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[Let's Talk] What Feature(s) Do You Consider A Gimmick? Jul 16, 2018

theshinybeast , Jul 16, 2018 :

the_o2 , Jul 18, 2018 :

The secondary rear camera of smartphones (especially in OP 6)

 

brian.sedore , Jul 18, 2018 :

Let’s roll out with the popular notch. What a crazy design feature that is. Well, they have taken into account that it could be cutting off some of your screen. So you can enlarge the display (pictures, video, etc.) so there’s just a little cutout on your screen. Nothing like having a part of your picture missing. Or if you didn’t want that, you could make it fit into a smaller area so it avoids the notch. Great, except that 6” screen is cut down a bit.

How about the squeeze feature that HTC and the Pixel had? I think they called it some name, but it was just a shortcut that enabled you to control things by squeezing the sides of your phone. Maybe just throw an extra button on the side. Sure, it only maps to one thing at a time (or in some OEMs case, only one thing ever), but I bet the squeeze sensitivity would be a little finicky.

Let’s continue on down the list with moving cameras. These covert cameras that manufacturers are including to avoid dealing with a notch are pretty fun actually. I just wouldn’t want to own one since the mechanism to move them would definitely get worn out before too long. Although, a camera that moves by your own force wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Anyone remember that Samsung flip phone that had the same camera for the front and back? You just had to rotate it around to switch it. No mechanism to electronically move it, but still a moving part.

I’ll top my list off with AI. Man was I disappointed to hear AI in the last Google keynote so much when their messaging situation is such a mess. It looks like the Allo team was moved over to the Android Messages app since the Messages for Web app is pretty much the exact same as Allo for Web. Still, it’s nice to see they are trying to move in the right direction finally in terms of syncing across devices. It’d be nice if it was done years ago though instead of having that fancy new AI ringtone and AI display brightness.

Honourable Mentions:
Wireless Charging
Curved Screens

 

G_david_hartono_S_iAtI , Jul 18, 2018 :

-Heart rate monitor
-AI
-Bixby
-Animoji
-Infinity display (Seriously, a notch is better than infinity display)
-Touchwiz

 

Sridhar Ananthanarayanan , Jul 18, 2018 :

can you explain why the 2nd camera is a gimmick? just because Google did a better job with a single camera?

 

Sridhar Ananthanarayanan , Jul 18, 2018 :

heart rate monitor - as long as it is approximately correct, I wouldn't call it a gimmick.

AI - gimmick? certainly not.

Bixby - gimmick? Not at all. it is quite useful for those who use it. just because it is an alternative to Google Assistant, and less capable than it in many respects, doesn't make it a gimmick. but hold on, you called AI a gimmick too. so there is logical consistency in your opinion, although incorrect.

animoji - it is a fun feature. don't know how much resources went into developing it. calling it a gimmick is fine.

infinity display - it is the tall aspect ratio of the display that led to the 'infinity' branding. but if you were actually refering to the curves on the sides, I would agree that I am too not too much in its favour because pictures and videos look odd in my opinion.

TouchWiz - not a gimmick either. it is just an os loaded with features. an attempt to include all the features that anyone would ask for. sure, many users will find many features they don't need, but doesn't make it a gimmick.

 

the_o2 , Jul 18, 2018 :

I'm not talking about high end smartphones, low budget to upper mid range phone yes including OnePlus, the secondary camera doesn't do anything special, the wide angle lens is good but not seen in many apart from LG and now Asus 5Z(that lens is also too bad in 5Z).
The secondary camera is just a show off in my opinion and yes if you achieve those things buy single lens, why wasting a hardware for that.
And I don't understand the use of telephoto lens, when it's looks almost similar to a cropped images..

 

Sridhar Ananthanarayanan , Jul 18, 2018 :

AI ain't a gimmick.

companies using the term to explain smart features is. features like auto brightness which we used to know as a smart feature would now be called AI brightness. this shows AI in poor light and as a gimmick.

companies should use the term responsibly to avoid real AI features from being considered a gimmick.

 

G_david_hartono_S_iAtI , Jul 18, 2018 :

Sridhar Ananthanarayanan

heart rate monitor - as long as it is approximately correct, I wouldn't call it a gimmick.

AI - gimmick? certainly not.

