8 ms·

Why today's phones are so boooooring?

18 points by I_like_pigeons 2y ago

blitzar 2y ago
If they are soooooo boring why does everyone stare at them all day long?
drewcoo 2y ago
Because of A/B testing and design by committee.
Tomis02 2y ago
Boring and slow.
- brettermeier 2y ago
  And way too big. Why doesn't have Samsung a Mini version anymore? If they look I really don't care, but that they are all scaled like tablets (the cheap ones) annoys me.
vsnf 2y ago
I’d kill for a phone with proper music control hardware buttons. I miss my iPod, and being able to control it, precisely, from my pocket.
Rinzler89 2y ago
>Why today’s phones are so boooooring? Because the HW part of the UX has been commoditized to a giant screen where the big difference in style and UX is made by the SW and UI. In fairness LG has tried experimenting with different HW UX over the years to distinguish themselves[1], and they went bust doing it because consumer weren't into that and voted with their wallets to those making boring phones like everyone else. If consumers want large pocket Netflix machines you give them large pocket Netflix machines if you want to stay in business. They can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. [1] https://www.androidheadlines.com/2021/04/top-5-best-unique-lg-smartphones.html https://www.androidheadlines.com/2021/04/top-5-best-unique-l...
- benjijay 2y ago
  I miss my LGs for exactly this reason. They were just about the only ones doing anything 'new' beyond "hey our camera is 12% better than last year!" My Pixel 7 Pro is great and all, but it doesn't do anything _interesting_
  - akasakahakada 2y ago
    Still using LG V50 for 3.5 years baby. Bought 2 more as spare. Planning to collect all dual screen but they are kind of run out of stock. LG's dual screen implementation is amazing. Both screen can operate separately, that's true multi-tasking! Damn I wish I bought more back in the days.
    - Rinzler89 2y ago
      Is it like the Microsoft Surface Duo ? Those seem awesome for multi tasking productivity on the go and people with ADHD. Shame they're way too niche and don't appeal too the masses therefore end up being canceled.
      - akasakahakada 2y ago
        Never used Microsoft Duo. LG is like having two computer with two mouse. You can game in one hand while scrolling facebook on the other hand.
        Rinzler89 2y ago
        >You can game in one hand while scrolling facebook on the other hand. Like I said, that's an ADHD person's dream.
    - benjijay 2y ago
      My last was a g8x ThinQ, dual screen by virtue of a case like the v50, but both screens were the same size - I believe with the v50 the secondary was slightly smaller? What ultimately forced me to upgrade, however, was the main screen fell off - the glue holding it to the body seemingly failed, and as it fell the ribbon cable tore. I mulled getting another one (or a Wing) on ebay, but the P7Pro seemed a wiser investment
42droids 2y ago
Aren’t they just optimised for screen size/display? Eg. before design sold the phone, now image quality and camera quality.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
simonbarker87 2y ago
The author answers their question in the article surely? Phones are boring because they are all screen as that’s the most important part. Perhaps I missed some other point they are making?
throwanem 2y ago
The article author ignores how little those old phones could actually do, and how much of a pain in the ass it reliably was to get them to actually do most of it. I understand why; none of that would go to his point. But I was also there. Boring is good in technology. It means you don't have to think about it much, and that usually means it is doing its job.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > The article author ignores how little those old phones could actually do I wish there was a phone on the market that did as little as those phones did. It appears, however, that if you want a cell phone at all, it has to be a smartphone ("feature phones" are just gimped smartphones).
  - throwanem 2y ago
    Yes, the world has moved on. As I understand it, the primary market these days for what a decade back we'd call a "feature phone" is elders perhaps entering cognitive decline, or otherwise better served by a device not capable of the default levels of annoyance. (It makes sense! I've had a smartphone since 2012, and have spent every one of those dozen years getting more skillful at frustrating its software suppliers' desire to pester me. I'm quite good at that now, but God help me with whatever's novel twenty or thirty years hence...) It would not surprise me to see this change over the next decade or so. On the one hand, 5G will probably remain the dominant radio scheme for at least that long, so that there'll be less pressure on device manufacturers for constant hardware changes to provide basic functionality. And on the other, the mounting backlash against the current iteration of the tech industry and specifically the harms it inflicts on children (1) may well develop into a movement toward ensuring connectivity while structurally limiting the sort of access required for algorithmic exploitation - which seems like very naturally opening a niche for the sort of device you prefer. Such a genre of phone may not partake of the sort of design language you might prefer, and it will of course be overpriced as any luxury good, but in functionality I suspect it'll come quite close to satisfaction. (1) Haidt et al.; I disagree with almost his every prescription and don't at all trust the company he keeps, but I can't argue with his identification of the problem.
amadeuspagel 2y ago
The design of a phone has to fit every app, every kind of content. A design that would look cool with one app would look weird with another. The thing about headphones is that you don't see them when you have them on.
booleandilemma 2y ago
I think it's an outward reflection of how the decision makers at these companies think. A look into their psyche. They're probably boring, conservative, unimaginative, dull people, concerned with raising profits and nothing else. Ask them their "vision" and they'll probably tell you a larger screen, or a thinner body. Some kind of optimization of what's there, and not something new and wacky.
elicksaur 2y ago
>what do you get on the back usually? A mat glass with too many cameras and a logo that you gonna cover with a phone case anyway. Meanwhile, there’s a ton of aesthetic design in cases. The essay doesn’t make that point building on the quote above, but that seems to be the simplest answer.
pxtail 2y ago
