There is still independent individuals out there building incredible hardware.
Hard RF stuff, Analog + Digital
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Discussion
And smaller comercial enterprise with remarkable products
https://icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/handheld/705/default.aspx
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Why can’t we have this level of commitment on other industries?
Why does every phone looks like a glassy bar of soap?
Phone design and innovation stopped years ago.*
*camera being the exception
I find that perspective completely disingenuous.
First of all we should recognize these things as mobile computers. At least the iPhone keynote made the distinction that it encapsulated three distinct devices and ran OS X, but then the complete discourse got hung up at that useless phone categorization.
Second, the form factor derives from human anatomy. If you want to innovate human anatomy, take it up with the laws of biology and physics. Phone design made enough mistakes by messing with the device size.
Third, only recently, phone design completely overhauled the enclosure construction, advanced glass types, aluminium and steel alloys, fewer mechanical elements, even Titanium, notoriously difficult to machine, appears to enter the mix more prominently soon.
Then recent devices completely overhauled wireless connectivity, UWB, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi revisions. 64bit chips, secure enclave, dedicated machine units, advanced biometrics, laser scanners, advanced camera optics, advanced speakers, wide color, HFR, color temperature adapting screens.
PCs have had no comparable innovations in decades, yet no one seems to lament this for sake of self congratulatory rambling.
If you avoid to look past the trivial surface, you will find anything dull pretty fast.
Yes, year over year devices get better but from my perspective, as someone who was on the iPhone team at apple, things have become iterative and incremental vs lacking true innovation.
Hard to argue with your direct credentials here, of which I admittedly knew nothing when I wrote the post.
However, I hope I could lay out somewhat credibly how and why I disagree.
Regarding incremental, even if I perceived it like that, I go with the James Joyce quote “In the particular is contained the universal”.
Barrier to entry is low for every category in HAM. You can build a working radio in the garage for under $100. You only need to understand basic physics, analog electronics, plus lots of room to experiment with frequencies . This birthed the HAM community.
I don't see anything analogous for cell phones.
because they're designed to make people stupid.
and they're spy tech, it's not about giving the consumer something useful.
its about tricking the consumer into accepting a thing that makes corporations money by spying on them.
Because of human anatomy.
Never heard of these guys before. Looks nice
these are lovely. I forget the radio I saw the other day, but if I ever have a spare 5 grand and it doesnt need to go to other stuff, it would be tempting.
You gotta put an NSFW tag on links like that for those of us on Chinese starter HF radios like my x6100.
That’s some great starting!