The perfect smartphone, what is it?
Now that the choice of smartphones is so great that it would seem easy to choose something suitable, in fact, it turns out that doing this is not at all so simple. Manufacturers in the race for gigahertz, screen size, resolution, etc., began to forget ... no, probably they didn’t, but, to put it mildly, it’s more difficult for them to find a compromise between the modern appetites of users and the convenience of using smartphones.
What is the matter? Consider the main components of the smartphone, in terms of ease of use and ergonomics.
Screen . Everything is simple here. The larger its size, the better the information on it is visible, because it is larger. The higher the screen resolution, the clearer this information. Accordingly, these parameters are constantly growing, and therefore tablets appeared. But a tablet is a much less mobile device than a smartphone; it is bigger and heavier, and it’s more difficult to hold it in your hands.
For comfortable use of the screen, I see the optimal screen diagonal in the region of 4.7-5 inches. One could have done more, but this entails an increase in overall dimensions, which affects the usability with one hand.
As for the resolution, again, the resolution has more meaning than FullHD on the 5-inch screen, since the human eye is no longer able to make out individual pixels at ppi higher than ~ 300. And if you do not quibble much, then HD-resolution is quite enough. However, this does not stop manufacturers from trying to push the TV screen into the phone, and therefore, the 2k and 4k resolution and the battery that is sitting before our eyes are our future (and the smartphones announced at MWC 2015 confirm this).
Overall dimensions . We will not take into account phablets (that’s a stupid word), there the user clearly agrees to some restrictions on usability, for the sake of the big screen.
Which of the overall dimensions most affects usability? The width of the phone, as it determines the ability to use the phone with one hand. Personally, to me, having in use the Samsung Galaxy S4 with a width of 70 mm and quite a middle palm, this width seems ... well, let's just say, very close to it. When typing with one hand, to reach with your thumb to the lower left button of the keyboard, you have to make a very significant effort (you still feel like your finger is lengthening). Probably still a couple of millimeters less would be a little more comfortable.
Say, the same Samsung Galaxy S5 or Sony Xperia Z3 is only 2 mm wide (I’m silent about the LG G3, which has a width of 75 mm, however, more about it), but using them with one hand is no longer convenient.
Moreover, in order to compensate for this problem, manufacturers go to different tricks, such as, for example, software keyboard shift (One-Handed Mode) to the right or left (for left-handed people). I tried this shift on the LG G3, I can’t say what was implemented optimally, the small buttons turned out, I could do better, or even make this moment customizable, to allow the user to adjust the keyboard width himself.
The “One-Handed Mode” on the LG G3
So I see the ideal width from 65 (smaller than the screen size does not meet modern realities) to 70 mm, nothing more. Although of course someone has bigger hands than mine, this is hardly a mass phenomenon. But there are still female hands, which are somewhat smaller than men's hands.
By the way, for example, the iPhone 6 (which is normal, not Plus) has a perfect width, in my opinion, however, it has other problems. Well, of course, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, width 65 mm, but the problems are the same as the iPhone 6, about them a little lower.
Something special can hardly be said about the height of the smartphone, it already does not affect the convenience, except that disproportionately elongated smartphones (like the Sony Xperia Z3 and Z2, for example) slightly distort our aesthetic look.
Comparison of Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z3, the proportions of Samsung are clearly better.
Thickness. That's where the battle for it is not for life, but for death. News about the thinnest smartphone, whose thickness is one hundredth less than that of the previous “champion”, appears almost every week. The jokes about how soon they will cut the sausage become more and more a reality.
I don’t know, for me personally, a phone 8 mm or less thick already seems too thin and that and look and slip out of my hands. 10-12 millimeters would probably be just right to at least feel that you are holding something more substantial than a credit card in your hand. Not to mention the fact that you can put a more capacious battery in a thicker phone. Pipe dreams, alas.
