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The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

nytimes.com

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Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#61

Post by ianai »

esotericn wrote: post #31
leetcrew wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think that the phone manufacturers, Google, etc, should address the fact that they are creating mountains of e-waste for no good reason. The last new phone I bought was partly because old software stopped running on my version of Android. That's really a shame. this might be naive, but I do suspect we are getting close to an inflection point with the two year phone lifetime. up until the last few years, phone har…

I'm not so sure. We need an "IBM PC" of the smartphone world. It's not a matter of the hardware manufacturers "supporting an OS". It's about the lack of standardization, hardware drivers, fragmentation etc. Samsung don't support my 15 year old laptop, but it works and works fine, because it's a PC. If the kernel drivers for my phone were mainlined that would be a huge step.

We need a tech recycling law and oversight. Many valuable materials are put into phones never to be seen again nor properly disposed. Standardized components would help. There will never be market pressure to recycle nor standardize without a mandate.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#62

Post by tempguy9999 »

ianai wrote: post #51
spodek wrote: post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

Computers definitely peaked in performance almost a decade ago, but this might change with more parallel software and core counts - but emphasis on parallel algorithms. Superfood is also marketing hype. But I’d say there is an underlying truth: fresh, whole foods are more nutritious than spliced up or fried options and a diet lacking nutritious food can easily be deficient. Herbs are pretty crazy packed with (sometim…

> Computers definitely peaked in performance almost a decade ago

haha no way. I was lent a octoccore server from ~2009 recently, and I'd describe it as a hairdryer with a modicum of compute tacked on.

My personal dev machine is ~4 years old is a boatload faster core for core, and matched the octocore overall performance (DB benchmark on real world task, not disk-bound).

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#63

Post by koonsolo »

iamkroot wrote: post #54
spodek wrote: post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

It shocks me how many people get upset when you tell them that you avoid following the latest daily outrage that the news media presents us. A while back I realized that exactly nobody spends time "catching up" on daily news if they are required to unplug for any significant amount of time, so why should I bother to follow it in real time?

"You have to know what's going on in the world" is what my parents would say. News always makes me upset or angry in some way, so I avoid it too.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#64

Post by koonsolo »

drcross wrote: post #34
davnicwil wrote: post #28

I think particularly with phones, 5-10 years ago it was necessary to get a flagship model to get something that at least wasn't awful, and you wanted to upgrade that flagship as often as possible to get to 'good' as soon as possible. The last 5 years we reached 'good' for all flagship models, and so you bought one to get that but could then just keep it until it broke. Now, and going forwards, I think we're in the ph…

I agree that we've reached "peak phone". The newer models don't have any features you particularly need so keep using your existing one as a commodity until it breaks. The sales cycle is now looking like it's supposed to skip a generation of users. Unless you are getting it for free that 1000 or 1200 dollars you spend on a flagship could be used to enhance your life, either through having more disposable income, a ho…

The foldable ones look to bring 2x the screen size. It's like having a tablet in your pocket.

But I'm a late adopter too, so I'll wait until that tech is robust enough.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#65

Post by wwweston »

iamkroot wrote: post #54
spodek wrote: post #26

Besides phones, other applications: - Wait for movie hype to end to avoid crap movies with great marketing. I usually wait to borrow them from the library. - I buy all my computers used from Craig's List. I'm typing on one I paid $500 for that would have been $2,000 new. - Latest news about "superfoods" or nutrition. I heard about someone who waited 5 years to act on food trends. None lasted that long before more lat…

It shocks me how many people get upset when you tell them that you avoid following the latest daily outrage that the news media presents us. A while back I realized that exactly nobody spends time "catching up" on daily news if they are required to unplug for any significant amount of time, so why should I bother to follow it in real time?

