Have smartphones plateaued ?

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Zorachus

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I think smartphones have plateaued. The iPhone 5 and Nexus 4, and Nokia Lumia 920, pretty much all do the same thing very good at the end of the day. Each phone, can text, e-mail, surf the web, give you GPS navigation, pretty much the same.

Sure us hardcore nerds can spot the differences in each OS, but to the average smartphone user, there truly isn't radical difference between each of the three top OS's.

What else can truly be done on a smartphone that isn't being done already, by any of the big 3 ? Sure they will get faster, thinner, better screens, etc...but to me all smartphones seem to have reached a limit.

An iPhone 5 or Nexus 4, can do pretty much anything right now. What would a iPhone 6 or Nexus 5 really add to the game, over the current phones ? What's the next major breakthrough that none of these phones have yet ?
 
I agree that they're going to have to move over more to touting new features as a means of creating separation for their products. But that's going to involve a lot of creativity, which doesn't come easy.
 
Your Iphone 6 will talk to your tabletized android oven... Get in a fanboyish interdevice argument and burn your house down while running up a $30,000 phone bill and torching your 10k desk.
 
I believe we're entering a phase where phones and tablets are merging to become super all-in-one communication/work/entertainment devices, i.e. GN2. This is disconcerting to people like me who don't want these huge screens on our phones. For me, the Razr M hits the sweet spot. Big screen, small bezel. I hope there remains a robust market for such phones.
 
I understand the next couple of years, will just be more of the same; thinner, faster, better screens, etc...And when will Thinner & Lighter stop being a marketing tool ? How frigging thin and light do we need our phones to be ? Do you want a paper thin phone, light as a feather ? I don't. I'll take thicker with a battery that lasts a week, over credit card thin smartphone.

But what do you see like next decade ? What will an iPhone 9 or Nexus 11 look like and operate in the year 2020 ?

This would be cool to see, I can see this becoming a reality, but probably several years away;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOoGgkXAWVQ&feature=player_embedded#!
 
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I hope they have plateaued as far as size goes. That 6.1" Huawei Ascend at CES is straight retarded. Don't get me wrong though, I have a Note 2 and love it; but it's definitely kind of cheating in terms of what internal hardware they are able to put in a phone of that size. The best selling phone right now is a 4" phone, if OEMs could release a 4-4.3" option with the same internals as the 4.7"+ flagship phones out right now, then they would be able to reach a much larger market, IMO. So hopefully we start to see OEMs kind of regress back to a more manageable form factor for people. I have seen a lot of people that hold onto their old 3.5-4" phones because they love the size and don't see anything out in that size that's worth upgrading to still.
 
In my opinion, we're going to see a shift in the way people utilize their mobile devices. That shift is going to be in retail point-of-sale, an ever increasing focus on competition with friends/family we're connected with, and more inter-connectivity. If you look around you can find a few examples of digital mobile wallet applications and RFID electronics for quick payment systems, but the manufacturers are just now getting to a point where the incorporation of these systems can be used, and will be used, by the majority. They're just waiting for that critical point when most users are comfortable and willing to use their mobile phone as an everyday payment system and mobile wallet. Now, as for the competition comment, this is something that has really just begun to start happening. We see it in mobile games, through a few retailers, apps like Foursquare, and platforms such as Facebook. As a means of marketing is concerned, and to keep the customer ever more engaged with a specific product or brand, utilizing peer competition is ingenious. This isn't something that is going to just fizzle away, we're going to begin seeing marketing like this everywhere. ---> Zorachus just earned another three points and has been awarded the badge of honor. Post a reply to catch up, or visit this thread xxxx to reclaim the badge for yourself and receive a free coupon to Tigerdirect.com - this kind of stuff ;)

We already have seen apps that start our cars, unlock our doors at home, or turn the lights and ac on and off. It's my belief that as the market grows features like this will become more and more common, if not expected by the consumer. Why can't I control my stove with my iPhone 10?

I also personally believe that as we progress and become an even more connected global society, we'll start to see more mobile devices that support affordable global communication.