Bixby - gimmick? Not at all. it is quite useful for those who use it. just because it is an alternative to Google Assistant, and less capable than it in many respects, doesn't make it a gimmick. but hold on, you called AI a gimmick too. so there is logical consistency in your opinion, although incorrect.

animoji - it is a fun feature. don't know how much resources went into developing it. calling it a gimmick is fine.

infinity display - it is the tall aspect ratio of the display that led to the 'infinity' branding. but if you were actually refering to the curves on the sides, I would agree that I am too not too much in its favour because pictures and videos look odd in my opinion.

TouchWiz - not a gimmick either. it is just an os loaded with features. an attempt to include all the features that anyone would ask for. sure, many users will find many features they don't need, but doesn't make it a gimmick.​

Heart Rate Monitor-didnt used it much,not that useful and waste of space
Bixby- we already have google assistant, why create another one?
Touchwiz- Almost all of the feature were useless, a lot of double apps (Chrome and samsung internet browser)
AI- We already have those features on older phones ( Overcharging protector as AI on asus phone,seriously?)

 

Sridhar Ananthanarayanan , Jul 18, 2018 :

Samsung is trying to reduce its reliance on Google and Android. that's why they have been bundling the Samsung Galaxy App Store for a very long time. the Tizen operating system was another attempt to reduce reliance on Google. their own apps - the main ones like media player, browser, file manager, etc - are extremely versatile and usually there isn't a need for a 3rd party app.

Google apps being bundled out of the box is a Google (Android) licensing requirement and that's how Android is free.

AI - I think companies are misusing this term and using them randomly. simple smart features are now being renamed with AI in their names, and this is what is making them seem like a gimmick.

AI by itself isn't gimmick and companies must use this term responsibly.

 

OneByOneTwo , Jul 18, 2018 :

Wireless charging. I agree that wireless charging is cool, but having to charge slower than with usual charging cables is not great. Whereas one could plug into their own phones to charge, why still try to charge it wirelessly, by plugging into the charging pad and placing your phone on top? It is surely a trend, but it is not good enough.

 

Dunnow , Jul 18, 2018 :

The weather app, The OnePlus community app, or basically, anything that is not purely essential to a smartphone.

Can't even begin about the notes app...

 

DARTH 007 , Jul 18, 2018 :

AI inside a phone.
Open ears forum.
your thread.
Front cam portrait mode.
Glass back without wireless charging.
Red coloured OnePlus.

 

Baymax , Jul 18, 2018 :

You lost my like on this post
Thought was great before you changed it
XD

 

DARTH 007 , Jul 18, 2018 :

that my unbiased reply

thought honesty pays.

that's why you should like it

 

Baymax , Jul 18, 2018 :

Honesty pays but truth hurts.

Truth is that I retracted my like.

 

DARTH 007 , Jul 18, 2018 :

good.
nice to know the honest truth.
respect.

 

Nojuzz33 , Jul 18, 2018 :

1. Dual cameras on OnePlus phones (except OP5). Basically the same cameras with different resolution. Portrait photos can be done only with one camera.
2. AI. Just a marketing buzzword. Asus use of it is by far the most ridiculous.
3. Notch with a chin. It isn't symmetrical, looks ugly and is done without any particular reason. Just OEM's blindy copying Apple without knowing why Apple did it. And don't blame Essential for that. They did it first, but Apple made it popular.
4. Android 9.0 gestures. Again, copying Apple without knowing their reason for doing so. Apple did it to make navigation bar as small as possible, but Android doesn't do that.
5. Glass back w/o wireless charging. OnePlus, for example, exchanged durability of metal to glass and didn't include it's biggest benefit.
6. Face unlock w/o 3D sensing. Again, blindly taking inspirations from Apple.
7. 8gb of RAM. This one is a little bit nitpicky, but does an average user really have so many apps open that it would need so much RAM? Well it is nice to have, so that's not so bad.

 

GlennO , Jul 18, 2018 :

A glass back. Completely impractical.

 

gaster , Jul 18, 2018 :

Hey @Baymax Nice to talk to you again buddy. It was great the last time in London. I hope you are doing fine. Well. For me I could say I see as a gimmick the moto "The Speed You Need". And not because it's not truth. Of course it's truth that OxygenOS along with OnePlus 6 hardware is super fast and probably the fastest OS out there.

But because, since OnePlus 3, I believe we always had the speed we need. Anyone that had experienced the OnePlus 3,3T,5 and 5T devices should clearly know, that each one of these devices were processing everything still super fast.

So with little words, I would prefer a different moto for the OnePlus 6, while this one looks more marketing for me. Even in a speed test you will not see a super duper difference in executing/running apps compared to the previous OnePlus devices.

About the notch, I don't see it as a gimmick because some people like it and some other no. Well, that's all for me.