Body shape.Considering that the screen seeks to occupy all the available space on the front panel of the smartphone, the choice among manufacturers is very small, why the design of devices of different manufacturers, like twin brothers, is why there are also patent disputes on the Internet and who stole the design.
In terms of shape, I can say that ordinary rectangular "bricks", such as the iPhone 4, 5, with their sharp edges cut into the palm somewhat, reducing the level of comfort. And rounded on the rear panel, such as the Galaxy series, respectively, vice versa. Here, LG G3 and HTC One M8 stand out against the background of others (well, the one announced on the MWC M9, which does not differ from the M8 on this side) with its semicircular back surface. They fit perfectly in the hand, even despite the large width (this is about LG, HTC has 70 mm more tolerance for it).
The shape of the back surface of LG G3
A, a slightly increased thickness of 9 mm, is leveled by this shape. And, by the way, it allows you to drown the camera, which the same competitors stick out pretty decently from the back surface, which looks, frankly, ugly (and the Samsung Galaxy S6 is just awful, in my opinion). And for some reason, it is not taken into account when calculating the thickness of the apparatus.
Bulging camera Samsung Galaxy S6
But as for these unearthly beauty of the rounded edges of the screen at the Galaxy S6 Edge (in the very top picture), they cause me only bewilderment, well, it will be clearly inconvenient to keep. Is that the screen down.
Control elements.A relic of the past, hardware buttons. They are comfortable, don’t talk. Tactile connection is present, for touch buttons, despite all these vibrations, it is still so-so. Therefore, the hardware buttons at the bottom of the screen seem to me to be a very correct move. Unfortunately, almost no one has survived them, only Apple and Samsung. And the Samsung Active series has as many as three.
Power button. From above, as before, you can’t position it anymore, because of the huge screen, although you can’t say that it was convenient to reach for it, even on small phones. Its location on the right side, as on the vast majority of smartphones, is in principle already better, but for some reason it tends to be pressed when it is not necessary, in different situations. Not to say that this greatly interferes, but the question of the location of the power button remains open.
The volume rockers on the left, also a standard arrangement, are also periodically pressed, but in principle it’s convenient.
Here, too, distinguished LG G3 with its power and volume buttons on the rear panel. An original solution, though not sure if it’s convenient, perhaps a habit is required. However, when using a smartphone as a navigator in a car, access to them will be difficult, especially when driving. Nevertheless, the solution has the right to life, although I myself would still prefer a standard button layout.
Connectors, microUSB and audio, they place in my opinion, only at the top or bottom. The microUSB and magnetic charging connectors on the side of the Sony Xperia Z series are completely out of place. The same goes for plugs for microUSB connectors, rather uncomfortable and not aesthetic things.
Magnetic Charging Sony Xperia Z1
Iron - processor, memory , etc. Personally, it’s enough for me that the smartphone just doesn’t slow down and lag when using, but, I think, most will not agree with me, because it wants to play toys. It seems to me that the processor should be a multi-core Qualcomm 600th or 800th series (or similar processors from other manufacturers) no less. RAM is also now less than 1.5-2 GB, probably there is no point. Unfortunately, there is practically no top-end iron in the mini-versions of smartphones; manufacturers rely on “shovels”.
Battery. This is a sore spot for all smartphones. Well, if they live a day or two, with heavy use, and sometimes even before the evening they do not survive. Personally, I think it’s comfortable when you have to charge the phone no more than once a day 4, but rather a week. More - somehow it doesn’t really matter much (except for those who like to hike in the mountains, forests), but less, and even more so every day - is already a little annoying. Well, I would like to have some stock. Therefore, if you slightly increase the thickness, a more capacious battery will fit into such a case and, accordingly, the operating time will increase.
However, while with the capacity of the batteries the world has been standing still for quite some time, then from the point of view of energy consumption, the manufacturers have advanced quite seriously, all sorts of energy-saving modes significantly add to the operating time, though mostly in standby mode, but nonetheless.
