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How does any of that qualify as locked down?

The answer to that is easy: most clamshell phones, e.g.,

http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-A157ZKAATT
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SCH-U365HAAVZW
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-T159YKBTMB
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SCH-R270KRAUSC
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SCH-R220ZSADYN
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SPH-M370BAASPR
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-A197ZKAATT
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-T245LSATFN
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SCH-R261WRAXAR

don't run Android, have no way to install applications, etc. In fact, there are only two that do, currently, run the Android OS: the Aquos Hybrid 007SH and the Samsung W999

The classification "mobile" is silly. "Tablet" is decent. Smartphone is okay. Laptop/notebook, good.

All of those devices are mobile, but each has a unique UI requirements due to screen size and input method. If you want to throw subnotebook in there as another class too (netbook is another silly name, at least for the devices it actually gets applied to) I could go for that.

It gets even sillier when you consider other devices. There are lots of things that have small screens and use UIs that follow a "mobile" paradigm, from printer control panels to digital thermostats. Here's a fridge that runs Android... I sure wouldn't call it mobile.

Windows 8 seems to be making the unfortunate mistake of taking a UI paradigm developed for a smart phone (small screen, touch interface) and shoe horned onto a tablet (medium size screen, touch interface) and forcing it's use on desktops and notebooks (medium to large screen, keyboard and mouse interface). In the other direction, small screen touch interface devices (Palm pilots, but now smart phones) took off when they got a UI designed specifically for them, and the tablet market took off when Apple decided not to stick a desktop UI (or a smartphone UI) onto theirs. Google came to the same conclusions with Honeycomb.

...thus proving my point yet again. After the iPhone, Samsung continued making a lot of different types of devices, just like they always have. Have iPhone-like devices been popular? Sure, I won't deny that. Do a lot of their devices look vague iPhone-ish? Sure, because that's where consumers are driving the market. Most cars look pretty much the same today, too--and much different from what cars looked like in the 1970s. But that doesn't mean that Samsung started making all of their phones to be "iPhone rip-offs."

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
Exhibit D
Exhibit E
...and so on.

Of course, Apple won't include those in their pictures.

...thus proving my point yet again. After the iPhone, Samsung continued making a lot of different types of devices, just like they always have. Have iPhone-like devices been popular? Sure, I won't deny that. Do a lot of their devices look vague iPhone-ish? Sure, because that's where consumers are driving the market. Most cars look pretty much the same today, too--and much different from what cars looked like in the 1970s. But that doesn't mean that Samsung started making all of their phones to be "iPhone rip-offs."

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
Exhibit D
Exhibit E
...and so on.

Of course, Apple won't include those in their pictures.

...thus proving my point yet again. After the iPhone, Samsung continued making a lot of different types of devices, just like they always have. Have iPhone-like devices been popular? Sure, I won't deny that. Do a lot of their devices look vague iPhone-ish? Sure, because that's where consumers are driving the market. Most cars look pretty much the same today, too--and much different from what cars looked like in the 1970s. But that doesn't mean that Samsung started making all of their phones to be "iPhone rip-offs."

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
Exhibit D
Exhibit E
...and so on.

Of course, Apple won't include those in their pictures.

...thus proving my point yet again. After the iPhone, Samsung continued making a lot of different types of devices, just like they always have. Have iPhone-like devices been popular? Sure, I won't deny that. Do a lot of their devices look vague iPhone-ish? Sure, because that's where consumers are driving the market. Most cars look pretty much the same today, too--and much different from what cars looked like in the 1970s. But that doesn't mean that Samsung started making all of their phones to be "iPhone rip-offs."

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
Exhibit D
Exhibit E
...and so on.

Of course, Apple won't include those in their pictures.

...thus proving my point yet again. After the iPhone, Samsung continued making a lot of different types of devices, just like they always have. Have iPhone-like devices been popular? Sure, I won't deny that. Do a lot of their devices look vague iPhone-ish? Sure, because that's where consumers are driving the market. Most cars look pretty much the same today, too--and much different from what cars looked like in the 1970s. But that doesn't mean that Samsung started making all of their phones to be "iPhone rip-offs."

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
Exhibit D
Exhibit E
...and so on.

Of course, Apple won't include those in their pictures.

There are virtually no Android handsets with keyboards, and most of those that do have keyboards are low to mid range phones.

Really? Is that a fact?

Try competing on merits, not on arbitrary and bullshit legalised monopolistic predation.

