Chef, everything is gone …
Go to any thematic forum or look in the comments under the review of any popular smartphone. Old-timers will be happy to explain to you that company X is no longer the same, the peak in the development of a smartphone was the Nokia N90 and the first iPhone, and all modern innovations are nothing more than marketing gimmicks. From year to year, geeks tell each other how boring, dull and predictable the world of mobile technology has become. And they sigh sadly that he will never be able to surprise them with anything.
In fact, in the world of smartphones, a lot of interesting things happen every year. Take a look at the flagship devices of recent years. Modular smartphones, curved screens, devices where the entire front panel is one endless display, a noticeable development of mobile photography (from 'dual' cameras of the same Huawei to Google's software algorithms) …
In the days of the old Nokia, which bored fans love to remember so much, this could only be dreamed of. Now these dreams have come true – but for some reason they did not please the fans of mobile technology at all.
Much of this is due to the idea of flagship smartphones, so beloved by manufacturers. Which for many geeks burning with enthusiasm has become a slow poison.
Fairy tales for adults
There is a very popular opinion that the flagship is the perfect smartphone, which should not have any flaws. That it should be different from the 'workhorses' of the middle price segment like heaven and earth. And among all smartphones around the world there shouldn't be a single device that surpasses it in any way.
It would seem that anyone understands that ideal things do not exist in the world. And technical progress is unlikely to stop this year. This means that soon there will be new items that will be even faster, smarter and more powerful than their predecessors. But the myth of ideal flagships turns out to be stronger than logic and has lived for many years, no matter what. And is actively supported by manufacturers.
Under any review of any flagship device, you can always find comments like 'Yes, for that kind of money, he simply has to … shoot better DSLRs \ work longer Nokia 3310 \ get updates faster than Google Nexus \ be able to make coffee \ bring slippers to the owner'. And since it does not know how, then this is not a flagship, but a real deception of gullible users and a betrayal of its own fans. An attempt to get customers into the hack, hiding behind inflated advertising budgets and bought on the vine by the global media.
In the eyes of the oversatiated geek, any manufacturer's achievements are immediately devalued by the general 'not ideal' of the device. Unique design? Fi, think about it … but 'parrots' in synthetic tests scored less than competitors. Amazing photo quality? The DSLR does not hold out, and it sounds worse than my player. Modularity and support for tons of accessories? So what, but the case is plastic. Cool and well thought-out shell? But on the Nexus, the OS version is newer.
Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of real buyers are not chasing a mythical ideal at all. They don't faint upon learning that there are apps on iPhone that are not available on Android and vice versa. They know very well that every smartphone of every company has its own pros and cons. And they do not arrange crusades with or without reason.
But on the forums and in the comments completely different moods reign. Kicking a popular product is often considered a matter of honor, a sign of belonging to an elite society of connoisseurs. Who, unlike any 'ordinary buyers' there, see the whole deceitful game of manufacturers through and through. And they know perfectly well which smartphones are actually better.
A shooter player who has traded a cheap office mouse for an expensive gaming mouse does not expect his shooting accuracy to increase a hundredfold. The buyer of a foreign car understands perfectly well that it will not drive twenty times faster than Lada Kalina. The owner of an expensive sofa definitely does not expect that he will now be able to spend 5-6 hours less on sleep than before. And only lovers of mobile technology strive to compare the increase in price and characteristics 'head-on', leaving out everything else. After all, other 'little things' are no longer important for the final verdict.
Broken ideals
And someone really at some point believed that the ideal still exists. Moreover, it is already in his hands. The numbers of characteristics can grow further, but the general concept should remain unchanged. Because it simply cannot be better.
The manufacturers explained too convincingly that their new flagship was the crown of engineering. The ideal embodied in plastic, glass and metal. The fastest, the most technologically advanced, the most needed and the most sophisticated. The only correct one.
Now that those same companies are showing off some truly unusual smartphones, they simply don't resonate with the old guard. Somewhere deep down, people feel deceived. Their ideal, in which they believed with all their hearts, was exchanged for some incomprehensible and unnecessary innovations. In which you do not want to understand in advance.
Eh, there were pipes in our time …
One way or another, the result is still the same. Once upon a time, the word 'geek' was understood as a mobile technology enthusiast. A person who is sincerely passionate about mobile technology and closely follows all new products. And, of course, who dreamed of trying them out.
In recent years, this word is slowly but surely becoming synonymous with a forum fighter who lives in his fictional world. Looking at a smartphone and seeing only the numbers of characteristics. Talking about a scattering of various devices during the heyday of Nokia, but rejecting all new ideas and trends in advance. And stubbornly proving to everyone around that earlier the sun was shining brighter, and the grass was greener …