With the debut of the Nexus One many many years ago, now it seems, Google was the first to say that their baby and flagship device for Android was not a smartphone; but a super phone. Sure many, like me, cracked a smirk and asked themselves just how serious could they be or take themselves while calling such an amazing device something sounding so corny. But now, the aftermath of such an unveiling has made way for Android to have a much more secure and stronger platform to stand on supreme with their phones having massive 4.0+ inch displays and 1Ghz processors. These phones are beasts without a doubt. And to take advantage of such a leap, Samsung has made their phone the Galaxy S an entire serious of phones in the USA.
At the MobileBeat 2010 conference Samsung’s Chief Strategy Officer, Omar Khan went ahead and provided a clear definition of what a “super phone” is in regards to their own Galaxy S (variations included).
Khan said that the Galaxy S lineup hits all the points needed for this new and interesting category of phones. They have large displays for high quality video and media, a powerful processor (they’re own Hummingbird 1Ghz processor) to handle those high quality videos, and many apps for Android that the user can have in the palm of their hands and on the go.
Khan has called these last few months the, “Year of the 4+ Display and the 1Ghz Processor.” The Super AMOLED on the Galaxy S devices is something to be desired and to be seen in person without a doubt. Khan didn’t seem to be too concerned about Apple’s new Retina Display on their iPhone 4 because he referred to their Super AMOLED screen as the best in the market bar none.
With competing devices out there like the Droid Incredible are rolling with a 1Ghz processor as well, Khan says that the Galaxy S lineup offers the best 3D graphics experience out there.
With all this power and big screen sizes the question of severe power drainage is something that users are concerned about and manufactures have yet to figure out a solution.
“I’m not sure anybody has the answer today but I know a lot of fold are woking on it,” Khan said in regards to phone’s consumption of battery power.
Hardware though, is just part of the super phone experience as the software has becoming increasingly more and more important. Khan pointed out while there are many and will continue to be even more apps available on the Android Market, data suggests that 60% of users only interact with just seven apps on a daily basis. Those apps are the ones you’d normally expect: Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps, Search, The Weather Channel, ESPN, and Pandora.
Khan also went on to say that super phones like the Galaxy S lineup can deliver a desktop-like experience on the run with the apps so that the experience that users want is not compromised. Though most desktop programs/applications are in fact modified in their versions for app phones and access through Mobile Web in order to deliver the best experience possible for the user (like Facebook, and so on).
As Google has said before, Khan also thinks that the web is the ultimate app platform. Though that doesn’t mean that there is not a place and need for strong native apps, because of their respective mobile device modifications that can offer more richer experiences than the ones over the web itself.
Khan said, “The best experiences won’t just be delivered through web apps but through a combination of native apps and web apps that best take advantage of the marriage of hardware and software.”
And I couldn’t agree more.