smartphone wars Samsung reveals its pre-iPhone concepts: 10 touchscreen devices

[Boz]

It might be a cliche, but sometimes, a picture says more than a thousand words. Over the years, I've often talked about how the technology world is iterative, about how products are virtually always built upon that which came before, about how almost always, multiple people independently arrive at the same products since they work within the same constraints of the current state of technology. This elementary aspect of the technology world, which some would rather forget, has been illustrated very, very well in one of Samsung's legal filings against Apple.

This is what Samsung was considering putting to market in the summer of 2006, six months before the unveiling of the iPhone.

One of these phones (the bottom-right one) became the Samsung F700 - a product Apple once included as an infringing product, but later withdrew once it learned Samsung created it and brought it to market before the iPhone

It extends to more than just the hardware - Samsung was also working on interfaces that looks remarkably like iOS (actually, that look remarkably like PalmOS) - in the summer and fall of 2006. Again, before the iPhone was released.

http://www.osnews.com/story/26230/Samsung_reveals_its_pre-iPhone_concepts_10_touchscreen

So it seems that all those debunkers debunking this photo were full of it

[Brandon]

What is that.... a front facing camera on the Samsung? Took what, 4 generations of iPhones to get that...

[techbeck]

I am sure more and more of these things will come out before the trial is over. Just going to show how silly/stupid this whole thing is.

[Phouchg]

Belgium. Didn't Samsung know Apple has have will been having* Time Machine since after before whenever there will has been any Samsung invention?

* tense formations according to Dr. Dan Streetmentioner

** rated nonsense concentration in this post more or less exactly a little above the nonsense of these trials

[HawkMan]

Notice that phone also don't break many of the design patents Apple complain about, like the small side bexzels and equal distance on on the top and bottom edges, among others.

What is that.... a front facing camera on the Samsung? Took what, 4 generations of iPhones to get that...

And still noone is using them.

[Boz]

And still noone is using them.

That's a pretty bold opinion without any backup whatsoever. I certainly use mine for Skype.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Belgium. Didn't Samsung know Apple has have will been having* Time Machine since after before whenever there will has been any Samsung invention?

* tense formations according to Dr. Dan Streetmentioner

** rated nonsense concentration in this post more or less exactly a little above the nonsense of these trials

You, sir, win a Rory award for the most gratuitous use of the word 'Belgium' on an internet forum. Well played.

[HawkMan]

That's a pretty bold opinion without any backup whatsoever. I certainly use mine for Skype.

WOW. that means EVERYONE uses them then .....

oh wait, I forgot you're not everyone. and extremely few people actually use them.

[nominak]

Samsung touchscreen phones before the iPhone : Crap. crap. crap, crap, crap. crap, crap, crap, crap. crap. In that order.

[zeta_immersion]

vat is zis witkraft?! ... ich dzemand jastice ... burn zie infidel appl und atherz ...

note the hand for samsung has been cropped from apple, clearly this shows apple have a time machine ... and the samsung holds it wrong ... noobs

[Boz]

WOW. that means EVERYONE uses them then .....

oh wait, I forgot you're not everyone. and extremely few people actually use them.

It's not me making bold claims. I said, I know by myself that I use it for Skype (at the very least). I'm sure plenty of people uses it for the same reason. But it's not up to me to prove your claim. If you don't have statistics to backup your opinion that no one is using it then maybe you shouldn't make those assumptions based on really nothing.

[BoredBozirini]

Those were, and still are, some really bad designs.

[+pmrd Subscriber²]

Of course Samsung had it first! The iPhone is made from at least 70% Samsung parts!

[techbeck]

Samsung touchscreen phones before the iPhone : Crap. crap. crap, crap, crap. crap, crap, crap, crap. crap. In that order.

That's not the point. They had similar looking devices/software back then. Doesnt matter if it is crap or not.

[the better twin]

Samsung touchscreen phones before the iPhone : Crap. crap. crap, crap, crap. crap, crap, crap, crap. crap. In that order.

Samsung phones crap crap crap in any order.

[Boz]

That's not the point. They had similar looking devices/software back then. Doesnt matter if it is crap or not.

Exactly..

[HawkMan]

Except it's not similar. It doesn't break the design patents Apple are suing Samsung for on it's never phones. like the bezel widths, and the top and bottom being equal width.

As much as Samsung claims they're "fighting for the square" that's not what the case is about they'r ebeing sued for a series of design decisions that mirror that of Apple's.

As for the Camera, Well since I do sell cell phones, I can tell you that the last thing people care about is a front facing camera, and I haven't seen ANYONE using it anywhere. and I haven't had anyone ask about front facing camera on any phone they buy. You'd lamost think there's a reason why the front facing camera almost always is a crap camera with a terrible sensor with no light sensitivity and at best a 1.3 sensor, more often a vga sensor.

[DrJohnSmitherson]

Notice that phone also don't break many of the design patents Apple complain about, like the small side bexzels and equal distance on on the top and bottom edges, among others. And still noone is using them.

