Research firm Integrasco has released a particularly interesting report summing up Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, based on social media buzz surrounding various announcements and devices.
The firm monitored social media sites and mined them for data regarding key announcements at the show, resulting in an intriguing overview, not only of which products were popular and which weren’t, but also the pros and cons of each.
The Samsung Galaxy S II, said Integrasco, was the announcement that gleaned the greatest attention in social media during the week, generating almost 50% of the ‘buzz’ for handsets announced during the congress. The overall sentiment regarding the handset , said the firm, was very positive, largely due to its impressive hardware spec – a dual core CPU and 1GB of RAM – though negative comments were leveled at the device’s non-innovative design, and plastic, ugly looking appearance.
While some were excited about the fact Samsung had said the phone was ‘due soon in Europe and Asia,’ others were disappointed there was no North American launch timeframe announced. Critics were also vocal about Samsung’s renowned lack of good support for its devices, mainly in terms of Android updates.
“Unless Samsung have hired new and skilled developers and have restructured their mobile dev management -no thanks. Not buying another Samsung product until they realize that you can’t make a great phone just by beefing up the hardware … Updates and support are just as important, if not more so –and currently, Samsung SUCKS in this area,” read one comment.
“Welcome to the world SGS2. Sorry that you’ll be an orphan. Samsung will forget about you (software updates), as soon you are out in the world,” read another.
In terms of when the phone might show up in the US, one cynical commentator wrote: “Launching this month in the Europe and Asia means July-September in North America because carriers want to add crapware onto a perfectly good phone.”
