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Why Do Gadgets Break?
TurboTurnip writes "A post on the Crave blog at CNET asks: Why are modern consumer electronics so easily broken? It argues that the 21st Century is 'The Age of the Flimsy' where 'your gadgets will simply break within the year.' Post author Chris Stevens talks about how computers are fast enough for the average user, and the only way to make consumers upgrade is 'increasingly poor build quality ... Engineers have built obsolescence into mass-produced technology since the 1920s. There are two kinds of planned deterioration in a product: one is technical, the other is stylistic.' The writer compares the build quality of a 20 year-old IBM XT to the modern Motorola Razr phone and concludes that modern gadgets are 'delicate, beautiful supermodels that can't go the distance.'"
People drop them, spill water on them, http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 8764 put them in the washing machine, etcetra. People are stupid and careless.
In addition, capacitors and other parts DO have a limited lifetime.
http://pinopsida.com
An original IBM PC cost thousands of dollars when they were new. An iPod costs 200 dollars new, approximately. Surely a 10-fold difference in price reflects more than advancements in technology, it also must reflect a decline in longevity/quality based on price? If you made a $2000 iPod and focused that money on making a lasting piece of equipment, it would probably come out significantly longer-lived than the $200 model.
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The company has more incentive to make products that will break after 2 years of use so that you will be forced to purchase a new product from them. Why make a TV that will last 25 years when I can sell you a high end plasma that you will have to replace in 5 years? By making products that break it ensures that customers will continue to buy from the manufacturers.
"Anything tastes good if you deep fry it."
Rubbish. The RAZR is the rebirth of a much older Motorola design, the Startac. This was the point where mobiles stopped being bricks and started being stylish. Even though the startac had to accommodate a credit-card sizes SIM card it was still only the same size as the RAZR. The Startac was a beautiful phone and easy to use. I paid over £300 for mine almost 10 years ago.
Some phones I guess are like clothes, they come in and go out of fashion. RAZR is just a remake of the classic older design. The design of the Startac and the RAZR are timeless.
Don't blame me - this
Because that's what consumers demand. They'd rather have features than durability, probably because by the time the gadget breaks, there's a better, cheaper one available.
Why does Walmart import tons of cheap Chinese goods? Because customers want them.
Pretty much. Form over function is usually not the best way to go, but the manufacturer's don't care. They only want you to be trapped in a perpetual upgrade cycle, so even if you're happy with what you have, it breaks in a short time (and replacement parts are intentionally not available) and you end up left with no choice. It's only going to get worse.
And if you compare my new washing machine to a 20 year-old umbrella, you'd reach the opposite conclusion. How about comparing the Razr to a Walkman or a Swatch, not to a cinderblock of a product from a mainframe maker?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
I've dropped my share of gadgets and I have to say that it is exceedingly rare that they actually break. My cell phone (A Blackberry 7100t) has been through a considerable amount of abuse in the two years I've owned it (partially due to the badly designed belt clip for this phone, if you run or jump with it the phone will fly out). Other than some scratches on the screen, it's as good as the day I bought it.
The only computer motherboards I've ever had die were an actual IBM motherboard (back before they even formed Aptiva), and a Soltek Socket A that fell victim to cap explosions (which were an epidemic at the time). Otherwise, my tech has all been replaced due to gross obsolescence rather than actual breakage (which is a shame when you're waiting for a Matrox G200 to die so you can upgrade your video card, and eventually just have to buy a Geforce 5900 because the new motherboard didn't support high voltage AGP).
There is a caveat here: When I buy stuff I don't buy it if it feels flimsy or is a cheap knockoff made by a no-name company. Perhaps the lesson for the author is: Stop buying cheap crap and maybe it will last longer?
I read the internet for the articles.
- iPod: almost 4 years. Battery is shot, but that's a physics issue, not a quality issue.
