Any disappointment stems from a lack of newly announced bells and whistles. People are accustomed to seeing wild new features, and when lacking, they are let down. No one has used the device yet, so disappointment isn't with the experience. It looks like Samsung's approach is refining performance and functionality this time. It appears the S5 will run faster than the iPhone 6 and beat in a number of other areas, too. Pricing will be key. If cutting the fluff allows them to price it at least $100 less than the iPhone 6, it could be a re-run of late 2012 with the S3's impact.
I think they're wise to add the fingerprint scanner, but they need to do it correctly. Though the iPhone one works alright, I have some trouble with it on the fly. Would be great to see Samsung implement it as swipe-capable, though I think they'll likely do it as a button, too. It's about time the biometric readers get refined. Motorola put one on the Atrix a few years ago, but it took until last year for someone (Apple) to finally make it useful. Curious to see what Samsung does there.
Any way you cut it, the days of frenzied excitement about new premium phone models appear to be gone. It makes sense, as smartphones and tablets have largely matured. Apple will likely face the same type of reaction as they did with the past two releases, which is why they're wise to focus on releasing new types of products immediately. |
