Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Over-priced consumer technology?

123468

Comments

  • #152
    xi5yvm0owc1s2b
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,325 ✭✭✭xi5yvm0owc1s2b


    CrankyHaus wrote: »
    They changed from coming out with one market changing product after another under Jobs to their current situation where the best they can do is buy Beats branding from Dre to sell overpriced headphones.

    Part of that was Steve Jobs' famous Reality Distortion Field, though. He had a way of making you think he was changing the world whenever he launched a new device like the iPod ... which in reality was just an MP3 player. A decent MP3 player, admittedly, and one that, when coupled with iTunes (which was basically a legal version of Napster) and clever marketing campaigns, did alter how people listened to music. But Jobs had a way of making you believe you were witnessing the Second Coming every time he appeared on stage, and there was a lot of hype around his every move.
    Tech is really pushing the Internet of Things as the next transformational tech market. It will probably happen but I wonder if there will be a counter-swing towards privacy and security. People are getting more and more concerned about things like Alexa recording them, nations are getting more concerned about foreign tech companies in their IT infrastructure (eg Australia and the US towards the Chinese). I wonder how people would feel about setting their utilities through their smartphone if hackers started cutting off their heat and light or causing their food to rot in their fridge?

    Excellent points. One notable thing about the period from the early 90s to the early 2010s is that very few people gave two hoots about privacy. That began to change after many high-profile hacks made people realize that their online information wasn't necessarily all that secure. Then Snowden came out with his revelations about how much data government agencies were intercepting and storing about you, which made people think about state surveillance. Now people are understandably reluctant to rush into the Internet of Things and put hackers in control of their appliances and their front door. The tech industry has to grow up and start taking privacy and security a LOT more seriously. So the changes we will see in coming years won't necessarily be flashy in the Steve Jobs sense, but we absolutely need improvements to security, privacy, and a lot of other stuff that makes our devices and data harder to breach.


  • #153
    CrankyHaus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,281 ✭✭✭CrankyHaus


    Reina Incalculable Serpent wrote: »
    Part of that was Steve Jobs' famous Reality Distortion Field, though. He had a way of making you think he was changing the world whenever he launched a new device like the iPod ... which in reality was just an MP3 player. A decent MP3 player, admittedly, and one that, when coupled with iTunes (which was basically a legal version of Napster) and clever marketing campaigns, did alter how people listened to music. But Jobs had a way of making you believe you were witnessing the Second Coming every time he appeared on stage, and there was a lot of hype around his every move.

    I agree, and I found Apple-mania unsufferable at its height. Like many visionaries he had a healthy dose of spoofer in his make-up, not to mention a shamelessness about nicking other people's good ideas. However it was his mp3 player, his mp3 service and his smartphone that changed the market. He was able to weave all the pre-existing elements of each product together into a consumer focused game-changer. The Economist obituary said that his success was because he was not an engineer, his focus was on the consumer use and how he could market it rather than the technicalities of the product.
    Reina Incalculable Serpent wrote: »
    Excellent points. One notable thing about the period from the early 90s to the early 2010s is that very few people gave two hoots about privacy. That began to change after many high-profile hacks made people realize that their online information wasn't necessarily all that secure. Then Snowden came out with his revelations about how much data government agencies were intercepting and storing about you, which made people think about state surveillance. Now people are understandably reluctant to rush into the Internet of Things and put hackers in control of their appliances and their front door. The tech industry has to grow up and start taking privacy and security a LOT more seriously. So the changes we will see in coming years won't necessarily be flashy in the Steve Jobs sense, but we absolutely need improvements to security, privacy, and a lot of other stuff that makes our devices and data harder to breach.


    I'm not in the industry so I may be wrong, but I'm not getting any impression that Tech is genuinely more focused on privacy and security than before. As far as IoT goes it seems to be taking the approach that using good marketing to sell an insecure product is cheaper and thus more profitable than making a secure one. I expect any change to be spurred by outside forces like state/EU/intergov regulation and consumer sentiment for privacy and security. Tech inroads into transportation may be what drives a change, as the safety and security standards to put multi-tonne high-speed products on public roads will be stratospherically higher than for a phone or a social media site.


