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Other The thrill is gone
- Thread starter janeauburn
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Not to everyone. Right now, I'm running 16 GIGABITE iPhone SE (first gen), the only thing available in home full of iPhones when I was switching from 256 GB AMOLED Android for Apple Watch and Airpods that were too good to ignore for any longer.
My life will be vastly improved with 12.
The reason for me at least why the thrill is gone is due to Apple making a lot of these phones. Which is great don’t get me wrong.
But back then, the iPhone came with exclusivity attached to it. The iPhone wasn’t even sold in a lot of countries back then, people didn’t know about the 3:00AM ( EST ) pre order fiascos we used to deal with and I very vividly remember the astronomical amount of people that would line Up at the mall for them. Hundreds of people all looking to get their hands on the next iPhone only to be turned away at the door “ sorry, the iPhone is sold out “
when that would happen, it would feel super dope to take it out of your pocket and have the eyes of iPhone thirsty folk staring at you.
“ how did you get it so fast? It’s sold out ! Until next year !! “ I used to love showing off my latest little gadget.
“ is that the new iPhone ?!? OMG LET ME SEE IT !! “
now the thrill is 100% gone as Apple has folded to the crying. The exclusivity is gone. The hype is gone. You can walk into a T-Mobile store on launch and easily get one. Back then it was either AT&T or Verizon. And it was only at their major locations. Not the middle of the mall little kiosks.
back in my day. You had to put in some serious work, and even if you was up right when pre orders was live, every second was precious. For the iPhone 6 Plus ? Oh my god. My OG Mac Rumors folks know what’s up. Those where some stressful times when shipping dates was pushed out all the way into Late November into early January ( for some ) 10 minutes into preorder day ! Imagine 2 hours into it.
I remember a girlfriend who went into her AT&T store to pre order one. They had her come in via and “ appointment “ I went with her to see the look on the guys face who was handling it for her. Right before the final signature I asked “ when will she receive it ? “ - “uhmm let me check ... hmm it looks like it’s back ordered “ then I would show him my confirmation “ yeah you need to be camped in front of a computer at 3AM in order to get a launch day iPhone “ he had no idea what I was talking about and yes, he had a line of people going out the door. This was what it was like to get an iPhone back then.
yeah. The thrill is gone for me because the exclusivity of being able to have the latest piece of hardware in your pocket while everyone else had to wait is now a thing of the past.
heck, I remember when the 6 Plus came out and the way those photos used to come out. Some of the best times in my life was captured on my iPhone 6 Plus. And a lot of those times was captured on that phone while everyone else was still waiting for theirs to come in.
But back then, the iPhone came with exclusivity attached to it. The iPhone wasn’t even sold in a lot of countries back then, people didn’t know about the 3:00AM ( EST ) pre order fiascos we used to deal with and I very vividly remember the astronomical amount of people that would line Up at the mall for them. Hundreds of people all looking to get their hands on the next iPhone only to be turned away at the door “ sorry, the iPhone is sold out “
when that would happen, it would feel super dope to take it out of your pocket and have the eyes of iPhone thirsty folk staring at you.
“ how did you get it so fast? It’s sold out ! Until next year !! “ I used to love showing off my latest little gadget.
“ is that the new iPhone ?!? OMG LET ME SEE IT !! “
now the thrill is 100% gone as Apple has folded to the crying. The exclusivity is gone. The hype is gone. You can walk into a T-Mobile store on launch and easily get one. Back then it was either AT&T or Verizon. And it was only at their major locations. Not the middle of the mall little kiosks.
back in my day. You had to put in some serious work, and even if you was up right when pre orders was live, every second was precious. For the iPhone 6 Plus ? Oh my god. My OG Mac Rumors folks know what’s up. Those where some stressful times when shipping dates was pushed out all the way into Late November into early January ( for some ) 10 minutes into preorder day ! Imagine 2 hours into it.