I use mine all the time

[nominak]

Samsung angers judge by sending rejected evidence from Apple trial to the media

The Apple vs. Samsung trial was always destined to be a circus, but Samsung's already causing trouble on the first day of testimony: Judge Lucy Koh is furious that the company sent the press rejected evidence after the court overruled repeated attempts to introduce it at trial.

Samsung has been desperate to tell the jury about its F700 phone ? which was in development months before the January 2007 introduction of the iPhone ? and internal Apple emails that show the company pursuing a "Sony-style" design for the phone. All of this information has been public for days, but Samsung's motions to include it at trial have been denied because the company produced it too late in the discovery process. (For what it's worth, Apple has vociferously denied that the iPhone was inspired by Sony, claiming the mockup was just a fun design exercise based on an existing idea.)

Samsung has already appealed the rulings denying the evidence, but that didn't stop the company's lawyers from trying again today after Apple briefly showed the F700 on a slide during its opening statements. Claiming that Apple had "opened the door" to discussion of the F700, Samsung asked the court to reconsider. That didn't go so well with Judge Koh, who noted that "Samsung has filed like 10 motions for reconsideration," and asked Samsung lead attorney John Quinn to sit back down. At one point in the exchange Quinn told Koh that he was "begging the court," and desperately asked "what's the point in having a trial?" ? but Koh simply wasn't buying it. "Don't make me sanction you," she said. "Please."

That woud have been the end of it ? except Samsung immediately emailed its rejected slides regarding F700 development and the "Sony-style" prototype to the press with a statement saying "The excluded evidence would have established beyond doubt that Samsung did not copy the iPhone design." All Things D and several other outlets ran the slides and the statement, apparently not realizing the information had been public for days ? and eventually Judge Koh found out.

In the words of Verge courtroom reporter Bryan Bishop, Koh was "livid" when she found out about the All Things D story and press release, and demanded to know if Quinn was involved. "I want Mr. Quinn's declaration as to what his role was," said Koh. "I want to know who authorized it." The trial eventually moved on, but Samsung's little gambit may have cost it one more ounce of goodwill from a judge who's clearly unhappy with both sides for failing to settle. Of course, with Samsung's repeated protestations entered into the court record, there's always the chance that the company's team is setting the ground for an appeal should Apple emerge victorious ? but we'll have to see how the rest of the trial plays out first.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/31/3209204/samsung-angers-judge-by-sending-media-rejected-evidence-in-apple-trial

You're not doing yourself any favors Samsung....

[PyX]

Of course. As if Apple could have made the entire product in under a year.

[dead.cell]

Except it's not similar. It doesn't break the design patents Apple are suing Samsung for on it's never phones. like the bezel widths, and the top and bottom being equal width.

As much as Samsung claims they're "fighting for the square" that's not what the case is about they'r ebeing sued for a series of design decisions that mirror that of Apple's.

As for the Camera, Well since I do sell cell phones, I can tell you that the last thing people care about is a front facing camera, and I haven't seen ANYONE using it anywhere. and I haven't had anyone ask about front facing camera on any phone they buy. You'd lamost think there's a reason why the front facing camera almost always is a crap camera with a terrible sensor with no light sensitivity and at best a 1.3 sensor, more often a vga sensor.

Wait, so you criticize Boz as if his own experience means nothing, but expect us all to take your word for it? Based on nothing but your own experience? lol, what nonsense!

[Shadrack]

One thing that has stood out to me is that Apple's opening statement they listed very specific things in their design patents that Samsung was violating. Samsung's opening argument seem to have been to try and make Apple's claims seem like they were only talking about the way the phone looks physically. The evidence that Samsung has presented so far (from what I've read) don't seem to refute Apple's claims at all. More like they are just marginalizing them and show that they had a natural progression to a phone design that happens to be popular today because that is what they do as a company.

[Boz]

http://www.theverge....-in-apple-trial

You're not doing yourself any favors Samsung....

The fact that judge refused to take Samsung's evidence because it was "too late", while allowing Apple's "pre-iphohe" and "post-iphone" ridiculous chart, reeks of bias.

[The Gunslinger]

Of course. As if Apple could have made the entire product in under a year.

You do realise that if you replace the iphone with the F700 it would be natural progression towards those designs?

Anyway, the judge in this case appears really biased.

[Boz]

Court depositions (transcripts)

http://www.forbes.co...ging-live-blog/

This is typical Apple garbage. Handpicked a few phones who look nothing like iPhone as some proof, completely neglecting the fact that when you have full screen touch technology there is only one reasonable way you can make a phone. .big screen you can touch and rounded or square corners. That photo proves nothing.

On the other hand, Samsung has clearly shown that they had and have been designing phones like iPhones among others before iPhone was released.

Also, I wonder where Apple saw the idea for their iPad

Oh I remember they saw it on Star Trek and ripped the design from Samsung

Photo frame that plays videos, movies, pictures and internet/ethernet, USB, SD card support and was designed 4 years before iPad.

http://www.engadget....s-movies-music/