[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by freudling 

You realize that the S3 has a 4.8" screen vs. the S2's 4.3" screen?

Also, the S3 has hit like hot cakes.

Originally Posted by freudling 

I'd say you're probably in the minority these days if you want a smaller screen..

Yet, the iPhone 5 and 4S outsell the Galaxy S3 last quarter. Moreover, Apple's iPhone line-up outsells Samsung's top-of-the-line smartphones by almost 2-to-1.

So clearly, there is a lot of demand in the market for sub-4.3" phones, and I am clueless as to why there are so few top-of-the-line Android phones in that space. There is a clear trend from the manufacturers to move to bigger screens (e. g. Huawei's 6" »phone«), and while I think there is a market for large-screen phones just like there is a market for large laptops, I'm surprised the handset makers don't tend to the smaller-screen space.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I assumed my sarcasm was iconically evident

[freudling]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

No. That's a remarkable design achievement.

That doesn't make a device or design "iconic".

An "icon" is something that stands representative or symbolic for an entire category of whateveritisits. An "iconic" device would be the first one that comes to mind for the overwhelming majority of people when you mention the word "smartphone". The way the scroll-wheel iPod represents the whole decade of "mp3 players".

The Galaxy S3 may well turn out to be that. But it's FAR too early to tell at the moment.

I understand you're passionate about this issue. I would say that in terms of the most iconic product in the smartphone category, the iPhone takes it.

But it's more complex. The iPhone started it all, which is why I think it's iconic. Today, when I think of a smartphone, I actually think of a Samsung Galaxy S3 at times and not the iPhone. I sort of vascillate between the two.

When I think of an Android smartphone, the first thing I think of is that Galaxy S3. For Samsung anyway, the design of the S3 is now present on pretty much all of their mobile products.

• Note II
• New 8" Tablet
• Likely a foundation for the S4

I would even say that the S3 is the best designed smartphone on the market. It feels incredible in the hand and I always forget just how big the screen actually is. I find the design of the iPhone to be myopic and uninspired in comparison.

Anyway, I don't want to split hairs but Samsung really hit the S3 design out of the park. Now, if they could just do something about that Android thing...

CNET's five best tech products of 2012
Regardless of popularity or industry impact, these five devices claim the best design, the most-compelling features, and the overall most impressive value among all the hundreds of mainstream tech products released in 2012. Our hats off to all five. The S3 is number 1.

Read more: Galaxy S3 beats iPhone 5 for best device of 2012 | - CNET Blogs

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Yeah. I supposed I'm not sure I get what you're talking about in terms of design. The iPhone felt more substantial in my hand - the rounded edges of the S3 make it feel like you're holding the device by a paper-thin edge - but at the same time it was smaller and lighter. Also, was much easier to operate the entire screen with just a thumb.

The iPhone was definitely seemed more elegant than the S3 from a physical standpoint, to me.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by freudling 

I'd actually say it's an iconic design at this point, and one that is serving as the basis for all of their mobile products now.

What do you guys think?

IMO no non-iPhone device qualifies as iconic. I think the v1 iPhones and iPads established new genres of sorts and that _all_ the phones and tablets that have followed so far are just variants, primarily size variations. Visually they are all just flat screen generally rectangular devices with overall similarities among them.

Even the iPhones are stylistically similar enough to some of the earlier PDAs that it is a bit iffy to call them iconic; but IMO we probably can because if we look at a line sketch of a Palm PDA and at a line sketch of a iPhone they each clearly present as representative ("iconic") as regards distinctly different evolutionary stages of personal mobile communications.

Of course the nomenclature of the smartphone-phablet-tablet thing is another issue evolving quickly. We may still see some real innovation beyond just a range of sizes. Personally I think we may see effective Dick Tracy watches as noise-canceling mics combine with bluetooth, voice recognition and AI tied to phone/tablet back ends. I use a boom mic bluetooth headset in the car now and it much improves Siri operation.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by freudling 

The problem is, if they [Apple] even remotely produce something that looks like the Galaxy SIII, they're going to be doomed because Samsung might feel like suing...

I disagree. Except for patented specifics, as the creator of the genre Apple can do anything it wants within the style genre it created without being "copying." There is a huge difference between pre-iPhone and post-iPhone styles but everything today has basic similarity.

To me what is amazing is to go to Best Buy and view the sheer quantity of different-but-similar smarthphones/phablets/tablets. The devices overlap and the market is becoming very crowded. My premise has always been that in the long run ecosystem is now and will be in the future critically important in determining which products succeed and which fail.

[angelmb]

SierraDragon is making sense, as usual.