Why wait for reviewers? You can get the full scoop on all the new features coming to the Galaxy S5 and Gear smartwatches before they’re released! The following two videos have all that handsy gadget molestation action you folks are so fond of, with an 8 minute vid for the GS5 and 9 minutes for all the Gear 2 and Gear Fit. Enjoy!
You can do better than this commercial Samsung. Confusing “HD” with more MegaPixels? Really?
Dear Samsung,
I’m a fan of your work. I think you cracked the code on funny ads which skewer your competition (namely Apple). Those spots featuring people sitting in lines for the next iPhone? Priceless.
Of late however, it seems like you might be struggling. Depending on fiscal quarter, you’re often the number one in sales. It’s a little harder to beat up on your competition when you’re in the top spot without looking like a bully. We’re also reaching that point where it’s getting a bit more difficult to communicate to consumers why they should upgrade their phones, when it seems like all we’re getting are modest spec bumps.
Case in point, your most recent ad featuring the Galaxy S4’s camera is the worst combination of picking on Apple and throwing around meaningless buzz words and specs to try and impress us.
I honestly don’t mind a snarky tone, but it’s the absurd implications of what “Full HD” means which bothers me.
First of all, “Full HD” really only pertains to video and is a consumer shorthand for 1080p, which itself is an abbreviation of the actual video resolution of 1920×1080. Thirty times a second, a 1920×1080 resolution image is flashed on the screen which allows for fluid and highly detailed video. It has NOTHING to do with still photography. That’s where megapixels come into play. The iPhone’s 8MP camera shoots 1080p video, but each still is 3264×2448. That’s a whole lot more than “Full HD” isn’t it? You missed out on an opportunity to feature drama shot more fully, and to brag that pictures from your camera will have a resolution of 4128×3096.
Of course this is all inane as you can’t even win the resolution war. Nokia has you handily slapped with 20MP (4992×3744) and 40MP (7152×5368) resolution cameras. What’s worst, I’ve detailed on numerous occasions how resolution doesn’t mean you’ll get better images. Things like OIS and image processing can often provide more significant improvements to photos and videos than just having millions more dots. Congratulations, you’ve brought us back to the MEGAPIXEL WARS that consumer point and shoot cameras fought years ago.
Not to mention phones like your own Galaxy Note 3 or the LG G Flex are capable of delivering 4K video which is FOUR TIMES the resolution of the video on the GS4. Doesn’t little Jack deserve full motion video with that kind of clarity for his big life moment?
This is not your best work Samsung. We all know you can do better than this. As we’re closing in on the release of the Galaxy S5, which many are criticizing for not being enough of a departure or upgrade from the S4, hopefully your ad agency is able to bring a bit more nuance to the discussion.
Sincerely,
SomeGadgetGuy
Spritz Speed Reading App to debut on Samsung Galaxy S5 and Gear 2
Services people! I want to see more cool services!
Phones are plenty powerful, and it looks like Samsung is helping an experimental speed reading app hit the big time. Spritz thinks they’ve got the magic formula to help people become speed reading masters.
By flashing one word at a time, and aligning them to help improve recognition, Spritz thinks their system will be not only easy to learn, but should garner results quickly.
Samsung also thinks there’s some merit to this system, and will be including a Spritz app on their up coming Galaxy S5 phone and Gear 2 smartwatch. Building the software into services like the Samsung Email app, it could provide faster delivery for emails and text messages.
This is the kinda stuff which does actually make me excited to see a new phone release.
More info on the Spritz Blog, where they also have a demo of the Spritz service in action.
Watch Samsung UNPACKED 2014 – Galaxy S5 Unveiling Livestream
Samsung is about to show off all the juicy details for their next flagship phone, and while the look of the phone has already leaked, there’s plenty more to discuss. Let’s look at some phones and new Gear smartwatches!
Galaxy S5 Pics Leak Ahead of Samsung Unboxed
And here we get to the meat of the rumor and leak market, some decent pics of Samsung’s next flagship.
Following the design language of the Note 3, the GS5 is rumored to sport a 5.2″ display, which is creeping up on the 5.3″ screen of the original Note. Remember when we thought a phone that size was crazy? Yeah. Good times.
We still don’t know the full spec sheet, screen resolution, how many megapickles the camera will have, what the official battery capacity might be, but at least for now, we have a pretty good idea of what the phone will look like. We can also see a few new features like Download Booster which can use your LTE and WiFi at the same time, and there’s a covered USB port which might mean some kind of waterproofing is being used.
We can be thankful there will still be SOME discovery during Samsung’s event later today. Fingers crossed there might actually be a surprise or two…
Pics via SaudiAndroid and Hardware Zone
Samsung Teasing Galaxy S5 in new UNPACKED Trailer
No shots of the phone, but a quick, driving montage of photos. Photos of hip people doing hip things. It’s always fun diving into some wild speculation (just seems to be the day for it), so what do you think Samsung is trying to tell us about their new flagship device? Any clues?
For one, I’m pretty sure they’re going to brag about their camera…
Long Term Review: Samsung ATIV S Neo on AT&T – 2 Months with a Non-Nokia Windows Phone…
I’m a fan of Windows Phone, but I’ve primarily used Nokia devices.
My one other experience with a Samsung WP was decent enough, so I felt it was time to revisit them with the ATIV S Neo on AT&T. I really wanted to give the phone a fair shake, and see if I liked Windows Phone, or if I just liked Nokia hardware.
The grand experiment. It didn’t go so well…
Samsung Intros Galaxy Tab Built for Education
Google and Samsung really are working on their relationship.
Featured at FETC 2014, Samsung is showing off a Galaxy Tab 10.1 which focuses on Education markets, and they say it’ll be ready for the 2014-2015 school year.
Starting off with a fairly normal Galaxy Tab 10.1, it’s software and services which separate it from the herd. Piggybacking on their recent gains getting Android devices ready for corporate IT, these new tablets will feature simple set up and device management for teachers to utilize tablets in the classroom.
This also highlights Google’s push into the education market by working with Google Play for Education. This division of play focuses on teacher approved apps and media, gives teachers the ability to filter content by grade level and topic, and allows schools to order content via PO. Once content is purchased, it can be quickly pushed to students tablets.
Hopefully the controls are more robust than what we experienced here in LA using iPads last year…
Full press release below.
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