Samsung's tiring design language

Samsung has been enjoying some incredible success in the mobile sphere. The company has finally gone official with its next Android flagship, the Galaxy S4, and went all-out for a launch extravaganza. Undeniably, the Galaxy S4 is going to be the Android everybody will be comparing with all other phones for the foreseeable future.

After the unveiling of the HTC`s all-aluminum body One, I was on the fence for weeks on what to expect from Samsung`s much-awaited S4 in terms of design. But it didn’t go far enough with the phone’s design. After seeing the first leaked images of the S4, I was left with very little doubt of it being a fake as it was unquestionably Samsung with its thinner bezel and arched edges.

Success can be a perilous thing, though, especially in an industry which moves as fast as this one. Spend too much time looking at what you’ve done to achieve that success and focus your efforts on repeating it again, and you can quickly begin to suffer from a lack of innovation; you can go stale.

While Samsung continues to push the envelope with hardware and software, it may have gotten itself into a bit of a rut when it comes to design. Take for instance the Galaxy line-up - Galaxy Duos, Galaxy Grand, Galaxy S3, the company`s recently launched Note II and its tabs, like the Note 8.0, the dimensions may change but they all follow the same design language. It’s not bad, but it sure is getting a bit boring now.

For all the flak the HTC One gets for being a seriously derivative design, at least it’s something a little new for the company. You will not mistake it for any other phone from the company`s portfolio.

Though plenty of the top tech sites bragged about the new innovative features of the S4 in their ‘first impressions’, like the ‘Smart Pause’ - an eye-tracking feature which pauses videos when it detects your head moving away from the screen - and were clearly dazzled by it, there were some which were not too thrilled by the plastic, cheap feel and rather boring design.

I know, millions of Samsung fans will buy the Galaxy S4 no matter what it looks like, and it’s getting to the point where the Samsung brand name itself is nearly as important as any of the actual hardware in its phones, but a little experimentation would have been welcome.