Comments on: Smart Tech Advice: Buy Early, Buy Often

By: Earl

Earl — Fri, 27 May 2011 10:53:00 +0000

You think that new products work as they should? I have to strongly disagree with that. The only things that work as they should are commoditized products like desktop computers or digital cameras. Smartphones for instance are getting better but still full of bugs when they ship. Same with tablets.

I bought a smartphone almost 2 years ago and just now after rooting it am I getting a product that does not frustrate the hell out of me. With companies releasing so many new models of Smartphones they often neglect to release bug fixes for phones that are over a year old. So if your phone sucks then, oh well.

It’s nice to have an appreciation of technology and gadgets but don’t worship them. Paying for crappy products only encourages companies to produce more crappy gadgets. I know many people who complained all the time about their iphones and poor reception/dropped calls. However, they continued to upgrade each time a new iphone was released?

After having had many frustrations with android, I have to be honest, I will have to rethink whether or not I want another android phone. Nokia maybe?

By: Earl

Earl — Fri, 27 May 2011 10:53:00 +0000

After having had many frustrations with android, I have to be honest, I will have to rethink whether or not I want another android phone. Nokia maybe?

By: Andrew Hall

Andrew Hall — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:39:00 +0000

I think being an early adopter is mostly to do with the mentality of wanting to be on the leading edge. You pay the price of uncertainty of future support and promised features for the fact that you’ve got the latest gadget. Then again i can see the point the writer makes regarding those who dont buy technology for the fear of obsoletion. The fact is, technology goes obsolete real fast these days, that’s an inescapable fact. Just go with what you like and enjoy it regardless of the fact it won’t be the latest thing in a month or two. I have a first generation I5 processor. It’s obsolete now that Sandybridge is out, but it still performs more than amazingly in games etc so do i really need Sandybridge because it’s the latest chip? No, my Nehalem I5 is fine. I also have a Motorola Xoom. It’s the first official, Google backed Android tablet and so gets some things wrong by simple virtue of it being first out of the gate (officially); but i’m very happy with it otherwise and am looking forward to future updates that the Xoom will get (3.1). I also look forward to this time next year when Android tablets have taken from the lessons of the first ones to make even better ones, that i’ll likely upgrade to.

By: Merennulli

Merennulli — Mon, 23 May 2011 21:19:00 +0000

It’s foolish to think that new products won’t bring the old failures back. Many people, myself included, have gotten burned adopting technology that the company simply abandoned shortly afterward, leaving all the promised services, communities and features nonexistant. Or worse, tied into an otherwise great product that had no upgrade path when it failed to keep up with modern needs. That’s not to say there aren’t benefits to early adoption, but to claim that those issues are a thing of the past is fiction. I’ve sent plenty of software flops in the last year, and I see people lining up right now to buy things that I can already see will fail and leave those users high and dry (Chromebook, for example). Your HDTV and iPod dock examples may not have had issues, but in both cases, it wasn’t really new technology. It was a fancy label on a sticker for old technology. Multiple generations old, to be blunt. The HDTV was a repackaging of then-years old monitor technology combined at the surface level with some existing television technology, and the iPod dock was just a stripped down computer with an iPod connector and speakers. When you’re adopting actual new technology, such as the first generation tablets (years before the iPad), things don’t work, and their failure to work can be costly.

I am an early adopter, but I pay the price for it, and knowingly so. I buy bleeding edge so that when I have to support it as cutting edge or even bog standard technology, I know about the product better than the people I’m supporting. I also buy bleeding edge because, often, I’m the category of user who has been demanding it for a while by the time someone decides it’s time to go to market. The flexible touchscreen devices are what currently interests me. Someone (probably Apple, if Jobs is alive then) will finally bring one to market years from now and claim it’s cutting edge, but I fear it will be another 20 years like the tablet devices.

By: Maxim Matienzo

Maxim Matienzo — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:21:00 +0000

I cant buy early or buy often…i have to buy when i got to the US! Cant buy electronics in the Cayman Islands. Way too expensive!

By: mrnebu

mrnebu — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:37:00 +0000

i dont wait cause i dont want to early adopt, i wait till the price is goin down ^^

By: Beb

Beb — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:07:00 +0000

I guess you don’t know about iPhone 4. Lol..

By: Guest

Guest — Sun, 22 May 2011 11:35:00 +0000

Buy early, buy often.
YEAH
Sounds kind of american. Beacause you NEED 8 megapixel instead of 5.
Come on.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 May 2011 09:18:00 +0000

No issues with this approach. But certainly one should be willing to pay a price premium. Most of us are not willing or capable of paying a premium price.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 May 2011 07:24:00 +0000

Mr Reisinger I fully agree with your opinion. Thanks for the article, now I know I’m not the only person who acts this way with gadgets :D

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 May 2011 07:16:00 +0000

If I had loads of money and could buy often, sure. If I get a phone every 24 months per contract and the next best thing is 3 months down the road, I can wait a while and continue using my old phone off contract. If its gonna be an upgrade, that cost money, it better be the best I can get. Like you said yourself, last year’s phone isn’t that different from this years, so if you are gonna upgrade, make it count.

And I think you are confusing “early adopters of new technology” to “early adopters of some slightly bumped up piece of tech but otherwise nothing revolutionary”. Think of all the poor souls who invested in HD-DVD equipment and media.

Why are these editorials so shallow? Who are they paying (or not paying) to write these? Engadget seems to have the same quality of editorials as well.

By: Kbob76

Kbob76 — Sun, 22 May 2011 04:23:00 +0000

An early adopter is some one who buys new tech.( like the first avail. TV, MICROWAVES, and other new products right out of the lab’s ), I bought 802.11 before 802.11b even became a standard, the thru put was only 1 megabyte. The router and two wireless cards cost me over $1,700.00 and don’t mention software and hardware compatibility, it took month’s during that period back in 1997 to make the system reliable for daily use. Would I go down that early adopters road again and at great expense maybe if new promising tech. like 802.11 comes about. So I agree with the writer to some point, if you see a product that more than fit’s your needs by all means because only a fool believes that tomorrow is owed them and spending one’s self into financial hardship to stay current with out the resources is……well you know where I’m going !

By: Kbob76

Kbob76 — Sun, 22 May 2011 04:23:00 +0000

By: Robert Norris Hills

Robert Norris Hills — Sat, 21 May 2011 23:45:00 +0000

Actually if you look after what you buy its much smarter to buy mid-high level computers use them for 6 months and then sell them. Same with mobile gear.

Basically -most- of my electronics are sold and a new model bought for a loss of about 10% per product.

Yes it costs me money, but I always have up to date gear, unlike others who buy a TV and 5 years later has a TV thats worth nothing and is shit.

I consider it leasing….off myself.

By: TechExcitesMe

TechExcitesMe — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:03:00 +0000

I’d love to be a ‘buy-early-buy-often’ shopper but last time I checked tech costs… That’s why I’m ‘stupid’ enough to wait for the next MacBook Pro.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:55:00 +0000

I think you’re full of crap personally. But if you want to buy early and buy expensive,dude it’s your money BUT dont even try to defend the indefensible.

By: Toys

Toys — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:11:00 +0000

New advice, don’t buy anything! The Rapture is upon us!

http://bit.ly/dI3hcF