Smartphones Losing Their Luster?

[krause734]

Sure a smartphone is a useful tool, but it's no longer a fun 007 gadget that it felt like 10 years ago. The new features are not surprising/exciting anymore (FaceID, Animoji, etc.) rather they are minor improvements in things like screen quality, battery size, processor speed, RAM, camera, etc. I don't look forward to the rumors much anymore either. Obviously this is not a unique idea and I notice a lot of other people feel the same way. Maybe there will be some groundbreaking new feature in the near future.

I heard about a resurgence of people going for dumb phones lately and I can see why because smartphones can be very addictive in a bad way. I often leave my phone at home when I go out or don't get it out when with friends/family and find it obnoxious when someone "phubs" me when we're together. Social media and smartphones are supposed to bring people closer together.

 

[Jeff5i]

My solution to the $1k phone problem and just not that being interested in the advancement was to "downgrade" to an iPhone SE.

 

[anitak1982]

I spoke with Verizon and they are no longer going to support basic phones. If you have one activated you can keep it but they won't activate another one

 

[eyoungren]

Sure a smartphone is a useful tool, but it's no longer a fun 007 gadget that it felt like 10 years ago. The new features are not surprising/exciting anymore (FaceID, Animoji, etc.) rather they are minor improvements in things like screen quality, battery size, processor speed, RAM, camera, etc. I don't look forward to the rumors much anymore either. Obviously this is not a unique idea and I notice a lot of other people feel the same way. Maybe there will be some groundbreaking new feature in the near future.

I heard about a resurgence of people going for dumb phones lately and I can see why because smartphones can be very addictive in a bad way. I often leave my phone at home when I go out or don't get it out when with friends/family and find it obnoxious when someone "phubs" me when we're together. Social media and smartphones are supposed to bring people closer together.

I'm still pretty good with having a smartphone.

But then my parents also taught me that certain things aren't allowed at the table and that you pay attention when people are trying to engage you.

As much as I enjoy them (and all my devices) they can wait.

 

[Bballrob]

I think you make a lot of valid points here. I was actually recently thinking to myself about the upcoming announcement of new iPhones which we should be hearing sometime in early September. I am currently on the iPhone 8 Plus. I wasn’t even going to upgrade from 7 to 8, but when my wife broke her phone, or actually had it smashed by one of our nieces, she was forced to get a new phone, which meant she got my seven and I got the eight. I have only picked up an iPhone X one time, at an Apple store,And I can’t say that I was overly impressed. I haven’t yearned for the added features that were introduced when the iPhone X came out either. I’m very content with what I have right now. Especially since I can hotspot from my phone to my iPad. To me, that’s what I look forward to more these days, is tablet upgrades. I can’t even remember which model of iPad I am currently on, it’s been quite a while since I have upgraded this. So maybe I’m due.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

But then my parents also taught me that certain things aren't allowed at the table and that you pay attention when people are trying to engage you.

My wife & I have that same rule with each other with the only exceptions being family emergencies or if one of us is on call for work.

 

[PCMacUser]

Sure a smartphone is a useful tool, but it's no longer a fun 007 gadget that it felt like 10 years ago. The new features are not surprising/exciting anymore (FaceID, Animoji, etc.) rather they are minor improvements in things like screen quality, battery size, processor speed, RAM, camera, etc. I don't look forward to the rumors much anymore either. Obviously this is not a unique idea and I notice a lot of other people feel the same way. Maybe there will be some groundbreaking new feature in the near future.

I totally agree with you. I'm using the new Note 9 now and it's just hard to get excited about it because the improvements over everything else are just so incremental. The most interesting phones to come out in the last couple of years (in my opinion) would be the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S8, as they enhanced the form factors so significantly for their respective platforms.

I imagine the iPhone X replacement (XS?) will be a "meh" release. They've already made the big change to the design. Now it's just going to be boring updates.

 

[jeremiah256]

I'm just the opposite. I'm old and I grew up watching the moon landings and the space shuttle launches, dreaming about how far along we'd be by the year 2000. I didn't think we'd have flying cars, but I did think we'd have at least a semi-permanent presence on the moon by then. Now America is hitching rides into space, so the joke was on me, but a very big bright spot for this geek has been the smartphone and everything I can do and access with it.

I'm in awe at what I have at my fingertips (and voice).

 

[Txguy82]

They have hit their peak and only thing I see that would be awesome to see is the fingerprint under the display. Other then that, they all bringing out the same BS.. Apple just does it better for sure IMO

 

[Techman82]

Yes i think alot of people are thinking the same thing, the flagship smartphone (iphone or Android) is very complete now, speed/camera/battery/connectivity/audio, i also think app and game downloads have gone down big time, people have the core apps they like to use, the big must have app is gone and gaming is not a good experience really, I do think there will be alot of talk about the Samsung X foldable though, if they get it right, probably a $2000 phone , I think smartphone prices will drop significantly over next few years because the market is totally inflated, manufacturers will have no choice because people either can't afford or won't see value in upgrades. Even the all screen phone is starting to loose it's "surprise" now.

 

[akash.nu]

The next step will be a new product category.

 

[kasakka]

The next step will be a new product category.

Foldable phones, most likely. I can see value in folding a smaller device into a small tablet. First few iterations will be less than stellar but eventually they'll get there.

Currently new smartphones offer basically nothing that your 2-3 year old phone can't do. Bigger screens and faster processors don't improve the experience all that much and unless you need the absolute best phone camera then neither do the other specs. My current phone is several years old and still runs very smoothly. Gone are the days when you had to upgrade because a software update made your phone a bit laggy.

 

[Reno Raines]

My solution to the $1k phone problem and just not that being interested in the advancement was to "downgrade" to an iPhone SE.

