The technology that needs to be fixed in 2024 and what was fixed last year

Tech companies would like us to believe that their products tell a story about progress. Faster phones! Better cameras! Brighter screens! But despite all the improvements, there are pieces of technology that have been flawed for years.

Texting technology, which has led to what many call the “green versus blue bubble,” has made texting between Apple and Android phones a subpar experience for almost as long as smartphones have been around. Newer inventions, such as self-driving cars and cryptocurrency, continue to put people at risk.

To give credit where it’s due, some improvements were made last year that meant big wins for consumers. We now have a common power cable for charging our many gadgets. So-called foldable smartphones that open and close like a book now have consumer-friendly software. Companies have also made advances in wireless phone service technology, greatly simplifying the process for people to switch phone plans and saving a lot of money.

As the new year begins, let’s look ahead to the technology that needs to be improved this year and reflect on the solutions we found in 2023.

“Who is the green bubble?” Among smartphone users, this has become a common question in group texts. When iPhone users send text messages to other iPhones, the messages will appear blue and they can enjoy exclusive benefits like fun emojis and animations. But when text messages are sent between iPhone users and Android users, the bubble turns green, many functions break, and the quality of photos and videos deteriorates.

The technological incompatibility between smartphones has created a deeper sociological divide. According to education experts, children with Android phones are often mocked and excluded from activities in schools by those with iPhones. And some adults who use dating apps view messages sent through a green bubble as a “red flag” for a potential suitor’s financial instability, because some Android phones cost less than iPhones.

Later this year, many of these texting problems will be resolved. Apple said it planned to use Rich Communications Services, a modern SMS standard that Google and Android phone makers use for messaging. Text messages sent between iPhones and Androids will remain green, but videos and images will load in high resolution, and features like location sharing and read receipts will work in texts too. But it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to end the bubble war.

The rise and fall of Cruise, a self-driving car company, is a cautionary tale for Silicon Valley’s modus operandi of prioritizing innovation above all else, including public safety. In October, a few months after California regulators allowed Cruise and Waymo to operate fully paid driverless taxi services, a cruise vehicle struck a pedestrian in San Francisco, dragging the victim 20 feet.

Soon after, regulators ordered Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, to halt its robotaxi service. The company cut 25 percent of its workforce and Kyle Vogt, the company’s CEO, resigned.

We hope that 2024 will be a better year for autonomous driving technology. Waymo, the self-driving car company spun out of Google, continues to test its services with far less controversy. Waymo cars are still not as skilled as a skilled driver – in my experience they can struggle to find pick-up zones, stop abruptly, and take inefficient routes – but then again, many human drivers can be just as annoying.

Cryptocurrency

For the average person experimenting with cryptocurrency, the premise of the technology was questionable from the start: you buy virtual currency through a decentralized system of computers, similar to the way Wikipedia is run by a decentralized network of writers. In theory, this offers privacy and gives consumers more control over their money than a traditional bank.

The spectacular implosion of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange underlined the enormous risks of hoarding money in a decentralized financial service. When FTX went bankrupt in 2022, those who had assets there lost their money, although they were still able to recoup some of it during the bankruptcy process. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, was convicted in November of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, stealing $10 billion from clients to finance political contributions, venture capital investments and lavish purchases, including a five-bedroom penthouse in the Bahamas . .

Aside from the inherent risks of entrusting cash to an unregulated and relatively unknown group, there still isn’t a strong cryptocurrency use case for the average person. While there are many things to buy with crypto, the transaction process, which uses third-party crypto wallet apps, remains more complex and time-consuming than traditional payments with a credit card or banking service.

The technology that was solved in 2023

Chargers

Everyone knows this scenario: you’re on the road and you think you’ve packed the charging cables for your phone, laptop, and earbuds. But you realize there was only one wire left at home, so go to the drugstore to buy a new one. This bad situation was made worse by companies (namely Apple) who designed their products to work with proprietary chargers.

Thanks to a new European mandate that requires all portable devices to use a common charger, we are now one step closer to the dream of carrying just one charger for all our devices. Last year, new iPhones no longer shipped with the Lightning port that Apple had used for more than a decade. Instead, they came with USB-C, the oval charging port commonly used by many laptops, Android phones and audio accessories. What a relief.

Over the past four years, smartphone makers like Samsung and Motorola have been hyping smartphones that can be folded or unfolded to reduce or increase the screen size. The devices received little fanfare because they were cumbersome to use, their software was gimmicky – and at almost $2,000 they were more than double the cost of traditional handsets.

Last year, Google released the Pixel Fold, a foldable phone that solved many of the problems and provided a clear answer as to why the category should exist. When unfolded, it turns into a tablet that makes reading emails, watching videos and reading comic books more fun than on a normal phone screen. Folded, it becomes a regular smartphone that is not too bulky in a pocket. In my tests the camera was also excellent and the battery life was long.

The remaining problem is the price. At $1,800, the Pixel Fold may not be accessible to most people. But the maturation of the technology offers an exciting look at what’s to come for smartphones and screens in general.

eSIMs

When it arrived on smartphones about six years ago, eSIM technology, the digital equivalent of the SIM card that holds your phone number, was difficult to recommend. The technology was intended to simplify activating a new telephone line if, for example, you take a smartphone abroad and connect to a foreign network. But in the beginning, eSIMs were a mixed bag. Some plans failed to activate, and others charged exorbitant rates for miserly amounts of mobile data.

In 2023, eSIM technology reached a peak. Now dozens of reliable mobile network operators offer fast, reliable wireless services for much less than traditional carriers. The steps to activate eSIMs are now also simpler.

It all adds up to benefits that can save you thousands of dollars on wireless services in just a few years. First, if you’re traveling abroad, you can easily use eSIM to activate a phone plan and pay a few dollars for a generous amount of mobile data (for example, $4.50 for one gigabyte of data in Italy with the eSIM app Airalo).

For domestic wireless services, if you subscribe to AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon, you can use eSIM to experiment with cheaper phone plans offered by low-cost carriers like Visible, Consumer Cellular and Mint Mobile, which cost as little as $25 per month – and break contact your major carrier once you have found a satisfactory phone plan.