Yes, but it's not like a majority of the tech is being built for the Solar Exalted themselves. Their consorts, concubines, children, ministers, servants, etc significantly outnumber them. Given that, most First Age tech ought to have been usable by them.
These people are probably going to prefer having something they can carry around and use, and convenience of use, over singular and very large and showy use most of the time.
I'm not saying that it isnt a resource drain- given how much an iPhone takes to charge and so, it should be exorbitantly difficult to get running.
However, the First Age tech should probably tend towards ease of use and a compact aesthetic simply because it may have been designed for people who can't attune and aren't exalts too. There is a difference between a supercomputer sitting in the Pentagon ( an exalt's personal panoply) and the ruins of some mortal' s communication device (which should probably be more common as a discovery given population ratios)
I do agree to this, yeah. But easy to use =! compact and non showy
A flintlock, for example, was far more showy than a handgun
Think we're just talking past each other here.
My idea of what's going on is basically:
-First Age
--Singular masterpieces made by and for individuals. More common tools may be templated or inspired by these masterpieces. More crafts made to see what the hell happens.
--Skilled maintenance requirements are common but not normal. It might simply be the equivalent of requiring petrol to run IRL, the fuel of the given purity takes a refinery to distill from a commonly available material but can be done cheaply.
--Large scale solutions are more easily done by a single megaproject than by producing a simpler tool in bulk.
--Exotics, including pure magical materials in more common use.
--Detail work is available and common.
--Ornamentation is common but not mandatory(though everyone would have a different opinion of what's horribly gaudy)
--Artificial life, non-human operators and artifact intelligences are more common.
--Major artifice tends to be made towards the very high end of durability and grossly overengineered in function as their creators and users expected to be around in a few thousand years.
--Regional standardization is not, the trendsetters are artisans, artists and heroes. Beyond having parallel developments due to having similar resources or problems to solve, they'd be looking to add flair and stand out amongst their peers, rather than copy someone else's wonders. Local standardization is a lot more common as people try to make things fit their vision.
-Shogunate
--Utilitarian focus. Priority is less to innovate and more towards keeping society going.
--Transition towards human operated versions of previous exalt/spirit/automata/AI operated devices.
--Usage of all exotics, including refined magical materials decline in favor of more commonly sourced materials and raw magical materials. Raw volume of production still exists, so scale isn't a problem yet.
--Lots of salvaged, and repurposed First Age artifice.
--Standardization is (briefly) forced into existence as needs previously met by megaprojects run into failing or damaged megaprojects and must be filled by more mundane means.
--Infrastructure dependency might show up more as people lean on existing manse networks and still functional megaprojects to support their stuff.
-Age of Sorrows
--Post apocalyptic inclinations. The most durable works from the previous ages coupled to the stuff you could make in a cave with a box of scraps.
--No exotics, limited detail work, refined materials largely non-existent outside of local supplies.
--Standardization died with the society of skilled artisans needed to maintain that.
