Hacker News Reader

Comment by sjs | Hacker News Reader

I agree with you, but you have to admit Samsung is pretty clearly copying Apple's trade dress. It's the only tablet that could be confused with the iPad at a glance. Especially for non-geeks.

If Apple weren't suing everyone else too they would have a lot more general credibility in my eyes. By suing everyone they just look scared of competition.

View on HN

Not that I agree that other devices don't look quite like an iPad, but...

Exactly how many possible styles are there for a handheld LCD device with a touchscreen as its primary / only input?

That's what's so utterly ridiculous about this; even if Apple hadn't altered pictures to make the Galaxy tab look more like an iPad, what were Samsung going to do? Make a circular tablet with ridges all over the screen and a fold-out table in the back? Apple have tried to assert that a the look and feel of a device where about the only practical variations are how big it is and which way round it defaults to being held is somehow theirs and theirs alone to exploit.

Exactly how many possible styles are there for a handheld LCD device with a touchscreen as its primary / only input?

Certainly more than one. Just as not every smartphone has to look like an iPhone, not every tablet has to look like an iPad. Even something as simple as rounding the corners differently[1][2] seems to have eluded or been intentionally ignored by the Galaxy Tab's designers. Just as there are limits on practical designs, there are limits of those limits, and we benefit when companies push those limits in a way that Samsung (it is argued) is not presently doing with the Tab.

[1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samsung_Omnia_7.jpg

[2]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_Phone_Marketplace.... (a Samsung Focus)

> I agree with you, but you have to admit Samsung is pretty > clearly copying Apple's trade dress. It's the only tablet > that could be confused with the iPad at a glance.

I don't think I have to admit that. Is it really any more iPad like (at a glance) than this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/759029-REG/Motorola_00...

No, to many non-geeks all tablets appear to be "iPads" and all touch screen phones "iPhones". Apple has had superior marketing and sales but they certainly weren't the first to use a touchscreen display. How many ways can you make a device with a touchscreen display? Can you imagine if this happened to TVs or computer monitors?

Depends on your "at a glance" definition, but yeah, photos don't do it much justice. Both the Xoom and the 2.0 Galaxy look nothing like an iPad 'in real life'. It's like comparing a Vaio to a MacBook, only the form factor is the same.

(I have no idea about the new Galaxy but I suspect it's the same - EDIT: by "the same" I mean different from an iPad)

You tell me: http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/samsung_...

I don't think the design of Samsung's tablet, accessories and it's packaging is a coincidence. While you can't blame Samsung, or anyone, for the general shape of a tablet, I do think they crossed a line here.

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/10/article-131298380918...

http://img.tfd.com/cde/_PROGMN2.GIF with 32bit color and higher res icons.

http://www.androidtabletfanatic.com/android-tablet-news/16-o...

Crunchpad http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/original/0004/6593/4...

Yes, it is. http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/samsung_...

He was talking about admitting that Samsung was copying Apple - which they are. But yes, yes it is more iPad like if you look at it from more angles than a shot from the top. The back is similar too, whereas that on the Xoom is not so much.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com