361–370 of 885 posts
This is a meta comment, but I think it's extraordinary that we're only 15ish years from the first smartphone release and we've already reached the "boring" incremental improvement phase for these tiny pocket supercomputers. Consider how long it took PCs to reach the same stage (with a fraction of the adoption). It was like 20 years from Kenbak-1 to the 90s PC era.
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I don't know if I've just been excessively lucky, but I've never put a case on any smartphone I've owned since 2010, and I've only cracked the screen on two of them. These days (probably for the past 4 years) I do put the thin-film screen protectors on as well, and replace them if they get damaged. I've always been of the feeling that I'm buying this lovely, well-designed piece of hardware, why would I want to cover…
Exactly because you have cracked the screen on two of them. I (and many others with a case) am at 0 cracked screens.
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> And then Apple made their OS more heavy weight every year until my phone slowed to a crawl. I mean, it is a bit unfair against Apple - some of the reason behind the OS getting more heavyweight is actually backporting new features in 7 year’s distance, many which actually has dedicated hardware in case of the more modern lineup. Also, there is a big aspect which is independent of Apple: every app is getting more and…
> People on average change their phones every 3 years People in my circles seem to use their phones for 6-7 years atleast.
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An improved camera can't be something applied in software, a faster chip can't be applied in software. So by your own standard every version is warranted.
"significant" is the key word here. I'd be hard pressed to think of a generational release of an existing phone line in the last 5 years that I would describe as a "significant" improvement. The things you listed (camera and chip speed) are basically the only things left that these companies can claim is better than last year's model, but only because it's so easy to use synthetic benchmarks and numbers that mean not…
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I think that a new phone release should just be warranted. The trigger should be "we made significant improvements that couldn't be applied in software to the old device" instead of "it's October"
An improved camera can't be something applied in software, a faster chip can't be applied in software. So by your own standard every version is warranted.
A phone with upgradable parts and minimal bloat would be better than any recent phone I've had, but it would also be less profitable for Google so obviously they will avoid that as much as possible.
I was interested in this release. But right now it's a $20 difference here in CAD between the Pixel 8 Pro 256 GB and the S23 Ultra 256 GB (there's a sale going on for the S23). With all of the Pixel's heat, battery, and connectivity issues (bad reception I can live with, but not knowing if I can call 911?), I can't justify it at all.
It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle for smartphones. So much of this product page is focused on new software functions that may have some vague relationship with the slightly upgraded hardware, but that could mostly be released to existing phones. Every new iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone basically claims the camera is marginally better and hey, look at these software features that have very li…
Not everyone lives on the same upgrade cycle, you can, but you're not supposed to change your phone every year. With iPhone 15, the majority of people upgrading would be 12 and older device owners.
Too expensive for my tastes. Give me 380USD phone which lasts for next 5-8 years, feels premium, is repairable, camera is decent, replaceable battery, OS is just Vanilla Android with atleast 5 years(more years of Software updates would be welcome) of Software Updates and when you can't provide it, make it hackable enough to install Custom ROMs.
I still don't get the "premium feel" line when everyone covers their phone in a case anyway. I don't care if my phone is made of plastic when it actually makes it less prone to breaking when dropped.
Too expensive for my tastes. Give me 380USD phone which lasts for next 5-8 years, feels premium, is repairable, camera is decent, replaceable battery, OS is just Vanilla Android with atleast 5 years(more years of Software updates would be welcome) of Software Updates and when you can't provide it, make it hackable enough to install Custom ROMs.
It's starting to feel silly, having a yearly release cycle for smartphones. So much of this product page is focused on new software functions that may have some vague relationship with the slightly upgraded hardware, but that could mostly be released to existing phones. Every new iPhone, Pixel, or Samsung phone basically claims the camera is marginally better and hey, look at these software features that have very li…
Yeah, it feels like smartphones are finally maturing, and they are no longer new enough to justify the fast release cycles and short support times.