Samsung says new features could come to mid-range phones before flagships
Flashy new features almost always arrive on the most expensive smartphones first, but Samsung may start taking a different approach. DJ Koh, head of Samsung's mobile division, tells CNBC that the company is now focused on differentiating mid-range phones ahead of flagship phones, as sales lag on higher-end models.
"In the past, I brought the new technology and differentiation to the flagship model and then moved to the mid-end. But I have changed my strategy from this year to bring technology and differentiation points starting from the mid-end," Koh told CNBC.
[...] Samsung hasn't avoided bringing higher-end features to mid-range phones — this year's Galaxy A series, for instance, included an 18:9 screen and dual front-facing cameras. But it was going up against phones that offered screens with notches, the clear symbol of a 2018 device. That kind of difference makes it harder to compete with companies like OnePlus, which are quicker to bring these features to mid-range phones.
That all said, Koh told CNBC the changes are really just about "focusing on millennials who cannot afford the flagship."
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 05 2018, @08:04PM (5 children)
Is anyone else weary of smartphones, and ready for wearables to move to a better form? Smartphone zombies wandering the streets of New York, bumbling into lightposts, tripping over dog leashes, and stumbling into traffic are a meme that is just begging for young'uns to mock mercilessly.
Watch- or bracelet born VIs activated via disposable throat mike, and viewable via an after-market thin film you can affix to any sort of glasses would be a better way to go.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday September 05 2018, @09:02PM (2 children)
So, smartphone guts in the watch/bracelet, watch/bracelet is a touchpad that you don't look at constantly, and you only need to slightly lift your arms in front of you while walking in order to interact with it. And then you have AR glasses up top, accepting input from the watch/bracelet. I dunno, it might work. It gives you a worse experience for video viewing (small watch screen) unless the glasses can display video in a "VR mode".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @10:42AM (1 child)
We could use kinematics to identify people who are dumbwalking using smart glasses. In the same vein as the phone's camera has to make a shutter noise by law in some countries (Japan springs to mind).
For example, to keep the screen on and/or the connection active, a user might have to walk with his knees making more exaggerated outward motions, or move his neck back and forward with each stride. That would work.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 06 2018, @11:03AM
Shutter noise laws are bullshit. If I want to take a picture of something in silence, I should be able to do that, whether it's a bird, a dog, a worm's eye view of a pair of panties, whatever.
There is no need to make smartglasses "dumbwalkers" identifiable. If they are looking up and forward, that is already better than a distracted smartphone user. If that's not enough, you could also use the camera system and speaker/vibration to alert the user if they are about to collide with an obstacle.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:17PM
weary of phones? sure. ready for wearables? Nope. Not even on my radar as a thing to want.
Wearables. Disposable throat mics. People talking to themselves. Glasses they are looking at instead of through.
Wow... its like you took all the worst aspects of a jackass wearing a bluetooth headset and then cranked it up to 11. :)
And glasses? Do you know how much money people have collectively spent in order NOT to have to wear glasses? Do you know how irritating it is for people who need reading glasses to always have to put them on and take them off and keep them around -- nobody does that because it's an experience they enjoy. I can just see 40-50+ year olds looking for their glasses every time their smart watch vibrates.
Meanwhile, what does it even accomplish... instead of smartphone zombies we get AR zombies wandering around bumbling into lightposts, tripping over dog leashes, and stumbling into traffic? How is that better? If you think AR means people are paying attention to the world around them any better than if they were looking at a smartphonescreen... than I think you'd be wrong. Plus at least with a phone, you can put it away in a symbolic gesture of 'im only paying attention to you now'... a disposable throat mic and something stuck on your glasses is more difficult to put away... especially if you need the glasses to actually see.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday September 06 2018, @05:21PM
I can't wait for my BrainPal(tm) and the accompanying Smartblood(tm).
...Any other Scalzi fans?