General Forum

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

soundproof — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:14:03 GMT

B&O has assured its automotive partners that its work with car audio will continue.

You'll need to brush up your Danish, of course:

http://www.business.dk/article/20080218/ittele/80218022/

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

Flappo The Grate — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:06:19 GMT

apple won't license os-x , that's the basic problem for bno

so they either use some dross from windoze or attempt at making their own software , which ain't as easy as it looks

what we really need is steve wozniak ( the co founder of apple and a guy who's not only loaded but a big investor in businesses that interest him ) to buy bang & olufsen

he is after all a big fan as he uses the seranata himself

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

valentine — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:28:28 GMT

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

TripEnglish — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:13:50 GMT

Correct me if I 'm wrong, but I believe that B&O will likely end-of-life the Serene and the Serenate in the not to distant future. When Torben was dipped into the alligator pit there was a statement that B&O would get back to their core products, which seemed to put moblie phones, portable mp3 players, and even car audio in the firing line.

I think it would make sense to do away with co-branded products. They seem to have done very little for Samsung and been a terrible drag on Bang & Olufsen's prestige. Though I really do like the Serene, it is admittedly out of its element in an iPhone world.

I've always fantasized about B&O liscencing speaker technology to Apple (like the built in speakers in the iMac or packaging A8s with special edition iPods), but I've heard it on good authority that, whatever Steve's personal taste may be, that Apple is not interested in a partnership beyond letting them sell their little goodies in their stores.

A real shame, becuase Apple & B&O is about the only mutually beneficial partnership I could see B&O in.

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

valentine — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 13:45:38 GMT

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

OKF — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:42:56 GMT

some more info from Samsung: http://www.samsungmobile.com/promotion/yourmusic/i450/

and some in depth review: http://www.mobile-review.com/review/samsung-i450-en.shtml

Does anybody know whther the Serenata Headphone links to the Samsung port on the i450?

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

rgbyhkr — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 08:59:02 GMT

Here's the article with impressions of the i450 with comparisons to the Serenata:

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/8465.html

Looks like the Serenata's speaker is better, but the i450 is pretty competitive. Interesting.

Jeff

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

Chrisreunion — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 07:47:18 GMT

To be quite frank, I thought the Samsung would be for me, because I can't get used to the long dialing/texting process of Serenata..but then I looked at the Samsung pictures, and the phone is quite ...boring, designwise! To say the least...So I won't buy it either, I'll keep my Nokia!

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

rgbyhkr — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:15:04 GMT

You have to love the power of the internet. Obviously, for one, it allows for conversation to take place amongst folks spread all over the world - like this forum. In a couple of instances, it's also allowed me to reach out for and get assistance from other folks with the same interests who were getting a chance to see in person the latest and greatest of whatever that I was geographically unable to see myself. In a few cases, I've been in touch with journalists or bloggers to get this kind of help. The same has happened again in the last few days.

Some of you following Serenata news may have noticed (if you're a weirdo product stalker like me, you use Google alerts to send you the latest postings from the net on whatever I can't get enough info on) that Samsung has been holding an open house of sorts for journalists from all over to come in and see their new handheld wares. One of these was of course the Serenata and another was the SGH-i450. When I saw the first of these stories start appearing, I figured I'd take a shot at getting in touch with one of them to get some side-by-side impressions of the sound quality for both units. I had email contact with the senior editor from infoSync World, Philip Berne and he emailed me back saying that he would make specific mention of it in his upcoming posting about the SGH-i450. Here's a quote from his post today about day 3 of his Samsung visit:

"In the next couple of days, I'll be leaving Samsung, but I still have plenty to write about. I'll be posting my hands-on experiences with the SGH-i450, as well as the plethora of cool phones I saw at the AnyCall store and E-Mart shopping center. I'll also be diving into a reader's question about the difference in sound quality between the i450 and the new Serenata phone, both of which use some B&O tech for sound."

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/8456.html

So, it looks like this will be the first side-by-side comparison we get. He already has posted his impressions of the Serenata with a heavy emphasis on the music functionality. You can read that post here:

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/8441.html

I'll post the link to his article here as soon as I see it. Sometimes I really do love technology...

Jeff

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

Peter — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 02:13:26 GMT

dilznik:
gridinoc:
Can I dream of an phone "B&O | Apple"? Apple got the aluminium + black thingie now, it would be a good match, Imagine BeoPlayer on an future iPhone which would have Serenata-class speakers...

Okay, *that* is something I'd buy. Especially if they encased it in alu. I wouldn't touch the Serenata (no features worth a damn other than the speakers/amp, although the integration with the main sound system is pretty cool) and I wouldn't touch a Samsung cell phone (just yuck). While I'm offending people, the Serene looks like my folding travel alarm with a glorified push button version of a rotary dial on it. Sorry, but I've been wanting to get that off my chest for weeks now.

