I have approached the subject of the title several times in this blog (which let me remind you started as a travel blog), mainly inspired by the ups and downs in our history and the signs of decline our societies show today (hello US of trump, all good?). I always juxtaposed this with the fact that our technological progress keeps sky rocketing. Well, let's focus a little more on the latter cause it might not be entirely true.
I'm browsing the smartphone market lately as my super might Sony Xperia XZ1 compact is already 6 years old and its battery might let me down sometime soon. Not that it shows such signs but you know Murphy's law don't ya? Before I continue I feel obliged to do justice to this little beast and praise it without second thought:
(not mine)
This thing is super handy as you can see and one of the last compact phones as manufacturers don't focus on the pocketable side of things anymore. Also super waterproof. It survived ALL my motorcycle trips mounted on the dashboard (which proved it vibration proof as well) through all these years including the insane rain I met in Serbia 2 years ago riding for hours in what felt like a pool (you can read about it here). It never let me down. I've dropped it countless times and its display is not only unbroken but unscratched. Without a case! That tiny thing back in the day managed to pack enough technology to shoot 4K stabilised videos and 960fps FHD! Real super slomo not interpolated, only 1.5 sec long though but still wow. Check the super slomo waterfall I shot North of Athens @ 4:38:
If only I could have the equivalent of this phone today. Instead, it seems that flagship(ish) phones of today are even missing some of its features! Some phones don't have super slomo like this and often the ones that do it is interpolated and not real. What are you doing with all this extra processing power guys? Kidding us? A today's Snapdragon cannot do what a Snapdragon could 6 years ago with half if not less RAM? No way.
Missing a 3.5mm audio output in most today's phones is also a bummer but that I can understand that might have to do with saving space. Other missing features are much harder to explain though. For example, look at what my Samsung Galaxy Alpha was able to do a decade ago:
It could shoot with both cameras at the same time (something that my XZ1 doesn't despite the better processor). Galaxies do it today as well and in higher resolution BUT the camera app doesn't give you options for the frame of the secondary video. It's just a fucking rectangular! Look at the round one in my video above, faded on the edges, how nicely blends in. Way much cooler. With a zillion times more processing power today you can't have it, probably just because the software developers didn't bother to offer it. Yes, you can do such stuff on a video editor but I didn't know that it takes 10 years of evolution to work more than you had to for the same result.
And by the way, what a nice slim phone the Galaxy Alpha was, especially compared to the bricks of today:
When I saw that colour (aptly named "Cobalt Blue") and hold it in my hand I went straight to the cashier 🙂 Super light too!
It often feels like new technology leaves something missing just so that there is something to be desired for the products to come. For example I never understood why the hell in 2024 every time I open a new window, the bloody Windows OS places it on top of the previous one, even if I use a 43" 4K display. And there's not even an option to change that. I open a new fucking window you moron and I have all the real estate of the world on my display, why on earth would I want it to cover my previous one?
That's just one of the myriads of little or not so little things that decades of computing has still left them unaddressed. To be honest from my experience working with software developers I am that surprised. These guys are in their own universe without precisely willing to leave it anytime soon. Peppered with a bit of "prince" attitude as our civilisation relies more and more on them🙂 But I also (if not basically) has to do with where the focus is placed. Speaking of Windows for example, I think MS is more interested in retrieving info about your habits rather than trying to make your life easier while working on a PC. But again, neither Linux is much better workflow wise. Though I gotta admit it is MUCH better on handling files. You have an external drive that stupid Windows can't read? Plug it to a Linux machine regardless how old it is and problem solved.
It seems that I'll have to stick with my phone a little more since it still works fine and the market doesn't offer its updated twin brother, yet at least. First world problems while my friends at Kyiv experience a rain of russian missiles. Makes me wonder how our planet looks to the eyes of an extra terrestrial...
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