What doesn't sit well with me is how everyone follows the leader in the smartphone industry, regardless of whether the next hot feature is worth it or even necessary. Don't get me wrong: "foldable...
Exemplary
What doesn't sit well with me is how everyone follows the leader in the smartphone industry, regardless of whether the next hot feature is worth it or even necessary. Don't get me wrong: "foldable smartphone" is straight out of sci-fi stories, and it sounds amazing just to see the possibility, let alone have it picked up by more than one manufacturer – but there have been, for years, many other, far more practical concerns in the industy that, if addressed, would satisfy the majority of users in ways they never knew they needed.
Batteries. Right now, the fact that a smartphone loses charge after hours of medium usage (including background updates, streaming etc.) is treated like an unfortunate reality of things. It's a cultural "you know how it is". The fact that my iPhone only needs charging every few days (because I use it so little) shocks people.
And it's not like we've reached a Moore's-law-equivalent limit here. Apparently, graphene – the Next Great Thing™ that never took off as swiftly as it was hyped to – is damn near dirt-cheap to produce, and has an array of very useful qualities that make it an immense material for use in batteries. Hell, one could make their own in a garage: graphene could be made by hand, using only a lump of (I believe) graphite and a roll of cellotape. (Granted, it would be an excrutiatingly-long process to make a whole battery by hand that way, but it's not impossible.)
From what I've read, it's entirely possible for the industry to take a year or two to develop an order-of-magnitude upgrade to modern batteries in terms of capacity and length of service, and make them far more ecologically-sound. It's a reasonable solution to a problem that people just seem to accept, even though it causes trouble a lot of the time (just remember whenever your appointments get messed-up because your battery died).
Screen. Something that doesn't break as easily, and if it does – is either repaired easily/cheaply, or retains enough functionality to not obscure any part of the screen. Sounds like a lot to ask; maybe it is. Broken screens is one of the most obvious things wrong with a smartphone, and I see it around quite often. People choose not to repair it because it's expensive, and it takes away the device for a while (which is a pain, since the notoriety the last two generations gained for their phone obsession is justified), and you can't do it yourself if you want to. (Okay, that last one is a utopian scenario – but hell, can you imagine?)
Audio. 3.5mm jack is a hot topic right now, with many flagship phone manufacturers dropping the slot from their latest phones... for some reason. It's not that it's impossible to develop an accomodating slot in thinner phones – or to provide a usable supplementary device to use as a replacement. ("Usable", I said. Don't bring up Lightning-to-3.5mm.)
I've seen arguments striving more towards wireless audio – which, much like the abandonment of the 3.5mm slot, was pioneered by Apple, with their AirPods, ridiculous-looking things that they are. The hearsay is that Bluetooth audio has gotten nearly indistinguishable from wired audio; I've never had a chance to test it. Fair enough: wireless tech is good, and the desire to never struggle with tangled cords is justified. Plus, it's a tech advancement, and I'm all for it. But...
The Bluetooth audio industry has not been developed nearly well-enough to justify such a sharp turn of completely ridding the phones of the 3.5mm slot. The last time I asked for advice – three, maybe four years ago – I was strongly advised against Bluetooth headphones, on the grounds of their poor quality of reception. The good wireless headphones cost quite a bit, too.
Instead of weaning the people of wired by providing them with a better alternative, what the industry did was abandon a common, reasonable standard that a lot of people rely on, and replace it immediately with a single option (don't bring up Lightning-to-3.5mm, for Christ's sakes) that takes money to align with... which is the opposite of good system design. There's something Bucky Fuller said a while ago:
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
— quoted in Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure, by Daniel Quinn
So how about this: a small device that comes with the smartphone, into which you can insert a 3.5mm jack, and which can connect with the phone via Bluetooth. Put onto the device controls for the playback – play/pause, stop, previous/next, maybe shuffle and repeat etc. – and the mUSB for charging, and a button with both on/off function and the "connect via Bluetooth" function. With the latest 5.0 standard, the device needn't consume that much power. It needn't even require 3.5mm to use: it could just be a handy audio remote. Stash that expensive thin smartphone somewhere in your purse where it won't break or scratch, and enjoy good music from both old and new protocols.
Doesn't seem less radical or practical than the sudden exclusion of the 3.5mm slot.
