Samsung‘s newest Experience Store in Melbourne opened its doors to members of the press this morning for an exclusive preview of both the store and Samsung’s newest products – the Note 4, Note Edge, Gear VR and Gear S. We sent Scott in to check it out and get a look at the store first-hand.
Located on Level 2 of Melbourne Central, the new store is a 350m2 space with smart tutors, group or one-on-one lessons and an onsite repair centre. It’s decked out in Samsung’s blue livery with a mix of what appears to be wood and slate flooring and you move from section to section. As you might expect, there’s also a number of interactive displays and a lot of product demo stations.
Samsung will sell you devices on-contract with Telstra or Vodafone (curiously, not Optus) or outright at retail prices. There’s also a dedicated space for enterprise and corporate customers.
The store is actually already open to the public (and has been for a few days), but the grand opening is scheduled for tomorrow. It looks like the Note Edge and Gear S product demonstrations won’t stick around, though you’ll be able to buy them soon enough. We’re checking with Samsung whether they have any events or special offers planned for tomorrow and will update if we get any information.
Samsung also had the Note 4, Note Edge, Gear VR and Gear S on demo. No report of anyone trying the Gear VR would be complete without a picture of them trying it on:
Have you checked out Melbourne Central’s new Samsung Experience store? Tell us about it in the comments!
my samsung s5 screen has just gone black. Phone still working……just cant see anything. My service provider is trying to charge me $300+ to get it fixed. They are claiming damage done to phone …..there was not. Not honoring warranty…. Is it worth it going to shop or will i get the same run around.
the store smells amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i dont see the point really. its just a allphones shop with samsung branding. its not a real samsung presence. its all fake. they dont do any support for any samsung products but to send phones to the repair centre. thats pretty much it. nothing else.
nope. not at all mate- you can see through the back right circular window the actual repair room. has all the tools required for fixing. they were working in there too. many repairs will have a turn around time of only an hour or 2. I did have a closeup of the repair shop but it didnt make the cut.
The support is the fixing of the devices and also the “tutors” helping joe public with their samsung phones
How does it compare to an apple store?
Not that I’ve been in the apple store much but it it seems very similar- really offering a great service to customers. I like the idea of the tutors (so many people don’t make full use of their
Android devices) and the on-site repair service- they are promising quick turn around for repairs too
Not that I’ve been in the apple store much but it it seems very similar- really offering a great service to customers. I like the idea of the tutors (so many people don’t make full use of their
Android devices) and the on-site repair service- they are promising quick turn around for repairs too
Not that I’ve been in the apple store much but it it seems very similar- really offering a great service to customers. I like the idea of the tutors (so many people don’t make full use of their
Android devices) and the on-site repair service- they are promising quick turn around for repairs too
I want to play with a Note Edge. Of course I will never buy one, but I want to fiddle with it.
I was pleasantly surprised by it. I can actually see a use to it now- although not sure how many developers will make use of their edge sdk. It’s similar in use to the ribbons on custom roms, or side control app .
I was pleasantly surprised by it. I can actually see a use to it now- although not sure how many developers will make use of their edge sdk. It’s similar in use to the ribbons on custom roms, or side control app .
I’ve been in the Highpoint one, I didn’t see the point to be honest.
Unless you could bring in damaged/faulty Samsung products for repairs and replacements like in an Apple store to speed up the warranty process, then this could give an incentive to buy Samsung over other Android vendors and match Apple’s for customer service.
you can. that is the point. they fix it there – i didnt ask about replacements but I’m assuming they know right away if it’s fixable or not so will replace it.
never been to the Highpoint one but according to the Samsung guys this morning this one is totally different in what they offer. Group lessons, smart tutors, on site repairs. Google need to open Android stores IMO.
never been to the Highpoint one but according to the Samsung guys this morning this one is totally different in what they offer. Group lessons, smart tutors, on site repairs. Google need to open Android stores IMO.
The one in Highpoint was very lacklustre when I went in. A few weeks before the Galaxy Zoom. They were not aware of it. Had no good product knowledge either of what was in stock.
As much as I am not a fan of Apple there stores are great.
It looks like an Apple store. What a surprise.
Sydney has one Samsung store, Melbourne now has two.
Brisbane NEEDS a Samsung store.
No one needs a Samsung store.
This is another concerning development for the overall health of the Android platform and ecosystem.
how so? I do not like how Samsung are creating their own little walled garden inside of Android but the store is great for customers and users of Samsung devices.
Literally speaking, no one “needs” a Samsung store. I was merely pointing out to Jeni that the word “need” isn’t a substitute for “want”. As for my more important second point, Samsung stores are an attack on Google’s platform. Samsung isn’t just building a walled garden around Android. It’s executing a long term strategy to ween people off Google products and services. Samsung smother Android with their Touchwiz skin and sooner or later they’re going to start shipping their flagships with Tizen. We’ve seen Samsung introduce “Here Maps” to their Tizen devices. They have their own app store with their… Read more »
Didn’t expect you to be from Brisbane at all.