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Other What would a revolutionary iPhone look like?
- Thread starter lerschiboi
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Eh. There's been waterproof stuff with replaceable batteries for longer than there's been iPhones! Unless there's something I don't know here: The technology exists, and was in common use.
If anything they already have the new iPhone: The Apple Watch. It has all the comms benefits minus anything addictive. Its theft proof, being locked to your wrist all day. Once they figure out a 5G version with a better version of Siri that still has an all-day battery its go go go. Somebody will point out a lack of camera until we realise this is also the point.
The last thing I want is to have my phone strapped to my wrist all day long.
Plus, aside from the missing camera, people will start complaining about the screen being too small, and before you know it, you'll have an iPhone Pro Ultra Max strapped to your hand. No tnx.
The small screen is the point though. It reduces a phone back to being a communications device instead of a portal of wasted time. You don't want to browse instagram on a watch, not least of which is the pain it would inflict on your wrist having your arm at an angle for so long. It wouldn't have that feature to start with.
Besides phone calls and IM, what else do you really need? A smarter Siri, able to live as an on-device LLM would be the main point of contact with the screen becoming almost superfluous for anything it doesn't currently do now.
The reason we even have iPhone EX Plus Alpha Max Ultra models is because, since the passing of Steve Jobs Apple went from showing people what they needed to giving them what they wanted. As it turns out, people are not all that smart. Jobs once said 'nobody would buy a phone they can't fit their hand around' and he was right. How can I make such a bold claim? People only buy bigger phones to feed their social media addictions and not out of practicality.
Apple aren't in a position to push the market the other way because of how many big ass phones they sell. Could you imagine Tim Cook telling the shareholders that Apple had decided to go back to the actual iPhone 5 chassis with their next line?! But you can sell them on the idea that the Apple Watch, being beneficial for their physical health is now beneficial to their mental health as well.
What do I really need? Maps, GPS and CarPlay is the main reason for my phone, then as an e-reader, and something I can interact with without talking. Voice assistants absolutely suck regardless of ability, especially in public where one doesn't want to be talking out loud. I don't have any social media on my phone, nor do I stream video.
The reason I wear my Apple watch is I still can still have music/health tracking without being connected (I don't want a connected watch). When I go running, I leave my phone in my car or at home.
That's just too connected for my tastes.
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That is why I said "potentially" impair...
None of the phones I had with replaceable batteries were even modestly water resistant.
I wish Apple would bring back a small phone the size of the OG SE but with a full screen, that would be ideal, but at this point we all know it won't happen... however, Apple Watch is not an alternative, at least for me. 🤷♂️
That’s fair. It wouldn’t be for everyone. Just seems like an idea format for people who want to rid themselves of the addictive qualities of phones.
A simple barebones phone by Apple would be great and they can also keep the current pro range who need professional level time wasting
I'd like a small phone which can work with any iPad.
Use the phone as a phone! And be able to see things like alerts, etc.
But let me carry an iPad mini in my bag. And, if I am sat at my desk, or in a cafe, I can take out my iPad mini and use the bigger screen by just touching them together, or using a Magsafe pad on the back, or something equally simple.
iPhone Mirroring is almost good enough ...
Use the phone as a phone! And be able to see things like alerts, etc.
But let me carry an iPad mini in my bag. And, if I am sat at my desk, or in a cafe, I can take out my iPad mini and use the bigger screen by just touching them together, or using a Magsafe pad on the back, or something equally simple.
iPhone Mirroring is almost good enough ...
I tried this with the watch and iPad Mini and it wasn't much fun. There are times when you need to just whip a phone out, be it to quickly scan a transit QR (with dozens of people behind you) or snap a restaurant menu. Fiddling around in a bag to pull out an iPad is great if you have the time but not so much in a hurry.
I really can see why a watch and iPad would be a problem.
I find even the screen of my 15 Pro Max is a touch small to enjoy doing lots of things when out and about.
The other day, I was in a shop and browsed some physical clothes! But, being a smaller branch, I knew the company had other options so went to their cafe and had a cuppa while browsing the shop company's own website. Unfortunately, the website was close to impossible to use. Gave up and did my order from home later! Not important, indeed quite trivial, but it clearly demonstrated that a larger screen would make some things easier.
I love how the revolutionary ideas being named are sd cards and battery replacements lol.
And we complain when a new iPhone is released and it’s basically the same as last years. It’s truly hard to come up with next gen design.
I still wonder why cars have 4 wheels after 130 years. Why cant we have one wheels? Haha
And we complain when a new iPhone is released and it’s basically the same as last years. It’s truly hard to come up with next gen design.
