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My Android phone is coming up to being 2 years old. I look at this and I see no reason to upgrade. Yes its more powerful, has a better camera and has a few neat

by bobsy 14y ago

My Android phone is coming up to being 2 years old. I look at this and I see no reason to upgrade. Yes its more powerful, has a better camera and has a few neat features like Smart Stay but does this warrant ditching my old phone? No. With the current state of handset development I would say I only need to upgrade when the app store stops supporting my phone. It seems to me like the Smart Phone Market is already hitting a plateau. It's like the desktop computer market. If you buy a computer today, unless you MUST play all future games on Ultra graphics it will probably last you just fine for 5+ years.

huggyface 14y ago
It seems to me like the Smart Phone Market is already hitting a plateau. Having gone through a number of devices over the years, I couldn't disagree more. Screens have gotten tremendously better, performance has improved by leaps and bounds, and connectivity has exploded. Even the touchscreen sensor on a current phone is a world better than a two year old device (well if we're speaking about non-iPhone. Apple had a pretty good sensor two years ago). I'd say your lack of inclination to upgrade says more about you than devices. Not as an insult, but you just don't rely upon it as a principal device like many. Mine because essentially a portable computer and I am very excited about each new iteration.
- rsheridan6 14y ago
  What you say was true a year ago, but the limitations of the human eye won't allow much improvement over the 300+ ppi screens that have been available for a year or so. If something is coming along to replace 4G, I haven't heard about it, and 4G has also been available for a year or so. I have an HTC Rezound, top tier at the time of it's release about 6 months ago, and it was significantly improved over the Motorola Atrix it replaced, which was also top tier at the time of its release about 6 months previously. I haven't played with newer phones since then, but nothing I have read indicates that they've improved very much since the last batch of releases in December, and I don't think the human eye is capable of perceiving much more pixel density than we already have. Screens have gotten so much better that there's no point in improving them. With 300+ PPI screens having been available for a year or so, the only real improvement possible would be to make them 3D or usable outdoors, which does not seem to be progressing very quickly. I have an HTC Rezound, which was a top tier phone when I bought it 6 months ago, and the display is leaps ahead of my Motorola Atrix, which was a top tier phone when I bought it last April (something like ~340 PPI compared to ~275 PPI). That kind of improvement will never be possible again, because the human eye couldn't perceive it. So, yeah, I think we have reached a plateau, though certainly not 2 years ago.
  - huggyface 14y ago
    From two years ago to six months ago is a world of difference, and the draw to upgrade obviously would be dramatically different. Screens have gotten so much better that there's no point in improving them When did pixel density become the only element worth considering? Give me a screen with the power consumption and long-term viability of super LCD, with the contrast ratio of SAMOLED and I'd be over the moon. As is, however, each are serious compromises in one way or the other. Make battery life better while offering high performance (the the Krait). Give me better cameras and speakers and sensors. Give me a little projector. Give me better integration. There is a tonne of improvements to be had.

by bobsy 14y ago

huggyface 14y ago

It seems to me like the Smart Phone Market is already hitting a plateau. Having gone through a number of devices over the years, I couldn't disagree more. Screens have gotten tremendously better, performance has improved by leaps and bounds, and connectivity has exploded. Even the touchscreen sensor on a current phone is a world better than a two year old device (well if we're speaking about non-iPhone. Apple had a pretty good sensor two years ago). I'd say your lack of inclination to upgrade says more about you than devices. Not as an insult, but you just don't rely upon it as a principal device like many. Mine because essentially a portable computer and I am very excited about each new iteration.

rsheridan6 14y ago
What you say was true a year ago, but the limitations of the human eye won't allow much improvement over the 300+ ppi screens that have been available for a year or so. If something is coming along to replace 4G, I haven't heard about it, and 4G has also been available for a year or so. I have an HTC Rezound, top tier at the time of it's release about 6 months ago, and it was significantly improved over the Motorola Atrix it replaced, which was also top tier at the time of its release about 6 months previously. I haven't played with newer phones since then, but nothing I have read indicates that they've improved very much since the last batch of releases in December, and I don't think the human eye is capable of perceiving much more pixel density than we already have. Screens have gotten so much better that there's no point in improving them. With 300+ PPI screens having been available for a year or so, the only real improvement possible would be to make them 3D or usable outdoors, which does not seem to be progressing very quickly. I have an HTC Rezound, which was a top tier phone when I bought it 6 months ago, and the display is leaps ahead of my Motorola Atrix, which was a top tier phone when I bought it last April (something like ~340 PPI compared to ~275 PPI). That kind of improvement will never be possible again, because the human eye couldn't perceive it. So, yeah, I think we have reached a plateau, though certainly not 2 years ago.
- huggyface 14y ago
  From two years ago to six months ago is a world of difference, and the draw to upgrade obviously would be dramatically different. Screens have gotten so much better that there's no point in improving them When did pixel density become the only element worth considering? Give me a screen with the power consumption and long-term viability of super LCD, with the contrast ratio of SAMOLED and I'd be over the moon. As is, however, each are serious compromises in one way or the other. Make battery life better while offering high performance (the the Krait). Give me better cameras and speakers and sensors. Give me a little projector. Give me better integration. There is a tonne of improvements to be had.