The Experience
Hello there,
Over the past couple of years, companies have been showering the industry with smartphones— all of them a little different than the rest. Sometimes, we have phones that stand out with exceptional cameras and sometimes, we have phones that have really powerful processors for gaming.
We can safely assume that the smartphone market has come a long way since it started. This market is probably the most volatile consumer tech market too! While we have exceptional features on mobile devices now, we need to understand the concept of gimmicks and marketing before we plan on buying a phone.
I’ll be super honest here. Yesterday, I went to see a movie after ages and before it started, a series of ads were cast. What stood out to me was how smartphone companies such as Realme were advertising. Realme just launched a new phone with its unique selling point being that it charges up to 50% within 6 minutes. That’s not it, though. The phone has a cheesy quote on the back saying, “Dare to Leap” with two white stripes on a blue coloured body. The phone also packs a 50MP camera sensor with the largest mobile cooling system for this size. All of this is at INR 36,999 or USD 475.
On paper, this looks stunning and is probably perfect for its price! But not everything is about these gimmicks. What exactly are gimmicks? You could say that they are a simple way to fool the consumer into buying a product with features that are not a necessity. Gaming statistics from last year show that 46% of US citizens play games on their mobile phones. Most people from this demographic come from adults who are over the age of 35. They play basic arcade games such as Candy Crush or chess on their phones. Why on earth would such basic games require a cooling system? I mean, the iPhone 13 series has one of the best cameras in the industry but they only pack 12MP cameras…
What I am trying to say here, is that all that matters when using and buying a smartphone is the experience. Not everything is about random specs, and not everything is based on a couple of marketing tricks. It’s the human touch of smartphones that has allowed brands like Google and Apple to build such large empires. Google Pixel is designed around the ideology, “The Pixel is here to help you.” The Pixel smartphones lineup does not have anything flashy! Just a simple smartphone with very useful features. A secure phone with a good design that stands out and can be used by anybody.
Experience is the key factor that should determine your tech. I am sure you don’t want to pay INR 40,000 and see ads on your Samsung phone, right? Because Samsung does that.
This is a snippet from Realme’s website. Look closely, does this diagram about cooling make any sense to you? Why would anyone want to look at this? If someone understands this diagram, I am pretty sure they are a techie. But then again, why would any techie want to invest in a phone with gimmicks like this? Most of the marketing they do is based on exploiting customers who have no idea what they want in a phone.
Value the experience. That’s all I am asking. Before I sign off, a small note for companies that value gimmicks more than features. No consumer understands what 5000 mAh stands for, or how that makes a difference to them. Be human, and use phrases such as “7 hours of screen on time.”
Keep it simple.
Fell for these gimmicks once,
Tejas Tagra
6,117 days
