The problem with Samsung
NB: The contents of this blog post are only my personal opinions.
EDIT: Updated with thoughts on the Galaxy S5.
Phonsie. That’s what my colleague calls her phone. I suppose this is understandable. After all, we spend almost every aspect of our lives with our phones, so we naturally form this intimate relationship with them. However, this doesn’t happen if a phone is poorly designed. In order to evoke intimacy between itself and its owner, a phone has to be brilliant. And phones don’t get any more successful (in terms of sales) than the iPhone.
The reason why Apple is so successful is because they genuinely care about their customers. They’re passionate about their products. Every little detail has been meticulously considered in order to provide the best user experience possible (click that link if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Their attention to detail is simply unparalleled. Some might call them pedantic, but its these little details which make using the iPhone such a special experience. Apple claims that the iPhone is “an absolute jewel”, and in this case, I don’t think they’re exaggerating. Everything, from the chamfered edges to the symmetry of the design, makes the iPhone feel precious (although that may also have to do with its lack of weight). Yes, aesthetics are subjective, but I don’t think I’ve met anyone who disagrees that the iPhone is stunning.
And this is where Samsung’s problem lies. Engineers at Apple and Nokia and Asus and other manufacturers are excited about their creations, and you can see their commitment through their products. Sadly, that enthusiasm doesn’t show through Samsung’s products.
Make no mistake, the S4 and the Note 3 are both great phones, but you don’t exactly “bond” with it, do you? Its that extra mile that their rivals are going that makes consumers love their products.
This is the box that comes with the iPhone. And this is what you get when you get a Galaxy. Huge difference in philosophies. I mean, what benefit does it bring to the user by making the cardboard box look like wood?
Where I live, the S4 and the Note 3 are both more expensive than the iPhone 5S (I think that’s the case for other countries as well). The iPhone feels like its worth the expensive (off-contract) price. It feels premium, a genuine high-end device. The S4 feels cheap, slimy, to some extent even flimsy (It doesn’t feel like its worth $640 despite the high-quality materials Samsung uses) And while the Note 3 is an improvement, the faux-leather plastic they use doesn’t feel like it came from a cow. It feels synthetic (I had to convince myself really hard of its leatheriness). I’ve seen Blackberries where the faux-leather backs feel more “real” than Samsung’s. The fake aluminium that flanks the sides of the phone aren’t helping either. The fact that Samsung has to turn to imitating certain materials that they can afford to use on their phones means that somethings wrong with the design department. And that shouldn’t be right. The Ativ Book 9 and the NX line of cameras are well-designed, so I don’t think Samsung has a lack of good designers. They’re also one of the richest manufacturers in the world, so they can definitely spend some money on design.
Speaking of money, even cheaper devices feel better and more “premium” than the Galaxies. Like the S4, the Lumia 520 is made of polycarbonate, but it feels so much better (in my opinion), and it costs just $79. Not just Lumias, the even cheaper Asha feature phones are also premium-feeling. There’s something wrong when a sub $100 phone feels more expensive than one that costs $561 more and is better (hardware-wise) in almost every aspect. So while the phone is expensive, the flexibility of the backs, tackiness aluminium microphone and the arbitrary sensor placement on the façade makes the phone feel like it isn’t worth the price.
The millions of people who bought/will buy the Galaxies will probably not care about what I’ve just gone on about in the previous paragraphs, but when you’re paying $640 for a phone, it should at least feel like its worth the price.
Samsung likes telling us that the curve of the Galaxy Round is reminiscent of an avocado and that the Note 3 is inspired by a leather notebook. However, the phone goes “bloop bloop bloop” whenever you touch something. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but what does the sound of orange juice dropping have to do with aluminium and leather? The software and hardware of the galaxies don’t come together harmoniously. And yes, I do know that the obnoxious sound can be turned off in settings, but a good phone shouldn’t need to be tinkered with in order to make the user experience better. It should work like its manufacturer promised it would out of the box. I understand that not everyone hates the sound of Touchwiz as vehemently as I do, but having these sound effects don’t benefit the user. And if it doesn’t benefit the user, why have it there?
Another minor grievance: On the S4, Galaxy Mega, and I think some other Galaxies, when you’re holding the phone in landscape to take a picture, the volume button is directly under where your left thumb would be. Now because the buttons on the Galaxies have so little resistance to them, when you grip the phone, the button is pressed and the camera zooms in. Hold the phone the other way round and your right thumb presses the power button.
But the biggest problem of all is how Touchwiz bogs down the device. Even on the highest spec Galaxies, the phone stutters when closing apps or scrolling-the most trivial of tasks. And when the $150 Lumia stutters less (in terms of standard software) than the $640 S4, something’s wrong.
The reason for this is because Samsung likes to put a lot of software additions on top of Android so that they can put it on the advertisement and attract people. Fair enough. But, these software additions are hidden behind a myriad of settings. And the normal phone-user just isn’t going to spend his/her time trying to set up a phone. A good phone should not need to have the user fiddle with it in order to reach its highest potential. If it does, then its clearly not user-friendly.
Speaking of user-friendliness, most of these software features Samsung adds aren’t very useful. I mean, who’s going to hold their finger 5mm from a phone for a picture to pop up when touching the screen suffices? Or use Twitter on their fridge when they can just use their phone? Most of the time, you’re better off not using these features. And if that’s the case, why change the software in the first place?
And its not like you can disable or remove these features. All of these features take up so much space they leave you with only 5GBs of memory on a 16GB phone.
So why has Samsung succeeded? Advertising. But having said that, their ads aren’t always that good, sometimes even sexist and tone-deaf. You don’t need to convince people that your product is good with faux-broadway musicals. Look at Asus and Apple (and other manufacturers). Their keynotes are still done brilliantly, and you can genuinely feel their attention to detail by listening to them. They don’t just want to make money, they want to make a good product for the benefit of their customers. And that’s what’s most important about a company. Passion.
This passion shows in the little details. How
To conclude, the S4 and Note 3 are still brilliant phones if you really need the functionality of the S-Pen or a removable battery, and can stand the design. Sadly, I can’t. And if you’re like me, you’re probably better off with alternatives by HTC or Sony.
And don’t get me started on LG.
http://geekeryandwtv.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/minimally-minimal-and-human-oriented-design-thinking/