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Bad iPhone Notches Are Happening To Good Android Phones (theverge.com)
The Verge's Vlad Savov argues that Android smartphone manufacturers are copying the iPhone's design (specifically, the iPhone X's notch) with more speed and cynicism than ever before: I've been coming to Mobile World Congress for close to a decade now, and I've never seen the iPhone copied quite so blatantly and cynically as I witnessed during this year's show. MWC 2018 will go down in history as the launch platform for a mass of iPhone X notch copycats, each of them more hastily and sloppily assembled than the next. No effort is being made to emulate the complex Face ID system that resides inside Apple's notch; companies like Noa and Ulefone are in such a hurry to get their iPhone lookalike on the market that they haven't even customized their software to account for the new shape of the screen. More than one of these notched handsets at MWC had the clock occluded by the curved corner of the display. Asus is one of the biggest consumer electronics companies in the world, and yet its copycat notch is probably the most galling of them all. The Zenfone 5 looks and feels like a promising phone, featuring loud speakers, the latest Sony imaging sensor with larger-than-average pixels, and a price somewhere south of $499. I should be celebrating it right now, but instead I'm turning away in disgust as Asus leans into its copying by calling Apple a "Fruit Company" repeatedly. If you're going to copy the iPhone, at least have the decency to avoid trying to mock it.
It would be stating the obvious to say that this trend is not a good one. I'm absolutely of the belief that everyone, Apple included, copies or borrows ideas from everyone else in the mobile industry. This is a great way to see technical improvements disseminated across the market. But the problem with these notched screens on Android phones is that they're purely cosmetic. Apple's notch at the top of the iPhone X allows the company to have a nearly borderless screen everywhere else, plus it accommodates the earpiece and TrueDepth camera for Face ID. Asus et al have a sizeable "chin" at the bottom of their phones, so the cutouts at the top are self-evidently motivated by the desire to just look -- not function, look -- like an iPhone X.
It would be stating the obvious to say that this trend is not a good one. I'm absolutely of the belief that everyone, Apple included, copies or borrows ideas from everyone else in the mobile industry. This is a great way to see technical improvements disseminated across the market. But the problem with these notched screens on Android phones is that they're purely cosmetic. Apple's notch at the top of the iPhone X allows the company to have a nearly borderless screen everywhere else, plus it accommodates the earpiece and TrueDepth camera for Face ID. Asus et al have a sizeable "chin" at the bottom of their phones, so the cutouts at the top are self-evidently motivated by the desire to just look -- not function, look -- like an iPhone X.
The Essential Phone had that useless notch thing even before the iPhone X came out.
> so the cutouts at the top are self-evidently motivated by the desire to just look -- not function, look -- like an iPhone
The cargo cults of the modern world.
Removable battery, microsd card slot, headphone jack, unlocked bootloader, updates for years, no bloatware, uncapped and unthrottled data connection.
Honestly, not incorporating FaceID into an Android phone is a selling point for me. Only the owner can open it. And their brother. And anyone in China. And a cop who holds your phone up to your face. Unless a few other people look at your phone, in which case it won't even try.
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After peak smartphone, it's all downhill from here.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
I'm a slashdotter, so I'm somewhat of a luddite stuck in old times, for many many technical things. (Or perhaps I just don't like /unnecessary/ change, in design, especially when the end result is worse)
I have a Samsung Note 5, the size, weight, fantastic, it has a FLAT screen, no stupid goddamn 'can't put on a protector' curve. It has a home button, a REAL button. The fingerprint scanner is on the front, on the home button in a convenient location.
Admittedly, it still works pretty well, but one day, I'd like to replace it. *ALL* I would like is an identical phone that's faster, better camera, more storage and more network features, maybe USB C, more battery life if possible.
I do not want a curved display. /physical/ home, back and multitask button
I do not want fingerprint scanner on the back.
I do not want a smaller phone.
I do not want one particularly larger.
I DO want a
At the current pace of 'innovation' (read: wank factor) by the time my phone needs replacing, I will not be able to purchase a phone that matches my needs. OR the phone I want will be the 'budget edition' phone from the company, with a weak CPU / features that barely exceeds the Note 5 I had.
I'll say one thing, these guys sure are curing my phone upgrade itch. The Note 8, iPhone X can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. The One Plus 5T can join them (although good on them for the price and flat display)
Stop copying Apple!
We need analog output, replaceable batteries, removable storage and easy repairability, not thinner copies of iphones
they haven't even customized their software to account for the new shape of the screen.
It's no big deal. So long as the publicity given freely (or at least having the junkets paid for) and duly pushed out to the media lackeys results in sales of what looks like a competitor, the deficient software can be pushed out later.
Or not. Because once the phone company has got the money from the sale, what is the point of giving stuff away for free?
And of course those phones will only be a success if all the corrupt, wined and dined (at the very least!!!) journos who sing the praises of these half-ready devices hold up their end and give them the 5-star reviews and enthusiasm that they don't deserve. Which of course they will, for fear of not being invited to next year's little get-together, and all the freebies they will have showered on them for playing the game and misleading the public.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
People are willing to pay a premium for a premium experience, which is why Apple makes the money
What the fuck is premium about a shitty black block where your screen should be?