The problem is that most of these features exist because people want them. Phones have breakable screens because they want glass instead of plastic and they make it worse by wanting phones with no...
Exemplary
The problem is that most of these features exist because people want them. Phones have breakable screens because they want glass instead of plastic and they make it worse by wanting phones with no bezel to offer any extra protection. Small battery life is a problem because people want their phone to be as thin as possible. And as stupid as it sounds, Apple has somehow convinced people that not having a headphone jack is a premium feature.
The concept of flagship phones is kind of a joke because they take this approach to design and then charge over a thousand dollars for it. These phones don't exist to be the best, they exist to extract as much money out of consumers as they possibly can. If you realize these are problems, you should do everyone a favor and vote with your dollars. Don't buy breakable glass phones, buy durable plastic ones instead. Don't buy thin phones, buy the ones with a decent battery. And for God's sake, never buy a phone without a headphone jack.
All good analysis of the situation. (Frankly, I'm a little upset that something as supposedly avantgarde and on-the-forefront as a "flagship smartphone" is just an overpriced design decision....
All good analysis of the situation.
(Frankly, I'm a little upset that something as supposedly avantgarde and on-the-forefront as a "flagship smartphone" is just an overpriced design decision. Sounds like it should be something more important than that. It's supposed to be pioneering.)
The question is: how do you convince people that they want to be patient for the good stuff instead of chasing the latest something?
To reiterate, the first thing you need to do is vote with your dollars. Buy the phone you think everyone should be buying. The only thing you can do is to convince people about what is actually...
To reiterate, the first thing you need to do is vote with your dollars. Buy the phone you think everyone should be buying.
The only thing you can do is to convince people about what is actually important by demonstrating it to them. That being said, it doesn't really make enough of a dent for me to actually recommend anyone go out and spread the good news.
With regards to the batteries, I'm sure Tesla would be all over graphene if it was viable now. That being said, I would bet most people would be willing to take a slightly thicker device with...
With regards to the batteries, I'm sure Tesla would be all over graphene if it was viable now. That being said, I would bet most people would be willing to take a slightly thicker device with several hours longer screen-on time over a thinner device that dies on them sooner.
Something that doesn't break as easily, and if it does – is either repaired easily/cheaply, or retains enough functionality to not obscure any part of the screen. Sounds like a lot to ask; maybe it is.
If you have a small device, this is not that difficult (edit: not that difficult relative to larger screens, I don't mean to imply engineering is a walk in the park). My 2013 Moto X was a brick. I have literally thrown that thing on the sidewalk, on hardwood floors, dropped it onto tile multiple times, and it only has a few small scratches. But the screen was <5 inches. Engineering a tougher screen on a larger device is much more challenging if you're not willing to sacrifice glass (the Moto Z Force has a 5.5" shatterproof display but it uses plastic instead of glass), or if you have a curved display (or a folding display, now). People like glass, it feels higher quality, so using plastic is not a good option outside devices that are supposed to be tough.
I think the solution is for companies to produce 2 devices: a device with a larger screen, and one with a smaller screen. They could upgrade the battery and screen resolution for the larger device, but other than that, give them the same specs, advertise them equally, and price them appropriately. Smartphone makers may claim consumers want bigger displays, but when is the last time they didn't relegate smaller devices to the midrange and low-end devices which sales reps avoid due to lower commissions?
I definitely agree with the 3.5mm jack. It's curious how manufacturers start offering wireless earbuds, drop the jack, and give crappy adapters which break when you look at them funny...that being said, Bluetooth audio really is a lot better than it used to be. Still inferior to 3.5mm (especially with regards to latency), but most people won't notice a quality difference with their lossy Spotify and YouTube streams like you used to be able to. I wouldn't be as annoyed by the removal of the 3.5mm jack if there were a case with a built-in adapter to break out a 3.5mm jack so I could charge and use headphones without having a crappy dongle flopping around.
I agree with the sentiment; I would love a user-repairable phone with a shiny new battery and 3.5mm jack. And I can get some of these with repariablity coming from Fairphone, a monster, but not...
I agree with the sentiment; I would love a user-repairable phone with a shiny new battery and 3.5mm jack. And I can get some of these with repariablity coming from Fairphone, a monster, but not new battery, and many non-flagship phones still have 3.5mm jack. I understand that you generally want these features in one phone and more generally, as goals for the smartphone industry. I would be stunned if our dreams came true because we don't matter to major brands.
