Counterclockwise: the story of Galaxy S phones

11 March 2018
Samsung has made Symbian, Windows Phone, Bada and Android phones, but only one OS lived to tell the tale - thanks to the Galaxy S.

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  • S6 User
  • mqx
  • 19 Sep 2018

tcl, 27 Mar 2018And they still haven't finished itFYI:
https://m.gsmarena.com/counterclockwise_the_story_of_galaxy_s_phones_part_2-news-30131.php

    • t
    • tcl
    • LLP
    • 27 Mar 2018

    The Scientist Pigeon, 11 Mar 2018The article's author did mistake. Why? Popular long life... moreAnd they still haven't finished it

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • s5j
      • 19 Mar 2018

      Back in 2008/9 Samsung were heavily invested in Symbian S60 OS (very similar to Nokia version, but with Touchwiz UI) with the Omnia HD (just a brutal awful device but did have stereo speakers, AMOLED screen & 1st to capture at 1280x720 HD) being the flagship, at that stage Android would of been version 1.5 Doughnut and mainly on HTC devices, Nokia (which was still king back in those days) were also invested way to much into there own Symbian S60 OS, they had the Express Music 5530 (which is the 1st Nokia full touch screen device) but were also working on S^3 version of Symbian which fixed up S60 issues like needing to double tap everything and other issues but that would come about 12 months later in 2010 with the Nokia N8 (awesome device, I still have it), Nokia also were working on Maemo 5 OS which looked promising as a top line OS over Symbian S60/S^3, they release the N900 as a development device and then switched over to the MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan platform for the Nokia N9 (huge sales in Russia at the time), now that N9 design would go on and live as a Lumia with Windows Phone 7 OS but by then Nokia in that incarnation was all but dead.

      Samsung were also trying to make there own OS, Bada and they kicked off with the Wave (again I own one and still use it today with ironically Android 4.4.4), but also at the same time they made the Galaxy S, both Wave & Galaxy S had the same hardware save for the 3.2 v 4" Super AMOLED screen size, just how invested were Samsung with BADA OS? they kicked off with its own APP store and paid developers to make make apps for GPS, games and everything in between, why Bada failed is easy, Android OS exploded into so many other manufactures while Samsung wanted to keep Bada for themselves, Bada would go onto to become Tizen which was used in the 2nd batch of Samsung wareables and also be used in there again propriety based Smart TV units although that has been phased out for basically Chromecast (so Android again).

      From there it became a race with HTC who got the 1st Nexus device then Samsung with Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, then LG with Nexus 4 (somewhat decent) but what really changed things was the Nexus 5, nothing could compete price wise for specifications with Nexus 5 by LG, that was 2013/4 which by that time Samsung were so deep in trouble from Apple law suits due to the Galaxy SII which was a beast of a device, the S3 was awful crap which was plagued by the Exenos bootloop so much so that by S4 Samsung had to switch to Qualcom SoC for several markets and introduced the SIM lock to stop grey market sales (which backfired badly for them), with S4 they tried to go techno overload and it failed, meanwhile LG made huge inroads with G2 (which was basis for Nexus 4), G3 (great device very similar to the Nexus5) & G4 (remember the leather back? but they also had bootloop issues), HTC had the OneX (with Tegra II SoC which was unique at the time but went nowhere) but they went backwards with the M series, the rise of the clones from China and the launch of OnePlus (as well as sister company OPPO) + ZTE have all made dents into Samsung (and to a lessor extent LG) & Googles own stupidity with the Motorola based Nexus 6 (pure junk) & the Nexus 5X (basically a G4 again with the same bootloop issues) and Nexus 6p (just an awful device that ended the Nexus line of devices).

      I stopped using Samsung mobile devices after the original Note and have never looked back, that was around the time of the (LG) Google Nexus 5 so late 2013 through 2014, my Nexus 5 was retired in mid way 2016 (so it did 2.5 years solid and can probably still go today with lineage OS) and now I have switched to ZTE (ZTE you say?), yes ZTE, started out with Blade V+ and now with Axon7 (running Lineage OS 14.1), from a hardware viewpoint they have been solid devices with no issues on my end, OS wise its a custom rom so not much I can say other than as long as developers make custom recovery like TWRP then there will be developers that will make custom OS for these devices, there is a saying, vanilla android is best everything else is not worth it.

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        • AnonD-135818
        • 7XY
        • 17 Mar 2018

        Anonymous, 11 Mar 2018With out Samsung and htc Android would have been dead. It's... more"With out Samsung and htc Android would have been dead." First off, that goes both ways. 2nd, they're not the only smartphone manufacturers, motorolla being one of the few hits of 2009. Can Samsung's mobile industry survive without android? Nope. They even tried tizen OS but that failed so bad, no one even noticed it existed and fade into oblivion. They'd be selling TVs and Washing machines and whatever appliance sans mobile without android. Oh and HTC? Haven't you heard? Wow you're late. 3rd, it's "without". The way you argue, I can't take you seriously.