The camera . It is unlikely that it can be considered from the point of view of convenience, but nevertheless, it is always quite convenient to have a camera at hand and I would like it to shoot well. Let not perfect, but at least more or less decent. 13-16 Mpx is enough, less quality is not quite right, more ... is there any point? Although 20 Mpx are on the move, in devices such as the Sony Xperia Z3 or the new HTC One M9, for example. Here, the truth is that the software component is of great importance, which Sony, frankly, does not shine.
Memory card . Also, an element that is very convenient to use, you want, bought a small card, if not really necessary, you want, put more, again for little money. You can always pull it out and write information to it on a computer or check the file system, without any problems replacing it yourself in the end, which is completely impossible with internal memory. Unfortunately, not all manufacturers share this approach, and models without a memory card appear more often, especially since Google is pushing them to this. The Samsung Galaxy S6, announced at MWC 2015, was a big disappointment here, no one was waiting for this trick.
Summary. Which smartphones are close to ideal? Very hard to say. I would generally say that they are not, but it will not be interesting. Let's just say, more or less compact, which fit in the hand, but at the same time with powerful hardware and a good camera, there are only two - iPhone 6 and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. That's all. And then they have a lot of shortcomings, such as the shape of the case, the inconvenience of the location of the connectors, and Sony’s camera is not as good as we would like. As for the smaller versions of the flagships of other manufacturers, everything is very sad here, very mediocre hardware, no less mediocre cameras, and some, LG G3 s, for example, even lack an oleophobic coating. Which of course is very indicative and speaks of the minimal attention paid by manufacturers to these models. Not the best way things are with Chinese manufacturers,
If you slightly reduce the requirements for dimensions and allow the width of the device to at least 70, then it becomes a little more interesting, the same LG G3 and HTC One M8 / M9 will be somewhat closer to ideal.
Of course, I would like not only Sony, but also other manufacturers to pay attention to compact models and pay more attention not to the race for meaningless increase in screen resolution and decrease in thickness, but to ergonomics, usability and duration of work of smartphones.
I deliberately did not address the issues of convenience and ergonomics of the software part of smartphones (I'm afraid then the note would stretch to several screens), but there are many problems there as well.
What is the matter? Consider the main components of the smartphone, in terms of ease of use and ergonomics.
Screen . Everything is simple here. The larger its size, the better the information on it is visible, because it is larger. The higher the screen resolution, the clearer this information. Accordingly, these parameters are constantly growing, and therefore tablets appeared. But a tablet is a much less mobile device than a smartphone; it is bigger and heavier, and it’s more difficult to hold it in your hands.
For comfortable use of the screen, I see the optimal screen diagonal in the region of 4.7-5 inches. One could have done more, but this entails an increase in overall dimensions, which affects the usability with one hand.
As for the resolution, again, the resolution has more meaning than FullHD on the 5-inch screen, since the human eye is no longer able to make out individual pixels at ppi higher than ~ 300. And if you do not quibble much, then HD-resolution is quite enough. However, this does not stop manufacturers from trying to push the TV screen into the phone, and therefore, the 2k and 4k resolution and the battery that is sitting before our eyes are our future (and the smartphones announced at MWC 2015 confirm this).
Overall dimensions . We will not take into account phablets (that’s a stupid word), there the user clearly agrees to some restrictions on usability, for the sake of the big screen.
Which of the overall dimensions most affects usability? The width of the phone, as it determines the ability to use the phone with one hand. Personally, to me, having in use the Samsung Galaxy S4 with a width of 70 mm and quite a middle palm, this width seems ... well, let's just say, very close to it. When typing with one hand, to reach with your thumb to the lower left button of the keyboard, you have to make a very significant effort (you still feel like your finger is lengthening). Probably still a couple of millimeters less would be a little more comfortable.
Say, the same Samsung Galaxy S5 or Sony Xperia Z3 is only 2 mm wide (I’m silent about the LG G3, which has a width of 75 mm, however, more about it), but using them with one hand is no longer convenient.