I remember a girlfriend who went into her AT&T store to pre order one. They had her come in via and “ appointment “ I went with her to see the look on the guys face who was handling it for her. Right before the final signature I asked “ when will she receive it ? “ - “uhmm let me check ... hmm it looks like it’s back ordered “ then I would show him my confirmation “ yeah you need to be camped in front of a computer at 3AM in order to get a launch day iPhone “ he had no idea what I was talking about and yes, he had a line of people going out the door. This was what it was like to get an iPhone back then.
yeah. The thrill is gone for me because the exclusivity of being able to have the latest piece of hardware in your pocket while everyone else had to wait is now a thing of the past.
heck, I remember when the 6 Plus came out and the way those photos used to come out. Some of the best times in my life was captured on my iPhone 6 Plus. And a lot of those times was captured on that phone while everyone else was still waiting for theirs to come in.
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Not to come off any kind of way but this logic for a company is stupid. Because the sole purpose of a company that sells you products is to make money off said products. The reason iPhones are more widely available is because there was demand for it so Apple increased how many phones they pump out each year so that more people can buy them. More phones equals more money. Keeping the iPhone exclusive and producing the same numbers they used to back then wouldn’t have made Apple the trillion dollar company that it is today. The thrill is gone because people upgrade every year when in fact they don’t really have to. Smartphones have reached a peak where you don’t have to upgrade every year because the “upgrade” is very minimal to that of last year’s model.
Sure, I used to get a kick out of being the only one with the latest iPhone, but it’s such a better world where your friends and family have a newish iPhone running the latest software. I wouldn’t trade that for a second.
I'm thrilled to be picking up my new 12 Pro tomorrow. I hope the thrill is never gone for me!
iOS Stagnation is what "killed the thrill".
Apple revolutionized the industry and the hardware remains to be the best but at some point they got lazy and nowadays it feels like they're playing catch-up with features. Bragging about Siri is the best example of this. Showing off that "Siri was the first..." is embarrassing because Apple squandered that lead and (again) their "new features" are things that have existed on the competition for years.
Its frustrating because Apple clearly still is an innovator which is why its exciting to see things like AirPods, Apple Watch and just about anything they do with magnets. But when it comes to products where they dominate like iPads and iPhones then they clearly don't put as much effort into it anymore.
Apple revolutionized the industry and the hardware remains to be the best but at some point they got lazy and nowadays it feels like they're playing catch-up with features. Bragging about Siri is the best example of this. Showing off that "Siri was the first..." is embarrassing because Apple squandered that lead and (again) their "new features" are things that have existed on the competition for years.
Its frustrating because Apple clearly still is an innovator which is why its exciting to see things like AirPods, Apple Watch and just about anything they do with magnets. But when it comes to products where they dominate like iPads and iPhones then they clearly don't put as much effort into it anymore.
I think nickdalzell1's are some of the most interesting posts on this whole website, and I'm very grateful that he takes the time to write them. Newer is not always better, change is not always good, and Apple isn't always right.
I believe the thrill is gone for a lot of us because Apple, followed by the rest of the tech industry, is prioritizing some fairly esoteric things, and we're starting to feel a vague sense of alienation. It's uncomfortable because it's making us feel like outcasts, when most of the people who care appear to agree enthusiastically with everything Apple does. I feel like it's more likely they many are just going along with the crowd, or they're manipulated by Apple's marketing.
Part of my job is managing IT for a medium-sized, highly distributed and heterogenous company, so I'm exposed to a lot of different products and a lot of different platforms. I still believe that Apple makes the best computing products out there, and it's not really even close. However, I do have some controversial opinions that can sound like criticisms:
1. I value reliability above all else, even at the expense of features. Unfortunately, as software gets older, it gets bloated, and more complexity, linkages, dependencies–it all results in fragility. Bugs are more catastrophic and they take longer to fix, and those that are more irksome than disastrous tend to be overlooked. What made iOS such a breath of fresh air a decade ago was its leanness. Even if it wasn't as powerful then, it felt simple, reliable, focused, and quick, in spite of the hardware limitations. Now it seems like iOS has gotten buggy and bloated more quickly than Mac OS or Windows did.
