It is time for another phone revolution

02 January 2022
The smartphone is dead! The bar form factor has reached its peak a while ago and now we've come to a standstill.

Sort by:

  • G
  • Gauron
  • Ej9
  • 02 Jan 2022

The plateau is Apples's fault, with the introduction of the app store. Android just copied this business model. Phones have become a box for consuming more and more meaningless content, not for connecting to people or knowledge. Even if manufacturers bring us innovation and radical change, not enough people will buy into that. Most iphone users are concerned with the color of text bubbles rather than the powerful computer they have at their disposal.

    Back in 2007 and 2008, it felt revolutionary for two reasons...

    - iPhone's new OS and multi-touch
    - App Store

    Before iPhone, we never saw an OS run like that. Not anywhere for mainstream uses. Steve Jobs was right that their software was 5 years ahead because Android didn't really catch up in both hardware and software until 2013. Browsing the web felt clunky pre-iPhone. You didn't get the full webpage.

    The other revolutionary thing was the App Store. Most phone users weren't even using the term "apps" 15 years ago. And if you had a smartphone pre-2008, there really wasn't a one-stop hub to download them. I owned a Nokia N82 and I needed to Google search apps for it.

    Give credit to Apple. They did revolutionize the mobile industry and nothing has really leapfrogged since.

      Foldable phones are quite revolutionary, too bad that even after a few years they're still super expensive.

      As for even more revolutionary stuff, I remember reading years ago about prototype screens that imitated actual texture, so that you could have, for example, a button on the screen that feels like an actual button if you move your finger over it. It would be amazing if that technology was developed more and put in smartphones.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • t7F
        • 02 Jan 2022

        I think this is as far as where smartphones can be, just look at computers, still the same.

          • W
          • Wayne M
          • 7tm
          • 02 Jan 2022

          The issue is not so much improvement, but, apart from video camera performance, and price, the phone has reached a peak. But you guys haven't demanded better video camera performance.

          There are a few more moves out there.

          Let's see, tripl fold phone tablets. Better physical controls rugged. Weather proof. More processing, physical controls and interfaces. But, they actually are planning AI on your phone (to spy on you) right now, and it will take maybe decades of improvements, until things become similar again. So, AI is your next stop after the video camera and other things above. Past that, you are heading towards devices which look more and more alike. My own plans were what you are looking for, but it's the beginning of the end to style and drastic improvements. Eventually you might insert it into your brain (like SciFi) and it speaks to you, and sort things out, but you get something like a microdot inserted into your brain, that all do similar stuff (sounds familiar).

            How many more times can you re-invent the wheel? You really can't after that first time.

              Anonymous, 02 Jan 2022No company sells a product in developed countries for the p... morethe illegal inmigrations is a product of 2 things:
              1) lack of well paid jobs in agriculture or mechanical areas in LATAM countries. You don't see too much engineers,PhD doctors or lawyers as wetbacks (maybe except from Venezuela, El Salvador or Nicaragua).
              2) USA companies demands those kinds of work force (specially agriculture and truck drivers). No one that call himself as "American" wants to work in a farm or driving a truck for the minimun wage. As long as there is demand for those jobs, more and more citizens from LATAM countries will cover those vacancies.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • 8Kf
                • 02 Jan 2022

                507AMS, 02 Jan 20221) there is no that huge diferences between USA and many La... moreNo company sells a product in developed countries for the price they charge in development countries. It is always cheaper.

                Sports gear we all use come out of factories in Southeast Asia, where the companies pay shitty wages. They are shipped to the other side of the planet, still cost way less there compared to what they cost in the same city they are made.

                If USA was not that different from LATAM, you would not see so many ilegal imigrants there or trying to come in.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • 8Kf
                  • 02 Jan 2022

                  Hudinited, 02 Jan 2022Not a smaller camera itself, thinner phone, easier to hold,... morePhones have multi cam setup because it is much easier than having larger camera with zoom system like K Zoom.
                  Phones need more than 30mm to cover bump in case they bring same zoom system with larger sensor.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • npu
                    • 02 Jan 2022

                    Today phones are not actually phones, it's rather mobile computers with internet connection and multimedia and camera capabilities.

                    Phone name stuck, because it evolved from it.

                    For a connected multimedia computer, you need a screen as best as you can get. Transparent screens wouldn't work because it will have FAR inferior image quality.

                    Who says we need a revolution? Cars are more or less same through a century. Computers more or less same for decades.

                    Until somebody developed radically SUPERIOR semiconductor technology and/or energy storage technology, we are stuck with incremental updates end of the story.

                      Lately, I've just been paying attention to Elon Musk. He's the real-life Tony Stark and probably the most visionary human being since Steve Jobs. I'm actually fascinated with space travel.

                      I've heard rumors of a Tesla phone but I personally don't care about that. Just another gadget to go online and waste more precious time. I want more advancement is health and medicine. I want people to live longer or even forever for that matter.

                        Anonymous, 02 Jan 2022LATAM does not work like USA. When I say unlocked phone... more...regarding to corruption fight there is no such big diferences. In USA there are a lot of samples of "corporate corruption", tax payment evasion, corporate scams, bigotry & ignorance on all level of society...at the bottom line a lot of things are worse than some Latin America countries....

                          I don't want any new form factor if it means I have to pay $1,000+ for it.
                          This website depends onnsuch review, hence they are saying this.
                          This is not correct thing to promote, we should get our faces out of mobile phones - they are pretty expensive and advanced for what they should be.
                          Do you want to live in 'Virtual Reality' or 'Real reality'?

                          Also, @GSMArena mods, why did you delete my earlier comment? Does a bit of truth hurt?

                            Anonymous, 02 Jan 2022LATAM does not work like USA. When I say unlocked phone... more1) there is no that huge diferences between USA and many Latin American countries.
                            2) the minimun wage in USA is higher but "life expectancy" in some USA cities are lower than many LATAM capitals.
                            3) Crime rates are the same.
                            4) USA's Public Education level is bad and below world average.
                            5) Greedy companies are everywhere NOT ONLY IN LATAM OR ASIA

                              • H
                              • Hudinited
                              • LHg
                              • 02 Jan 2022

                              Anonymous, 02 Jan 2022The zoom system would not be smaller. K Zoom uses 1/2.3&q... moreNot a smaller camera itself, thinner phone, easier to hold,also they can reduce bump thickness a bit. Not by much tho. But it was incredible. Not to mention xeon flash.

                                • J
                                • Jacob
                                • kxx
                                • 02 Jan 2022

                                It must be all integrated in some form of Google Glass with synaptic sensors... No more screen, no more input medium

                                  • B
                                  • Bob
                                  • LDG
                                  • 02 Jan 2022

                                  I think foldables are the next step in the smartphone revolution, but the technology is a bit premature at the stage, despite how good the Galaxy Fold 3 is. Once manufacturers can figure out how to produce them at scale cost-effectively and with far greater durability, then they can go mainstream.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • P$b
                                    • 02 Jan 2022

                                    Newness not just to kill your boredom.. it should life easier in someway

                                      I don't'wan't' any crazy new form factor if it needs me paying $1,000+ for it.
                                      Mobile phones are already pricey at the high end.
                                      GSMarena livelihood depends on reviews of 'New tech'. Hence, they are saying this.
                                      Bad thing to promote imho.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 8Kf
                                        • 02 Jan 2022

                                        Nexus One, 02 Jan 2022I actually believe we have the battery technology to have a... moreNot even cars have graphene batteries, you expect phones to have it?
                                        How much it would cost more than same capacity lithium?



                                          5 of 11