I want to talk about not a specific mobile phone brand, nor the entire mobile phone industry, but just chat about some topics related to mobile phones based on my own observations. In other words, this is just my rant and complaint.
Product Launch Events#
Many people feel that domestic mobile phone launch events are becoming more and more boring. On one hand, this is because the products from different companies are not very different, and the differentiation is not particularly obvious. The hardware configurations are similar, and if one company has a system feature or user preference, other companies will immediately follow suit. On the other hand, there are too many things that are difficult to understand at these events. It takes a lot of time to talk about specifications, and there are various rankings that belittle other competitors. The actual hands-on experience is just average. Especially now, most domestic manufacturers are adopting the strategy of releasing new phones almost every month, sometimes even just for a collaboration or a change in color, they still hold a launch event. The frequency of phone releases is quite high, but the optimization and refinement of the system seem to be less focused on, especially in terms of "camera". I remember a few years ago, there were various high pixel cameras, starting from 100 million pixels, which became a slogan and selling point. Now it's all about large sensors and various collaborations. The camera part of the phone is getting thicker, which leads to an increase in the overall weight of the phone, affecting both the feel and the appearance.
In my personal opinion, although domestic manufacturers are indeed putting a lot of effort into hardware, they have not fully utilized their potential. Instead of spending money on certifications and collaborations, it would be better to focus on optimizing their own camera algorithms. On the other hand, if they don't do too many gimmicks, consumers may not feel satisfied and may think that the products are overpriced. The camera algorithm is something that consumers can only perceive after they have the phone, and considering that most people may not know how to use the phone's camera well and only use a few lenses automatically (like me), refining the algorithm is not something that can be achieved in the short term.
The same goes for phone specifications. Instead of talking about so many specifications, it would be better to demonstrate them live at the event. However, nowadays, launch events don't like to do live demonstrations anymore. I don't know if they are afraid of failure or what, but the competition in the domestic mobile phone industry is quite intense. If you fall behind even slightly, your market share will be taken by others.
Here's a recommended video: 10 Key Words in Mobile Phone Advertising! Which ones are tricks? It will give you a simple understanding of the marketing gimmicks used by manufacturers.
Of course, besides the criticisms I mentioned above, domestic launch events also have their merits. For example, I find the copywriting that skirts the edge of advertising regulations quite interesting. "Computational optics that breaks through physical boundaries, the world's first and only dual-turbine supercharging liquid cooling system, high-precision tungsten steel ball cutting, etc." Each one is more exaggerated than the last, claiming to be leading the industry, as if there were no advertising regulations in China.
Mobile Phone Enthusiast Community#
I have always thought that having a mobile phone enthusiast community is a normal thing. People who use the same brand of phones gather together to exchange their experiences and share some tips and tricks. This is a great thing. However, in today's mobile phone enthusiast community, there are not many discussions, but there are plenty of insults. Whenever someone mentions Huawei, they are called "low IQ machines". Whenever someone mentions Xiaomi, they are called "cheap machines". Whenever someone mentions other brands, they are called "overpriced low-spec machines". Whenever someone mentions Apple, they are called "high-class users". These inherent biases are becoming more and more intense, and until now, I haven't seen a normal and decent mobile phone enthusiast community in China. I find this somewhat ironic. We clearly have a huge user base of smartphones, but it is difficult to find a corresponding forum or community.
I remember watching a YouTube video about sharing Android phone applications, and the blogger mentioned shizuku and lspatch. By authorizing applications and using built-in modules, you can increase the playability of your phone without rooting it. I wanted to find some related tutorials to try it out. I searched on search engines, but the results were either too basic, just explaining how to install and use applications, or they were just sharing the applications themselves. In the end, I found a tutorial shared by a respected person on the Coolapk community. I don't really like Coolapk because it has a lot of ads, no web version, and it's not convenient to share content. But when it comes to mobile phone enthusiast communities in China, it's hard to find another place with so many users sharing their experiences and insights. Even if you search on search engines for a long time, you will still end up back at Coolapk.
I can browse foreign communities like Reddit and XDA, but the environment is different. Many local ROMs have been heavily modified, and the Android ecosystem is also different. The problems they encounter are also quite unique, so many of their problems are not applicable to me.
Rooting Phones#
- What is rooting a phone?
Rooting a phone is like having administrator access to a computer. If we "root" a phone, we can have complete control over the phone's operating system. We can freely modify and customize the phone's software, features, and settings, such as removing pre-installed apps, changing system settings, and installing custom ROMs.
The most mentioned topics under the discussion of rooting phones on Coolapk are:
- I want to install modules and remove system ads.
- I want to increase the playability of my phone.
- I want to prevent malicious software from stealing my privacy.
- I want to switch to a different operating system.
After rooting your phone, you can solve all these problems. I remember being annoyed by the ads in the pre-installed weather app on my phone, so I uninstalled it and replaced it with an open-source ad-free weather app. In addition, after rooting your phone, you have many good applications to choose from, such as storage space isolation, Thanox, Scene5, Magisk (and Magisk Delta), and other applications. Besides these individual applications, you can also find many open-source modules that can be used with Xposed, which is really enjoyable.
For more information, you can read these two articles: "Learn to Root, Make Your Android Faster and Stronger" (Part 1) | (Part 2)
- Why has rooting become difficult?
In fact, the topic of rooting phones has gradually faded from people's attention. On one hand, manufacturers are constantly tightening restrictions on rooting phones. On the other hand, manufacturers have put effort into providing more functional features in their systems, reducing people's desire to root their phones.
Rooting itself carries certain risks. If you make a mistake during the process, your phone may become unusable, and most people find it difficult to solve this "bricking" problem. Official after-sales services do not provide warranty for phones that have been rooted.
Not only that, some applications detect whether your phone is rooted or not, such as various banking apps, payment apps, games, music apps, and even some system update services and app stores from certain manufacturers. Once they detect that your phone is rooted, these apps will not work properly or even stop providing services. This creates another challenge, as after rooting your phone, you need to spend time hiding the root, which is not an easy task.
- My Complaint
It's quite funny that users spend money to buy a phone but cannot use it according to their own preferences. They are even discouraged from doing so. Yes, rooting a phone does carry certain risks, and it is understandable to set some barriers, but everything has a limit. Shouldn't users have some choices for how they use their own phones? This is something I find hard to understand. If I can't use my phone according to my own preferences, then what's the difference between owning a phone and renting one? I think there is not much difference.
In discussions about rooting phones, I have seen many people say that it is very unsafe to root a phone and that not rooting it is for the sake of the phone's security. I believe that whether it is safe or not depends on whether the user is aware of what they are doing. As long as the operation is done properly, it is possible to use the phone safely.
With great power comes great responsibility. From the moment you want to have root access, you have to take responsibility for the consequences of your actions. At the same time, I hope that phone manufacturers can give users some rights to choose while considering security. Mobile phone enthusiasts will not disappear, so it is better to facilitate positive interactions between manufacturers and enthusiasts.
Conclusion#
Although I have written over two thousand words, I have mainly described these things from the perspective of a user. I haven't analyzed the complex relationships behind them, I don't have a comprehensive view of the overall situation, and I don't have authoritative data and reports. I'm just expressing some of my dissatisfaction and doubts. If you expect more, I think it would be difficult for me to write it.
In the end, I am just a user expressing my frustrations and questions. Let the professionals handle the more specialized matters.