The problem with ‘next-gen’ gadgets

-
The Dell XPS 13 Plus keyboard deck seen from above.
The Dell XPS 13 Plus has a heck of a lot in common with the XPS 13 — but its audience is very, very different. | Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

Gadgets, since time in memoriam, have worked a certain way.

You, a company, release one. It’s good, but it’s not perfect. No gadget is perfect! So you do market research and focus groups. You figure out who’s buying. You figure out what they like and what they don’t like. You refine. You fix problems.

The next year, you release a version of that device that is objectively, concretely better. This is the next-gen device, the Device 2.0. You call this device an “upgrade.” You tell your customers to recycle Device 1.0 and replace it with Device 2.0. Some of them do. “Should you upgrade?” the tech bloggers write, calculating the pros and cons of doing so.

I know, I know, this is a vast oversimplification of how consumer tech actually...

Continue reading…



source https://www.theverge.com/23521429/next-gen-gadgets-laptops-apple-iphone-dell-xps-intel-chips

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In a world first, China lands a spacecraft gently on the Moon’s far side

-
Image
This evening, China became the first nation to land a spacecraft gently on the far side of the Moon, according to China Global Television Network America . A Chinese robotic lander and rover, which launched from China in early December, descended into a crater on the side of the Moon that’s always facing away from Earth. The touchdown marks a significant technological feat for the country, and puts China in an elite category of spaceflight achievement all its own. The landing is part of China’s Chang’e-4 mission — one of a series of planned missions to explore the lunar surface. Prior to this program, China sent a lander and a rover to the Moon, making it the third country to ever softly land on the lunar surface. That lander, part of the... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/2/18165807/china-change-4-mission-lunar-lander-rover-moon-farside
Read more

Snap suspends two anonymous messaging apps after cyberbullying lawsuit

-
Image
Images from Yolo’s now-removed App Store listing. | Image: Yolo Technologies Snap will suspend two anonymous messaging integrations from Snapchat after a lawsuit sought to hold them responsible for a teenager’s death, the Los Angeles Times reports . The lawsuit was filed on Monday by Kristin Bride, the mother of a teenager who died by suicide in June after being bullied on the two apps. “In light of the serious allegations raised by the lawsuit, and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the Snapchat community, we are suspending both Yolo and LMK’s Snap Kit integrations while we investigate these claims,” a spokesperson for Snap said in a statement. Representatives for the two apps, Yolo and LMK, did not immediately respond to The Verge ’s request for comment. “We are suspending both Yolo and LMK’s Snap... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/12/22431883/snap-inc-snapchat-anonymous-messaging-qa-lawsuit-teenager-death
Read more