But let's not forget that in three years, having a 13MP camera on your phone isn't going to be the same as it is today. Advances in electronics will continue to push older models out of the way, and advances in software will also continue to hinder previous devices unusable to the average user.
 
T4rd said:
I hope they have plateaued as far as size goes. That 6.1" Huawei Ascend at CES is straight retarded. Don't get me wrong though, I have a Note 2 and love it; but it's definitely kind of cheating in terms of what internal hardware they are able to put in a phone of that size. The best selling phone right now is a 4" phone, if OEMs could release a 4-4.3" option with the same internals as the 4.7"+ flagship phones out right now, then they would be able to reach a much larger market, IMO. So hopefully we start to see OEMs kind of regress back to a more manageable form factor for people. I have seen a lot of people that hold onto their old 3.5-4" phones because they love the size and don't see anything out in that size that's worth upgrading to still.
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Myself and two brothers love smartphones. I am the youngest and my second oldest brother and I love the Nexus line, and are happy with the 4.7" szie. But my oldest Brother is dead set on smaller phones, he still loves his iPhone 4 @ 3.5" and will only look at the iPhone 5 now, because he says still fits in pocket easily, and is one handed operated easily. he says 4" is just right, and hates these large Android phones.

Different strokes, for different folks.

I would personally go back to an iPhone, if they went just a little larger, maybe 4.3" screen size, and overhaul iOS adding widgets and some customization. I could see that happening in 2014 with the iPhone 6. And I see iOS7 being overhauled this fall, now with Ive's in control of the OS.
 
The next decade, do you see the handheld smartphone device itself going away ? Maybe moving to devices like the Google glasses, where you don't have to actually hold the device, you wear it instead ?

And in the far future, for sure the smartphone handheld device will disappear, and will be surgically implanted into our bodies, no joke. But that's like maybe 25 - 50 years away. people don't like to admit this, but in the far future, humans will become part robotic, with technology incorporated into our bodies. But that's a century or more away.
 
One thing I am predicting in 10 years is another go at phone watches.

The phone watch could sync to bluetooth headsets and a WiDi/DLNA touchscreens. People will carry around a 5" 1080p transparent touchsceen with camera in their pockets. At home people can sync to bigger displays. The watch could sync up to five 1080p resolution displays or two 4K displays, and the 5" smaller display will turn into a remote - which people will seldom use due to better voice commands. The watch will have the computing ability of a typical PC and graphics that will obviously be good enough for 8K.

How we are going to get there:

Intel has something on its roadmap in that could make this reality happen. A 5 nm SoC for a fully loaded computer/server. If the Atom or ULV still exists around that time, they could be even less powered. And with new battery tech also on the way... link

WiDi displays are currently available but is at its infancy. In ten years, there could be a ton of DLNA/Wireless Direct/BT/connected devices and not just screens. They may also consume less power to even less than current BT levels. link

Battery advances are happening right now. There is something from MIT, Stanford, or something that makes our batteries today longer. Not only will we have smaller batteries but also longer lasting ones. One of the main reasons why we are not seeing it in market yet is that they have to figure out the mass production techniques. Too many lemons or something. In 10 years, hopefully they will have figured it out. [no link, i apologize]

Five 1080p displays or two 4K? Current year's SoC should allow a single 4K output. In 10 years, there should be way more than just 5 1080p displays and 2 4K! But anything above that is beyond the point of reason... They should be designing holographic displays instead! link

Why watches?

It's small... maybe a wallet or an usb flash drive sized device. All I'm saying is that future devices doesn't have to come with a screen. But it would be nice to have an ultra small e-ink or whatever watch display for notifications.

But but...

I think the biggest "dream" that I listed is a transparent touchscreen display... I remember seeing Samsung/LG or someone demoing it last year. Every year we get rumors of a transparent screen phone, so I hope we'll have it in 10 years.
 
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CHANG3D said:
One thing I am predicting in 10 years is another go at phone watches.

