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Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

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Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#281
post #102

AI companies are desperately trying to find actual use cases but it seems like there is not that much to justify current investment.

Here, it is more like the smartphone market is stagnating and manufacturers need something to encourage people to buy new smartphones instead of keeping the one they already have.

They are already doing planned obsolescence, with hard to replace batteries, limited software support combined with closed systems, etc... But they can't abuse it, as regulatory agencies are already after them and customers are starting to notice. They had a go with cameras, as it is a significant differentiator, but nowadays, most smartphone cameras are as good as they can be for what they are used for.

And it turns out that AI is the big hype right now, so of course, they are using as a selling point.

The funny part is that "AI" (machine learning techniques) have been running in smartphones for a while (I'd say a decade), hidden in camera software. How do you think these tiny cameras can do pictures that look so good? But they mostly kept quiet about it, as it had implications of making "fakes". And yeah, stuff like Siri that works mostly on servers, you don't need a phone with "AI capabilities" for that, just internet access, but they are certainly going to put in in their ads.

Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#283
post #134
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you be confident in this when you don't even see their sales data? Still, I would like to see a smaller regularly updated phone. Bonus points if there is a high-end version, because small shouldn't mean budget (like with iPhone SE).

The last small flagship (iPhone 13 mini) sold poorly, but it was much more expensive than the SE2. This was at the tail end of covid, but before faceid worked with masks, so the SE's touch id was a huge selling point. Other than that and the camera, the only functional difference I can find are that the SE line is still missing the UWB antenna. I'd happily upgrade to a newer small iPhone if they made one. As it is, i…

> I predict they'll produce another small phone in a few years. It'll sell well due to pent up demand, and someone will be declared a genius for selling 100M's of extra phones that year.

I’d wish this too. I’m afraid that Apple over the next few year would become more risk averse then ever before. Also old Execs are leaving and retiring - so less people with hands on experience how to start new products VS keeping lights on.

Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#285

Today in incredibly obvious things... Smartphones are an absolute graveyard of fads; remember the 3D screen phones, the phones with projectors, and so forth? They generally go nowhere. I suspect 'AI' on phones will be similar. Overwhelmingly, what people want out of phones is "like my current phone, but with better battery life and maybe a better camera." Previously 'faster' was also a concern, but modern phones are…

Even camera improvements are overblown. My usage and photo quality did not improve much since ~iPhone 6. Taking decent travel photos, selfies, etc - I was happy with the results 10 years ago. Technically, I understand the difference in the technology, I just don't know who needs that vs who gets excited about new features for a brief moment.

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Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#286
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been hearing this sentiment for 10+ years, but it's been tried and each time it's tried it doesn't sell well enough.

Just because the sentiment is a minority doesn't mean it's not an honest sentiment. I also would love a smaller flagship spec'd phone. I know it wont be popular, but I still want it.

Its the worst of both worlds. Not popular and harder to engineer. So it makes it hard to pitch to business.

Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm unsure of your point. Are you arguing that issuing a verbal command to my voice assistant is not paying attention to the road? No more than talking to a passenger, really.

Yes. I'm arguing talking to a passenger is not something you should be doing either. You are in control of something deadly, not a video game or toy - act like it.

This seems unnecessarily snarky and way off topic, not to mention a bit silly. I've piloted much, much larger things professionally than a car, thanks for your concern though.

Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#288
post #141
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh boy I hope that doesn’t happen to me. It took them a week to get iPhone 13 mini battery in.

I recently brought an SE2 in for a screen + battery swap, which basically means they'd just give me a new SE2 at a steep discount. They didn't try to upsell me at all, but I ended up getting an SE3 anyway (I didn't realize there even was a newer SE).

This is nice of them. I think this is because screen replacement was required and them not having SE2 in stock.

Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Im not sure people really know how to use an AI chat bot or understand its a more powerful, quicker and personally more fun way of getting information then just a Google search I can't speak to your personal entertainment experience, but AI chatbots are generally a slower, less accurate way of getting information than a google search. (Though Google polluting search results with a big, often inaccurate, AI result a…

If you use it for research where you have to do many google searches vs. just ask one question like hiking question it's much quicker asking one question vs. multiple google searches to get ur answer.

The thing is it isn't reliable enough to rely on the answer from just one question for anything that matters.

Re: Smartphone buyers meh on AI, care more about battery life

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use it for research where you have to do many google searches vs. just ask one question like hiking question it's much quicker asking one question vs. multiple google searches to get ur answer.

The thing is it isn't reliable enough to rely on the answer from just one question for anything that matters.

I don't really understand why it is acceptable to speak for others on this topic. It is fine if it doesn't work well for you. It is also fine if it works well for others.

These blanket statements lead to flame wars.

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