My mp3 player takes standard rechargable AAA battries, I can even replace the battery in my mobile. I think having the battery build in is a clasic quality issue ment to force people to upgrade their ipods every few years
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Over the last couple of years I've been impressed with quality of "cheap" electronics. It's pretty remarkable that companies can cram the amount of functionality into gadgets at the price.... look at cheap gigabit switches... 8 port gigabit for around $150... or wireless routers.... lots of features, small and should last 3 or more years... Most of my gadgets are replaced because I want more functionality or cooler features, not because they broke.
I still have 4+ year old PCs happily working and other electronics that live a long life....
The quality of most devices is extraordinarily high.
Taking good care of your electronics is the key to making them last. Especially if you pay a bit more for a well engineered one. I know of a lot of original Gameboys that still have life in them.
... your gadgets will simply break within the year".
I'm an electrical engineer. While there may be system-level/market-level planned obselescence (based on outdated protocols, DRM, or style -- think iPod G1-4), there certainly is not one at the component-level (chips/ICs). Microprocessors are reliable as ever.
This essay lacks references. And, following argument is groundless: "The electronics industry has clearly spotted this problem, and
Explain.
idm owns me
As much as I love a good conspiracy products like the RAZR are flimsy because that's what the market demands. People want something that looks cool and is light and... uhm... looks cool. Surprise! You don't get heavy-duty parts with that.
On the other hand the original IBM PS2 tower (which the article doesn't mention by name, but was of that same era) was marked "Two person lift" complete with nifty stickers of people injuring their backs on it. It wasn't supposed to be light and pretty, it was meant to win a fight with a Mack truck.
Two person lift towers are out, Mac minis are in. The market wants pretty...
in addition (and this goes for products as a whole, not just consumer electronics) the market wants the cheapest thing out there. Cheaper! Cheaper! Cheaper! Why buy a $2000 computer when you can have one for $500? Guess what... this means cheaper, flimsy parts.
Offer the author a 5lb $800 cellphone that can be dropped from the top of the Empire State Building and he'll pass, just like the rest of the market.
If it used standard sized NiCd or LiIon batteries and the back was easily removable, any putz with a screwdriver would be able to replace them. Sealed devices are silly unless there's a compelling reason to seal them (water pressure resistance or something).
-b.
I'm not shure what's most scary. The fact that a properly taken care of powerbook will only last 4 years, or the fact that you are happy with this. I have a pair of boots thats lasted me 4 years, used regularly for long hiking trips in rough terrain, wet terrain, rough and wet terrain, and so on... How many times can you jump on your powerbook? (Of course, the (modern) gore-tex liner lasted only a few months...)
My mothers old washing machine lasted 26 years before giving up. When I went and bought a new washing machine for myself 5 years ago, I was expecting it to last for at least 10 years. It lasted 3! And I'm single, have no kids, etc...
I've almost given up on cell-phones. Even if I buy one specifically marketed as sturdy (e.g. Nokia 514), it is almost guaranteed to fail within two years (usually within a year). I would be willing to pay a lot more to get a phone where I don't have to worry about random breakage any time I fall on it.
The thing with gadgets is, I'm not interested in "being careful" with them. I'm interested in getting something that works. If I buy a mobile phone, it's because I want to bring it with me to become mobile, not to keep it inside original packaging with temperatures between 15-25 celcius and low air humidity. If I buy a washing machine, I want it to wash my clothes, not randomly fail. If I buy a car, I want it to keep driving, not require expensive maintenance, and having expensive parts fail all the time. And if I buy a laptop, it should survive a little rain, being dropped on concrete, being dropped in salt water, having someone fall on it, etc, all common things happening to transportable items.
Actually, some people just want a phone that works as a phone.
Bit of clarification. The Powerbook didn't die after 4 years. It's still going strong, and I rather expect it to indefinitely (except for maybe the HD).
And please, don't compare boots to electronics. It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense.
It would also be a waste of money and materials. In 1981 you didn't replace your computer every couple years, so it made sense to build them like tanks. Today manufacturers know that you're going to get something better (bigger / faster / etc) in a couple years, so designing their product to last for 15 years would make it 10x more expensive than their competitors with no real benefit to most people.
Then again, the iPod is a bad example of this. They're built like tanks. I have an original 2001 iPod (5 gigabytes!), and it's still as good as the day I bought it. It may outlive me, and I'm still pretty young.
