quarlow

Really Vlad? The Android update card?

Complain about android updates to a Galaxy S II user. Someone that got ICS (with a skin) before someone with that generations Nexus device.

Samsung is doing great with updates. HTC isn’t doing any better than Samsung, they are on even playing fields.

If history repeats this phone will have JB before the Galaxy Nexus does, and who knows when the One X will get it? And the Nexus S users may get burned and not see JB at all. Buying a Nexus device guarantees you nothing.

Lessons from the Galaxy S II vs the Nexus S tells us the Galaxy S III will get JB before the Galaxy Nexus does. The only devuce with JB for the first 5 months will be the next Nexus.

5 months late, but if history repeats it will beat the Galaxy Nexus.

The Galaxy S II had official ICS before the Nexus S.

I for one dont worry about Samsung and Android updates anymore

Is this a play from Google to get more users? Encourage people to have multiple Google accounts?

The IMEI tracking obviously isn’t working. I bet its tied to unique build.prop files, among other things.

Here is another example of something Microsoft has done right in the past. In the Windows Mobile days the end user could easily remap almost any hardware key in the settings. No hacking required.

I think software keys is a good way to combat this, but you need a custom ROM like AOKP to customize the button bar, why isn’t that stock ICS behavior? The blue black holo theme – love the consistency (except that some apps are white and blue because …. ?). Why do I need to load a custom ROM to change the theme color? WP7 figures it out, come on Google.

For my Galaxy S II with a hardware menu I never, ever see the triple dot menu on the screen. And all the menus pop up from the bottom. This is the same on TW ICS and AOKP. Its actually frustrating in places like the settings (a system place that you would expect to honor Google’s desire to get rid of the menu button). One example is in data usage, you have to press menu to enable wifi data tracking. But, there is no visual indicator more options are available. Its the same old Android game of pressing menu and not knowing if it will do anything. Software keys is a great way to solve this. But, when bezels are just as big on both phones, its a waste of screen. When (if ever) bezels are the same on all four sides, software keys makes sense.

Who was it that made the android phone with a prism behind the capacitive buttons so they rotated with the phone? Why not have capacitive buttons, that are dynamic and capable of displaying a few different basic shapes? A transparent physical button with a small dot matrix behind it, it must be possible, right?

I agree with the others. If HTC wanted to put a recents button on there they should have put 4 buttons, and put recents in place of search.

Samsung has put its buttons in that order for years on their android phones. If Google can’t or won’t dictate hardware button placement, blame them for letting the inconsistency exist.

Its a rant for another time and place but I think Google could pick up a few tips on how Microsoft is managing the WP7 hardware specs. Android is built around certain flexibilities but certain user experience items should be dictated, and standardized. They have to get Google’s blessing to get the market and Google apps, so Google does have some power they could choose to enforce.

Thanks for that. Its interesting to see how two different people in the same industry doing the same job can have opposite reactions to the same device.

I am excited to get one in my hands. In all its plastic pentile glory.

While I love my GS II, I disagree.

I think the GS III looks fresh, different. That concept doesn’t look remotely possible to produce. The Sony concept looks aggressive, like a Motorola DROID.

These are my preferences, I don’t have to be wrong for you to be right or vice versa. We all have preferences, and tastes.

The gentle curves, softer edges make me think it will feel amazing in the hand, very natural. Samsung has been making plastic phones for years, and they do a good job of making solid, durable phones.

I don’t see the GS III as a disappointment. I just hope I get a chance to see one in the US that actually looks like this one.

I think the organic curves are nice. I like the whole nature theme. I love the blue brushed metal look, even knowing its plastic. Samsung has been making durable plastic phones for years I trust them to deliver another.

It may have been designed to avoid legal conflict with apple, but I think they pulled off a design that is subtle and organic.

I just hope att gives us a version that isn’t mangled, they did a great job with the Galaxy S II (not the skyrocket, the first one). Bloat is fixable.

Agree

And those plastic phones have been very durable for me. My Captivate and now Galaxy S II put up with a lot of abuse without a case or screen protector. They are feel and light, and feel solid. I like a light and thin phone. I could care less about whether its ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic. As long as its durable, thin, and light, I don’t see why everyone is whining about plastic.

Yes, but att can detect tethering and they aren’t shy about adding tethering to your account if you don’t stop after their single warning. If you are on a grandfathered unlimited plan, unauthorized tethering may be the quickest way to lose unlimited.

I was going to ask the same thing. Seeing how mad Nilay was makes me curious. I don’t see it mentioned anywhere on Daring Fireball, and a search on there didn’t find any mentions of Paul.

My big issue with stream is losing my place. YouTube or the player on The Verge do not remember your place, but the video player on my phone does.

Plus, in the days of limited data, if I want to watch it anywhere but home I need to download it on WiFi first. I watch on my commute.

TubeMate has been a nice easy way to download from YouTube directly on my phone.

The iPhone 4[S] get a bump to tied with second to put it on even ground with the Galaxy S, and the whole second half of the article about tablets is glossed over. For the record, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 beat the iPad 2.

Bias much?

Of course making profits isn’t a crime. And not making a profit doesn’t mean the company is evil.

I come from corporate culture when treating customers decently will drive revenue. Not that having revenue proves you have great service. I don’t deny Apple customer satisfaction is extremely high. I know most Apple customers love their products. But, that is hardly proof Apple doesn’t over charge them. Most customers like the product they pay for, especially when most return policies allow unsatisfied customers to return the product.

I also think the occupy movement is a joke. Speak with your wallet. Don’t protest corporate greed, while tweeting on your new iPhone in one hand, and holding your Starbucks coffee in the other.

