Apple recently launched the iPhone 3GS - a much improved version of the iPhone 3G; while Palm gave it a stiff competition with its Pre. Plus, Nokia's N97 took the place of the phone giant's flagship phone recently. Do you know what's common with a these three uber cool phones, apart from their prohibitively high price tags? Well, a lot of things! These include GPS, Wi-Fi, good cameras and touchscreens (with QWERTY keyboards in the latter two). Come to think of it, apart from categorizing phones into touchscreens and non-touchscreens, there isn't much one can do to separate them from one another, in terms of hardware.
"The Nokia N95 - is this what computers have become?" Remember the good ol' N95? It was the true super phone then, one look at its features and you'd think it popped right out of a sci-fi flick.
GPS - something I had only seen in James Bond s hands earlier was now right there in my palms, showing me exactly where I stood on this planet. I could explore parts of my city I had never been too and never lose my way around. Wi-Fi - no more costly data plans from my service providers, a quick hop to a hotspot was all I needed to get the www experience in my pocket! 5 MP camera with VGA recording - I could finally click pics from phone which I could show off to people and the video recording was of awesome quality.
There is no denying that the N95 was a revolutionary phone. It packed so many possibilities into a single device that it was easily the king of phones, every gadget lover's dream; it simply knocked every other phone out of its path. Then, Nokia cashed in on its success and released a series of devices that polished some of its shortcoming- the N82 had xenon flash, the N95 8 GB had more memory and a bigger screen, and even the newer N96, N85, N79, N78 seemed to be N95 copy cats with updated OS (in the form of Feature Pack 2), better screens and a few features that most people didn't care about!
Meanwhile, Apple introduced the iPhone -- the super slick, finger friendly device with the typical Apple class. It had the slickest Phone OS ever, everything was done with the beauty and grace one associates with Apple products but the features remained the same or perhaps was even a step backwards - a 2 MP camera, no GPS, Bluetooth and messaging bottlenecks - not something you'd expect of a next-gen phone, but nevertheless, it became an iconic handset.
Even after the launch of the iPhone 3G and now the iPhone 3GS, the hardware still seems to play second fiddle. To be quite honest, I always felt the iPhone was an entertainment gadget you'd like your friends to drool over, not something you'd carry around for everything - which is exactly what phones have become. Nevertheless, Apple started the Great Touchscreen race, with Samsung, LG, HTC and now Nokia and Palm trying to catch up. I agree there has been significant development in terms of software - the introduction of the improved S60, Windows Mobile 6.5, Android and newer iPhone OSes, but what baffles me is that in two years, we haven't moved an inch in hardware!
Sure, we have 8 MP phones and now 12 MP ones coming soon, but that's evolving the camera in the phone, not the phone itself. With every new device that comes out packing in identical features, I don't find any phone worthy of an upgrade to my trusty old N95. Why would I pay Rs. 20,000 just for 3MP more, or a new feature pack with fancy transitions?
Looking at the current batch of smartphones, the most significant development seems to have been made in the imaging department. With the N86 introducing better optics and features like variable aperture, it seems phone manufacturers will introduce more camera-like features instead of just upping the MP count.
Let's look at what does the future hold for the smartphone arena? Here is a list of phones that do indeed seem revolutionary, whether they truly will live up to their potential is something only time will tell.
Sony Ericsson Yari:
At first look, it seems like an ordinary slider with regular features, but look at its feature list closely and you will notice something called Gesture Gaming. We now have had accelerometer based games for mobiles and gesture games for the PS2 - remember the eye toy? But this seems like it could truly change the way we look at mobiles as a gaming device. What surprises me though is that how long it took people to figure out stuff you could achieve with two cameras on a phone. I mean we could have gesture control in the menus, for opening apps, we could have face recognition software with security and productivity applications. There is so much you can do and with almost every smartphone having two cameras - one for pictures and one for 3G video calls.
Samsung Blue Earth:
Eco warriors rejoice! This cute looking smartphone from Samsung features energy efficient charging, Bluetooth, a pedometer to remind you about your carbon emissions and other eco-friendly features. The best feature out of the lot is a solar panel which will charge the phone. To be honest, the eco-friendly thing seems gimmicky, but solar powered phones are definitely great.
LG Wrist Phone:
It's a watch, no, it's a phone.....it's a watch phone!!! The long awaited fantasy gadget of many geeks is finally here. LG GD910 3G - a device that's gonna pack the capabilities of your smartphone into a watch like wearable device, and yes, I am sure it's gonna show the time too.
Modu:
Now don't you wish you could buy a different phone every month?, don't you wish to junk that old phone of yours for a new and shiny one, but no prizes for guessing what's the error message that your life puts up : insufficient funds. Enter Modu. Modu is essentially a small mobile phone like module that plugs into enclosures called Modu jackets to give you an entirely new device and there are also Modu mates which are Modu enabled electronic gadgets which change functionality when a Modu is plugged into them; think Transformers/ninja robots style Mobile Phone, Cool! The modus are likely to be priced $180 with jackets costing $20-$30 each, and you can swap jackets with friends when you are bored of yours. Just hope this hits the Indian shores soon.
Samsung I7410:
The biggest bottleneck for mobiles is their screen size, make it too big - it consumes too much battery and becomes unpocketable; make it too small - say goodbye to enjoyable movie watching and web browsing. Imagine making the display bigger while keeping the phone small - this is where a mini projector comes in, Samsung I7410, introduces a tiny projector built into the phone in addition to the regular display, if one pairs this up with a foldable keyboard it could signal bye-bye to netbooks and maybe even laptops.
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