Have you seen the Galaxy Tab 7.7? It pretty much eats every iPad ever made for breakfast. Better screen, battery life, portability, and usefulness. Faster internet, even though Apple's allegedly gotten on the 4G train with their latest. It's sleek and sexy as hell, and Apple wishes they'd come up with it first. That's the real reason for this lawsuit, it's because Samsung is killing it right now.
 
Imagine Tim Cook's face when Samsung outs the new Note 2 just before the iPhone 5. Compare a 4s and the Galaxy S3 side by side and that's why Apple keeps this BS going.
 
Apple can't compete on design or quality. Speaking as the owner of a 2012 Air, and soon to be upgrading to a Series 9, there is absolutely no comparison in these product lines either. I believe that Apple is scared of Samsung eating their iPad, iPhone and desktop lunches all at the same time, in the very near future.
 
That said, the major flaw is Windows 7. If/when Samsung gets that out of the way, maybe with Win8, Apple will be in deep shit.

wrong. There are no modern android phones that offer a 3.5" screen or smaller.

Wrong.
http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SPH-M580ZKABST

Since when is 3.5 screen size the magic line in the sand?

Most people's fingers are too large to do anything on small screens, which is why people are CHOOSING larger phones.

People are voting with their wallet. Most cell phone buyers don't give a rats ass about specs. If it works well and looks
nice and "feels good in the hand" (meaning its heavy), and FITS THEIR SIZE CRITERIA they buy it. And the market is
overwhelmingly choosing larger phones.

Oh, and like Ockenden trying to dictate phone size choices, you trying to dictate what I should
read on the web is just beyond the pale.

(i.e. sticking with 320x480 for almost 4 years is embarrassing for any other company)

You mean like this phone from Samsung? Oh and it is only about a month old at this point.

Really? Looks like the samsung logo is there to me.

I'm sure it's clear in the court record, or, as said above, the lawyer in question may not have had very good distance vision. This is incident is not "proof" of anything in a legal sense, though perhaps that was your point.

Spread more FUD, please:

In ye olden days, I updraded my Samsung Blackjack from Windows Mobile 5 to Windows Mobile 6.
Officially.
For free.

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/SupportOwnersFAQPopup.do?faq_id=FAQ00002911&fm_seq=3079

This isn't an MS problem it's OEMs not supporting devices and wanting people to buy new ones. Same shit that plagues Android.
It's worse with Apple because when they pull it it's not an lazy/incompetent OEM, it's the judge, jury, and executioner locking out certain features of iOS updates for no technical reason.

I'm not sure I'd use it as my primary phone, but since it's GSM you can always swap SIMs as needed. Hook up a Bluetooth pointing device or keyboard and you've got a decent soup-to-nuts solution:
Samsung Galaxy Beam

Requiring a dongle for an ubiqitous need like USB is just stupid beyond belief. That alone is a reason I will never own an ipad, even if it was not a walled garden and a DRM trap, which it is, so there are two more reasons I will never own one. Just saying.

You mean like how the Samsung Galaxy Tab series needs one of these for USB? Or one of these for regular SD cards?

Requiring a dongle for an ubiqitous need like USB is just stupid beyond belief. That alone is a reason I will never own an ipad, even if it was not a walled garden and a DRM trap, which it is, so there are two more reasons I will never own one. Just saying.

You mean like how the Samsung Galaxy Tab series needs one of these for USB? Or one of these for regular SD cards?

Hopefully instead of holding his dick, he'd have the presence of mind to use one of these:

http://www.samsung.com/us/photography/camcorders

or maybe on of these:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/#hdvideo

I see you lamenting the lack of angle brackets in your post, so I don't know if you were serious or not about all your points.

If Apple does put voice recognition in a TV set, it will be typical that most people will think they are an amazing innovator, even though there are voice recognition TVs available now. Samsung Smart TV

NP. Look at the very first icon here

http://www.samsung.com/us/2012-smart-tv/#hub

It says Web Browser.

You can easily buy REALLY GOOD lcd monitors in whatever size you can imagine. I install them in office conference rooms all the time, generally large samsung in the 42-60" range. These are designed as transportation and information displays, and are very rugged and last a long time. You just won't find them in your local walmart or best buy. And they won't cost $399 on sale either...

http://www.samsung.com/us/business/commercial-display-solutions

If that were true, I'm sure they would have an enterprise version of their tablet OS as well, but they still only have one version for the tablet.

