You have a point. Samsung’s user interface is traditionally bad. I currently have the Blackjack and the UI constantly frustrates me. It’s not intuitive and causes click fatigue.

Tons of questions of Samsung’s Croix UI. Looks pretty in pictures and an interesting concept. Let’s see how it works in real life. However, intuitive, elegant software is not yet a Korean strength (but neither is it a strength of a software company in Redmond, WA) so my hopes are not high.

Anyway, when it comes to Samsung’s notoriously crappy phone manager software, don’t take my word for it:

http://www.shitware.net/Home/t.....fault.aspx

http://www.shitware.net/Home/t.....fault.aspx

http://www.shitware.net/Home/t.....fault.aspx

Complete with video (second and third links). See for yourself.

Thanks for the links, WangKon. I gleaned some more information about the Samsung F700 from them. Some highlights:

       * It does not run WinCE, but a custom Samsung-developed OS. It looks pretty in pictures, but raises a lot of questions: usability, third-party apps, compatibility, etc. As Brendon noted above, the browser will be a big issue: if it doesn’t support Web 2.0 standards, it’s already fallen well short of iPhone’s full-featured Safari browser. Also, the compatibility issue is particularly noteworthy because Samsung’s sync software is Windows-only and notoriously crappy.

       * No WiFi capability. You’re tied to the expense and spotty coverage of current 3G networks for web browsing, downloading, etc. Also means no possibility of cheap-as-free third party VoIP apps.

With these issues in view, I think it’s extremely presumptuous to term this an “iPhone killer.” A viable alternative, perhaps, for those who prefer a tactile keyboard and are willing to make the other tradeoffs. But a killer? I think not.

# 25, Brendon-
I never said the chip was a “triumph of Korean technology.” This place is rife with people who want to put words in my mouth and peg a “type” onto me. Get’s tiring…

Brendon and dda,

I don’t know if you know this, and it may even be a suprise to you, but the key to its simple interface is a screen that responds to several touches at once. It makes rapid text entry possible, web navigation without a mouse, etc. The screen is built by a German company called Balda, but the technology itself, LICENSED to Balda, is neither American nor European. It was originally developed by a Chinese to help with the input of Chinese characters.

Be it Suwon or Cupertino, tech isn’t always original but it is global.

# 29, Janus-

Did you not read the context of my last post? $800 was what guys who wanted to get it the first day or so had to pay. How do I calculate this? Well, if you don’t have your phone for two years or more, you have to pay $150 AND $30 activation charge right? Of the four friends of mine who HAD to get the iPhone immediately, all of them still had contracts with their old phones so they had to pay $180 extra to get the damn thing to work on AT&T’s network. Thus, what’s the “out-the-door” costs eh? $600 + $180 + $50 sales taxes = $830.

Similar situation with the RAZR. I know people who shelled $200 for the phone and $150 + $30 to get out of the contract. To be an earlier adopter of new cell phones is an expensive proposition due to what you have to pay to get out of the contract.

Lastly, it’s amazing to read the contrasting comments on Samsung in places like the ‘hole’ and tech blogs like here:
http://www.techeblog.com/index.....iller-f700

and

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9685303-1.html

Indeed. The old shorthand is oh-so-fitting: WinCE.

Dear Wang kong:
iPhone was $500 and $600, not $800. Now it is $400.

Does this thing run windows mobile? There’s a real winner of an os right there…so what exactly did samsung add here? What is their value proposition? OS by Microsoft, design by Apple…basically samsung has made itself an unoriginal product that puts it in the unenviable position of just waiting to be undercut by similarly unoriginal Chinese manufacturers

Oddly, their domestic cell service offered through Anycall is rated #1 by Koreans. SK has been really good, and apparently has all the government contracts. It leads me to believe that Samsung engaged in some monkey business to manipulate the outcome of the survey…

–Remort

I don’t know why you are calling the Samsung S5L8900 processor dumb?

Because all CPUs and related chips ARE dumb. They provide bit crunching, period. The elegant design, the snazzy functionalities don’t come from the CPU, but from engineers @ Cupertino…