Feature: Perpetually Dissatisfied [Guest Post]
Right now, someone, somewhere, is complaining about their phone… “It’s so slow, the camera takes terrible pictures, I can’t get it to pick up my email…” And you can be sure they’re writing a blog post or comment about it, so the world knows that this thing sucks.
Wait, what? My mobile does an amazing array of things, some of which I could only dream of a few years ago. So why is there so much whining about technology? Why is there incessant criticism, particularly of mobiles? Why are you never happy?
Disappointment manifests itself at the intersection of expectation and reality (see below). So let’s consider expected versus actual experience.
Why is there such expectation?
Aside from external factors, expectation of new mobile phones is conditioned by:
Moore’s Law
In terms of computing power, things are only going to get better, faster, and cheaper. This year’s model will be have greater power without costing an increased amount. Simply put, Moore means more.
Product Cycles
Mobile manufacturers kick out new phones seemingly all the time. I’ve no idea how long these things take to design and produce because it’s irrelevant to me as a consumer. There just seems to be a constant barrage of new stuff that’s a bit better than the old stuff, which makes the old stuff instantly not worth having, compared to the new stuff. It means the next big thing is always just around the corner. Oooh, if only I wait a few more months, there’s this phone that will totally kill that other phone… And increasingly, you don’t even have to wait for a new phone to come out to experience a better phone. With software updates, we even expect our current phones to get better while we own them. Hey, where’s my Android 2.1 upgrade anyway?
Continual, Un-ending Discussion
The Internet provides rumours of new phones and instant feedback, sometimes even before those phones are released. Every mobile released will receive a detailed dissection – its benefits, its advances, the perceived flaws and missing elements. Particularly if it’s described as a smartphone. Look at this review of the Nexus One from an iPhone developer’s perspective. It’s incredibly detailed, but also utterly anal.
Rumour sites stoke anticipation by providing tidbits of information, which often only serve to drive the speculation in the direction that would produce the most desirable device for the rumour-monger. I’m guilty of this myself, so now I confine my predictions to what makes sense for Apple, rather than what would make the best iPhone for me. But even so, it’s still adding fuel to the fire.
Overall, the expectation for new phones is not only incredibly high, but constantly increasing.
These expectations drive and are driven by the Hype Cycle. It’s too easy to get caught up in speculation about a new phone, but almost impossible not to. The expectation of and desire for an improvement over the mobile you currently have, means your stay on the Plateau of Productivity may be short indeed.
So what’s the reality?
Mobiles are getting more capable every year, with manufacturers pushing features further down into lower-end phones. But they simply can’t get there fast enough. The future is not now, it’s still to come.
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