I feel comfortable saying that everyone on Tildes now is at least some level of a power user / tech enthusiast. As a general rule, we have different desires from the average consumer. Personally, I couldn't give two shits about selfie cameras, and I would happily trade it for no-notch. But most people like selfie cameras and wouldn't even consider a phone without one. For these brands to survive, they need to beat their competitor in making the best phone for the most people. Sadly, this need hasn't created differentiation between products, but ironically the exact opposite. I would be surprised if I could tell the difference between LG's, Samsung's or Apple's flagships. Rather than assuming that everyone in these massive corporations are idiots, I must assume that there is a profitable reason for this sameness.
Be careful with your assumptions and generalisations. Some of us here on Tildes are not power users or tech enthusiasts! Some of us here on Tildes are just ordinary users of technology.
I feel comfortable saying that everyone on Tildes now is at least some level of a power user / tech enthusiast.
Be careful with your assumptions and generalisations. Some of us here on Tildes are not power users or tech enthusiasts! Some of us here on Tildes are just ordinary users of technology.
Tildes has also been promoted and mentioned on Reddit. There's even a subreddit devoted to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the number of people coming here from Reddit is comparable to the number...
Tildes has also been promoted and mentioned on Reddit. There's even a subreddit devoted to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the number of people coming here from Reddit is comparable to the number of people coming here from Hacker News.
Taking my 3.5mm jack? Over my dead body! People looked at me funny when i said i would gadly buy a phone that doesn't hava a front camera and the back one were more simple. Just please make it...
Taking my 3.5mm jack? Over my dead body!
People looked at me funny when i said i would gadly buy a phone that doesn't hava a front camera and the back one were more simple. Just please make it cheaper.
I'm happy with the battery of my Redmi, but i rooted and degoogled it.
YUP, I have cheap Bluetooth headphones and 3.5mm, and the sound quality on the 3.5mm are enormously better. I am sure high quality Bluetooth headphones have good quality, I just don't have the...
YUP, I have cheap Bluetooth headphones and 3.5mm, and the sound quality on the 3.5mm are enormously better. I am sure high quality Bluetooth headphones have good quality, I just don't have the money for it.
Nobody's assuming that. I think all parties in this discussion is on the level to understand that it's about broader appeal, and that most non-tech people want, or at least enjoy, a good selfie...
Rather than assuming that everyone in these massive corporations are idiots, I must assume that there is a profitable reason for this sameness.
Nobody's assuming that. I think all parties in this discussion is on the level to understand that it's about broader appeal, and that most non-tech people want, or at least enjoy, a good selfie camera. It's the time we live in – the proliferation of the self – and if you wanna keep people mostly-satisfied, you gotta chase that. The lowest common denominator; the baser instincts.
Also: I think it was Samsung who presented a concept phone where the selfie camera hid behind the screen. Not in the space between the screen and the back, but right beneath the screen. How it worked is beyond me, but I'd be okay with that. They followed the notch like it's the fire in the dark night just 'cause that was cool (and a nightmare for web devs, tell you what). I'm okay with selfie cameras; one behind the screen is way cooler.
I am sorry, I honestly wasn't suggesting anyone thought that here. I merely wanted to make the fairly obvious point that apparently most people like the sameness of phones.
I am sorry, I honestly wasn't suggesting anyone thought that here. I merely wanted to make the fairly obvious point that apparently most people like the sameness of phones.
Fairphone looks really cool, but I'm disappointed to see that they use Android 7 and have no apparent plans to upgrade. One of the best things about the Pixel line is getting consistent software...
Fairphone looks really cool, but I'm disappointed to see that they use Android 7 and have no apparent plans to upgrade. One of the best things about the Pixel line is getting consistent software updates, and it's the reason I've considered jumping to iPhone - having the latest security and software updates is important to me.
The only thing remaining is to put some NAND for music into it and it's the old good MP3 player. Add a little monochrome screen and maybe a capped USB C to plug into phone to sync music
a small device that comes with the smartphone, into which you can insert a 3.5mm jack
The only thing remaining is to put some NAND for music into it and it's the old good MP3 player. Add a little monochrome screen and maybe a capped USB C to plug into phone to sync music
And maybe a little touch ring for scrobbling, is that what you're saying, you sly devil? Seriously, though. Apple could do a great thing for wireless music adoption if they shoot for revamping...