The phone watch could sync to bluetooth headsets and a WiDi touchscreens. People will carry around a 5" 1080p transparent touchsceen with camera in their pockets. At home people can sync to bigger displays. The watch could sync up to five 1080p resolution displays or two 4K displays, and the 5" smaller display will turn into a remote - which people will seldom use due to better voice commands. The watch will have the computing ability of a typical PC and graphics that will obviously be good enough for 8K.

How we are going to get there:

Intel has something on its roadmap in that could make this reality happen. A 5 nm SoC for a fully loaded computer/server. If the Atom or ULV still exists around that time, they could be even less powered. And with new battery tech also on the way... link

WiDi displays are currently available but is at its infancy. In ten years, there could be a ton of WiDi devices and not just WiDi screens.

Battery advances are happening right now. There is something from MIT or something that makes our batteries today 12x longer. Not only will we have smaller batteries but also longer lasting ones. The reason why we are not seeing it in market yet is that they have to figure out the mass production techniques. Too many lemons or something. In 10 years, hopefully they will have figured it out.

Five 1080p displays or two 4K? Current year's SoC should allow a single 4K output. In 10 years, there should be way more than just 5 1080p displays and 2 4K! But anything above that is beyond the point of reason... They should be designing holographic displays instead!

Why watches?

It's small... maybe a wallet or an usb flash drive sized device. All I'm saying is that future devices doesn't have to come with a screen.

But but...

I think the biggest "dream" that I listed is a transparent touchscreen display... I remember seeing Samsung/LG or someone demoing it last year. Every year we get rumors of a transparent screen phone, so I hope we'll have in in 10 years.
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Voice commands aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Srsly. The first month after Siri came out, people played with it... Now I never see any of the Legion of local Iphone users use it.

Being seen and heard in public talking to your phone is the very antithesis of privacy that people want in their communications and their computer use.
 
Skripka said:
Voice commands aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Srsly. The first month after Siri came out, people played with it... Now I never see any of the Legion of local Iphone users use it.

Being seen and heard in public talking to your phone is the very antithesis of privacy that people want in their communications and their computer use.
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We're talking about in 10 years. IBM Watson will be upgraded immensely and probably be reduced in size for consumer level commands, like a Holmes (Homes) Edition or something...
 
CHANG3D said:
We're talking about in 10 years. IBM Watson will be upgraded immensely and probably be reduced in size for consumer level commands, like a Holmes (Homes) Edition or something...
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Size doesn't matter. People just hate advertising even who they're calling or what they're doing on the phone in public . I think virtually every dumb phone has voice dialing these days, and the only person I've ever heard or seen use it is my dad.

I have S Voice on my Note2... Only time it gets used is in the privacy of my car. Has nada to do with software command capability, has everything to do with privacy and the lack of any significant convenience advantage in most use cases.
 
Skripka said:
Size doesn't matter. People just hate advertising even who they're calling or what they're doing on the phone in public . I think virtually every dumb phone has voice dialing these days, and the only person I've ever heard or seen use it is my dad.

I have S Voice on my Note2... Only time it gets used is in the privacy of my car. Has nada to do with software command capability, has everything to do with privacy and the lack of any significant convenience advantage in most use cases.
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I know current voice command things sucks. "Google Now" in Jelly Bean may be the best at the moment, but it is still not up to the "star trek standard"... but you're acting like there will be no improvements or that improvements to it will be minimal. Although I'm pretty sure we'll not reach the star trek standard, but I'm expecting cars to drive itself in 10 years and a much better voice command that will actually do things.

But first thing first. Nike need to give me a pair of McFly's that actually ties itself by 2015!!! Yes, Nike, you have a deadline!
 
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CHANG3D said:
I know current voice command things sucks. "Google Now" in Jelly Bean may be the best at the moment, but it is still not up to the "star trek standard"... but you're acting like there will be no improvements or that improvements to it will be minimal. Although I'm pretty sure we'll not reach the star trek standard, but I'm expecting cars to drive itself in 10 years and a much better voice command that will actually do things.

