What's Next For Smartphone Innovation

SternisheFan sends in an article about the new features and developments we can expect out of smartphones in the near future. The shortlist: more sensors for tracking the world outside the phone, more gesture-based (i.e. non-touch) input, and integration with wearable computers like smartwatches and Google Glass. From the article: "These under-appreciated components -- the gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, and so forth -- are starting to get more friends in the neighborhood. Samsung, for instance, slipped pressure, temperature, and humidity sniffers into the Galaxy S4. They may not be the sexiest feature in your phone, but in the future, sensors like accelerometers will be able to collect and report much more detailed information. ... In addition to air quality, temperature and speed of movement are also biggies. [Also, a smartphone that can] track your pulse, or even double as an EKG, turning the everyday smartphone into a medical device. ... [For wearable computing,] your smartphone is still there, still essential for communicating with your environment, but it becomes only one device in a collection of other, even more personal or convenient gadgets, that solve some of the same sorts of problems in different or complementary ways." What do you think will be the next generation of killer features for smartphones?

Comments

Innovation

[Nerdfest]

Simply adding existing sensors to phones is not 'innovation'. It's the logical outcome of miniaturization and reduced power requirements, despite what the marketing says. Between Apple and most of the car manufacturers the word 'innovation' seems to have lost all meaning.

Re:Innovation

[Nerdfest]

I should add that the 'killer feature' for smartphones at this point should be a much better battery life, or better durability. Everyone I see raves about how thin a phone is and then slaps it in a rubberized case that at least doubles the thickness.

Re:Innovation

[greenfruitsalad]

durability AND battery life. not OR. these 2 features are the only 2 i would happily pay extra for. i don't need the phone to glow blue when orcs are near, pluck my nose hair or keep my crotch cool in summer. I want it to be soft&bendy (TM) so I can sit on it (with keys/coins in the same pocket) and i don't want to have to carry a 5 year old nokia in my bag in case i actually need a phone for emergency, because there's 80% chance my main phone will be out of juice when i need it most.

Re:Innovation

[Anonymous Coward]

Why wouldn't you just carry a spare battery rather than a whole different phone? Wait a minute... IPHONE (L)USER ALERT!!!! GUARDS! TAKE HIM!

Re:Innovation

[epiphani]

Durability is not generally designed into current smartphones. Intentionally. Think about the volume of sales, and how they would decrease, if devices didn't break within about 2-3 years. In fact, durability nearly sank RIM - as most people were comparing new iPhones with the original bold - released at the same time as the original iPhone.

2-3 years is an eon in mobile right now. If devices don't die, people don't upgrade.

Re:Innovation

[ExploHD]

i don't need the phone to ... keep my crotch cool in summer.

Speak for yourself

Re:Innovation

[davester666]

Remind me to never touch your phone, ever.

Re:Innovation

[thegarbz]

Durability is not generally designed into current smartphones. Intentionally.

No not intentionally. The lack of durability is a side-effect of producing a device that will sell in the market. People don't want to lug around a brick. People seem to fall over themselves to have screens that extend to the edge of the bezel, a phone that is 0.2mm thinner than the previous one on the market, and a giant glass touch surface. You can't make a phone like that rugged as one of those features will give.

There are plenty of semi-rugged and rugged phones on the market. They don't sell well. Catapilla has a rugged IP67 smartphone with rubber bezels and is about 3 times the size of the iPhone while having a smaller screen. The Sony xperia Go is also IP67 rated though not rugged. None of these phones are in the same league or even playing the same game as the top selling brands.

One key feature of covers is they can come off. I don't have a cover on my phone at home. I do when I'm at work. I'd have broken my phone many times over if it weren't for the cover, but that doesn't mean that I need or want a rugged brick in my pocket.

As for sales and obsolescence, I see very few phones get sold because a previous one breaks. I often see smarphone screens get replaced for $100 at the local Chinese phone repair stand, but rarely do I see an upgrade occur due to a break. On the other hand a contract expires and people toss their perfectly good phones into a drawer because they get the latest shiny product for "free" when they renew their contract.

Re: Innovation

[the_other_chewey]

If you have an iPhone you could get a mophie case. It adds durability and batter

Mmmmmh, deep-fried iPhone...

The killer feature would be

[fisted]

reasonable battery life. I stick with my dumbphone until that happens.

Re:The killer feature would be

[auric_dude]

A privacy app where the user has complete control of everything be it leaking information & data to social networks, their affiliates, partners and assorted purchasers of such stuff. Something along the lines of http://tosdr.org/ or the slumbering https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/06/03-0 .

Re:The killer feature would be

[digitig]

I really miss the ability to make phone calls on the things.

The return of the physical keyboard.

