Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Here's what's going to happen. These people will buy a Samsung device. And they will hate it. And then they will learn to never buy anything but Apple. Apple has, for a short bump in near term revenue, earned themselves a lot of lifetime customers.



Some people do hate Samsung products, and some people just hate Android in general. It may come as a shock to you, but in spite of this fact, there are actually tens of millions of people out there who prefer Android, Windows, and reasonably priced laptops.

I bought a retina iPad because at the time I was in the market, it was the best tablet available. If I were going to get one today, it would be a close call between the iPad and the galaxy note 10.1. As far as phones go, Apple has neglected the trend towards larger screens. For a power user, the Iphone's tiny screen is unacceptable. I recently purchased a Galaxy Nexus, and it's easily the best phone I've ever used, at a better price than an off contract iPhone.


What is a power user of a mobile phone, and what makes a 3.5" screen unacceptable?

edit: Ah, I see. Reading a lot. I actually read all of Guns, Germs, and Steel on my iPhone 4S earlier this year, and probably do an hour or two of reading on it a day in total.

It's not necessarily an ideal experience, but it certainly isn't terrible. I'm looking forward to the rumored 4" screen on the upcoming The New iPhone, but I think that 4.5" and 5" are both way too big.

The impression I get is that most larger screens out there today don't pack in larger pixels, but instead just use bigger pixels. Ultimately, I'm more interested in the quality of the text than I am the total number of lines I can see at one time. For instance, before I got the retina screen-equipped iPad this year, I actually preferred reading on the iPhone to the iPad by a wide margin.


A power user is a user who regularly browses the web. Browsing the web on a 4.65-inch 1280x720 screen is significantly better than browsing the web on a 3.5-inch 960x640 screen.

Reply to your edit: The fact that Android phones have low pixel density is absolutely wrong. That used to be the case. But now they have both larger screens and more pixels. Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, HTC One X, Xperia S all have 1280x720 screens and are all 300+ ppi.


That all depends on what's running on the screen. I find browsing on my iPhone much faster and more responsive on my iPhone vs my friends Android devices.

I browse the web on my phone constantly. I still wouldn't rather a bigger screen at the expense of all the other benefits of a compact phone like one handed usage.

I resent the implication that I'm not a power user or I don't really browse the web just because I prefer a smaller screen on my phone.


If you had the option of buying an iPhone with a 4.65 inch, high resolution screen that still managed to be comfortable to use with 1 hand, would you still prefer the smaller version?

If so, your choice would be a personal preference that has nothing to do with functionality, unless for some reasons your hands are too small to use a larger device with ease. From an objective standpoint, a phone with a larger screen is easier to type on, better suited to displaying videos, and more capable of displaying a variety of text-based documents (powerpoint, technical manuals, web pages.) The only drawbacks of having a larger phone are that: A) some users have smaller hands than others, and B) it takes up more space.


> If you had the option of buying an iPhone with a 4.65 inch, high resolution screen that still managed to be comfortable to use with 1 hand, would you still prefer the smaller version?

> If so, your choice would be a personal preference that has nothing to do with functionality...

Really? Would you say the same thing to someone buying a small car over an SUV? That the SUV is always a better ride, the only reason you would ever want something smaller is "personal preference"?

I doubt it. We can all see the benefits in a small sleek car over a clunky SUV but even though the benefits of a smaller phone are basically the same, they're lost on us. More efficient on fuel, more compact and easy to wield, speedier, sportier, overall a much nicer product.

Bigger wheels and a bigger car don't make a better drive. Likewise a bigger frame and bigger screen don't necessarily make for a better phone experience, unless that's what you're looking for.


The comparison between a smartphone and an automobile doesn't make much sense. On one hand you compare a smaller car with an SUV. Large vehicles are were developed to fill a very specific need, and were never intended to eliminate the need for a normal sized car. To the majority of the population, which doesn't often need to haul around large amounts of stuff, trucks and SUV's don't enhance functionality in a significant way, yet they are often far more expensive to operate and maintain.

Large smartphones provide numerous enhancements in certain use cases, which can't really be debated. All else being equal, a large screen is better at displaying videos, documents, photos, books, and websites. Provided the phone remains reasonably small (the Galaxy Note is pushing it, but it's an extreme example), most people won't experience any significant drawbacks to having a larger phone. Most of the large screen phones are about an inch and a quarter larger than the iPhone's at most, so it's not like we are talking about a jump from a 5 ounce device to one that weighs two pounds. As I stated before, the only reason other than personal preference that one might have to stick with a smaller screen, would be if that particular user's hands were too small to use the phone comfortably.


No, I definitely wasn't trying to imply anything like that about any iPhone user. I'm sure you are a power user and you regularly browse the web with your iPhone. But this doesn't mean you wouldn't have a better browsing experience with a 1280x720 resolution and a larger screen.

I don't want this to turn into a typical iPhone vs Android forum dicussion, so I'm not really going to say anything else. But browsing on a high-end Android phone (like Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, One X, Xperia S) will be significantly faster than iPhone 4S. Your friend's Android device was probably pre-ICS and/or a low-end device.

From what I understand, most iPhone users here have not tried the recent high-end Android phones and are still thinking about the old days of Android, when it had choppy scrolling and a UI which kept stuttering.


