I tend to agree with this, in general. Honestly, we’ve seen little genuine innovation in smartphone designs in years.  Virtually all models are slabs with a large display and few of small buttons. Yes, there’s some tweaking of that basic design, but that really just means ever-larger screens. All you have to do is look at the the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III to see this. These are latest cutting-edge, flagship models from these companies, and they have the same general form factor. 

Even the classic sideways slider is declining in use. The once almost ubiquitous portrait QWERTY is also all-but dead – even BlackBerry is giving it up. There is a market for devices that offer a physical keyboard, but it’s not a big one.

And don’t look for new ideas to come out of left field. For the most part, consumers aren’t interested in innovative designs. Kyocera Echo was probably the most innovative phone released in the last two years, and it flopped and was widely (and unfairly) mocked. The market has spoken: people want safety and familiarity, not innovation.

Maturity Means Less Experimentation

While it might be easy to see this as a bad trend, really it’s just a sign that smartphones are maturing. Companies have figured out what most consumers want, and are giving it to them.

For an example of how this process works, think about laptop designs — this is something that has been mature for over a decade, which means virtually all devices look the same. They are bigger or smaller, fatter or thinner, but they all have the same basic shape. That’s the direction handsets are headed.

Look at it this way: It’s time for smartphones to put their crazy teenage years behind them, settle down, and get to work.

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This company finds itself in a tough spot. Two years ago it became the first carrier in the U.S. with a 4G network, but it picked the WiMAX standard for this. Unfortunately for Sprint, just about every other carrier in the world chose the LTE standard for 4G, and some phone makers (including Apple) are unwilling to make WiMAX-based devices.

As many times as we’ve all heard “The early bird gets the worm”, being first doesn’t always mean coming out ahead. It’s the second mouse to reach the trap that gets the cheese, after all.

As a result, Sprint is going to have to spend several billion dollars adding support for LTE to its network. This will start to be available in a handful of cities in the next month or so. But as mentioned before, this company isn’t waiting to introduce LTE-enabled handsets. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper 4G LTE are the first, and more are expected to follow, such as the HTC EVO 4G LTE.

At launch, these don’t have 4G — they will be 3G only until this carrier gets its LTE network up and running.

Related Articles on Brighthand

• Samsung Galaxy Nexus, LG Viper 4G LTE Launch from Sprint
• HTC EVO 4G LTE Android Smartphone Hands On Preview

What a difference a few years makes. Today, many are wondering how long Apple can continue to be successful if the next iPhone doesn’t have a display over 3.5 inches. Virtually all smartphones running Google’s Android OS have larger ones than that, some going above 4.5 inches.

And it doesn’t stop there. Samsung and LG are exploring even bigger touchscreens. For example, AT&T is about to release the Samsung Galaxy Note, a hybrid phone/tablet with a 5.3-inch display.

The reason for the rapid increase in screen size: what people are using their phones for has changed dramatically. In the mid-90s and before, these devices were primarily used for voice calls and text messaging. Handsets back them could be tiny, because most people only used the display to read short text messages or see who was calling them.

Today, people use their smartphones to access the Web, play games, watch video, exchange email and texts, and even access Office files. For all these tasks, the bigger the screen the better.

With the steady gain in display size, we’ve given up some portability, but we’ve gained tremendous functionality — and the tradeoff is worth it.

Related Articles on Brighthand

• Samsung Galaxy Note Can Now Be Pre-Ordered from AT&T
• Take an Early Look at the LG Optimus Vu Tabletphone

Even without these enhancements, I am convinced that there’s going to be a surge in sales of Windows Phone-powered devices around this time next year. This will be brought about by the release of a wide array of computers running Windows 8.

Right now, smartphones running Microsoft’s operating system have a tile-based user interface that users are unfamiliar with. It’s a good system, but users have to learn to use it.

Google’s Android OS and the iPhone use an icon-based user interface that we’ve all be familiar with for decades. It’s basically the same system used on Macs and Windows PC since the 80s, so there’s almost no learning curve.

But that’s going to change. As it turns out Microsoft likes the UI in Windows Phone so much it is building it into Windows 8. This means that, a year from now, millions of people will be using this same user interface (called Metro) every day on their desktop, laptop or tablet. So when they go to pick out a new phone, they’re going to say “Hey, this one works just like my PC.” Instead of a learning curve, people will already be familiar with the way Windows Phone operates.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that’s going to make devices from Nokia etc. into the mythical “iPhone killer”, but it should increase sales of Windows Phone devices significantly. Currently sales of these are anemic at best, and they could certainly use a boost.

