The beginning of the end of Google glass , Bill Gates' thoughts on HoloLens, ancient philosophy and ideas of Plato, a spherical Samsung Galaxy in a vacuum and a giant 'smart' table running simultaneously on two OSes.
Before moving on to the news itself, I will allow myself a small lyrical digression. And in a nutshell, I will remind you of several basic ideas first formulated by the ancient philosopher Plato.
About the world of ideas
It is Plato who is considered to be one of the founders of the idealistic trend in world philosophy. He considered the real being the world of abstract entities, which he called eidos, or ideas, which are samples of all existing things. Each item has its own idea, a kind of standard, according to which it is 'made'. For example, a table exists because there is an idea of a table, a tree exists because there is an idea of a tree, and a person exists because there is an idea of a person. But there is also a fundamental difference between a thing and its model. If the first exists only for a certain period, then the second is eternal and not subject to destruction.
Things familiar to us are a combination of a perfect idea with an imperfect matter. From the point of view of Plato, any idea realized in our world has been defiled and ceased to be perfect. That is why the same idea can have many different incarnations, each of which is imperfect in its own way.
By the way, this idea has often been played up recently in many science fiction novels, the most successful of which, in my opinion, is Maria and Sergei Dyachenko's 'Vita Nostra'.
The price of matter
Unlike ancient philosophers, we are accustomed to believe that matter itself has value in the first place. If we talk about smartphones, then this is powerful hardware or premium materials. These are not just beautiful words and abstract ideas, but something that you can touch with your hands and compare with each other. In addition, do not forget that any material and any microcircuit not only has its own cost, but is also produced in limited quantities. Somewhere the account goes to tens, somewhere – to thousands, to millions, but one way or another, not everyone will be able to get them. And this gives them additional value in the eyes of buyers. On specialized sites, news appears every now and then that all manufacturers lack processors or camera modules of a new type, which is why someone is forced to use more accessible (and much less interesting) analogs. And the manufacturers themselves are very fond of emphasizing the quality of the materials used and the advanced characteristics of the 'filling' of their devices. And when phone A has a quad-core processor and 2 GB of RAM, and phone B has an eight-core processor and 3 GB of memory, it is obvious even to a non-tech buyer which device is better. And if the device also scores more points in the synthetic test, then even experienced 'geeks', without much hesitation, will give it the palm.
Ideas, in the understanding of most users, have no value. This is a waste product that only exists in the imagination of the author. It is generally accepted that paying for an idea is even more foolish than paying for air. Yes, some lucky people manage to patent the black rectangle and then collect tribute from various companies for years, but this is nothing more than a funny legal incident. A fancy microcircuit or a smartphone body cut from a single piece of steel are serious things, you can't just put them on your knee. But making up all sorts of nonsense is a completely different matter, any fool can cope with this.
It gets ridiculous when people happily buy a paper book from their favorite author in a store, but at the same time think that the same book in electronic form should simply be distributed free of charge. And all because you can hold a paper book in your hands, but not an electronic one. The very idea that the work is paid not so much for the publishing house that printed the book, as for the author who wrote it, seems abnormal to many. How can you pay for an idea that you can't hold in your hands?
Let's pretend for a moment that the opposite is actually true. Only ideas are of value, of which there is a large, but still a limited number in the world. And the 'production' of each quality idea is hard work, requiring certain skills and considerable experience. But the cost of any materials is so small that it practically does not affect the price of the final product, it can simply be neglected. So, the cost of the stone from which the ancient antique statue is made, now does not affect its price in any way.
Of course, this position is also very conditional, but it will allow you to look at the current market situation from a new angle.
Google Glass
For example, let's take one of the most sensational and, at the same time, the most unsuccessful projects of Google in the last couple of years – Google Glass smart glasses. Not so long ago, a real miracle was expected from this project. News about Google Glass hit the front pages of the internet, enthusiasts all over the world were buying prototype glasses for huge sums, and even those with little interest in mobile devices showed a lot of interest in these smart glasses. Google competitors were biting their elbows and hastily announced the development of their 'smart' glasses, and thousands of programmers tried to come up with applications adapted for such glasses in advance.