Not exactly nobody: I do actually spend time catching up, but maybe the interesting part about that process is the sources. There's a few online aggregation sources/tools that I sometimes use, but old school weekly periodicals (Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, etc) shine, to the point where I sometimes wonder if that's how I should be doing all my media consumption. Maybe even tech chatter, if I could pull it off.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#66

Post by CogitoCogito »

mantas wrote: post #21
CogitoCogito wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only recently moved from an iphone 5 to a 6. I actually consider it largely a step down due to the larger form factor. The 5 worked fine except for some applications I needed moving passed 32 bit support. If not for that I never would have upgraded. I'm always amazed at how people just must have the newest phones. Other than my issue with the 32 bit I saw no reason to change.

Why not iPhone SE? It was possible to get it real cheap in clearance sales. Fingers crossed for iPhone SE2 in iPhone5 shape :|

Well I never bought either phone. Both were from family members that had them left over. Beggars can't be choosers.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#67

Post by steelframe »

castratikron wrote: post #36
drevil-v2 wrote: post #32

I treated myself to the 2019 Kindle Oasis and compared to my two year old Kindle Paperwhite (which has been donated to a grateful family member) it is miles ahead. The larger warmer screen is just incredible and I have no regrets. On the other hand I am quite happy driving a 15 year old car and would not spend money on a brand new fancy car even though I can afford it. No Tesla or BMW or Merc for me. It's different s…

A couple years ago I bought an almost new video iPod circa 2005. It was my first Apple product so I didn't have the cable to charge it. I went to a Sprint store near my apartment and asked if they had a cable. They told me that they didn't carry "budget items" and that maybe I should try the Walgreen's next door. Ten short years this iPod was center stage at an Apple keynote and considered the best in the world, and…

> I'm waiting for the day when I can pick up a cheap Tesla that "only" goes 200 miles and "doesn't even drive itself".

I just sold my first-generation 2016 Model X to a dealer at 80% of its original cost 3 years ago, which to me indicates a profound level of delusion in the marketplace about the long-term reliability of Tesla vehicles. Going through my own personal experiences and following stories of what Tesla owners have had to go through when they needed repairs, I've finally accepted what my friend said long ago about Tesla cars being repair-hostile:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11233898

Speaking as someone who has gone through 3 years of repairs with a brand new Tesla (fortunately all being under warranty), if your objective is to buy a car that will be reasonably reliable and easily and cheaply repaired as its aging parts break, an old used Tesla would be the absolute last car I'd ever consider.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#68

Post by steelframe »

Meanwhile the battery in my trusty and otherwise-perfectly-functional Sony Xperia Z5 Compact just swelled up and popped the back cover off. Just like what happened to my Z3 Compact. And apparently replacing the battery is an exercise in completely disassembling the phone and re-assembling it, which can take an experienced repair technician over an hour of time. The process also has a high failure rate, since it involves disconnecting and reconnecting both front and rear cameras, the loudspeaker, the LCD screen, and the NFC antenna.

I'm particularly salty about this because not only does this ruin a perfectly good device, but it can actually be quite dangerous.

https://www.macworld.com/article/3162109/beware-the-bulgy-ba...

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#69

Post by beerdoggie »

alexashka wrote: post #55
iamkroot wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shocks me how many people get upset when you tell them that you avoid following the latest daily outrage that the news media presents us. A while back I realized that exactly nobody spends time "catching up" on daily news if they are required to unplug for any significant amount of time, so why should I bother to follow it in real time?

They are shocked you are not like them, you are shocked them are not like you. The loop feeds itself unless one of the parties ceases being shocked. I've found it easier to cease being shocked on my end, than waiting for the universe to change to suit my fancy.

Great perspective.

Re: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter

#70

Post by klingonopera »

iamnotacrook wrote: post #53
klingonopera wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung Galaxy S5+, bought used November 2018, running LineageOS 16.0 (Android 9). I don't know, it's a 4/5 year-old model by now? Enough for browsing, listening to music, texting, I don't play games on my phone (if I ever do, I might consider installing chess, but the need never arose). I've my sights set on a new Fairphone 3 once my current phone gives up. The ease of repair, stock Android, great software support,…

You can play chess via the lichess site - no need for an app as it works great on mobile.

Nice, I am an absolute amateur though, I was more thinking along the lines of practicing offline against the computer, but it's nice to know where to go, when I'm ready.
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