And maybe a little touch ring for scrobbling, is that what you're saying, you sly devil?
Seriously, though. Apple could do a great thing for wireless music adoption if they shoot for revamping iPod as a wireless transmitter. "Give us your old iPod and some dollars, and we'll give you a device that makes using your iTunes library excessively easy, with a familiar interface!"
It's not the best idea, I admit, but at least I'm going through the motions. Maybe Samsung does, too. Maybe Sony does. I'm not seeing their behind-the-scenes. I'm also not seeing much innovation in the areas that need them.
I got into phones just as quickly as I felt over them lol Didn't come from money so cell phones weren't an option as a child. Bought a flip phone at 18. Then a slider thingy at 20. Then a touch...
Exemplary
I got into phones just as quickly as I felt over them lol
Didn't come from money so cell phones weren't an option as a child. Bought a flip phone at 18. Then a slider thingy at 20. Then a touch screen (ooo la la) at 22. The cheapest Samsung version of each
When the prices started to come down for smart phones I got an old iPhone 4, then a Windows phone, then Moto G4, then Samsung Note4, then iPhone 8+. Once I had a current model iPhone and looked at what it did and how much it cost I said fuck this. Sold it and just got a second hand LG V20 for fraction of the cost.
That said, I was so excited every time I got a different phone and the camera was better and screen was bigger and it had more and more apps, etc. But now I wish I could just do without a phone entirely. Watching people post social media multiple times in a single day and use the internet to follow mainstream stuff instead of learn interesting things. These little cancer computers in our pockets lol
These companies will just continue to make money off of temporary fads and fools will buy them even with they hit 1k or 2k or more. It's insane. You can get a perfectly functioning phone for $100. It's like if everybody felt a social need to get a brand new Lexus when realistically most of us are in second hand Civics. But when it comes to phones people are under a spell. Meh
If it's going to look like the patent pictures, I'm not quite sure I understand the point of a clam-shell vertical fold/flip phone. If it's horizontal you usually get a tablet size display out of...
If it's going to look like the patent pictures, I'm not quite sure I understand the point of a clam-shell vertical fold/flip phone.
If it's horizontal you usually get a tablet size display out of if. Here you're just getting an oddly tall display?
I get that their thing is to try and milk the "Razr" brand, but the usefulness of it is beyond me. Also, I really don't want to use a virtual T9 keypad.
I just want a (relatively) small phone with good battery life. Got a Samsung s4 mini for a while now and I am pretty happy with it. It is as big as I want a phone to be. I don't get why anyone...
I just want a (relatively) small phone with good battery life. Got a Samsung s4 mini for a while now and I am pretty happy with it. It is as big as I want a phone to be.
I don't get why anyone actually needs a phone with crazy good specs, the only thing a phone needs is to be able to make calls and look at the browser basically. Or no?
Calling, texting, and browsing are relatively close to the minimum requirements on what a phone needs to be able to do, yeah. But people do plenty of crap way beyond that. When it's not subzero...
Calling, texting, and browsing are relatively close to the minimum requirements on what a phone needs to be able to do, yeah. But people do plenty of crap way beyond that. When it's not subzero outside, I like to play Pokemon Go, that really benefits from having a little extra power. More power gets you better performance in emulators, too.
Well my now 6 years old phone can run Pokemon Go just fine. I played it too at the same time as basically everyone when it released for a while. I agree that some people can find uses for the...
Well my now 6 years old phone can run Pokemon Go just fine. I played it too at the same time as basically everyone when it released for a while.
I agree that some people can find uses for the additional power, but for me, I can't imagine needing it. I guess mostly for people who play actually resource intensive games on the phone it is really useful. But most games I can imagine playing on the phone like Chess, Minesweeper and similar games (or even Pokemon Go) work just fine with a small amount of power that a small phone can easily have.
What doesn't sit well with me is how everyone follows the leader in the smartphone industry, regardless of whether the next hot feature is worth it or even necessary. Don't get me wrong: "foldable smartphone" is straight out of sci-fi stories, and it sounds amazing just to see the possibility, let alone have it picked up by more than one manufacturer – but there have been, for years, many other, far more practical concerns in the industy that, if addressed, would satisfy the majority of users in ways they never knew they needed.