The first prototypes were forgiven by everything – inconvenient control, a small set of functions, the absence of useful programs and a scenario of use that was hardly applicable in real life. All this was attributed to the imperfection of iron and the 'dampness' of early software versions. But as time went on – and although the 'iron' component of the glasses was gradually improving, no practical sense in wearing them did not appear.
About six months ago, it became clear that nothing good Google's idea will end. Frustrated programmers refused to develop eyeglass programs that units needed. Users stopped following Google Glass news. And the developers themselves more and more got off with streamlined phrases and discussions about distant prospects, and did not tell something specific.
People believed there was an Idea behind Google Glass. The idea of some incredibly interesting device from science fiction novels, which will soon become available to everyone and will change our lives forever. It was supposed to be a real revolution that would surpass even the invention of mobile phones. But in reality, the company ended up with only a pile of dead metal, which makes no sense in itself. A sort of homunculus that can breathe, move and even make some sounds, but at the same time is completely devoid of not only mind, but also soul. And with the same success, you could wear a smartphone with the camera on – it has even more technical power, but there is about the same meaning.
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A couple of weeks ago, Google stopped selling prototypes of Google Glass, according to the official version – due to the development of the second generation of these 'smart' glasses. And the head of the department responsible for their development, the other day was forced to admit that the work on the glasses actually reached a dead end:
It happens that while working on a promising idea, developers are faced with obstacles that are beyond their strength. In this case, we advise them to take a short pause, rethink everything and start working on the project from scratch. This is exactly what happened with Google Glass.
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Would you wear Google Glass in its current form? And what should Google do to make the idea of smart glasses really popular among users, making them as familiar and indispensable device as a mobile phone? The most popular version in Runet looks like this:
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About the soulless gland
In my opinion, this is a great example of the fact that iron is not of interest in itself. Just like a rough block of stone or a shapeless piece of clay. It is just material with which a specific idea can be realized in our world. First you need to figure out what exactly you want to mold out of clay, and only then try to bring this idea to life. While many companies are trying to do the opposite – first, start sculpting an abstract object out of clay, and only then try to understand what it is and why it is needed.
If we talk about technical devices, then such an idea is often software, which turns the useless hardware itself into a meaningful device capable of performing certain functions. Ideally, hardware and software should be developed in parallel and from the very beginning to meet the set goal as much as possible. In reality, the development of hardware and software is usually carried out by completely different companies, often not particularly interested in each other's needs. Smartphones receive new versions of processors that, according to synthetic tests, are twice as powerful as the past. But there is nowhere to realize all this power – there are practically no use cases in which new hardware can be used to its fullest. 8K screens are already installed in TVs – but video content with such a resolution simply does not exist in nature. Many mobile devices already support ultra-fast data transfer rates in the most modern cellular networks, but these networks themselves are not yet found anywhere.
At the same time, the capabilities of the old hardware have not yet been half revealed. A good optimization can give many times greater performance gain than a new processor. And a whole bunch of promising technologies that have been available to any manufacturer for a long time so far, no one has learned to 'cook properly', which is why they are not of interest to the end user at all. A hackneyed example is smartphones Apple, in which a well-known technology like a fingerprint scanner, video calls or a voice assistant plays with new colors every time, attracting the attention of buyers.
A few words about HoloLens
Recently, answering questions from readers of the news site Reddit, Bill Gates shared what he thinks about devices for working with virtual reality, such as HoloLens, which he is actively developing Microsoft.
It is no secret that many fans of the company are already ready to declare them a real breakthrough today, and someone even complains that it will not be possible to find them on free sale for a long time. In general, the situation is about the same as it was recently with Google Glass. Gates himself said something like this:
Making products that won't overwhelm or disgust you is very difficult – you need to provide such devices with software and support as soon as possible. It will take several years before software is developed to unleash the full potential of this device.
Unlike optimists at Google, he understands very well that just creating smart glasses is not enough. It is necessary to come up with really necessary and interesting usage scenarios for them, develop the appropriate software, explain to people exactly how to use them. In their current form, they are a smartphone without a battery – the potential seems to be great, but in reality it will not work to use it.
