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LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

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Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#181

Post by arkitaip »

deanCommie wrote: post #143
trabant00 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because at large people don't select their phone based on what you mention. What does matter I believe is marketing. I think most importantly is Samsung's image presence vs LG. Can't remember the last time I've seen a TV advert for LG. Or a billboard in the city center, or youtube hype from influencers, etc. While Samsung is everywhere. Second is the cool factor. LG has none while Samsung have this as a priority. Fro…

Samsung absolutely decimated the other manufacturers in marketing - including Google. I remember seeing GQ articles that were interviews with celebrities that was kind of a "30 questions" thing where each celebrity was asked the same set of questions. One of them was: "iPhone or Samsung?" It didn't matter that the answer to every single one (in that issue) was iPhone. It didn't surprise me that celebrities would be 1…

When 6-year-olds use Samsung as a synonym for Android, you know that Samsung's marketing is crushing it. Which is a shame considering how poor their overall software quality is.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#182

Post by matkoniecz »

pjmlp wrote: post #134
ohazi wrote: post #66

I never understood why Samsung phones were constantly receiving praise by tech reviewers while LG got crapped on. Samsung always wanted to do things their way -- different (shitty) UI, Samsung versions of all the core Google apps (but worse), reorganizing preferences for no reason, the stupid bottom button placement, non-remappable Bixby button, aggressively killing apps for power management and breaking widgets, etc…

Because using stock Android is like the phone version of year of Linux Desktop. It is so ugly from UI/UX perspective, that almost everyone ends up installing a theme anyway. Then Google only does the minimum in features, and their software is crap. For many years, if you wanted proper music software, Samsung phones with their custom real time audio SDK were the only option on Android ecosystem. Same applies to the qu…

> It is so ugly from UI/UX perspective, that almost everyone ends up installing a theme anyway.

Sources? Because I see no substantial difference and I deliberately bought phone with stock Android as it has just Google garbage, rather than both Google garbage and phone manufacturer garbage.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#183

Post by f6v »

jayd16 wrote: post #178
klondike_ wrote: post #5

What happened to the Android phone ecosystem? Android phones used to offer unique and useful features like removable batteries, headphone jacks, IR blasters, SD cards, etc. Now it seems that Samsung and Google are obsessed with copying whatever Apple does, even their controversial decisions like removing the headphone jack, even after making fun of Apple for doing it. No thanks, why would I buy a shittier iPhone with…

The way I see it, WWDC has been full of 2 year old Android features for 3 years now, and the iPhone hardware is always strictly less featured than that year's Galaxy phone. Certain changes sweep through the industry like the notch or no headphone jack etc, but you can always fine some Android phone with the mix you want. If it wasn't for the Apple silicon (and the advantage is clearly Apple's) it would be just come d…

> obvious feature advantages on the Android side

I remember Samsung flagships from 2013-2014. That thing had eye tracking, ie it scrolled the page for you as you read it. That’s just one example, the phone was packed with those. How many of those features are useful in daily life though? It’s as if Samsung is trying to pack as many features as they can to compensate for something.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#184

Post by JamesAdir »

From following other companies in the LG group it seems that the company is very slow to innovate compared to it's biggest rival Samsung. Comparing stock prices is almost surreal as Samsung grows in 10x multiplier over the last 10 years. LG will also be pushed out of the home electronics business as more manufacturers from Asia increase their output and capabilities. I think they will eventually become like Philips with focus only on B2B specific product lines like displays, batteries and EV components.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#185

Post by lvs »

selimthegrim wrote: post #20
dmitrygr wrote: post #6

This is actually very very bad. Google's lack of focus/vision w.r.t Pixel all but guarantees that Samsung can eat up the whole high end android phone market. Samsung's desire to stuff so much garbage unto their phones that they are molasses-slow even with the fastest mobile SoCs available to them all but guarantees that for most users, android will remain a huge mess. As an android user, this saddens me.

What is Sony doing these days?

The Sony designs seem pretty interesting and divergent from the rest of the market. I don't know why they're not getting more attention, but I assume it has to do with carrier deals.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#186

Post by f6v »

scaladev wrote: post #167
blackoil wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With fast charging, removable batteries aren't that important now. IR blaster is too niche. SD card, headphone jack are still available in lot of phones, but again aren't deciding factor for most people. IPhone is an aspirational brand with awesome marketing, so things like notch which don't make much sense are copied by everyone.