Batteries. Right now, the fact that a smartphone loses charge after hours of medium usage (including background updates, streaming etc.) is treated like an unfortunate reality of things. It's a cultural "you know how it is". The fact that my iPhone only needs charging every few days (because I use it so little) shocks people.
And it's not like we've reached a Moore's-law-equivalent limit here. Apparently, graphene – the Next Great Thing™ that never took off as swiftly as it was hyped to – is damn near dirt-cheap to produce, and has an array of very useful qualities that make it an immense material for use in batteries. Hell, one could make their own in a garage: graphene could be made by hand, using only a lump of (I believe) graphite and a roll of cellotape. (Granted, it would be an excrutiatingly-long process to make a whole battery by hand that way, but it's not impossible.)
From what I've read, it's entirely possible for the industry to take a year or two to develop an order-of-magnitude upgrade to modern batteries in terms of capacity and length of service, and make them far more ecologically-sound. It's a reasonable solution to a problem that people just seem to accept, even though it causes trouble a lot of the time (just remember whenever your appointments get messed-up because your battery died).
Screen. Something that doesn't break as easily, and if it does – is either repaired easily/cheaply, or retains enough functionality to not obscure any part of the screen. Sounds like a lot to ask; maybe it is. Broken screens is one of the most obvious things wrong with a smartphone, and I see it around quite often. People choose not to repair it because it's expensive, and it takes away the device for a while (which is a pain, since the notoriety the last two generations gained for their phone obsession is justified), and you can't do it yourself if you want to. (Okay, that last one is a utopian scenario – but hell, can you imagine?)
Audio. 3.5mm jack is a hot topic right now, with many flagship phone manufacturers dropping the slot from their latest phones... for some reason. It's not that it's impossible to develop an accomodating slot in thinner phones – or to provide a usable supplementary device to use as a replacement. ("Usable", I said. Don't bring up Lightning-to-3.5mm.)
I've seen arguments striving more towards wireless audio – which, much like the abandonment of the 3.5mm slot, was pioneered by Apple, with their AirPods, ridiculous-looking things that they are. The hearsay is that Bluetooth audio has gotten nearly indistinguishable from wired audio; I've never had a chance to test it. Fair enough: wireless tech is good, and the desire to never struggle with tangled cords is justified. Plus, it's a tech advancement, and I'm all for it. But...
The Bluetooth audio industry has not been developed nearly well-enough to justify such a sharp turn of completely ridding the phones of the 3.5mm slot. The last time I asked for advice – three, maybe four years ago – I was strongly advised against Bluetooth headphones, on the grounds of their poor quality of reception. The good wireless headphones cost quite a bit, too.
Instead of weaning the people of wired by providing them with a better alternative, what the industry did was abandon a common, reasonable standard that a lot of people rely on, and replace it immediately with a single option (don't bring up Lightning-to-3.5mm, for Christ's sakes) that takes money to align with... which is the opposite of good system design. There's something Bucky Fuller said a while ago:
— quoted in Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure, by Daniel Quinn
So how about this: a small device that comes with the smartphone, into which you can insert a 3.5mm jack, and which can connect with the phone via Bluetooth. Put onto the device controls for the playback – play/pause, stop, previous/next, maybe shuffle and repeat etc. – and the mUSB for charging, and a button with both on/off function and the "connect via Bluetooth" function. With the latest 5.0 standard, the device needn't consume that much power. It needn't even require 3.5mm to use: it could just be a handy audio remote. Stash that expensive thin smartphone somewhere in your purse where it won't break or scratch, and enjoy good music from both old and new protocols.
Doesn't seem less radical or practical than the sudden exclusion of the 3.5mm slot.
The problem is that most of these features exist because people want them. Phones have breakable screens because they want glass instead of plastic and they make it worse by wanting phones with no bezel to offer any extra protection. Small battery life is a problem because people want their phone to be as thin as possible. And as stupid as it sounds, Apple has somehow convinced people that not having a headphone jack is a premium feature.
The concept of flagship phones is kind of a joke because they take this approach to design and then charge over a thousand dollars for it. These phones don't exist to be the best, they exist to extract as much money out of consumers as they possibly can. If you realize these are problems, you should do everyone a favor and vote with your dollars. Don't buy breakable glass phones, buy durable plastic ones instead. Don't buy thin phones, buy the ones with a decent battery. And for God's sake, never buy a phone without a headphone jack.