Amen! I have done this too. I own an 8 but I have voluntarily downgraded to a SE and love it. Great price and great phone.

 

[Zxxv]

Its called getting old, welcome to the club haha

 

[NoBoMac]

Currently new smartphones offer basically nothing that your 2-3 year old phone can't do.

This. And why I have always been on a 3yr upgrade cycle (dumb and smart phones).

Phone is a tool in my tech arsenal, and not a be all end all device. Cameras in phones have been good enough for years, nice for spur of the moment pics, but still shoot with a DSLR. Processors have been more than enough for a while now. Though OLED displays are nice, not important for basic usage, imo. And if looking for a status symbol, since everyone and their parents and grand parents have one, not a cool kids toy anymore, so, why bother having to rock latest gizmo? Most people don't care or notice you have the latest, especially when the other folks have their face buried in their own devices.

 

[pika2000]

Sure a smartphone is a useful tool, but it's no longer a fun 007 gadget that it felt like 10 years ago. The new features are not surprising/exciting anymore (FaceID, Animoji, etc.) rather they are minor improvements in things like screen quality, battery size, processor speed, RAM, camera, etc. I don't look forward to the rumors much anymore either. Obviously this is not a unique idea and I notice a lot of other people feel the same way. Maybe there will be some groundbreaking new feature in the near future.

I heard about a resurgence of people going for dumb phones lately and I can see why because smartphones can be very addictive in a bad way. I often leave my phone at home when I go out or don't get it out when with friends/family and find it obnoxious when someone "phubs" me when we're together. Social media and smartphones are supposed to bring people closer together.

I don't understand why people have to downgrade to a "dumbphone," other than joining a fad or trying to put attention to themselves.
One can use a smartphone without any of the "smart," and it will still be a great phone. Just activate the iPhone and don't download any apps. Put all built-in apps into a folder and just put phone and messages app outside the folder. Then disable data and/or notifications. Done. Compared to a dumbphone, you will still enjoy the great camera, music listening, better contacts navigation, all the stuff Steve Jobs said on the original iPhone. Better and easier to use phone. Simple as that. And you'll find without apps and data, the battery life will greatly increase.

The iPhone is just a device. It's up to us how we want to use it. Letting a thing controls you is silly, and people going back to dumbphones are just attention seekers.

 

[Steve121178]

Sure a smartphone is a useful tool, but it's no longer a fun 007 gadget that it felt like 10 years ago. The new features are not surprising/exciting anymore (FaceID, Animoji, etc.) rather they are minor improvements in things like screen quality, battery size, processor speed, RAM, camera, etc. I don't look forward to the rumors much anymore either. Obviously this is not a unique idea and I notice a lot of other people feel the same way. Maybe there will be some groundbreaking new feature in the near future.

I heard about a resurgence of people going for dumb phones lately and I can see why because smartphones can be very addictive in a bad way. I often leave my phone at home when I go out or don't get it out when with friends/family and find it obnoxious when someone "phubs" me when we're together. Social media and smartphones are supposed to bring people closer together.

Smart phones are just a tool & have become essential to most people. They are not as exciting as they once were as mobile technology has peaked so there's very little that can be 'new'. That's why each year you just see mostly performance improvements. Even with 5g it won't do anything differently, just better performance & hopefully more energy efficient components compared to the juicy 4G modems.

Innovation is now down to software rather than hardware.

 

[44267547]

I think you have those on a tech forum that find more scrutiny about smart phones than the average consumer does. The average consumer just uses the phone like we all normally would, but they don’t really see the infatuation with phones besides having a more advanced camera, longer battery life, bigger displays, etc. On a tech forum, we have those who are more judgemental about what we consider ‘plateauing’, but smart phones in general are very good today in terms of how they have improved with what we can access and take advantage of, being how powerful they are.

The one thing that is immediately noticeable about smart phones is the rising cost, and the consumer needs to make the decision do they need to upgrade annually as much as they used to being their smart phone does everything they need it to on an annual basis being that smart phones are generally becoming more expensive.

 

[maflynn]

Like all products, the smartphone is on a life cycle, early on advancements were large, there was excitement and people were still figuring out what that could and couldn't do with them. Exact same thing happened to the computer. Innovation has slowed down, as there's only so much you can do with a phone, its less exciting because we've had it in our hands for so long and we all know what can and cannot do with them.

 

[jeremiah256]

Smart phones are just a tool & have become essential to most people. They are not as exciting as they once were as mobile technology has peaked so there's very little that can be 'new'. That's why each year you just see mostly performance improvements. Even with 5g it won't do anything differently, just better performance & hopefully more energy efficient components compared to the juicy 4G modems.

Innovation is now down to software rather than hardware.

4G allowed us to offload services to the cloud and is a big factor in the usefulness of today’s smartphones. Once 5G has matured and reached its potential, you’ll see the realization of your phone, linked to a keyboard, monitor, and mouse, becoming your only computer. It will be able to be the hub for everything in your home.

 

[DNichter]

Nope, it's my main computer.

 

[Mousse]

The next step will be a new product category.

Glove phones with a mic in the pinky and speaker in the thumb. Or a cestus phone: same as the glove phone but with a screen on the forearm. Just like in those sci-fi B-movies.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Glove phones with a mic in the pinky and speaker in the thumb. Or a cestus phone: same as the glove phone but with a screen on the forearm. Just like in those sci-fi B-movies.

That would be cool

 

[NT1440]

I'm "excited" by a new phone simply because I love seeing the engineering progress that goes into the technology.

As a USER, I still have a 6s because it still works great. I'm considering seeing if iOS 12 does bring a decent performance boost to it before gifting it to my father.

 

[Abiatha Swelter]

Social media and smartphones are supposed to bring people closer together.

Social media and smartphones are supposed to generate income for the providers. What they do to people is incidental to their purpose.