Read more.Promises all day battery, great performance, bumper storage capacity, new S Pen.
Read more.Promises all day battery, great performance, bumper storage capacity, new S Pen.
Here is a screenshot of the full specs
Entry price of $1000 (that will be £1000 then...).... I'm sorry but who in their right minds thinks that sort of price is 'acceptable' for a mobile phone.
I don't care how much stuff they shove into it, there's no way on this planet I would pay more than I would for a mid/high laptop etc, for around £1000 I can get a i5 8GB surface pro etc which would be a hell of a lot more productive.
CAT-THE-FIFTH (10-08-2018)
Me neither but when you consider the device has the functionality of a decent camera, phone and computer (albeit nothing like a laptop) all in one with top tier internals and sweet amoled display i can understand how the price gets there. Add in the fact most people seem content to put everything on finance/pay monthly then i guess there will be a market for it.
CAT-THE-FIFTH (10-08-2018)
It looks like another by the numbers "high end" phone.
Edit!!
Also what is with the fail SIM trays with these phones. Plenty of phones in the Asian market do dual SIMs AND a microSD card slot too.
CAT-THE-FIFTH (10-08-2018)
There's going to be an interesting comparison with the S8+ as it's pretty similar. The simple fact is that when you start out with smartphones (or any product), there's a lot of variety from different manufacturers. Then they all converge on those characteristics which do well with the public and move away from those which don't. So I really want a high end phone with a slide out keyboard but those models don't do as well and so I'm left with these on screen ones and resisting the urge to lauch one at the wall.... again (bad way to spend a few hundred quid). The end result is a distinct lack of variety as they all know what does well and a lack of will or need to try new things which are outside the envelope as the "winning" formula has already been determined. So what wins? Well, having two cameras with OIS which is what every manufacturer would like to do but can't because they can't buy the quantity to create the economies of scale required to make it economically viable. So the bigger companies get the best kit and so their formula is marginally better.
As for it costing a grand, my determination of whether this is sensible is quite basic - cost per year and regularity of use. I use it repeatedly though the day for reading websites (the PCs at work are so poor they actually crash when loading a basic website), research, a notebook, reference and for a camera / photoalbum. I have a DSLR and my phone and when I'm on holiday I tend to use the phone. Why? Because it does the job 80% as well as a point and shoot, it has all the photos on there and shares them for easy access and makes them searchable as well. The DSLR is better for artsy fartsy stuff but isn't practical and isn't as good for documentary metadata.
So at a grand that's £500/year. Which works out at way less than £2/day. I'm sure many people spend that on coffee or lunch. The only difference is your smartphone doesn't end up as a skid.
Or spend less than £300 and do all the same things at less than 50p a day. I even use my phone as a wireless receiver to back up pictures from my Fuji,etc. It actually cost me £125(half price from £250),so its been 17p a day,and its survived being dropped a few times,high humidity,high heat,etc.
Remember,£500 to £600 used to be high end phone money only a few years ago.
Personally I would rather save £700 to £800 over two years. So over 10 years that is £3500 to £4000. I could buy a few "better cameras" for that kind of money! I have a Canon S95 compact with a 1/1.7" sensor which cost me £105 new which lasted 5 years,ie,under 6p a day. Since, cheapo phones do a good enough job for basic pics and social media,I find the high end phones not enough of an improvement for the increase in price.
But then what do you expect when a "high end" smartphone has $50 worth of cameras - that is how much the cameras on an iPhone X cost in total. The S9+ cameras cost $45 in total. I am not paying £500 to £800 more just for $20 to $30 more in cameras over a cheaper phone.
Sure if you want a shiny statement,those expensive phones have it over cheaper ones,but it doesn't bother me.
Most camera phones are limited to similar FOV,and DoF. But even a 50MM equivalent isn't special since a Mi A1 has that and is under £170,so as a result you can more or less get the "same kind of pictures" on a cheaper phone.
No wonder Huawei has gone from nowhere to the second biggest phone company by volume - they even taught Samsung a lesson,and actually made a smartphone which wasn't actually that bad in low light,and used a 75MM equivalent lens,with a useful telephoto focal length. Huawei might even make the first foldable phone.
Samsung and Apple are not even trying and I hope the newer companies come and push them,so they wake up. Complacent money grabbers they are - more worried about margins and increasing prices. That is why their flagships sold less than before,since they seem more worried about margins,and hence increased prices to compensate.
Its why I stopped buying expensive phones years ago. They are increasingly a con IMHO,and should be doing far more for what is a lot of money for a disposable product with a short lifespan.
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 10-08-2018 at 02:40 AM.
CAT, you make a strong point about the cameras, and £4000 would buy you an epic DSLR camera that would easily last the next 8-10 years if looked after, but for me it's convenience.
The camera in my iPhone X is absolutely amazing for a phone, but more importantly, it's with me everywhere, and always ready.
You make a good point. For me the difference is that I actually make a lot of use of the camera and watch quite a lot of videos and so the decent screen gets used as well. I absolutely agree there's a good argument to be made for a solid mind-range phone for most people. For me, I find the extra stuff is worth it. What isn't worth it is the stupid shiny delicate "ooh look at me!" rubbish. I'd much prefer something like the S8 Active with a bigger battery and more robust exterior but they just don't seem to be releasing them in the UK.
My main issue is the expensive phones don't have expensive enough cameras for my liking - $45 to $50 is not enough of a spend on such an expensive device for me. Now imagine a $100 to $150 spend on the cameras. Its why even though what Huawei did was not perfect software wise,they seemed to have made an effort. The P20 PRO is amazing for a camera phone in low light and it has a good tele lens setup. Its the first high end phone which has interested me in a very long time.
Also after trying out the Xiaomi Mi A1 I am just shocked how much budget phones have moved forward,especially in the rest of the world. I saw Huawei phones on holiday which had dual back and front cameras for well under £200,with 6" screens,4GB of RAM,64GB of storage,4000mAh battery,etc.
The issue is also my Canon S95 has been with me for years(but I dropped it and boshed the lens AF motor so need to order a replacement bit now),and it was the same with my previous compacts too - they used to reside in my coat pocket or bag,so I had a camera on me even in the era of crap cameras on phones. Plus TBH,things like external batteries,selfie sticks,etc hardly are space saving devices especially with modern phones becoming larger and larger in surface area.
Also TBH,as a person who is genuinely interested in photography,the times when I need to use the compact are scenarios where a camera phone won't to do anyway and its why the utterly slow progress is saddening for me. There is so much more they could do with a £700 to £1000 budget.
Even though things like OIS,sensor based IS and EIS are useful,they are not a genuine replacement for larger photodetectors,apertures,etc since they rely on the object being perfectly still,which has been the issue with IS since the first consumer camera,the Nikon 700VR in 1994,which had it.
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 10-08-2018 at 11:33 AM.
Amen. term "high end" is so over used. predominantly used by people trying to justify their expensive purchases or companies trying to distract very same people from hugh margins they apply on these products. The lack of innovation from Apple / Samsung is startling...it's all about playing safe, using psychological tricks to fuel consumerism - all boils down to profits these days. why not?! ...people just part with their money too easily...credit (cards) is too easy to get...debt is growing...jolly good. The jump you mentioned from £500 to £1k and absolutely nothing that justifies this except pure greed is just pistaking.
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