2. "Smart" technology is so far from ready that it's not even worth having. It's so untrustworthy that its inclusion actually destroys the experience of using a product. Computers should be computers, not incredibly stupid people. I don't use Siri or any other voice assistant, I don't use dictation, and I hate my phone trying to anticipate my behavior, because it's usually wrong, and with my computers I just don't want any surprises.
3. Text is far more important than photos, video, or audio, and the experience of reading and writing should be made as perfect as possible. Text is clear, it's lean, it's asynchronous, and it's how ideas are transmitted most efficiently and effectively. Typing has to be fast and accurate, and text on the screen should be scalable and dense enough to make long form reading at least as good as on paper. At least as good as a mass market paperback.
4. Touchscreens are great for versatility, but there are downsides, most of which could be mitigated by buttons and bezels. Can't there be a middle way? I remember with great fondness my Kindle Keyboard, which, of course, had a physical keyboard that made typing relatively fast and accurate without smudging the screen. It had buttons on the left and right sides for turning pages, which were extremely reliable, and which also obviated the need to touch the screen. And it had generous bezels that made holding the device very comfortable and prevented accidental touch interactions, which I hate! A pocketable Kindle Keyboard with iOS, a decent camera, and an OLED touchscreen would be wonderful. Perhaps the keyboard could slide out from underneath. The buttons on the bezels would scroll down the page.
Instead we have dense little slabs of glass with incredibly sophisticated cameras and no bezels. They're beautiful in their own way, and I'm sure they're perfect for a segment of the population, but now we're in a situation where Apple's brand halo and enviable profitability have killed all diversity, and only now with folding phones are we seeing some real experimentation. Am I alone in caring more about reliability and reading and writing than photography and elegant industrial design?
Back in the iPhone 3G days, all the music app had to do was let the user navigate their own library. (full disclosure: I'm looking at it on a 1G iPod touch, iOS 3.1.3 right now). This was often the user's CD collection ripped to iTunes. A fairly static collection the user knew really well. That allowed a simple UI: Five fairly static tabs on the bottom to switch between albums, artists, songs, playlists, etc. A different view of the library was just one press away. Above these five buttons was a beautifully simple scrollable list of items (e.g. songs). Touch a song and it played. No force touch or long press to access hidden menus. No swipe left, right, whatever.
Now, when I open the 2020 Music UI, I often don't recognize where I am. Often I don't see my familiar music collection. Often, I see a bunch of suggested media objects - graphics heavy and dominating the screen - that are of no interest to me. Then I need to do a bunch of app navigation - some of it not obvious - to get back to something familiar and simple.
Admittedly, the 2020 UI and app supports a TON of additional functionality compared to the iPhone 3G days, but often I just want to listen to something I know.
It probably doesn't help I have an Apple Music subscription (viz: all-you-can-eat media overload) - but that's my fault!
Oh yeah, back on topic; we don't get this sort of thrill anymore.
Watch for about a minute and a half. The audience reaction is worth it alone
Watch for about a minute and a half. The audience reaction is worth it alone
At the same time that sort of thing applies to applies a lot of things that aren't brand new anymore. For example, space launches used to be thrilling for many, but after a while became "just another thing" for quite a few.Oh yeah, back on topic; we don't get this sort of thrill anymore.
Watch for about a minute and a half. The audience reaction is worth it alone
The reason the thrill is gone is because there is no feature that will change your day to day. Honestly, I can't think of anything that they can add besides a projector with 4k quality that enables you to have a 70 inch screen from your phone- that would change my life....
That was the intro of a brand new product/product category, which had been rumored for years. And that was the moment when it became reality. And unlike today, there were not a ton of leaks, and we really didn't know it was coming. I watched it live, and it was a once in a generation unveiling.Oh yeah, back on topic; we don't get this sort of thrill anymore.
Watch for about a minute and a half. The audience reaction is worth it alone
It's completely unrealistic to expect that kind of presentation on anything like a regular basis.
