Yesterday we came across a new television ad for Samsung's new Galaxy S line of phones.
Now, one of its print ads has been spotted that takes direct aim at Apple. The ad simply says "Hello" with a Galaxy S picture underneath. However the l's are replaced with bars, an obvious dig at Apple's ongoing Antennagate debacle.
Well played, Samsung. [via @jmcomms] Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
BoBoCaptivate says:
Maybe I am biased because I have a Galaxy S ... but, this doesn't seem like a "direct" Apple hit like some other adds that I have seen "You can hold it any which way" or anything like that ... The antenna bars are a common symbol for cell phones.
At the same time, I don't strongly disagree that this is the reason it is out there ... but, I just don't think it is blatant enough to be noted as a direct aim at Apple.
BoNg420 says:
It has to be a hit at apple. Look a few stories down, there is one that samsung is giving free Galaxy S to those in the UK who arent satisfied with their iFail 4. Its got to be aimed at ATT as well.
c3PreO says:
blatant - no.....subtle - yes
mscalero says:
I don't feel that this is aimed at Apple.
hughesSMFD says:
I agree. I'd say its a bigger slap at AT&T than Apple. AT&T always uses the image of those bars in all their ads...
jason821 says:
Why would they slap AT&T? There is a Galaxy S version of this phone on AT&T......It is directly aimed at iPhone 4.
icebike says:
Doesn't matter what YOU think.
I guarantee Mr Jobs is steamed!
nudave#AC says:
I feel the same way. It doesnt "blatantly" mock Apple. Mock Apple? Maybe. But not blatantly.
tfromtosa says:
Thought of this slogan for Android Central - "The Bumper free zone" Love my Android EVO phone! No bumpers needed.
T
transfixt says:
Maybe it doesn't shout "Hey apple we're mocking you' but I do think that was their intentions. I mean why wouldn't they especially after apple attacked them and the omnia 2
borgey401 says:
LOL!!! OMG I LOVE IT! Also if you people don't think that is directly towards both AT&T and Apple then your absolutely insane. Of course it's meant towards them, open your eyes people.
icebike says:
Why would Samsung go after AT&T?
You DO understand that this is the generic version of the AT&T Captivate don't you?
They used the Generic version because it looks closer to an iPhone.
Menno says:
Remember the first iphone commercial? It was a bunch of movie clips with people saying "Hello" I think they are referencing that too
IceColdEdge says:
It definitely can be interpreted as an iPhone diss... But it's not "blatant"
chefkeyser says:
Worthy of Don Draper, really.
keplenk says:
That is a direct hit to Apple. Ouch.
However, Samsung should be very careful about this because this could backfire to them and it might hurt more. If you go to the forums, there are a lot of people complaining about the receptions issues with the Samsung Galaxy Variants (Captivate, Vibrant). I myself (using my cousins captivate) have reproduced this issue. I also tried going to 5 different AT&T stores and 2 T-Mobile stores and tried the demo units and it seems like there are receptions issues. For starters I know that bars mean nothing .. but if you go indepth, you will see that there is indeed signal loss when HOLDING the phone -- not even gripping it. Not like the iCrap 4, in a low signal situation, it will drop calls if you the death grip. Gladly, the Galaxy S variants, even losing bars, doesn't drop call. You can even call someone in zero bars!
Anyway, the 8 galaxies i tried (including my cousins), almost all of them drops bars/signal when you HOLD it. 5 out of 6 Captivates displays that issue. I noticed that the Vibrant is less prone to this issue. I also noticed that when you go into the store, the Galaxies have less bars than any other phone in the store, coincidence, i dunno. Some people think that because the captivate uses the metal cover, it shortens something. Go to an AT&T store and observe.
But this is a good ad though .. I just hope Samsung could fix the GPS/Wifi/Reception issues that people are reporting .. so I could buy one soon! I don't want to wait for another decent Android phone to come to AT&T.
smoger says:
@keplenk: you're confusing signal issues with display issues. you said it yourself, you can make calls when the phone reports NO signal whatsoever, so doesn't that tell you that OBVIOUSLY the phone has a signal?
Since I got my Vibrant it has shown 0 bars nearly all the time I've spent inside my house, and yet I've had 0 dropped calls, no data problems, no texts failing to send.
so yes, there is a problem, but its not a reception issue.
..oh and for the record my phone is sitting on a table right now showing 0 bars.. it has nothing to do with holding it.
keplenk says:
Yup, I completely understand what you're saying .. but still .. the advertisment clearly shows signal BARS. Even though some people understand that it is NOT a reception issue, but for common people, No Bars is not good (with or without any problems). One good example is my wife which doesnt know anything about mobile phones, that is the first thing she noticed when we went in the AT&T Store. "Why are the signal bars only 3 while the Aria and the iCrap 4 has full bars?" -- I had to explain to her about the "bars" mean nothing saga. Then upon holding the phone, it drops additional 2 bars which is really weird. Imagine that curiousity to other people that comes into the store and didn't have any sort of explanation - thats a No Sale.
Anyway, I know there will be an upcoming fix .. I'm so excited to have this phone. IMHO, this is the best "GSM" Android phone to date.
icebike says:
People, its not about Death Grip, and those of you who argue that it is have bought into Jobs's diversion.
Its about Death Touch, where a single finger in a certain place drops calls.
Until you find such a place on the Galaxy where a single finger drops calls, the number of bars shown is moot.
The no bars issue affects only certain phones. Certainly not all Cativates.