To be honest I think that it's good direction. Why one should be excited about a phone or a pair of headphones? It's a tool like a hammer, shovel etc. There is one more angle - when it's boring it's more environmentally friendly, there is much less incentive to buy new shiny, blinking toy when it mostly looks and works just like old toy.
- unraveller 2y ago
  They are boring because these not-quite-future-proof smartphones need to also look like e-waste to the consumer in 18 months time so minimal sentimental attachment is preferred.
- akasakahakada 2y ago
  Because smartphone should be smarter everyday. We should expect it can do yet another trick in the next generation.
opan 2y ago
>So, here’s a question - when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Probably either the OnePlus One or the PinePhone (if that even counts), though getting a phone with a 120Hz screen (OnePlus 8T) was somewhat cool as well. My PC monitors are still 60Hz so it was kind of novel to me. There was also the Gemini PDA, but that thing was a huge mess and has made me skeptical of any other UMPC ventures or ARM devices with chips I'm not familiar with. At this point you could probably get people excited just bringing back removable batteries, SD card slots, and headphone jacks.
rjh29 2y ago
>So, here’s a question - when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Last year when I bought a Galaxy Fold4. I would say that is the opposite of boring, it's freaking cool!
snitty 2y ago
>Why today’s phones are so boooooring? The author explains that the backs of phones are the primary distinguishing factor with inconsequential differences in screen resolution and refresh rates. And then...favorably points out how the backs of headphones are the primary distinguishing factor with inconsequential differences in driver response. Am I missing something?
sksksk 2y ago
These feature phones didn't have (many) third party apps. Smartphones are all rectangular touch screens, so creating an app that works on different devices doesn't require huge amounts of work (technical and design). If manufacturers come out with phones that stray too far from the rectangular touchscreen paradigm, the majority of app developers aren't going to customise their app for the phone, unless it's really succesful. I used to make apps for Smart TVs, when Samsung release their "Sero" rotating TV, supporting portrait orientation AND the orientation changing whilst in the app was too much work, so we just ran it in a letterbox mode.
timothyduong 2y ago
Because many things that are not boring are gimmicks. I think of the Porsche 911 as a good example, beautiful but boring in its design iteration. It’s considered the top of its class in so many fields. That’s how I feel about many things such as the aforementioned hd600. Classic design and outstanding performance.
ozim 2y ago
Because no one cares? I have more interesting things to do on the internet or with apps than playing with physical gimmicks.
jitl 2y ago
I love how the Nothing Phone and earbuds look. The design is exciting, it’s opinionated and has techwear style. If it was an iPhone in the ways that matter to me, I would buy one in a heartbeat. Take a scroll on their website. https://us.nothing.tech/ https://us.nothing.tech/ https://us.nothing.tech/pages/phone-2?variant=42721597718680 https://us.nothing.tech/pages/phone-2?variant=42721597718680 Asus ROG Phone has an optional active cooling fan you can attach to the back of the phone, and side mounted USB port for maximum gaming. These don’t appeal to me like the Nothing, but it’s different and fun. https://rog.asus.com/us/phones/rog-phone-model/ https://rog.asus.com/us/phones/rog-phone-model/
- akasakahakada 2y ago
  > active cooling fan Nubia or RedMagic has a active fan inside the phone.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
JohnClark1337 2y ago
[dead]
seba_dos1 2y ago
> So, here’s a question - when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Every time I got one for use as a main phone. Granted, in the last 15 years I first got Openmoko Neo Freerunner, then Nokia N900, then Librem 5 that I write this on; and before that I was a teenager in the era when getting a phone that had a camera was already cool... but they were all very exciting. I remember the announcement of the first iPhone (somewhat exciting... but a complete disappointment as soon as it released) and Android (very exciting at first, but then slowly getting to iPhone level of disappointment). Before the Librem 5 arrived I had to augment my N900 with an Android phone for about two years. That was annoying, but thankfully I could get excited again soon enough. I miss the keyboard though, capacitive screens still aren't great for writing.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
randomdata 2y ago
> when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Everyone already had phones by the time I came into this world, so I'm not sure there was ever a time to be really excited. They were just an every day part of normal life, not providing much to get excited about. I was really excited for my first internet-connected pocket computer, but that too is something everyone has now and are just a part of every day normal life. They will never be really exciting again either. Something will really excite me again someday, but it won't be something I (and just about everyone else) already have. That level of excitement requires something that will completely change the way of life.
unraveller 2y ago
I wish there was even less flare in smartphone camera bumps actually. Hurry up this race to the bottom and arrive at the standard smartphone already, so we can have hotswap camera modules and hotswap batteries again (way faster than fast charging btw)
mint2 2y ago
Because accustomization and normalizations removes the awe from what at first were amazing achievements. It’s the standard expectation creep effect. What’s novel or exciting today is boring tomorrow. Try showing today’s phones to someone in 1994. ——- As to the article’s example of headphones as an example of a product that has interesting variation - I am not getting the same impression. The headphones all look essentially the same with a slightly different case style - in other words if those headphones are exciting then a phone can be made exciting by buying an artsy case. Problem solved. Actually, personalized phone cases are way better than the manufactures providing a non-customizable case like the headphone cases to. Both are wrapping a tiny bit of visual style around a standard product. But for phones one can choose from an almost unlimited number of variations if one so chooses, for headphones it’s only a couple options per brand.
nikonyrh 2y ago
I bought Unihertz Pocket Titan, at least it was different! Quite thick and heavy, but the battery lasts about 6 days even without any power-saving mode.