  • #154
    RasTa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,116 ✭✭✭✭RasTa


    Anyone spending over €300 on a phone needs their heads examined however everyone is addicted to them these days so maybe that's the reason.


  • #155
    Frunchy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 153 ✭✭Frunchy


    People buying the new expensive flagship phones rarely use the added capabilities. Most people would be far better off buying a midrange or old flagship phone.


  • #156
    murpho999
    Registered Users Posts: 28,386 ✭✭✭✭murpho999


    RasTa wrote: »
    Anyone spending over €300 on a phone needs their heads examined however everyone is addicted to them these days so maybe that's the reason.

    €300 is not a lot of phone these days.

    I assume you're talking about the outright to buy price rather than what Networks charge up front on contract?


  • Advertisement
  • #157
    OldMrBrennan83
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,658 ✭✭✭✭OldMrBrennan83


    RasTa wrote: »
    Anyone spending over €300 on a phone needs their heads examined however everyone is addicted to them these days so maybe that's the reason.

    I think anyone spending over €200 on a holiday needs their heads examined, someone else will think anyone spending over €1000 on a car needs their heads examined. We're all different. Like we get it, you're not into phones. So don't buy expensive ones and don't let anyone force you to do it. Problem solved.


  • #158
    McGiver
    Registered Users Posts: 4,366 ✭✭✭McGiver


    Mookie Blaylock wrote: »
    Incorrect

    Which one? OnePlus Chinese crap manufactured in Chinese sweatshop? Or that most mobile phones are manufactured in such places?


  • #159
    McGiver
    Registered Users Posts: 4,366 ✭✭✭McGiver


    murpho999 wrote: »
    I also don’t get the narrative that Apple are an evil corporation that takes advantages of Chinese workers in sweatshops and overcharges for phones whilst Samsung are a benevolent knight in shining armour who release phones for the greater good. Samsung are a huge corporation driven by making profits just like all other businesses.
    Yes, but two crucial differences:

    1. Apple is a grand tax evader and really can be called an evil corporation in this respect. Samsung doesn't engage in complex tax evasion of this scale, as far as we know.

    2. Samsung is a chaebol, a Korean conglomerate. Not a publicly traded company as Apple.


  • #160
    Raging_Ninja
    Registered Users Posts: 1,717 ✭✭✭Raging_Ninja


    McGiver wrote: »
    Which one? OnePlus Chinese crap manufactured in Chinese sweatshop? Or that most mobile phones are manufactured in such places?

    OnePlus is a solid mid-range phone that provides good value for money. Those Chinese sweat shop workers are doing the manufacturing jobs that the west has exported due to high minimum wage and overly strict regulations.

    The premise of the OP is incorrect - how can a phone be 'overpriced' if large numbers of people are willing to buy it? It would seem to me that they got price point right.


  • #161
    McGiver
    Registered Users Posts: 4,366 ✭✭✭McGiver


    Raging_Ninja wrote: »
    OnePlus is a solid mid-range phone that provides good value for money. Those Chinese sweat shop workers are doing the manufacturing jobs that the west has exported due to high minimum wage.

    The premise of the OP is incorrect - how can a phone be 'overpriced' if large numbers of people are willing to buy it? It would seem to me that they got price point right.
    Agreed on the value for money. But it's still a Chinese company. And customer support is reportedly poor (assume they can't sustain a good customer service due to aggressive pricing strategy).


  • Advertisement
  • #162
    Billy86
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23,495 ✭✭✭✭Billy86


    Captcha wrote: »
    Apple design their own CPU's/GPU but dont manufacture them and are actually a few years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to CPU's. They are as fast as full laptops with fans these days and Apple is rumored to be working on new laptops with hybrid cpu's to include the iPhone ones.

    Can I get a link to that? Not saying you're wrong but I've honestly never heard it before and find it odd that Nvidia and intel would allow Apple to design their own CPUs under the intel/Nvidia brands, never release them for direct consumerism, and not advertise on any way that an i5 8400 in a Macbook is years ahead of an i5 8400 in a pc or for general component sale?