Windows RT is not a "version for the tablet". It's a version for the ARM tablets, specifically. You know, low-powered (relative to Intel), compact devices with long battery life. If you want a tablet that can do it all, you can get an Intel-based one, install any edition of Win8 on it, and join it to domains and run any software on it.

And again you didn't point out why I would want to pay $220 for the Galaxy player when i could just but the Precedent for $130 and then just use it instead as a PMP?

For one thing, it has less than half a gigabyte of internal memory. The features page mentions microSD but says nothing about support for microSDHC (that is, microSD cards larger than 2 GB, which use a different wire protocol). For another, I didn't see anything on the features page about HDMI support either, which is important for people who want to dock a PMP to a 32" monitor. And finally, I seem to remember reading about one model of Android phone that wouldn't allow access to the home screen without an active cellular subscription (be it a SIM card or whatever they use on CDMA2000). It would go straight to the dialer in emergency call mode and not let the user start any other app. Is this not the case for the Precedent?

I even know a few that even gave up their internet connection for the $45 unlimited as they found what they used the net for worked just fine on the Precedent

Does this $45 include tethering? Does it include enough GB per month to use, say, Netflix? Does it work for more than one person in a household, or do "a few" live alone?

This is why we need open source software. We are wasting our time with speculation if we could just look at the code.

Please load your brains before you shoot your mouth off! But then again this is slashdot. Samsung does compete with Apple for the hearts and minds of non tech savy consumers most of which have no clue about the Busy-box and OSS and the Linux kernel which makes all this home tv tech possible.
Samsung does provide the source. Read the eulas. If you do hack it and run a modded firmware you do so at your own peril. Some of the stuff that they do is interesting and can be hacked. I am sure that if they were to hide calls to enable camera and microphone function remotely from the net it will be discovered. But I cannot see them being that stupid.

Just wish some of the smart people that actually read and write code would post what they find out about the java binaries that Samsung uses. I am sure that their functionality can easily be observed in an emulator, so if it is possible for some Russian mafia hackers to watch you make out by activating your camera remotely then someone will find out, until this actually occurs..please stop posting crap about how all corporations except for Apple are evil!

In addition to their Pay-As-You-Go plans, T-mobile also has what they call their Monthy 4G Prepaid plans...you have to provide your own phone (or purchase one of their no-contract phones), but for $30 you get 1500 minutes a month for talk/text, and 30 mb for data, which is enough for basic email and occasional web browsing (if your phone supports those things; my Samsung t259 flip phone does, which can definitely come in handy at times).

And no, I don't work for T-mobile.

Strange as my Samsung TV controls my Philips Blu-Ray player perfectly well - I only use the TV remote for everything - the TV remote can control the Blu-Ray player, and even when I turn off the TV, the blu-ray player turns itself off as well. I found this out by accident, and was pleased with this as I needed to stick everything into a cupboard leaving only the TV visible, and thus did not need an IR repeater, and one remote controls everything. Works well.

This system apparently is called Anynet+.

No doubt.

I've never bashed (modern) Apple products on their hardware design, actual ease of use or elegance. I wan't a Mac Book Pro that isn't a Mac Book Pro so bad it hurts. I had a company issued Mac Book Pro at one point (I had to give back) and I really missed the awesome hardware. Now that Dell offers the XPS Z series and Samsung offers their rather impressive knock-offs I may just have that void fulfilled. BTW, I wouldn't trade my Acer Aspire One for a Mac Book Air, despite the fact I could trade the Air for two of mine.

I am personally a paradox, I love the Apples sleek approach to things, but I like making my own choices also. Fortunately as long as you give me the basic hardware almost all modern notebooks have and let me make some of my own choices in software setup I'm a happy camper. If Steve would have produced the hardware he did, produced the software he did, only take the padlocks off of a few things and let the users make a few extra choices for themselves Apple would in my opinion be the best thing ever.

Instead I'm sticking with PC's, Linux, Android and making my own choices while keeping a really close eye on what's happening over in the ARM world. I want an nVidia Tegra developers board so bad it hurts, it would make such an awesome car stereo with Android or a touch version of KDE on it (with a big button touch music player).

(...) actual detailed cd, red notes beside for Samsung.

Yes, you can see the exact icon you are describing in most pictures of Samsung devices, for example this one on Samsung's website. It's not similar at all to the "Music" icon in iOS devices except for the musical notes, but... it seems like the red (fuchsia, actually) sibling of the icons used historically by iTunes until rather recently. In fact, except for the CD being less tilted and the notes being a little smaller, that icon is pretty much identical to the old iTunes ones.

