Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America, talks about the company's TV features during the company's press conference at CES.
(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)
The Korean electronics giant has long been known for its push to include more and more features in its products, whether it's new hardware capabilities like NFC in smartphones or software like smart TV apps. Samsung uses such features as a way to differentiate its new gadgets from rivals and from its older products, and consumers typically like those add-ons because they're getting more for the same price. Win-win, right?
The problem is more isn't always better when it comes to device features. Rather, cramming unnecessary capabilities into products can make them confusing and difficult to use. Critics say this lack of focus sometimes distracts Samsung from investing in more vital items like TV picture quality. And when the features don't work well (as seems to be the case fairly often), it can reflect poorly on Samsung.
"It's an ongoing challenge for us," Kevin Packingham, chief product officer of Samsung's U.S. mobile business, told CNET. "You have hundreds of capabilities in the device that sometimes the user never becomes aware of even though they buy the product. We have so much innovation and technology built into devices that it can be overwhelming."
However, he and many other Samsung executives told CNET that simplifying the user experience is one of Samsung's biggest focuses for 2013. That sentiment echoed throughout the company's press events and meetings this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Samsung designers even made the point yesterday during a press panel that the company's new design strategy is "make it meaningful." Of course, Samsung isn't the only company with featuritis. For electronics makers, there's a fine line between including too many features and not enough. While people may only access Netflix on their smart TVs, it's unlikely they'd purchase a product that didn't include a few more options. And while Apple's streamlined interface is often held up as a model for other operating systems,
Android device users would howl if they lost the ability to customize their gadgets.
In addition, one of those seemingly unnecessary features could turn out to be the item that makes a device a must-have gadget.
"They've got to keep throwing features at the wall and hope something gets people going 'ooh and ahh' and reaching for their wallet," IHS iSuppli analyst Jordan Selburn said.
The easel design of Samsung's 85-inch 4K TV is one of the most striking you'll ever see.
However, Samsung during its
CES press conference on Monday highlighted several steps it's taking to make its products easier to use. That includes a revamped smart TV user interface, improved voice interaction for its televisions, and the integration of NFC technology into speakers to make it simpler to pair a mobile device with the system.
In addition, the Smart Hub application has been enhanced with more content -- movies, videos, and music -- and a new TV program guide. This augments Samsung's new S-Recommendation engine, which lists suggested content in thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. And it also has a new video discovery tool for its TVs and mobile devices that allows users to search for content in cable listings and streaming services.
Samsung also has ramped up its advertising that shows ways device owners can use its products, such as this spot on sharing a video via NFC by tapping two Galaxy S3s together.
"They don't even use the word NFC in these ads," Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said. "That's a huge improvement for Samsung where in the past they might have simply put NFC in a device and said it had NFC."
Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung Electronics, kicks off the company's press conference at 2013 CES.
(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)
Samsung has been hiring many people with expertise in creating a better user experience, he said, even luring away employees from rivals in Silicon Valley.
"These people are helping the existing teams come up to speed on creating the experience users really will enjoy," Kang said. "You'll begin to see that as part of this new video discovery service and many new apps and services we'll be launching this year."
While Samsung is taking many steps to ease its featuritis, it still has quite a ways to go. The company went a bit overboard with features for its 2013 TVs unveiled at the show, and users still have to navigate through many layers of settings to do certain things on their mobile devices.
But what it ultimately comes down to is how well those features actually work and whether consumers seek out Samsung products to get them.
"The era of pure technology push is long over," David Steel, Samsung executive vice president of corporate strategy, told CNET. "It's now less about smart and becoming more and more about the relevance of smart, the human touch of smart."
How Samsung might get featuritis under control
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How Samsung might get featuritis under control
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How Samsung might get featuritis under control
