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Seriously, what do you really expect from phones these days?

janderson0719

janderson0719

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 25, 2011
403
19
I've been reading many articles and comments about the new iPhone 5, and while they are fairly mixed opinions, I still don't get what people really want from their phones now-a-days....

People are arguing Apple is not innovating anymore, well, are their competitors really innovating themselves??

Forget what Apple is doing, forget what Nokia is doing, forget what Samsung can do, and lets ask the real question: what more can be really innovative at this point? seriously?
 
i'd like for them to incorporate a 3D auto-stereoscopic display at some point so i can watch 3d pixar films on it

of course it would have a switch to turn it off for all the 3d haters out there
 
That's the thing.. they don't NEED to innovate anymore. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has NO features that i would like except for sharing files through the back and NFC.
 
I saw some lame opinion piece from CNet today about Apple not innovating and wondered the same thing. What annoyed me more than anything was the "Android phones have had this and that already." Yes, when there are about 100 different phones running the Android OS, they are likely to beat Apple with a lot of features simply based on all the launches between Apple's launches.

Apple might have been able to add LTE last year. But at what cost in price and battery? Passbook is a natural evolution of what other apps have done and now makes it easier to use your iPhone to replace cards and tickets.

So much of what I saw was evolutionary, not revolutionary. That's just as important. You're not going to go from nothing to an iPhone every year.

I think people have every right to like or not like the new phone. But when I hear crap like that this year and "it's not a real iPhone 5 people wanted" last year, I wonder what they want outside of a holder for their magic wand.
 
Longer battery life. Much more helpful to me than a thinner phone. A cooler design than this awkward tall thing would've been nice, too.

I have an iPhone 4, and my contract is up. I'd much prefer to get the Nokia Lumia which looks much nicer and has other features I care about (not the battery), but Windows Phone's ecosystem is nowhere near the level of iOS, and any new app I'd be interested is coming to iOS (or even Android) long before that.
 
More battery life, more storage, a fresher iOS interface, more sturdy build.

Otherwise, I get the OP's point. I think the iOS is most people's bugbear.
 
janderson0719 said:
I've been reading many articles and comments about the new iPhone 5, and while they are fairly mixed opinions, I still don't get what people really want from their phones now-a-days....

People are arguing Apple is not innovating anymore, well, are their competitors really innovating themselves??

Forget what Apple is doing, forget what Nokia is doing, forget what Samsung can do, and lets ask the real question: what more can be really innovative at this point? seriously?
Click to expand...

Tactile Feedback.

Projectors.

Really, really big battery (am I the only one that misses the good old days where you charged your phone once a week?).

A better User Interface (this is a long one, so I won't elaborate).

That's from the top of my head.

But you know what? Your question is unfair. I'm not paid to find new innovative ideas for smartphones, it's not my job and it's not an easy job. If I was, maybe I would have more for you. You could have asked the same question before the original iPhone came out and we still couldn't give you an answer.
 
I'm not disappointed with what the iPhone 5 looks like and what is has, however, I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to have a way to mobile pay using the phone, whether that is NFC/barcode or whatever.

But the fact that I have to take out my debit card isn't going to make me say, "I hate this phone for not having that feature." I'm more of a glass half-full type of guy. I look at things I like and will benefit from.
 
Michael CM1 said:
I saw some lame opinion piece from CNet today about Apple not innovating and wondered the same thing. What annoyed me more than anything was the "Android phones have had this and that already." Yes, when there are about 100 different phones running the Android OS, they are likely to beat Apple with a lot of features simply based on all the launches between Apple's launches.
Click to expand...

I saw that piece (I'm assuming you mean the one by Jessica Dolcourt). I'm not sure what she was expecting. Apple never has gotten itself caught in a race to tick boxes on a spec sheet. The original iPhone that people reminisce about so much lacked 3G, didn't have apps (so "experts" didn't even consider it a smartphone), didn't have GPS (the Nokia N95 did). There was no way Apple was going to produce an "iPhone 5 Maxx" with a huge battery, or an "iPhone 5 Note" with a 5.5" screen and stylus. Samsung is likely going to remain the largest smartphone manufacturer (they are essentially this decade's Nokia - selling any size and shape to whoever will buy one), but I'd guess that the iPhone 5 is going to increase sales significantly over the 4S in the coming year.

What was even funnier were some of the comments, one of which declared that iPhone was toast once Nokia cracked the US market with the Lumia. That would be the same Nokia that sold 7 million Lumia's total in the first 6 months. I want Nokia to succeed to preserve the competition (and create some more for Samsung), but let's face it, Nokia is looking to survive, not topple Apple right now.
 
What is up with this good old days nonsense? When phones only required infrequent charging, we also didn't have the ability to use the internet like we do today either.
I'd rather charge once a day and have the ability to access internet, ipod, apps and a host of other conveniences.
This is just as ridiculous as people pining for 1950's tv; it was great as long as you didn't mind looking at nothing but white people. As someone who isn't white, I'd rather have more people of color on my tv.
The old days sucked and weren't that good.

As for what I want from my phone, I want to be able to use it in one hand, have an ipod-like player, be compatible with my mac, don't require the use of google for everything and provide os updates on a timely basis.
My iphone meets those needs. Android phones don't because they're too wide, too dependent on google and don't usually get os updates. Case in point: I read samsung's s3 has a locked bootloader, so you can't even hack it to install the latest os; no one knows if it'll get the latest because it's carrier dependent. That's a pile of bs.
Purant said:
Really, really big battery (am I the only one that misses the good old days where you charged your phone once a week?).
Click to expand...
 
eastercat said:
What is up with this good old days nonsense? When phones only required infrequent charging, we also didn't have the ability to use the internet like we do today either.
Click to expand...

