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“I’ve been testing the first two Galaxy S phones, the T-Mobile Vibrant and the AT&T Captivate, both of which cost $200 with a two-year contract,” Mossberg writes. “Neither has all the features of Apple’s latest model, like a front-facing camera for video calls or an ultra–high resolution screen, but they are worthy competitors.”
MacDailyNews Take: So far, they’re “worthy iPhone competitors” unless you want to do FaceTime video calling or look at a screen that isn’t a mass of noticeable pixels (hence, blurrier/nowhere near as sharp).
Mossberg continues, “For Android phone makers, a key challenge is to differentiate their models from others offering the same operating system. Samsung has chosen to do so by combining a design that’s almost as thin as the iPhone 4 with a generous, four-inch screen. That’s significantly bigger than the iPhone’s 3.5-inch display, but smaller than the huge 4.3-inch screen on the Evo and the new Motorola (MOT) Droid X, which would force the phones to be larger… The screen on the Galaxy S is based on a different technology than those on most other smartphones. It’s called Super AMOLED, and Samsung claims it has better color reproduction, contrast, outdoor visibility and brightness. To my eye, the Galaxy S screens did look very good, but seemed no better, indoors or outdoors, than the iPhone 4’s screen and were slightly less sharp.”
MacDailyNews Take: Dear Mr. Mossberg,
Please make an appointment with your eye doctor ASAP.
If you can’t see the blatant resolution difference between iPhone 4 and Samsung’s Galaxy knockoffs, we very much fear for your eyesight.
Sincerely,
MacDailyNews Staff
Mossberg continues, “Another nice touch on the Samsung models is a generous amount of internal memory—16 gigabytes—in addition to the common removable memory card, which in this case holds two gigabytes but can be replaced at extra cost with a roomier card. Also, Samsung says the new phones can hold up to two gigabytes of third-party apps, the most I’ve seen on an Android phone, which, unlike the iPhone, places limits on total app storage.”
MacDailyNews Take: So, now they’re “worthy iPhone competitors” unless you want up to 29.1 GB of space for apps (like on our iPhone 4 32GB models) instead of a paltry (not “generous,” Walt, you joker) 2 GB, or about 1/15th the storage space. They’re “worthy competitors” if you like tiny app storage space, noticeably blurrier, pixelated screens and the inability to make FaceTime video calls.
Mossberg continues, “Like other Android phones, the two Samsung models offer around 65,000 third-party apps, including popular titles like the Kindle e-book reader and Facebook. That’s far fewer than the iPhone’s 225,000 available apps, but well above the measly 7,000 or so apps available for the BlackBerry.”
MacDailyNews Take: Nice try, Walt or whoever you are, but the number of BlackBerry apps is neither here nor there when you’re trying to pimp “worthy iPhone competitors.” So, the fact is that these “worthy iPhone competitors” give you access to about 28% of the total number of iPhone apps available, have screens that are noticeably blurrier, are unable to do video calling, and provide users with 1/15th the app storage space (maybe it’s a good thing users have far fewer apps from which to choose).
Mossberg continues, “There are some drawbacks. Like other Android phones, the Galaxy S models don’t come with a program like iTunes, which allows easy synchronization with content on a PC or Mac. I also wasn’t crazy about the home, search and other buttons on these phones, which are found on a panel below the screen but not easily visible until you touch the panel and light the buttons up. That, in effect, means you have to touch twice to use them.”
MacDailyNews Take: So, easily buying, backing up, and organizing your music, apps, books, videos, movies, TV shows doesn’t count for much in Uncle Walt’s world. Apparently, neither does an intuitive, well-executed UI that works flawlessly with the hardware. This leaves us wondering if Walt’s really on vacation and just having someone who doesn’t know how to properly review smartphones slap his name on their half-assed mess. Seriously.
Mossberg concludes, “Still, for consumers who prefer Android, or who—in the case of the Vibrant and the coming Sprint and Verizon versions—would rather not be on AT&T, the Galaxy S phones present an appealing alternative to the iPhone.”
The full misleading review is here.
