Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Slave to love

I’m not talking about the classic Bryan Ferry song, but my growing desire to break free from my iPhone.
The unveiling of the new iPhone 5S and the ‘cheap’ plastic backed 5C version (an eye-watering £469 vs. the 4S which now retails at £349) has left me somewhat under-whelmed. A new Touch ID fingerprint scanner to beef up security is nice, as is the faster processor, but boosting the camera capabilities with 1,000 flash settings misses the point when it still only offers a puny 8 megapixels compared to the competition.
Akin to a real long-term relationship that’s lost a bit of sparkle, my head has recently been turned by more eye-catching phone candy.  Or more specifically the Sony Xperia Z1 packed full of great user benefits such as a whizzy fast processing speed, high quality video wrapped in a nice interface and a camera that pushes the boat out. And that’s before I even consider the various seductive add-ons such as the snap-on QX10 smart lens and complimentary Smartwatch2. Both appeal to my inner geek which I’m finding hard to resist.
But resist I will. The reason is pure and simple – my iPhone might not be the best phone currently on the market but it has a big part of my life entwined within it. Whether it’s finance, health, news, shopping, sport travel or work … you name it I have an app for it.  Given the time invested in avidly collecting and using these apps over the years. I’m hooked and can’t bear the thought of starting all over again. Or losing forever those apps I can’t get with Android.
So I guess for now I will restrain myself to sneaking sideway glances at other mobile offerings as they emerge onto the marketplace. However, while I still intend to keep my iPhone, my loyalty is feeling less ‘loved-up’ and more ‘locked-in’ – so it’s only matter of time before I reach that make or break point.

(Extract of a blog originally posted on the service design consultancy we are experience website - http://www.weareexperience.com/).

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