Related Articles on Brighthand

• Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Features Leaked
• Windows Phone 7.5 Mango Review: Building a Better OS

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To give you an idea of what HTC did wrong last year, I compiled a list handsets it released in 2011: ThunderBolt, Rezound, Titan, Radar, Arrive, Amaze 4G, EVO Shift 4G, EVO Design 4G, EVO 3D, Rhyme, Vivid, Sensation, Inspire 4G, Status, Droid Incredible 2, Trophy, 7 Pro, and Merge. I think everyone would agree that this is too many.

But Motorola wasn’t much better.  How about the Droid 3, Droid RAZR, Droid Bionic, Droid Pro, Admiral, Atrix, Atrix 2, X2, Photon 4G, XPRT, Pro+, Electrify, Titanium, and Cliq 2. Too many of these were too similar, like the X2 and the Droid Bionic.

Samsung seems to have figured this out, and put most of its attention last year on the Galaxy S II. Still, it came out with other models that — predictably — didn’t sell nearly as well. Anyone remember the Samsung Continuum? I didn’t think so.

Apple epitomizes the “less is more” philosophy. It releases one (1) smartphone each year. While it’s possible that’s taking things a bit too far, it’s far better than HTC having to split its focus among 18 or so new models.

There’s a complicating factor here: the wireless carriers. Companies like Verizon and AT&T want exclusive phones, and they put pressure on device makers to provide them. In the U.S. the handset producers absolutely depend on the carriers, so it’s hard for them to resist this pressure.

Even so, companies have to cut down on the number of models — producing a dozen or so each year that don’t sell all that well isn’t a good strategy, either for them or their customers. Just think about support and system software upgrades — the fewer models a company has to deal with, the more time they can spend on each one. That leads to happier customers and bigger profits.

Related Articles on Brighthand:

• HTC Will Release Fewer Smartphone Models this Year
• Nokia Has Sold Over 1 Million Lumia Windows Phones
• Apple iPhone Outsold Android Last Quarter in the U.S.

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This is an impartial look at all the features of these two very popular models, from screen size and camera resolution to entertainment and productivity apps. They are compared head-to-head, giving shoppers the information they need to decide between them.

Hopefully this will be useful for just about everyone in the market for a new smartphone. In the U.S., the iPhone is offered by AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, while Samsung’s flagship device can be found at AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.  These two are broadly available around the world.

You can find this comparison at:
Apple iPhone 4S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II: Which Is the Greatest?
 
This is just the latest in a log series of device vs. device comparisons published by Brighthand. Some recent examples:

• Motorola Droid RAZR vs. Motorola Droid 3: Is the Keyboard Worth It?
• Samsung Galaxy S II vs. Samsung Epic 4G Touch: Sprint and T-Mobile Go Head-to-Head
• Motorola Droid Bionic vs Motorola Droid X2: Which Droid Is Better?

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In addition to running OS 4.0 (code-named Ice Cream Sandwich) this device has one of the largest touchscreens on any smartphone: 4.65 inches. And the resolution is impressive as well: 1280 by 720. Most tablets don’t have this many pixels.

The Galaxy Nexus is built around a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, which means it is easily up to the job of running the latest OS from Google. This has been redesigned in many places. Most notably, the physical buttons that used to be a fixture of Android smartphones have been made virtual so they now appear only on screen.

Verizon customers are not the only ones who can get this cutting-edge device. An unlocked version that will work with AT&T and T-Mobile is also available from an online retailer.

Be sure to head over to Brighthand to read our first-look review of this model. A full review will be up soon as well.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus First Look Review: Android OS 4.0 and a Whole Lot More

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Brown said it looks “great, with true, crisp blacks, extremely vivid colors, and untinted whites.” He also pointed out that this display ”performs as advertised in direct sunlight: not just better than previous OLEDs, but better even than most conventional LCD screens.”

OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes) screens take advantage of a property of some organic molecules that causes them to glow when a current is applied to them. What this means for a display is that there’s no backlight required — the pixels on the screen are providing their own illumination. Therefore, OLED displays are thinner and generally require less power to run.

Samsung has been improving the basic OLED and is now making the aforementioned Super AMOLED Plus. This is, without a doubt, the best screen I’ve ever seen on a mobile device. I second Brown’s comment: “wow”.