MacDailyNews Take: Let’s recap, shall we? Someone claiming to be “Walter S. Mossberg” says that Samsung’s Galaxy phones are “worthy competitors” to Apple’s iPhone, but he can’t see the blatant discrepancy between the quality of the screen resolutions (go see that eye doc, whoever you are). Said “worthy iPhone competitors” also can’t do FaceTime (or any other video calling), saddle anyone who made the unfortunate decision to settle for an iPhone knockoff with a mere 1/15 of the app storage as Apple’s iPhone (or 1/7th, in the case of the entry-level iPhone 4 model) and access to a whopping 28% of the total iPhone apps available (the quality of these apps is another thing that’s never discussed, but in our experience, most iPhone apps seem to work better/offer more features than their Android counterparts, when there are Android counterparts with which to compare, of course; 72% of the time, there aren’t).
Now, these “worthy iPhone competitors” also have nothing like iTunes, so there’s no full-featured software and store for organizing, backing up, and downloading music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, university lectures, apps, books, and ringtones. Plus, if your “worthy iPhone competitor” gets bricked by an over-the-air update, they likely have no backup. With an iPhone, just sync it back to iTunes and you’re back in business. These Android devices all have redundant extra buttons on them because the software UI isn’t thought-out anywhere near to the degree that Apple’s is and therefore users are required to click some buttons twice in order to get them to light up and then work. Android phones also do not have built-in iPods. In Walt’s world, that apparently carries no weight. In most people’s, however, the lack of an iPod alone can be the deal breaker.
Did we miss anything? Oh, yeah, the third-party accessory market, including a wide variety of vehicle makers, dock, stereo, case, home automation, medical equipment, and about a million others is woeful compared to the massive, vibrant market that supports Apple’s iOS ecosystem. Plus you have a Samsung or an HTC or a whatever assembling hardware (think Dell, HP, etc.) and you have a Google producing the software, trying to please their “partners,” but failing to delight their users (think Microsoft).
Too many cooks. Again.
Plus all of these screen sizes and resolutions and unique UI overlays drive developers crazy (which may explain why there’s only 28% of the total iPhone apps for Android). Only Apple does it all, so the OS is perfectly tuned to the hardware and developers don’t have to deal with out-of-control fragmentation and a hodgepodge of 50 device assemblers along with a search engine/advertising company trying to make a fake iPhone OS so that people will keep using their search products and therefore continue to load and click on their ads. And what about the Android crapware that’s baked into a lot of these phones, Walt? The stuff you don’t want, but can;t remove? Do these Samsung’s afflict that junk upon their users, too?
That is what this so-called “Walter S. Mossberg” has deemed “worthy iPhone competitors?” Puleeze.
What has The Wall Street Journal done with the real Walt Mossberg and can we please have him back ASAP? This one’s going (or may already be) blind and is not at all discerning enough to be of service to his readership. Not even close. This is a huge disservice actually, and, if Mossberg really did scribble this one, he should be embarrassed. We expect better. If this isn’t really from Mossberg, the WSJ should send whichever community college intern they have writing Mossberg’s summertime reviews back to school (first to the eye doc) and tell Walt that it’s time to get off the beach and back to work!
The extreme overweighting Mossberg gives to things like “deep social-network integration” while seemingly ignoring that most people will want their phone to fit into the case they like, they’ll want their built-in iPod to simply appear on their car’s display, they’ll want to use FaceTime (especially as it becomes more widespread on Macs and iPod touches and iPads), they’ll want the contents of their phones safely backed up on their computers, etc., etc., etc. is laughable. Mossberge needs to go back and approach his reviews from the perspective of real users, like he usually does.
What happens if/when Apple turns on FaceTime in iChat and on iPod touches this fall after you’ve suckered your hapless readers into two-year contracts with Verizon, and stuck them with wannabe iPhones that lack a front-facing camera? Isn’t live video calling really some serious “social-network integration,” Mr. Mossberg?
We feel bad for the people that Mossberg has convinced to settle for a Samsung Galaxy.
Anyone who’s used both an iPhone 4 and any Android phone knows the real score, as does Mossberg it seems, but for some reason, he left it rather unclear to his readers who are average consumers.
We’ve endured 26 years of absolute idiots claiming that Windows was “as good as a Mac” for the average consumer. It was never true. We’re not going to sit around and be silent when people attempt to do the same thing with Android. If Android ever becomes as good or better than the Mac for the average consumer, so be it. Publish it, Mr. Mossberg. We’ll publish it and laud you for doing so, too. We’ll be all over Apple for blowing their lead. But, no Android phone is anywhere near as good as iPhone 4 for the average consumer and nobody should insinuate that any of them are, either by sloppiness or design.