I wont pay for an Android version either.
They're Chinese companies. They don't do creative designs, they just copy whatever trends they see.
(Not saying the people are incapable, but the socioeconomic context is not an incentive for them. I mean, if Apple comes up with something crazy, they have the ad budget to convince people it's actually a cool thing - even if it's completely retarded like that notch. The Chinese companies usually don't have the same persuasive power, so they just follow.)
Circumcision is child abuse.
Just the other day someone here ranked the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, released 3.5 years ago, as the best phone ever and that it's been downhill ever since.
And with every article we have a series of apologists who discredit the mourners of lost features with epithets such as granddad and who would ever want X when we have Y?
(Still using my 2012 era LineageOS 14.1 device after cracking the back cover to replace the battery twice)
Why is everyone so negative by default? The other makers aren't copying a "notch" (small part of screen missing), they're copying "ears" (two new additional areas of screen).
You're all just looking at it the wrong way!
Once something becomes fashionable, everyone does it. If I was a pointy haired manager, I'd do it too.
My pet peeve is the trend some years ago for very horizontal windscreens. Makes the car very hot on even mild days, and amplifies the effect of any dirt. Also reduces fuel efficiency because people need air con most days, and does nothing for aerodynamics (look at an aeroplane -- pointy at back, not front).
But once it became fashionable, every car manufacture does it. The more horizontal the cooler the car looks and the better it will sell.
Phones will mindlessly follow Apple. Live with it.
Android users have split personality:
-- Non-removable battery is bad: Few years later they have it
-- SD-card is good: Few years later it is gone
-- 3.5 mm jack is a must: A year after iPhone removed it, it is gone from Android
-- notch is ugly: A year later they will happily get it
I just bought an Android phone. It has a removable battery, sd-card slot, and 3.5mm phone jack. It does not have a notch. Hey, guess what? Choice is great! Being an Apple fanboi, though, I guess you wouldn't understand anything about that.
Not a single of the above features were forced upon them by Apple. Complete voluntary choices by Android manufacturers.
Wait, who's copying Apple? The users or manufacturers? Seriously, you can't even keep your argument consistent across a single paragraph?
Idiot.
Actually it's the other way around, Apple has been copying Android phones for a long time.. The notch? Not Apple's invention...
Just the other day someone here ranked the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, released 3.5 years ago, as the best phone ever and that it's been downhill ever since.
You did that on purpose didn't you?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
No, Apple copied the Essential PH-1, the original "notch phone".
Now all the Chinese phone manufacturers are copying the copier.
He couldn't, on account of prior art
They can make the phone shorter, with less room for battery. That way, they'll have an easier time throttling your phone in 3 years to sell you a new one.
They're Chinese companies. They don't do creative designs, they just copy whatever trends they see.
That's a pretty absurd generalisation. While there are plenty of Chinese companies which just copy the most popular models, there are also many which innovate and serve less popular markets. If we are speaking about phones specifically, US manufacturers/companies seem to have completely given up on creating ruggedized phones with large battery capacity, in favour of ever slimmer and more fragile models. Whereas several Chinese companies have recently come out with modern phones featuring a sturdy design and 6,000+ mAh batteries.
The next time I need to replace my phone I won't be looking for trendy western models; nobody outside of China makes the kinds of phones which appeal to me.
Sorry? September 2014 - 3 and a half years, to the month.
I haven't worked out how to type the 'half' character in ASCII.
Hey phone makers, instead of copying all the stupid antifeatures crap (nonreplaceable batteries, glass enclosures, no 3.5 mm headphone jack, notches, absurd thinness, etc..) I got an idea for you: Copy the Nokia N900.
Yes! Please copy it and make a decent phone with a sliding physical keyboard where one can actually type and write! I don't care if the resulting phone is some milimeters thicker but GIVE US A PHYSICAL KEYBOARD!
-- Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo, Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow..."
What curved corners (in the video signal) came before the original Macintosh/Lisa? Apple was doing that back in 1984, and the screen was most definitely under-scanned.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
I think OP's point is, nobody _should_ like it (even if they think they do). Because it's completely insecure by default.
it's an order of magnitude (yes, really) more secure than fingerprints. It's just that not so many people have tried to let multiple people work the fingerprint sensor....
Do you similarly think TouchID is bad and should be removed from all phones? 99% of people on Earth disagree.
FaceID is not only more secure than TouchID, it's also way, way more useful because it happens without conscious thought mostly. You are just looking at your phone and whatever unlocks whereas before you would have had to respond for a request to use TouchID to get into an app or whatever.
The people who are claiming it are not secure not only do not know what they are talking about, they do not know what they are missing... I would never buy a mobile device for myself that does not include FaceID. I would never buy a device for any family member that does not include FaceID going forward. FaceID is simply that much better a system and idea.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What's more concerning about FaceID is the level of effort required to make a mask of the owner that will do the job.
I'm not sure what you mean by "more concerning" because it has been shown in multiple videos that even extremely accurate masks made from professional molds of the face DO NOT WORK with FaceID.
Apple itself stated that they built FaceID not only against faces from all cultures around the world, but also they tested against masks as well to make sure such an obvious attack vector would be denied.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm a slashdotter, so I'm somewhat of a luddite stuck in old times
WTF does that even mean. I'm a Slashdotter from the old times (read for a while before I even created an account, much to my everlasting shame) and I am firmly in the progress camp. In fact I would way MOST of Slashdot used to be in favor of technological progress until the last decade or so, when we started to see a spike in luddthargy creeping through the user base. But I still don't think it's prevalent.
Everything that you want is there in the iPhone X. Except for physical home buttons - but trust me, the gesture system is SO MUCH BETTER than any physical arrangement has been to this point. I did not think I would like that aspect either but it's just way better having no home button at all. FaceID is also WAY better than TouchID in all respects.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It was about tech, liberty, and free software
It still is - that's why Apple has been on Slashdot so much in recent years.
They've always been advancing tech (like being at the forefront of getting rid of the floppy, getting rid of the CD drive, advancing USB-A, now advancing USB-C). Now it's FaceID causing waves. Even if you do not like it can you not admit it is a technical advancement over simple camera facial imagine recognition? And now tens of millions of people are using it, every day...
They've always been at the forefront of liberty as they are currently the only large company embracing actual user privacy. Can you imagine how utterly fucked we would all be without Apple showing there is value to privacy? They were even at the outset extremely careful with allowing the user to specify what apps could get to things like location when the Android OS was generally letting all apps get by with a blanket request for all system resources up front.
Lastly Apple has ALWAYS been about free (if not Free) software, moving from a proprietary OS to one based on BSD. Moving from some crappy browser to fully supporting and pushing WebKit which MANY other companies base browsers on. Pushing languages that are truly open source and community driven (like Swift).
So tell us again why Apple does not belong on Slashdot? Come at me, Cowardly Tech-Bro.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Interesting article, but weren't these phones preproduction models and mockups?
From how the author describes the vendors' phones at the conference, these are preproduction models and mockups. That's why the stupid "notch" was not handled well by the software.
Kriston
They are having enough problems with their current line of motherboards...basically, if your RAM is Hynix-based, you're SOL.
Rot bilong kago. Apparently it's now a design principle for Android phones.
Now having a black spot on your screen counts as a status symbol. Coming up next: pyrite-plated anything.
"Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
OK I'm curious enough to ask, but too lazy to care if Google doesn't give me an immediate answer (seriously, I googled "notch" and most of the results were clickbait or about Markus Persson). So WTF is a notch?
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Here we see a brilliant strategy by Apple: put a useless "feature" into a phone, watch all the Chinese manufactures rush to copy that feature, then discontinue your own phone with that useless feature and leave the copycats with millions of units they can't sell! How many months before Apple ships the replacement for the iPhone X, without the notch and and with a headphone plug?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I do use the Iphone 10, and find it a great - if a bit small - device. While I much preferred my 950xl, that's useless now. I actually have no issue with the notch and the face ID. The real issue is the move from 4:3 ratio on all good devices to the less friendly 16:9 ratio. I have a Galaxy S8 as well that has that stupid ratio. It is very difficult to perform work on.
I hope the Android fanbois at MWC don't move more towards that useless form factor.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
... Asus leans into its copying by calling Apple a "Fruit Company" repeatedly. If you're going to copy the iPhone, at least have the decency to avoid trying to mock it."
That's probably done more for avoiding Apple's knee-jerk response of suing anybody who dares mention their name when making comparisons to their products rather than mocking.
Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.
Apple copied the look of their first iPhone.
No, the curved corners and usually 10% of over scan that CRTs had. until some of the last gen CRTs that had squared off corners and very little over scan
NTSC has always been a rectangular image, but early CRTs were round, all the corners were cropped off by the tube. As time went on CRTs got more rectangular but even into the 80's still had curved corners. Then into the late 90's we got squared off corners and minimal overscan.
With old school CRTs they were doing the exact same thing that today's phones with curved corners are doing. The OS is generating and sending a rectangular image to the screen. The screen is displaying whatever it can, cropping off rounded corners or notches. If you ever see screen shots from these devices with curved corners or notches the screen shots are perfectly rectangular with no curved corners or notches.
This is why you see shit like the cropped off time on that one demo phone. as far as the OS is concerned it is sending an image to a rectangular screen. The screen is displaying what it can.
We went from unpure garbage over scanning and cropping in the analog era to pixel perfect with no over scan in the digital era, just to have retards bring back an artifact of the analog era.
Some of your pedantic diatribe is correct; but the Macintosh and Lisa PRODUCED an image with rounded-corners, and the image was WAY underscanned. It had NOTHING to do with the CRT's geometry or scan-pattern or ANYTHING. IIRC, if you cranked the brightness up on the Lisa's screen so you could see the actual scan-pattern, it extended BEYOND the rounded corners of the IMAGE.