
Samsung is hurting Android  - YeahKIA
http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/samsung-is-hurting-android?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
======
emanuer
The Samsung software I have seen on their TVs, laptops, phones has been
adequate at best. I wish them best of luck developing another closed
ecosystem. However their track record of developing good, functioning software
is not very promising.

When you use Apple products everything is tied into Apple. I didn't like some
parts of their ecosystem (Itunes). It is all or nothing for Apple, so I said
farewell and moved on.

When I switched to Android I discovered it is strongly tied to Google, their
services are great and free. However I grew increasingly worried about a
future in which my account ends up as a "false positive" and my life get's
deleted. — Seriously those horror stories about people's Google account
getting deleted for no good reason are very scary to a startup founder. The
probability is very low, but I am scared enough to invest money and time in
moving all my data away from Google.

So Samsung if the article is right and this is your longterm strategy, I wish
you best of luck, don't expect me to be a customer at any point in the future.

~~~
nwh
> The Samsung software I have seen on their TVs, laptops, phones has been
> adequate at best.

You've clearly used a Samsung SmartTV then. The software is so slow, so
clunky, so unreliable; it's a hair pulling exercise just waiting for the thing
to load (1-2 minutes to bring up the dashboard). Its bad enough to justify
hauling the thing back to the shop and getting a refund.

~~~
threeseed
I have a SmartTV as well. Tried the apps once and never touched it again. It
really is 90's era software.

I honestly can't fathom why the TV manufacturers are just sitting back,
twiddling their thumbs and waiting for Apple to come in and make them look
stupid. I mean really is a TV so much more complicated to build a decent UI
for than a smartphone or computer ?

------
fossuser
What's strange to me is that everything Samsung does to try and differentiate
themselves just makes me like their phones less. Their hardware design is
plastic and cheap feeling and I hate the touchwiz layer they put on top of
android with their gimmicky features (camera based gesture controls? - who
cares?).

I think Apple, Nokia and even HTC make much nicer hardware (although HTC still
puts its Sense on top of android). I really wished Nokia had partnered with
google to make the nexus phones instead of joining up with microsoft - then we
would have had awesome hardware and a solid vanilla android phone.

~~~
city41
I have a Nokia Lumia 920 and other than battery life I am extremely happy with
it. WP8 might prove to be a nice middle ground between iOS and Android. If
only more people would give it a chance, it's a really stellar experience.

~~~
eknkc
I actually switched to iPhone 5 after a couple months of Lumia 920 usage.
Bought it right after release, with the wireless charger and stuff. I really
liked the device.

My problem was the fucked up regional annoyances. If you are not in USA, good
luck! No full size skydrive photo uploads for you! No Xbox online.. No album
covers in music app. A lot of missing apps in store. No this, no that. Well, I
have no such problems with iPhone and Android.

BTW: After I switched, I sold my Lumia to a friend and used factory reset
before handing the phone. Guess what? There is a known bug in factory reset
that bricks the phone and it was apparently not fixed in 2 firmware upgrades
that I got during that time :)

~~~
gurkendoktor
At least it is only software-regional. I've bought the One X in Taiwan when it
was brand-new and now I have an Android 4.0 phone that only supports the
following languages: Chinese, Simplified Chinese and English (I'm still too
scared of Buyer's Remorse to check what else is different).

~~~
gurkendoktor
...that was a pretty cryptic post, what I meant is that it only supports these
three languages no matter where I am (different hardware/OS per country). It's
like buying a movie on a vacation and then finding out about DVD regions.

------
UnoriginalGuy
> If ITV wanted to avoid fragmentation it would have chosen to make its app
> compatible with only pure versions of Android

That isn't what causes Android's fragmentation issues. Even between virgin
android devices there is a LOT of fragmentation, these devices just happen to
be popular with developers so most people aren't impacted by it.

Different screen sizes/resolutions, driver issues, graphics acceleration,
aftermarket distro's, all cause a LOT of issues and these things all exist on
virgin Android just as much as Samsung's strange re-imagining of the
ecosystem.

