I can't give too much away, but currently I'm part of a team who are in the process of developing a true-blue Australian flagship smartphone. If all goes to plan, this thing should ship hopefully around Mid-2016 (complete guess though). I'm curious though, what's missing from smartphones today, and what's your dream smartphone?
What Do You Desire in a Dream Smartphone?
deanylev on 23/09/2015 - 01:18
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And a flip out bottle opener
Preloaded with barnsey and farnsey and gangajang and the oils too.
Should also come with an app so it can inflate into a football so you can bust out some kick to kick action and take some screamers wherever you are
maybe it could also fold out into a widescreen tv, not too big say 32-40", to watch the game on when out and about
In all seriousness, this thread reminds me of the episode when Homer designed a car.
Which begs the question, why dont phones come standard with a horn?
Wow never knew such a thing existed lol
And a flip out bottle opener? I want one that flips out beer!
Main thing that i find screws phones up these days are half assed updates. and even worse phones that's gotten updates with known problems that never gets fixed.
Something that attracts women….
otherwise
micro SD card
micro usb slot (nothing proprietary)
standard/quick updates (no junkware)If you're trying to separate yourself from competitors, why not include an inductive charging pad in the box?
TBH i think you're going to have a difficult time competing with overseas established brands like samsung/apple/nokia
They say the bigger phone you have, the bigger your penis.
Battery. The problem is the logic, "you only need 'all day', so we'll make it 2mm thinner and take 20% of the battery away due to improvements elsewhere".
Problem being if you're say, on holiday and using maps all day, the GPS wrecks the battery way too quickly. Skype etc do the same.
I'm not sure who in the world turns down phones because they weight 120g instead of 100g? Give me the extra battery any day.Updates need to be fluid. Android is a total joke in that regard (only the most up their ass would argue otherwise). You can update iOS for years seamlessly, vs Android which is a mess (half Androids fault, half manufacturers who don't want to support the 100 devices they make a year).
Reception. Australia is a big country, reception is an issue. I know many people who go with Telstra just for the reception. As such, don't put a half ass aerial in that struggles to find coverage. It needs to be really good. Pretty sure pull out or external screw ins are out of fashion… but I've seen many smartphones with no reception when $10 pieces of rubbish have coverage, so that's a big thing (not so smart when it has no signal).
Essentials
1) 5" screen (or thereabouts)
2) don't go nuts on screen res (1080p is PLENTY for a 5")
3) Battery - barest minimum of 3000mAh, ideally 3500mAh or more
4) Replaceable Battery
5) 2Gb RAM minimum
6) High Quality Camera with good low light performance (personally I don't care about the front, but many do, so better make it cameras)
7) microSD slot
8) Support for all Bands used by existing networks with good antenna
9) 32Gb storage minimum (with 64/128 as options)
10) USB3 with microUSB is probably preferable to USB2 with a USB C socket
11) SoC with Open Sourced drivers to allow Custom ROM development.
12) Cyanogenmod or some other open source project to manage software for you, keeps your dev costs down and keeps the device up to date for years to come..Wants in no particular order
12) NFC
13) Dual SIM (with fallback to 3G, not 2G - 2G networks aren't long for this world)
14) Wireless charging
15) Pre-rooted or rootable
16)2) for this, Sony did something clever where they let the phone change the resolution whenever it is not needed (so it usually runs at downscaled 1080p). Though I'd prefer 1080p over 2K or 4K since performance and the battery life suffers far far too much for something that's not necessary.
Though I'd prefer 1080p over 2K or 4K since performance and the battery life suffers far far too much for something that's not necessary.
This is the primary reason for my argument.
You need a far more powerful GPU to push all those extra pixels and more power to light up those pixels. End result is a screen res that few, if any will actually appreciate in real life at the cost of reduced battery life.