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          • AnonD-657832
          • QHA
          • 13 Mar 2018

          Anonymous, 11 Mar 2018Article forgets to mention biggest reason for the Galaxy s ... moreI have not come across any android phone that looks like an Iphone in any way!
          Not sure what exact model your talking about but we have have started using Samsung with the sII (wifes first Samsung). I switched from an HTC Evo 3D to a Galaxy S3 and it was AMAZING.
          The wife upgraded to a galaxy S5 which we have passed on to our daughter for her first phone.
          I moved from a the Galaxy S3 to a Note 4 and it was a BEAST! Heavy, powerful and beautiful. Still have that phone to this day and keep it as a spare.
          Wife moved from the S5 to an S7 (not the edge) and she is in love with it through and through. Upgraded the SD card to 128 gig as she is a photo-holic.
          I've moved onto the S8 from the Note 4 and this phone has not slowed down one bit and is still by far the most beautiful phone made (maybe the S9 will be better refined but I really like my S8).

          I still remember when my bro in law ridiculed me for getting the Note 4 instead of the Nexus (HTC made) at the same time as him. He was eating crow when the Note 4 outperformed his Nexus in almost every task and durability. Kudos to Samsung for all the r&d and trial + error which led us to the amazing devices we have today.

          Also props go to HTC for the Magic, my first and most beloved phone that I save for backwoods camping. 2 batteries and I'm good for a week or so with music and low quality photos, lol.

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            • AnonD-576767
            • U{U
            • 13 Mar 2018

            DanishBeacon, 11 Mar 2018This was the most lausy article i read so far on GSM. If ... more100 true
            Because iam a Nokia N series fan before
            From galexy S2 Samsung still remains as a king in industry
            All asshole companies copied Samsung designs and features
            Most cloned ', look like, copied phones uses Samsung designs
            S3,S4 _S7 is beasts
            All other note series is the best phones in the world in my opinion
            Because iam used all note phones ,they have unlimited features ,and a far better upgraded os than Google released

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              • Chopsticks
              • nEb
              • 12 Mar 2018

              fmfm, 11 Mar 2018Always go for the odd number models in galaxy; ive owned 1,... moreNonsense, the opposite is actually true.

              SGSII, 4, 6 and 8. Galaxy SX will be the next game changer to covet.

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                • Chopsticks
                • nEb
                • 12 Mar 2018

                Excellent piece.

                I was an early adopter of the Galaxy S which was my first smartphone. Leapt to Android from my Samsung Pixon feature phone with it's groundbreaking 8MP rear camera.
                Swayed between the Wave and the GS 'cos I loved the SAMOLED display. I made the right choice in the GS.

                Since then I have owned the GS3,4,6Edge and now 8 (skipped the S5 as was so disappointed in the design, same old tired design and plastic). The game had changed by then and premium materials was required to match the price tag. Boy did Samsung deliver though with the GS6Edge...simply stunning.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • JG0
                  • 12 Mar 2018

                  Anonymous, 11 Mar 2018S4 had SD600. Midrange cpu... G2 and Z were better than... moreI9506 Galaxy S4 had Snapdragon 800.

                  The opposite is true of everything what you said. S4 is much better than G2 and Z, because S4 has removable battery, IR blaster, better design, better built, better photos, better videos, faster, better audio.

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                    • AnonD-672395
                    • vIc
                    • 12 Mar 2018

                    "The Galaxy S was powered by an early Exynos chipset (known as Hummingbird at the time), which boasted 3x the GPU performance of the competing Snapdragon."

                    I am guessing it was not just the GPU. Samsung should ensure that they always push the boundries of their processor performance way beyond Snapdragon.

                    Because if there is one company that can make a mobile processor as poweful as laptop, it is Samsung (Exynos).

                    Also, I want Samsung to push 10-bit 4-2-2 (or 8-bit 4-2-2) video on smartphones and have cameras competing with entry level DSLRs. Samsung needs to use HEIF instead of JPEG and also check whether they can improve colours and information in photo, while still reducing file size. Samsung was the first ILC with HEVC/H.265. They need to push that boundary for both photo and video.

