[Moogs]

http://www.macworld.com/article/1327...ne_sprint.html

WTF. Zero shame... I hope they get sued. About the most blantant ripoff of form factor I've ever seen.

[Satchmo]

They may look similar to the iPhone, but according to this hands on report, it's not even close in the user experience. No surprise.

[Robo]

If that's the most blatant ripoff of the iPhone you've seen, you've clearly never seen the Meizu M8.

The Instinct doesn't really bother me. Yes, it's one of the many "full touchscreen" phones that have popped up in recent months, but come on - if you were Samsung or Sprint, what would you do? Just ignore the iPhone?

It's not like a candybar with a touchscreen across most of its face is the most original shape in the world, either. Let's not forget LG's Prada phone, which actually predates the iPhone (and to which Samsung's Instinct is actually more similar, IMO). What sets the iPhone apart is its interface, which the Instinct doesn't seek to emulate (like the Meizu does).

Would the Instinct exist if the iPhone didn't? Maybe, maybe not (Samsung debuted its similar "Ultra Smart" line of phones so soon after the iPhone was launched that it's unlikely their design wad influenced by the iPhone). Would it be given a $100 million marketing budget, the largest in Sprint's history? Almost certainly not. But again, put yourself in Sprint's shoes. If the masses wanted all-touchscreen phones, what are you going to do? Not offer them, because apparently Apple is the only company that can?

It's interesting, in any case, that the Instinct is launching in June...a year after the iPhone. The Instinct's claim to fame is that it's similar to the iPhone, but with 3G data and GPS. I'd feel pretty bad for Sprint, and their $100 million marketing campaign, if the iPhone gained 3G data and GPS around the same time. Hopefully Sprint has a Xohm Instinct in the cards for this holiday season.

In short: Competition is good.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Roboman It's not like a candybar with a touchscreen across most of its face is the most original shape in the world, either. [..] Competition is good.

Bingo. If only it were particularly good competition. As Satchmo pointed out, the thing is broken to no end right now.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by chucker Bingo. If only it were particularly good competition. As Satchmo pointed out, the thing is broken to no end right now.

It's not out yet, either. Hopefully they can turn it around in the next...erm, eight weeks.

Apparently the reason the motion-controlled web browser didn't work is because of the darkened demonstration room (it uses the phone's camera). But yeah, the rest of that is pretty inexcusable, especially for a product shipping so soon.

[Dorian Gray]

If Samsung wants to play with the big boys it needs to get some good in-house designers. It's a huge company with massive engineering talent, totally let down by lame industrial design time and time again. Almost every Samsung product is a copy of someone else's original design, or an uninspired creation bordering on ugly.

The only exception I can think of is the NV cameras, which ironically are engineering duds!

[Robo]

I actually think Samsung has some of the best tech design outside of Apple.

See: Their "high design" televisions, their Apple Store-exclusive laser printers...oh, and they pretty much set the standard for stylish phones with their Ultra Editions. They stole that crown from Motorola, and rightfully so.

And Dorian...Samsung pretty much is the big boys.

[Dorian Gray]

Samsung is certainly big, but it's not influential in the way that Sony was and arguably still is, or Apple, or even Philips.

That said, the printers you mention are certainly nice, especially this one:



The SCX-4500 reminds me a little of the Epson V700 scanner, which sports a neat design (and unusually high build and material quality):



Samsung TVs do nothing for me, especially in competition with the classy Bravias, and their phones are vague things with no real personality (you'll remember I never liked the Motorola RAZR either). They might be shiny, but their ambiguous forms don't command the respect of decisively designed products, or the irresistible warmth of playfully shaped, colourful plastic. I tend to prefer CE design in one of those paradigms, rather than the woolly middle ground that Samsung tends to inhabit.

Bigger products like cars give the designer more room to work with subtle shapes, and Jonathan Ive would probably be a poor car designer, just as Butzi Porsche would have been a bad CE designer.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Roboman It's not out yet, either. Hopefully they can turn it around in the next...erm, eight weeks. Apparently the reason the motion-controlled web browser didn't work is because of the darkened demonstration room (it uses the phone's camera). But yeah, the rest of that is pretty inexcusable, especially for a product shipping so soon.

Indeed. And consider that everything during the iPhone demo worked almost half a year before it actually shipped. Quite a difference.

Originally Posted by Roboman I actually think Samsung has some of the best tech design outside of Apple.

Agreed. A lot of recent products have been 'meh', but in many areas, they definitely do some of the sleekest industrial design out there. If only they sold their laptop line in the US.

Compared to Apple, Samsung needlessly dilutes their brand by having such a broad range of products, many of which are mediocre. Nonetheless, a few do stand out.

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Samsung TVs do nothing for me, especially in competition with the classy Bravias

Bravias? Classy? Pretentious, as far as I'm concerned. And how can you mention Philips at all? Their "design" consists of adding random bizarre curves all over the place formed out of cheap plastic that breaks after any amount of reasonable use. When was the last time Philips understood "design"?

[Robo]

Originally Posted by chucker Compared to Apple, Samsung needlessly dilutes their brand by having such a broad range of products, many of which are mediocre. Nonetheless, a few do stand out.

I really wanted to say that but I couldn't think of how to put it into words, so thanks. I agree entirely.

Samsung really is close to being a "premium" electronics company like Apple or Sony, and in some ways they are; it's just that they make too many low-end products, too. (Did that sound snobby? But it's true...) I don't know how it is in other parts of the world, but right now the ultimate generic cell phone in the US is a silver Samsung slider. T-Mobile alone has carried seemingly dozens of them. Their Ultra Edition handsets are great, but they have too many lower-end phones that look too much like them; most Samsung phones look pretty similar.

[gsxrboy]

[quote=chucker;554885]IBravias? Classy? Pretentious, as far as I'm concerned.../QUOTE]

Sony just happen to use Samsung panels in their LCD televisions as well.

[Partial]

Is it so much to ask for Samsung to leave the stupid ass touch screen to Apple and come out with an Android-based blackberry-curve-lookin device ASAP?!?!?

[Robo]

Originally Posted by tensdanny38 Is it so much to ask for Samsung to leave the stupid ass touch screen to Apple and come out with an Android-based blackberry-curve-lookin device ASAP?!?!?

So, basically, you don't like this phone because it's not something completely different?

You're one of the people who hate the Kindle because it doesn't replace your laptop, aren't you?

Samsung makes hundreds of phones each year. I'm sure they could make a "stupid ass touch screen phone" and a QWERTY Android smartphone if they felt so inclined.

[Partial]

Touchscreens are a nice addition but they don't replace a keyboard. Give me a small touch screen for a few things, a qwerty keyboard(or even a semi-qwerty), EV-DO and a GPS without Windows Mobile and I will pounce on it immediately!!!!

[Robo]

Originally Posted by tensdanny38 Touchscreens are a nice addition but they don't replace a keyboard. Give me a small touch screen for a few things, a qwerty keyboard(or even a semi-qwerty), EV-DO and a GPS without Windows Mobile and I will pounce on it immediately!!!!

*cough* Centro *cough*