Nvidia Tegra in particular has broken a LOT of stuff.

~~~
chrisrhoden
I am an android developer.

Are you suggesting that screen sizes and resolutions are uniform among Samsung
devices? Drivers are the same? That is nonsense.

Aftermarket distros include no warranty warnings, it's up to the packagers to
solve bugs in their builds.

Here is the reality: if they had opted to use the MediaPlayer classes with
whatever streaming service they use on devices 2.3+, they would have likely
had to deal with a few corner cases. If they didn't, they have made a poor
decision. If they did, they are restricting allowed devices for reasons that
are non-technical.

> Even between virgin android devices there is a LOT of fragmentation, these
> devices just happen to be popular with developers so most people aren't
> impacted by it.

I use the emulator for almost all of my testing and then test on a Galaxy
Nexus. I beta test across a large net. The number of corner cases that are not
related to pre-gingerbread versions of android is tiny. [EDIT: In the
streaming media field, as of now. This was a much bigger problem several years
ago. Obviously, the differences are more of an issue with games, which we are
not talking about here.]

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
> Are you suggesting that screen sizes and resolutions are uniform among
> Samsung devices? Drivers are the same? That is nonsense.

...No? In fact my post said exactly the opposite of that:

> all cause a LOT of issues and these things all exist on virgin Android just
> as much as Samsung's strange re-imagining of the ecosystem.

I am saying there is fragmentation between two "virgin Android" devices.
Therefore making his point that virgin Android somehow "solves" fragmentation
wrong.

Samsung has a lot of fragmentation. So do "virgin Android" devices. Android
has fragmentation because there is too much incompatible hardware and for some
things the abstraction is more weakly enforced than for others (e.g. hardware
acceleration).

~~~
chrisrhoden
The argument that the post was making was that there is zero weight to the
claim that this decision was made for technical reasons.

Further, the post makes the point that choosing an open-source baseline as the
first system you support means that there's a clear and relatively
straightforward path to compatibility. Setting that target at a proprietary
fork of that system does nothing to improve the situation.

------
electrozoic
The time is right to capitalize on Android's big weak spots (OS fragmentation,
disorganized app infrastructure, indifferent branding) but I don't see Tizen
looming large yet. Samsung is doing a great job selling phones to consumers,
but it's not in a great position to buy up the whole Google Play collection
one piece at a time, and it doesn't seem to be trying to get developers and
advertisers interested in Tizen at the moment.

If their long-term plan is to fly close to Android and then swap it out for
something completely different, I'd be very excited. As a longtime smartphone
user and current Android developer, I've been through the transition from one
proprietary platform to another... BlackBerry, iOS, Android... I'm weary of
dismissing a dozen app update notifications from my tray every day, and I'm
tired of "apps" in general. I don't want to jump to another copycat of the
same old junky, cluttered world. If Samsung is prepared to offer a fresh way
of seamlessly being in the physical and digital worlds without having to
navigate through a bunch of noisy, crappy apps (possibly without even the
candybar form factor), I will be right there, wallet open. But as the author
points out, it looks like the current iteration is just to load up a bunch of
crapware onto a plastic toy, and users have to buy into the whole
infrastructure if they want access to their favorite brand. No thanks.

------
bjustin
>The exit strategy is called Tizen.

I see two major issues with Samsung switching to Tizen: * Samsung is unlikely
to get developers as talented as those at Google. I doubt that Tizen
development could approach mainline Android's development pace, given the
talent difference. * Tizen would need its own app store. Ask BlackBerry or
Microsoft how well new app stores do.

Tizen is unlikely to catch up with Android functionality- or app-wise. Unless
the carriers push it hard over Android, it will have no advantages and thus
will not sell.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Android's development pace is slowing down, as is iOSes. Smartphones are not
an innovative platform any more. It used to be that OSes got major new
features like universal voice dictation, universal search, and turn-by-turn
navigation, but in the last couple of years the two major platforms have been
getting very iterative improvements; performance upgrades, visual polishes,
proprietary assistant apps...

That's because the smartphone market is slowing undergoing commoditization.
We're only a few years away from when Samsung could realistically swap out
Android for another OS that looks on the surface to be the same and not many
people will notice.

~~~
danmaz74
_and not many people will notice_ : unless they try to run their favorite
Android apps - starting from the Google ones - and they discover that they're
not there...

~~~
mstolpm
This implies that people buying a new phone actually have detailed knowledge
about the underlying OS. But a lot of sold Android smartphones are cheap ones.
I know lots of "mormal" people that barely know Android is powering their
phones. They will not miss their favorite apps because they have none and
seldom install new apps on their phone. Thats the "mass market" that Samsung
could address with its own OS.

~~~
danmaz74
Ok, leave alone the "apps" - let's talk about the functionality. Where are my
maps, with turn by turn navigation? Where is that translation thing that my
nephew has got? I think that most people who buy a smartphone, paying good
money for it, want to do "things". Many of the most interesting things you can
do with Android phones (for free, too) are Google powered. Even Apple has a
difficult time replacing them on iOS, and my guess is that they're much better
positioned than Samsung in that respect.

------
salimmadjd
From what I'm hearing, Google is not happy with Samsung. Google wants to lead
and direct the future of Android but Samsung wants to do what's best for
Samsung. Google is facing a bit of a dilemma. They can't push and risk
alienating their number one device producer and they don't want to lose
control of Android.

Their only option is to move faster than Samsung to make sure samsung follows.

