Phonelitical spectrum

The phonelitical spectrum is a metaphor from the political spectrum applied to debates about mobile phones and other electronic devices.

While phonelitical leftists see their mobile phones (and other electronic devices) as a fashion statement and status symbols, phonelitical right-wingers appreciate their device for its functionality, capabilities and practicality. That principle is also known as “functionality first”, or “function over form”.

Mindsets and behavioural patterns[edit]

Design and functionality[edit]

Phonelitical leftists prefer a slim design of the mobile phone over functionality, while the phonelitical right wants user-replaceable batteries due to their functional benefits and freedom.

Therefore, users of iPhones and members of the Apple cult are usually on the phonelitical left.

Phonelitical leftists also tend to utilize buzzwords such as “bloatware” and “feature creep” to describe features they themselves don't utilize (e.g. Samsung Air View), even if said functionality could be useful to other users (i.e. phonelitical rightwingers).

Users with more technical knowledge, especially so-called power users, tend to be far right on the phonelitical spectrum.

4K monitor argument[edit]

Phonelitical leftists tend to argue that video recording at high resolutions is not necessary when one does not own a monitor that can display it in that resolution, while phonelitical right-wingers understand that the benefits of high-resolution and/or high-framerate video recording include future-proofness and more leeway (spare resolution and/or framerates) for cropping and video editing.

In addition, higher resolution (e.g. 2160p) video can provide a quality boost when viewed on lower resolution (e.g. 1080p) monitors compared to matching resolution (e.g. 1080p) video due to the usually much higher encoding bitrate used for recording at that high resolution and due to the 4:4:4 chroma subsampling provided by a 4:2:0 video with twice the width and height.

Excess functionality[edit]

While those on the phonelitical left tend to label unused features using buzzwords such as bloatware and feature creep, those on the phonelitical right would rather have too many features than missing features.

Someone who does not need an excess feature can just ignore it while someone who needs a missing feature can not access it.

Both tend to agree that excess software features could be made retrofittable (i.e. downloadable) or available in submenus ib order to be available to those who need them without interfering with users who could perceive it as bloat.

Hardware features[edit]

Phonelitical right-wingers think that the successor of a phone in the same series ought to cover the entire hardware feature range of the predecessor.

Software can't compensate for lost hardware features (duh!), and many users might consider features such as the barometer, hygrometer, thermometer useful.

Internal storage[edit]

While phonelitical leftists believe mobile phones do not need more storage due to the possibility of cloud storage, phonelitical rightists consider growth of internal storage a part of necessary progress to add to improvements of successor devices in a series.

Design preferences[edit]

Phonelitical leftists see a mobile phone as a fashion statement, therefore prioritize what they label a “premium design”:

Unibody (with non-replaceable batteries)
Slim design (sacrificing space for battery and hardware)
Bendable metal (which also interferes with wireless signals and wireless charging) or fragile slippery glass back (over which they probably will put a case anyway).

Phonelitical rightists prefer a more practical and robust design, thus do not mind a back cover that phonelitical leftists would consider a cheap plastic/faux leather back.

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Also see[edit]

Related navigation boxes: Electronics • Mobile phones • Data storage • User experience and user interfaces

External links[edit]

References[edit]