The electronic gadgets I have whose designers knew they wouldn't be obsolete in 3 years generally did a great job at making them last. I have an inexpensive laser printer, and a reasonably-priced stereo receiver, and both are *solid*. Laser printer and stereo receiver technology isn't improving at the rate of, say, computers, so they're engineered to last much longer.
It's not as simple as "everything's cheaper, and you get what you pay for". Cars are much cheaper now than they used to be, and also far better. In fact, many things are.
Nowadays engineers can find the exact minimum amount of materials and the like to use to acheive their goal. Back int he day they'd find an approximate and double it too make sure. That'd be my guess.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
I wasn't around to compare, but every older member of my family tells me that cars last much longer than they used to. Most modern cars last 150K+ miles easily, provided they're driven by someone who isn't constantly pushing the limits of the vehicle. The fact that no one will repair banged up sheet metal or broken plastic parts so hitting a deer runs you $5000 has roots in the same throwaway culture, but isn't caused by lack of initial quality.
The good company pays attention to what their customers do with their purchases and upgrades so that the next version will be able to do it better.
A lot of products have a dropproof/waterproof/dustproof alternative, at an increase in cost. People opt for the cheap model. The consumer makes the choice in the end.
And if I buy a laptop, it should survive a little rain, being dropped on concrete, being dropped in salt water, having someone fall on it, etc, all common things happening to transportable items.
but you are not willing to pay for that, otherwise you would own a panasonic toughbook that CAN withstand all that.
What?? you dont want to pay $4000.00 for your laptop? well then take this piece of crap fragile Dell for $1500 and shut up.
Not being rude, but most of you that whine about it refuse to pay for the durable goods.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Adjust that for inflation as well and it's staggering. An IBM XT Model 5160 was $8000 for a full system in 1983 when it came around. Adjust that for inflation today and that's about $15,500. Turns out, you can get some pretty serious computer for 15 grand, one that will be pretty well built.
However if you want a $400 computer from Dell, which would be about $200 in 1983, well don't be surprised if there's some compromises made and it doesn't last all that long.
Also something people seem to forget is that the examples of old things around today that we see are the good ones by definition. Sure that XT that still works today is reliable, but what about the ones that failed? Well you don't see them because they are on the trash heap. Just because there's a few examples of old items that have survived doesn't mean they were all well made, may have just been some that were particularly lucky.
Clarification: It's not whether it's known to the manufacturer, it's whether it's known to the customer. If the customer expects and accepts failure within a couple of months, then it is not a quality issue if the product does just that.
The problem comes in when the manufacturer designs for months, but the customer expects years.
It's very simple. People are idiots. That's why gadgets break. Not because people break them, but because when people see things like the iPod that have a battery that you can't replace yourself, they buy them, anyway! What kind of idiot buys a gadget with a battery sealed in it? I know that I certainly wouldn't, but millions upon millions of people continue to throw their dollars at these pieces of crap, and when they die, they buy ANOTHER one, often from the same company.
The companies are laughing all of the way to the bank. They have mindless drones buying everything that they release, no matter how shitty, and the people come back and buy more! With so many stupid people buying these pieces of crap over and over, the only incentive that the manufacturers have is to make cheaper crap that breaks even quicker, because they know that no matter what, people will buy them again, and again, and again...
Oh yeah. This was typed on a IMB XT keyboard that I bought at a thrift store for one dollar. It was manufactured in 1993.
Yes, I was referring to devices that are made to take alkaline batteries. Their low battery warnings are voltage based, and they tend to kick in when NiMH or NiCads still have lots of juice. THAT'S annoying. Building your device to only work properly with alkaline batteries has got to be some kind of ploy by battery manufacturers.
Building a device that has a specialized battery pack made up of soldered in NiMH AAs is annoying too. There's no reason for it. Cordless phones still do that, and notebook computers used to before they switched to lithium.