Increased Battery Life trumps a marginal increase in screen quality every day of the week for me.@scubacoles: That's why I am looking forward to what Meizu might release (they'd be using Exynos 7420, which is a beast even with UHD, with FHD screen)
USB3 micro USB is huge!
USB C is a much better option size wise. That being said, most USB 3.1 5 GBPs or 10 GBPs transceivers use more power.
Crap, I thought that my USB Hard Drive had some proprietary connector and a standard USB 2 port could manage USB3..
Yeah, probably not going to fit a 5".Yes, USB C (3.1) is definitely the way to go — if all new devices had it I'm sure there would be few complaints, as long as they included an adaptor for compatibility with older devices.
Ok here goes.
1) 5.2"?
2) QHD (Pentile)?
3) 4000mAh?
4? Nope :(
5? 4GB?
6) Yep :P
7) Yep :P
8) Yep :P
9) Yep :P, Yep :P, Yep :P
10) USB 3 C?
11) Yep :P
12) Hopefully :P
12 why two twelves?) Yep :P
13) Maybe :P
14) Yep :P
15) Second one :P
16) ¯_(ツ)_/¯Why not replaceable battery?
My battery lasts maybe 20 months before it noticeably degrades and I really don't enjoy the disassembly process required to replace the fixed "non-replaceable" batteries. (I guess having a decent size battery the needed less charging might help longevity)@scubacoles: Requires a smaller battery and extra contacts, we'll make the battery easily replaceable, just not removable.
Any radio function?
If the execution is good, this could be in the running for my next phone. Current options on the market aren't much to my liking. What OS will you offer out of the box? If it's stock Android, I'll be even more interested. I have so say, though, that the pricing will make or break it.
13) Dual SIM (with fallback to 3G, not 2G - 2G networks aren't long for this world)
That would be my 1). If there's going to be a second SIM slot in this dream 'phone, it needs to be able to do at least 3G at the same time, otherwise don't bother.
add front facing speakers to essentials
Though updates on idevices are better compared to android, it isn't all that great. Sure, you can update the iphone 4S to iOS 9 but it's slow and missing a lot of iOS 9's features; but at least it gets the update right?
There are tons of lower-end android devices released every year. I don't expect manufacturers to update it as often as high end phones.
battery. forget all the other bling bling feature, revolutionise the battery technology and you will become billionaire as every devices will pay to use your technologies.
not making processor that can chew less watts, reduce display res, but the battery itself. improve it. make something more attractive than just lithium8\10th's clear glass.
Latest Samsung Galaxy S (good screen, good build quality, good performer and nice camera) with stock Android & updates like Nexus phones, and removable batteries & microSD slot like LG G4.
And cheap :)
Have a +ve from me you've pretty much nailed it, not sure why someone gave you a -ve.
With a "better" and removable battery option is all I can add to that!
fast processor whilst minimising battery usage
stable operating system, easy to use, iOS is a good example.
clear 5.3 inch screen with backlit led
unbreakable front glass or self repairing self glass
aluminium battery lasting at least 2 days
most components inside can be replaced without any soldering, i.e charger port, camera etc..
smarter cellular tower radio searching, most of your battery goes towards searching for towers and data transfer
not heavy and not light
wireless charging
expandable memory
easy to hold in the handIf you are going to use Qualcomm chip, I'd assume that you'd have the latest quick charge function available to it?
That thing is amazing :)I'm with most of the suggestions (battery life, software updates, reception, 32gb internal storage, microsd, decent cams with fast focus). Build quality I'm good with anything that either feels good (but no glass back please) or is good for handling.
Things that'll make it a dream for me include those things + a competitive price, a screen with great outdoor visibility and overall accuracy (srgb gamut). Oh and good range of cases. And a Moto level of customisability hahaha.
As a dream smartphone I'm guessing you're pricing it as flagship level, so I'd want it to be future-proof with wireless charging, nfc and fingerprint reader. And no capacitive keys.
