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by mbillie1 4276 days ago
> At this point, it’s not really possible to revolutionize the smartphone

I see this sentiment batted around quite a bit these days. Just because nobody has revolutionized the smartphone in the past few years doesn't mean it's not possible.
1 comments
Alphasite_ 4276 days ago
No, but there isn't any low hanging fruit.
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ZenoArrow 4276 days ago
There are tons of ways to innovate with smartphones, but the technology to do so is either too young, too niche or hasn't made it beyond the drawing board.

To pick three innovative features that have made it into real smartphones, you can look at the Samsung Galaxy Beam pico projector, Jolla's 'The Other Half', and the YotaPhone E-Ink backscreen. Some would argue that these are gimmicks, but isn't all innovation a little gimmicky before it reaches mass market adoption (I'd argue camera phones were in this category originally, and they certainly aren't gimmicks anymore).

Jolla's The Other Half is especially interesting, as it allows for people to personalise the functionality of their phone (along with the look). Whether it takes off or not remains to be seen.

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seunosewa 4276 days ago
Shatter-proof screens would be more revolutionary.
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ZenoArrow 4276 days ago
Not really. Screens on most high end smartphones are already toughened, you'd just end up with an evolutionary improvement rather than a revolutionary one. Plus, there's no such thing as shatter-proof, so the screens should be easily replaceable as well.
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BinaryIdiot 4276 days ago
That's not necessarily true it simply means there are no low hanging fruit that you can think of. It's entirely conceivable that something could come out to revolutionize mobile devices that, in hindsight, was really straight forward.

It's hard to say absolutes about the future.

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pkaye 4276 days ago
The only innovation I need right now is improved battery life. If I could last a week of normal use without needing to recharge I'd be quite happy.
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leonroy 4275 days ago
Really? We might have said that on January 8th 2007 too...

It's always tricky anticipating the point of sufficiency. Probably because it's a moving target.

Besides I'm not sure that the iPhone was such low hanging fruit. It probably cost Apple a tonne of R&D and effort to research and build and was ahead of its time by at least a good couple of years.

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