What does Samsung need to do to win fans back?

Well, I have always been fan of samsung device but the thing which has started getting me annoying to the extreme level is the delay with the updates, I would say I can survive with their bloatware to some extent but the problem with samsung devices is they are not even getting their promised updates, they only seemed to be concentrating over the newer devices, while the older devices keep waiting in vain to get a popup displaying that update is available for your device. So for winning me back they need to promise that they are going to be real quick with the update and they will cut down the density of the bloatware apps.

Hee.. Hee... I actually like the features that samsung put on even if i don't use it ! but i agree with you over the updates as this is what keeps me freaking out !

— modified on Aug 27, 2014, 5:50:19 PM

I don't quite understand why people aren't satisfied with Samsung's flagship features.

We have come to a point where screen resolution improvements aren't a big deal, chipsets CPU and GPU are quick. The features the S5 has are great, the UI has improved a lot. I'm not sure what fans expect, they probably do not know what they want either.

Removable stock apps and lower price are the only good things that could happen to the next Galaxy S.
Removing stock apps is easy after rooting the handset, it's not a big deal and to lower the price Samsung would have to spend less in advertisement, I can't see that happening.
There have been a lot of people complaining about the build quality and plastic, but in my opinion, metal construction is a downgrade. It makes phones heavier and generally not allow water resistance.

The Alpha is obviously made for people with money, not for tech people. This kind of product has been released before, from Samsung, LG, and even Apple.

Samsung does not have to do anything to impress me any further, unless the technology advances so quickly that makes hardware become obsolete we're going to see smartphones improve slower than we are used to.
Fans are probably complaining because they're used to see amazing improvements in a short time, which is the reality of the past few years, but it's not the case any longer. Right now we do not even need a flagship to have a fast Android experience.

Just Wait, Samsung Will come with new, Samsung Galaxy F series, i think may be that blow your mind

To win fans back Samsung needs to have better prices than the competition.
This is why I've got an OnePlus One phone and not a Samsung Galaxy S4 or S5.

I'm not a huge fan of Samsung, as you know, mainly due to their marketing tactics and general business practice (arms manufacturing, etc). To me, their devices are similar to Apple products: great marketing, product placement, media hype about 'features' when in reality they are average phones with added gimmicks. Their last truly great product was the Galaxy SII, which was (and still is) a really good phone, but since then they seem to have changed their focus from 'what do phone users want' to 'what do we think will sell our phones'. If the S6 had a light version of touchwiz, less battery/memory using gimmicks and more thought in the design then I might opt for it, but if it's another fingerprint scanning, infra-red remote controlling, heart rate monitoring bit of ugly plastic then I'll probably get the Nexus X.

John, I think samsung has mad a wise choice not to rush these things. When ever they rush something it always ends badly EX: Android 4.3 or for a device itself Galaxy S5. But when they take their time with something to make sure every detail is great, you end up with a great experience.

— modified on Sep 23, 2014, 4:36:54 PM

I like Samsung. They have some useful features like blocking mode and a very good camera. They seem to work reliably and rarely crash. Screen viewing angle and clarity is brilliant. Having removable battery is handy.
The s4 i have now is good and a big improvement over s3 thanks to 2gb memory. That means seamless multi tasking and few force closes.
But there are areas for improvement.

First is battery life with screen on. You're only looking at about 4 hours. 3 if you've played games.

Secondly reception is only average. If Samsung offered best in class antenna that could keep a signal in areas where others couldn't that would be worth a lot.

Better speakers. HTC has shown it can be done. For music the Samsung speakers are a bit on the tinny side although s4 is better than s3.

Well it would help if they made the internal memory size useable and not a feeble 16GB which is good for nothing other than a straight phone/text machine. They have promised to do this with the S6 but then they rumored that would be the case with the S5, so we'll have to see if we are disappointed once more.

Next thing they need to do is get the devices out on the street (in the shops, online stores) on the release date. You don't see Apple users waiting around for weeks after the release to be able to buy one, if you're that crazy you can cue up outside the shop all night and get one on the very first day.

It's gotta be almost 3 weeks since the Note 4 was released and I still cannot buy one from a shop or online store.

General Comments about Samsung:

What they need to do to bring back customers:

Part of the backlash against Galaxy Alpha was that is below Flagship Specs.
It was/is a tease for what it could have been. It's an excellent device but could have been great and still can be in the form of Alpha Pro or A100 .
A100 is a Note 4 or Note 5 level Flagship
Device in the 4.7" Screen and size of the Alpha EXCEPT thicker 9mm thick for
2800-3000 Mah battery, SD Card, camera from Note 4 or Note 5.