With size I'm ok with a max of 5.5" (as long as ergonomics are alright) and a minimum of 4.7".
Also as an afterthought I know removeable batteries are getting less popular but my dream phone maker would offer new battery installation after 2 years. And have that screen replacement thing where we can get it replaced within a year if we cracked screen or whatever.
5" screen that folds out to be a 10" tablet. Longer battery life too.
Samsung is doing a project with a folderable display (Project Valley) I think it was.
While I wouldn't buy a first gen device and while I don't think that kind of display tech would be used on a tablet for a long time (think of how long it took AMOLED to be used on a 10 inch tablet display), it sounds promising.Going by the past, everything we think is impossible today is everywhere tomorrow. Amazing what they can do. Imagine what they will be like in 10 yrs time?
There was a sci-fi phase in my life and one of the things that I remember from it is, the advancement in human research will become faster once we reach a stage where technology propels its own advancement. :P
I'd assume it'd take a long time though, the folding technology is still at its infant stage and when companies introduce new technology to their product is when they can mass produce it at reasonable price (I bet companies can "make" a 10 inch folderable tablet now if they want to, at huge huge huge cost). One of the reason why I don't get excited as much as I used to when new technology gets announced (because it'd take time and sometimes it's impossible to mass produce).
The reason why I've mentioned project is that Project Valley is planned to be released next year (it might even be S7, I haven't looked into it that much).
hover board mobile phones?
The phone doesn't need to be 7mm thin.
My Galaxy S3 is perfectly fine at 8.6mm thick, and could even be a little bit thicker. I'd personally want a 9-11mm thick phone, with a replaceable battery. With that thickness, the phone would have a 3500mah+ battery.The replaceable battery is important, because in 18 months time, I still want to be able to use the phone, and a battery replacement is a key thing.
That, plus the guarantee of quick software updates are keys for me.
Dream is:
Nokia n900 with 4g connectivity, capacitive touch screen, boost the screen size a little as well and still lrun the insane maemo OS, pureview 41mp camera, oversized battery for DAYS useage.
Reality check:
Something like my note 2 with a 1080p screen, more internal memory, larger battery (oh yeh like my zero lemon 9300mAh battery),boost camera to 16 or 20mp, IR blaster and genuine IP rating of IP 66.
My dream smart phone will teleport me places.
I hope the moon has power points to recharge your battery, otherwise you're stuck there for good.
You do realise that the power required to transport you through time is approx 1.21 gigawatts of power which is unheated of in battery tech at this time.
I said teleport not time travel. They're two different things aren't they?
In any case both are currently only theoretical concepts so I don't know how you could measure or estimate the energy needed. Who knows, maybe quantum physics could make a breakthrough on what is theoretically possible.
There's heaps of things quantum physics still can't explain, like free-will.
A Nokia 3310
It's a shame nokia has dropped ALL "candy bar" phones.
I wish they'd pull the 3310 moulds from storage and remake the classic.
old school.
Removable batteries and lots of ports are a bit pointless really — provided you have a phone with wireless charging, plenty of 802.11ac/bluetooth4.2/NFC/IR connection options there is little need for any kind of port. An expandable microSD memory is probably the only exception, as many people outgrow the included capacity of the phone rapidly, even within a few months, and being able to add another 128Gb or more is a huge bonus. You could also possibly jump on the eSIM bandwagon, as a point of difference, at least until the next iPhone comes out.
Losing all those non-essential ports will make for a more slick device, with a higher level of dust and water resistance — something Sony and Samsung have been working toward for years — after years using their phones, I wouldn't buy another phone if it lacked that feature.
The only thing most manufacturers never get it a point of aesthetic difference — Samsung is a well-known Apple-mimicker for case design and continued up until the Edge which may be Sammys signature shape for a while, but most manufacturers are suck in the box with rounded corners rut, with little between them from a distance — some exceptions are probably Sony, LGe, Blackberry, that don't just mindlessly churn out rectangular phones with crudely rounded corners year after year.