But first thing first. Nike need to give me a pair of McFly's that actually ties itself by 2015!!! Yes, Nike, you have a deadline!
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Amigo, for the last time. The level of technology is not the limiting factor in why these things aren't being adopted and used. It is human psychology. I can say a simple command like "Call Mom" and 100% of the time S-Voice interprets my words right so far, I bet the same goes for Siri too. But most people everywhere don't want everyone in the room/hall to know they are calling their mom or texting whatever to everyone.

People value privacy, however much it may be illusory. And as I said, voice command is the antithesis of that.

More complex commands may not be recognized...but that isn't why Siri and S-Voice and other analogues get little use. It is because no one wants to advertise to the entire room/hallway that they're looking up where the nearest strip club is.
 
I think a major leap will be advancement in batteries. Face it the battery life of smart phones suck nowdays and it's only getting worse when they make phones that you can't take out the battery quickly and replace with a charged one. ( I sent back the nokia lumia 920 ) because of this issue. Another advancement will be the ability to hook your phone up easy to your tv and browse the web or play games and have a cordless controller/mouse etc and keyboard.
 
Skripka said:
Amigo, for the last time. The level of technology is not the limiting factor in why these things aren't being adopted and used. It is human psychology. I can say a simple command like "Call Mom" and 100% of the time S-Voice interprets my words right so far, I bet the same goes for Siri too. But most people everywhere don't want everyone in the room/hall to know they are calling their mom or texting whatever to everyone.

People value privacy, however much it may be illusory. And as I said, voice command is the antithesis of that.

More complex commands may not be recognized...but that isn't why Siri and S-Voice and other analogues get little use. It is because no one wants to advertise to the entire room/hallway that they're looking up where the nearest strip club is.
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But do you also understand that there is far more to voice commands than just call or search? Think Jarvis in Iron Man and "computer" in Star Trek. Engineers and programmers will not rest until we get there.

You also seem to believe that people only uses voice commands in public and not in the privacy of their homes. I don't have an answer for that. Sorry.
 
CHANG3D said:
But do you also understand that there is far more to voice commands than just call or search? Think Jarvis in Iron Man and "computer" in Star Trek. Engineers and programmers will not rest until we get there.

You also seem to believe that people only uses voice commands in public and not in the privacy of their homes. I don't have an answer for that. Sorry.
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I don't think we well see drastic results in voice command because their is little interest passed basic commands and it costs a lot to develop.

Hey I would love a trek level voice command of my entire house but that won't be here for a while and I honestly think the bulk of the development should be for real systems then scaled down to fit low powered systems like smart phones and tablets.
 
Zorachus said:
I think smartphones have plateaued. The iPhone 5 and Nexus 4, and Nokia Lumia 920, pretty much all do the same thing very good at the end of the day. Each phone, can text, e-mail, surf the web, give you GPS navigation, pretty much the same.

Sure us hardcore nerds can spot the differences in each OS, but to the average smartphone user, there truly isn't radical difference between each of the three top OS's.

What else can truly be done on a smartphone that isn't being done already, by any of the big 3 ? Sure they will get faster, thinner, better screens, etc...but to me all smartphones seem to have reached a limit.

An iPhone 5 or Nexus 4, can do pretty much anything right now. What would a iPhone 6 or Nexus 5 really add to the game, over the current phones ? What's the next major breakthrough that none of these phones have yet ?
Click to expand...

they are way less powerful than the computer in your signature, and for some reason you've got that. did computers plateau with windows 95?
 
What the OP thinks and reality are obviously 2 different things... In the last 2 years we have gone from single core 1ghz CPUs to quad core nearly 2Ghz CPUs from WVGA to 1080p 512MB Ram to 2GB+

The mobile gadget market shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon...

Windows Phone Android and even Apple have made some good progress in the mobile OS market and again no signs of slowing down....
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
What the OP thinks and reality are obviously 2 different things... In the last 2 years we have gone from single core 1ghz CPUs to quad core nearly 2Ghz CPUs from WVGA to 1080p 512MB Ram to 2GB+

The mobile gadget market shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon...

Windows Phone Android and even Apple have made some good progress in the mobile OS market and again no signs of slowing down....
Click to expand...

