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Comment by elithrar | Hacker News Reader

> Why are we still focusing on hardware when it is clear that software is just as, if not more important than appearance and feature set?

It's because comparing hardware specifications is easy - it's quantifiable, it's numbers, and techies are familiar with them. How do you objectively compare the effect on that hardware on the software experience, and the quality of the software experience itself (qualitative)?

FWIW, ICS (Android 4.0) is a big step in the right direction compared to earlier versions, especially when it comes to making the most of the hardware underneath.

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Why do consumers care that their phone has quad core gpus or whatever when Apple tells them a simple story about how the device is supposed to fit into and improve their lives? Technology is just a means to an end.

Because I don't really listen to Apple as much as to my own experience. Well to be fair I have used an iPhone (3S) only for a couple of hours and have been living with an Android phone (HTC Desire S) for 8 months now. May be an iPhone would have made me happier, but to think of it objectively I don't see much difference in utility and ease. I would even make a hypothesis that the extra happiness is largely because of sociological factors.

That's the other iPhone sleight of hand.

iPods do video? No-one wants their iPod to do video... [pause] One more thing... iPod now does video

Single core, dual core? No-one cares, it's about the experience... [pause] One more thing... the 4S is now dual core!

"Why do consumers care that their phone has quad core gpus or whatever when Apple tells them a simple story"

because not everyone buys Apple's stories.

And Apple talks about Specifications all the time. If they have a lower resolution screen than the competition, they don't talk about it. But as soon as they manage to ship a competitive high resolution screen themselves, they make it the center of their complete ad campaign.

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