One of the big issues of a small manufacturer, users will not be able to find third-party accessories like docks or cases for your phones — you need to take a lead here and factor that into your product line.
Finish is a contentious issue — I personally prefer wood or leather, but some people prefer metal, glass or kevlar — It may be best to take a lead from devices like Nubia Z9 Mini or LGe G5 with a removable back plate with various colour/finish options, a great one would be a polished metal mirror.
Lastly, adding something that other manufacturer's don't have merely as a point of difference will attract a lot of media interest:
* a laser that can be used to measure, and project a keyboard onto any flat surface — with a 6" screen in landscape, a keyboard could be an incredibly handy business tool on the go.
* improved biometric security with an Intel RealSense camera.Until wireless charging is ubiquitous, you need a charging port for when you're not at home/work.
TBH 802.11AC, NFC, and even IR are features i don't look for in a phone.
You don't ever anticipate upgrading your WiFi in the coming years?
NFC will be needed for Google Pay
IR, agreed that's a bit of a gimmick, but a nice to have if it's only adding an extra $1 to construction cost.IR is awesome, I prefer using it instead of the smart remote app.
I do, but a phone doesn't really require that much speed. Just like the 4k screen argument above.
iPhone 6S 128GB rose gold with $500 price tag
Why not $400?
Just trying to be a little more realistic that's all :)
What Do You Desire in a Dream Smartphone?
It to count the sheep and let me get on with my sleep!
Rooted / no need to root out of the box.
Has to be Android. Don't develope your own os.
Rather than what I desire in a smartphone, I wouldn't buy a smartphone if it didn't have the following:
-NFC
-Wireless charging
-Clean, regularly updated OS with no bloatware.
-Sub ~$400 price pointWith the wireless charging, battery life isn't a huge issue for me - I just have a bunch of cheap QI pads in my car, on my desk at work, etc.
I've had a nexus 4 since it was launched around 3 years ago, and it's pretty close to perfect IMO. Biggest downsides are non-replaceable battery and no SD card slot.
In a phone I want. ZERO bloatware. or at least if you need revenue from partner apps. Completely removable bloatware + removable battery. Similar specs to other flagship phones.
Just want a phone with similar specs to the flagship phones, AND:
Physical keyboard
Long battery life
Removable battery
SD card slot
….I'll just keep daydreaming then :)
blackberry are making one
What people want purely depends on the price point, do you have which price target its going to be aimed at?
One that's stops me procrastinating and using my smartphone.
I want a feature brick phone, made from a brick.
That's not a brick phone, this is a brick phone.
In fact I don't even make calls from my phone these days. So why not make the world's first non-phone phone?
I'm pretty sure the smart money is on the brick phone.I want something:
- 4-4.5" with a good battery life
- good GPS
- good signal.
= Wireless is a must but it doesn't have to be good.
- Any customization over vanilla android is a turn off.
- Price is also a major consideration, I would never buy a phone for more than $300 unless I knew it was going to last me 3 years.Things I don't care about:
-SD card
-weight/width
-NFC
-4G
-resoluion above 1080p
-after sales support, I cannot be bothered updating after purchase, if your phone has major bugs I will never buy it again (theres plenty of other vendors)What would set your phone apart from other small brands if I were to buy it:
-A case and screen protector
-Extra batteryPretty much the new sony Z5, but with Qi wireless charging. Z5 has nice high end specs, is waterproof, has onscreen home buttons (rather than a physical button like the Galaxy). Only thing it is missing is wireless charging. Stock android with fast updates would be good, but not essential.
For my next phone I will only look at phones with onscreen buttons. After going from a nexus to a Galaxy S5, I can honestly say I never want physical buttons (capacitance or physical) every again.
Final edit: Front or down facing speakers would be good too :)
Alright here we go.