blitzar 2y ago

If they are soooooo boring why does everyone stare at them all day long?

drewcoo 2y ago

Because of A/B testing and design by committee.

Tomis02 2y ago

Boring and slow.

brettermeier 2y ago
And way too big. Why doesn't have Samsung a Mini version anymore? If they look I really don't care, but that they are all scaled like tablets (the cheap ones) annoys me.

vsnf 2y ago

I’d kill for a phone with proper music control hardware buttons. I miss my iPod, and being able to control it, precisely, from my pocket.

Rinzler89 2y ago

>Why today’s phones are so boooooring? Because the HW part of the UX has been commoditized to a giant screen where the big difference in style and UX is made by the SW and UI. In fairness LG has tried experimenting with different HW UX over the years to distinguish themselves[1], and they went bust doing it because consumer weren't into that and voted with their wallets to those making boring phones like everyone else. If consumers want large pocket Netflix machines you give them large pocket Netflix machines if you want to stay in business. They can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. [1] https://www.androidheadlines.com/2021/04/top-5-best-unique-lg-smartphones.html https://www.androidheadlines.com/2021/04/top-5-best-unique-l...

benjijay 2y ago
I miss my LGs for exactly this reason. They were just about the only ones doing anything 'new' beyond "hey our camera is 12% better than last year!" My Pixel 7 Pro is great and all, but it doesn't do anything _interesting_
- akasakahakada 2y ago
  Still using LG V50 for 3.5 years baby. Bought 2 more as spare. Planning to collect all dual screen but they are kind of run out of stock. LG's dual screen implementation is amazing. Both screen can operate separately, that's true multi-tasking! Damn I wish I bought more back in the days.
  - Rinzler89 2y ago
    Is it like the Microsoft Surface Duo ? Those seem awesome for multi tasking productivity on the go and people with ADHD. Shame they're way too niche and don't appeal too the masses therefore end up being canceled.
    - akasakahakada 2y ago
      Never used Microsoft Duo. LG is like having two computer with two mouse. You can game in one hand while scrolling facebook on the other hand.
      - Rinzler89 2y ago
        >You can game in one hand while scrolling facebook on the other hand. Like I said, that's an ADHD person's dream.
  - benjijay 2y ago
    My last was a g8x ThinQ, dual screen by virtue of a case like the v50, but both screens were the same size - I believe with the v50 the secondary was slightly smaller? What ultimately forced me to upgrade, however, was the main screen fell off - the glue holding it to the body seemingly failed, and as it fell the ribbon cable tore. I mulled getting another one (or a Wing) on ebay, but the P7Pro seemed a wiser investment

