*** The Official Samsung Galaxy S4 Thread ***

Robbo said:
What negative connotations are those?
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Well, in Chinese and Japanese it's pronounced the same as the word for death and so it's considered the most unlucky number. Less sure about why in Korean but I'm pretty sure it's unlucky there too.

Most Japanese and Chinese hotels, apartment buildings, airlines, etc. skip the number 4 for room/seat numbers (and 9 in Japan too, because it's pronounced the same as the word for suffering).

So, I can't see a Korean firm calling something the xxx4, and it would have bad connotations in the Japanese and Chinese markets too.

As I say, not sure if this is just something it's to be called in Europe/North America, or just something a translator has dropped in for some reason, but it does sound a bit off as it is.

Edit: Yes, a bit Googling reveals that it is indeed considered unlucky in Korea as well, and for the same reason - being a homophone for "death". Oh, in Vietnam as well, I see. Well, you learn something new every day. I had no idea the original Chinese reading of that numeral had spread to all those countries.
 
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strumpusplunket said:
Well, in Chinese and Japanese it's pronounced the same as the word for death and so it's considered the most unlucky number. Less sure about why in Korean but I'm pretty sure it's unlucky there too.

Most Japanese and Chinese hotels, apartment buildings, airlines, etc. skip the number 4 for room/seat numbers (and 9 in Japan too, because it's pronounced the same as the word for suffering).

So, I can't see a Korean firm calling something the xxx4, and it would have bad connotations in the Japanese and Chinese markets too.

As I say, not sure if this is just something it's to be called in Europe/North America, or just something a translator has dropped in for some reason, but it does sound a bit off as it is.

Edit: Yes, a bit Googling reveals that it is indeed considered unlucky in Korea as well, and for the same reason - being a homophone for "death".
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I didn't know that, interesting.

I'm not sure it will matter too much though, to be honest.
 
Robbo said:
I didn't know that, interesting.

I'm not sure it will matter too much though, to be honest.
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Well, maybe, but I'm not sure. I'm given to believe that this superstition runs pretty deep in Japan and China at least. As I say, I know less about Korea, but from what I've (just now :) ) read it seems the same there too.

Richie said:
Would it not have been easier just renaming the numbers 4 and 9 to NOT sound like those words? :p
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Well, Japanese does have another reading for the number four ("yon") which is often preferred in general counting for that very reason (although not there are some linguistic rules which mean you have to use "shi-" in a number of cases, like the word for April - the fourth month). (But it wasn't invented for that reason, all numbers in Japanese have both a Japanese and Chinese reading).
 
They would just pronounce the 4 as "four" instead of how they usually pronounce it in their language. Things like the iPhone 4/4S, they pronouce it in engrish (insert funky accent here). So the whole death thing is avoided.

And a thread for the SIV already? :p. This better be using a quad core Exynos 5 or something.
 
Samsung already use 4 and 9 in their laptop ranges (i.e. "Series 4" and "Series 9").

As for the phone itself, the release date given in the article is still six months away so it probably is all guesswork at the moment.
 
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They won't release their flagship phone at 5'' when their nearest competitor is 4'' and they have the note to cover super size anyway. I'm calling BS.
 
Not too far away from when i'm expecting an upgrade. 5' screen does sound too much, they should at least stop going bigger and just make the screen more robust, better quality, etc.

Hopefully they go with the Exynos 5 Dual as well, which I do believe will be ready for the public by the end of the year. Dx11 and OpenCL capable GPU hahaha! :eek:
 
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