So I used to be quite a tech enthusiast but kinda stopped, I used to be a lot in cameras, smartphones etc even tho i cud never afford them lmao
Anyway today i saw the MKBHD video he released recently about oneplus, and it got me thinking, i remember the time when i used to really be into it and remember devices being so cool for their time like iphone 11 and 12, the samsung galaxy s phones… oneplus obv, always came with a lot of actually cooler features like better battery lives, new cooler designs, improved cameras etc etc, we also had companies like ASUS making and experimenting with cool phones
However now it just seems that they all add useless irrelevant features, AI slop being number one of them, but even then the designs are much uglier now… iphone 12 and 13s used to look so elegant and cool… same with samsungs galaxy note series and s10 series, ASUS went out of the market… and oneplus is… well just another random generic brand… the only brands doing smthng cool are prolly xiaomi or vivo but even then its a lot more cool for the first week and then forget abt it than much else
Same kinda happened with the camera market… i remember there used to be cameras lile XS-10 or fujis XE4 and XT30 making big news about being arnd and under 1000$ and being such good value for money with good sensors… IBIS in some cases, and in the full frame you had A7iii from sony and Z5s from nikon offering insane value However now apparently 1K dollars only gets u recycled parts from much older cameras… and entry level is now fuckinf 1.5k+ dollars for APSC cams, micro four thirds is dead (i always wanted a g9 so bad lol it was like 999$ a steal but i was like 15lol), and even the cameras dont seem much that great, however maybe i just am not upto date on that stuff so idk… the pro market might be getting better… im talking more as an enthusiast who just sees them from outside lol
Cameras and stuff, meh. Cordless charging and NTN (satellite) messaging are kinda cool. Also the Micro USB connector sucked. USB C is much better.
Software has mostly regressed, I think.
Not so much peaked, but plateaued.
They are getting more powerful, but the difference between an 8MP and 16MP camera was a lot more obvious than the last 5 years worth of changes.
Camera is basically the only specs I need to look at in a phone today as a general user.
I think the last major feature (which was software based) was the iPhones down cycling their refresh rate to conserve battery power. Every iPhone since then feels no different, and the useless UI additions which slow down the previous generation processors are a lot more noticeable
I have to use an iPhone for work and the liquid glass ui is absolute shit.
Tech peaked when I was 15 year old and had an iPod nano that clipped to my jeans
I still have one of those.
I like my Xperia, you can even use it onehanded. “Normal” phones look like phablets nowadays.
The peak was like 2014. The inception of social media and the ad industry is what ruined smartphones.
iphone 5 was the last good iphone. Steve Jobs was right in that an every day carry device/tool should be fully operable one handed.
If RIM had innovated maybe we’d see physical keyboards with features that could compete with touchscreens. Like programable keys with digital displays for multiple languages. Maybe interchangeable or even customizable button layouts.
Social media, specifically video shorts, shifting us away from reading and writing is leaving us neurologically under stimulated.
more likely 2015. 5G turned out to be a waste of time.
Even now I feel like I haven’t seen any noticeable performance increase on 5G vs 4G. And yet now whenever I only have a 4G signal, I can barely get websites to load.
I used to be able to video chat with people on the other side of the planet over 4G in 2017. In 2015, I used to be able to tether my phone to my laptop and stream 4K video without issue. I have no idea what they did to make it suck so badly today.
I just upgraded from an over 10 year old Samsung S8 to a pixel 10.
I prefer the old phone. There are maybe two features on the pixel that are an improvement, otherwise, I’d rather have the S8.
I got a new phone in 2020.
I haven’t seen a compelling or interesting device since then. Even then, I was barely convinced I actually wanted the upgrade in 2020, but I spent a lot of 2020 in a poor mental state and made some less than sound decisions.
I kinda want a folding phone? But not really. Like if you handed me one I’d be happy, but if you asked me to pay even $300 for one I don’t think I would.
I love the idea of a folding phone, but the fact that it has a lifetime number of folds before it breaks is a no go for me. Until the lifetime number of folds is as ridiculous as the number of IPv6 addresses, I don’t think I want one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTdbpoQkR4U
With a 5-year lifespan and a conservative estimation of 200.000 folds, I count 110 folds per day, which comes out at around 1 fold every 6 minutes for 16 hours straight every day
Also because no gorilla glass… :/
a fingernail scratches it
No, the newest 2026 Razers have Gorilla glass on the inside foldable screen, and the hinge was reworked in metal.
That is also a significant downside. I am not nearly careful enough with my phone to be trusted with something so frail for regular use.
I mean, the main reason they’re making folding phones is that general phones have gotten so large. I’d love to have some decent small-form phones back on the market.
I’d dig a foldable that unfolded rectangle. I don’t like those squar ones. I don’t think I’d have a use for one. A rectangle one would be good for photo and video.
Well firstly since about 2020 everything has basically doubled in price due to inflation, so that’s more or less your camera point. As someone who also takes pictures, they’re certainly still innovating, it’s just money is worth less now.
The phone thing is more down to the product category maturing. 5-10 years ago there were still obvious improvements to be made to the hardware and software. Now we’ve effectively perfected the black rectangle for the current tech available, so the only stuff they can do to differentiate now is bloat. Also, as above, everything is more expensive, so if they get some commercial partnerships attached to that bloat they can keep the prices a bit more constant than stuff like pro cameras (which just have to get more expensive because bloat like that wouldn’t be tolerated for pro gear)
I think the hardware continues to improve. Unfortunately, Android hit its peak around then and Google has been systematically crippling it ever since. They stopped allowing users control of their own devices. All of the customization and automation utilities that used to make it great have been shut down or limited to the point where they are not longer really useful. But Google is making more money, so I guess that’s all okay.
I’m not sure Google has made a single good decision in the last decade.
yes but 2014.
I think peak design of various aspects happened at different times.
- peak mobile OS design was Palm OS from PDA’s
- peak device design was Blackberry handhelds with physical buttons
Those two things combined today with a polished Linux base and a decent camera would become the new peak.
I haven’t been excited about a new smartphone since LG V20. What ever is “new” in our current flagships doesn’t really interest me that much.
It’s true for all technology. Incremental improvements. I can’t think of a quantum leap in tech since 2015, no new device which is Earth shattering.
I’m still using a phone from 2020. It’s fine. If I got something new, it would probably be bigger and lack a headphone jack.
A new phone would have a better camera than my old one, but it would not be as good a camera as my Olympus, which I use when I care about the result.
