[Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) General] raneym305:
I May Have Gotten A Bit Carried Away...

meh...

I won't knock Samsung for capitalizing on the success of their flagship lines by releasing similar lower-end & one-off devices for Pay As You Go users and MVNO's, especially when the price-point and support is commensurate with the quality of the device. With this, it should be understood that, if you (not you specifically [MENTION=4376353]md1008[/MENTION], just "you" in general) purchase a $100 Galaxy S3 from Walmart with a $50/mo. Tracfone plan, you ARE NOT entitled to the same level of support or service as the new owner of a Galaxy S6; so quit *****ing to sammoble.com each time they announce a firmware upgrade and your phone isn't included. It won't ever be. Firmware, UI, & App development as well as continued software maintenance & support for your phone costs money- more money than can be profitable at a hundred buck a pop.

I don't think your argument was necessarily to the contrary, but it prefaces my next point-

What I WILL knock Samsung for is resting on their laurels because of the success of their flagship lines, and annually releasing new iterations of these devices with marginal software improvements, sub-par hardware, and a premium price tag because of reputation and top-tier components (which are rendered useless by a lagging UI).

What really disgusts me though, as it should every 2014 Note owner, is Samsung's release schedule and the subsequent promotion (or lack their of) of their tablet lines. The Note 10.1 (2014 edition) was the FIRST OF FIVE separate tablet series', consisting of OVER THIRTY DIFFERENT MODELS released in an EIGHT MONTH span. Advertising was minimal and short-lived, nowhere near proportionate to the innovation and investment that went into the device. This wouldn't make sense without knowing what Samsung had up their proverbial sleeve-

The Note 12.2 Pro, released a few months after the 10.1 with the exact same technical specs and even less marketing. Aside from moniker of "Pro" to distinguish it from the bland "2014 edition" and the quickly abandoned Magazine UX, the only discernible difference was the larger screen size which, ultimately, lead to shorter battery life and lower screen resolution (not that it was distinguishable).

The Tab Pro series was introduced the following month with relatively no fanfare. Again carrying the title of "Pro" to convey it's superiority, it was actually inferior to the note 2014; not only in it's lack of the Wacom digitiser screen & S Pen, but also in it's chip set, memory (RAM), battery life, and front-camera resolution. The variation in screen size (8.4", 10.1", & 12.2") being the only benefit of the Tab Pro line.

The Tab 4, which hit the market a few months later, received a huge push in marketing, touted as next wave of innovation at a more consumer friendly price point. To list the ways in which it was inferior to the Note 10.1 2014 edition, would be an entire side-by-side comparison of the two.

The Tab S line was the last of the tablets released in this eight month period and has been Samsung's most "Premium" tablet to date (cough) (cough). The amount of promotion it received as "The Next Big Thing" doubled the amount of promotion given to the four previous tablet lines... COMBINED. What was gained with the Tab S (over the Note 10.1 2014) was an Octa-Core Processor, Fingerprint Recognition, and a slightly larger screen at a slightly lower weight. What was lost was lost was the Wacom Digitiser screen & S Pen, 15% battery life, and slight screen resolution. The Processor upgrade was not negligible, but didn't justify the loss of the S Pen capabilities and apps.

Ultimately, Samsung went with the most innovative (and presumably most expensive) release first, garnered support and a reputation for the forthcoming tablet lines, then treated it like the plague in order to shift interest to the new devices that lacked in the technological progression that was assumed to be taking place. Samsung sweetened us up, marketed the crap out of the Tab 4 & Tab S, and sold them like hot cakes... sugar coated, ****ty, hot cakes.

The beautiful thing about the free market, though, is that nobody forced the world to purchase Samsungs. So when people finally got fed up with paying $600 for plastic phones and tablets packed with new technology that didn't work because of a user interface they were prohibited from developing and firmware they refused to fully adopt, people just quit buying devices that were out of the support chain quicker than they were out of style with teenage girls. Even if our pissing and moaning didn't reach Samsung's ears, it certainly reached their pocketbook, which has been made evident by the massive roll out of Lollipop, the integration of material design, the premium build of the Galaxy S6, and absolute lack of false promotion of the new, budget-friendly, Tab A.

My theory is that it's best to treat Samsung like a puppy- When they **** the bed, rub their noses in it. And when they listen to what you tell them, give them praise. They'll turn out alright in the end.