Moreover, in order to compensate for this problem, manufacturers go to different tricks, such as, for example, software keyboard shift (One-Handed Mode) to the right or left (for left-handed people). I tried this shift on the LG G3, I can’t say what was implemented optimally, the small buttons turned out, I could do better, or even make this moment customizable, to allow the user to adjust the keyboard width himself.
The “One-Handed Mode” on the LG G3
So I see the ideal width from 65 (smaller than the screen size does not meet modern realities) to 70 mm, nothing more. Although of course someone has bigger hands than mine, this is hardly a mass phenomenon. But there are still female hands, which are somewhat smaller than men's hands.
By the way, for example, the iPhone 6 (which is normal, not Plus) has a perfect width, in my opinion, however, it has other problems. Well, of course, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, width 65 mm, but the problems are the same as the iPhone 6, about them a little lower.
Something special can hardly be said about the height of the smartphone, it already does not affect the convenience, except that disproportionately elongated smartphones (like the Sony Xperia Z3 and Z2, for example) slightly distort our aesthetic look.
Comparison of Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z3, the proportions of Samsung are clearly better.
Thickness. That's where the battle for it is not for life, but for death. News about the thinnest smartphone, whose thickness is one hundredth less than that of the previous “champion”, appears almost every week. The jokes about how soon they will cut the sausage become more and more a reality.
I don’t know, for me personally, a phone 8 mm or less thick already seems too thin and that and look and slip out of my hands. 10-12 millimeters would probably be just right to at least feel that you are holding something more substantial than a credit card in your hand. Not to mention the fact that you can put a more capacious battery in a thicker phone. Pipe dreams, alas.
Body shape.Considering that the screen seeks to occupy all the available space on the front panel of the smartphone, the choice among manufacturers is very small, why the design of devices of different manufacturers, like twin brothers, is why there are also patent disputes on the Internet and who stole the design.
In terms of shape, I can say that ordinary rectangular "bricks", such as the iPhone 4, 5, with their sharp edges cut into the palm somewhat, reducing the level of comfort. And rounded on the rear panel, such as the Galaxy series, respectively, vice versa. Here, LG G3 and HTC One M8 stand out against the background of others (well, the one announced on the MWC M9, which does not differ from the M8 on this side) with its semicircular back surface. They fit perfectly in the hand, even despite the large width (this is about LG, HTC has 70 mm more tolerance for it).
The shape of the back surface of LG G3
A, a slightly increased thickness of 9 mm, is leveled by this shape. And, by the way, it allows you to drown the camera, which the same competitors stick out pretty decently from the back surface, which looks, frankly, ugly (and the Samsung Galaxy S6 is just awful, in my opinion). And for some reason, it is not taken into account when calculating the thickness of the apparatus.
Bulging camera Samsung Galaxy S6
But as for these unearthly beauty of the rounded edges of the screen at the Galaxy S6 Edge (in the very top picture), they cause me only bewilderment, well, it will be clearly inconvenient to keep. Is that the screen down.
Control elements.A relic of the past, hardware buttons. They are comfortable, don’t talk. Tactile connection is present, for touch buttons, despite all these vibrations, it is still so-so. Therefore, the hardware buttons at the bottom of the screen seem to me to be a very correct move. Unfortunately, almost no one has survived them, only Apple and Samsung. And the Samsung Active series has as many as three.
Power button. From above, as before, you can’t position it anymore, because of the huge screen, although you can’t say that it was convenient to reach for it, even on small phones. Its location on the right side, as on the vast majority of smartphones, is in principle already better, but for some reason it tends to be pressed when it is not necessary, in different situations. Not to say that this greatly interferes, but the question of the location of the power button remains open.
The volume rockers on the left, also a standard arrangement, are also periodically pressed, but in principle it’s convenient.
