Have Smart Phones Matured to the Point where there is no next big thing?

[paradroid]

It seems that after years of rapid innovation Smart phones have reach a point where they are a mature product. No longer is the latest version a must have.

My Galaxy 3 does everything just about any phone out there can do. (except maybe the stylus stuff that is more an option choice than and unreachable new feature). The screen is about good as it can get, I don't really any more pixels on a 5 inch screen. Processor speed is more than fast enough. Any app that I use works smoothly without delay.

So what would be the next killer innovation or improvement that would make you want to break your contract just to get the latest and greatest?

My first thought is exponentially better battery life. A smart phone that could go a week with heavy use on one charge would lead to a bunch of new apps that are not realistic now because they would burn the battery down in no time.

Another killer feature for me would be a screen that would somehow be readable with having to put on my reading glasses. Sort of a personalized reading glasses screen. I see this may someday be out there New screen lets users go glasses-free - NBC News.com

Over the next 5 years or so I think we will only see minor improvements to things like the camera and superficial UI tweaks.

Any things you would like your phone to be able to do that it can't do now?

 

[gone down south]

I'd say battery life and body construction (ie unbreakable screens, water proofing, etc,) are the next horizon for smartphones.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[paradroid]

It seems there is not much left for smart phones to do that are not huge leaps in technology that will take many years to come to fruition.

I saw an ad for a water proof phone already.

 

[MrSlippery519]

It seems there is not much left for smart phones to do that are not huge leaps in technology that will take many years to come to fruition.

I saw an ad for a water proof phone already.

I think you are pretty much correct, there are certainly going to be minor changes but really screens and form factor are pretty much set. Even processor speeds especially with a phone like the LG G2 is damn near over kill for about 95%+ of users (granted its nice).

I think at this point things that need to see a dramatic improvement is battery life (again the G2 is a step in the right direction) as well as better screen technology in regards to durability.

I think in the next year we are going to see more standard phones that are water proof, offer a 2 day type battery performance and "unbreakable" screens.

 

[NoYankees44]

The next big thing will be refinement and feature/utility creation. Basically making things slightly better over and over unless new technology is developed.

Look at the modern internal combustion engine. It has been in development for 100 years and still going strong. Continually getting better and adding technology as it is developed.

There wont be a next big thing like many consider the iPhone to be until some new input method or form factor is introduced.

Edit:The next new tech to hit smartphone significantly will be battery and memory tech. Memory speed and efficiency has reached a plateau and will need new technology to become significantly better. The good news is those technologies are in the works.

 

[paradroid]

The next big thing will be refinement and feature/utility creation. Basically making things slightly better over and over unless new technology is developed.

Look at the modern internal combustion engine. It has been in development for 100 years and still going strong. Continually getting better and adding technology as it is developed.

Yes, seems smart phones are now a mature technology like the internal combustion engine...

Edit:The next new tech to hit smartphone significantly will be battery and memory tech. Memory speed and efficiency has reached a plateau and will need new technology to become significantly better. The good news is those technologies are in the works.

When using your phone, when do you notice memory speeds are slowing what you want to do. Or are you thinking faster memory will allow for new amazing apps in the future?

With the millions (billions?) in research on batteries, there has been very little real life progress that I have seen or heard about. With phones, the batteries are pretty much unchanged during the past 2 or 3 years and phone OSs are using software tweaks to get the most out of the available juice..

I saw this on mashable today, This Gadget Is a Handheld "Power Plant" Now if they could make a phone battery as powerful as that portable charger we'd have something.

 

[NoYankees44]

Yes, seems smart phones are now a mature technology like the internal combustion engine...




When using your phone, when do you notice memory speeds are slowing what you want to do. Or are you thinking faster memory will allow for new amazing apps in the future?

With the millions (billions?) in research on batteries, there has been very little real life progress that I have seen or heard about. With phones, the batteries are pretty much unchanged during the past 2 or 3 years and phone OSs are using software tweaks to get the most out of the available juice..

I saw this on mashable today, This Gadget Is a Handheld "Power Plant" Now if they could make a phone battery as powerful as that portable charger we'd have something.

That "in the works" comment was about memory. There are new types for mass storage that could completely replace both mechanical hard drives and flash based memory. I believe this tech could replace ram as well with time.

Batteries I have only seen durability advancements lately.

Faster memory referencing will always be needed. Apps will load faster. Content will display faster. Everything becomes better.

Funny thing though. The next big thing for ic engines have been developed. The industry just has to adopt and test it more. I am referring to the completely camless engine. It's an amazing advancement I that I cannot believe have not happened sooner. But alas, this is a smartphone forum.

 

[N4Newbie]

Yes, seems smart phones are now a mature technology like the internal combustion engine...

The device that most people consider the first of the modern-class smartphones, the iPhone, was released on June 29, 2007.

A little more than 6 years ago.

To call this a "mature technology" will prove to be shortsighted, at best.

 

[NoYankees44]

The device that most people consider the first of the modern-class smartphones, the iPhone, was released on June 29, 2007.

A little more than 6 years ago.

To call this a "mature technology" will prove to be shortsighted, at best.

I hope you are correct.

However if you scale the time it too from the original Internet functional phones to the iphone(when the average consumer adopted) with the time the from first modern ic engine to the average person having a car with one, we are probably a little farther along. Comparing 30-40 years with less than 10.

Just shows the how times change and relative cost affects things I guess.

 

[X-Nemesis]

I'd like to see hands free voice control go to a whole other level of interface usability with these phones. Something akin to the Moto-x active listening but even more-so.