Mossberg should have made iPhone’s superiority crystal clear to the average consumer that he should be trying to serve, especially since he used the word “iPhone” about as many times as he used the word “Android” in his Android phone review.
Instead, as it stands now, Walt Mossberg’s review confuses the average consumer and does them a disservice.
Lastly, we’re very confident: We challenge you to go buy a Samsung Galaxy, hell, go buy a Samsung Universe if you can find one, and try it for as long as you can before you have to return it for a refund. Go get any HTC or any Motorola or any other Android-based phone and do the same. Run them through their paces, really try to use them. Live with them. Then go get an iPhone 4. You won’t be returning your iPhone 4, so do that one last.
Why can’t Samsung write their own OS? Why can’t Motorola? Android OS is the Windows of the palm-top computer–or as you refer to it: smartphone (although the phones are far from possessing any hint of intellect; this comes from the operator)–world, as Google is the new MS. Just as clumsy and lacking, as well as lagging. See? Windows all over again.
“MacDailyNews Take: So far, they’re “worthy iPhone competitors” unless you want to do FaceTime video calling or look at a screen that isn’t a mass of noticeable pixels (hence, blurrier/nowhere near as sharp).”
So this means the previous iPhone models are also “a mass of noticeable pixels?”
Yes, the iPhone 4 screen far exceeds anything else but to simply say everything else is now not even viewable is a bit of a stretch.
Well, if you want a phone on another network…
Actually, once Android 2.2 rolls out, the Galaxy will have up to 48 GB for installing apps (16 internal + 32 SD card). So, in that department, the Samsung Galaxy S is much better than any of the iPhones. Of course, the Galaxy S also renders colors better, can run widgets on the homescreen, doesn’t require a paid service like MobileMe for push data, doesn’t require any bloated desktop software like iTunes, etc., etc., etc..
Thank you very much, mrboma. I was going to point out the MDN hypocrisy at length, but you did just fine. Apparently quantity is now more important than having only the top app or apps in each category and not being burdened with the rest of the “choice.” In related news, I hear that size no longer matters, unless you are big.
MDN appart your sectarism, of course Apple makes good products. Please, sometimes, don’t blindly burn down anybody who’s trying to show up with some non-Apple products and try to admit that others can (sometimes) do some good stuff too.
Sometimes, MDN realy gets a little pathetic.
A neighbor of mine has an EVO, pretty proud of it. Big screen. pretty sharp, sort of. But the highlights all filled out, light gray. No good black, just dark gray. His wife saw pictures and videos on my iPh4 and started screaming, Oh my God look at that! That’s amazing! Honey look at this, it’s incredible! The guy didn’t say anything. I didn’t say anything either.
They will have to take my iPhone 4 from me—out of my cold, dead hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Longtime reader here, just want to put in my request for you guys to tone it down just a bit. I love the site to get the latest news, and I click ads daily to support you as a company. But I agree with a growing number of commenters that you guys are getting a bit rabid in your fan-boy-ism; to the point that not only are you ineffectual, but you are detrimental to the purpose of your site.
Walt is a pretty avid Apple supporter, but when he tries to give any amount of consideration to a competitor, you beat him as if he’s Balmer. Let it go. Wasting 3 column inches on a letter to his eye doctor, even when he clearly stated the iPhone was superior, just makes your articles unreadable, and make you look so unyielding as to be foolish.
Not every article needs to have paragraphs of your MDN take, and not every MDN take needs to bash with abandon.
Chill a bit, and reclaim your place as the source for useful news and sensible commentary.
Just my 2c.
MDN Word: progress – as in “If this site continues to progress like it has, I’m out of here”
@t-bone
Bye bye and don’t the door hit your behind. Oh and no, the Samdung Galaxy is not a worthy competitor to the iPhone. Period.
@MizuInOz- damn I’d never thought of that…oh wait, yes I had…
see I like to read their excerpt and if it looks interesting then I’ll go read the whole thing. But the frenetic fanboyism like that certainly impedes that.
“OK… WHEN do these patent things kick in??”