I think it makes sense on an existential and practical basis. I have an IPhone XS MAX. I works just fine, and it blew me away with the OLED display. I still have a plasma TV, and I’ll replace it when it dies, hopefully with a micro led display. I used to replace phones yearly, but now, what’s the point? The changes now are incremental. By the time reliable 5g is in my area, the iPhone 16 will be available. The changes now are so incremental it’s hard to get excited, especially when we know big changes will eventually arrive.
5G is not a thrill because you can't get it unless you have certain plans. I mean I already know I'll be limited if I reach my plan limit, why do they care if I get to that point sooner. Why deny 5G? Apple unfortunately has lost leverage over carriers and 5G is not exciting as a result.
To add to the music gripes, I still greatly miss coverflow. It was one of those things about my 3GS that made it truly magical. Even with an old Samsung despite its beautiful nature-inspired UI design, there's no replacement for Coverflow. I suppose I'll continue missing it until 1) I find a 3GS on Amazon, or 2) Apple brings it back.
I miss the magic, the whimsy in UI design of those days. Flat UI Design is just boring and feels more like work. I'll never get used to it. I don't even use it anymore. Even my Mac with Big Sur has more skeuo than Catalina before it, and I replaced a lot of the built-in apps with skeuo alternatives, and those were certainly not easy to find. Worth it, though. The little details that used to be part of iOS apps, such as the way Podcasts worked so close to a real life tape player. That took attention to detail and talent. Flat UI can be done in MS Paint. It's amatuer, bland, boring. Hard to look at. I just want to use Siri to avoid seeing it. Maybe that was the point of Siri/Google Assistant? Phone UI looks so awful that you have to use voice control to avoid seeing it, or knowing what's touchable or not. Did Apple just up and fire the whole Human Interface team along with Forstall or what?
Yes, my short-time with an iPhone X (within the return window) I had the wired 'dongle' version of EarPods that forces you to use the charging port. It bent while in my pocket so I stopped using it fearing I would damage the port. Headphone Jacks were meant to have the cord rotate while inside it so nothing is damaged. An ingenious design. The Lightning port bends. It cannot rotate. But the lack of headphone jack was compounding other issues such as the screen being way too big, the gestures being forced, Face ID requiring a swipe up to use it, so you have this nasty swipe mark which Touch ID avoided since it wasn't part of the screen, and Face ID didn't work half the time, or took far longer than it should, and was part of Android back in 2011. The 'notch' really didn't bother me like it did everyone else, ironically.
I miss the magic, the whimsy in UI design of those days. Flat UI Design is just boring and feels more like work. I'll never get used to it. I don't even use it anymore. Even my Mac with Big Sur has more skeuo than Catalina before it, and I replaced a lot of the built-in apps with skeuo alternatives, and those were certainly not easy to find. Worth it, though. The little details that used to be part of iOS apps, such as the way Podcasts worked so close to a real life tape player. That took attention to detail and talent. Flat UI can be done in MS Paint. It's amatuer, bland, boring. Hard to look at. I just want to use Siri to avoid seeing it. Maybe that was the point of Siri/Google Assistant? Phone UI looks so awful that you have to use voice control to avoid seeing it, or knowing what's touchable or not. Did Apple just up and fire the whole Human Interface team along with Forstall or what?
Yes, my short-time with an iPhone X (within the return window) I had the wired 'dongle' version of EarPods that forces you to use the charging port. It bent while in my pocket so I stopped using it fearing I would damage the port. Headphone Jacks were meant to have the cord rotate while inside it so nothing is damaged. An ingenious design. The Lightning port bends. It cannot rotate. But the lack of headphone jack was compounding other issues such as the screen being way too big, the gestures being forced, Face ID requiring a swipe up to use it, so you have this nasty swipe mark which Touch ID avoided since it wasn't part of the screen, and Face ID didn't work half the time, or took far longer than it should, and was part of Android back in 2011. The 'notch' really didn't bother me like it did everyone else, ironically.
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This is something a person would say when they are too poor and can’t afford the newest product and they feel left out, FOMO, and they tell themselves this.
Same people that wishes Apple to switch to a bi-yearly iPhone cycles. They just can’t keep up ??