1) ~5" screen
2) 1080p screen (I don't game and I don't want a 2k/4k screen wasting battery).
3) ~3000mA battery (Don't be afraid to make the phone slightly fatter for battery life, really, we don't mind).
4) Replaceable Battery (Not a necessity)
5) 2GB RAM
6) Medium quality camera (I don't want to pay extra for a 400MP camera just a good quality works in low light camera. Also if possible a 120/240 fps mode even if it sacrifices quality).
7) microSD slot (Not necessary if the inbuilt is large ~64GB, while I'm here extra memory does not cost much so don't make your 32GB model $100 from your 64GB model).
8) Support for all Bands used by existing networks with good antenna
9) 32Gb storage minimum (with 64/128 as options)
10) USB 3.1 type C
11) SoC with Open Sourced drivers to allow Custom ROM development.
12) Cyanogenmod or some other open source project to manage software for you, keeps your dev costs down and keeps the device up to date for years to come… or stock android.
12) NFC
13) Dual SIM (not necessary)
14) Wireless charging
15) Pre-rooted or rootable (and not make it void warranty)
16) Front facing speakers
17) Hardware buttons > software buttons
18) Audio jack
19) Possibly an IR blaster.There's my ideal spec sheet straight to the point.
I like your additions..
Thanks for supplying such a robust list!
What I would really like to see, which the market isn't really offering is a slightly sub-flagship smartphone. I don't mean that it's just a step less, but one which more or less is a flagship phone except in a few key areas.
Hardware (CPU, SoC, etc…) - flagship performance
Screen - ~4.5" and resolution around 1280 x 720-800. Don't want pixels I cant really see, so why waste resources driving pixels I'm oblivious to.
Battery - Go for gold, try to maximise it as much as possible.
Camera - Also try to get a decent quality camera which takes reasonably good quality photos
Wireless charging - I'm a fanIf it doesn't have an SD slot, then put adequate storage in it. I personally would be happy with 32gb, 64gb is plenty for me and wouldn't cause any problems. I also like hardware buttons, don't want to see on screen touch buttons, they suck.
Basically, get my nokia lumia 920, put newer SoC, improve battery life, improve camera, and that's the phone I want. None of this 1080p or even 1440p displays on phones. They've getting a bit too large for my liking, and wasting energy doing something completely pointless driving enormous resolutions like that.
Two things.
Battery life.
Don't screw around with updates and software. I have no idea what Asus is doing but with each update the software gets worse and worse.
All I really want is a 7" tablet that can make phone calls. The 5.5" on my galaxy note 3 is insufficient. I think anything bigger than 7" won't fit in my pocket though haha. I essentially want a nexus 7 that I can use as a phone.
Bit low spec though. I can't go back to 3G… haha
i carry my phone and my bank card that i use for paypass all the time. I'dd love to carry one less thing…So can you either make a phone that has paywave or make a creidt card that can call people? ^_^
Google Pay will likely solve your paywave issue.
You can already do it with the Commbank app if you're with them.
I pay with my Westpac and Commonwealth account with NFC on my LG G3/G4 whenever I forget my wallet.
really?! looks like ive got some things to check out! never seen anyone do that. the checkout chicks are usually impressed when i just tap my wallet without even removing my card haha
My dream phone is basically a Sony Xperia Z3+ with a 6" qHD screen.
Make sure it has an unlocked bootloader, an FM radio and a microSD card slot.
Currently using an LG G4 and not as impressed with it as I thought I would be (main issue is battery life, lots of wakelocks and alarm triggers sap battery life, requiring way too much tweaking beyond what I should be expected to do in order to get it back under control).
A super awesome GPS, Dual Sim or more, rather stock android, vibrant screen that makes colours look awesome and is good in 100% sunlight, It would be nice in a smaller package I think there are some awesome 4.7" Displays around at the moment, 2 day+ battery, for camera I have always wanted to see a smaller megapixel rear camera e.g 6mp but with a larger sensor, but I'm guessing you will just go with a nice sony f1.8 or something equivalent. If you could put like a f1.4 lens on it, that would be pretty cool too.
