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The Feature Phone Is Dead: Long Live the 'Basic Smartphone'

Posted by Soulskill on from the phones-of-middling-intelligence dept.

zarmanto writes: "The numbers have been telling us for a while now that (formerly expensive) feature phones have been slowly displaced by more feature-rich, high-end smartphones. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the other end of the market is also receiving active encroachment by low-end smartphones. Now, ARM is suggesting that it's actually quite conceivable for OEMs to produce a 'smartphone' for as little as $20 — as long as you compromise a bit on those things which actually make it a smartphone in the first place. So, is this just more graying of the line between smartphones and feature phones? Or is this an indication that the feature phone (as we used to know it) is finally well-and-truly dead?"

5 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. WTF Is A "Feature Phone"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or is this an indication that the feature phone (as we used to know it) is finally well-and-truly dead?"

    Assuming we've heard of this term "feature phone" in the first place.

    1. Re:WTF Is A "Feature Phone"? by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From wiki it sounds like the term is basically just "not a smartphone." Dumbphones evidently fall into that category. I'm guessing "feature phone" is simply a stupid marketing term that sounds better than "dumbphone."

  2. The only features ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... I require of my phone is that it make calls and sends/receive texts. My Tracfone costs me about $120 bucks a year. I'm not paying that much per MONTH for a smartphone for the added benefit of playing Candy Crush and watching cat videos on YouTube.

    1. Re:The only features ... by mopower70 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >I would leave off the call feature - big waste of time for me.

      Yup. I tend to avoid the whole call thing. People calling my phone is an asynchronous interrupt which doesn't fit with my life and work style.

      The most ironic part of it is, it's the one piece they just can't seem to get right. Phone calls on a cell phone suck. Period. They're awful. I was at someone's house the other day and talked to someone on an old AT&T Bakelite phone over POTS and I was shocked at how beautiful the sound was. I have never, ever - not even once - had a cell phone call that came anywhere close to that. Cell phone call quality is the audio equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting: anyone who claims they can understand a damn thing is just lying.

  3. Not the phone by dpilot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I suspect the real desire has nothing to do with the phone itself. The telcos just want to move everyone they possibly can from merely-slightly-expensive voice plans to very-expensive data plans.

    (Then call that "broadband internet access" for regulatory purposes.)

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.