~~~
notatoad
Their other option is to declare android essentially a lost cause, let the
device manufacturers do whatever they want to it, and develop their own "pure
google" platform that runs on top of android and works around any OEM specific
customizations.

Coincidentally, they already have a platform that they maintain complete
control over and that runs on top of other operating systems - Chrome. and
android just got brought under the umbrella of the chrome division.

~~~
chrisrhoden
They have that now, but they don't because consumers do not care.

The Nexus line is the best smartphone bargain that has ever happened, period,
and it's still outsold by the Galaxy S III. They even use the words "pure
google" in some of their marketing materials for the devices. Developers seem
to be most of their market, though.

They could also opt not to include the Google properties on such phones
(GMail, Google Play Store, etc...) but they don't. I suspect that
relationships with headset manufacturers is the reason for this, but that's
pure conjecture.

~~~
AlexDanger
>The Nexus line is the best smartphone bargain that has ever happened, period,
and it's still outsold by the Galaxy S III.

Dont forget what happened with the Nexus 4. A pure-android device with great
hardware at a reasonable price. It sold out within an hour. Availability was
terrible for weeks (months?) after launch. A very large number of people who
wanted the phone couldnt have it and presumably went with other handsets such
as the S3.

So clearly consumers _do_ care, but in this case it was Google/LG who screwed
up. I suspect they'll be better prepared for the next Nexus iteration.

~~~
batiudrami
Plus, I don't know about the US, but in Australia the average consumer is
going to have no idea the Nexus 4 even exists. Previous nexus handsets were
supported by significant collateral from telcos, the only way you'd know about
the N4 would be if you accidentally clicked the 'devices' link in Google Play.

The lack of 4G is also a bit of an issue to the average consumer, I think -
it's a clear feature differential between it and high end phones, at a time
when 4G is receiving a huge marketing push in Australia.

------
Oletros
The exclusive deal last until August 31

[http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/09/samsung-itv-player-
androi...](http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/09/samsung-itv-player-android-app-
exclusive/)

~~~
igravious
You appear to be the sole voice of sanity. The Trusted Reviews article is a
badly written illogical pile of mish-mash. And you can quote me on that. I've
read most of the comments here as well and they're well wide of the mark.
Android is here to stay, Samsung are not going to make any headway with Tizen.
Firefox OS does not stand a chance in my opinion, though I admire their
efforts. I still use Firefox the browser and I have tons of respect for the
Mozilla Foundation. It's a win-win for open-source either way.

Google is doing what Microsoft should have done years ago but couldn't because
it wasn't in its DNA. Android is Linux folks, don't forget that, Google is the
steward at the moment but anybody can fork it if Google starts behaving badly.
A whole consortium could get together. I really wish people would quit with
the griping and conspiracy theories and appreciate what Google have done. It's
unprecedented and I salute them. And to prove I'm not a total fanboy, I'm
writing this from a Macbook, not a Linux box, and I own a HTC One X. I say
hats off to Google and Samsung and HTC and Motorola and Huawei and whoever
jumps on board. Every sale of Android is another vindication of the open-
source model and I wish them all well.

~~~
TheLegace
I so incredibly disagree that Android is Linux.

I mean in a technical sense that is true since well it is the Linux kernel.
But there is the argument that Linux is not Linux without GNU tools, build
systems, terminals and __*root access. I stress the last one, the day I can
ssh into my phone and install/add repositories, setup scripts, who knows I
might actually make my life easier and for god sakes develop with whatever I
want, whether it be C, Clojure or Python. And I mean we all know that Java
developers are the renown worldwide for their quality especially considering
how wonderfully over designed everything needs to be.

Your writing this from a Macbook so no offense I doubt you have any idea how
Linux works deeply or have seriously developed something like say
Robotics(<http://www.ros.org/wiki/>), or drivers, or the kernel.

It's true that the kernel is the most important part of the OS, but the total
sum of all aspects of a OS especially for a consumer oriented product is
vastly greater than just what the kernel provides.

I'd also like to add that just because something is open-source doesn't mean
it's a net positive for the community or the consumers for that matter. Just
look at Oracle, hell just look at Android. There is no diversity hence there
is no evolution and if developers aren't going to get better at solving harder
problems all I see is a sinking ship.

