With Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge Samsung tries to stop RegainThe code name also shows that Samsung seems to finally understand the
many criticisms that have been raised long in his phones: the plastic
hardware looked cheap, the most promoted features were mostly useless
and the software was too complicated.
Samsung according to Samsung has realized the error of it ways.
The realization was born out of necessity. Samsung's market share and profit in the smartphone business have declined over the last year. The company, which is based in South Korea, is in the unenviable position, bruised, made from below by affordable handsets from Chinese upstarts such as millet and at the top by Apple's Powerhouse line iPhones.The elegant new Galaxy phones, which went on sale last week in the United States, are aimed at pulling Samsung from this cucumber. But while the phones are wonderful to look at, they are probably not enough to fix what ails the company.Despite improved hardware, the S6 and S6 edge yet compelling software is missing.
Unlike Apple, Samsung has never been able to provide an integrated suite of software and services that people to keep connected their own phones. And there are some obvious ways for Samsung to address this glaring flaw.
"It can be argued that in the first phase of fixing their software developed by a large part of the junk is always going on," said Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst who expects Samsung's recent troubles. "But we have not really the second phase, the build would be to see their own things. We do not really have much of that've seen so far. "
The question of what Samsung can do to differentiate their phones is urgent. Samsung was the top smartphone manufacturer in the world by alternatives to the iPhone at attractive prices, and by outspending all his rivals on marketing. More than any other company, Samsung mobile phones developed with large screens, a surprising success with consumers.
But last year, produced by Apple's own large phones. They were also a hit, and accelerates Samsung spiral.
The holidays were especially brutal. Samsung smartphone sales in the last quarter of 2014 decreased compared to the previous year, while the overall market grew by the research firm Gartner. By some estimates of Apple claims more than 90 percent of the profits in the smartphone industry during the holidays.
Samsung is still the largest smartphone maker in the world, but its share fell from 31 percent to less than 25 percent from 2013 to 2014, Gartner reported. And was in China, widely regarded as the major growth market for mobile phones, Samsung fifth behind Xiaomi, Apple, Huawei and Lenovo in the last quarter to court, after the research firm IDC.
The new S6 and S6 edge - almost identical to each other except that it turns the screen Edge fascinating, though mostly useless on the left and right side - at least a response to critics who say Samsung devices look cheap.Reading the main story reading the main story NextContinue reading the main story
The S6 phones are made of aluminum and glass instead of plastic in Samsung's older phones. Both the S6 and S6 edges are very similar to Apple's iPhone. The S6 in particular looks like Apple's brother from another mother. Samsung has also co-opted many of the design ideas for their fans have long criticized Apple's. The new Galaxy's no longer offer a removable battery, for example, or a slot for expanded memory cards, and unlike the Galaxy S5 S6es are not waterproof.
Samsung goes far in ticking off each other hardware box: The S6 and S6 edge are incredibly fast, their cameras are excellent, the fingerprint sensors work very well, and - with an add-on charging pad - they can be wirelessly charged.
But if the new phones are both beautiful and functional, they are still a bit of a pain to use. The S6 and S6 edge running Samsung modified version of Google's Android operating system. Despite the efforts of Samsung engineers to clean up the software interface of the phone is a smorgasbord of odd design decisions and overly complicated functions.
The situation is made by many companies competing for space on your phone. Open a new Galaxy, and you will find a variety of pre-loaded double Apps Samsung, Google, Microsoft and your carrier, an apparent competitors both Samsung and Google. The rush of applications would be funny if it were not so annoying. Why has a brand new phone have two web browsers, e-mail two apps, two app stores, a handful of music and video services and four different messaging applications?
The new phones will do little to help Samsung to compete with low-cost alternatives in Asia.
In the international market for phones Samsung Galaxys are relatively expensive. They sell the latest equipment $ 199 and a two-year contract, or more than $ 650 without a contract for about the same price as Apple's. But made powerful mobile phones cheapest Chinese sellers, as the OnePlus One often sell for less than half the price of high-end Samsung and Apple devices.
If you pay the premium price to Apple, you get a phone with a well-designed operating system, no overlapping pre-installed apps, and a variety of services that often work very well, like iMessage, Apple Pay and expansion compatibility with PCs Apple and devices like the Apple TV and soon the Apple Watch. You can tacky to criticize ecosystem of Apple as a form of consumer lock-in, but Apple has certainly built a luxurious prison, and the customers are willing to pay for it are extra.
If you pay Samsung that the premium you not much more than to get, say, get a phone made by Xiaomi, OnePlus or one of a dozen smaller players.
Samsung seems to understand the dilemma. Minhyouk Lee, head of Samsung mobile design team, said in an e-mail, the company's new "user experience flow is simpler and easier, with features and settings that are displayed in a natural and intuitive way." Samsung has also worked with better services such as Samsung Pay, a wireless payment service that allows you to use your new Galaxy phones to pay for products in a variety of shops - more stores than to accept Apple-pay. But you have to wait to use it until this summer, when it goes online in a software update.
However, Samsung's long history of subpar software could not inspire crowds of customers to buy into his world. What's more, since Samsung phones are based on Google's operating system, customers are better off buying in services of this company, because they conceived generally better and will work on most other Android phones.
"The reality is that Samsung has nothing that is better than Google's services in most categories, so that from the perspective of the consumer, it is not clear that it will make any benefit for Samsung, his own things," said Dawson.