I think what the op is talking about is seeing any notable improvements on the platform or are we at the part of incremental upgrades from here on out.

I honestly think we might be seeing a slow down on major components as we are starting to see a limit with the form factor.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
What the OP thinks and reality are obviously 2 different things... In the last 2 years we have gone from single core 1ghz CPUs to quad core nearly 2Ghz CPUs from WVGA to 1080p 512MB Ram to 2GB+

The mobile gadget market shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon...
Click to expand...

You just demonstrated his point, while saying the opposite

From 1080p screens and 2GB or RAM with 2gHz quadcore CPUs. Where do we go, in terms of hardware? There is already very little point in 1080p screens over 720 in the 4-6" form factor...and even 1.6gHz quadcore CPUs like the Exynos 44xx and 2GB of RAM are usually much much more than we really ever need computationally in the mobile space.

We could well be at the point with mobile hardware that desktop computer monitors reached in 2006 or 2007, when 2560x1600 LCDs like Dell's 30"ers came out...and computer panels haven't gone much of anywhere noticeably since.
 
I think the future will be through more software integration of daily appliances that we use daily.

The future will be new wireless technologies that allow for more bandwidth to facilitate more advanced communication.

The future will be screens on both sides of the phone.

That's about it. I don't see anything else really picking up. No one really wants 3D cameras or 3D displays, no one really wants any greater resolutions, no one really wants flexible screens and other such novelties that will wear off within 2 days of use.
 
Heh, this is an interesting topic,

OP, to answer your question, it is not the technology and smartphones that plateaued, it is the user requirements that have plateaued.

The touchscreen smartphone is pretty much set now, yes, and it's not going away anytime soon, don't expect any revolutions, I don't know what can be invented in 20 years that will replace this, but as it is now, the smartphone seems to be the final stage of a personal tech evolution.

PC -> Laptop -> Tablet -> Mobile Smartdevice

But, the technology itself is advancing at an incredible pace. Consider this, Kingston recently announced 512GB and 1TB flash drives, let that sink in, 1TB flash drive! It's going to be expensive at first, yes, but in a few years, you'll be able to pick it up for cheap from your local supermarket.

And technology is not advancing in one particular direction but in all directions, smartphones have triggered this. Before, you had a PC and a laptop that were getting faster, faster CPU, GPU, more RAM, etc... now, when you release a device it has to have all kinds of sensors in it, accelerometer, gyro, magnetometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, G-sensor, barometer, touchscreen, GPS, it has to have a 3G/4G for always online connection and of course the cameras/mics have to be there as well.

And all the above is advancing quite fast. Wi-Fi AC is practically here, soon smartphones will support USB 3.0, have you heard of lZat? It's supposed to be much more precise than GPS and is aimed to replace it. There are talks of touch sensors that recognize it's owner's touch/finger prints, smell sensors...

Smartphones have also trigger the competition for miniaturization and efficiency.

Everything is becoming interconnected and smart, Samsung announced smart fridges FFS. Smart cars that can park themselves that can connect to and interact with your phones, smart home appliances that can interact with each other and again, your smartphone.

The only thing that has plateaued is battery technology. And manufacturers for some reason still opt not to use more than 16 or 32GB of internal storage in Android phones, when there are 128GB chips being mass manufactured by Samsung now.



However, this all comes down to one question... do I really need all this ****? The answer for most people is, NO!

Take CES 2013, Ultra HD TVs, did anybody ask for them? People were very happy with Full HD, hell most were happy with 720p TVs.

1080p screens on Android smartphones, did consumers ask for that? Nobody needed that, nobody is going to look at their phones under a microscope.

Soon, smartphones will record video in Ultra HD resolution, but who needs that? Do you need your smartphone to record in UHD?



I'm on an iPhone 3GS and I see absolutely no reason to upgrade to iPhone 5. Yes, everything is faster but it really offers nothing that I require over 3GS. The camera is good, but, again it's not good enough to warrant an upgrade, it still cannot match Nokia N8's from 2010.





