21 Dec
2006
21 Dec
'06
11:31 a.m.
Alexandre Souza wrote:
See, I'm somewhat atypical there... I want a phone that's good at making phone
calls. I don't want it to do a million other things, most of which I won't
need *ever*, let alone occasionally. I'd rather that all the time and money
that had gone into developing that phone had been spent on making it as easy
to use and as robust as possible - not in adding complexity via additional
features which just get in the way.
I'm the same with TVs - I just want to watch TV on them, not surf the 'net or
any other crap for which there are far better existing tools out there already.
Now if manufacturers want to make their products *optionally* do extra things
beyond the prime function, then I'm all for it - let the consumers pick and
choose what suits them best as individuals (and pay a price accordingly). But
don't compromise the base product just in order to pile on as many bells and
whistles as possible!
I know I'm far from alone in that view, but unfortunately a) it's still a
minority view, and b) it's not in a manufacturer's best interest to build a
product that is so good that it never needs to be replaced...
packs in after
a few years. I'll admit that they may well go out and
buy a new one two-four years down the road, but if they keep it, it
has to keep on working. (I'll admit that this generally does not seem
to apply to mobile phones - no idea why not).
The matter with cell phones is that there is always innovation. A TV
set is a TV set, there are no news on that. Same to a stereo, what else
would you want into a stereo? phone area there are always news. Every week you can
see 3 or 4 new
models on Engadget, one better than another. I have an "old" Nokia 6600,
but I'm hoping I can get a N-series soon. Better camera, more memory,
bigger screen, faster internet!
My life isn't so chaotic that I need 'net access on tap at every waking moment
of the day :-)
I've got a good camera; why would I need a bad one on a phone?
Bigger screen? All it needs to do is display a few numbers... heck, it doesn't
even need to be in colour.
etc. etc.
:-)