Some members of the tech media are, predictably, falling into Samsung’s trap as they speculate on the forthcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone, which is due real soon now. Rather than consider if there will be any significant enhancements in usability, it’s all about the specs, without very much chatter about how those specs will impact users.

So we have a few columnists who are examining alleged secret benchmarks of the new Samsung handset. As a result, they are claiming that display resolution will jump from 1,920×1,080, or 441 pixels per inch, to 2,560×1,440, or 560 pixels per inch. Now understand that the iPhone 5 series has a resolution of 1,1350×640, or 326 pixels per inch.

So doesn’t that make the Samsung much better?

Well, not quite. For one thing, a Retina display, which you find on recent iPhones, means that, at a normal viewing distance, your eyes can’t make out the individual pixels. It doesn’t matter how much more densely packed they are once that figure is exceeded if other display characteristics aren’t improved. It’s just about bragging rights.

And Samsung can’t brag about the quality of the AMOLED displays used on the S-series smartphones for the simple reason that the picture washes out severely in sunlit conditions. But, to the tech media, is mostly about the raw specs, and very little is being said about the impact in the real world.

There’s also some comment on what sort of hardware Samsung might employ on the S5, with one report speaking of an 8-core processor with 64-bit capability, the latter to hone in one of the advantages of Apple’s A7 processor. But there’s little evidence that mobile apps are really tuned to take advantage of all the extra cores, and there’s nothing about 64-bit support with Android 4.4 KitKat, the latest version of Google’s mobile OS.

When it comes to all those extra cores, the situation in the mobile space is far worse than the situation that prevails on desktop computers, where Apple’s Mac Pro, offering Xeon chips with up to 12 cores, only offers a speed advantage on a very small number of apps.

Regardless, I suppose the S5 will run faster, and that might make it seem snappier, assuming it’s a major improvement. But Samsung is also notorious for running hardware over-clocked when certain benchmarking apps are run. So the results do not tell you how well these products do with the apps most people actually use.

It’s also reasonably certain the new Samsung’s camera will sport more megapixels, but the existing model, with a 13 megapixel sensor, doesn’t take better pictures than the iPhone 5s, which has eight megapixels. This time, Samsung will reportedly tout reflector-integrated flash LEDs to capture improved snapshots. We’ll see.

For Samsung, however, it’ll be all about having hot specs to make it seem as if the product is better. I would hope, however, that something will be done about all that useless junkware that stuffed the S4 to the gills. It got so bad that half the capacity of the 16GB version was filled with software, not leaving you quite as much for your own stuff. But maybe Samsung’s recent deal with Google over cross-licensing, and the latter’s decision to unload Motorola Mobility at fire sale prices to Lenovo, will persuade the former to avoid the excesses this time and focus on native Google apps.

According to a Bloomberg report, a Samsung executive is quoted as saying: “For the S5, we will go back to the basics. Mostly, it’s about the display and the feel of the cover.”

I can hardly wait.

Now one feature that will likely be useful — if it’s executed well — is a fingerprint sensor to compete with Apple’s Touch ID. To be fair, Touch ID isn’t the perfect solution by any means. Some of our readers have had troubles with it, and even when it works properly, it’s not a 100% solution. You often have to create multiple fingertip profiles to cover as many touch possibilities as possible. For me it mostly works.

But you have to wonder whether Samsung will attempt to  offer a better solution, or just be happy to have something to include in the S5’s specs. To Samsung, it’s about having yet another bullet point entry than something that truly enhances usability.

Once the new smartphone is announced, however, you can bet the usual offenders in the tech media will be salivating over the improved specs, as if they were somehow important to the end user. Even Consumer Reports fell into this trap, writing about features in the Galaxy S4 that barely functioned, and there’s no doubt the S5 will, unless some serious flaw is discovered, get an even higher rating.

This isn’t a case of sour grapes, however, when the Samsungs are compared to an iPhone. For Apple, it’s mostly about features that actually do something to enhance the user experience somehow. With Samsung it’s about features that look good on the spec sheet.

This brings to mind the months I spent with a Galaxy S3 and a Galaxy S4. Between the two, I didn’t find much of a performance difference, even though the latter was supposedly roughly twice as fast as the former in benchmarks. The slightly larger screen made little real world difference, and the improvements in pixel density were hardly discernible. But handling the bloated software Samsung loaded onto the S4 was mostly a waste of time. At the end of the day, I stuck with the same apps I used on the S3, and, thus, had a decent user experience.