> I don't want this to turn into a typical iPhone vs Android forum dicussion, so I'm not really going to say anything else.

I agree, but I can't let this stand as implied fact.

> But browsing on a high-end Android phone (like Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, One X, Xperia S) will be significantly faster than iPhone 4S.

My comparison was to a Galaxy Nexus running Chrome. Is it fast? Yes. I personally don't find it as fast and responsive as a 4S though. Just throwing power at Android doesn't solve the responsiveness issues it still has in ICS.


jellybean solved those problems. latency was definitely one area where iOS was ahead. if you look at general features, you'll find iOS has been playing catchup for about a year.


Audio latency is better but still not very good, compared to iOS/CoreAudio. I suspect it will never catch up simply because of the underlying design, Google simply does not have the knowledge necessary to implement low-latency audio.


I agree with this and don't think Google has the desire/skill to do anything about it. This is the biggest issue for Android from day one because the portable device is now considered a musical instrument and Android can't compete. Things are going to get shaken up again once Windows 8 tablets start running Ableton Live/Cubase so at this point Google should just wait and see what happens.


Wouldn't it be possible to just use ALSA with software mixing? Because ALSA has very low delay as far as I know.


The 3.5" screen is better for me because it easily fits in any pocket, so I always have it with me, and the battery easily lasts all day even with heavy web browsing.


I am yet to see a male claiming Galaxy Note (5.3-inch screen) does not fit in his pocket. By the way, I am assuming you're a man because women don't carry their phones in their pocket.


I was actually thinking of the Nokia Lumia 900 with regard to low pixel density. It's a four and a half inch screen with only 800x480px. What a waste.


That's not a power user.


Everybody has their own uses, but here's mine:

I read a lot on my phone. Bigger screen = more words on the screen.


Definitely, everyone who has bothered to say this to me about their Android phone actually does little to nothing with the phone. Certainly nothing that takes advantage of the screen.

I do constantly see people using those Galaxy Notes with the S Pen and two hands at all times. Seems like a big step backwards to me. Not only can I do everything a phone with a bigger screen can do, but I can do it with one hand.


The Galaxy Note is a great device, but I admit it's not for everyone. It's supposed to be a hybrid between a tablet and a phone, like the Dell Streak or the Nokia N900.

I'll admit I have slightly large hands, but I can use a Galaxy Nexus just fine 1-handed.


Small hands?


Not giant hands.


I prefer Windows laptops, though I generally prefer Thinkpads which aren't much cheaper. As for Galaxy Note 10.1: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/21/samsung-galaxy-note-...

That is exactly what I'm talking about. People will buy it, because on paper it has even more checkboxes than the iPad, but then it just isn't going to work.


If I purchased the note over the iPad, it would be mainly for the digitizer. I am pretty sure though that everything else would work just fine.

The retail price of a ThinkPad may be kind of high, but normally x220s and x230s are on sale for 700-800, and they are awesome machines.


I'm not sure if you're trolling, or just don't like the Samsung devices, but either way... no they won't. At least not all of them. I'm sure there's going to be a group not satisfied with Samsung. There are also groups not satisfied with Apple. Some of those people will say - hey, this was always annoying me in i$DEVICE, but here's it's better.

Why would you think everyone will hate it? (or even that they will have the same opinion, whatever it may be)



Thanks for the data point. Here's my data point - I like it better than iPad.

Or did you want to agree with me - that some people will choose one product and others choose the other one?


I think the set of people who prefer Samsung devices and the set of people who are now going to buy a Samsung because it's "the same" as an Apple device are disjoint sets.


I'm still on Apple but I've heard no complaints from friends who have switched. Instead I hear, check out how much better than the iPhone this is and the battery lasts days.

Many mass market consumers will be more than happy to get a slightly poorer experience if they can save half their money. But, if these people just switched from an iPhone or iPad, its likely that they were a year or two in and the performance started degrading. Applications build for the latest hardware crash, the battery has been abused enough that it lasts less than a day. The stark contrast at the switch will tell them Samsung is better.


Android fans like to talk about how much better their android is... it is the same phenomena you see with chevy vs ford.

Only its like saying your yugo is better than my mercedes, when the difference in price is $100. It's silly.


What? I'm pretty happy with my Galaxy Nexus after having used iOS exclusively.


That's actually what kind of happened to me with MP3-Players. "Mhm, I could buy an iPod Nano for ~150 or this whatever-brand with more space for ~100. Two months later I got the iPod Classic, best decision ever."


heh, that's exactly my mp3 player story. I bought a small samsung device (dude, look, it plays ogg files! it must be the best!). Less than a month later I bought an ipod nano.


funny, i've never hated any of the Samsung products I've owned, including the ones they made before apple required that all phones become smudgescreens. I have hated using every iphone, ipod, ipad, and mac I've laid my hands on, having found the interfaces for all offensively restrictive.


Why will they hate it? Please expand on your statement.


Because it's not the same. There's a dozen comments here enumerating all the ways Samsung devices are different, even superior to Apple. That's different, not the same. Lots of people prefer Samsung devices. But not the people who prefer Apple devices and buy a Samsung expecting the "same thing".


Any reason you would say this?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: