The AppAdvice Week In Review: Samsung's Bizarre Party And Apple's Response

by Bryan M. Wolfe

March 17, 2013

Two of Apple's main competitors made a lot of noise this week. Not that Cupertino was silent during the week that was.

The Samsung Galaxy S IV

Instead of sitting back and let them hold their very big show, Apple went after Samsung during the week that the Galaxy S IV was officially released. Even before the announcement of the next "iPhone killer," Apple’s Phil Schiller came out swinging both on Twitter and in press interviews against his company's most formidable competitor. As Aldrin Calimlim reported, Schiller said to The Wall Street Journal:

“When you take an Android device out of the box, you have to sign up to nine accounts with different vendors to get the experience iOS comes with,” he said. “They don’t work seamlessly together.”

Samsung's Unpacked event for the Galaxy S IV was anything but understated. Featuring Broadway performers, the kid with the box, and a somewhat sexist take on women, the 50 minute show was nothing like one of Apple's famed "special" events. This was the point, of course. While the Samsung event was odd and over the top, the actual phone announced was not. The Samsung Galaxy S IV is a pretty tame successor to the popular S III. It has a 5-inch 1080p SuperAMOLED display, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front camera, and 2GB of RAM. In addition, it’s touted as the first, and currently only, smartphone with an octo-core processor. Also, it runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. As I opined, Samsung missed an opportunity here in their quest to unseat Apple. For Samsung to pickoff long-time iPhone owners, they needed to throw a touchdown with the Galaxy S IV. Instead, I’m pretty sure that they simply got a first down in a game that has just begun.

Until the so-called "iPhone 5S" is announced later this year, Apple is throwing their vast resources into promoting the six-month old iPhone 5. These include the Saturday launch of a new webpage that proclaims, “There’s iPhone. And then there’s everything else,” and a new ad campaign that should begin prior to the Galaxy S IV's official launch in April. Get ready, folks. The Apple versus Samsung battle has just begun.

Now Read This: Google Reader Is Dead

Google held a "second spring of cleaning" this week. One of the biggest products on the chopping block was the company's Google Reader. On July 1, the RSS reader will say goodbye, apparently due to a declining user base. As Google wrote on its official blog:

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

Also on the chopping block are Snapseed for Mac and Windows, Google Building Maker, and other titles. For those folks upset by the end of Google Reader, we suggest these alternatives.