To my amusement this morning I saw the internet abound with stories on Google’s Nexus 7, the more I mulled it over in my head the more underwhelmed and genuinely surprised I was with the amount of hype this device was receiving. True, the device will offer you a Tegra 3 device at the extremely affordable price of £159, but it’s not really a game-changer. If anything, it shows Google is finally starting to catch up with Apple’s iPad, nothing really to shout about here.
By no means is this purely a jab at Google, no, it’s basically the culmination of a concern I’ve had over the past year. I’m disappointed at the amount of innovation we’ve seen in the mobile sector, Moore’s law states that we should not be surprised at the development of dual and quad-core phones. Yet here we are, drooling over this new wondrous device, but what has really changed? Will your experience on this device be so different compared to the upgrade you made 12 months ago? Probably not. Just to put this into perspective one of the main talking points about this device has been Jelly Bean’s “Project Butter”, offering smoother swipes and transitions. There you have it then, smoother transitions, that’s what you’ll be getting with your new upgrade.
A theory is starting to coalesce in my mind as to why Apple hasn’t yet brought out a new iPhone and why they continue to throw lawsuit after lawsuit at Google/Samsung. I’m probably giving Apple too much credit here but being the self-proclaimed kings of innovation as they are, I just wonder if perhaps they also realize this stagnation of innovation. It becomes more apparent when you think back over the progression from iPhone 4 to 4s, they understood that this was not a big step in innovation. We have a habit of proclaiming every new mobile device as the second coming; the first being the original iPhone, Steve Jobs its prophet. I’m becoming disinterested in phones whose design has hardly changed since 2004, isn’t that right apple?
Google Glass
Oh joy, innovation, finally. Anyone who believes in technology taking a kind of evolutionary path may have saw Google glass coming (more on this another time). When you look at augmented reality technologies such as Layar, we can easily imagine the potential of Google Glass. Google may well drop the ball on Glass but at least they are preparing the public psyche for the introduction of such devices. This means that no matter who brings Glass or similar device to market the public will be ready and waiting.
When we start to see innovation like this, I might get out of my seat.
Posted by: Joss Earl
Jul 04, 2012