I just think the decent thing to do is pass realized savings onto your customers. I work for a company that agrees, and do my best to patronize companies that feel the same.

Sorry for the delayed response. I have a full time job, and a family to support, I can’t spend all my time on here proving you wrong.

I stand by my comments about the iPad pricing. I did admit $249-$299 was a bad guess, and supplied $349-$379 as a replacement. The $249-$299 estimate was assuming Apple continued to make the new iPad for the same general price as the previous one, as they have in the past. I was wrong, but your “facts” don’t disprove mine. If we go worst case scenario; $316 in parts (I could not find the numbers supporting $375 for the parts for the $499 model), $12 to assemble (I can find the source if I need to, but it costs Apple $6 to assemble the iPhone, we’ll assume twice the costs, but it probably doesn’t.) for a grand total of $328. If we take $349 as the selling price that is a thin (6%) margin, but still a positive one. If we assume the cheaper $310 for parts (you love to say Apple gets a great deal on parts due to volume, and Apple is never going to give real numbers, so who knows if this number is high?), $8 to assemble (really should be about the same if not easier than iPhone, because iPhone is smaller) and go with $379 the margin is 19%, still thin, but survivable to a company with $100 billion in cash reserve that wants to be decent, and respect their customers. The iPad, as you have said yourself, is a product they have smaller margins on each year, so this is not indicative of Apples general policy. Other companies that don’t sell direct to consumers would inherently see smaller margins than Apple. Again, I commend Apple for continuing to get people to blindly pay for anything with an Apple on the back, but people that use this tactic to drive their purchase decisions are not idiots.

I had sources, and proved you wrong. Its your turn to prove me wrong. Go ahead cite sources saying that, other than the new iPad, Apple doesn’t generally sell merchandise at twice cost, or that Apple would sell less products, or see a negative long term impact, by passing their savings on to customers.

Now, for the really funny part. Check out this quote from Chris Ziegler:

My dad’s a good guy. He’d been an industrial equipment salesman for much of my life, and he was very good at it. Even though he’s retired now, his phone still rings a few times a week. Sometimes customers need a part, sometimes they need advice on an installation, sometimes they’re just calling to shoot the breeze. He helps where he can, but they’re always upset to hear that he’s not in the business anymore.

“Sure, I can screw this guy over and make a few extra thousand dollars on his order. Maybe I can do it a few more times. But you know what? Sooner or later, he’s going to find out I’m screwing him. And I’ll never hear from him again, and he’ll tell everyone he knows,” he’d tell me. He wanted to do honest business. Not just because it was “the right thing to do,” but because it was the financially prudent thing to do. In the long term, doing right by your customer is always going to put more money in your pocket. When you’re talking about a Fortune 500 company, everyone from your shareholders to your executive board down to your junior sales reps should be able to appreciate that extraordinarily simple, universally rewarding truism.

Does that idea of alienating your customers by making an extra buck at their expense just for the sake of profit sound familiar? Chris wrote this just a few hours after I tried to get the same point across. And remember, as a writer at The Verge his opinion is automatically right, and cannot be dismissed.

We just keep going in circles. I see no point in continuing this. I say data continues to show Apple having a disproportionately large amount of profit compared to revenue, and that means they are overcharging their customers. You keep saying that Apple isn’t in business to make customers happy, they are in business to make money. Screw customers, the only thing that matters profit. I think I’ve said all I need to say, or can say, to try to open your mind to other points of view.

While I’m gone though, feel free to continue to explain A) how narrow minded I am because my [not unique] opinion is different than yours, and B) no matter how much proof is out there, you are right because I am a coward that can’t admit when I am wrong (regardless of the fact that I did).

I agree its silly for att to have HTC lock the bootloaders initially on the One X, like they did on the Vivid. I’m glad Samsung doesn’t let them play this game. They have developed ways to detect what they are hoping to prevent, so let people use the phone the way they want. There are lots of nice things about rooting your phone that don’t involve breaking your wireless agreement, that the carrier shouldn’t care about.

Working for a bank, and Credit Card company before that, I’m used to having a bad reaction to people finding out where I work. Its easy to hate lawyers, seems like the shift is going to move to content providers with monopolistic control like carriers and cable companies.

Yeah, the duoploly might as well be a monopoly. If att had gotten TMo it might have gotten worse. The American consumer is stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to choose the least evil.

You post an article about doing the right thing, and not taking advantage of your customers (like over charging them) the same day we see a study showing Apple take 73% of all mobile phone profit, with less than 10% unit market share … coincidence?

One final round for old times sake.

You must have pulled your numbers from a different hat than I did. These two different sources put the new iPad cost at $310-$320.

Believes – yes, demands – no.

His point was not to remove those posts being on the site, but having the site retain your preferences for what authors you want to see on your view of the site. It today’s world of flipboards, instgram, twitter, and other social media this seems to be a logical extension of a site like this. I never said Vlad isn’t intelligent, or wasn’t an expert. But lately find myself disagreeing with his subjective opinions on things.

My vapid comments were exciting enough to get a rise from you. If my comments are too boring for you then don’t troll them. I find you insulting, that proves something doesn’t have to be intelligent to be insulting.

I like a light phone, regardless of material. The Galaxy S II was so light I literally almost threw it at the guy in the AT&T store when I picked it up. It may be plastic, but it has put up with plenty of abuse like a champ, and the Captivate before it. Samsung has my faith that whatever they use it will be durable. I would rather have a lighter plastic durable phone than heavy thick phone, that may or may not be durable.

Yeah this (Vlad’s) editorial getting such high prominance on the home page makes we wonder whether I should filter what articles I read based on author.