Mobile devices in 2022

Mobile devices in 2022

I have a 2017 Nokia 8, and a Pebble Time kickstarter edition from 2015.

Apart from the overpriced Sony Xperia line (which I can't even get here in Australia), I've not seen another phone or watch since then that doesn't have some dealbreaking stupid design compromises.

If you like the look of edge to edge displays and rounded corners that necessitate moving the camera module inbound of the screen and getting rid of the bezels, then fair enough. I can respect if your decision is based on aesthetics, or simply if it makes you feel good.

However, if you as a consumer think that having a hole, notch, 'Island' or cutout, intruding on the main screen and forcing software (developers) to compensate for it, is objectively better than just spending the same resources to slim down the bezels, or (forbid) just making the phone slightly taller, then IMO you are a moron.

If you also think this way but are a phone manufacturer, then IMO you are no better than a tick on the testicles of a rat feeding off the excrement of your own echo chamber.

Fitness watchmakers, if you can't access all basic functions on your watch without resorting to the capacitive touch screen, then do us both a favour please and just remove all the cycling apps and any associated marketing.

Why do I sound so upset if my Nokia doesn't even have a notch?

That's the reason.

My phone doesn't have a notch, yet when Google saw that the iPhone had one and was selling lots of units (newsflash, google. They sold lots of units because they have a large user base with a narrow range of phone models, not because the notch was a good feature), it decided that to compete with Apple it had to make all it's new phones have notches.

To make sure all their new phones played nice with the notch, they changed the default OS behaviour to shrink all notification icons down to a small indicator dot (that basically tell the user they have a notification) and move the clock to the right and remove the battery percentage text, all to ensure nothing gets covered up by the notch on their new phones.

But they hardcoded it to default at the OS level. With no way of turning it off. Their Dev mode even has options to simulate a notch on the (normal, square) virtual device, so it's 100% possible to have a version of the OS with selectable notch. They just don't.

So now, on my phone without a notch, I can see 2 notification icons at most, then the notification dot, and that's it.

If my pebble time hadn't got an open source software update after they were sold to fitbit, one of those notification icons would have been a permanent pebble bluetooth connection status icon, reducing my useful indicators to exactly 1 icon. Thankfully I've been able to hack my way around the rest of the system icons like clock and battery percentage, but there's still a massive wasted gap at the top of the screen. Nokia have already stated they aren't going to make any updates to this phone model any more. All their phones produced after the 2017 model all have a notch or holepunch.

I'm not a big fan of the idea of using a Chinese (market) phone but if I want a decently performing SOC, with a no-compromise screen, headphone jack, USB-C, fingerprint reader, and SD card slot, less than AUD$1000, it's looking like that is my only option, unless Sony comes back to Australia and with pricing that isn't ridiculous.

The headphone jack

The next person to tell me a phone is more waterproof because it doesn't have a headphone jack gets a punch to the face. Two if they say it's to save internal space. Three if they tell me wireless sounds better.

Test: Look up the ingress certifications on phones with headphone jacks vs those without. If there are any phones with stricter certs than phones that advertise greater water protection, that proves my point and those companies advertising it are feeding marketing BS, and likely also lying about saving internal space. Saving the company money, more likey. It also lets them bring back the headphone jack later as a feature (as long as you pay more for the model with it included). But while waiting why not buy a pair of $150+ wireless earbuds that take up more space, require recharging, carrying around a charging case, get lost easy so you have to buy another pair? Take a look at companies wanting to remove the charging port and replacing with wireless charging. Are they making the same remarks about the charge port as they did with the headphone jack? Draw your own conclusions.

Decent wired buds cost under $40. I got a good pair of logitech sports focused buds for AUD$15 online. My wireless over-ears last 16hours constant use and have average performing active noise cancellation on all the time. They don't sound the best, but they definitely aren't the worst. They were AUD$60 on Amazon.

Glass phone back

I'm yet to find a buyer pro for having a glass back other than it's less likely to slip out of your bare fingers when you aren't using a case or skin. The irony. For the seller, any time a product is more likely to be damaged in a way that can't/won't be blamed on the manufacturer and requires a new device, the better.

Glue

I've never understood the use of so much glue to seal a phone. Just to avoid an 'unsightly' screw on the exterior. If phone chassis' were designed well, you wouldn't need more than 2 screws to hold everything exterior together, which could then hide any internal screws. It's basically what is being done now, but with glue. It's stupid. The worst is phones that have both screws and glue. Just, why?

Battery, camera bump and thickness in general

There are people complaining about battery life while at the same time lauding their phone's thinness. These people are idiots. If the limiting factor for a phone's size in one dimension is the camera module, then maybe make the rest of the phone the same thickness and put a bigger battery inside. It's not difficult.

I have a feeling phone companies will be doing this dance of reducing functionality and features with each iteration, only to bring them back later or add useless gimmicks as touted improvements, but never letting consumers have an actually good product. We've reached the artifical pinnacle of smartphone (and most other mobile device) design. RIP.

FYI, apart from a few updates for changes since, the above was initially written circa 2017 and mostly still holds today. The direction of the phone market has largely been heading in the wrong direction IMO since the google Nexus line ended. The existence of the Pixel line is evidence of that.

OK this rant is over.