All good analysis of the situation.
(Frankly, I'm a little upset that something as supposedly avantgarde and on-the-forefront as a "flagship smartphone" is just an overpriced design decision. Sounds like it should be something more important than that. It's supposed to be pioneering.)
The question is: how do you convince people that they want to be patient for the good stuff instead of chasing the latest something?
To reiterate, the first thing you need to do is vote with your dollars. Buy the phone you think everyone should be buying.
The only thing you can do is to convince people about what is actually important by demonstrating it to them. That being said, it doesn't really make enough of a dent for me to actually recommend anyone go out and spread the good news.
With regards to the batteries, I'm sure Tesla would be all over graphene if it was viable now. That being said, I would bet most people would be willing to take a slightly thicker device with several hours longer screen-on time over a thinner device that dies on them sooner.
If you have a small device, this is not that difficult (edit: not that difficult relative to larger screens, I don't mean to imply engineering is a walk in the park). My 2013 Moto X was a brick. I have literally thrown that thing on the sidewalk, on hardwood floors, dropped it onto tile multiple times, and it only has a few small scratches. But the screen was <5 inches. Engineering a tougher screen on a larger device is much more challenging if you're not willing to sacrifice glass (the Moto Z Force has a 5.5" shatterproof display but it uses plastic instead of glass), or if you have a curved display (or a folding display, now). People like glass, it feels higher quality, so using plastic is not a good option outside devices that are supposed to be tough.
I think the solution is for companies to produce 2 devices: a device with a larger screen, and one with a smaller screen. They could upgrade the battery and screen resolution for the larger device, but other than that, give them the same specs, advertise them equally, and price them appropriately. Smartphone makers may claim consumers want bigger displays, but when is the last time they didn't relegate smaller devices to the midrange and low-end devices which sales reps avoid due to lower commissions?
I definitely agree with the 3.5mm jack. It's curious how manufacturers start offering wireless earbuds, drop the jack, and give crappy adapters which break when you look at them funny...that being said, Bluetooth audio really is a lot better than it used to be. Still inferior to 3.5mm (especially with regards to latency), but most people won't notice a quality difference with their lossy Spotify and YouTube streams like you used to be able to. I wouldn't be as annoyed by the removal of the 3.5mm jack if there were a case with a built-in adapter to break out a 3.5mm jack so I could charge and use headphones without having a crappy dongle flopping around.
I agree with the sentiment; I would love a user-repairable phone with a shiny new battery and 3.5mm jack. And I can get some of these with repariablity coming from Fairphone, a monster, but not new battery, and many non-flagship phones still have 3.5mm jack. I understand that you generally want these features in one phone and more generally, as goals for the smartphone industry. I would be stunned if our dreams came true because we don't matter to major brands.
I feel comfortable saying that everyone on Tildes now is at least some level of a power user / tech enthusiast. As a general rule, we have different desires from the average consumer. Personally, I couldn't give two shits about selfie cameras, and I would happily trade it for no-notch. But most people like selfie cameras and wouldn't even consider a phone without one. For these brands to survive, they need to beat their competitor in making the best phone for the most people. Sadly, this need hasn't created differentiation between products, but ironically the exact opposite. I would be surprised if I could tell the difference between LG's, Samsung's or Apple's flagships. Rather than assuming that everyone in these massive corporations are idiots, I must assume that there is a profitable reason for this sameness.
Be careful with your assumptions and generalisations. Some of us here on Tildes are not power users or tech enthusiasts! Some of us here on Tildes are just ordinary users of technology.
Fair, everyone was an exaggeration, many. If you don't mind me asking, how did you find Tildes? I know I found it through a Hacker News post.
Tildes has also been promoted and mentioned on Reddit. There's even a subreddit devoted to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the number of people coming here from Reddit is comparable to the number of people coming here from Hacker News.
Here's my story.
Taking my 3.5mm jack? Over my dead body!
People looked at me funny when i said i would gadly buy a phone that doesn't hava a front camera and the back one were more simple. Just please make it cheaper.
I'm happy with the battery of my Redmi, but i rooted and degoogled it.
YUP, I have cheap Bluetooth headphones and 3.5mm, and the sound quality on the 3.5mm are enormously better. I am sure high quality Bluetooth headphones have good quality, I just don't have the money for it.
