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Galaxy S4 Google Edition

Carrier subsidies have blinded people to the true value and cost of these smartphones. That's another reason for the outrage.
 
I don't think Samsung would allow a non-touchwiz phone to undercut a touchwiz one, that's why the price is equivalent to their touchwiz versions. The price is probably a condition of the partnership.
 
jhawkkw said:
Carrier subsidies have blinded people to the true value and cost of these smartphones. That's another reason for the outrage.
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I agree and respectfully disagree.

A 16 GB iPod Touch retails for US$200.

Now, add a phone radio transceiver, extra antennas, NFC, an sd card slot, upgrade the screen, and then explain how those few changes total an additional 250% price jump. Even with the processor and other esoterica.

I think that the subsidized retail price has been used to jack up the retail price, for all phones.

The market will bear a $200 media player and it's profitable.

The market will bear a $650 phone and it's very profitable.
 
Retail price of phone is not just sum of its parts cost. If so, they will lose money on every unit sold. You should factor in R&D, labor, etc. Maybe it better be around $550 as there is no samsung softwares on it which was obviously big part of their R&D for S4.
 
Sandroidfan said:
Retail price of phone is not just sum of its parts cost. If so, they will lose money on every unit sold. You should factor in R&D, labor, etc. Maybe it better be around $550 as there is no samsung softwares on it which was obviously big part of their R&D for S4.
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Amortize the R&D across the 20 million SGS4 units that will be sold at a minimum.

Labor in making a music player or a smartphone is not very different.

I've worked in manufacturing and R&D for years.

No one is losing a nickel on the less expensive N4. Nothing is being really subsidized there at all. ;)
 
I'm actually very surprised that this thread isn't lit up with people being really excited for this phone!
 
EarlyMon said:
I agree and respectfully disagree.

A 16 GB iPod Touch retails for US$200.

Now, add a phone radio transceiver, extra antennas, NFC, an sd card slot, upgrade the screen, and then explain how those few changes total an additional 250% price jump. Even with the processor and other esoterica.

I think that the subsidized retail price has been used to jack up the retail price, for all phones.

The market will bear a $200 media player and it's profitable.

The market will bear a $650 phone and it's very profitable.
Click to expand...

The iPod touch has always had cheaper components (or completely absent) compared to the iPhone exactly because very people would pay the $650 - $130 (iPad radio) for a contractless iPhone without the phone.

From wiki:
The iPod Touch is generally similar to the iPhone. The iPod Touch lacks some of the iPhone's features and associated apps, including the built-in compass, but is also thinner, lighter and less expensive. Older models also lack IPS display technology, speakers, microphones, and cameras, and the camera has never been as high quality as on contemporary iPhone models.[23] Until the fifth generation, the iPod Touch camera lacked a flash for low-light photography, and until the fourth generation the sleep/wake button was on the opposite side. Steve Jobs once referred to the iPod Touch as "training wheels for the iPhone".[24]
 
sean76 said:
I'm actually very surprised that this thread isn't lit up with people being really excited for this phone!
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I'm definitely excited. I'm tempted to give my Nexus 4 to my fiance and sell my Note 2 and get this. I don't want to lose wireless charging or USB Audio though, so I'd have to find a way to make those happen.
 
To be honest I know your all surprised about the cost but in a lot of Europe of you want to by a phone of contact they cost 600 euro or more for a flagship device. The only ever exception to the is the nexus 4. So that's why many Europeans are not as surprised by the price. B
That's not to say people will buy it though as you could just get a normal s4 for free with unlimited (near unlimited) everything for 45-60 euro a month depending on carrier.
 
sean76 said:
I would be all over this! Without out a doubt if it was for the 32GB model. Which it should be IMO.

I'll still take a good hard look at it once it releases. Hopefully Google does something cool with the back cover like puts a big droid on it or something that separates it from the other S4's.
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Exactly! I held out on the N7 until a 32 GB model was available. My Big Red contract is up in August so we'll see what develops by then.
 
treb1797 said:
Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition is US only for now
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I'd say the U.S. deserves the exclusive at this point. Especially after having to wait months for the HTC ONE to hit our shores, and a slew of others that made it here pretty late while Europe got just about everything very early.

I mean I'm still waiting for the BB Q10 to hit these shores, meanwhile it's been available in Europe and Canada for a whole now.

Oh well, the thing I've been waiting for most will be here June 26th baby!
 
Wondering if without TW, the S4 GE will still have a working IR Blaster? Does anyone know if its just something hardware wise on the phone or is it something thats baked into TW and needs the software to operate.

Lol, this is one thing I miss about the HTC ONE! Jeeeez come on Google, June 26th? May 26th would have been so much more awesome!
 
sean76 said:
Wondering if without TW, the S4 GE will still have a working IR Blaster? Does anyone know if its just something hardware wise on the phone or is it something thats baked into TW and needs the software to operate.

Lol, this is one thing I miss about the HTC ONE! Jeeeez come on Google, June 26th? May 26th would have been so much more awesome!
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I would imagine if that hardware is on the Google version, and Google gives us the binaries/drivers for it like the do Nexus devices, it should be usable.
 
EarlyMon said:
I agree and respectfully disagree.

A 16 GB iPod Touch retails for US$200.

Now, add a phone radio transceiver, extra antennas, NFC, an sd card slot, upgrade the screen, and then explain how those few changes total an additional 250% price jump. Even with the processor and other esoterica.

I think that the subsidized retail price has been used to jack up the retail price, for all phones.

The market will bear a $200 media player and it's profitable.

The market will bear a $650 phone and it's very profitable.
Click to expand...
You are not just paying the extra money for the additional hardware, you are also paying for the R&D costs "which are a substantial amount, top flight engineers are not cheap" and marketing costs, which are much higher that an iPod.
 
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