Off the Hook

I am in the tire-kicking market for a new phone - even though I don't really want to buy one. I have a Huawei P30 from 2019 that has been working fine for the most part, but it is starting to get a little glitchy and unresponsive at times. Have to say though, for a phone that is over four years old, the battery is still holding up better than any of the Samsungs I have had, as they were gone after two years. I am not keen to buy anything while this one is still working and the cracked screen (cracked it a couple weeks ago) doesn't bother me much.

And no, I don't do Apple.

However, what is interesting is that while I need a phone, I barely use the phone function on it. I likely get a couple calls a week and most of those are coming from my wife asking me to do something, which isn't really a high priority reason to buy. I am guessing I am not the only one who barely uses the actual phone part, even though people are constantly "on" their phones.

Doing what?

Besides the quality of the camera, what are the selling points of a device these days? Maybe it matters for those who mobile game, but Words with Friends and Splinterlands (I rarely play on mobile) are not exactly going to push a processor to the limits. Storage space? I think that is a factor to consider for me, as I tend to not only take a lot of photos, but I import a lot from my actual camera for editing and posting, so it tends to take up memory pretty fast.

I quickly had a look at a couple as I was passing by a store today, just to see what was around, but pretty much, the only things I need it to do well is take photos and give a smooth experience in terms of usage. The apps I use aren't too resource intensive, but it would be nice that they work well and so far, that has been the case on my old phone. One thing it has to have though is dual sim, as I use the one phone for work and personal, rather than carrying two.

Why am I writing about this?

Because, it helps me not buy a phone rather than actually going out to get one. Sure, a new phone would be nice, but it isn't going to make any significant difference on my life right now. Writing about it though is like planning a holiday that is not going to be taken - almost as good as going. Almost. And, since this is part of the process I would go through if buying now, it means I will have some of the work done when I am actually ready and willing to buy. Right now, I can't justify spending 900€ on a phone and while there are cheaper ones too that will be okay, I can't justify spending 500€ on "okay". And, I don't look at the top range, where they are around 2000€.

I have always liked window shopping.

My wife doesn't get it.

I am quite happy to go shopping, look at things, ask questions (if interested enough) and even try things on, but not actually buy unless I am in need or really like it. My wife sees this as a waste of time, but I think it actually saves me money, because rather than building the anticipation and desire and then making the purchase, I can get similar without actually having to buy it, by going most of the way through the buyer journey.

Nice to haves are not good enough.

At this stage right now, I have to be able to justify purchases so unless I have a business or family need for something, I can't warrant the expenditure. But, like most, I like being a consumer too, and at least for me, a lot of the enjoyment is actually going through the process of the purchase. It is like the enjoyment many feel reading about their favorite sports team, knowing the stats, watching the game but - never actually playing.

And, I think that because I do this, it means that I don't fall into that trap of purchasing insignificant incremental upgrades with each new release. Instead, when I buy, there is a significant difference from the old to new version for me, meaning that the change is noticeable and it makes more of an impact on my life. It might make things easier, or it might force me to learn new processes, but there is change that I have to navigate, whilst incremental change comes with incremental gains.

Obviously, like I have often enough written about, incremental changes lead to large scale shifts, but in my opinion at least, we shouldn't consume in this way. Instead, we should lengthen the lifecycle of the products we buy because it means that in order to sell, suppliers will have to increase their speed of development, because we demand better. If it isn't good enough, we won't pay.

Now however, in a world of shortening product lifecycles that match with the reduction in attention span and commitment, development doesn't have to improve much in order to get a sale - it just has to be a new version. Familiar, nothing seismic, nothing challenging.