42droids 2y ago

Aren’t they just optimised for screen size/display? Eg. before design sold the phone, now image quality and camera quality.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

simonbarker87 2y ago

The author answers their question in the article surely? Phones are boring because they are all screen as that’s the most important part. Perhaps I missed some other point they are making?

throwanem 2y ago

The article author ignores how little those old phones could actually do, and how much of a pain in the ass it reliably was to get them to actually do most of it. I understand why; none of that would go to his point. But I was also there. Boring is good in technology. It means you don't have to think about it much, and that usually means it is doing its job.

JohnFen 2y ago
> The article author ignores how little those old phones could actually do I wish there was a phone on the market that did as little as those phones did. It appears, however, that if you want a cell phone at all, it has to be a smartphone ("feature phones" are just gimped smartphones).
- throwanem 2y ago
  Yes, the world has moved on. As I understand it, the primary market these days for what a decade back we'd call a "feature phone" is elders perhaps entering cognitive decline, or otherwise better served by a device not capable of the default levels of annoyance. (It makes sense! I've had a smartphone since 2012, and have spent every one of those dozen years getting more skillful at frustrating its software suppliers' desire to pester me. I'm quite good at that now, but God help me with whatever's novel twenty or thirty years hence...) It would not surprise me to see this change over the next decade or so. On the one hand, 5G will probably remain the dominant radio scheme for at least that long, so that there'll be less pressure on device manufacturers for constant hardware changes to provide basic functionality. And on the other, the mounting backlash against the current iteration of the tech industry and specifically the harms it inflicts on children (1) may well develop into a movement toward ensuring connectivity while structurally limiting the sort of access required for algorithmic exploitation - which seems like very naturally opening a niche for the sort of device you prefer. Such a genre of phone may not partake of the sort of design language you might prefer, and it will of course be overpriced as any luxury good, but in functionality I suspect it'll come quite close to satisfaction. (1) Haidt et al.; I disagree with almost his every prescription and don't at all trust the company he keeps, but I can't argue with his identification of the problem.

amadeuspagel 2y ago

The design of a phone has to fit every app, every kind of content. A design that would look cool with one app would look weird with another. The thing about headphones is that you don't see them when you have them on.

booleandilemma 2y ago

I think it's an outward reflection of how the decision makers at these companies think. A look into their psyche. They're probably boring, conservative, unimaginative, dull people, concerned with raising profits and nothing else. Ask them their "vision" and they'll probably tell you a larger screen, or a thinner body. Some kind of optimization of what's there, and not something new and wacky.

elicksaur 2y ago

>what do you get on the back usually? A mat glass with too many cameras and a logo that you gonna cover with a phone case anyway. Meanwhile, there’s a ton of aesthetic design in cases. The essay doesn’t make that point building on the quote above, but that seems to be the simplest answer.

pxtail 2y ago

To be honest I think that it's good direction. Why one should be excited about a phone or a pair of headphones? It's a tool like a hammer, shovel etc. There is one more angle - when it's boring it's more environmentally friendly, there is much less incentive to buy new shiny, blinking toy when it mostly looks and works just like old toy.

unraveller 2y ago
They are boring because these not-quite-future-proof smartphones need to also look like e-waste to the consumer in 18 months time so minimal sentimental attachment is preferred.
akasakahakada 2y ago
Because smartphone should be smarter everyday. We should expect it can do yet another trick in the next generation.

opan 2y ago

>So, here’s a question - when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Probably either the OnePlus One or the PinePhone (if that even counts), though getting a phone with a 120Hz screen (OnePlus 8T) was somewhat cool as well. My PC monitors are still 60Hz so it was kind of novel to me. There was also the Gemini PDA, but that thing was a huge mess and has made me skeptical of any other UMPC ventures or ARM devices with chips I'm not familiar with. At this point you could probably get people excited just bringing back removable batteries, SD card slots, and headphone jacks.

rjh29 2y ago

>So, here’s a question - when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Last year when I bought a Galaxy Fold4. I would say that is the opposite of boring, it's freaking cool!

