Five US carriers, nearly identical devices, millions and millions of pre-orders, virtually simultaneous launch – and that’s just the US. The Galaxy SIII might be hideous, Samsung is still doing something right here. No surprise, then, that Apple has, once again, decided to compete in the court room instead of on the shelves: they’re asking for a US import ban on the SIII [FOSS Patents link].
As opposed to the considerably worse and hideous iPhone 4 eh?
I think that the South Korean government should return the favor and ban imports of ALL Apple products. That might get their attention.
ozonehole,
“I think that the South Korean government should return the favor and ban imports of ALL Apple products. That might get their attention.”
Won’t be enough…the whole world needs to ban US products entirely until the gov is more or less forced to deal with the broken patent system. Might as well tack on the corruption of copyright policy while we are at it.
Samsung seems to be becoming more insular with their software too.
http://www.chainfire.eu/articles/118/Triangle_Away_vs_Samsung/
You used to be cool Samsung…
I wouldn’t expect Korean (or Japanese, or Chinese) companies to be “cool” for very long. Heck, this is even the case with western companies (Apple). They only serve their customers only on the way up, once they reach their targets (monopoly or near monopoly) they switch back to heavy-handed policies.
Remember how cool Sony was in ’80-90s? Since then Sony has changed into pure evil and Samsung has taken their place (which is why it was gaining the market share so fast). Once Samsung shareholders get comfortable with their portfolio the company will switch to defensive tactics as well, likely leaving room to some Chinese brands.
I don’t get how SIII is hideous when it looks almost exactly like Galaxy Nexus which was praised for its original design.
It’s the white that’s fugly (imho). The Grey/Pebble Blue ones look alright. The limited white Nexus is fugly too, as are white iPhones. Heck, every modern handset I’ve seen with the exception of the N9 has been fugly in white.
I won’t buy a phone if it doesn’t come in white (or red, but they don’t exist).
I won’t buy *any* electronic device if its only option is white. As a long-time Nintendo fan, I didn’t even consider buying the Wii until the black system came out. I refuse to own that disgusting white thing. Apple sucks for many reasons… popularizing the color white and the “oooh shiny” plastic finish is just one reason. Now I got my black Wii, but unfortunately the damn thing is still a glossy fingerprint magnet. Nintendo needs to take design ideas from their past systems… not Apple. Apple’s just a bad influence for electronic design, IMO.
I just hope Apple (or anyone) doesn’t start weaving white carbon fiber one day.
Wouldn’t that be somewhat sturdier and lighter than all these glass+metal devices we see these days ? I still can’t figure out what kind of design nazi could think that using these to build a cellphone was a good idea…
Edited 2012-06-07 14:35 UTC
Yes, it would make them sturdier, just not in white, or any color for that matter. Carbon fiber should be carbon fiber colored, whether they be fenders, clutch covers trellis frames or cellphone cases.
Most “exotic” material I can recall on phones were the old Ericsson (before Sony Erricsson) models having magnesium-alloy frames of some sort. Only carbon fiber chassis I’ve seen on phones were those overpriced Vertu models.
Price and yield ratio are probably the biggest factors. Machining is either too expensive and slow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-OXRgn4LRw), and hand weaving is simply impractical for anything outside MotoGP and F1.
Yeah, a device which you often hold in your arms …made of materials which often make it feel unpleasantly cold, WTH?
Hmm…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nintendo-Famicom-Disk-System.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Famicom_Network_System.jpg
(and I must note how it’s essentially partly white, as is the Game Boy or US SNES …but yeah, at least not glossy)
Edited 2012-06-07 23:45 UTC
Hm, red ones are easy to spot… http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/
You’re in luck today!
http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/Asha_3… (or maybe http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/112/ if you’re on a tighter budget ;p )
But isn’t that pink-red of Lumia 800 close enough?
PS. And a curious thing at the top of that device matrix, the apparently just announced Asha 305 ( http://www.developer.nokia.com/Devices/Device_specifications/Asha_3… ), 306, 311 – touch-only S40. Well, a bit late (3 years after LG Cookie or Samsung Star?) …still, some mobile OS news (but if they’re releasing such, if they’re going forward with S40, what’s with all those Meltemi rumours?)