Now, the battery in my iPod (also the one in my cell phone) is too thin for standard sized batteries. I like those devices being that thin, so a built in battery pack is a good solution. The battery in my iPod has lasted two years and is still going with no problems, and a replacement is available, including the tool to install it, for $16.
and I have a stack of Popular Science magazines from the 40's and 50's.
vacuum tube tech was easy to service because vacuum tube tech needed service often.
even the smallest of towns could support a repair shop.
in fifteen years I have replaced one ethernet card and a drive belt on a VCR. up next will be a DIY replacement for an aging hard drive. total labor cost $50.
The fact that a properly taken care of powerbook will only last 4 years, or the fact that you are happy with this.
After 4 years, the new state of the art in mobile computing will be such that you won't WANT to use that old notebook computer anymore, even if it works as well as the day you bought it.
My mothers old washing machine lasted 26 years before giving up.
And for maybe half of that time, I'd bet she was wasting more energy (and therefore money) running the old machine instead of buying and using a newer, more efficient model.
I think build quality has declined with the ever increasing desire to keep costs down. I see several problems. First, companies seem to be so eager to do business in China that they're willing to tolerate anything. When it's a company's primary goal to cut costs, why would they want to spend any more money than necessary to ensure a higher standard of quality? The consumer is clearly content with the current standard of quality at low prices so why bother with anything more? So they dump manufacturing in Chinese hands and let them deal with everything. In the end, all many companies are doing is slapping their own logo on the product.
Which leads me to the second problem. Too many American companies seem to have given up on producing quality products and instead have focused on being cheap. This means that they are no only outsourcing manufacturing, but design as well. So instead of having products that are thoughtfully designed and aestetically pleasing we're getting an overwrought messes that aren't particularly easy to use. How many American companies are left that are actually involved in every step of the design and manufacturing process for consumer products. One of the few is Apple and they do an amazing job. But look at Dell, or HP who are essentially sticking their logo on someone else's product.
These companies are going with Chinese suppliers because they adhere to the same principles of cheap manufacturing. The end result, of course, is something that doesn't look very good and isn't particularly reliable. The Chinese don't yet have the product design experience that the Americans should have, and the Japanese and many Europeans definitely do have.
The problem ultimately is that American companies seem to have gotten obsessed with making money first and foremos. Pride in quality products has taken a back seat. There are American companies out there that used to produce respected products that now only offer crap products. They want to do things that require a minimum of effort but produce a maximum of income, hence the apparently popularity of web-based businesses. The Koreans, by contrast, have done quite well because they have a lot of nationalistic pride. They want to outdo the Japanese in every way they can. The Chinese are also quite ambitious so although they're still well behind most of the world they're making a lot of headway.
The Taiwanese also produce excellent products, but there in a similar situation as the US. They lack a lot of the pride other asians have and they continue to try to stick to the easy way of doing things. The problem is that the Chinese can do what they do more cheaply. So their chance for success is to move upmarket much in the way Japan did in the 70s and the Koreans more recently, pushing their own brands and improving quality.
That's an important point... It's why the Japanese and some Europeans to a lesser extent thrive. They're not competing for the bottom of the barrel. They're producing higher quality products which offer both technological innovation and design sophistication. They care about making quality products. To many American companies seem to be stuck producing the same old crap and constantly reminiscing on the supposed glory days of the 50s and 60s.
Here's a example I face on occassion. I walk into a Staples looking for office supplies. Because I'm in design I care about having a space that actually looks appealing. But all I see at office supply stores in the US is garbage. Complete and utter garbage. Completely uninspired and bereft of any design sensibility. It's all industrial-looking transparent crap. Why? Couldn't they hire some damn designers and an engineer or two to put a little effort into something that feels durable and looks good? Contrast that with when I was living in Taiwan and I could walk into any of a number of Taiwanese or Japanese supply stores and find some neat looking stuff that actually worked well. Some of these products even had ingenious little features.
I guarantee you, however, t
I once read a comment from a Ford designer regarding the Pinto. He stated that it was DESIGNED to only last 5 years. Yet I still see them on the road.......albeit, in pretty bad shape most of the time.
My point is that it was designed, by the company that made it, to only last a certain amount of time. Why? Obviously, to sell the consumer another car in 5 years.