~~~
snogglethorpe
To be fair though, it's _vastly_ closer than anything else around. You can get
shell access—and it's a bourne shell, with environment variables, piping,
control-structures, etc (it even has emacs-style command-line editing!)—add a
C compiler, etc, on an unrooted Android phone.

It's not really Linux the way we usually know it (just the non-standard
filesystem layout ensures that), but typing "cat /proc/meminfo" into a shell
and seeing the expected result, and using ls, printenv, df, etc, to explore,
really makes it feel pretty familiar to someone used to Linux or other unix-
style systems. [It also seems to use the standard linux/unix group mechanism
for granting app permissions: if you type "id" to the shell, you'll see the
permissions the terminal app holds listed as groups it belongs to.]

The end result is that it really does _feel_ like "Linux with a twist" rather
than something alien.

------
coldtea
> _Samsung is hurting Android_

Maybe. But without Samsung there is NO Android.

No mobile maker makes any money of it worth mentioning, including Google,
besides Samsung. The disparity is so big, it's not even funny. The majority of
Android devices shipped ARE Samsung.

If Samsung was to stop shipping Android stuff, maybe someone else would pick
up. But if Samsung Android devices were to disappear altogether magically,
Android would have like 10-15% market share.

------
TurningCanadian
If Google had been less afraid of the GPL, Samsung would've been forced to
share-alike. Instead, they can just grab the fruits of Google's labors, put
some icing on top, and leave Google with a lesser product.

------
calhoun137
This article is decent, but it forgets to mention that Samsung has done more
to help Android take market share away from Apple than any other company.

~~~
TheLegace
Ya? Then why is Android share dropping and iOS gaining.

[http://econintersect.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/2013/04/08/an...](http://econintersect.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/2013/04/08/android-
market-share-appears-to-have-peaked)

~~~
Oletros
You know that, shockingly, there is a world outside USA?

~~~
sbuk
Ah, the "that's only true for the US..." meme, which _always_ lacks any kind
of graph or reputable article supporting the assertion. I don't actually
disbelieve it at all - Samsung have a lot of different devices on sale - but
the trite assertion that 'marketshare = victory!' is entirely pointless. No, I
won't search for it myself. You asserted it, so the burden of proof lies with
you.

~~~
fpgeek
Here's some relatively recent worldwide estimates:
<http://blog.laptopmag.com/android-powers-devices-worldwide>

You might want to pay particular attention to the device category Android is
running away with. I found it surprising.

Separately, the timing of that article (dated April 8, 2013) makes its
manipulation transparent. Talking about Android's US market share peaking mere
weeks before the 2013 flagships (GS4, HTC One) land is almost as stupid as
claiming the iPhone has peaked based on the quarter before the new model is
released. Of course, the bases are covered because they mention the GS4 launch
lower down, but somehow that isn't reflected in the clickbait title.

------
contacternst
I'd think twice before going to war with Google. Samsung's phones aren't as
much better than Motorola as Samsung seems to think they are. It isn't hard to
see Google pumping the next Razr model with significant advertising dollars
and claiming the crown for best selling Android smartphone for itself.
Remember how fast Chrome beat out Firefox and and IE?

Samsung should have been content slipping under Google's radar and riding that
wave. I can't see how poking the Google beast is a good idea.

~~~
raganwald
Fighting Google is the lesser of several evils. There are three companies
doing serious mobile business: Apple, Amazon, and Samsung. All of them are at
war with Google one way or another.

Everyone playing "nice" with Google is losing money and/or insignificant.
They're going down the same road that the PC vendors went down playing by
Microsoft's rules. It looked like a different game at the outset because
Google wasn't charging them an $80 tax on each device. But the end result is
the same, they are being commoditized into irrelevance.

~~~
mcintyre1994
This might sound crazy, but it seems that Google are trying to do the same to
Apple as well. Obviously they won't switch to Android, but most consumers
don't really care about the OS. Nobody can replace Google's apps - Apple
can't, Samsung will fail if/when they try.

By placing their apps on iOS, and essentially being the best of breed in every
category, the long game seems to be to relegate Apple into the realm of the
Android OEM. When it comes time for average iOS consumer to replace his phone,
if Google have managed to push enough apps on him, he probably cares more
about them than iOS. If Google can play it right, they might be able to make
choosing a phone choosing your favourite front for Google apps, with no
revenue difference either way.