Edited 2012-06-07 23:19 UTC
It’s just Thom’s lack of taste showing.
The Galaxy Nexus is also ugly in my book.
Then it has to be nice, since you dislike E-Types
Apple,
I sincerely wish you could read this but I know you will not.
I have no particular love for Samsung handsets nor their Android releases, however your strong-armed patent and litigation tactics sicken me to the point that I WILL NEVER buy an Apple product. Ever. If you cannot compete fairly through innovation then I just do not need your products.
Microsoft, you are also in the same boat through the extortion tactics you use on the Android handset makers. Every day I wean myself further from Microsoft products. Windows 8 will never exist on any PC in my house. Linux and Android run my machines now and for the foreseeable future.
I hope that there are more OSnews readers that feel as I do and have joined the “rebellion”. The rest of the masses just need only wake up and realize that they have choices that do not have to include either “offender”.
To be honest, no matter what you do you’re still financially supporting “the bad guys.” Even paying taxes means you’re supporting a government that pushes for ever harder IP-laws and ever less consumer rights.
WereCatf,
“To be honest, no matter what you do you’re still financially supporting ‘the bad guys.'”
The OP should stick to his principals but you are right too. It is very difficult to completely avoid Microsoft’s monopoly.
You need professional accountants/lawyers/doctors/dentists/etc? Take a look at what they’re running, it’s always windows. Even if they don’t need windows, it’s usually the sole platform supported by the commercial apps they do need.
Windows is on embedded devices where there is no discernible evidence of it whatsoever. Though these are often given away by a BSOD. Some examples I have witnessed personally are: ATMs, arcade games, airport consoles, cable television guide channels, gasoline station consoles, cash registers.
The point being that some portion of what you spend will be making it’s way into microsoft’s account and there’s very little one can do to control it.
And even if you manage to avoid Windows on workstations, what you often end up using instead is OSX. Funding Apple is not necessarily better, as this article shows…
(Though with 10 years of service, my iMac from work certainly didn’t bring Apple so much yearly average revenue
)
Edited 2012-06-07 14:36 UTC
Fair point but you simply can’t change the system alone. Voting system is already broken to the point that the system is serving itself. Whatever you do you simply can’t change it the legal way – just forget it. All you can decide is “a color of a shed”.
I grew up in a totalitarian country and, sadly, I can see a lot of its policies coming back. All my early life was fighting problems (arbitrary laws and regulations, not unlike the whole IP thing), which simply wouldn’t exist if I was born on the other side of the iron curtain (I wish I knew where is one today).
Me too, and mine is located in the western hemisphere.
Can’t you all smell it? Totalitarianism is already everywhere…You know, rich are richer, poor are poorer and all that (and accelerating).
Just to make it clear, in I have nothing against rich people and I don’t feel particularly sorry for poor ones. In normal circumstances, at least.
What I’m against is strong governments of any kind, because they always end up serving themselves, not the people. A tyranny or communism by definition have a strong government (otherwise they wouldn’t be able to force people to stay), but democracy may end up with one too. Just spoil people with printed/borrowed money and they will unanimously vote for more government.
What comes next is an explosion of various laws and regulations (IP laws, import restriction, employment and immigration restriction, safety regulations, surveillance and censorship, …). It doesn’t matter what they do, as long as they place power in government’s hands and make people more dependent. Stupid laws, which fight laws of economics or physics, are in fact preferable – they make it damn sure that no one else will even accidentally benefit from them.
Over time, the restrictions can become pretty severe (it’s a long way down) but, as strange as it may seem, few people will notice that. Most will simply take them as a fact of life and will even argue for more of it.
Welcome, SonicMetalMan!
I joined the “rebellion” in late 1999 (all Linux or *BSD since). So, I’ve felt this way for a very long time.
My question: What’s taking the rest of you guys so long?