Yes, I’ll read the spec sheet for the S5, but I don’t expect to remember much of the changes, or care about them.

The story appeared Monday morning that the executive bio of Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Senior VP of Design, disappeared from the company’s site. Clearly there were fears that he might no longer be at the company where he helped create a product revolution, and it’s a sure thing, if that were the case, that people who believe Apple is toast would only be emboldened.

Surely, such an individual would be difficult to replace, even though he has a talented team. Indeed, I’d be surprised if Apple didn’t have candidates in the wings if, for some reason, Ive could no longer continue performing his job.

The bio soon returned. Evidently it disappeared temporarily as a consequence of updates being performed on the site. Things happen, and there was clearly no reason to be concerned. Had this happened, even briefly, during a stock market trading day, you can bet the price per share would have sharply fallen before recovering once the situation was clarified. Talk about panic! But the episode occurred overnight, so no harm.

In the past, Apple’s online store has ever-so-briefly posted information about new products before they vanished. Similar episodes have occurred on rare occasions at sites run by third-party Apple dealers.

You have to wonder, though, how such things occur, except as the result of a mistake on the part of a developer who somehow posted the wrong entry. With so many thousands of pages to manage, this is surely a possibility, and sometimes you wonder why it doesn’t happen more often.

But there are times I’ve felt that premature product releases may be done deliberately to get people talking about a possible new Apple product.

When you consider how quickly the curious disappearance of the Ive bio spread to the tech media, you wonder if there aren’t people who have nothing better to do than to check Apple’s site for changes or additions. Within minutes after they appear, the news gets out to the appropriate media.

Most recently, for example, the Apple TV graduated from hobby status to a featured position at Apple’s online store. So right next to Shop iPod is Shop Apple TV. When you click the link, you’ll see the usual sales information, plus a listing for an Apple HDMI cable and the AppleCare Protection. You can buy accessories, such as cables, routers, and speakers, and even a “Certified Refurbished” unit if you want to save $24.

Now Apple didn’t officially announce that Apple TV was no longer a hobby and would get a more featured spot at Apple’s site. Besides, it’s not as if there was a sudden spate of Apple TV ads. One expects there won’t be any substantial promotional effort until the next model arrives, and there are already rumors the launch might come by spring, although when the refreshed Apple TV will go on sale remains somewhat murky.

I do wonder, though, about the process of repeatedly checking Apple’s site. Is there an AppleScript, for example, that does an automatic browser refresh every 10 minutes of every single page? But how would you monitor changes without visual inspection?

Sure, if a link suddenly delivers an unavailable (404) message, that would spark plenty of attention, but not a subtle change unless you actually did a document comparison. Or maybe the folks who are paid to watch Apple’s site also have photographic memories , so they can easily recall even subtle changes.

Yes, it sounds absurd.

So then I wonder how information of this sort spreads so quickly, but not so much as I wonder about the people who discover such things and what sort of lives they lead. Was the case of the disappearing Ive bio an accidental discovery, was somebody randomly checking the posts about Apple’s executive team to see if anyone left recently, or was someone assigned — or did they volunteer — to check the site regularly in search of changes?

This episode surely demonstrates to one and all that nothing that happens in public when it comes to Apple will go undiscovered. Someone, somewhere will discover the fact, or the glitch, and report accordingly. Before long, the story will gain traction and get quoted around the world.

But such situations can work to Apple’s advantage too. When it comes to putting the lid on revelations about new products from the supply chain, the cattle have already left the barn. Despite efforts to keep things a secret, when you have tens or hundreds of thousands of factory workers engaged on building the next Apple gadget, the word is going to get out.

There may be fine details that aren’t revealed, such as Apple’s decision to make iLife, iWork and OS X free upgrades forever. So there is still room for Apple to surprise people, but actual releases of new products, hardware or software, are going to be done in a climate where the essential facts have already been discovered.

Of course, that information will still appear in a sea of unfounded rumors and outright misinformation. But the truth is out there, and Apple receives millions and millions of dollars worth of free publicity as a result. But think of the plight of all those companies nobody cares enough about to look for evidence of unreleased products.

This story may have actually originated from somebody’s satiric column, but bear with me: Consider how Bill Gates has sold a product for over 30 years. That product has become the most popular personal computer operating system on the planet, and even in the twilight of the PC era, a large part of Microsoft’s sales come from selling licenses for that product to computer makers.

