How Do You Work This Damn Gadget?
from the it-ain't-easy dept
I have a very nice digital camera that I got about a year ago that has all sorts of funky features - most of which I will never figure out. It came with something like four different instruction books, and I never was quite sure which one I was supposed to read for what. Eventually, I figured out how to (a) take pictures and (b) get pictures off the camera, and have been mostly happy with it since then. However, the thousands of fancy features I'm sure the camera has will likely continue to go unused. It seems I'm not the only person to be befuddled by the latest in gadget complexity. Many more gadgets are coming with more features - but that feature creep is leading to increasingly more complex user interfaces that are becoming much more of a pain to figure out than useful. It sounds like there's a growing backlash against such overly complex gadgets. The gadget makers don't seem to have caught on to this year - but many people claim they're putting off (or giving up altogether) certain purchases due to fears of the difficulty in using the devices. That should set of alarm bells for gadget makers, but most seem to have not received the message.
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Cyclical Fashions
Will pac-man watches come into fashion again?
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maybe not for everyone
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Real Life Example
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shoppers' dilemma
It seems like feature count is sexy in the store, but not sexy when you get it home. Why is that?
It's not like there aren't enough choices on the market. If you want a simple camera, buy a simple camera. They exist, they're easy to find, you'll have no trouble using them.
The extra features can be left alone if you don't want to use them. But for every person who doesn't know what that DOF preview is, there's an experienced photographer who wouldn't buy a camera without it.
Personally, I am not an early adopter. I say this, even though I've been using digital cameras for six years. I research my next model according to the features I *know* I'll want. I wait until it's down to the price I want. Then I buy it.
I also give new photographers this advice: read the manual while the first battery is charging, and at the end of Day 1, Week 1, Month 1 and Year 1. Each time you read it, more of it will make sense. Also, for each feature you want to understand, take a few pictures with and without, and compare them closely.
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Re: shoppers' dilemma
In other words, if I buy a simple device I would want the exact same as the complicated device but with all of the options stripped off and set to default values. The manufacturer assumes that if I don't want features then I am a price shopper and therefore I will also accept lower quality.
I guess the dilemma is that people who shop by price alone will give up features AND quality, but I wonder if there is a demand for fewer features without giving up quality, but still paying more than the bottom-of-the-line model. Maybe we all have the mindset that to pay more there must be more features.
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Fuck losers
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Re: Cyclical Fashions
Do you have any proof of this, like a marketing study or 2?
Or is this an 'observation' of yours dorpus?
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Re: Cyclical Fashions
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Re: Cyclical Fashions
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