Smartphone flagships missing the mark
2 May 2013, 18:00 PM
UPDATED
2 May 2013, 21:51 PM
The smartphone and tablet industries are the fastest growing tech industries in the world with the technology moving at a breakneck pace. What was considered a high-end product can be labelled a mid-range product within 6 months of its release. Take the Google Nexus 4, which has not even been in the market for 6 months and has already seen other phones take the lead with processing speed and screen resolution – thus now earning itself the moniker of an upper mid-range product and not an out and out flagship.
A smartphone flagship in 2013 guarantees a quad core processor and a 1080p resolution screen. Take three of the biggest players currently in the mobile phone industry – Samsung, HTC and Sony. The Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and Sony XPERIA Z all are flagships for the first half of 2013 and they complete the quad core processor and 1080p screen prerequisite with aplomb.
What initially started the touchscreen smartphone revolution was the Apple iPhone, which gave users a fluid and simple UI that quite frankly worked. It did not require a 5-inch 1080p screen and a quad core processor to succeed. However, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) seem to be moving at a very predictable rate of increasing hardware whilst forgetting that it is the user experience and usability that should be at the forefront.
Most applications barring some graphically intensive games cannot fully take advantage of a quad core processor in a phone while a good screen with ample brightness and sunlight legibility should do the job for all users.
Battery life remains an issue in most smartphones and that has yet to be properly addressed by most OEM's, barring perhaps Motorola with the Droid RAZR MAXX. On the other hand, size and form factor seem to be more pressing issues. Flagships these days, while getting slimmer are increasing in size.
Phones with 5-inch screens almost eliminate the thought of one handed operation. Then there is the lack of variety when it comes to form factors. There are still many users that prefer a keypad or a QWERTY over a touchscreen. QWERTY's have not seen a flagship since the Motorola Milestone - which is considered by most as the phone that kick started the Android revolution.
Very recently gsmarena.com, one of the top cell phone websites, started a petition to make a smartphone flagship that is not as big as the ones currently in the market, proving further that the OEM's are missing a key area here.
Another major issue concerning smartphone flagships are its durability. Most users are almost guaranteed to carry a protective casing or a pouch to protect their expensive phones from wear and tear and to keep its resale value high, especially at the rate at which flagships come and go these days. Sony seems to have tackled this problem well, making the XPERIA Z water and dust resistant and as a result the phone has seen market success with 4.6 million units sold in the first 40 days since its worldwide launch.
For an OEM to achieve success this sort of innovative thinking coupled with variety is required. Yes manufacturers like Samsung will give users the choice between phones with a mini version such as the Galaxy S4 mini. But that will come with dressed down hardware too. Now maybe, it will be just as fluid and intuitive as the S4 but the 'mini' moniker along with lesser capable hardware does not make it a flagship.
On the other hand, tech websites are to blame for OEM's deciding to increase hardware as benchmarks are given equal if not more priority rather than real life performance by these websites. Screens with pixel densities under 300 ('Retina display' according to Apple because the human eye is unable to detect individual pixels at this density providing unmatched image clarity and sharpness) are often scoffed at and newer screen technologies such as AMOLED screens are made a huge deal out of because of their contrast and sunlight legibility. But in truth, a lot of LCD screens these days are very good if not better than AMOLED screens, like the one on the Nokia Lumia 920 and many screens with average pixel densities (according to these tech sites) provide the best sunlight legibility and viewing angles like the Nokia 808 PureView. More or less, all screens are usable and not extremely different from one and another, certainly not as great as some make them out to be.
So in the end OEM's have to think of better, more effective and innovative ways of making their products before calling it a flagship. The expected basics are filled but there are still some glaring blemishes that need to be improved on which OEM's are missing.
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