IMO, technology is going to go this way: In a few years smartphone power will reach the point where it will easily be able to run a desktop OS and it'll replace your laptops, tablets, and your PC as your main device. You'll dock it, into a dock that will have a mouse, keyboard and a monitor hooked up to it and a full desktop OS will open, once you're ready to go, you'll take it from the dock and a mobile UI will kick in.

SIRI and Google Now will probably evolve be like your real assistant, you won't even have to touch your phone to interact with them.

There are rumours going around that the next Android will include a "desktop mode" like you described above.

Apple will probably come up with something like "iOSX" hybrid OS in the future too, unless they want to be left behind.
 
The only thing they can improve on is heat/ and better GPU chips for better gaming capabilities.. IMHO. Oh, and battery life.
 
No, they haven't plateaued at all, not even remotely. There's easily a good 5-7 years left in purely upgrading specs (assuming screen density stops increasing) that will still do loads of good. Right now cell phones are far more restricted than you think. It's really bloody hard to make things smooth and quick. As a result, cheats are used and UI designs are built with hardware limitations in mind.

You make things 10x faster without increasing the screen resolution and you're going to see more and more awesome apps and technologies leverage that. Web apps will actually become viable at that point, for example. Just like we have seen on the PC side of things. And things like driving a monitor, mouse, and keyboard with your phone will suddenly become practical.
 
Skripka said:
You just demonstrated his point, while saying the opposite

From 1080p screens and 2GB or RAM with 2gHz quadcore CPUs. Where do we go, in terms of hardware? There is already very little point in 1080p screens over 720 in the 4-6" form factor...and even 1.6gHz quadcore CPUs like the Exynos 44xx and 2GB of RAM are usually much much more than we really ever need computationally in the mobile space.

We could well be at the point with mobile hardware that desktop computer monitors reached in 2006 or 2007, when 2560x1600 LCDs like Dell's 30"ers came out...and computer panels haven't gone much of anywhere noticeably since.
Click to expand...

It's not really fair to say the desktop monitor technology stagnated. The pattern of increasing pixel density stopped, but when it "settled" at 1080p, prices began dropping.
 
voice control ... rolleble stretched flexible OLED screen ... Pop Up panoramic camera
that I want... something like this...

SnPC.png

smartphone, mobile phone, tablet, tabletfon, fablet, Pocket PC, notebook, laptop, hand-held electronic device, AMOLED, new display technology, YOUM, curved, panels, bendable, first generation, prototype
 
plame said:
voice control ... rolleble stretched flexible OLED screen ... Pop Up panoramic camera
that I want... something like this...

SnPC.png

smartphone, mobile phone, tablet, tabletfon, fablet, Pocket PC, notebook, laptop, hand-held electronic device, AMOLED, new display technology, YOUM, curved, panels, bendable, first generation, prototype
Click to expand...

Nice bump. With the way your posts are formatted, I almost pegged you as a spammer (to get to 50 posts). What's with the keyword tags?

Anyways, we already have Voice control for the most part. Dunno what a popup panoramic camera would provide over taking the panoramic yourself with the standard camera..? You mean one with like a super wide angle lens so it can capture everything with one shot?
 
Skripka said:
You just demonstrated his point, while saying the opposite

From 1080p screens and 2GB or RAM with 2gHz quadcore CPUs. Where do we go, in terms of hardware? There is already very little point in 1080p screens over 720 in the 4-6" form factor...and even 1.6gHz quadcore CPUs like the Exynos 44xx and 2GB of RAM are usually much much more than we really ever need computationally in the mobile space.

We could well be at the point with mobile hardware that desktop computer monitors reached in 2006 or 2007, when 2560x1600 LCDs like Dell's 30"ers came out...and computer panels haven't gone much of anywhere noticeably since.
Click to expand...


As for the dell display, single video cards cannot at this time drive anything larger on a single monitor...you gotta move to multiple displays Even display port is limited to 3840 × 2160 × 30 bpp @ 60 Hz

There are already 2+Ghz CPUs on the horizon for smart phones and 1080p is a reality...
 