I still wonder why cars have 4 wheels after 130 years. Why cant we have one wheels? Haha
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Nothing wrong with larger screens but neither Apple nor Google have adapted their OSes to fit them. A phone is just a new jacked for your operating system of choice after all.
Perhaps the question should therefore be ‘what would a revolutionary iOS look like?’
My main phone is the largest iPhone there is. That is out of practicality. It's easier to see and use the map (for example) with the bigger screen. A map's something I want to use, and use well, when I'm out walking! However, I have my phone on lanyard (I wear my iPhone like a purse), so it's not so important that I can "fit my hand around it".
My backup phone is the Unihertz Atom Vanilla, that's the smallest rugged smartphone there is. I've seen folks say that they like its small size to avoid social media addiction, and the like. I like the small size because it doesn't take up much space in my pocket (if I had a social media addiction, it'd be on my laptop anyway). I didn't go with an Apple Watch, in part, because I need to be able to call a reliable taxi company on my backup phone. That means I need the taxi company's app, and I'm not getting that on an Apple Watch!
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That exists, it's called an e-ink monitor. There are downsides to an e-ink monitor over a traditional monitor, but e-ink can be read in the sun, for the same reason that paper can be (at least from what I've read).
There are some e-ink smartphones, but I don't know if any of them are in color (most e-ink monitors are black-and-white, if memory serves). The "HiSense A6L E INK", however, is a smartphone with an e-ink monitor on one side, and a traditional monitor on the other. Maybe that will give you the best of both worlds.
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TCL announces the NXTPAPER 11 Plus tablet at CES 2025, featuring a new nano-etched display
Similar to last year, TCL is showing off a new generation of NXTPAPER tech this week at CES 2025. The new NXTPAPER 11 Plus tablet is built around the (also new) NXTPAPER 4.0 screen, which uses "nano-matrix lithography” to improve clarity and sharpness. Color accuracy has improved too, with the...
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I'm going to jump in here as an App developer and veteran techie (I worked in Silicon Valley in the 90s during the internet boom).
What I want to see is something new in hardware to open up new possibilities in applications on the iPhone.
There exists today sensors the size of the cameras on the iPhone that can measure or "see" the light spectrum either side of the visible light which are already being used for the development of apps, with small dongles or bluetooth devices, that can do things like thermal imaging, spectroscopy in combination with AI to identify stuff (fake, or out of date, medicine. Fruit ripeness. Purity/concentration of substances.)
I'd like to see some extra cameras on iPhones for infra-red and ultra-violet waves lengths to broaden what can be made available to the masses with smart phones.
Apple already uses something like these on Apple Watch and rumoured to be bringing them to Air Pods too.
There's an amazing list of possibilities for day to day applications that I think would reinvigorate the phone and app market which are at an all time low just now.
What I want to see is something new in hardware to open up new possibilities in applications on the iPhone.
There exists today sensors the size of the cameras on the iPhone that can measure or "see" the light spectrum either side of the visible light which are already being used for the development of apps, with small dongles or bluetooth devices, that can do things like thermal imaging, spectroscopy in combination with AI to identify stuff (fake, or out of date, medicine. Fruit ripeness. Purity/concentration of substances.)
I'd like to see some extra cameras on iPhones for infra-red and ultra-violet waves lengths to broaden what can be made available to the masses with smart phones.
Apple already uses something like these on Apple Watch and rumoured to be bringing them to Air Pods too.
There's an amazing list of possibilities for day to day applications that I think would reinvigorate the phone and app market which are at an all time low just now.
Eh if he was Steve Jobs like he’d on to the next thing and we would know about it, Where the heck is that guy now these day? Nowhere.
I recently developed an App for a company that has a bluetooth Near Infrared Spectrometer, about the size & shape of grapefruit half, and offered various AI models for a whole range of applications.
Took the device to my local veg shop and was checking the sugar content of Kiwi fruit with it when the shop owner came up to me and asked what I was doing. I gave him a demo. He was instantly sold.
So, yes...
I dream of a easy repairable iPhone, with a removable/swapable plastic backcover for best reception and easy access to battery and other components. Like the Nokia Windows phones like the 620. Hardwarewise they were the perfect form factor.
Very much agree. Multispectral imaging has huge potential. Whether it fulfils that or not probably depends on how far and wide multispectral cameras are available - and the spectral ranges they can resolve. Incorporation into phones might be wonderful.
While I'm at it, I'd like an internal polarising filter - with adjustable orientation! (Or take two frames - one vertical, the other horizontal. And later choose one, the other, or a blend.)