The things people hated Apple for, now in every flagship smartphone

Isn’t it funny the difference a bit of time makes?  Over the years a lot of criticism has come the way of Apple over decisions they’ve made in the design and construction of their products – most specifically the iPhone, yet today so many of those seemingly major issues are part and parcel of the latest batch of smartphones from other companies too.

Bloody Apple, making it impossible to change the battery on your phone.

We all grew up with Nokia’s and Ericsson’s that allowed us to keep a spare battery handy if we forgot to charge the phone four days ago and now it’s at 25% – switch the battery – problem solved.  But no, Apple had to be all high and mighty and lock it away – what if it’s faulty?  What if I need a quick charge?

Well in truth when a rare fault occurs in a battery Apple will replace the device for you.  And these days batteries run down so fast there are portable battery packs everywhere to buy.  Samsung handed out battery packs to guests at their “Unpacked” event in Barcelona this year.

And yes, the HTC One M9 (and the M8 and M7 before that) have a battery that is built-in, unable to be removed by the owner.  Today, Samsung announced the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, both of which have built-in batteries.

Samsung say that’s because of the advances in efficiency and battery use, but the fact is the thing will still only last you a day if you’re lucky.

Damn you Apple, I want to add more storage to my phone!

What on earth was Apple thinking?  16GB, 32GB, then 64Gb and finally 128Gb of storage space?  Nowhere to put my SD Card?  What if I need more space?  What if I want to store more photos or music?

HTC’s One M9 and Samsung’s new S6 and S6 Edge:  No expandable storage.  No slot for your MicroSD.  Somewhere awful has just frozen over.

Hey Apple – Glass front and back? You’re kidding right?

Ahh the iPhone 4 and 4S.  Glass front, Glass back, double trouble.

I’ve heard enough keynotes and announcements of stronger types of glass on phones that mean they won’t break, and seen enough YouTube videos proving them wrong that if I had a dollar for every one of them I’d be a very rich man.

So what does Samsung do?  Puts glass on the front and back of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.  Mark my words, there will be a YouTube video or three thousand.  And someone you know will smash their phone.

Who cares if Apple phones look better and are made from premium materials?

Yeah, it’s how they operate that matters! Nope.  Samsung representatives stood on stage today and talked about how your friends would want your awesome looking phone.

How the metal would flow through the device, how these were premium construction.

All this was a clear nod to the audience and reviewers who have for years been telling Samsung their products lacked quality.

iPhones are too simple, people want an advanced user experience.

Nope.  People of any age can pickup and learn how an iPhone works.  Android can be like this too, yet for some reason manufacturers want to complicate what is out there and add a whole new layer.

Today, Samsung announced a range of “improvements” to the user interface, most of which were a nod to Google’s most recent operating system and app designs, and likewise Apple’s design since iOS 7.

Don’t get me started on Screen resolution.

Seriously, Super quad mega advanced tiny pixel fantastical resolution – I’m surprised that hasn’t been announced yet.  Instead we have LG with a Quad HD resolution, and today Samsung matching that and then some.

The problem with all those extra pixles – 77% more from Samsung GS5 to GS6 is that every pixel requires power, and that means all those extra pixels are sucking more battery.  While other advances lessen the overall effect, the fact is we should all ask the question – just what would the battery performance be like if the screen wasn’t this high resolution?

None of this is to say that Apple are the greatest and we should all bow down to them, but surely – just surely a few people will question how they seek greatness in the products which are following a trend, or provide the same critical analysis of the current batch which has hung over Apple for the same period.

This rant was inspired by announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona – Trevor travelled to Barcelona as a guest of the Ford Motor Company