I’ve actually wondered the same thing. When I first saw the Samsung I couldn’t believe how much it looked like an iPhone, it was like being able to find a cheap knockoff in a Chinese street stall. Maybe Apple isn’t concerned because it is, well, so cheap. But as we can see from these comments, there are people who are actually duped into believing it’s a “worthy competitor”.
MDN is running at full-douchebag mode in this “take.”
MDN: “… most people will want their phone to fit into the case they like… “
Most people want their phone to work without a case.
Jeezus, you guys really overdosed on the snark here.
MDN is an Apple enthusiast website. They are Pro Apple. They don’t hide it. They don’t disguise it. They don’t claim to be “impartial”. They are upfront and honest about it. Exactly how they should be.
You have to be sort of ignorant of expect them to try to be impartial journalists. Do people really come here and expect to get something else?????
If you don’t want to read material that has a pro Apple spin DON’T COME here.
But to cry and whine about the message being too “fanboyish” is stupid.
IMO Samsung is blatantly infringing on the iPhone, after rightly judging that Apple won’t do a thing to stop them, given the need for flash memory and the A4 chip fabrication done by Samsung for Apple. I wouldn’t put it past Samsung to have sweetened the deal for the WSJ and Uncle Walt, a la standard operating procedure in Korea. The KoreaTimes recently ran six anti-iPhone articles in a single week, all managing to mention the Galaxy S.
I wish you would limit your “takes” to the end of the article. I would like to read and form my own take before I read MDN’s. Very annoying…
Thanks so much for setting us straight, Smelltheglove.
I have a Droid X and IT IS a true competitor to the iphone!
The iphone4 is such a great phone because:
1) You can only make facetime calls to other iphone4 users over WiFi. Give me a break.
2) Wait a second, are you sure you will even get reception or should you move your hand to do so. Ive never had a dropped call (except with iphone users) in years of service with Verizon. Can you say the same?
3) I can put up to 40 gigs of data on my phone with the removable SD card. Only up to 32 on the iphone.
4) Battery: I can replace my battery so in essence I can just buy another battery and the phone will last twice as long as the iphones.
5) I can record video in HD 720 and then connect it to my tv via the hdmi out port on the phone.
6) Have you guys heard of the proximity sensor issues. There were dozens of pages of complaints about this just in the first 2 days on apple’s website.
7) How about that nice glass casing. It is VERY flexible but is it shatter proof…not quite
8) I can upload all of my music, videos, podcasts, etc. The program is free and called DoubleTwist and it automatically copies all of your data from itunes.
9) The new fix for the iphone4 reception issue is to attach a rubber bumper around it. What if you are one of the many people who hate cases and “bumpers” on your phone because they make the phone a lot larger and not for nothing but surrounding a phone in rubber makes it impossible to easily get it in and out of your pocket. It doesnt just slide in. Rubber = friction.
Its unfortunate the iphone4 is so awful because I was ready to switch to AT&T and deal with their sh/t service but the decision was easy because the iphone4 was such a failure in simple aspects.
I wonder how many people who are criticizing the Samsung phone have ever used one. I don’t mean played with it for a few minutes in a store, but actually used one!! I doubt any of the above critics have. I wonder who they get their financial advice from – probably their plumber.
NewzCrap owns AllThingsD and has Uncle Walt under contract. Otherwise, business not fact rules the day.
I liked the MDN take, a little long but I liked it. I am wondering about the folks trying to get unbiased takes here though, guys this is MDN, they REALLY like Apple. It’s why I keep coming back.
Try one of those Zune sites the MS created to get the other side.
But maybe I don’t have Mr. Jobs and his minions suppressing normal political or social commentary they deem “defamatory,” or normal risque pictures they call “porn.” I’m waiting for Apple to suppress the Venus de Milo (bare breasts) or Michelangelo’s DAVID (visible male genitalia), even though Mr. Schiller, Apple much-a-much says they won’t suppress or censor art. But they already did, with the illustrated version of ULYSSES, once itself also banned, even though it is generally regarded as the outstanding work of English language fiction of the last century.
Nice…not only is MDN running at full douche, it also removed my two comments that still said that the iphone 4 is basically the best for right now, but not for everybody. I guess that’s cool.
@Brulek:
STFU.