You have to feel a little sympathy for the smartphone manufacturers. At first glance, they have it all – mobile phone penetration is up around 85 percent, in the US as well as in Europe. But when you really think about it, that means two things.
- Practically everyone already has a phone, the only segment of the adult market that still has a little potential consists of technophobic seniors who have resisted joining the smartphone age – but even they are in a minority.
- The main market, then, is people who already have a phone. Marketers are therefore focused on pushing the features of the latest handsets that make it worthwhile to upgrade a phone that is two to five years old.
In some respects that is good news for consumers. After all, new and better features mean an enhanced experience – or do they? Here, we look at some of the over-hyped phone features that sound great in the sales pitch but deliver little in the way of tangible user value.
A 108MP camera is overkill
From a phone marketing perspective, the camera is a relatively easy area where upgrades can be made. Not so long ago, the manufacturers were drooling over the phrase 108 mega pixel. Now Samsung is tripping over itself to get 200MP on every device.
In short, you almost certainly don’t need it. Sure, more pixels mean better resolution and the ability to zoom right in without losing quality. But it is a camera, not a magnifying glass. And the irony is you end up wasting more time finding a way to reduce the resolution of that cute photo of the kids so you can send it to your mother without bringing the internet to a grinding halt and clogging up her email server.
Folding phones are best left for the casino high rollers
Not wishing to pick on Samsung, but it is again the manufacturer pushing the envelope. The Z4 Fold looks great in the showroom, but the price tag is eye-watering, and even the sales staff admit the technology is still quite fragile.
Granted, the large screen is great for certain types of gaming. Casino gamers have taken to it for games live craps and sic bo, which is trending among US players at the moment – in these games, there is a lot of detail that can be hard to pick up on a smaller screen – click here to learn more. But hardcore sic bo players are a fairly niche market.
For the rest of us, the folding screen remains more style than substance, and a costly feature with limited benefits.
Refresh rate can sometime be overrated
It is strange how quickly our expectations can change – and sometimes how they can be manipulated by clever marketing. Not so long ago, phones all had a refresh rate of 60Hz, end of story. It was what it was, nobody questioned it. It meant the screen refreshed 60 times a second, and that made for a pretty smooth experience when gaming, watching videos or surfing the net.
In 2017, the first phones with 90Hz refresh rate appeared. This difference was subtle but perceptible. Then refresh rate became just another metric to battle over. 120Hz then 144Hz now 165Hz. You’re not going to notice the difference, and certainly anything above 120Hz is overkill. All it will do is drain your battery faster.
Wireless charging is the future – but not the present
Here’s a word to the wise, straight from the lips of respected Android writer Ayush Jalan: Wireless charging sucks. In three or four years time, it will probably be the standard, but right now it is inefficient and creates mostly heat and waste.
Sure, some people need to invest in it to encourage the manufacturers to plough more R&D dollars into its development, but don’t spend more of your own money on a feature that, right now, you’re not going to use.
RAM is great – but only get what you need
Over the past 20 years, we’ve learned to obsess over RAM. The more the better for faster processing and a smooth experience, right? Well that’s true, but it dates back to the turn of the millennium when PCs had maybe 32 MB of RAM. The difference jumping from 32MB to 128 MB was immense.
Today, however, when we measure in GB, eight is really enough – that is, after all, 8,000 MB compared to the 128 that seemed so amazing. 16GB of RAM on a phone is a waste of money as you’ll never need to call upon it.