I work with automotive computer systems and I see it first hand all the time. I will cite the most frequent example I see.
Mercedes uses Bosch components in its computer controlled systems and fuel injection systems. I cannot state how many times I have had a customer come in with a "check engine" light on (in various models) only to hook up a scanner to pull trouble codes only to find NONE. Yet the car runs like crap, the light comes back on after being reset and the customer is still not amused.
After diagnosing quite a few of these I now do one thing soon as I get in the car. I look at the odometer. If it has a little more then 60,000 miles on it(the warranty period has JUST expired), I can almost ASSURE you the cause of the problem. A "faulty" Mass Air Flow Sensor.
Why can I say this? Because Bosch, and more then likely Mercedes, have designed and installed a component with a "desired" life span of just over 60,000 miles.
The reason for this is money (sales). The device fails (parameters within spec, no trouble codes set)in such a way that standard trouble shooting procedures will not locate the problem. The "average" independant shop then refers the customer to the dealership(Mercedes)thus assuring the dealership (and thus Mercedes) of the repair sales AND the replacement sensor. And ALWAYS after the warranty has run out.
It got to the point that we kept several "known good" sensors of various part numbers around the shop to simply install one and see if the problem went away. It usually did. The dealership, having a parts department, foregoes standard diagnosis and simply throws a new sensor at it. They then charge you for a "full diagnostic scan and testing".
So, not only have they found a way to charge you to replace the part, but to charge you for service to diagnose it as well. This repair, by the way, if done at the dealership, usually costs the consumer about $750-1000, parts and "labor". This also has the added benefit of making the dealership "look good" in the eyes of the consumer because they were able to fix it and the independant was unable to. Thus, the consumer returns to the vastly more expensive dealer when something else goes wrong.
Planned obsolescence is a reality. Even supposedly "well made" products are subject to this. Simply look up the "reliability" rating for autos and you will see that Mercedes sucketh quite badly in that department. They figure that if people can shell out 60k+ for a Benz, they can shell out $350 + "labor" for a new sensor every 60k miles.
They only cure for this is to research products and their reliability before buying them. Eventually, when sales slumps, they will curtail the practice to some extent (again, I cite Ford here. In the 70's Ford had a HORRIBLE reliability record and suffered heavy sales declines because of it. They changed their ways. At least until the last decade. They are doing it again........)
People are stupid and careless. In addition, capacitors and other parts DO have a limited lifetime.
Let me relate to you a story about my Rogers cellphone, and I'll ask where would you reasonably draw the line...
I obtained a Motorola phone from Rogers Wireless a bit over a year ago, and almost from the start I found I could not get good signal strength on most occasions. I thought it was just crappy coverage from Rogers but then a friend of mine notices we got the exact same model of phone from the same provider and her phone reported full strength and mine showed one "stair step" even when put side-by-side. Obviously Rogers is doing their job so it must be the phone.
I took the phone to a Rogers service centre, where a well-pierced-and-dyed punk looked at it and said "hmm this looks wierd dude...maybe there is a firmware or SIM card problem--we got a couple recalls on this model" (Hey Motorola, where'd you learn your testing and QA procedures from--the old-Microsoft-school of paying-customers-as-testers? People don't like to buy their stuff already broken). Lucky me, after running some tests and looking in ther database it appears that Rogers fixed my phone before issuing it to me (How uncharacteristically thoughful of them!). "Must be something wrong with the radio hardware" said the cellpunker, "We'll have to send it to Motorola in Vancouver. They ususally take 4 weeks to look at it so we'll give you a (crappy) courtesy phone.
After the wait (at least it wasn't delayed) I received my phone...working much better! But it appears that the journey through Rogers, the courier and Motorola was a rough one, as there is now a crack in the pretty brushed-metal front cover. Stupid and careless SERVICE people! I'm then told that such cosmetic damage is not covered under warranty and they'd replace it but I'd have to pay...for THEIR carelessness! Oh well, I can live with the hairline phone fracture.
