Someone was arguing with me about how I couldn't possibly take a better picture with my phone because of its “measly” 8 megapixels as opposed to his “grand” 13 (he actually used those words, he is dramatic like that). Anyway, we decided to take a couple of pictures, but still couldn’t be completely objective about which ones came out better. We then decided to scour the internet to support our individual causes, and I found that a camera with less megapixels could still totally take a better picture than one with more (yes, I won the argument). High off that win, I fell down the Google rabbit-hole, searching for more tech myths that had been debunked.
More Megapixels = Better pictures
This myth was obviously started by digital camera-makers, when the truth is that megapixels have absolutely nothing do with digital photo quality (only digital photo size). The quality of a digital camera photo is determined by a camera’s sensor type and size, its processor and its optics. The only real impact the number of megapixels makes is in the quality of a zoomed-in image snapped by a smartphone (it’s not like you plan on zooming in on that selfie). Zooming on a smartphone camera is done digitally — the phone simply crops the full resolution image, resulting in a grainy photo. So if you go camera or smartphone shopping – and you have to focus on anything – focus on how large the camera sensor is rather than on the number of megapixels.
More Signal Bars = Better Service
It’s only normal to assume that if your phone has all its signal bars up, you’ll get the best service. Well, that’s not true. Those bars only indicate signal strength to the nearest cell tower, so if many people are also connected to that same tower, you could still experience crappy service due to congestion. Plus, speed also varies by network provider; I can assure you (well, not really) that 3 bars with Etisalat trumps 5 bars with Airtel, all things being equal.
Don’t Shut Down Your Computer Everyday
I have to admit that this is one of my least favorite myths (it ended up costing me money), because it was the first thing I was told when I first got my laptop. I got so into the habit of putting my laptop on sleep mode, I eventually went almost 6 weeks without shutting it down, and I bet you can guess what that did to my laptop. The truth is shutting your laptop when it’s not in use (regardless of the last time you shut it down) conserves power and places less stress on its components, which should in turn make it last longer.
Don’t Use Your Phone While You’re Charging It
Well, this is just silly, it’s perfectly okay to use your phone while you’re charging it (I mean, who has time to wait), provided you’re not using a knockoff charger, because that could be really dangerous. You’d even be better off with off-brand chargers, than with those cheap imitations.
Be the smartest in the room
Give it a try, you can unsubscribe anytime. Privacy Policy.
So, feel free to leave in the comments section any more completely bogus tech myths.
