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It wasn’t exactly a secret that Verizon would be in line for a Samsung Galaxy S4, but with the recent branding snafu the company had with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 it’s always interesting to wonder what they might do different compared to other carriers. Welp, Samsung’s site has just confirmed the art for the device, and from what we can see it will have less in-your-face branding than the Note 2 had.
That is, there’s no ugly logo sticking out like a sore thumb on its physical home button. The only Verizon branding is on the back of the phone, and that’s totally fine with me. It’s tough to say whether this change had anything to do with the PR hell Verizon had to put up with or if they simply did it because they don’t have the same amount of room they had on the 5.5 inch Note 2.
Either way, we’re just glad it’s gone and we’re sure all you potential S4 owners are, too. Now all we need is a release date, though we have a feeling Verizon won’t release those particular details until just before they’re ready to launch.
[via Samsung]
I don’t even notice it on my Note 2.
same here. I alternate between using onscreen softkeys and using the physical buttons but turning the backlighting off. either way the verizon logo actually makes the physical home button (which i’m not a huge fan of to begin with) easier to ignore.
Me neither. I complained about it so hardcore before the phone came out. Took one long stare at it as soon as I got my phone and haven’t looked at it since.
7,130 articles? DId you steal Santa’s elves and re-purpose them or what? It’s a good thing Uncle Al invented the internet, or dead tree guts bearing witness to your life’s work would be all that remain of our timber lands.
Ditto.
Same here w/ my Note 2. However, I don’t get the whole ‘my phone has to be pretty’ thing. (When I use it, I look at the screen and couldn’t give a bleep what anyone else thinks about it. When I’m not using it, I could *really* not give a bleep what anyone else thinks about it. :)
same could be said for cars or houses or clothes… or girlfriends? its fine if you dont care how something looks, but some people do enjoy the things they look at 50x a day to be aesthetically pleasing
I think theirs a huge difference between a car and a phone, but the carrier branding thing is just ridiculous, I’d agree if Holden had a huge line of text across their car stating what model it was.
there cars that are promotional advertising vehicles where they are covered entirely in ads. Or perhaps it could be equivalent to someone else putting bumper stickers that they like on your car.
i also wasnt saying there wasnt a difference between a phone and a car, i was saying someone else could have that same attitude towards other car owners just because they personally dont care what their cars look like. “I’m inside my car most of the time and when i’m not its in the garage, it gets me from point a to point b, i dont understand why people care what cars look like”
What is the huge difference? Most people don’t have the money for an extremely flashy car. Conversely, the probably have the money for the phone. And the kciker is, they are almost certainly using the phone much more than said car.
I bet you notice the bloatware…
Oh good. Hopefully they’re learning from the Note 2 experience.
Man the Note 2 Verizon branding was the most ridiculous move they could’ve done branding wise. Idiotic for sure. Then again the Note 2 wasn’t much of an upgrade from the Note 1 to begin with. Glad I passed.
A little denatured alcohol or nail polish remover does wonders on unwanted carrier branding on physical devices. Now if only that could get rid of the “T-Mobile” on my pull down notification bar :-/
People found out the hard way that the branding on the Note 2 button wasn’t over the phone’s base color but was part of it. Trying to get rid of the brand resulted in all the color on the button being worn off.
Oh thank god
slow news day eh?? Logo? Home button on Note 2? Yup, just looked and its there. Thanks for pointing it out to me. I hadn’t noticed. I’m certain the S4 will operate much more smoothly without it.
so dig up some breaking news for us
I wouldn’t consider this not to be news. I think it’s worth knowing about.
They must have received rant emails about it
I realize that Phandroid shoots for a more laid-back vibe than a typical news site, but could you please stop using the word “Welp.” It’s a verbal tic of uneducated Northeasterners — generally in areas with strong Dutch roots, like Pennsylvania — that doesn’t translate well when writing.
A search on Phandroid for “welp” yields dozens of articles, and they’re all by you, Quentyn. This should imply to you that it’s not something that belongs in a well-written article.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/11/30/_welp_slang_term_has_longer_history_than_you_might_think.html
its a tech blog, not the new york times. Might wanna undo that top button a little bit.
Welp I guess u can always choose another site 0_o
Lmfao !!! Nice post, was thinking the same thing ;). It’s a logo people get the F over it.
I wonder if the Note 3 will have it…??? As a quick way to distinguish between Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series on VZW…???
So Verizon has removed the lipstick from the pig — as if it is an improvement on the Monument of Shame to the industrial design profession. It will be interesting to see how the HTC One sells against it — the S4 edges it in specs (removable battery, expandable storage, yes a better camera) — but it is “inspired by nature” along the lines as the platypus.
HTC will continue their long slide to obscurity. Nice hardware, horrendous marketing.
You’re right about the horrendous marketing, every single day on Facebook, post after post about the HTC One and what it can do, it’s getting old now.
The reason HTC has horrendous marketing is because they’re phones suck, aside from the looks. There is nothing to advertise about… Samsung has tons of practical features that people actually want. And to top it off, their phones are better. HTC is going down this year.
I don’t follow the Note series of phones but, from the pictures I’ve googled, I can’t see any kind of branding whatsoever on the home button on 100% of the images I looked at…
The Verizon Note 2 has a logo on it. I scraped mine off.
Can someone tell me why you guys get carrier branding at all in America? This doesn’t happen in Australia. Ever.
Most things don’t happen in Australia
That was a terribly inaccurate comment.
But it wont be til May 30th that the S4 comes out on Vzn that is just crazy!!!!!! Thats two weeks after KLP is announced!!!
Reason why verizon put the logo on the Note 2 was because the only branding the phone had was on the back cover which when adding the book cover to it there wouldn’t be any carrier branding .
I had no problem with a home button logo
This is very welcome news.
Just get a case or sticker art and cover it up. http://www.geekchoice.com/new-york
Is rubbing alcohol or nail polish some sort able to remove the logo?
I scraped mine off. It is a metal button.
.
That still won’t save it, as far as I am concerned.
I just realized it, but this model doesn’t have an FM -Radio
So, NO SALE, No thanks.
.
An FM radio is novel at best. I used to love the idea of having one, but I hardly ever used it. With all of the options out there, there is simply no need.
I thnk plastk is going 2 hurt them,HTC,APPLE,ETC, metal is the new plastk!