who like Google services should be glad that Android has been such a success. Google doesn’t need to strong arm people into Android anymore, so they are free to offer the best of their services on the major platforms.
to the extent that it complicates the experience or slows down the phone it makes sense. since you can easily turn these functions off I agree that it may not be a bad thing in this case. but I have to get my hands on one to find out how intrusive they are.
So Samsung:
packs in a bigger screen, a bigger battery, an SD card, makes the battery user accessible in roughly the same size package
has a much more ergonomic button layout (power on the side vs. the top), a better UI button layout, leaves the user with the option for wireless recharging, but HTC gets a 9 for design, and Samsung a 5?
materials /= design. also materials /= build quality. I have no love for Samsung having suffered through the Fascinate, but this is a joke. Yes, the One looks prettier, but the GS4 is a much better designed product.
