The Shrine

Smart phones and tablets are running rampant!!! But, i cant buy anything because i have this fear of both being screwed by early adopting an untested device and/or being obsolete in a matter of months. This isnt a hard trap to fall into when you talk about gadgets that run on Android or other non-Apple operating systems, because it seems like a new and better Android phone comes out every month, even from the same carrier or manufacturer. However, even Apple is doing this same thing as the new iPad2 is coming out soon after only a year of the original iPad...!

Here is the problem, if you bought the iPad when it launched you were scorned for being a fanboy and waiting in a ridiculous line to get one and had to deal with technical issues at launch, like weak WiFi strength, that were eventually patched over. On the flip side, if you waited 6 months to get an iPad, so all the kinks would be worked out, you are now about to be the owner of an old device in just a matter of 6 full moons, congrats.

Whatever happened to electronic devices being able to last more than a year? Have the marketing geniuses over at the large corps figured out that a year is the perfect time to f*ck people over with a new upgrade? Apple has been employing this tactic with their iPhone releases around the same time every 365 days and with iPods before that. It is great that Apple only has a few products to choose from (there is one iPhone, unlike Andoid where there are 100's of versions), but why cant they let their shelf lives last a little longer? Do they not realize most carriers dont allow an upgrade until 2 years? Should THAT be changed?

The Razr was the best selling phone from 2004-2007! We are never going to see something like that again in this world of constant releases. What is more annoying is that the new versions coming out, like the iPad2, arent even that big of an upgrade! A little bit thinner and a front camera for video calls that no one makes anyways?

The gaming industry has been a shining example of how to treat your customers right. The Wii has been around since 2006 and it is going strong with no Wii 2 on the horizon. The XBox 360 was released in 2005! You can safely put your money into these rigs at any point in its life cycle and enjoy them for a long time.

Ugh. For the record: i have an old Blackberry, no iPad, no tablet, no iPod, an old Sony laptop, and then a pretty good desktop (the parts inside can be upgraded individually). I cant make myself jump on any kind of bandwagon because the wagon has already moved by the time i even finish my research on whether it is worth my money. I think im going to go retro in all things, i cant afford to be hip and on top of the current wave of technology anymore. *sad face* So next time, if you see me rocking a Razr, gimme a high five.

I'm done ranting.

Well, depending on the phone and the OS, you'll probably be ok if you want to keep it for a couple of years. I bought the first Motorola Droid that was released for Verizon and I still have it and am happy with it. Granted, I'm going to upgrade as soon as the Bionic is out, but if I didn't want to, it wouldn't screw me over. There hasn't been a single Android app that I wanted that wouldn't run on my phone and it's very old compared to the other Verizon Android phones.

Consider your assumption for a second: the presence of a better version of what you hold in your hands makes what you have worse. Clearly, this is note true. What is true is that you want the new thing. But it's presence doesn't "fuck you over." Its presence does not magically taint what you already have.

When you buy any piece of technology, it will always be true that if you had waited x months you could have gotten a better one. But since that's always true, if you keep waiting for the better version, you'll never have anything. So just buy what you think is best when you need it, and avoid the irrational trap that the existence of something better lessens what you have.

Isn't the reason they're taking their sweet time releasing new consoles because the development cycle costs are out of this world?

Also because we've finally hit the point of diminishing returns in our ability to exploit hardware. If a new console came out today, it certainly would be more powerful than the PS3 or the 360, but I don't think that raw performance difference would make a big impact in the games themselves. This is related to the similar tren in consumer computers.

And with handhelds marketing at fucking $250 I shudder at the cost of a new console. I imagine the next generation will be so expensive that I'll be able to overhaul my entire damn desktop for the same price and... I probably will.

Look at it the same way as the PC industry; it is moving forward on an almost monthly basis. Still, most people probably don't upgrade every year or less even though now they're selling computers with 6 turbo cores, which are better than the old dual or quad cores most people run.

The phone industry has always been like that; the only reason why the Motorola RAZR lasted as long as it did is because Motorola got lucky with one product. They did have other products out soon after that were WAY better phones (The RAZR2, KRAZR, RAZR maxx, etc...); but no one really knew about them. Nothing like the RAZR will happen again because the world is much more informed about the mobile industry now than they were back then.

Seriously, the RAZR was a wretched, terrible, evil phone. I really hope nothing like that ever happens again =)

The way iOS works is that there is a general development policy of supporting 3 generations; it is relatively easily done even though there are now 3 resolutions (Standard, Retina, and iPad) instead of 1 (standard; iPhone 1 to 3GS); although in a year and a half it will be down to two resolutions since retina will eventually become the only resolution for phones and iPods once the 3rd gen slips outside of that 3 year window (although you'll still be able to play old games and such; similar to PCs). Also, iOS devices have a high resell value, unless you ding it up a lot (even iPod 1st gens will fetch a semi-decent amount, even though they're obsolete). The WiFi drop thing was actually a bug in the 3.2 firmware on iPad. While iPhone 4 is the current, you're not missing anything currently if you have a 3GS; although 3GS will be obsolete sooner than 4. If upgrading a phone, after 2-3 years the subsidy should make it a very inexpensive process (maybe even free).


Android is a bit of a different issue; usually two or three phones are used as reference devices, and anything else outside of that scope is screwed; the Droid/milestone, the Incredible, and the Nexus One are the typical ones used; Nexus One and Incredible are very similar (almost identical), but they handle some things differently which can create some unique issues.

If you are using Android, I would highly recommend only buying HTC and Google (manufactured by HTC). Especially with the Google Nexus One, you're guaranteed to see the best support possible. The only reason the Droid gets support is because it had a nice verizon contract and a few million suckers; it is not a good phone, and is counted as low-end. There is a Nexus One S which has a lot more onboard storage. I have found with my original Nexus One that I have to power-cycle it often because: the device has a small internal storage, APKs require free internal storage of equivalent size to the file, the storage seems to drop massively with use to a size which is too small to put APKs; power-cycling frees up the internal storage; which even killing processes doesn't seem to do. With the massive internal storage of the S, this is no longer an issue.


Anyway, to answer your question; I recommend early adoption; due to contracts, it's cheap and it'll have the greatest potential; just stick to iPhone and iPad; or if you are against Apple products for whatever reason, get an HTC/Google Android device. I am not so sure I recommend the Windows 7 phone, I had a terrible time with Windows Mobile.

Flip, you're arguing that electronics manufacturers stop improving their products because you have a neurosis that compels you to own the best device on the market.

I have that same neurosis, but it's something you just need to get over. It's not going to kill you to own a great device that has been superseded by a superior descendant.

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:Flip, you're arguing that electronics manufacturers stop improving their products because you have a neurosis that compels you to own the best device on the market.

I have that same neurosis, but it's something you just need to get over. It's not going to kill you to own a great device that has been superseded by a superior descendant.

Thats exactly what it is. My anxiety with this issue overpowers my desires to own cool stuff. I also do honestly feel like 'the next best thing' has gotten worse over the years with manufacturers, i know this concept is nothing new, but the tablet/smart phone segment has been going apeshit lately.