This raises the question catastrophic for Samsung: If many other cheaper, almost-as-good phones running Android, why pay more for a Samsung?
Samsung according to Samsung has realized the error of it ways.
The realization was born out of necessity. Samsung's market share and profit in the smartphone business have declined over the last year. The company, which is based in South Korea, is in the unenviable position, bruised, made from below by affordable handsets from Chinese upstarts such as millet and at the top by Apple's Powerhouse line iPhones.The elegant new Galaxy phones, which went on sale last week in the United States, are aimed at pulling Samsung from this cucumber. But while the phones are wonderful to look at, they are probably not enough to fix what ails the company.Despite improved hardware, the S6 and S6 edge yet compelling software is missing.
Unlike Apple, Samsung has never been able to provide an integrated suite of software and services that people to keep connected their own phones. And there are some obvious ways for Samsung to address this glaring flaw.
"It can be argued that in the first phase of fixing their software developed by a large part of the junk is always going on," said Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst who expects Samsung's recent troubles. "But we have not really the second phase, the build would be to see their own things. We do not really have much of that've seen so far. "
The question of what Samsung can do to differentiate their phones is urgent. Samsung was the top smartphone manufacturer in the world by alternatives to the iPhone at attractive prices, and by outspending all his rivals on marketing. More than any other company, Samsung mobile phones developed with large screens, a surprising success with consumers.
But last year, produced by Apple's own large phones. They were also a hit, and accelerates Samsung spiral.
The holidays were especially brutal. Samsung smartphone sales in the last quarter of 2014 decreased compared to the previous year, while the overall market grew by the research firm Gartner. By some estimates of Apple claims more than 90 percent of the profits in the smartphone industry during the holidays.
Samsung is still the largest smartphone maker in the world, but its share fell from 31 percent to less than 25 percent from 2013 to 2014, Gartner reported. And was in China, widely regarded as the major growth market for mobile phones, Samsung fifth behind Xiaomi, Apple, Huawei and Lenovo in the last quarter to court, after the research firm IDC.
The new S6 and S6 edge - almost identical to each other except that it turns the screen Edge fascinating, though mostly useless on the left and right side - at least a response to critics who say Samsung devices look cheap.Reading the main story reading the main story NextContinue reading the main story
The S6 phones are made of aluminum and glass instead of plastic in Samsung's older phones. Both the S6 and S6 edges are very similar to Apple's iPhone. The S6 in particular looks like Apple's brother from another mother. Samsung has also co-opted many of the design ideas for their fans have long criticized Apple's. The new Galaxy's no longer offer a removable battery, for example, or a slot for expanded memory cards, and unlike the Galaxy S5 S6es are not waterproof.
Samsung goes far in ticking off each other hardware box: The S6 and S6 edge are incredibly fast, their cameras are excellent, the fingerprint sensors work very well, and - with an add-on charging pad - they can be wirelessly charged.
But if the new phones are both beautiful and functional, they are still a bit of a pain to use. The S6 and S6 edge running Samsung modified version of Google's Android operating system. Despite the efforts of Samsung engineers to clean up the software interface of the phone is a smorgasbord of odd design decisions and overly complicated functions.
The situation is made by many companies competing for space on your phone. Open a new Galaxy, and you will find a variety of pre-loaded double Apps Samsung, Google, Microsoft and your carrier, an apparent competitors both Samsung and Google. The rush of applications would be funny if it were not so annoying. Why has a brand new phone have two web browsers, e-mail two apps, two app stores, a handful of music and video services and four different messaging applications?
The new phones will do little to help Samsung to compete with low-cost alternatives in Asia.
In the international market for phones Samsung Galaxys are relatively expensive. They sell the latest equipment $ 199 and a two-year contract, or more than $ 650 without a contract for about the same price as Apple's. But made powerful mobile phones cheapest Chinese sellers, as the OnePlus One often sell for less than half the price of high-end Samsung and Apple devices.
If you pay the premium price to Apple, you get a phone with a well-designed operating system, no overlapping pre-installed apps, and a variety of services that often work very well, like iMessage, Apple Pay and expansion compatibility with PCs Apple and devices like the Apple TV and soon the Apple Watch. You can tacky to criticize ecosystem of Apple as a form of consumer lock-in, but Apple has certainly built a luxurious prison, and the customers are willing to pay for it are extra.
If you pay Samsung that the premium you not much more than to get, say, get a phone made by Xiaomi, OnePlus or one of a dozen smaller players.
Samsung seems to understand the dilemma. Minhyouk Lee, head of Samsung mobile design team, said in an e-mail, the company's new "user experience flow is simpler and easier, with features and settings that are displayed in a natural and intuitive way." Samsung has also worked with better services such as Samsung Pay, a wireless payment service that allows you to use your new Galaxy phones to pay for products in a variety of shops - more stores than to accept Apple-pay. But you have to wait to use it until this summer, when it goes online in a software update.
However, Samsung's long history of subpar software could not inspire crowds of customers to buy into his world. What's more, since Samsung phones are based on Google's operating system, customers are better off buying in services of this company, because they conceived generally better and will work on most other Android phones.
"The reality is that Samsung has nothing that is better than Google's services in most categories, so that from the perspective of the consumer, it is not clear that it will make any benefit for Samsung, his own things," said Dawson.
This raises the question catastrophic for Samsung: If many other cheaper, almost-as-good phones running Android, why pay more for a Samsung?