Tech Nostalgia

When I was younger, learning about technology sparked feelings of wonder, awe, and curiosity in me. I was so excited about the new iPhone/iOS/Android/Chrome/etc.

Now I feel only drudgery. I know this is because the novelty of youth is gone, much of the software I use is mature, and reduced competition and innovation in tech (and many industries).

The Nexus 6p (my first phone) had a unique feature: the ability to take photos with new geometries: full spheres, vertical and horizontal panoramas, fisheyes, a fake wide angle, and partial forms of all of the above paired with a wonderful viewing experience. The Pixel phone line inherited this feature, but lost it starting with the Pixel 8. I suspect this is related to Google’s switch away from Qualcomm processors. They no longer wanted to maintain this feature, which required special software and hardware support. It seems the first few pixel’s without Qualcomm chips did get the feature, then removed and restored it.

I purchased a Pixel 8 without knowing it didn’t have my favorite feature, and now I feel cheated and disappointed. Purchasing a new phone is easy, but damn. I felt like I had a super power. It encouraged me to take in my full surroundings, finding a good spot to photograph. And the photos were sooo slow to take, requiring my patience and presence of mind. Family and friends were regularly awed by my photos, which more than made up for my shaky hands or poor resolution.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jfX4MhHeLCqtnijP6