  • #163
    TitianGerm
    Registered Users Posts: 27,774 ✭✭✭✭TitianGerm


    McGiver wrote: »
    Agreed on the value for money. But it's still a Chinese company. And customer support is reportedly poor (assume they can't sustain a good customer service due to aggressive pricing strategy).

    One Plus customer service is excellent. If your phone needs to be repaired for whatever reason they arrange collection and it's shipped to their repair centre in Germany.

    Someone on Boards broke their screen and sent it in. One Plus contacted them after receiving the phone and offered an upgrade to the newest model at the time.


  • #164
    adox
    Registered Users Posts: 19,015 ✭✭✭✭adox


    murpho999 wrote: »
    Yes it is.

    Unless you're going to start saying it's just slightly under which you would still need a 4k tv for.

    iTunes films are also 4k, well a lot of them with more being upgraded all the time.


    I only have a 4k tv a few weeks and love it and am surprised how much 4k(be it compressed or not) is available.
    I upgraded my Netflix sub, I have an Amazon Prime which has 4k content and for the first time ever I’ve found myself buying movies from iTunes - all at fantastic prices. A few examples:

    Get Out(4k) €4.99
    A Quite Place(4k Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos soundtrack) €6.99
    It(4k Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos soundtrack)€6.99

    I’ve also bought a few films for €3.99, some are HD and some are 4k.
    Also got a free UHD Blu-ray player with the TV.

    TVs have to the be the single best value for money technology product there currently is. Prices have plummeted in the last decade or so and the TVs have improved no end.


  • #165
    Mookie Blaylock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,058 ✭✭✭Mookie Blaylock


    McGiver wrote: »
    Which one? OnePlus Chinese crap manufactured in Chinese sweatshop? Or that most mobile phones are manufactured in such places?

    Both your statements re OnePlus are incorrect...


  • #166
    McGiver
    Registered Users Posts: 4,366 ✭✭✭McGiver


    Mookie Blaylock wrote: »
    Both your statements re OnePlus are incorrect...
    Evidence?


  • #167
    Mookie Blaylock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,058 ✭✭✭Mookie Blaylock


    McGiver wrote: »
    Evidence?

    Indeed, you provided none


  • #168
    Raging_Ninja
    Registered Users Posts: 1,717 ✭✭✭Raging_Ninja


    McGiver wrote: »
    Evidence?

    The OnePlus 5T I own is an absolute champ. Does everything I need, runs a lightly skinned version of Android which is absent of all the crapware other OEMs like Samsung load onto their devices. Good battery life, aluminium back, good screen and was very reasonably priced.

    I'm not a fan of the new trend where OEMs are adding glass backs to everything and definitely unhappy about them removing headphone ports.

    This review does direct technical comparisons between the Onplus 6T and its peers: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/oneplus-6t-review-amazing-value-with-an-even-more-amazing-fingerprint-reader/


  • #169
    Grayson
    Registered Users Posts: 16,106 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    Ursus Horribilis wrote: »
    I'm not talking about games that cost €10-€15. It's the ones that are €60-€70. They'd want to be brilliant at that sort of money.

    There's only a few games I buy at launch and I play the fcuk out of them. For example I have 900 hours clocked into rainbow 6 siege.

    I wouldn't spend that on a single player game that I'd only get a week out of. I always wait till the price drops.


  • #170
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,657 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »
    Anything Apple TBH. They used to offer a point fo difference, albeit at a cost, now the stuff is poorly designed muck they're rightly getting reamed by the right to repair laws coming into the States.
    I got my first Apple product a year ago.


    It's only got a single core processor but I love it.


  • #171
    Stratvs
    Registered Users Posts: 958 ✭✭✭Stratvs


    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »
    I got my first Apple product a year ago.


    It's only got a single core processor but I love it.

    Does it do pink lady’s or only Granny Smiths ?


  • Advertisement
  • #172
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,657 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    fonecrusher1 wrote: »
    I read somewhere that 80% of the components inside Apple products are not actually made by Apple. Its basically generic parts from various companies but nicely packaged externally.
    Apple computers stopped being special when they moved to Intel.

    It just means the hardware is more standardised than the random components on a PC

    You can stick the same version on Ubuntu on a Windows or a Mac


    Stick OSX on a PC you get a Hackingtosh the only trick is keeping to standard hardware.


