Ever since this year's latest plethora of tablets have been released, people have been comparing them in every way applicable-- which had more space? Which was faster? Which was more powerful?
One thing that some people seemed to care about was dropped frames. Google launched Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" over the summer, and it included something new: Project Butter. The main goal of this project was to make the Android experience smoother, with less dropped frames and more seamless effects and transitions in the operating system. Apple, on the other hand, has long been known to release devices with little to no lag in any of the OS functions.
There's no doubt that dropped frames exist in devices. However, everyone makes a huge deal about them, sometimes without even knowing what they are. "Dropped frames" refer to frames that are skipped over in animations; sort of a "sticky" look. Dropped frames don't make a device slow, per say. Rather, they (supposedly) reflect on the device's power. If your device drops frames, it's a low-end device. A device that doesn't drop any frames is powerful.
The question that I'm asking here is not whether dropped frames exist. That much is obvious. I'm not even asking if dropped frames mean anything in terms of the device's power. What I AM asking is this: do the dropped frames people point out really matter?
I believe that the reason some people make such a big deal about dropped frames is because they're used to seeing smooth transitions-- anything lower quality than what they're used to is a downgrade to them. Some people, on the other hand, are used to dropped frames. They've always had to put up with them, and because of that, they don't notice them nearly as much as people used to more premium experiences do.
If I haven't made myself clear enough, let me put it this way: it's kind of like video quality. Let's say that Person 1 grew up watching pass-me-down VHS tapes, and Person 2 grew up with nothing but brand-new Blu-Ray discs. Now, Person 1 is used to the extremely low quality of re-used VHS tapes. He watches them on a regular basis, and has no problem with their quality, because he's never seen anything better to judge them by. Person 2, on the other hand, is so used to crystal-clear quality video that anything less seems like complete garbage.
So, if you show Person 1 a DVD, it's better than any VHS tape he's ever seen, so Person 1 considers the DVD extremely high quality. Show Person 2 a DVD, however, and all he notices is how much worse it is than the Blu-Ray disks he's used to.
Chris Pirillo is a Person 2. I'm a Person 1. Now, there's not a right or wrong Person to be-- so long as you remember that there are other People out there, too.
Which Person are you?