Are we bored with our smartphones?
It’s been over a decade that I have been using the cell phones. I have used all the phones from simple embedded systems (Basic handsets) to android/IOS smartphones, from button phones to touch screen devices and I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey and couldn’t be more blessed, but now I am bored of all the smart phones.
I have distinct memory of playing Snake game on my dad’s Nokia phone and chatting through SMS/message services with my friends. I have lived through time when technology skyrocketed and I have seen the change day by day.
I currently own a mid-tier Samsung phone with latest android update and I am not at all excited about any new phones, be it android or IOS. I am so bored with same features and functionality provided by different brands. I find nothing new in latest phones. Actually I have begun to realize that people don’t get shocked or gets impressed by what these companies deliver anymore.
Recently I have been giving it a thought about this:
When was the last time a company gave a major feature in their new smartphones?
Almost all the new features are improvisation or addition to existing features. Don’t get me wrong, even now; I still get excited for the new features in the platforms that we have been using from years.
May be this is the real cause of boredom. The platform stays the same, from IOS to android to windows 10 mobile, we are just getting sprinkle of new features in every new smart phone.
We’re at a point now where the technology has caught up with the spectacle, and wanting that original feeling back isn’t a wrong thing. I really want that feeling back when I first used my first android phone after using Java-Symbian phones for years. It was sheer magic. I could feel the revolution in my hand. I could fell the breakthrough in the technology. There was whole another world to explore in my hand.
All the flagship phones from the android, IOS and Windows today are all undeniably great phones, but at their core they’re just slightly better versions of their predecessors.
So have we reached a pinnacle in smartphone development?
I feel it is similar to the release of latest upcoming movie Jurassic Park and Star Wars movie. These movies are from those franchises that revolutionized the movie industry when the first of their movie was released. But majority of the people were not happy with their latest movie because they couldn’t reproduce the same feeling.
Now I feel that smartphones technology has taken the backseat in the process, all we see is the improvements and optimizations in new phones. People know what a smartphone is: a touch screen, one or three hardware controls at the bottom, volume buttons on the side, and cameras facing forward and backward. And its fine, every big technology moves to the backseat eventually.
I am doubtful that if these companies would survive in the market in upcoming years. I mean see what happened to Nokia. People will get bored of these smartphones in next 5 years if not sooner. I am bored already and would love to see some changes.
I want large firms to invest in their R&D department more rather than going head to head with other companies. It would really help roll out new features which would still attract users to their smartphones.
But, I want to hear from you. Are you bored with your smartphone? Or are you still excited by the functionality and feature in your smartphone, and still look forward to your next upgrade? Let me know in comments section!