Here, too, distinguished LG G3 with its power and volume buttons on the rear panel. An original solution, though not sure if it’s convenient, perhaps a habit is required. However, when using a smartphone as a navigator in a car, access to them will be difficult, especially when driving. Nevertheless, the solution has the right to life, although I myself would still prefer a standard button layout.
Connectors, microUSB and audio, they place in my opinion, only at the top or bottom. The microUSB and magnetic charging connectors on the side of the Sony Xperia Z series are completely out of place. The same goes for plugs for microUSB connectors, rather uncomfortable and not aesthetic things.
Magnetic Charging Sony Xperia Z1
Iron - processor, memory , etc. Personally, it’s enough for me that the smartphone just doesn’t slow down and lag when using, but, I think, most will not agree with me, because it wants to play toys. It seems to me that the processor should be a multi-core Qualcomm 600th or 800th series (or similar processors from other manufacturers) no less. RAM is also now less than 1.5-2 GB, probably there is no point. Unfortunately, there is practically no top-end iron in the mini-versions of smartphones; manufacturers rely on “shovels”.
Battery. This is a sore spot for all smartphones. Well, if they live a day or two, with heavy use, and sometimes even before the evening they do not survive. Personally, I think it’s comfortable when you have to charge the phone no more than once a day 4, but rather a week. More - somehow it doesn’t really matter much (except for those who like to hike in the mountains, forests), but less, and even more so every day - is already a little annoying. Well, I would like to have some stock. Therefore, if you slightly increase the thickness, a more capacious battery will fit into such a case and, accordingly, the operating time will increase.
However, while with the capacity of the batteries the world has been standing still for quite some time, then from the point of view of energy consumption, the manufacturers have advanced quite seriously, all sorts of energy-saving modes significantly add to the operating time, though mostly in standby mode, but nonetheless.
The camera . It is unlikely that it can be considered from the point of view of convenience, but nevertheless, it is always quite convenient to have a camera at hand and I would like it to shoot well. Let not perfect, but at least more or less decent. 13-16 Mpx is enough, less quality is not quite right, more ... is there any point? Although 20 Mpx are on the move, in devices such as the Sony Xperia Z3 or the new HTC One M9, for example. Here, the truth is that the software component is of great importance, which Sony, frankly, does not shine.
Memory card . Also, an element that is very convenient to use, you want, bought a small card, if not really necessary, you want, put more, again for little money. You can always pull it out and write information to it on a computer or check the file system, without any problems replacing it yourself in the end, which is completely impossible with internal memory. Unfortunately, not all manufacturers share this approach, and models without a memory card appear more often, especially since Google is pushing them to this. The Samsung Galaxy S6, announced at MWC 2015, was a big disappointment here, no one was waiting for this trick.
Summary. Which smartphones are close to ideal? Very hard to say. I would generally say that they are not, but it will not be interesting. Let's just say, more or less compact, which fit in the hand, but at the same time with powerful hardware and a good camera, there are only two - iPhone 6 and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. That's all. And then they have a lot of shortcomings, such as the shape of the case, the inconvenience of the location of the connectors, and Sony’s camera is not as good as we would like. As for the smaller versions of the flagships of other manufacturers, everything is very sad here, very mediocre hardware, no less mediocre cameras, and some, LG G3 s, for example, even lack an oleophobic coating. Which of course is very indicative and speaks of the minimal attention paid by manufacturers to these models. Not the best way things are with Chinese manufacturers,
If you slightly reduce the requirements for dimensions and allow the width of the device to at least 70, then it becomes a little more interesting, the same LG G3 and HTC One M8 / M9 will be somewhat closer to ideal.
Of course, I would like not only Sony, but also other manufacturers to pay attention to compact models and pay more attention not to the race for meaningless increase in screen resolution and decrease in thickness, but to ergonomics, usability and duration of work of smartphones.
I deliberately did not address the issues of convenience and ergonomics of the software part of smartphones (I'm afraid then the note would stretch to several screens), but there are many problems there as well.