The newer the Instagram, the clunkier the video
It’s been nearly one week with the new Meizu M6 Note.
It’s the “international” model, which means it’s not Chinese-spec, and there was no way to turn it into a Chinese one.
One observation is that the international one is far buggier than the Chinese one. Either that, or Android 7 is far buggier than Android 5.
For instance, if I leave my old phone as a USB media device, it would stay on that mode. The new one will always change by itself to ‘charge only’, meaning each time I plug it into USB, I now have to waste time doing an extra step.
Secondly, there’s no drive assistant on the new phone, which may have been a Chinese-only feature. I guess they don’t know we have cars outside China.
I’ve mentioned the app shortcomings in an earlier post.
But here’s one that I doubt is related to the Chineseness of my phone: Instagram simply performs better on the old phone than on the new.
A Meizu M2 Note on an old Flyme (on top of Android 5) running a version of Instagram that dates back seven or eight months uploads smoother videos than a Meizu M6 Note on the latest Flyme (atop Android 7) running the latest Instagram.
The issue then is: is it the phone, the OS, or the app that’s to blame?
My first clue was my attempts at uploading a haka performed at my primary school. It took nine attempts before Instagram made one publicly visible, a bug going back some time.
When it did upload, I noticed it was clunky as it advanced.
I uploaded it again today on the old phone and there were no issues. It worked first time.
New phone
View this post on Instagram@stmarkschurchschool Year 7 honours the valedictory Year 8 with a #haka, and one is returned. Instagram refused to show the previous eight upload attempts of this video, but they were full-frame. It seems to be fine with a square one. Apologies to anyone cut off the ends because of Instagram's strange limits. #almamater #Aotearoa #Wellington #whanganuiatara #NZ #stmarks #raumati #summer #été #longinstagramvideo
Old phone
View this post on Instagram@stmarkschurchschool Year 7 honours the valedictory Year 8 with a #haka, and one is returned. I used my old phone to upload this, as I believe there is something wrong with either the modern app or with the way the app works with Android 7. Compare the two (just go back a day on my Instagram): this is heaps smoother. #almamater #Aotearoa #Wellington #whanganuiatara #NZ #stmarks #raumati #summer #été #longinstagramvideo
Now, the two are on different aspect ratios so you might think you’re not comparing apples with apples. How about these two videos? Again, Android 7 required repeated attempts before Instagram would make the video public. Things worked fine with the older phone.
New phone
Old phone
View this post on InstagramIn my opinion, one of the prettiest small Japanese coupés of the late 1980s and early 1990s: the #Eunos Presso (#Mazda MX-3). Like an Alfa Romeo pastiche but more reliable. #car #waka #Japan #retro #NZ #Wellington #Aotearoa #whanganuiatara #summer #raumati #été #Renault #longinstagramvideo
Anyone know why it’s far, far worse as the technology gets newer? Like servers, which are much harder to manage now, or banks, where cheques take five to seven times longer to clear than in the 1970s, technology seems to be going backwards at the moment.
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