                    Also, they can make their own version of the l16 Light Camera project, by first completely removing didferent focal length lenses and also trying to add depth map to photos. By having a 4 camera module and having super HDR in all photos, it can easily compete with decent point and shoot cameras. Think of Pixel 2 photos, taken at 50MP and then downressed to 20-30MP as 10-bit RAW photos. That should help push smartphone photogaphy to a completely different level.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • JG0
                      • 12 Mar 2018

                      "For all the features that Samsung packed into the phone, the phone itself was... ugly. Sticking with plastic was a mistake or so many thought."

                      The dumbest thing one could say. The plastic body is the best for phones. And the removable battery is the most important feature of a smartphone.

                      S5 (Advanced with Snapdragon 805 upgrade) is the latest good phone from the Galaxy S phones (the latest ultimate good phone from Samsung is the Note 4). Samsung destroyed the S series with the S6, because S6 is nothing more than an iPhone clone with non-removable battery, same design (for example speaker arrangement), no microSD card slot, ...

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                        • AnonD-428442
                        • wrY
                        • 12 Mar 2018

                        Its all about slots, 12 Mar 2018While nexus line (including pixel now) looks good when it c... moreThe Nexus One was the first super phone. Any Android phone before that was basically the same innards as the HTC Dream.
                        Every iteration of the Nexus line was designed to be a reference hardware, on what one can do instead of simply making an iPhone clone (like Samsung).
                        Once we reached the Nexus 5 or so, the OEMs obviously have taken a clue and started making really great Android phones, thus the Nexus 6 onwards weren’t really needed. Google then replace them with the Pixel line and went head to head with the other OEMs.

                        SD slot can be useful, but Samsung made them useless by preventing them to be part of the internal storage. Even Google was wiser, allowing SD slot to be used as internal storage on stock Android.

                          My first Samsung smartphone was the galaxy S3 in 2012 and up to this day I'm still using Samsung and by the end of next month I'm planning on buying the Galaxy A8 2018

                            • n
                            • nsm
                            • mjP
                            • 12 Mar 2018

                            Galaxy S from 2010 was not the slimmest smartphone in the era... Iphone 4 from same yaer was jus 9.3 mm thick. My advice is not put superlatives in these type of articles unless they are well documented.

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                              • Its all about slots
                              • 6TT
                              • 12 Mar 2018

                              AnonD-428442, 12 Mar 2018Not really. During the early days of Android, all the OEMs ... moreWhile nexus line (including pixel now) looks good when it comes out.

                              Its junk in the face of other android phones with sd slots. They spawn ugly rumors and fanboys that say sd slots slow your phones. But see all the top phone with slots!!

                              Even HTC, they tried slotless phone PLUS non removable battery (the intro One /M8 series), the result? Double whammy and DOWN the drain they go. They keep saying "Nonoooo we listen to our customers.. unibody.. iPhone like no slots. why are we going down.. don't understand it! Help helppp!"

                              When HTC goes down.. Motorola pick the slags, THEY too suffered the same mistake, NO slot, unibody.. and see whats Motorola now?

                              Even Samsung tried to go slotless with the S6 / N5 series.. They knew it.. and bring it back ASAP.

                              So.. whats the winning formula? No.. not google phones.
                              Just make sure you have sd slots, price it reasonable, plus gimmicks (STRONG gimmicks if your slots are missing.. like true bezeless .. or massive cameras..)

                                A very well written article. "Samsung dipping its toes in the water". Sounds so pleasing! Keep up with such article. Kudos to the editor for making great content.

                                  • T
                                  • TeD
                                  • t7X
                                  • 12 Mar 2018

                                  I have fond memories of my Pixon, and then Wave...screen of Pixon went dead after a year, but Wave was undestructible, light and small in the pocket. Samsung made so much progress up to my S8.

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                                    • AnonD-428442
                                    • vgN
                                    • 12 Mar 2018

                                    Not really. During the early days of Android, all the OEMs were not interested in making actual good phones. The early Android phones were basically the same hardware as the HTC Dream with varying form factors. Nobody wanted to do more. Google had to jumpstarted the trend by doing the Nexus One with HTC, to show that there's a way to make a cool looking Android phone with top spec (at that time).

                                    So Google ultimately was the one helping the OEMs to be "creative". The Nexus line continues to be the benchmark reference of industrial design and performance. Without it, we all be stuck with same old Android hardware with differing names (similar how dumbphones were, they were all basically the same hardware with only differing shells).

                                    The next milestone was the Motorola Droid. This is where branding finally becomes important for Android. The rest is history.

                                      [deleted post]because samsung release more recycle phone than any other brands.

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                                        • Aadrian
                                        • 0wE
                                        • 12 Mar 2018

                                        Anonymous, 11 Mar 2018With out Samsung and htc Android would have been dead. It's... moreAbsolutely, only take a look at the difference in sales between a S series phone from samsung and fhe Pixels from google.

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