Only Apple as far as I know has started moving any production (the A5 chip) back into the U.S.

No, that would be Samsung that's doing that. And I don't know if you've noticed, but Apple and Samsung haven't been getting along that well recently. (Something about Apple thinking they own the rights to rounded corners in electronics or something.) It's unclear whether or not the A5 will continue to be manufactured by Samsung at all, let alone in Texas.

I have a pair of these I bought refurbished for less than $200 each. I'd love to find two more but they're getting thin on the ground. They're wonderful computer displays for the desktop user, and horrible for anything else. Forget about laying down on the couch and watching a movie, off-axis performance is TERRIBLE. But when you've got them pointed straight at you, they're quite amazing.

Samsung has a direct Android competitor to iTouch.

Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0

My sister got one for Christmas. It runs all of the Google Apps and has the Android Market.

Hard to fix a hardware problem with software.

This phone has provided me with no end of frustration. It's a $500 phone that I'm paying another eight bucks a month for warranty for over my two year contract, meaning I'll wind up paying a total of $700 for a phone that doesn't work right. And t-mobile wants to give me a $150 clique in replacement.

Some links follow.

It's a hardware problem in a number of phones:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=878970

http://pocketnow.com/android/hardware-fix-for-vibrants-gps-problems

T-mobile did push out a patch:

http://pocketnow.com/android/samsung-vibrant-gps-fix-finally-being-pushed-out-by-t-mobile

But it didn't actually do the upgrade. No, you have to turn off your computer's firewall and virus protection to apply software patches to hardware problems...

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/SupportOwnersFAQPopup.do?faq_id=FAQ00026061&fm_seq=26229

for a patch that doesn't work anyway...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=988076

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1661605-Vibrant-Problems-Please-post-all-here-so-Samsung-Google-Engineers-can-see-them/page4

That was the phone line that had the broken GPS that never really got fixed; it was a hardware issue that they tried to kludge together a patch for that didn't work well never went out over the air, and for which you had to take down all your firewall and virus protection to apply via Kies.

Oh, and t-mobile won't honor warranties on those $500 phones. Even when you pay $8 a month, bringing the effective total to $700 over the course of a two year contract. Unless you define the word honor as the offer of a $150 clique as a replacement.

But - I'm not bitter. Really.

That was the phone line that had the broken GPS that never really got fixed; it was a hardware issue that they tried to kludge together a patch for that didn't work well never went out over the air, and for which you had to take down all your firewall and virus protection to apply via Kies.

Oh, and t-mobile won't honor warranties on those $500 phones. Even when you pay $8 a month, bringing the effective total to $700 over the course of a two year contract. Unless you define the word honor as the offer of a $150 clique as a replacement.

But - I'm not bitter. Really.

From Éclair to Froyo to Gingerbread, and went through a total of 7 relatively major update

That's all I expected from the phone when I got it, tbh.

In case of Samsung in particular, its stock only trades on the Korean stock market.

Not exactly - it also trades on the London and Luxembourg stock exchanges, but what's sold there might be their Global Depository Receipts. Apparently, "as someone residing outside Korea, [I] may invest in Samsung stock (005930, 005935) through a qualified institutional broker in Seoul", and "For information regarding investment in Samsung GDR, [I should] contact [my] broker."

Apparently a slight majority of their stock, and a significant majority of their preferred stock, is foreign-held, although I don't know whether there's anything those pie charts are leaving out. The "List of a Major Shareholder & Related Parties" includes several individuals with Korean names and affiliates with names that include the string "Samsung" (today's lesson is brought to you by the letters "c" "h" "a" "e" "b" "o", and "l"), and the "List of Shareholders with the Ownership of 5% and above" includes Good Old American First National City Bank, err, umm, Citibank, along with Samsung Life Insurance and National Pension Service (probably meaning the Korean national pension service)

In case of Samsung in particular, its stock only trades on the Korean stock market.

Not exactly - it also trades on the London and Luxembourg stock exchanges, but what's sold there might be their Global Depository Receipts. Apparently, "as someone residing outside Korea, [I] may invest in Samsung stock (005930, 005935) through a qualified institutional broker in Seoul", and "For information regarding investment in Samsung GDR, [I should] contact [my] broker."

