Report: Galaxy S7 Will Cost More Because It Has An Iris Scanner

Megalith

Megalith

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Are fingerprint scanners old news already? The article mentions that the S7 may cost over $700; do you think phone prices are getting a little out of hand?

Today's report states that one reason for the price hike could be the new iris scanner that Sammy plans on stuffing into the entire Galaxy S7 line. With the iris scanner on board, a steely stare at your Samsung Galaxy S7 should be able to unlock the handset, verify your identity, and basically do all of the things that a fingerprint scanner can do. Because everyone has unique patterns in their eyes, the iris scanner is the most precise type of biometrics available.
 
This just sealed my decision to upgrade my old S3 to a Note 4.

Reasonable price and unlike the S6/Notes 5, it still has an SD slot, removable battery, and the IR blaster (remote control). Plus it will have the 6.0 upgrade early next year.
 
Are prices getting out of hand? Yes, most definitely.

Does it actually matter? No, not really.

The fact that most phones are subsidized these days means that even phones costing upwards of a thousands dollars (looking at you iPhone) still don't burden the purchaser because of low monthly payments.

And even in the case where people do pay outright for a phone, they know the costs. Not like they go to buy that new iPhone or Samsung and are shocked by the price.

Now if you want to talk about how cellphones are getting increasingly powerful and feature rich while still running massively limited OS's instead of desktop OS's we can have a discussion! Phones with hex-core CPU's and 4GB of RAM and 2K/4K screens that you can't even have a few fucking apps open at once on. Makes sense. This is at least one area that the likes of BB10 really are superior to their more popular brethren (well considering the Priv I guess even in it's own house!).
 
nutzo said:
This just sealed my decision to upgrade my old S3 to a Note 4.

Reasonable price and unlike the S6/Notes 5, it still has an SD slot, removable battery, and the IR blaster (remote control). Plus it will have the 6.0 upgrade early next year.
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Yeah the Note 4 is still a pretty badass phone and with the 1440p OLED the display will certainly be awesome for a good while yet. I've honestly thought about getting one myself...even though it may not be all 1337 spec'ed and what not there's still no app or game that pushes it.

Yep, Note 4 really is a good "go to" phone...just like the LG G2 was for a while (and still is in most aspects I suppose).
 
I love my Note 3 with 10,000mAh ZeroLemon battery....I've gone almost 2 weeks without having to charge it before! The Note 4 was not enough of an upgrade so I was holding out for another generation or 2....Buuuut then the Note 5 was announced with no SD slot and no removable battery so....no Note 5 for me! It's not enough of an upgrade for a better camera (improved optics and sensor for low-light is something I would like more than megapixels though) and better resolution, and the Note 3 is still plenty fast for me. I'm not sure if I'll even go for the Note 6 either if it's not upgradable.....People are still questioning the value of 4K in 60" screens, so I think I won't be missing it in a 6 inch screen! Speaking of screens, I think if they made a 7" or even 8" screen Note that might be the only thing to get me to move up!

I'll say this much, I'd be moving to the Note 4 sooner than I would the Note 5.
 
Didn't go from an S5 to S6 because of the SD slot. I don't want an iris scanner, but would like that SD card slot. $700 starts to get up there for 2-year throw away tech.

And why can XDA peple debloat the Android OS while Samsung releases a bloated OS?

Can't wait for phones to have pin pricks so we can be even more secure. <sarc>
 
Thanks Samsung for taking what used to be an amazing phone line and hobbling it with even more useless shit.

I think it is safe to call the Galaxy line dead to me at this point. I have hated every single one past the S3. Getting harder and harder to find a phone these days that isn't loaded with useless crap. All i want is a phone with a removable battery, a sub 5" screen and no fingerprint/iris bullshit on it. Is that too damn much to ask for? Apparently so.:mad:
 
Synful Serenity said:
Buuuut then the Note 5 was announced with no SD slot and no removable battery so....no Note 5 for me! It's not enough of an upgrade for a better camera (improved optics and sensor for low-light is something I would like more than megapixels though)
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I said the same thing a couple months ago and went to the LG G4 instead. The camera in that phone made me forget all about the Note 5. It's not DSLR level, especially in really low light, but in decent light in manual mode it's hard to tell the difference at times.
 
Glad I got rid of my S5 and got a nexus 6P

It's like samsung is doing what all those ricer kids are doing to their hondas, adding a bunch of useless shit "bling" to the phone. It's a good car underneath, just has too many stickers and "hey look at me" parts.
 
Mut1ny said:
Are prices getting out of hand? Yes, most definitely.

Does it actually matter? No, not really.

The fact that most phones are subsidized these days means that even phones costing upwards of a thousands dollars (looking at you iPhone) still don't burden the purchaser because of low monthly payments.

And even in the case where people do pay outright for a phone, they know the costs. Not like they go to buy that new iPhone or Samsung and are shocked by the price.

Now if you want to talk about how cellphones are getting increasingly powerful and feature rich while still running massively limited OS's instead of desktop OS's we can have a discussion! Phones with hex-core CPU's and 4GB of RAM and 2K/4K screens that you can't even have a few fucking apps open at once on. Makes sense. This is at least one area that the likes of BB10 really are superior to their more popular brethren (well considering the Priv I guess even in it's own house!).
Click to expand...