I was particularly impressed with its viewability in direct sunlight. It succeeded quite well at a task that other types of screens just aren’t up to. With the Sun shining right on them, most types of displays are barely usable. On the Infuse 4G, I’d be willing to read an ebook. It’s that good.

As far as i know, Samsung has so far been reserving its entire output of Super AMOLED Plus displays for its own smartphones, but I hope that changes soon, to the point where every smartphone (and tablet too) will use this type of screen.

Related Articles on Brighthand

• Samsung Infuse 4G Review 

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Of course regular TV was out of the question, but I had plenty of other options. I missed the Bones season finale, so I headed over to Fox.com on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 I’m trying out.  It was all I could wish for: the Android version of Flash Player 10.3 works beautifully, and the stereo speakers on the tablet were all I needed — though the audio was occasionally drowned out by especially violent claps of thunder.

I needed an Internet connection to do his, of course, which was provided by the hotspot app on the Android phone I’m using right now, the HTC EVO Shift 4G. I decided to leave WiMAX off, as I didn’t know how long I’d be without electricity, and 4G is hard on the battery.

After the Bones episode was over, I switched over to Facebook so I could see how my friends were weathering the storm. Even without WiMAX, I didn’t notice that page loads were slow.

After another half hour or so I started thinking about the battery life on the EVO Shift 4G. It was still above 50%, but I didn’t know whether I’d need the connection to be able to work the next day, and the hotspot app takes a lot of power. That’s when I switched over to the ebook I’m reading with the Kindle app on the tablet. That kept me occupied until I was ready for bed.

What’s the point of all this? I was in an situation that could have been really inconvienient, but thanks to having the right gear it wasn’t at all. It wasn’t much different if I’d been stuck in an airport, or a doctors waiting room. If you have the right smartphone/tablet you’re not going to be caught out.

Tablet vs. Laptop vs. Smartphone
I’m sure some of you are thinking “He could have done all that wit a laptop”. But I don’t think so. It’s true about the video — though watching TV without a keyboard in front is a better experience – and Facebook can be accessed with just about anything, but have you ever spent a couple of hours lying on the couch reading on a laptop? Years ago I read a book on a notebook computer, and it’s not experience I have any intention of ever repeating. Tablets and smartphones are so much lighter and more convenient to read on.

And there’s the issue of power. I spent close to two hours online and at least another two reading my ebook. At the end, my smartphone had about a half charge while the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was ready for many more hours of use. My laptop would have been about dead by that point, leaving me up the creek if I was still without power in the morning.

If I hadn’t had the tablet, I could have done all of this with my smartphone, of course. I know because I’ve done it before. But tablets are better suited for video, so I used the best option I had for what I was doing.

p.s. Apologies to Vicki Lawrence.

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More than a week later, the Droid Charge is still MIA. I had expected it to launch on May 5, as this carrier likes to introduce new models on Thursdays. But this didn’t happen, and Verizon is keeping mum about why. And, in fact, the company has never said what the problem was that caused its LTE network to fail.

Verizon customers have been able to access LTE service again for more than a week now, but this carrier has yet to release the Droid Charge. Why the extra delay?

Is the Droid Charge at Fault?
I’m slightly suspicious about the timing of the LTE outage — less than a day before the launch of the Samsung Droid Charge. Is it possible that a bug in this model is somehow responsible?

I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but the fact that the network failed at the same time Verizon stores all across the U.S. were getting this model in stock, followed by the long delay in the release of this smartphone, seems to stretch coincidence more than a bit.

Whatever the case, I’m sure there are plenty of Verizon customers across the U.S. who will be happy when they can finally get their hands on the Samsung Droid Charge. Assuming it’s bug free, of course. 

UPDATE
The Samsung Droid Charge finally launched on Saturday, May 14, over a week after this blog post was written.

Samsung Droid Charge Preview
The Droid Charge is going to be a cutting-edge smartphone with a 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen. It is going to debut with Google Android OS 2.2 (Froyo) running on a 1GHz processor, with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface layered on top.

In addition to Verizon’s 4G service, this Samsung model is going to have Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS, and DLNA. Multimedia features will include a rear-facing 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera for video conferencing, and an HDMA (720p) video-out port.

It is being priced at $300 with a two-year contract, well above the typical cost of similar models.

Related Articles on Brighthand

• Verizon’s LTE Network Running Again, but Samsung Droid Charge Delayed
• HTC ThunderBolt Review

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