There’s no doubt that 2016 has seen some big tech launches such as iPhone 7, Google Tango, Facebook’s Oculus Rift and more. Nevertheless, with so many new gadgets in the market, fiascos are difficult to avoid. This is clearly evident as we’ve seen how Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 continues to explode. Unfortunately, the gadgets launched this year had their fair share of letdowns as well. Here are some of those tech failures in 2016.
1. Samsung Galaxy Note 7:
While the world celebrated its launch, but weeks after its shipments, users reported erupting flames from the smartphone. The phone had caused major damage to houses and cars. The company bore full responsibility for the same and undergone a massive replacement. Samsung also has been reported to lose around $10 billion in sales and additional recall charges.
2. Karma Drones:
GoPro has come up with its Karma drone this year. The device was all good with a grip stabilizer to bring drone-camera- like fluidity to land shots, and a backpack. It was a real cool gadget and highly user-friendly, until users reported drones losing power mid-air. Upon being reported with such complaints, the company soon announced recalls, confirming its failure.
3. MacBook with Missing Ports:
Users could very well accept a phone without jack, but they had no acceptance for Macs with no slot to charge an iPhone. Sometime back we had a MacBook pro without the traditional charging slot. This might have been a revolutionary idea for the designers, but certainly wasn’t practical enough for people to accept.
4. Consumer-friendly 360:
2016 also saw the release of virtual reality camera, however, it wasn’t well received for several reasons. Nikon’s 360-degree virtual reality camera included Ricoh Theta and 360Fly camera. All these features would’ve been great, only if the video recording wasn’t in a low-quality format. Although good efforts were made to improve this, yet 2016 wasn’t a perfect year for this device. We can expect a better edition in the coming year.
5. FitBit Blaze Smartwatch:
Many similar devices are already available, however, these were little annoying when it comes to charging them. Users had to take the watch out of its frame to charge it. It could perform its expected work best, but annoyed users irrationally when they were to be charged. Hence, it landed up in becoming a tech flop of 2016.
6. Bots:
Facebook had introduced chat bot, a new way to communicate with friends this year. It certainly was promising, but failed to entice users due to several reasons. Bots was all about reaching customer servicer quicker and to engage in e-commerce. However, its sluggishness marred the entire idea and it came in the flop list of 2016.
7. The Lily Camera:
Sometimes, products fail not due to their bad design or flaws, but due to their plain unavailability in the market. The Lily Camera required no special skills as you simply throw it in the air and it would record anything. Back then, Lily camera also won coveted CES innovation award and has pre-sales of over $34 million. However, the camera hasn’t seen daylight until now and there are slim chances of it showing up in 2017.
These are 7 gadgets that disappointed us in the year passing by. Having said that, 2016 also has several techniques that came true and were absolutely jaw dropping.
