Samsung became the heir apparent to the mobile tech throne this week
Say what you will about brand loyalty, about exploding
phones, about functional versus fabulous design — the thing that will
ultimately sell phones and make tech companies leaders in that space is
convergence.
We are coming to a time when the shape the technology you
use — whether it fits in a pocket, on the bridge of your nose or rests
on your desk — isn’t as important as the ecosystem of devices it talks
to and the many roles a singular device can take on.
When Apple originally released the iPhone, it plucked
people away from their beloved personal digital assistants, but not
because it was the best device. The fact that users had to typically
give up a phone with a physical keyboard and make do with the virtual
kind was a major sticking point. What won people over was that the
iPhone replaced both your phone and your media device and did it well.
Over the years, the iPhone grew to absorb not just your
iPod, but your camera, your GPS device, your heart rate tracker, your
credit card, your voice recorder. It even allows you to make do without a
television, a radio or a game console, if you are so inclined.
Apple’s Siri strives to replace the assistant almost no
one has in their daily lives, and if rumors are to be believed, the next
iPhone will include support for augmented or virtual reality.
The phone is becoming the center of our tech lives and
Apple has been the one leading the charge. But that seems to be
changing. There’s a wobble in Apple’s step lately as it proceeds from
one device to the next, little changing between them.
The company seems risk-averse, its devices increasingly
dated. The reasons to own an iPhone and not a smartphone from Samsung or
Huawei continue to disappear.
Where once I kept my iPhone because of its music
integration, I no longer use iTunes. I’ve become a fan of Amazon Music. I
also now pluck videos and television shows from equally
platform-agnostic sources.
Recently, the only reason I seem to stick to the Apple
ecosystem is because of its messenger and those adorable stickers, but
that’s not nearly enough to keep me around for much longer.
I’m sure I’m not alone. There are legions of Apple captives, I suspect, just waiting for that one thing to push them away.
The turning point for me was the Apple Watch: A great
device when it launched, but one that simply did not evolve in its
second iteration.
Samsung, on the other hand, has arguably the best smart watch
on the market, and while it works with the iPhone, it works much better
with Samsung’s own phones. These are phones I hadn’t really considered
much before, but became very interesting to me once I looked past the
iPhone. And Samsung’s phones are exploding the norm. Yes, even literally
last year, thanks to faulty batteries.
Samsung’s Gear S3 smart watch is a wonder. And the
company also happens to make the best phone-powered virtual reality
headset on the market, in conjunction with Oculus.
Smart watch and virtual reality make two reasons to reconsider an iPhone purchase.
This week, Samsung laid out an array of more reasons to make the jump during its annual Unpacked event in New York City.
At the top of the list is the company’s new S8 and S8+
phones, phones that probably feature the safest, or at least most
thoroughly tested, batteries on the market, thanks to new guidelines created by Samsung.
The S8 is a marvel to hold, glorious to behold; a slice
of curved screen that rests in your hand like a window into the future.
It has more features than there is space here to write about, but they
include a faster processor, better camera, wireless charging, Samsung
Pay, Bluetooth 5 support, gigabit LTS speed support, a virtual assistant
and on and on and on.
It is clearly, currently, the best phone on the market,
though that may change this fall when Apple rolls out its own next
phone.
But Samsung’s day wasn’t just about the phone; it was about all of the ways that phone can connect with your life.
Samsung’s phone is the new best way to check out virtual
reality on the go with the new Gear VR headset. The S8 can also connect
to a monitor, keyboard and mouse to become your lightweight desktop
computer, with the help of the DeX dock. There’s the new 360-degree
camera that can connect to the S8 and create immersive videos on the go.
Each new device is another reason to reconsider your
current smartphone, to perhaps move over to Samsung and its massive
ecosystem.
When Apple replies with its own new device, even if it
mirrors all of the innovation unleashed with Samsung’s S8, it’s unlikely
it can match all of the other leaps and risks Samsung has been taking
across the board with its assortment of interconnected gadgets and
devices.
I can see Samsung pushing past Apple this year. Perhaps
not as the world leader in devices sold, but company most poised to take
that crown from Apple.
And that’s a good thing.
The only thing more exciting than an Apple-powered by
creative designers and developers is an Apple awoken from its stupor,
trying to once more shift the paradigm.
Good Game is
an internationally syndicated weekly news and opinion column about the
big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on
things to come. Brian Crecente is a founding editor and executive editor
of Polygon.
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