Since I have been a fan of technology for quite some time, I noticed that some of these technologies improve by leaps and bounds while others are given poor substitutes or even left stagnant only to be forgotten. While some of these newer offerings are there to fill the gap, they don’t quite provide the needed solution to what is needed. Some makes for poor user experiences that are either tolerated or just outright leave behind. Others maybe outstanding but became obsolete. With that context, here are my 5 technologies that I miss.
Thumb board phones
While the technology revolution is coming back to full circles such as Nokia and Blackberry back making new phones, the one thing that won’t catch on would be the thumb board phones that Blackberry are synonymous of. In the days of yore, everyone was making them from HTC, Sony, Nokia and even Motorola.
Sadly, this form of data entry won’t be coming back anytime soon. The reason is the manufacturing costs of creating these miniature keyboards as well as durability issues to hide these keyboards at the risk of losing screen space. Combined with the fact that not everyone uses a keyboard in their native language, the soft keyboard makes quite a lot of sense. But if you ever texted the wrong message or get autocorrected in the worst way, thumb boards was THE way to make sure to send your message.
A good foldable keyboard
At the height of the pocket organizers such as Palm and Pocket PC’s, the need for data entry into these small devices was very important to companies allowing a mobile workforce to update their details accurately without too much hassle. After realizing that with the right accessories such as a good foldable keyboard such as the Targus Stowaway, they can write emails and even paragraphs of reports without the need to lug a heavy and expensive laptop.
I personally was using a Pocket PC and a stowaway keyboard updating a spreadsheet, chatting on MSN and writing up an email all at a coffee shop. When I was done, I folded up my stowaway keyboard and pocketed both keyboard and PDA and was mobile in less than 5 seconds. Others would fumble with system shutdowns, mouse cables and power bricks taking a minute.
However, once companies do away with manual entries and relied on automation, the tools for these also dried up as well. While data entry is still needed for mobile devices, the modern day substitutes are poor replacements as they are neither compact enough to be mobile or full sized to be comfortable to be used on an everyday basis.
Discreet gaming laptop
At some point, desktop gaming computers looked louder with flashy LED’s, fancy water cooling accessories and back boxes with sharp angular designs in an attempt to deviate from the boring beige boxes of the 486 era. Gaming laptops also took these cues but these aimless features were a drain on battery life so the next best thing is to have red highlight trims on the laptop body.
Depending on the manufacturer, the amount of red could be subtle to outright obnoxious. Most if not all gaming laptops these days have red somewhere in an attempt to differentiate themselves from their usual laptops. ASUS did try to move away to orange in their higher end ROG laptops but it’s very hard to find a discrete gaming laptop these days.
Why a discrete gaming laptop? Because everyone loves a powerful computer to work on but don’t need to tell everyone that. I have personally seen a manager pulled out a gaming laptop for a presentation that looked very out-of-place in a business meeting. She couldn’t compromise on performance and price so the ugly looks will have to do. Powerful and discreet machines do exist on the markets but workstations and business computers are not very affordable due to contractual warranty obligations.
Clean system installs
While this is often a low end laptop’s plight, even high end smartphones have their own apps and skins pre-installed to control the user’s experience, encouraging brand loyalty or just an excuse to data mine consumer preferences. Most cannot be uninstalled without breaking something and some may even slow down the device, affect the battery life or even become a security issue. When this does happens however, they don’t blame the app, they blame the device manufacturer.
Recently, some manufacturers have begun to use stock Android OS on their phones as a way to keep their devices up to date. Some laptop makers have also stopped pre-installing games and other adware programs leading to faster boot times and minimizing performance bottlenecks.
Actually GOOD apple products
In the interest of full disclosure, I was an Apple fanboy in the past but their current offering really need to be reviewed. Where to begin? Their all-in-one iMac desktops and workstations are overpriced and are unserviceable. The laptop’s processors are generations behind. Their iPhones cost more than most computers and the bloated iOS store tries to cater to a parade of devices from the iPod touch to the 12-inch iPad’s.
While their product designs are second to none, the lack of an upgrade path always hinders the overall computing experience and their combined ecosystem. This in-turn distances themselves from those who strongly supported them in the past giving them little reason to stay on the platform. While their future iMac pros and iPhone X are showing promise, these aren’t meant for most consumers but here’s hoping that these technologies will trickle down to the average consumers in the future.