Buying a printer should be simple.
Connect it to Wi-Fi. Install the app. Press print.
At least, that's the idea.
Modern printers are actually quite impressive. Print quality is better, ink tanks are more economical, wireless printing is convenient, and some models can scan directly to your phone.
Then you open the app.
Create an account. Sign in. Accept permissions. Find the printer. Wait for detection. Update something. Navigate through several menus just to find a feature that used to require one button.
Suddenly, printing a document feels like configuring a new computer.
The strange part is that the printer itself may be perfectly good.
The frustrating experience comes from the software surrounding it.
This happens with many gadgets today. Manufacturers spend years improving the hardware, then make customers depend on an app that feels unnecessarily complicated.
A good product is no longer just good hardware.
The app is part of the product too.
If I need instructions just to print a PDF from my phone, perhaps we haven't really made printing smarter.
We've just added more steps.
Wait... does this actually make sense?
