There’s this saying: How things
change but yet still remain the same. Technology is the anti-thesis of that
saying
Another year, another deluge of technology
that threatens to drown us all, there had been a lot of hype last year for the
industry most of which is driven by the impending arrival of Windows 8. It was
hotter than the buzz around the upcoming iProducts that were expected to roll
out of the production line and the suddenly, yet equally as incredible, short
lifespan of the new iPad. There would be no competition if it had not been for
the hordes of Apple worshippers who care about their beloved i-devices.
More
than one person would admit that they can’t tell the difference between technology
brands, with the only exception being Blackberry
Evolution is the process of randomly
adopting traits until you find one that works. It is not an act of suddenly
sprouting the necessary physical capacity to walk out of the primordial stew to
complain about the traffic. Consumer technology is a lot like biology in this
sense. Unfortunately, there’s only so much you can do with designing touch
interface if you want to keep your phone working.
More than one person would admit that they
can’t tell the difference between technology brands, with the only exception
being Blackberry. The physical keyboard is a dead giveaway. Even that will
eventually go away in the near future if inside sources are correct. Evolution
has a habit of losing vestigial limbs or features in this case.
That’s the core of the issue here really.
Design has more or less plateau for consumer technology. It’s not just phones
that are experiencing this phenomenon. Tablets and notebooks are beginning to
look more and more alike. The new breed of convertible notebooks running
Windows 8 is somehow making this trend digress further.
Only
Dell’s XPS 12 and Lenovo’s Ideapad Yoga have any claim to be trying something
new with the form factor
Yes, you might point at those convertibles
and call them innovative. But upon closer inspection, they are at the core –
still tablets with keyboards stuck to them.
It’s not new. We’ve had keyboards for
tablets for years now. Only Dell’s XPS 12 and Lenovo’s Ideapad Yoga have any
claim to be trying something new with the form factor. Having tested the Yoga
myself, I can safely say that I like the direction they’re taking. This is
despite the fact that it is quite possible that no consumer ever asked
themselves if they could use a notebook in tent mode. Perhaps they should try
that while pretending to be on a camping trip with their pet hamster.
The video game theory
There are only two industries that
constantly try to push the envelope of technology and try to do something new.
One of those cannot be mentioned in polite company while the other is the world
of video games.
Sony's
slimmed-down, network-ready PS2 is a welcome update to the world's most popular
video game console
Consoles are designed to have a distinctive
silhouette, something easily identifiable from a single glance. And the whole
idea will be thrown away as it is replaced with something that looks completely
different. That’s the next generation for you. Just look at the difference
between the original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. Then compare the two
with the third iteration of Sony’s flagship game console. They are distinctive
and don’t run the risk of being mistaken for a competitor’s product.
Even handheld consoles have managed to look
different while maintaining the core identity and functionality of the product.
Why is this happening when everything
else is looking the same?
One reason could be because these devices
have a longer product cycle. Unlike mobile phones, which are refreshed every
other quarter, gaming consoles are expected to last several years. This leaves
designers plenty of time to adapt their product to the market and not worry
about rushing it out the door.
There is also the idea that nobody really
cares what their gaming device looks like so long as it does what they want it
to do.
Where it all went wrong
Mobile phones once had this approach where
manufacturers produced a plethora of shapes, sizes and colors. Anything a jaded
consumer could ever want. Phones could flip, slide and convert in a multitude
of ways. Then something happened to the industry where everyone decided that
they should be building the same phone.
Smartphones
became such a huge hit because they were willing to copy a successful design
This came around the time when the
smartphone had been first popularized. Although this certainly wasn’t like that
when it was first introduced, despite what popular perception likes to believe.
One might be tempted to point the finger at
Apple Computers for starting this trend. And that person wouldn’t be too far off
the mark. Most phones and tablets these days do take their design cues from the
iPhone and iPad. The same shape and how the home button is always located where
it is.
Smartphones became such a huge hit because
they were willing to copy a successful design. Even so, controversially
speaking, this was also supported through the large Asian manufacturers that
hope to break into the global smartphone market by paying homage
and...well...copying. Samsung has been sued for patent infringement in several countries.
While the verdicts of those cases have been wildly deferring, it all boils down
to the same issue.
Years ago, nobody would have heard of HTC,
Samsung, or LG. Now, they’re all household names.
