Is it just me, or are devices not really exciting anymore?

[gray2018]

If anyone is familiar with some of my scenarios... I had an S21 Ultra which was broken. I also had a backup Note 20 Ultra. I loved my S21 Ultra. So far, I think it's been my favorite device ever. The Note 20 Ultra is pretty good, too. I'm not gonna say it's personally as enjoyable as the S21U, but it certainly is pretty good and gets the job done.

I recently purchased an S23 Ultra from Samsung. It's a very good device. It cost me around 700 dollars after taxes. However, it seems like, is it really that much better IMO than the S21 Ultra or the Note 20 Ultra that I have? In hindsight, no, not really. In fact, in some scenarios, it's kind of a downgrade almost. I love having the ability to have my 512gb SD card in my Note 20 Ultra. The camera coming from someone who had an S21U seems like a slight upgrade in some ways.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. I feel like year after year, they are doing less and less to phones. It seems there is less innovation from year to year. It seemed like a big upgrade in 2022 when I went from the Note 10+ to the S21 Ultra.

Just venting a bit, I suppose. I know there are some out there who jump on every new device when it comes out, and that's fine. If something works for me, I like to hang on to it personally.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I think that's just normal once a product has become established in wide usage. Everything brand new is exciting, and those things will improve by leaps and bounds early on. Then improvements are very much incremental. For example, TVs were exciting in the 1940s-1950s, but they are nothing special nowadays.

 

[gray2018]

Still... Back in the day, when you came from an S8+ to like an S10+, that felt like a big upgrade IMO.
Now, coming from an S21 Ultra to an S23 Ultra doesn't feel like much.

Even though it was just one year, when I came from a Note 9 to a Note 10+, it felt like quite an upgrade, despite being a downgrade in some ways. Bigger screen, faster charging, more camera options, better designed device, larger battery, double the storage in the base model, 12GB of RAM standard compared to 6GB of RAM.

That is a lot of upgrades IMO, something that made it felt completely worthwhile to upgrade to. It doesn't feel like that much anymore.

 

[notforhire]

some guys are car guys. others are gamers. some collect guns. others are constantly buying more tools. it just depends on what your thing is.

 

[Bkdodger1]

I just think phones are so much more advanced right now so you have so many recent phones that are just excellent and you just not going to get that wow factor difference, it's a good thing for those people that like to keep phones longer.

 

[B. Diddy]

There's been a fair amount written about this in tech journalism -- mobile technology is approaching an asymptote in terms of power and storage such that manufacturers have been looking for anything else to attract consumers. AI is clearly that next big thing, but the problem is many consumers aren't really interested. Before that, it was foldables, which has had modest success, but the price tag is probably still too high for most people.

I'm guessing the next really meaningful advance would be quantum computing, but I have no idea how long it'll take for that to come to market ...

 

[notforhire]

asymptote

big words, man making almost everyone hit the web

 

[B. Diddy]

big words, man making almost everyone hit the web

Sorry, that's one of the few terms from math that I remember.

 

[winmod21]

~ TVs were exciting in the 1940s-1950s, but they are nothing special nowadays.

Whaaaaaat? Tell that to the millions upon millions who remember 50's & 60's TVs, and then Sony Trinitron TVs in the 80's, and Plasma's, IE 3D's, DLP's in the 90's/2000's, and now have mind-boggling Sony or LG or Samsung &c 4K or 8K OLEDs, or Mini-LED 4K QLED LCD TVs manuf'd over the last 10 years!

TV Reviews

474 TV reviews. Start with our picks for the best TVs below. These are the ones we recommend based on our testing and in-depth TV reviews.

www.rtings.com

LCD Flat Panel Displays

For the discussion of LCD displays. It is used to chat about the display type and not to attack it as compared to other displays.

www.avsforum.com

. . . just sayin'

 

[monsieurms]

. AI is clearly that next big thing, but the problem is many consumers aren't really interested.

Not that I haven't seen some uses I have liked, but the thought of AI possibly going through my phone, documents and so on, without my being sure when, how or if, kind of gives me the creeps.

I'm sure it will only be reported to Google as anonymized data.

So not only am I not terribly interested in AI, I tend to turn it off wherever I get it.

 

[B. Diddy]

Not that I haven't seen some uses I have liked, but the thought of AI possibly going through my phone, documents and so on, without my being sure when, how or if, kind of gives me the creeps.

I'm sure it will only be reported to Google as anonymized data.

So not only am I not terribly interested in AI, I tend to turn it off wherever I get it.

Well you can be sure that DeepSeek ain't gonna guarantee any kind of privacy at all.