  • #173
    r3nu4l
    Registered Users Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    Birneybau wrote: »
    A bit of research will give most people value and quality.

    I actually buy Moto Gs (was Motorola, Google and now Lenovo). Cracking phones for the price and do exactly what I need.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/motorola-5-7-Inch-Android-Sim-Free-Smartphone-Deep-Indigo/dp/B079SQF4BD/ref=sr_1_1?s=telephone&ie=UTF8&qid=1541709856&sr=1-1&keywords=moto+g

    Same here, love my moto G phones, currently in the G6 plus.
    Also have an iPhone for work, can't be bothered with it.


  • #174
    Pac1Man
    Registered Users Posts: 4,394 ✭✭✭Pac1Man


    I have my OnePlus 3 since launch (approaching 2.5 years) and it has been flawless.

    Admittedly I probably could have gotten a cheaper phone for how I use it but at €400, it wasn't too expensive. It still feels as quick as ever.

    What am I missing out on by not using an Apple product? Do you really need to buy into the full eco system to see the benefits? My only experience with the company is a 1st gen iPod Touch which still works! Must be ten years old at this stage.


  • #175
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,407 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    Prefer the old CRT Telly's myself,much easier to watch than the harsh in your face flat screens. Good for sports though.


  • #176
    JohnnyFlash
    Registered Users Posts: 7,055 ✭✭✭JohnnyFlash


    The best and only differentiating feature of iOS and the iPhone over cheaper android rivals is far superior privacy. Apple do far more to stop ghoulish companies like Facebook and Google from siphoning user data. They charge a premium on the device as a result. I’m cool with that.


  • #177
    Raging_Ninja
    Registered Users Posts: 1,717 ✭✭✭Raging_Ninja


    JohnnyFlash wrote: »
    The best and only differentiating feature of iOS and the iPhone over cheaper android rivals is far superior privacy. Apple do far more to stop ghoulish companies like Facebook and Google from siphoning user data. They charge a premium on the device as a result. I’m cool with that.

    Do they actually though? Or do they just say they do?


  • #178
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,407 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    CrankyHaus wrote: »
    A lot of this thread seems to be focused on Apple, which is kind of fair. They changed from coming out with one market changing product after another under Jobs to their current situation where the best they can do is buy Beats branding from Dre to sell overpriced headphones. The only cutting edge product they still have that lacks better and cheaper competition that I can think of is Airpods, and that won't last long.

    Phones, computers and TVs are all fairly mature markets by now and I wouldn't expect much more life-changing stuff there.

    Tech is really pushing the Internet of Things as the next transformational tech market. It will probably happen but I wonder if there will be a counter-swing towards privacy and security. People are getting more and more concerned about things like Alexa recording them, nations are getting more concerned about foreign tech companies in their IT infrastructure (eg Australia and the US towards the Chinese). I wonder how people would feel about setting their utilities through their smartphone if hackers started cutting off their heat and light or causing their food to rot in their fridge?


    Information gathering devices to sell to the highest bidder.
    Even cars are tracking your movements and some say your conversations.


  • #179
    Mookie Blaylock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,058 ✭✭✭Mookie Blaylock


    kneemos wrote: »
    Information gathering devices to sell to the highest bidder.
    Even cars are tracking your movements and some say your conversations.

    I cover my phone in tinfoil, nobody listening to me bah!


  • #180
    Wanderer78
    Registered Users Posts: 28,782 ✭✭✭✭Wanderer78


    Raging_Ninja wrote: »
    JohnnyFlash wrote: »
    The best and only differentiating feature of iOS and the iPhone over cheaper android rivals is far superior privacy. Apple do far more to stop ghoulish companies like Facebook and Google from siphoning user data. They charge a premium on the device as a result. I’m cool with that.

    Do they actually though? Or do they just say they do?

    Come on now, apple are at this game to, there's a reason why they've been investing billions in data center's around the world!


  • Advertisement
  • #181
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    Wanderer78 wrote: »
    Come on now, apple are at this game to, there's a reason why they've been investing billions in data center's around the world!

    For Icloud. Authorised upload of documents.

    That’s not the same as tracking and letting every 3rd parry track everything.


Advertisement