Nobody's assuming that. I think all parties in this discussion is on the level to understand that it's about broader appeal, and that most non-tech people want, or at least enjoy, a good selfie camera. It's the time we live in – the proliferation of the self – and if you wanna keep people mostly-satisfied, you gotta chase that. The lowest common denominator; the baser instincts.
Also: I think it was Samsung who presented a concept phone where the selfie camera hid behind the screen. Not in the space between the screen and the back, but right beneath the screen. How it worked is beyond me, but I'd be okay with that. They followed the notch like it's the fire in the dark night just 'cause that was cool (and a nightmare for web devs, tell you what). I'm okay with selfie cameras; one behind the screen is way cooler.
I am sorry, I honestly wasn't suggesting anyone thought that here. I merely wanted to make the fairly obvious point that apparently most people like the sameness of phones.
Fairphone looks really cool, but I'm disappointed to see that they use Android 7 and have no apparent plans to upgrade. One of the best things about the Pixel line is getting consistent software updates, and it's the reason I've considered jumping to iPhone - having the latest security and software updates is important to me.
Yeah, I really wish the fairphone 3 would finally be released.They claimed it would be out in 2018, but that deadline came and went.
The only thing remaining is to put some NAND for music into it and it's the old good MP3 player. Add a little monochrome screen and maybe a capped USB C to plug into phone to sync music
And maybe a little touch ring for scrobbling, is that what you're saying, you sly devil?
Seriously, though. Apple could do a great thing for wireless music adoption if they shoot for revamping iPod as a wireless transmitter. "Give us your old iPod and some dollars, and we'll give you a device that makes using your iTunes library excessively easy, with a familiar interface!"
It's not the best idea, I admit, but at least I'm going through the motions. Maybe Samsung does, too. Maybe Sony does. I'm not seeing their behind-the-scenes. I'm also not seeing much innovation in the areas that need them.
I got into phones just as quickly as I felt over them lol
Didn't come from money so cell phones weren't an option as a child. Bought a flip phone at 18. Then a slider thingy at 20. Then a touch screen (ooo la la) at 22. The cheapest Samsung version of each
When the prices started to come down for smart phones I got an old iPhone 4, then a Windows phone, then Moto G4, then Samsung Note4, then iPhone 8+. Once I had a current model iPhone and looked at what it did and how much it cost I said fuck this. Sold it and just got a second hand LG V20 for fraction of the cost.
That said, I was so excited every time I got a different phone and the camera was better and screen was bigger and it had more and more apps, etc. But now I wish I could just do without a phone entirely. Watching people post social media multiple times in a single day and use the internet to follow mainstream stuff instead of learn interesting things. These little cancer computers in our pockets lol
These companies will just continue to make money off of temporary fads and fools will buy them even with they hit 1k or 2k or more. It's insane. You can get a perfectly functioning phone for $100. It's like if everybody felt a social need to get a brand new Lexus when realistically most of us are in second hand Civics. But when it comes to phones people are under a spell. Meh
If it's going to look like the patent pictures, I'm not quite sure I understand the point of a clam-shell vertical fold/flip phone.
If it's horizontal you usually get a tablet size display out of if. Here you're just getting an oddly tall display?
I get that their thing is to try and milk the "Razr" brand, but the usefulness of it is beyond me. Also, I really don't want to use a virtual T9 keypad.
I just want a (relatively) small phone with good battery life. Got a Samsung s4 mini for a while now and I am pretty happy with it. It is as big as I want a phone to be.
I don't get why anyone actually needs a phone with crazy good specs, the only thing a phone needs is to be able to make calls and look at the browser basically. Or no?
Calling, texting, and browsing are relatively close to the minimum requirements on what a phone needs to be able to do, yeah. But people do plenty of crap way beyond that. When it's not subzero outside, I like to play Pokemon Go, that really benefits from having a little extra power. More power gets you better performance in emulators, too.
Well my now 6 years old phone can run Pokemon Go just fine. I played it too at the same time as basically everyone when it released for a while.
I agree that some people can find uses for the additional power, but for me, I can't imagine needing it. I guess mostly for people who play actually resource intensive games on the phone it is really useful. But most games I can imagine playing on the phone like Chess, Minesweeper and similar games (or even Pokemon Go) work just fine with a small amount of power that a small phone can easily have.