A Pro Series Flagship Level and Style on some Devices like Note Series for Professionals- these Devices may be a little thicker and heavier for full Power and Functions.
Reviewers talk about very thin phones and very light weight phones - THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT THE BATTERY LIFE AND SPECS-can't have it both ways.

Samsung needs to give us their best basic features at $650. and above and not be cute and coy like Alpha .

Scaleable Touchwiz- the ability to in about 8 or 10 different Categories to revert back to Stock Android OR retain Touchwiz.
Like a Google Play Edition BUT retain Touchwiz features in categories you want it.

Scott is right on point and very few android web magazine admins that say it due to the fact that they push any article to make traffic. Samsung can only create a slightly improved version of their last model, every time. And to expect anything more is unrealistic. This is reality which many slow fans refuse to acknowledge due to being hooked on tech /spec marketing race and buy the phone purely on that marketing point. In order to be successful tech it has to be used by developers and many android based phone companies run this race of tech which absolutely does nothing as a major step and nor is optimized for what smart phone is used for apps. Android platform alone has to many phone with different specs and the app developers have to take in mind individually every single phone which wont happen and the tech will be wasted. Never-mind the fact that tech has to correspond with each other as processors with screen technology to take advantage and it doesn't.
Is just tech gimmick marketing which Samsung uses.

"The Alpha is obviously made for people with money, not for tech people." First of all the phone is made for markets and the scope is to sell to be profitable, is not exclusively made for die hard fans. The second thing in usa most who buy samsung product aren't any tech specialist with diploma or any acknowledgement, majority are self called tech enthusiast rather than real tech specialist with any acknowledgment, hooked on marketing gimmick of tech and call themselves power users due to the fact they rooted the phone[which counterpart apple has jailbreak and done for years, the big deal]/ and more ridiculously are reskining /using skins addons/ aka "gadgets" and playing games. Sorry to bring you back to reality from delusion , but these self proclaimed tech enthusiast in majority of cases are the ghetto class of low, low middle class wages/ and some time middle low class in America and other countries as emerging markets are middle low class. Another point none want to get associated because like any company brand , a phone brand is also statement overall. But reality speak in the detail overall when it comes to what makes more profit and surpasses earning projections by single product which is apple iphone and for a reason. Is also used in corporate world as primary device.

"There have been a lot of people complaining about the build quality and plastic, but in my opinion, metal construction is a downgrade. It makes phones heavier and generally not allow water resistance"
Again wrong as sony isn't plastic and is waterproof. HTC One M8 is it’s rated to IPX3 level. You cant swim with HTC on hand but how many you know use their phone daily to swim or go to work by swimming? A phone is about everyday practicality in case you missed it .
How many that are carrying a metal phone are noticing a substantial amount of wight from their phone? Or how many complain about this extensive weight? Because simply is not reality. The weight its adds is not substantial to bother users. You used to plastic from the other side and if you take a look on markets they int complaining about in facts is what is selling. So here again either samsung learn its lesson that cannot be focus on die hard fans and usual users which i mentioned to represent them and ideas or will be done.

Here is my addon to this thread
They need first of all to redesign if they don't they will be where they are now because ugly and embarrassing looks like their cheaper phones, they have to move with markets demand and start using other than plastic materials metal, glass, rather than giving justifications why they use the plastic which is nothing more to make for margins.
Second advance with tech slow in order to make everything compatible with rest of their tech and optimized for apps not just release phone based on tech marketing techniques that does nothing. Resign the stylus to use minimum memory or go with android stock.Slow down the rate they release gimmicks and slow down heart rate/infra-red remote controlling or before let the developers take full advantage first and users.Fingerprint scanning they should optimize it for same reasons.

— modified on Nov 29, 2014, 8:30:19 PM

I think Samsung does not know the American society well. Its commercials feel translated and have the most part a European feel. Their TouxhWiz feels like I'm in a strange Korean/Japanese cartoon. I also think they ( Scarry enough given my statements ) have won the Android 32 bit war. ( albeit in descending fashion ) With the coming 64 bit, desk top power in a hand held device revolution, they need to be more aware of the consumer to stay relevant. Specs aren't everything.

— modified on Dec 3, 2014, 8:09:28 AM

Complain that Apple is slow, but overall they get new stuff right, or they opt out until they get it right. That's how real meaningful improvement is made, by taking as long as it takes to get it right. That's how you create brand loyalty.