They're not there yet, but it looks like they want to be. If Samsung, Apple,
whoever has market share don't move fast, and Google play it right, they could
all become fronts for Google's apps. And then the market share just shifts
around between the current best front for Google's apps.

~~~
threeseed
Have you never used the Google apps on the iOS before ?

They are good but not significantly better than Apple's built in ones. Apple
Maps may have less quality data but has a much better UI and uses a lot less
data. Google Now is pointless compared to the genuinely useful Android
version. Chrome is slower in most cases than Safari and not integrated with
the rest of the OS. And really all their other apps simply aren't popular.

Unfortunately Apple just doesn't give third party apps any room to expand
beyond its tiny little sandbox.

~~~
myko
> They are good but not significantly better than Apple's built in ones.

I guess I'll agree to disagree here. Apple's first party apps significantly
behind Google's in my opinion.

> Unfortunately Apple just doesn't give third party apps any room to expand
> beyond its tiny little sandbox.

This is unfortunate, but it looks like Google is working hard to make its own
applications interop nicely and directly, even with the limited capability iOS
provides for this.

~~~
sbuk
"Apple's first party apps significantly behind Google's in my opinion."

Care to elaborate?

~~~
myko
Sure. I find the Mail app to be ugly when compared to Gmail and more
frustrating to use. Chrome seems to handle text much better than Safari, and
the syncing is more convenient to me (because the tabs sync with my
Android/Linux devices as well probably). Apple Maps seems to give pretty poor
directions relative to Google Maps (just last weekend 2 of my family members
got lost on their way to a family party because they used Apple Maps and it
took them to the opposite side of town). Everyone using Google Maps made it
just fine. Siri's voice recognition feels much slower and less accurate than
Google Now.

Any major apps I'm missing?

------
DigitalSea
Samsung will never truly ditch the platform that helped it become the number
#1 mobile phone maker in the world, at least not in the next few years. While
Samsung undoubtedly have a plan for Tizen, swapping out Android for Tizen is
probably suicide right about now. Without Android, Samsung probably wouldn't
be in the place that they are right now: highly profitable and popular.

The average consumer doesn't buy a phone because of it's CPU, battery life or
operating system, they buy phones based on the number of apps in an app store.
The reason Apple were the number ones for so long is due to the fact they were
the first mobile phone manufacturer to have a decent app store. Sure Symbian
had app stores and before that you had stores where you could buy Java apps
for other phones, but nothing unified and supported by just one device
existed.

The only way Tizen will succeed is if they manage to build an app marketplace
that can rival Android or iOS: consumers want apps. As Microsoft and
Blackberry have shown, it's not easy releasing a new OS and getting developers
to spend time and money to build for yet another operating system and
marketplace with little market share in comparison to Android or iOS. The
Lumia 920 had some of the best hardware and camera around, but failed to reach
the masses because of the app store drama's.

Lets not forget the other side of the story here. Samsung are helping Android
out here as well, every time Samsung sells a phone it's currently benefiting
Android not hurting it. Currently it is in Ssamsung's best interests to see
Android succeed as it took what, five years for Android to be the dominant
player in the mobile space via it's quantity not quality approach in the early
days. Anything is possible here for either platform.

I foresee Samsung releasing Tizen phones and Android phones in the future,
then depending on the success of Tizen choosing to venture down a completely
Android-less path. Only time will tell what truly happens here, not conspiracy
theories.

I am a happy Samsung Galaxy S4 owner and I really like the TouchWiz additions
Samsung put over the top that make the phone more user-friendly and easier to
use. I don't see the additions as a degradation of the Android experience, I
actually prefer them and they're leaps and bounds more stable than the
additions in the S3 or S2 (which seems to contradict this article suggesting
Samsung want Android to fail).

~~~
Volpe
Samsung's Tizen can run android apps.

~~~
DominikR
So what, they still can't just upload all apps from the Google Play Store into
their own. I've actually tried some of the other stores for publishing my own
apps and my experience is that users of those alternative stores either have
no money or do not want to spend any money on apps. (the sales have been
catastrophic, even in Amazons App store)

~~~
Volpe
Google Play Store... is an android app.

~~~
DominikR
It is not allowed to use any part of Googles Services for Android on a non
Android device.