I think your view is perfectly valid. However I would say that the Serenata is actually much nicer in the flesh that you would think. It is very tactile and the sound quality through the headphones is fantastic. The dialing and texting grows upon you and I certainly found it as quick as any other method (but I am slow!!).

There again, I have just bought another Samsung phone - the D900i - for my wife. Very slim, lots of features and a throw a way price! Will work with her current SIM so will be almost nothing a month.

I do like Nokias but the present range don't capture my imagination. The Serenata stops traffic though! And the quality of materials makes it stand out.(Except for the battery cover!)

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

Ryan — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:01:51 GMT

Maybe they will release a 'beyonce' version of the serenata as well.

http://uk.gizmodo.com/2007/10/12/beyonce_belts_outs_bphone_mobi.html

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

dilznik — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 05:01:55 GMT

gridinoc:
Can I dream of an phone "B&O | Apple"? Apple got the aluminium + black thingie now, it would be a good match, Imagine BeoPlayer on an future iPhone which would have Serenata-class speakers...

Okay, *that* is something I'd buy. Especially if they encased it in alu. I wouldn't touch the Serenata (no features worth a damn other than the speakers/amp, although the integration with the main sound system is pretty cool) and I wouldn't touch a Samsung cell phone (just yuck). While I'm offending people, the Serene looks like my folding travel alarm with a glorified push button version of a rotary dial on it. Sorry, but I've been wanting to get that off my chest for weeks now.

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

The Beonic Man — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:47:10 GMT

rgbyhkr:

If I had to guess, I'd say that B&O knows exactly what Samsung had plans to do and not do. That kind of thing is almost certainly explicitly spelled out in their partnership. This is a difficult area for B&O and frankly, for me, a puzzling one for them to delve into with their own branded handsets. They obviously know the complexities of mobile design are a bit more than they care to tackle themselves. So, a partnership with a handset maker does make sense.
However, I do agree that you have to wonder how they see the market. They obviously don't consider top end phone features a priority - that's obvious both from what the Serenata lacks and their management's comments on what was important to them in the interview here and on Bright.nl. The partnership is almost certainly more about leveraging their technology to Samsung vs working with Samsung to help them get into teh mobile market. The volume Samsung can move in the market probably represents a good revenue stream for them as they likely are making money on every Samsung unit sold that contains ICEpower. In the Bright.nl interview, they state that the Serene volume is less than 100,000 units, which even they know is a tiny fraction of the worldwide market. That would all be fine, except for teh fact that these 2 units are rolling out at the exact same time. There's no opportunity for the Serenata to retain the sole spotlight with a unique feature that no other unit has. This seems poorly planned as they were certainly involved in helping Samsung develop the SGH-i450. But, given the low volume expectations, maybe they don't care all that much, especially if they don't plan on introducing the next model for 2 years. You can't help but think though that, other than as a status symbol, why someone would buy the much higher priced, less feature filled model? The partnership with Samsung to sell their tech I can completely understand and I can even understand reciprocation to make their own handsets, but why allow the 2 models to come out at exactly the same time?
The one caveat here is performance. We don't know how the SGH-i450 sounds. With a focus more on an all around quality phone than just a music device, Samsung may not have incorporated (or was allowed to incorporate) all of the Serenata's musical benefits. I wonder how that wheel embedded in the speaker area of the SGH-i450 will impact sound. And again, there's the EQ question. That by itself could be the difference between it sounding great for a speaker its size to just like every other ultraportable speaker out there. I'd very much like to hear what people have to say after getting their hands on the SGH-i450.
Jeff

I am also somewhat puzzled by the close relationship B&O is forming with Samsung. However, I suspect that it has more to do with the Samsung panels they source for use in their BeoVisions than it does with mobile phone technology. At the end of the day, business is business and its about keeping people 'sweet' isn't it? This is not the road I wanted to see B&O pursue, but one I regrettably understand given today's commerical and competitive arena.

Simon.

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

rgbyhkr — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:48:32 GMT

I had some back and forth emails with B&O customer support in the last week regarding the Serenata. After seeing the info on the SGH-i450 announcement, I wrote back asking if they had information on how much the Samsung SGH-i450 shared with the Serenata - specifically if it was using the same amp, speakers and EQ. Now, I doubt I will get anything useful back, but I figured I'd ask anyway. I say that because they could be bound by contractual agreements with Samsung not to disclose exactly what they have shared. It's also possible and perhaps likely that B&O themselves as an internal policy may not want the extent of what they have shared revealed. Of course, it's also likely that no one but high level level designers might even know the answer to that. I think the answers would be interesting if we could find out, but a side-by-side may tell us all we need to know.

Jeff

Re: Samsung's variation of the Serenata: SGH-i450

gridinoc — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:58:09 GMT

I always wondered why B&O did co-brand with someone else… When I see "B&O | Samsung" it hurts more than when I would see "Apple | Samsung" on an iPhone.

Can I dream of an phone "B&O | Apple"? Apple got the aluminium + black thingie now, it would be a good match, Imagine BeoPlayer on an future iPhone which would have Serenata-class speakers...