I'm further told how to minimise the risk of things like this happening again. Don't expose it to cold for too long (HOW cold? It's nearly -30C here right now--it THAT too cold? For how long? Can I keep it in my coat pocket when I walk to the 7-eleven or is that too long? "Just be on the cautios side" I'm told). Don't leave it in a hot place for too long...like your car in the summer. Don't leave it on the charger too long. Don't take it off the charger too soon for too often. Cellphones are sensitive electronic devices, make sure to avoid static discharge (in -30 weather that can be a tall order).
I understand these environmental hazards can be a design challenge...but it's a CELLPHONE...a MOBILE DEVICE. It can be dropped, it can be zapped, it can be exposed to temperature and humidity extremes. It's sold with 2 and 3 year service contracts SO THE DAMN PHONE SHOULD SURVIVE AT LEAST THAT LONG.
My old-school Nokia survived well past the original contract. It was rained on, it was dropped (and the faceplate cracked, but it was removable and replacements were cheap...and the phone sitll worked). It was operated and transported in a temperature range exceeding 60C. It was done before...why can't it be done now? Because cellphones are so much more sophisticated? That's crap. If you cand feature-flood me without making the product flimsy then ditch the extra features. As for limited lifetimes...if the capactitors cannot even last 3 years they are pretty sh*tty capacitors and a new supplier should be found immediately, especially given that a cellphone is a relatively low-power device and that the majority of the internal parts are solid state (the only moving things in them are electrons). To me, this isn't about user abuse or the natural lifetime of internal components--it is about maintaining corporate revenue streams.
My $50 DVD player is 4 years old. I think that one reason that $400 DVD players last so long is that people with the money to blow on items like that don't have kids or ban them from the room with the expensive stuff, and they take care of it. My sister's family runs through DVD players and VCRs. I'd love to see a $500 VCR survive the sandwich in the slot treatment. When you are planning on mistreating the item, there is no use in getting the better one.
Learn to love Alaska
I found that ALL cell phones - flip or not, tend to suck. I've had belt-clip phones of several different models. It is inevitable that at some point, you bump it and the phone pops out, dropping 3 feet onto the ground, and the battery cover pops off and you scramble for 6 o 7 different parts that are spread over a 15' diameter area.
Now I finally have a heavy-duty nylon holster with a sturdy velcro flap. The only negative is that the belt clip is still plastic (although thicker) instead of metal. If it breaks, I'll get a metal clip and retrofit myself.
The larger problem is the Walmart syndrome. Walmart demands lower prices from manufacturers, who make up for it in reduced quality. Now, because of walmart, you can't get a good quality product from ANY store that carries that manufacturers goods since they are all made to the walmart spec. Walmart, for example, demanded that Matel lower costs by 20% one year or they wouldn't carry their products at Walmart which forced Matel to shut down all US plants and drop quality. Remember when Tonka toys were sturdy? No longer. The quality of toys for kids these days is horrible. Nothing lasts more than a year - many things are broken in shipping before they even get to the store.
I can do a "ditto" with snow shovels. Walmart, Kmart, Lowes, and Home Depot all carry the same shitty chinese shovels. My local hardware store (which just closed this past summer due to competition from Lowes and Home Depot that moved in) carried shovels made in Canada, which are awesome. Now I will have to travel 30 miles to the next dealer just to get a fucking snow shovel that works (when the canadian one wears out in a few years.)
By the way - did you know that if you buy a DeWalt drill at Lowes or Home depot they come with PLASTIC gears? If you go to a contractor tool store, you get the metal gear models for only a few dollars more.
I've had enough of the big-box stores. I buy local / regional whenever possible, then mailorder, and if all else fails, will finally try a big box store as a last resort.
Markets aren't 100% efficient and only support a finite # of suppliers. They often can support fewer suppliers than there are permutations of consumer demand. The lament isn't that there are no suppliers willing to take an unprofitable stance on a small market segement. The lament is that other conusmers have made the "quality" demographic too small to support through shortsightedness that actualy costs them more in the long run to boot.
"You saved 1968." - Ms. Valerie Pringle to the crew of Apollo 8