As long back as I canremember, I have had this Gadget Obsession Syndrome.
Since 1976 I am buying stuff. Starting with the Olympus half-frame 35 camera (a clever design that took two pics in one 24x36mm frame). That was in Nairobi. In 1978 I bought a Telefunken cassette recorder in London. Wait, my sister bought in Madras in 1969, when I was a student there, a Bush cassette recorder. I remember our going to the shop in Mount Road.
I think my mother was also into gadgets. She bought a radio and camera in 50s. She showed me the features of her new pendulum clock when she was 80.
I think my fascination with electronics from childhood was all because of my Gadget syndrome! I studied electronics in IIT. I chose to be in techno-marketing. All Gadget obsessions for sure.
In 80s I started buying loud music systems with LP players.
Then came the 14 inch BW TV of Philips in Royapettah, Madras.
Then the Panasonic 3 in 1.
Cameras - when I went to Germany in 1987 I traded the Olympus half-frame for the Pentax DLR.
In 90s colour TVs - one after another. The latest is a lovely 4K LG LED 42 incher that fills our eyes with candy.
I bought a Bose 35-III system after much research during a Singapore stopover enroute Sydney in 2007.
A series of cameras since 1976 the latest being Lumix and Canon 5D Mk II and a Sony RX III.
Computers - a Compaq, an assembled disaster, a Mac desktop, a 27 incher HD touchscreen HP All in One with Blue Ray player, a few iPads, a Macbook Pro and the latest being Macbook Pro M1 13 incher within a few days of its global launch.
Among MP3 players I had the Creative Jukebox, a few more different brands, iPods, and so on.
Among phones my first one was a Motorola. Then Ericsson. Then Sony Ericsson 900 ( a cult touchscreen multifeatured one, the inspiration for iPhone).
I got one of the earliest iPhone within weeks of its launch. I ran through a few iPhones over 5 years. Then a series of Androids. HTC, Sony, Samsung, Oneplus, the latest being 7T.
Bose headphones and portable speakers. Bluetooth headsets.
So I fill my eyes and ears and hands and brain with gadgetry.
I see a pattern.
I read about something fancy. (There are print and TV and Youtube media specialists who target freaks like me). Then starts a small opening building up in my mind. There is even a seasonality - spring and autumn almost every year, a craving for some new gadget. The media marketing blitz feeds it.
Once any Gadget seed is planted it grows up like a bean stalk and I start researching the stuff like crazy. I normally spend several hours reading and drooling.
I spot shops. And bargains. And get friendly and on first name terms with the sales persons. (I had befriended the lady sales assistant in Bose Store Singapore 4 weeks before I flew from Bangalore to pick it up during the stopover enroute to Sydney).
I then put up a purchase list. Negotiate. Choose the best payment option. Go for the kill. Get the gadget. And read every word in the manual. Study and preserve the box. Try all accessories. Keep them safe. In other words take as much care of the gadget as one would of a new pet.
I wander around in the technology malls. I have walked through such malls many times in London, German cities, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, even Nova Scotia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne, Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi, Chennai...
I have found in long history of buying tgat the best brands are Canon. Sony. Bose. Apple.
Apple puts soul into each piece of technology. Their online support is as incredible as their gadgets' build and design. Both Apple and Bose sell on excellence, not price. Sony and Canon are subject experts and create lasting value. Especially in sound and video, Sony is really good but has lost out to cheap Chinese makes. Koreans are copiers. Canon is in an elite space. I like the sound of the shutter in a Canon DSLR.
Apple=Self Confidence + Excellence. A whole ecosystem built to last.
I also trade in and get rid of the old. I have also lost cameras and phones to theft.
All gadgets I don't trade in die sooner or later. They become reminders to me of the entire fly-try-buy story of each of those gadgets and how I later moved on. I think this is what Bhagavadgita tells us: Vasaamsi JeerNaani...
The human body is the ultimate gadget. Can't be upgraded or traded in. We get a new one. For better or worse?