I could make a case for removing bars all together and replacing them with the carrier logo or no service. Then we could stop obsessing over them.
storm14k says:
Thank you. I have been amazed at how well Jobs has completely clouded the original issue. People think death grip or touch now means loosing signal. It's about dropping calls and stopping data. This hasn't been reproduced on any of the phones in question.
amdpimp says:
I hate iCrap, but to me this is kind of ironic coming from the manufactuer with the weakest radio (at least in my and my coworkers experience) I've ever seen. I love Samsung's products, but this just seems funny to me.
eyesparky says:
If the shoe was on the other foot Apple would be making a really big deal of it. I think this is a pretty decent add in the current circumstances. Simple and to the point.
AndroidOne says:
I believe everyone is reading way too much into this. If this was a web based ad to target blogs like this, then you could make a case there is subtle Apple bashing here. As used, on a regular consumer newspaper, is just an ad.
The people that this ad is intended to reach usually don't follow tech blogs as we do, in fact most of my co-workers are not aware of the new iPhone's antenna issues, some are not even aware there is a new iPhone out there or what Android is.
I don't work on a tech related field, here people are your typical consumes not concerned at all with issues of Apple vs. Google.
weeton#ac says:
well said. its a newspaper ad: the commercial medium for non-tech and the older generations.
nic230 says:
The opportunity is obviously there for other companies to take a hit to apple right now, and if this is the best they can come up with to attack then that is pathetic. So many ways to go after apple with this now.
1) Bumpers are for cars, not for phones.
2) My phone is left handed and right handed
3) It just works... all the time (have something similar to apples attack adds against microsoft a couple years ago with a nerdy fat guy on his phone talking and having it work while the hipster apple guy in his black turtle neck keeps getting cut off)
Why wont anyone do this, why is apple so untouchable when it comes to advertising?
icebike says:
What goes around comes around.
You don't want to get sued, and you don't want to take unreasonable advantage of a flaw in a one version of the iPhone (especially since its already in re-design and could have a revised version out before Christmas.
Subtle jabs, fine. But Steve Jobs has a long memory, a vindictive mind set, and a lot of lawyers.
Others are already doing the "Hold it any way you want" line, so its not like the industry is giving them a total pass. With every comedian on TV mocking the iPhone4, its not necessary for these competitors to directly attack, because Apple will not be down forever, and no matter how hard you kick them while they are down, the will get up again and look for revenge.
Nephilim_80 says:
Although I think this is quite funny, it is also slightly ironic. If you look at the UI samsung has for their Galaxy S phones it is almost sad how much of a direct ripoff it is to the iPhone, It has the four non moving square icons at the bottom, it is the only UI that's app icons move sideways instead of up and down and even the messenger app has bubbles that are totally a knock-off of iPhones. I am very glad I have my incredible. Even though I don't much like sense UI and am using LauncherPro, I still feel like all the other UI's available for android are at least original.
jfa1 says:
it's an ad in a paper in the UK If its bashing the iphone4 it s not bashing ATT in the UK it would be the carrier for the iPhone4 in the UK which is o2/Orange I beleiev?
italiasix says:
Hey guys, check out what this chick wrote Rene at TiPb. I mean really. This is a very stupid article. She doesn't know what the word openness means! Happy Blogging!
http://www.tipb.com/2010/07/23/iphone-android-smartphone-openness-lie/
kalibar says:
It's a cute ad, but I wish you guys didn't post this kind of "rah rah go Samsung" junk. The Galaxy S series of phones are trying to glamorize what's literally the most offensive thing about Android right now.
Phones with unfixable pre-installed garbageware and/or locked bootloaders and no functional ability to have a clean Android 2.2 build installed on them are really undeserving of praise. This includes Moto's phones with locked bootloaders, the SE Xperia X10, all of these Galaxy S phones, and really anything else that's not open and unaltered like the Nexus One.
The Evo 4G is dubious, but gets a pass for me -- it can run clean ROMs like Cyanogen's 2.2. It's unfortunate that it was locked down at retail, but I don't see it as any worse than a laptop that needs to be formatted before it can be used.
The Galaxy S phones are a cancer, though. Wonderful hardware, awful restrictions.
umbrella man says:
hahahahhahahahh ahahahh a hyahah i almost peed a lil this so funny!
nathon.fuller says:
thats freakin funny!
Donatron says:
The most obvious rebuttal from Apple would be GPS performance. I own the Captivate, and it's very flaky. That's the one thing I miss the most from the Aria (even more than Sense). The GPS performance of the Aria was a million times better.
There are "fixes" circulating over several forums. But they all have a different combination of settings, and they all have mixed results. I've tried them all, and none have given me CONSISTENT improvements. Often, the GPS work very well after performing the "fix", but then several hours later, it'll start acting up again. It's just that people will see the improvement immediately after making the changes, and give credit to the "fix" rather than the fact that they just had a lock a minute ago. Your GPS uses data from your last lock in order to quickly find the GPS satellites again. If your data was from a few minutes ago, it's fresh enough to obtain a new lock almost instantly.
Some may say that they can still get a quick lock after serveral hours have passed. But the same can happen even if you don't change your settings. It'll perform great sometimes, and then won't at other times. The fact that none of the "fixes" give consistently fast locks and accurate positioning makes me believe that it's not really improving anything all. It's just a placebo effect. In fact, I've since hard reset my Captivate and left my GPS settings alone. It's performing exactly the way it did after all the "fixes": inconsistently.
johntkong says:
Actually, when i saw this print ad i instantly thought it was poking fun at the Droid X (Hello Moto).
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