Some Things Cannot Be Faked (Hint: Samsung)

Samsung isn't exactly know for their design prowess or their honesty. They've been caught paying people to leave fake negative reviews on competitor's products, they've been caught rigging their devices to perform better on benchmarks than they do in real life, and they've been caught stealing design cues from Apple (though rarely nicely implemented).

Side note: everyone in tech steals things from everyone else. There are a limited number of layouts, gestures, and features. There will be overlap. Don't read into that one too much, I couldn't resist posting a link to that Tumblr page.

What does this all add up to? The first thing that comes to mind is desperation. It is a shame, they're doing some decent things. Their phones are selling in record numbers and they're the only Android device maker that's actually making any money. Then they go and do things like fake leather with fake stitching on their products and paying a boat load of money for celebrity endorsements who promptly return to their iPhones when the camera turns off.

Loyalty cannot be faked; it can be purchased in the short term, but it won't last. The simplest description I can come up with is that this is the difference between being passionate about products and being passionate about your reputation at all costs. They'll keep doing these things until the market votes for a company that doesn't, for example by buying a Moto X instead of an S5.

Flappy Phone

Flappy Bird, you've met your match - Flappy Phone. Except they are serious, the new Samsung Galaxy S5 has a flap over the immensely hideous USB 3 micro B port. On one hand, this is a "face palm" moment. On the other hand, I applaud them for avoiding the 2 hours of listing gimmick software features that no one cared about like they did at the S4 unveiling. 

Also worth mentioning is the fact that the fingerprint scanner is "quite unreliable and virtually impossible to activate," but I'm sure no one will notice (*cough). 

Samsung S5 UI Leaks →

Looks like Samsung is putting some effort into design cleanliness. Not something they're exactly known for. The question is whether they're giving the UI a genuinely fresh overhaul, or are we seeing a friendly face with the same Samsung clutter behind it?

It is worth mentioning that the "Samsung clutter" does enable a lot of niche uses for users, but it certainly doesn't lend itself to a clean user experience.

Knowing Samsung, this leak is accurate (probably even intentional). I would also bet that the same old pile of (many useless, some useful) features are present somewhere.

Stop With the Bigger iPad "Rumors"

 The "rumors" of a bigger iPad are a joke, but they're spreading like wildfire. If you need proof why it isn't happening (anytime in the next few years at least), just take a look at Samsung's newest 12.2" abomination.

Comments on the tablet from the report:

• "Simply isn't designed for optimum portability" 
• "too awkward to hold for long periods of time"
• "we were hard-pressed to find any variation between the 12.2-incher and the Note 10.1 2014 edition"

Personally, I'm holding out for the 12.2" phone version.