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Ideas and their embodiment
But let's leave all sorts of experimental devices like HoloLens or Google Glass for now and look at smartphones that have been familiar for a long time. Each of them also has its own idea – maybe less revolutionary, but no less necessary or just interesting to the buyer.
For example, whatever the haters of Samsung may say, their smartphones have for a long time embodied no less intriguing idea than the devices Apple. The idea of the most powerful and cool smartphone, the idea of typical technical characteristics, which delighted so many people. Yes, Plato was right, and any idea embodied in matter is imperfect. And despite the top performance, Galaxy devices could slow down when simply flipping through desktops. Or, for example, have Amoled screens, which, despite the high resolution, had a fairly noticeable grain. But they still had their own face. And they still enjoyed well-deserved popularity among millions of fans.
Smartphones of the middle price segment usually did not stand out with impressive characteristics. But on the other hand, they tried to be like their older brothers in everything, attracting buyers with the same idea of uncompromising power. Remember the ad for another Galaxy S mini – 'Same as Galaxy S, only more fashionable'? Many owners of this device really believed that they had bought the most modern smartphone, inferior to the famous flagship only in screen size. In other words, it was the same idea, albeit in a slightly different incarnation.
An interesting detail – although Samsung has several dozen times more devices than Apple, and the brand is now valued no less, the number of smartphones sold in the fourth quarter is practically equal. That's 76 million Samsung smartphones and 74.5 million from Apple. At first glance, this coincidence seems strange. But since we have agreed to take into account only the ideas themselves, and not their material embodiment, why not look at the situation from a different angle? After all, no matter how many different models of devices both companies have, they always have the same idea for all. If we assume that the user votes in rubles not so much for a specific model as for the idea behind it, then the result is quite understandable. Lovers of functionality and lovers of style were about equally divided. A company that wants to pull the blanket over itself will have to come up with and then implement another, equally attractive idea.
Samsung is trying to do something similar with the Galaxy A series, which has a different idea behind it. It was created for those who are not looking for compromises in anything and want to purchase a stylish, but at the same time, powerful and functional smartphone. Do not choose the lesser of two evils, but find the third, ideal option.
Of course, if you look closely at these smartphones, then a lot of all sorts of 'buts' will come out. And the characteristics there are not the most top ones, and the design is the only one for the entire line, and even noticeably reminds iPhone, and the price is not the lowest … but so far these smartphones embody an idea that is attractive for many users, there is a shortage of buyers will not be.
Alas, Samsung still has more product lines than fresh ideas. For example, the recently introduced Galaxy J1 smartphone. The name is really intriguing – for some manufacturers, the letter 'J' in the name of the smartphone means 'Japan', and such 'Japanese' smartphones get an unusual design or have a number of interesting 'chips'.
Alas, Galaxy J1 has nothing to do with Japan. This is the most run-of-the-mill smartphone that tries to combine low price and relatively high performance.
The full list of smartphone specifications is as follows:
- Support for communication standards: 3G UMTS / HSPA + 900/2100 MHz; GSM GPRS / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; two slots for SIM cards
- Dimensions: 129 x 68.2 x 8.9mm
- Weight: 122g
- Processor: 1.2 GHz Dual Core
- Platform: Android
- Display: 4.3-inch, resolution 480×800 pixels
- Camera: 5 MP with autofocus and LED backlight; HD (720p) video recording support
- Front camera: 2 MP
- Memory: 512 MB, 4 GB built-in, slot for microSD memory cards (up to 128 GB)
- Communications: Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.0, USB 2.0, GPS / GLONASS, 3.5 mm audio jack
- Battery: 1850 mAh
- Others: accelerometer, proximity sensor
As usual, everything in the budget segment will primarily depend on the price of the device. And as usual, you can't expect a really low price from Samsung. What, apart from the price, this smartphone may be interesting, does not occur to me. Initially, there was no idea behind the J series – only a well-known brand and a desire to increase sales in the budget segment. At the same time, many companies, ranging from Xiaomi to Motorola, have repeatedly proven that budget smartphones can be no less interesting than flagship devices. And tight restrictions on the cost of available components are not a sentence, but a challenge. After all, a real artist is really capable of drawing a brilliant picture, having at his disposal only one dull gray pencil. If, of course, he has at least some idea of what exactly he wants to draw. And not just a dream of making easy money.