Snake
Battery life,
Also wireless charging. I'm not talking about the ones where you have to put your phone on a piece of metal to charge, I'm talking about ones that APPLE would implement if possible. Just walk into your house and the phone is already charging… in your pocket.
- Removable battery
- excellent battery life + fast charging
- no overheating issues
- Water-proof
- MHL Alternate Mode for USB type-C port - enabling laptop-lock dock
- Expandable storage
- at least 32GB built-in storage
- WiFi-AC
- Bluetooth 4.0 LE
- Full binary release + unlocked bootloader
- Native cyanogenmod support
- Timely O.S. upgrades and security patch
- 1080P 5" AMOLED display
- NFC
- repairable and easy to disassemble for parts replacement
- 4GB RAM
- 1.8f camera lens and quality sensor for both front and back cameras
- Nope
- Absolutely
- Absolutely
- Yep :)
- We'll try
- Yep :)
- and 64GB + 128GB :D
- Absolutely
- 4.2 :D
- Sure :)
- Up to the modding community
- We'll try our best :D
- 5.2" 1440p, due to the pentile sub-pixel matrix 1080p just doesn't look sharp enough on AMOLED
- Of course
- We'll try our best :D
- Yep :)
- 21MP 1.8 + 10MP 2.0 I hope
Cool.. I think I've sussed it…
Can I also add. Decent customer service and trouble free RMA. Learn from OnePlus' mistakes.
Wow! that is amazing effort! I can't wait! Kickstarter it maybe?
For me focusing on features is not the way to enter this competitive market. If it's going to be Android OS just leave it stock Android - no need to do any work there. In the technology field these days, in 6 months what we thought was fast or good will be outdated. What you need is a story, a good price point and an easy point of differentiation. Everything else will be skimmed through. Good luck!
On the contrary, there is yet to be released into the Australian market a phone that ticks all the hardware boxes that deanylev has ticked.
For some reason phone companies think we want a slim phone with ridiculous resolution screens that have barely 24 hours battery life.The software is super important, but no matter how good the software, it's completely Un-user-friendly when you've run out of battery.
Companies make phones like what you think people don't want and people still buy them. Of course I would love a phone that never needs to be charged, has brilliant display, works at super speed, very responsive, takes perfect pictures, etc. But there's always going to be some compromise. Do you really know every bit of spec of the phone that you have bought? I know I don't - and I think to many it is not really important.
In the end what's important and differentiates becomes things like feel, look, weight, quality. And even that changes according to trend. Phones used to get smaller, now they are getting bigger. There's only a certain size your hand can hold comfortably. A lot of these are not really "features" but just part of a package.
To take on the big players of smartphones you need to have something that is trully different - like super battery life for example - at the expense of others. Otherwise I don't think I will consider buying it at all.
As much as I'm all about top hardware (I too will be one of the die hard advocates for good battery life), I the way I feel a lot of people will use their phones will be heavily software reliant. Having a rooted phone is great but as an iOS user, I stick to the Apple brand because everything is very easily accessible and integrated together within the system. I have my content on iCloud, and I can access it anytime I want. I also have iTunes as a suite kind of thing. I plug in my phone and I can drag all my media in as opposed to file managing on the SD card. There's also deep Facebook, Twitter integration so it really feels like my own device when I'm online, maybe not so much offline since everyone's iPhone is going to look the same with all the icons across the page. I mean dropbox is a good alternative with cloud storage, but I like keeping my apps to a minimum while having everything basic. Just my 2c
Surely you could have summed up the above as "I Like iOS"?
I could, but it'd be pointless to read for someone looking to research the needs and wants for smartphone development.
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should have a portable barbecue so I can put a shrimp on me barbie while I'm at Gallipoli