5G is a particularly interesting innovation in the Informatics world. I learned about it through my job, because I sell phones that began to use the 5G network. I would consider myself a member of the early majority. My Galaxy S20+ and iPhone 12 Pro Max can both access the 5G network. These two phones came out in 2020.
5G phones that came out in 2019 had access only to low band of 5G, which offers similar speeds to 4G and offers none of the advantages that wide band 5G does — very fast speeds and low latency. That limitation in 2019 5G phones created a disadvantage for early adopters. To take advantage of the wide band 5G network that is rolling out, those phone owners would need to upgrade again.
Looking back at other informatics innovations, I was an early adopter of the Android mobile phone. I had the first Android on Verizon, Moto Droid. I had the first iPhone available on Verizon, but there were 3 or 4 models available on AT&T by the time it was available on Verizon.
I would consider myself a late majority adopter of iPhone because it was available to other cellular carriers before mine. I was a late majority adopter of AirPods because I thought the headphones I owned were good enough that I did not need to get AirPods.
Windows phone just came to mind as a failed diffusion. It was never a popular mobile operating system and couldn’t compete with Android and iOS..
Photo credit: https://www.cnet.com/news/5g-plans-major-carriers-compared-iphone-12-t-mobile-verizon-att/
I was right there with you in the early adoption of Android. I remember all my Apple friends asking why I bothered when there were so few apps compared to Apple. I never moved to Apple, and only with my latest phone have I move away from Motorola. I not too long ago got a Pixel 4a, and spent some serious time debate the purchase. I had the option of 4G or 5G, but at a greatly different price. It finally came down to not feeling like I could justify spending the extra money for 5G when I had no real complaints with the 4G service.
I’ve used the LG tone Bluetooth headset for years, having probably gone through at least a half dozen of them. I’ve looked at pods, but it only takes me seconds after setting something down for it to be lost, and I can’t count the times I’ve lost the ear cushions off my tone and not noticed for God knows how long. I’d be lucky to keep track of a pair of mods for a full week.
While Windows phones were pointless, I was using Palm devices long before smartphones, and if they’d simply stuck a phone in their LifeDrive model that I had, they’d have been years ahead of the competition. The LifeDrive came out in 2005 and was an amazing PDA. I used it for running my business, listening to music, and had a bunch of books to read while I was on the road away from home on it. My first android was the Droid when it came out in 2009. Followed by the Droid X, the X2, the RAZR Maxx, Moto X, Droid Turbo, Droid Turbo 2 (got this one free following repair issues on my Turbo), Moto Z (Force, I think), and finally my Pixel 4a. My wife stayed relatively current with me, although not upgrading as often and still with a Motorola Z4.