I Just Don’t Get It

Sure, we should give Samsung credit for giving good design a place in their products — but I simply don’t think they’re that well designed, to be honest. Especially not well enough to be featured, not only once, but twice.

[Samsung’s LCD TV] can stand tall (and wide) as a distinctive and dynamic piece of contemporary design in it’s own right.

Now, surely that’s a bit much for any TV on the market today? And it isn’t that I don’t like the amount of attention Samsung is getting — it’s just that I just. don’t. get. why!?

Consider the TV above. That’s the XDP-507XD from Pioneer. It’s a 50-inch plasma, which in itself is quite awesome. And besides from that, it’s sexy.

To me, this Pioneer (which is quite a random choice, I could have gone with a number of TVs. LGs LCD TVs are quite nice, for instance...) is everything the Samsung is not.

It’s got clean lines, nice details, and all the focus on the screen. While the Samsungs may be 70-style-funky and a bit friendly-looking, the design is just too chunky.

I don’t need that much plastic! And as far as I can see, the rounded bottom of the design, and the power-button (which I will admit is quite nice) is all there is to it. At least Philips tries to come up with something inventive, with their Ambilight-system.

What I want in a TV is the screen. I would love to see the television design redefined, sure. But don’t just slap some more plastic on there, and hope it works out.

Wallpaper* may like it — but I just don’t get it.