Phones should be more than just fads
Someone should say it already. Majorly hyped phone launches are blown-out-of-proportion because there's nothing new in them. Most of the times, an average consumer doesn't even know that he/she needs a particular feature before some firm comes along and shoves it down his/her throat. But, before you buy a new smartphone, just hear me out.
Let's go with the three major trends - bezel-less display, no headphone jack, and facial recognition. Even before the bezel-less trend came in vogue, the mobile screens were getting larger. It's a mobile device and one is supposed to hold it in the palms of the hands. However, the trends always veered towards a phablet, a portmanteau of the words phone and tablet.
For the average Joe out there using his phone on a crowded bus, a bezel-less design is more of a headache than an appreciation of aesthetics. Another feature that's getting thrown around these days is a super retina display or something to that effect. Unless you are a stickler for visuals, your eyes wouldn't catch minor visual upgrades.
Let's come to the sore topic - no headphone jack. You can't charge your phone while listening to music. Moreover, you'll have to buy another pricey accessory in the form of a pair of wireless headphones that the firm wants to sell along with an already overpriced phone. Most of us use third-party headphones for better sound and they too come with 3.5mm jacks.
Facial recognition in phones is still a rudimentary technology at its best. Most of us are not going to put the phone right up our nose to get it working simply because it looks ludicrous, costs a tonne of money and the technology isn't time tested yet. Shelling out money for something that can be easily fooled? That doesn't sound like a good deal.
Planned obsolescence is a term that is often used in the tech world. It represents the practice of developing products that aren't built to last longer or making a product obsolete by not letting new software be compatible with it or simply letting a product die without providing any support for it after a certain period of time. This happens a lot with smartphones.
So, every year a new phone comes out and the concerned firm tells you that it's better than its predecessors and other competitor products or they cut down support for a perfectly functioning old model to make you buy their latest products. Before you upgrade, ask yourself, "Do I need that upgrade?" Because next year it's going to be another phone with another hoopla.