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And by the way about Chinese companies, which can now be safely included Motorola. According to rumors, Foxconn Electronics management decided to help them increase sales in emerging markets – Brazil, India, Indonesia, Russia and Turkey. This includes the construction of new factories outside of China.
I would like to believe that Chinese companies will not follow the path of their Japanese colleagues, who have already tried to break into our market more than once, but each time they did it in a very strange way. Suffice it to recall Sharp, which tried to win the hearts of Russian buyers in 2012. It would seem that this company cannot be blamed in any way for a lack of bright ideas. She has enough absolutely amazing phones that people buy without even looking at their specifications. Which are often very modest.
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Sharp Aquos Crystal (305SH). First impressions |
But no, as soon as we talked about our market, Sharp decided to do exactly the opposite, presenting several good smartphones with more or less good hardware … but completely boring and faceless. Looking at them, people saw just a set of microcircuits in a practical case with a brand unknown to them. And shrugging their shoulders in bewilderment, they passed by. There was enough such hardware on the market even without Sharp, but there was no other idea in them.
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Sharp – Adventures of Japanese Phones in Russia. Remake |
What idea might be behind Chinese smartphones designed for the market of our country? In my opinion, first of all, we should talk not so much about a low price as about a convenient smartphone with a 'human face' for reasonable money. It should be an interesting and original product, in which budget and penny savings would not be striking. Let them not have those 'chips' that are in the super-expensive devices of competitors, but there will be some other finds. Picking up a budget Samsung, the user always understands that this is a tough compromise. That if he paid a little more, he could take exactly the same device with the same design, but much better. The budget model does not have any advantages – all the differences with the flagships are only negative. And the company will keep reminding him of this with advertising posters and colorful banners. The “Chinese” may well avoid direct comparison of characteristics, presenting interesting smartphones “not like everyone else”, with a number of their strengths and interesting features. In this case, no one will pay attention to the clock frequency of their processor.
The main thing is that the smartphone really has an idea close to the user, and not just some kind of spherical technology in a vacuum. Samsung often has problems with this. Moreover, every year the words “spherical technology” are becoming less and less like a bad joke and more and more like a very regrettable fact.
So, the Galaxy Note Edge smartphone made a step towards the 'spherical' ideal last year, having received a separate screen on the rounded side edge. Judging by the latest patent, the next similar smartphone, called the Galaxy S Edge, is on the way. He will already have two rounded edges. You can place your bets when the Galaxy Edge smartphones finally become really round and you can start playing football with them. In any case, then they will have at least some adequate use case.
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Do you think any new technology makes sense by itself? Should you release a smartphone with a curved display just because it is technically possible to make it? What can curved displays be used for to make it really interesting for the mainstream consumer?
Shadow proportion
Describing the material incarnations of perfect ideas, Plato compared them to the shadow cast by man. The shadow has about the same shape, but its proportions are noticeably distorted. And it is far from always possible to understand what kind of person rejected it.
The Ideum Duet is an excellent illustration of Plato's theory. Probably, in a perfect world of ideas, it would be a convenient modern smartphone with a large screen diagonal. Or even a tablet about the size of iPad. Apparently, the idea came to the company's designer already at sunset, when the sun was setting behind the horizon and the shadows were disproportionately large.
In any case, the material embodiment of this idea can surprise even those who suffer from gigantomania since childhood. The resulting device is a 42-inch or 46-inch touchpad table. But its resolution remained quite a 'smartphone' – 1920 × 1080 pixels.
Ideum Duet runs on two operating systems at once – Windows 8 and Android. Moreover, you can switch between them almost instantly, since they work simultaneously. For this, each OS has its own set of hardware. Android has a Rockchip processor and 2GB of RAM, while Windows has a Intel Core i5-4570R processor, Iris Pro Graphics 5200, 8GB RAM and SSD 256 GB.
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The expected price of the device is $ 7,950, it will go on sale next month, so far only in the United States.
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