Samsung Unpack Event

I didn’t see a thread, but lots of interesting Microsoft/Samsung integration presented during the event. Samsung Note synchronizes with OneNote now. The Tab S7+ with the new keyboard looks good in theory.

Xbox Game Pass, 3 years support for phones (or three versions), more fitness features with Galaxy Watch, active noise canceling buds, and Dex looks like a real Windows laptop replacement, not to mention wireless Dex connections. And Google’s version of wireless file sharing to near devices. Some cool stuff in this event.

I find the lack of interest in this event really odd. Isn’t Samsung one of the most successful Android phone manufacturers in the US? Not just this thread (but Qt3 is mostly Android users, so why so quiet?), but just looking around at tech sites today, the comments on articles about the event were very sparse.

I don’t follow a lot of people who talk about Android on Twitter, but those that do said the whole event was pretty bad. Not the phones, just the presentation itself.

I think the comments range from “who in the world would buy a Note 20 for $1,000?” to “why is Samsung charging $1300 for flagships that aren’t ‘pro’, have no headphone jack, etc.?” to various “my Galaxy S[fill in the blank] or Note[fill in the blank] is much better value and I am NOT upgrading!!!”

The event was canned and stiff, but that’s the way most Samsung events are. I saw Samsung (and Android) continue its slow march to better Windows/Microsoft integration and I think that is a good thing.

(I hate to go into an Android thread and talk about Apple, but since no one else seems to want to talk about the event in question, I will.)

It’s such a different world than Apple. You see your share of complaints after an Apple event, but you also see a lot of, “I don’t need a new phone, but I really want X so I am getting a new one this year”. Then countless articles and podcasts about every facet of the event and the products.

To be honest, OnePlus and Google are sucking the oxygen out of the Android world. If OnePlus worked on AT&T (5G, etc.), that’s the phone I’d own if I was an Android person. If Google would increase their built in storage (or add an SD card option), the latest releases would look pretty good and they work on AT&T. Samsung hasn’t done enough price-wise or innovation-wise to cause much of a ripple. Not to say I am not looking at the Note 20 Ultra, but I wish I had better options as an AT&T customer.

And the only reason I am looking at the Note 20 Ultra is that I can get one with 512 GB. I can’t find an S20 Ultra AT&T with 512 GB internal storage.

Did they announce a new non-phablet phone? I don’t care about Notes, or watches, or earbuds, so why should I care about the event?

Edit: Oh, right, they announced the next version of their gimmick phone. Nuff said.

I dunno, this seemed to be akin Apple doing an event at which they only announce somewhat moderate iterations of existing hardware. It’s all v2 or v3. A new Note, a new Fold, a new Galaxy Tablet, new Galaxy Ear Buds and a new Gear Watch. They seem like solid improvements, but there wasn’t a really fresh feature that you haven’t seen before. The focus was on bigger storage and switching to 120Hz displays.

When the first Fold got unvealed (or the first Gear Watch or the first Note), they certainly got more attention than the devices shown yesterday.