[
T4rd said:
Anyways, we already have Voice control for the most part. Dunno what a popup panoramic camera would provide over taking the panoramic yourself with the standard camera..? You mean one with like a super wide angle lens so it can capture everything with one shot?
Click to expand...


that's right ... for this large widescreen display we need a panorama camera to shoot panoramic pictures and video .

yes... we have voice control, but for now it is not intuitive enough individual../
 
More intuitive voice control will help, but I keep thinking about how wrist computers were the future for a long time.
Strapping a decent sized display to your wrist, with a nice collection of wireless technology for connectivity to screens, accessories, and data, is probably the next step. No need for a pocket, much reduced weight penalty for larger batteries, no dropping it, etc.
 
GLSauron said:
More intuitive voice control will help, but I keep thinking about how wrist computers were the future for a long time.
Strapping a decent sized display to your wrist, with a nice collection of wireless technology for connectivity to screens, accessories, and data, is probably the next step. No need for a pocket, much reduced weight penalty for larger batteries, no dropping it, etc.
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More intuitive? What is more intuitive than telling my phone's S-Voice, "Call Dad Mobile"? The problem isn't that voice command is clunky or not intuitive...the problem is people like a modicum of privacy WRT their electronics in public. Which is exactly why Siri and others were huge hits when they first came out...and no one really sees anyone use them in day to day life now. Because no one wants to be heard in public saying, "Find nekkid pictures of Steve" in a crowded theatre. It has nada to do with non-intuitive commands, it is privacy.

As far as wrist watch phones...If people just used their phones for phones..maybe. Otherwise hell no. When phones these days are not just phones but portable internet terminals/PDAs/MP3 players/you name it....a wristwatch-size screen format blows donkey excrement at everything except being a time piece.
 
After buying and playing with the Galaxy Note 2 , the most power and beautiful smartphone I've ever used .. I can safely say I haven't been this impressed since I bought the first iPhone.

I can't imagine what would make this phone better than it is other than simply making it thinner , lighter and with a longer battery life. There really are not any features that could change my mind that are coming in the near future. The OLED screen was the biggest thing I wanted for ages and now I have it. Frankly what they should focus on now is tightening up the software more. Jellybean has been a massive MASSIVE improvement over everything else Android has offered. If they can keep the OS updates coming strong that would honestly make me happier than anything.
 
Skripka said:
Voice commands aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Srsly. The first month after Siri came out, people played with it... Now I never see any of the Legion of local Iphone users use it.

Being seen and heard in public talking to your phone is the very antithesis of privacy that people want in their communications and their computer use.
Click to expand...

I use it all the time on my work phone to call our remote locations because I don't feel like unlocking my phone and sorting through well over 600 contacts :p

Then again when siri gets it wrong it's either highly amusing or highly aggravating :D

Though you have a point, most of the time when it comes to personal calls I don't mess with siri... I take the time to go though my contacts or manually dial the number.
 
Battery tech is what needs to improve the most right now. Quad core cpu, 5+inch 1080p screens, 2gb of ram that is more then enough for a cell phone
 
Bman123 said:
Battery tech is what needs to improve the most right now. Quad core cpu, 5+inch 1080p screens, 2gb of ram that is more then enough for a cell phone
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Indeed, That's the thing that's needed mroe then anything else now. Hardware specs are beginning to look like those of computers from five years ago... MORE then enough for a cell phone with the lightweight OS for the specs that are offered nowadays.
 
As an unapologetic iPhone fan, I can say that the 5 feels stale, plateaued at this point in time. There really isn't much difference between it and 4S. The 5 is slightly taller, thinner, lighter, but nothing spectacular. The one noticeable improvement is CPU speed. This thing is quick!

Still, had I paid for it, I'd feel underwhelmed by the 5. I also saw some pics of the new HTC One and it just screams "eat me, bitch!!" at my 5. I'm now strongly considering a jump back to Android when more 2013 phones are available.
 
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i really dont mind smartphones advances slowing down. I dont want to have to upgrade every 2 years to not be left in the stone ages. When I bought my wife a Nexus 4 we expected it to be a 4+ year phone investment
 
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