Edited 2012-06-07 15:34 UTC
In South Korea, so my relatives tell me, it’s not easy using OS X to get things done – the highly networked nature of South Korean society, as well as its online bureaucracy, shopping sites, etc., all favour Windows or Android; having OS X as your mainstay interface to the world there makes you a bit like a second-class citizen.
This isn’t a tech issue but a geo-political one; if 2MB (Lee Myung-bak) wasn’t in power, already bending over to big business generally, ROK might be in a position to counteract the US-dominated patent system by threatening to tear up the free trade agreement with the States, and indicating it might as well go for more softly softly with the new regime now in the North. The US already sees North-East Asia/Pacific region as the place it will have to bolster its military presence (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-02/u-s-navy-s-pacific-presenc…) to keep on top of brewing local resentments over the South China Sea and to counter any further general Chinese influence in the area. Therefore, ROK has more of a hand to play here, I suspect.
The US needs to be careful; economically, it’s a shadow of its former self, and this relative decline is likely to continue. The interconnectedness of the global manufacturing regime regarding the military-industrial complex means that it is vulnerable also potentially to deliberate use of replacement parts for sabotage by China (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18155293); this kind of worry, along with the billions it is expected to cut from its military budget means that the gunboat diplomacy that Leon Panetta is relying on is already dead in the water.
Apple is operating in this context: at some point it too will have to recognise that the Cold War is over. It’s going to find that it may not be supported by its comparatively ever weaker host nation.
Conspiracy theories? You wish.
I think bans are stupid. The only ones that get hurt by them are the customers. The ones these idiots want to buy their stuff. Trying to “compete” by trying to ban other products is not cool, to say the least, the only ones who’ll praise you for it is your already present fanbase, which you’re just trying to increase. Go to courts, spend your money on lawyers and on each other, nobody could care any less, but leave the people alone to buy what they want. Oh, that’s too risky? Well, people, here’s an idea, create products that are better. I don’t think smacking the competition will make people like you much more. It doesn’t work on me, that’s for certain.
Somewhat ironic that a company that once advocated to “Think Different” now tries to stifle choice.
Countries with “Democratic” in their name aren’t democratic.
Countries with “Republic” in their name aren’t republic.
Countries with “Uni(on|ited)” in their name aren’t united.
“Microsoft” is neither small or pliant.
Apple never was about thinking different. They were always about conformity. http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/02/apple-must-make-macintosh-stan…
Stephen!,
“Somewhat ironic that a company that once advocated to ‘Think Different’ now tries to stifle choice.”
I found it hypocritical that Job’s repeatedly and explicitly promoted “choice” as an underdog, but he had no reservations about stifling it once he and apple had the opportunity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJqSaQj8iX4
“I gotta tell you, I use IE and I like it. So I think it’s the best browser out there but you can make your own choice. But choice is good don’t you think? So I choose to use to use IE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxOp5mBY9IY
“We have taken a look a browsers out there and apple has decided to make internet explorer it’s default browser on the macintosh. Since we believe in choice…since we believe in choice we’re going to be shipping other internet browsers as well on the macintosh and the user can of course change their default should they choose to.”
Actually, that second video paints a slightly different picture. You’re right that as an underdog, “choice” was promoted. But the stifling of choice when they came across success is in no small part due to the attitude of people like those fanboys in the video who reflexively booed at anything not Apple.
It’s a repeat of history. Even emperors who start out being the best emperor there ever was always succumbed to despotism when surrounded by yes men. That booing crowd of fanboys in the second video is a display of the sickness of unequivocal party allegiance.
kwan_e,
Well, it still seems disingenuous to me to say “we believe in choice” when it was convenient and then turn around and kill customer choice.
As for the yes-men, I don’t think they caused apple to eliminate choice (though they are certainly enablers). It’s not like they would stop praising apple if apple chose to continue the mantra of “choice is good”. In fact I think life would be a hell of a lot easier for fanboys if they didn’t have to defend apple’s attacks on consumer freedoms.
That might teach Samsung a lesson: don’t let lawyers to design your products – you will get sued anyway
.