You missed my point. I'm not implying that we used to have better batteries. The batteries got larger as the capabilities and energy requirements got larger as well.

I'm just saying that they should try and focus on making the iPhone last more than a full day without needing a recharge.

EDIT for extra clarification: What I'm saying is that I miss not having to worry about when I last charged my phone. It's an area where innovation and progress is needed IMHO.
 
Some people in this world are delusional. It seems like at this point, Apple focus is bringing the iOS and OSX platform together. I still believe that they could do more with iMessage, but mostly like that would be iOS 7 features.
 
What I Expect

I expect Apple to make a decision.

Either offer the current size iPhone, along with a larger "Smartphone" version with a larger, easily used display. "Easily Used" being defined as a 4.65" or 4.8" size that offers more viewing area, and more workspace.

OR

relegate themselves as they are. A one phone maker of compact models.
 
I agree it'd be great if I didn't have to charge my phone every night, but we know that apple wants a phone of a certain size. If they kept their future phones at the size of the 5 and battery tech evolved, then we'd have what you're asking for. It's not going to happen, however. Apple will want to make the phone thinner or some other variant that makes it attractive.

Purant said:
I'm just saying that they should try and focus on making the iPhone last more than a full day without needing a recharge.
Click to expand...
 
If your going 16:9 at least go 720p.

Offer a 4" and 5" version let the buyer decide.

Instead of a thinner phone, use the space for a better camera and bigger battery.

Text reflow or better font control in the browser.
 
More functionality, more battery life, more information with lesser screen tapping.

Everyday i have to bring 3 phones, 1 MBP and 1 ipad and i always feeling like a rambo :D.
The iphone is mainly for gps or taking pics when i'm on the field, complete with mophie battery pack and a 5600 mAh battery extender. 2 Blackberries, 1 for business number and 1 other for private, they have great battery life for calling and BBM but sucking at anything else. And the ipad is for gaming or checking email and documents. I know i'm not that young, but hell i love gaming whenever i have the chance.
It would be great if i can minimize it to just 2 phones and 1 ipad, and no need to bring a wallet and less accessories to bring.

To achieve that, i think the Blackberry phone needs to have 2 sim cards, the iphone needs to have more battery life and a NFC complete with widgets on the OS.

Then my life would be more simple with less thing to bring and to worry about.
 
Folks complain about the iPhone EVERY year.. until they hold one and realize it's not the look of the device, but the functionality.

That's like pretty women dating ugly men.

it's not always the looks that count. I had the HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon 4g.. Yes... I had a pretty cool device.. but the phone itsself.. slow as since. Sure it was HTC Sense.. But coming from that... I always choose functionality over form.
 
OSMac said:
If your going 16:9 at least go 720p.

Offer a 4" and 5" version let the buyer decide.

Instead of a thinner phone, use the space for a better camera and bigger battery.

Text reflow or better font control in the browser.
Click to expand...

What's the point of 720P on a 4" screen. It's not going to make one single bit of difference in the quality of video your watching. Your eye are not going to be able to tell the difference. The resolution they chose got the quality they needed and I imagine will make it easier to app makers to adapt their apps.


The more I think about the more I agree with the OP. We've really started to hit a wall with what you can do with a phone. We are in more of an evolutionary phase right now. I would like Apple to add a 4.5" version for those that want a bigger phone but certainly don't see it happening.

NFC would be nice but until it's more prevalent in the retailers it's largely a moot point.

Battery life isn't to get much better until we get a fundamental change in battery technology. As chips get more efficient life will continue to get better but for it to be a dramatic change it's going to take a different battery technology.

I think we are getting to a point that upgrading every year is becoming less and less useful.
 
I think the first step in opening up innovation possibilities would be to stop calling it a "phone". Sure, voice communications including phone capabilities is part of the mix, but it's not even the primary use for many people these days. So why name a product for one of it's lesser uses?

I'm don't want to focus on the specific name, and these are terrible options (my branding skills suck), but I'm just stating these to get the point across. It would be better named the iMobile, iComms, or even back to a Personal Digital Assistant reference. We burned through PDA back in the 90's and early 2000's, but these devices are far closer to what the goal was then.

My point is to get everyone (and yes, I'm sure the core engineers already do) to stop thinking of this thing as a phone. If I broke out the usage for my family (4 iPhones - My wife still refuses and carries a flip phone), less than 5% of the usage would be as a phone.
 
People tend to dwell on the negative. It is the Internet after all, but meanwhile Apple will sell millions of these phone. Not because the users are "isheep" but because it is a great phone with a great Eco system to back it up. What people tend to forget is that it is easy to simply take specific features of the new iPhone and claim other phones have this, but other phones don't have the entire list of features in a single phone. They have to make comprimies such as build quality (S3) or content Eco system (Lumia). The iPhone 5 doesn't comprimies anything and that is why it will sell boat loads.
 
I completely agree with teh OP. What more do people want?

The only thing I could ask of Apple is even more battery life and an easier way to move around icons (dragging is the freakin worst).

Then again, I'm not in teh same boat as everyone since I'm still rolling with a launch day iphone 4....this is a big upgrade for me.
 
I wanted a simple memory bump to 32GB for the $199 model. That wasn't even innovative. But that simple thing would have provided enough of an advance to make me jump.
 
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