 

[paradroid]

The device that most people consider the first of the modern-class smartphones, the iPhone, was released on June 29, 2007.

A little more than 6 years ago.

To call this a "mature technology" will prove to be shortsighted, at best.

I think the first smart phones were actually early Blackberry's and Palm Treos that could do email, calendar, desktop sync, limited internet, and take pictures. The first iphone then was a big jump in that technology allowing a touch screen and the development of applications that would work on the phone making it smarter.

mature technology - A mature technology is a technology that has been in use for long enough that most of its initial faults and inherent problems have been removed or reduced by further development. .

What is missing from the latest SMART phones that you make a phone like the GS3 or GS4 seem obsolete ? What initial faults and inherent problems do they still have?

For me there are two big problems with smartphones that I don't see getting solved for 10+ years.

1. Battery life limits SMART phone potential to the point where people turn features off to save battery life. I would like a phone that lasted 1 week on a charge without worrying about usage and turning things off.
   
   
2. Screen is not readable for me and many others over ~48 without reading glasses. A phone that would adjust screen output to match my aging eyes that I could just pick up and use would make me break my contract and get the phone with this new screen technology. It is a major pain to have my phone out somewhere and not be able to use most features because I forgot my reading glasses.

 

[Transtang z28]

i would like to see them continue to make a glass for the screens that is nearly unscratchable, unbreakable, and unmarkable. i bought my wife an HTC One with the gorilla glass 3 and she has a few hairline scratches on it. My Galaxy Nexus and even my HTC MyTouch 4G Slide with original gorilla glass both have this weird part of the screen that seems to be less polished after a year and a half of playing minecraft. I have seen MANY other phones with screens ruined from small to large drops. I know what i am talking about may be a long long way off, if possible at all, but since this is sort of a "dream feature" thread i thought i would throw in my two cents.

I do agree that a lot of modern phones are capable of pulling a lot of weight now and still keeping functions smooth. The new snapdragon processors are beasts and i dont know what more we can do until someone comes up with some new outside the box genius idea to implement into our phones. Of course, better battery would be great but it seems we are on the track to that already, especially with some of the new tech i have read about in battery tech.

 

[N4Newbie]

• Screen is not readable for me and many others over ~48 without reading glasses. A phone that would adjust screen output to match my aging eyes that I could just pick up and use would make me break my contract and get the phone with this new screen technology. It is a major pain to have my phone out somewhere and not be able to use most features because I forgot my reading glasses.

Sounds wonderful but to my knowledge physically impossible. You cannot "de-focus" a screen (or magazine print or a newspaper print) such that it will appear sharp to eyes which normally need corrective lenses to bring normal, sharp, print into focus.

Now, if you mean that you can get by with larger text that is not otherwise altered, well, I suppose that would be doable. Of course, you wouldn't fit much on the screen...

 

[anon(464338)]

The Next Big Thing is here. Samsung already said so..silly

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Oofa]

Most good marketing campaigns are based on "the next big thing" when it comes to electronics and especially phones. Some "next big things" turn into ridiculous gimmicks but consumers seem to be pretty gullible and open to being told what they must have. There is always room for the next big thing.

 

[paradroid]

Sounds wonderful but to my knowledge physically impossible. You cannot "de-focus" a screen (or magazine print or a newspaper print) such that it will appear sharp to eyes which normally need corrective lenses to bring normal, sharp, print into focus.

Now, if you mean that you can get by with larger text that is not otherwise altered, well, I suppose that would be doable. Of course, you wouldn't fit much on the screen...

Someone is already working on it: New screen lets users go glasses-free - NBC News.com

I don't think it is impossible but it is probably 10 years off or more. The motivation is there as it would make smart phones more practical and usable for the 50 and over group.

I currently have a GS3. I really don't see anything out there that is making my money burn a hole in my pocket. I am thinking that more and more people will use their phones until they break or can get a slightly better new one for free with a new contract.

I imagine my next phone will have a better camera, slightly better battery optimization, and a better speaker, but I don't see anything out there on the horizon that is the next big thing with smart phones. Looking at the rumored devices in this forum used to get me wishing, now the new stuff promises stuff like a Snapdragon 800 processor - yawn.

I mostly see different features, sizes, shapes, and styles. Of course, just like getting a new car. One's current car might be perfectly fine, but a new style car that does all the same point A to B stuff still has appeal.

 

[N4Newbie]

Someone is already working on it: New screen lets users go glasses-free - NBC News.com

I don't think it is impossible but it is probably 10 years off or more. The motivation is there as it would make smart phones more practical and usable for the 50 and over group.

Very interesting. Nevertheless, I wear progressive bifocals pretty much every moment from the time I get out of bed in the morning until I hit the sack at night so wouldn't help me much.

 

[speedtrip]

The big thing shouldn't be on the phone makers but should be with the carriers .
If these U.S. carriers started making their own phones they would be out of business within a year .
The devices we have are monumental but its the carriers that are keeping them full of THEIR garbage .

 

[Dumb1]

I tend to agree with others I think we will see phones with better battery life, maybe a flexible screen that wraps around the phone other asthetics/performance upgrades. Would really like to see holographic images coming from the phone would be cool to have a video chat with a holographic image of the person you called!

 

[Mac58]

I think the next big thing will come when samsung releases the bendable screen tech that they demoed earlier this year. Screens that can fold and get smaller will be the biggest leap forward. However, I dont know how long before that will come out