[sethstorm]

Given that the touchscreen is at best imperfect for keyboard use, bringing back an integrated physical keyboard (e.g. a slider) back to higher-end models would be an innovation.

There is only so far a touchscreen can go before a full array of physical buttons outclass the screen - especially when it comes to input that doesn't have direct sight.

Re:The return of the physical keyboard.

[rueger]

bringing back an integrated physical keyboard

God yes! I'm sure that touchscreen is just divine in southern California, but if you're in the rain, or snow, or it's cold, or your fingers are numb, it's useless. More than once I haven't even been able to answer a phone call because it was raining and the touchscreen was non-responsive.

The thing that smart phone makers seemed to have missed is that an awful lot of what you use a smartphone for actually requires typing, navigation, and desktop-like functions. As much as I've generally like my Samsung/Nexus phone, I'll probably go Blackberry next time just to have a real keyboard - especially if I can remap some of those keys.

Killer feature

[Anonymous Coward]

Lethal injection needle, of course.

Mech engineering has failed.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

You read any issue of popular science or popular mechanics 50 years ago. All the science fictiony futuristic thingies have come true on the electrical side. TV that hangs like a picture on the wall? Done. Video phones? Done. The entire knowledge of human race at your fingertips? Done. (Though a little disappointed 50% of the knowledge of human race consists of cat videos).

Now on the mech engineering side. Where is my commuter car-plane that is parked on my drive way? huh? What about the high speed trains running in vacuum tunnels going from NY to LA in 90 minutes? Still the same internal combustion engine burning the same damned oil. What happened to crystallic fusion? Dont tell me "aah, we got double As".

Civil, you are not off the hook either. Where the hell is my damned home that is mounted on a pivot that tracks the sun? All engineering fields except electronics have been slacking on the job and have a very disappointing track record.

Re:Mech engineering has failed.

[a_mari_usque_ad_mare]

Actually, there is quite a bit new in mechanical engineering. You may not be aware of these advances because these things to do not necessarily translate into consumer products or marketing, despite the fact that they solve useful problems and improve our lives.

In materials we have composites, which are extremely strong for their weight. Tough to design, though. Like computing, this started around the 60s and has become more and more sophisticated. The Boeing 787 and other planes use modern composites to greatly reduce weight and save fuel. We have much better steels and other metals than a generation ago, for example google dual phase steels.

Biomedical engineering is mostly mechanical engineering; it involves the design of medical implants. Modern materials can make stronger and lighter replacement bones such as hips. Artificial organs are on the horizon, a real artificial heart has been built and used successfully.

In fluids, we have much better and more optimized airplanes. With computers and the Finite Element Method (FEA), aerodynamics has become much more quantifiable and less model testing is needed. I'm actually glad that aircraft have not been sold at the amateur, consumer level. The way people drive in North America, flying cars would end our so-called civilization. Fluids has also helped design more efficient engines and generators.

All the things I mention solve real problems, and may be classified under the umbrella of mechanical engineering. Its a broad field, so abit hard to define, but in my view anything that requires non-trivial application of mechanics, materials, or thermodynamics can be called mechanical engineering.

Ask no more...

[Dachannien]

...the future is here:

http://www.google.com/patents/US20120040655

KB

[Swoopy]

I want my slide-out keyboard to return. In Europe. On an Android 4.2.2+ phone with sufficient horsepower and working memory, please?

Make it Generic, Please

[the eric conspiracy]

I want a generic revolution in smart phones. Android goes part way there, but not far enough.

I don't want anything to come from the carrier except packets and monthly bill. Like my ISP. Phone branding by the carrier should just go away. Spectrum should not belong to anyone. Carrier should just be licensed to use the National Allocated Spectrum by the FCC.

Phones should be modular. Want to upgrade the phone battery? Or radio? Add a keyboard? Not a problem. Root access should be expected, not something that has to be obtained by hacking.

I disagree

[SuperKendall]

Simply adding existing sensors to phones is not 'innovation'.

I disagree. There are a million different kinds of sensors that could be added. Innovation is almost NEVER about parts that are wholly new. It's about combinations of things that at first are not apparently that much related and using them in, dare I say it, innovative ways.

A light sensor for example, I personally would not have thought to add to a phone to use to turn off the display when held to the face. I'm not saying it's Apple that did that first, but that to me is a true innovation despite light sensors being around forever.

Even figuring out a clever use for sensors already put in phones can be innovative.

I would also note that just because sensors get smaller and need less power it's not exactly obvious that they should go a in a personal computing device. X-Ray sensors are probably smaller and use less power than they used to but I don't find it an obvious fact they will be in future phones.

On a side note, those who proclaim nothing Apple has ever done is innovation are truly the ones who have robbed the word of real meaning. In an effort to spite Apple they have made true innovation an impossible goal.