Just upgraded from S3 to S5 - love to improved performance and battery life but very disappointed at the unexpected loss of FM radio capability that I used more than the phone. Why would they remove a capably that survey showed 48% owners used. I would not have upgraded if I had known as it was more important to me than finger scan or heart rate - even though I use them.
Faster upgrades of the Android operating system would also be appreciated.

When i watch all the Samsung products they reflect me the same i.e, China siblings they as alike as all the population of china is from same kinda. The same thing is happening in Samsung, when you are competitors like Apple are growing with new models and they choose the track of Samsung. The thing is they wanna attract all the Samsung users so they went in such a auspicious moment and released ever Big screen mobile in their history of Apple. Where as Samsung is busy at produce their siblings, then how come a person who already used a mobile from Samsung, gonna try another soups....!! It's sounds hilarious but true.
Even more the products of Samsung are strictly meant to use for only one year. After one year use, it will be embarrassing to hold a Samsung product in our hand. If all this flaws are overcome from Samsung, it top the market again like old times.

To me needs a new design, I been a galaxy user since the Galaxy Epic for Sprint, butt I'm tired of plastic already and I actually thinking to switch to iPhone in 2015 just because im so tired of Samsung laziness design.

There are some improvements I would like to see, but Samsung does not need to win me back. I'm happy with the phone I have. As others have mentioned the length of time it takes to get an update is too long. Also, they bundle too much useless software that you can't get rid of unless you root the phone which I've had trouble doing. Finally, I suspect that any long time Samsung user quickly learns TouchWiz is a terrible interface. I have switched to Nova and have never looked back.

The plastic case does not bother me as it makes the phone lighter and I use a rubber protector anyway. In addition, I like the camera and have found no need to look for a replacement app. I think with a few tweaks and continued innovation Samsung can continue to compete with the other top of the line phones.

I listen to my S5 FM radio often...keep looking, its there.

My sister in law unknowingly bought an S4 i9505 1 T Mobile for my brother. It won't update becsuse it has been modified. I did a hatd reset & it has android little logo guy and says it's downloading don't turn off target. How long does the download take? If it can't be fixed to work here for T-MOBILE in the US can it be resold to try to recoup some loss

i think they must stick with their basics i think they are trying to over do everything.

sticking to the basics was their biggest problem. the S5 was essentially the S4 with a finger print scanner and no one was impressed. If they want to improve, they need to be more innovative.

could not agree more with your view but they gotta make their basic right you know they are trying too much and trying to bring so many things within one which is not good that would spoil an entire thing.

Pure and simple...front facing speakers!

I have been a long-time fan of Samsung... and still am. I love my Galaxy S5! It love it's battery life, I love that it's water resistant, I love how fast it is, and I love the features like Blocking Mode, Ultra Power Saving mode, download booster, and I actually use the health features as well. The sound quality also decent. Best smart phone I have owned so far...

I've heard some people express disappointment that Samsung might be moving away from expandable SD card storage and removable batteries. I'm not crazy about this decision either; however, if you asked me how often I change out the SD card in my phone, I'd have to honestly say never. Same is true with the battery at this point. Though I have replaced defective batteries in older Samsung models. In the one case, it was because the phone got wet and destroyed the battery. If Samsung makes the 6 waterproof, then I would suspect the battery issue would be less of a concern. There are also cases available for the phone that have a battery built-in the case, which accomplishes the same thing without needing to touch the phone's battery and with chargers providing much more rapid charging than in years past, I can't see this being a big deal. I just always thought it was cool that you at least had the option with Samsung, where you didn't with Apple.

Call me old-fashioned here, but I really miss the phones having FM transmitter's in them. I know almost everything is Bluetooth these days, however, there are many situations where the old FM transmitter would still be quite awesome. For example, riding in a car that is not equipped with a Bluetooth radio. This actually happens a lot still. It would be cool to still listen to my phone's playlist through the car's FM stereo in those cases. I know there are devices that can be purchased to compensate, but I don't want to have to plug in a bunch of other crap, I just want to use my awesome phone that does everything! I really miss the FM transmitter and it seems like it would be so simple to bring it back.

There's my 3 cents. Thanks for the post question Scott!

They are going to produce the F*king series soon, F Series gonna f*k every single user of Apple's products.

Hey Scott. In my personal opinion, they need to go back and take a lesson from the success of their own Galaxy S3. That phone revolutionized the industry (for Samsung anyway) and it's also the one "smart" phone that won me over. Since then their phones -while indeed getting bigger, faster and aesthetically pleasing-have lost a lot of steam among consumers. Mainly it just seems to be the 'same phone' in a different package.