snitty 2y ago

>Why today’s phones are so boooooring? The author explains that the backs of phones are the primary distinguishing factor with inconsequential differences in screen resolution and refresh rates. And then...favorably points out how the backs of headphones are the primary distinguishing factor with inconsequential differences in driver response. Am I missing something?

sksksk 2y ago

These feature phones didn't have (many) third party apps. Smartphones are all rectangular touch screens, so creating an app that works on different devices doesn't require huge amounts of work (technical and design). If manufacturers come out with phones that stray too far from the rectangular touchscreen paradigm, the majority of app developers aren't going to customise their app for the phone, unless it's really succesful. I used to make apps for Smart TVs, when Samsung release their "Sero" rotating TV, supporting portrait orientation AND the orientation changing whilst in the app was too much work, so we just ran it in a letterbox mode.

timothyduong 2y ago

Because many things that are not boring are gimmicks. I think of the Porsche 911 as a good example, beautiful but boring in its design iteration. It’s considered the top of its class in so many fields. That’s how I feel about many things such as the aforementioned hd600. Classic design and outstanding performance.

ozim 2y ago

Because no one cares? I have more interesting things to do on the internet or with apps than playing with physical gimmicks.

jitl 2y ago

I love how the Nothing Phone and earbuds look. The design is exciting, it’s opinionated and has techwear style. If it was an iPhone in the ways that matter to me, I would buy one in a heartbeat. Take a scroll on their website. https://us.nothing.tech/ https://us.nothing.tech/ https://us.nothing.tech/pages/phone-2?variant=42721597718680 https://us.nothing.tech/pages/phone-2?variant=42721597718680 Asus ROG Phone has an optional active cooling fan you can attach to the back of the phone, and side mounted USB port for maximum gaming. These don’t appeal to me like the Nothing, but it’s different and fun. https://rog.asus.com/us/phones/rog-phone-model/ https://rog.asus.com/us/phones/rog-phone-model/

akasakahakada 2y ago
> active cooling fan Nubia or RedMagic has a active fan inside the phone.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

JohnClark1337 2y ago

[dead]

seba_dos1 2y ago

> So, here’s a question - when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Every time I got one for use as a main phone. Granted, in the last 15 years I first got Openmoko Neo Freerunner, then Nokia N900, then Librem 5 that I write this on; and before that I was a teenager in the era when getting a phone that had a camera was already cool... but they were all very exciting. I remember the announcement of the first iPhone (somewhat exciting... but a complete disappointment as soon as it released) and Android (very exciting at first, but then slowly getting to iPhone level of disappointment). Before the Librem 5 arrived I had to augment my N900 with an Android phone for about two years. That was annoying, but thankfully I could get excited again soon enough. I miss the keyboard though, capacitive screens still aren't great for writing.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

randomdata 2y ago

> when were you last excited for a new phone? Well, I mean really excited? Everyone already had phones by the time I came into this world, so I'm not sure there was ever a time to be really excited. They were just an every day part of normal life, not providing much to get excited about. I was really excited for my first internet-connected pocket computer, but that too is something everyone has now and are just a part of every day normal life. They will never be really exciting again either. Something will really excite me again someday, but it won't be something I (and just about everyone else) already have. That level of excitement requires something that will completely change the way of life.

unraveller 2y ago

I wish there was even less flare in smartphone camera bumps actually. Hurry up this race to the bottom and arrive at the standard smartphone already, so we can have hotswap camera modules and hotswap batteries again (way faster than fast charging btw)

mint2 2y ago

Because accustomization and normalizations removes the awe from what at first were amazing achievements. It’s the standard expectation creep effect. What’s novel or exciting today is boring tomorrow. Try showing today’s phones to someone in 1994. ——- As to the article’s example of headphones as an example of a product that has interesting variation - I am not getting the same impression. The headphones all look essentially the same with a slightly different case style - in other words if those headphones are exciting then a phone can be made exciting by buying an artsy case. Problem solved. Actually, personalized phone cases are way better than the manufactures providing a non-customizable case like the headphone cases to. Both are wrapping a tiny bit of visual style around a standard product. But for phones one can choose from an almost unlimited number of variations if one so chooses, for headphones it’s only a couple options per brand.

nikonyrh 2y ago

I bought Unihertz Pocket Titan, at least it was different! Quite thick and heavy, but the battery lasts about 6 days even without any power-saving mode.