But there's certainly a trend to get rid of phone subsidies (although masked a bit by the carriers pushing device payment plans that end up being similar to what people were used to paying).
 
Would be good to get the software right first Samsung. Why the hell does the os have to be modified? Imagine pc vendors doing that shit? Sure if there is added functionality, but most phone brands just fuck up an otherwise light and snappy os.
 
collegeboy69us said:
Glad I got rid of my S5 and got a nexus 6P

It's like samsung is doing what all those ricer kids are doing to their hondas, adding a bunch of useless shit "bling" to the phone. It's a good car underneath, just has too many stickers and "hey look at me" parts.
Click to expand...

I have been really happy with the S5 on MOAR rom. Had a way to trade this for an S6 for free and didn't.

How is the Nexus? That will most likely be my next phone in about a year. I do some stuff that needs as fast of a phone as possible for my business so getting rid of the bloat matters to me. One client seemed really impressed when I pulled up Cad plans on my phone during a meeting to find out some info. The faster I can impress someone the more I make.

Samsung are you listening? I don't care about iris scanning, and there are more than just me thinking that way. Give us an efficient phone.
 
Koko56 said:
Would be good to get the software right first Samsung. Why the hell does the os have to be modified? Imagine pc vendors doing that shit? Sure if there is added functionality, but most phone brands just fuck up an otherwise light and snappy os.
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PC Vendors did do this (in the 90's when PCs were equally new) ... your PC was out of date within months of your purchase ... however that market eventually stabilized (which has led to all the PC is dead articles ... just like the microwave is dead) ... smart phones are still in the competitive boom cycle where they need to upgrade annually to encourage the 24 month recycle for many users ... that cannot last though and they will eventually stabilize like PCs have
 
kbrickley said:
PC Vendors did do this (in the 90's when PCs were equally new) ... your PC was out of date within months of your purchase ... however that market eventually stabilized (which has led to all the PC is dead articles ... just like the microwave is dead) ... smart phones are still in the competitive boom cycle where they need to upgrade annually to encourage the 24 month recycle for many users ... that cannot last though and they will eventually stabilize like PCs have
Click to expand...

And yet PC's are still moving forward, and mobile feels dead. I am surprised I am ready to upgrade my PC, yet have no reason to update the phones or tablets. I have quite a bit of year end money to spend and won't. I think you may be on to something since my microwave is newer than my phone. Good luck Apple and Samsung.
 
That's interesting, I was a toddler back then! I just want a phone which is useful and functional above all. I went for S6 as people said the os is okay, but honestly, it never feels as good as my previous phone - HTC one mini. It's difficult to make a connection with the phone, it's simply too inconsistent in the way it operates. Of course now every new phone on the market is too big, which is another thing I don't like. I'd get a 5s, but can't help feeling I would miss the admittedly nice screen and camera.
 
Koko56 said:
That's interesting, I was a toddler back then! I just want a phone which is useful and functional above all. I went for S6 as people said the os is okay, but honestly, it never feels as good as my previous phone - HTC one mini. It's difficult to make a connection with the phone, it's simply too inconsistent in the way it operates. Of course now every new phone on the market is too big, which is another thing I don't like. I'd get a 5s, but can't help feeling I would miss the admittedly nice screen and camera.
Click to expand...

I think one of the gaps with the mobile improvements is there were no big gaps for them to fill. The changes we went through with PCs in the 80's/90's were quite dramatic:

- Switch from built in speaker to sound cards and external speakers
- switch from onboard graphics to 3D accelerated graphics (and of course we had competing technologies there for awhile)
- expansion of storage options (internal and external hard drives, floppies, ZIP, etc)
- Resolution changes (CGA to EGA to VGA to SVGA)
- CD ROMs
- significant changes to CPUs (speed, integrated coprocessors, etc)
- bigger and better CRTs
etc

The phones have rapidly added all the capabilities their form factors allow (screen size, memory, speed, etc) and are now grasping at more exotic features (fingerprint sensors, retina scanners, etc) ... these don't inspire the same upgrade potential as going from a 286 to 386 did or 386 to 486 did or onboard graphics to a graphic card did (it was much more dramatic then than now) or the tiny PC speaker to midi level sound using sound cards did ... and of course those of us who were PC folks in the 80s/90s got to experience the biggest change of all for PCs (the internet) ... good times and good memories :D
 
Yeah, there is a reference now and then to 486 and HDDs in MB/£ from some people I know from that generation)

I remember something about the 4s on the Web saying "have smartphones have plateaued"? Etc.

I don't know, maybe there is something to be gained from developing all the" spec sheet fillers " but lately a lot of technology feels like it's going for the fancy stuff without having a solid grasp of the fundamentals. If I do end up trusting some automatic feature, most of the time it annoys me and does not do what I want, requiring for me to do things the old fashioned, but working way.
 
And then Apple will adapt and perfect it the following year. :D

But I'll believe it when I see it.
 
exlink said:
And then Apple will adapt and perfect it the following year. :D

But I'll believe it when I see it.
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Don't forget inventing a pointless new wireless charging standard called "air charge" or something like it, then claiming they invented wireless charging.
 
psimitry said:
Don't forget inventing a pointless new wireless charging standard called "air charge" or something like it, then claiming they invented wireless charging.
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Shhhh do not give them any more ideas to change adapters and cables again..
 
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