Indeed, Microsoft continues to make great profits from operating systems for Windows and the Office application suite. Yet things haven’t gone so well with other products. Losses for the Bing search engine continue to mount, and sales of mobile gear have continued to flatline.

It’s not that the company isn’t trying to find solutions to the endemic problems. What’s more, there’s a new sheriff in town, one Satya Nadella, who has just taken over the CEO spot from Steve Ballmer, who remains on the board. But in a curious move, Nadella is being assisted by co-founder Bill Gates, who will work part-time as a Technical Advisor, or the CEO’s nanny, depending on your point of view.

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The world wonders — or maybe a few people wonder — where’s the ultimate TV interface that Steve Jobs allegedly developed in the final months of his life? According to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, Jobs boasted of cracking the code for the greatest TV interface ever, but nothing has come from this statement.

Except assumptions.

The first assumption was that Apple was working on a connected TV to compete with all those other connected TVs in Apple’s unique way. There have even been scattered reports about prototypes being tested, but that doesn’t mean anything is about to be released.

This year, the speculation is focusing more directly on the Apple TV box, and what the fourth generation version will be like. There’s even a supposed model designation embedded in iOS 7, but that doesn’t indicate what form it might take.

Of course, there are simple things Apple could do in order to upgrade the product. By adding more solid state storage to cache videos and an A7 processor that would, in theory, include support for Ultra HD, the Apple TV would remain at the cutting edge. The rest is all about the software, and that’s where the rubber meets the road, or something of that sort.

Up till now, Apple TV has gotten regular doses of new content. Indeed, when you turn it on, you might find the long list works against simplicity. Sure, it’s a lot less than you find on a Roku, but still. Besides, each of these channel apps has its own interface, more or less, which also works against the Apple approach. Clearly Apple didn’t intend to load up the thing with dozens and dozens of apps, and leave it to customers to sort things out. Yes, you can hide apps you don’t want, but that might be more trouble than it’s worth for most users.

There has to be an end game, you’d think.

A key problem with current smart TV sets, or even the Roku for that matter, is that all the content is not integrated into a simple form to make for easy discoverability of shows or movies you might want to watch. Cable and satellite DVRs use a fairly straightforward approach, a linear list of available channels — often mixed with channels you haven’t ordered to entice you to upgrade — along with a clumsy search feature.

So how does Apple solve the problem? And I haven’t begun to mention managing the accessories you add to your TV set, such as the Blu-ray player and the gaming console. But Apple usually wants to control the entire experience.

Some have suggested Apple wanted to get the content creators onboard for a special cloud-based subscription service. Indeed, it has been reported that Apple is building out a content delivery network, rather than rely on third party streaming services, such as Akamai, to do the heavy lifting.

But those content creators already have deals with existing cable and satellite companies, so they’d clearly be reluctant to grant Apple any special privileges. They might look at the way the music companies gave Apple want they wanted in the original iTunes deals, since they had no viable Plan B.

A more recent possibility is that an Apple TV might become the front end to existing cable/satellite services. There were reports Apple was close to a deal with Time Warner Cable, which already offers content via Roku. But Apple would no doubt want something more comprehensive, possibly providing the full user experience through a unique iOS-inspired interface.

Unfortunately, the proposed $45 billion all-stock deal, in which TWC would be acquired by Comcast, may put the kibosh on such an arrangement, or at least delay it. So where does Apple go next?

Well, there is a published report that the 2014 Apple TV will be launched in April. That seems to make sense, considering the timeframe in which earlier models were introduced. But the suggestion that the actual product won’t go on sale until the holiday season doesn’t pass the logic test. This is where journalists who pretend to understand Apple routinely fail. While it’s possible Apple would introduce a new Apple TV a few months in advance, that would also kill sales of the existing model. It would be more logical to just wait till the product is almost ready to ship.

The situation would be very unlike the Mac Pro, which was mostly a dead product before the 2013 revision was announced some six months before it went on sale. Remember, too, that the iPhone was announced months in advance because of pending FCC review, and no doubt because Apple needed something to introduce at the 2007 Macworld Expo keynote. Apple has since given up on participation at trade shows.

At the end of the day, though, media pundits are still talking about Apple trying to strike deals with the entertainment companies. But if the April release date is really set in stone, we’ll know soon enough a lot more about Apple’s TV solution.