Links:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)#Lice...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_\(operating_system\)#Licensing)
<https://source.android.com/compatibility/index.html>

~~~
Volpe
Well the play store could be classified as Not a "Google Service for Android".

Much like Gmail, and search are... I don't know how google would play it. But
they could do a number of things.

------
Zigurd
Paying off a software developer for an exclusive is, by some measures bad. But
how bad is it? Worse than Netflix having exclusive content? Worse than
exclusive games on consoles?

There is a lot not to like about Samsung's approach to "differentiation," but
this seems like a minor, petty basis for condemning Samsung as harmful to the
overall Android ecosystem.

It is also alarmist to say Google is in a weak position relative to Samsung.

Compared with Amazon, who compete directly with parts of Google's ecosystem on
an Android-derived platform, Samsung is a model citizen, if you look at the
world that way.

Google is content to leave a large penumbra of non-Google-ecosystem Android
devices in the market without exerting any pressure to reign them in. Why
worry on Google's behalf?

------
fpgeek
You know, Samsung did the exact same thing last year with the S3 and
Flipboard. I believe that, at the time, some people had similar concerns. In
retrospect, though, that deal turned out great for Android. Samsung paying for
exclusivity helped give the Flipboard developers an incentive to do the (long-
desired) port. A year later, "everyone" has it and most people have forgotten
that Samsung had an exclusive window (if they ever knew it at all). If the ITV
app turns out similarly (and other have pointed out that the exclusive window
is limited), I don't see any reason to be worried on behalf of "Android".

------
jackbravo
This articles just increase my expectations for FirefoxOS and Ubuntu phones. I
really want one of them to succeed. Firefox can probably attract more
developers than Ubuntu.

~~~
emiljbs
Ubuntu seems to offer a nicer experience, but as a developer who likes FOSS
stuff I trust Mozilla more.

------
anuraj
Android has never been particularly open; never in the sense of FOSS. Samsung
is in the business of selling devices and their business strategy is winning
at the moment. I am sure Google too is looking for business though their scale
dwarfs in comparison to Samsung.

------
radicalbyte
I don't really care for Samsung's overpriced plastic phones, but their S-Pen
is all sorts of awesome.

Why no-one else is innovating in that area is beyond me. Or do google prefer
us to type our data in, because it's easier to index?

~~~
mtgx
Yes, Google should be supporting active pens in a much bigger way. There are
certain "niches" in the app ecosystems where the iPad and the iPhone are
_much_ better than Android, and that's mainly because of Google's almost
complete disregard for those categories of apps such as: games, music tools,
and drawing/designing.

Rumors are Google _begin_ to address gaming at next I/O, and some rumors said
they will announce something about audio latency improvements in Android, too.
But I'm not expecting them to announce anything about drawing yet.

~~~
radicalbyte
I hope so.

Drawing/handwriting on the iPad isn't great either; the software (3rd party)
is good but the hardware isn't. Samsung on the other hand have the hardware
spot on, but their software could be a (lot) better.

Apparently the Surface Pro pen is just as good; that doesn't surprise me in
the slightest because Microsoft have been active in that area for a long, long
time.

~~~
footpath
A proper pressure-sensitive stylus from Apple would be nice. Out of the few
pressure-sensitive bluetooth styli available from third-parties, only two
(Pogo Connect & Jot Touch 4) support palm rejection. Even the prototype pen
showed by Adobe during MAX didn't seem to have palm rejection implemented. It
just feels really awkward holding a pen without putting the palm on a surface
somewhere. The drawings apps on iOS are so good though, and if I have to pick
between good hardware/weak software (Android tablets w/ S-pen) and good
software/weak hardware (iPads w/ 3rd party pen), I would choose the latter.

Also, the Surface Pro pen apparently had issues supporting Photoshop, and it
didn't get fixed until a (beta) driver update released two days ago.

------
rutos
The only thing Samsung is hurting is the patience of people waiting to buy the
32GB or 64GB versions of their fucking phone.

------
ccdan
Way too much fuss about something most of the world can't use (the ITV
player)and don't care about...

------
corresation
As a monetization strategy an app maker gets in bed with a certain vendor.
This has literally nothing to do with Android (or "fragmentation"), and
Samsung is just as capable of entering into such deals as HTC is, or Apple, or
any other vendor.

If I were a consumer of the service, I would be pissed with the service
provider for making that choice.

------
_pmf_
Without Samsung, Android would be about as relevant as Windows Phone OS.

~~~
lucb1e
The fact that I'm a Linux user makes me irrelevant because of the low market
share? Tell that to Valve.

~~~
mratzloff
Valve doesn't give a shit about you, the Linux user. They are hedging their
bets against Microsoft and Xbox.