Apparently a slight majority of their stock, and a significant majority of their preferred stock, is foreign-held, although I don't know whether there's anything those pie charts are leaving out. The "List of a Major Shareholder & Related Parties" includes several individuals with Korean names and affiliates with names that include the string "Samsung" (today's lesson is brought to you by the letters "c" "h" "a" "e" "b" "o", and "l"), and the "List of Shareholders with the Ownership of 5% and above" includes Good Old American First National City Bank, err, umm, Citibank, along with Samsung Life Insurance and National Pension Service (probably meaning the Korean national pension service)

You could get one of Samsung's Galaxy Android players (http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/mp3-players/YP-G1CWY/XAA or http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/mp3-players/YP-G70CWY/XAA). It has the market, no 3G chip, a capacitive touch screen (instead of the Archos's resistive touch screen), and is currently on Gingerbread 2.3.5.

http://www.samsung.com/hk_en/consumer/mobile/mp3-players/mid/YP-G70CW/XSH/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

Mr. Jung sheds a tear of joy.

Actually I have that laptop, it's my main portable right now. If you think this looks like a MBP, you have a rather vivid imagination.

Here are some better photos of the Series 3 12.5" incher: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP350U2B-A01US-gallery.

That's a perfect example of how these stories get twisted. Look at it from one particular angle and it looks similar, look at it from any other angle and it's obviously totally different, same goes for the ipad vs galaxy tab 10.1 (though the galaxy has a 'SAMSUNG'-branded and button-less front yet some people still can't tell the difference).

Actually I have that laptop, it's my main portable right now. If you think this looks like a MBP, you have a rather vivid imagination.

Here are some better photos of the Series 3 12.5" incher: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP350U2B-A01US-gallery.

Samsung has always been a "fast follower", but if you look at what they actually do, it's take existing designs and make them better: faster, more reliable, cheaper. This is, like it or not, how *all* innovation happens. Do you think Apple invented the concept of "computer" or "phone" or "mp3 player" or "tablet"? So it really is just a matter of degree. All Apple devices are essentially copies, with minor refinements. And Samsung do make extraordinarily good hardware. Apple also do, but they charge too much for it, and they lock you in.

Galaxy Note

No one have mentioned this yet? Weird, it looks perfect for what he asks for. Top of the line Android smartphone/tablet hybrid with support for both hands and stylus.

Samsung was still legally the distributor, and they did in fact release the GPLv2 licensed code on their website (search for "D710" on https://opensource.samsung.com/index.jsp, for example).

Apple markets the iPhone 4S extensively featuring the "Dual Core A5" chip, and before that the "Retina" display. Apple uses technobabble when it suits them. Of course, they are usually behind on specs so they downplay them.

Of course, if you look at the Samsung Galaxy SII page, there is less technobabble than for the iPhone marketing. It talks about the stunning display, fast downloads, wireless sharing, voice talk, and apps. No technobabble.

http://www.samsung.com/us/microsite/galaxysII/

This persistent accusation against Apple competitors is itself an Apple marketing gimmick... and a lie.

(Of course, the Samsung is also a much better phone than the iPhone 4S, at a lower price.)

Sure, technically they sold more. But have a look at the wide variety of phones Samsung sells http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/all-products and then you'll easily see that lots of the so called smartphones are rather cheap upgrades of standard phones and do not even remotely offer the functionality an iPhone has.

You can go to Samsung and update to 2.3.3 (Samsung Android Update), but its really hard to find what version the carriers have over the air for those not willing or able or aware of this procedure.

And it shipped with 2.1 when 2.2 was already out. So although excluding the Samsung Galaxy line is annoying (it might be more recent than the 15 month cutoff in the analysis), the Samsung Galaxy line seems to suffer the same problems of other Android phones.

And this is, in fact, why I didn't buy an Android phone: you have to assume they are software EOL'ed the moment you walk home with the phone (if not before!)

4,65" hd super-amoled display, 1280x720 pixels
1,2 gigahertz dual-core
HSPA+ 21Mbps DL; HSUPA 5.76Mbps UL
Size: 135,5 x 67,94 x 8,94 millimeter, 135 gram
16GB internal memory
Front cam 1,3 mipxel for videoconf
Back cam 5 mpixel
NFC, Bluethooth 3.0, wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n, usb 2.0

More information at http://www.samsung.com/se/news/newsRead.do?news_group=productnews&news_ctgry=&news_seq=29470

It's not just that. It's also shit like this.

That came from this/ screen cap.

It's absurd.

If you can't pick different current Samsung models with the same size and the same color apart, you'll just have to ask your guide dog.

Are you the one monkey who covers his eyes by chance?

Okay.

http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxytab/10.1/images.html

Not much of a difference. I still see SAMSUNG clearly emblazoned on both the front and back of the device.