>removable batteries aren't that important now If you like throwing out your phones every two to three years, then sure.

It’s not like a battery is soldered there, you can still replace it and it’ll cost you much less than getting a new phone. AFAIK I can still get a new battery on my iPhone 7 which is 4.5 years old.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#187

Post by jariel »

deanCommie wrote: post #143
trabant00 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because at large people don't select their phone based on what you mention. What does matter I believe is marketing. I think most importantly is Samsung's image presence vs LG. Can't remember the last time I've seen a TV advert for LG. Or a billboard in the city center, or youtube hype from influencers, etc. While Samsung is everywhere. Second is the cool factor. LG has none while Samsung have this as a priority. Fro…

Samsung absolutely decimated the other manufacturers in marketing - including Google. I remember seeing GQ articles that were interviews with celebrities that was kind of a "30 questions" thing where each celebrity was asked the same set of questions. One of them was: "iPhone or Samsung?" It didn't matter that the answer to every single one (in that issue) was iPhone. It didn't surprise me that celebrities would be 1…

It's not bewildering if it's literally always been true.

A few points:

Samsung is not cool. Or rather, maybe a little bit among some very middle/lower class people.

Selling mobiles is done primarily through carriers - this is not about Samsung direct advertising mostly, by and large, it's through the deals made with carriers.

Google has never taken their phone and it's manufacturing/distribution as seriously as Samsung.

Carriers may have also specifically not wanted Google to win, because it gives G too much power, they hate Apple and don't want to have to be told what to do.

Samsung has always had a huge variety of phones, a much bigger and broader approach.

They have always led with a kind of crappy, thrown-together feature, but it was enough to put some wrap a bad campaign around good enough for a bulk of the Android community.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#188

Post by yyyk »

%$#@!. LG was an early innovator - their touchscreen model slightly predated the iPhone - the G2 was a classic phone, and they have very good headphone/audio tech, having decided to keep it rather than ditch it.

Their modern phones are good and simple, alas, the company never recovered its image following the G3/G4 fiascos.

Re: LG is getting out of the mobile phone business

#190

Post by nindalf »

nl wrote: post #170
Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the hardware omissions are blatant copy from Apple as the way to have more markup and revenue from accessories, software services but I like to differ on the OS front. Android's power user ecosystem couldn't be matched in iOS. Even without root, Tasker can automate every single aspect of the OS - Want to send and receive WhatsApp messages over email?[1], Want better accessibility e.g. Voice summary of ne…

> Even without root, Tasker can automate every single aspect of the OS - Want to send and receive WhatsApp messages over email?[1], Want better accessibility e.g. Voice summary of news?[2], Want a butt triggered pomodoro timer?[3]. Termux runs a Linux container and it can run complete Linux distribution inside it with PRoot[4]. Best of all, Tasker & Termux can communicate with each other for endless possibilities. Do…

> Does anyone actually care about any of these things?

On HN, sure. The other 3.6 billion smartphone users out there? No. The top voted opinions on HN are niche and don't represent the general population in any way. You can see this effect on other threads. Here are a few classic examples.

- Everyone on HN hates Facebook, and yet 2 billion+ people use it every day.

- Privacy is a paramount concern on HN, more important than anything else, and yet billions of people don't care as long as their dick pics are safe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWxk7o-QlI).

- HN users hate ads and would happily pay for the privilege of eliminating ads. In the real world? Youtube has 2 billion monthly active users, only 1% of whom pay to eliminate ads.

- The ideal HN smartphone is one that has software support for years, is rootable, can have it's OS changed on a whim, can install any app from any app store. Hardware should be modular, with a swappable battery, camera etc. So Fairphone, basically. Units sold - 200k in 5 years. iPhone, the exact opposite of this in every respect (except software support) - 1 Billion in 5 years.

What I've said is so obvious it's self evident. But now and then people do get surprised and maybe annoyed when they find the world doesn't reflect the gospel truth preached on HN. At the time of this writing, your comment is actually downvoted ... for implying that the general population might not be Tasker-Termux installing, life automating power users.

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