Debate: Are smartphones today boring? Why?

Every single one of them does exactly the same! Why not the manufacturers combine their knowledge and make one Uber smartphone?

There is only so much you can do with a rectangle slab.

They are pocket computers, the fun is in the apps and how you use them.

.

I guess you're right, but brands can play with materials, e.g., carbon fiber, kevlar, even wood. And you can also carve the back differently, add patterns and different colors, or make it transparent. There are ways to make phones fun and cool.

Everyone will buy this Uber smartphone and it will be the end for hundreds of thousands of people in the industry, from designers and PRs to factory workers all the way up to high management stuff (I won't feel sorry about the latter). :)) But yeah, the same reason applies to the question, "Why don't we have cars that last 100 years?" We could have unbreakable stuff but the economy will fail miserably :))

Those who complain about boring phones today can take solace in knowing they are the ones responsible. The whole “eww, bezels” movement has brought us here and now y’all are b!tching about it. Hate under-display fingerprint scanners as much as I do? Go kick rocks, we could’ve had the pill like Samsungs used to have up until the S7. Enjoy front-facing speakers like the HTC One M7 and M8? You know what you can go do with yourself. I can go on but I think you get the gist of what I’m saying.

Couldn't agree more! I've never been a supporter of the whole no-bezel movement. That and curved screens are the worst features to come to smartphones since the glass back. Sony still makes front-facing stereo systems AND symmetrical bezels, which I love. But Xperia phones are unpredictable and very very expensive...

Got to admit I normally don't agree with PA articles, but I've got to say you're on to something here.

While it's true there's only a limited amount of things people can do with a rectangular phone gadget, it only takes looking back 20-30 years to know how innovation have moved in a slug-like pace. I don't know if capitalism or the lack of competition that's causing this, but as with everything else (like Hollywood for example), leading companies are much too complacent to try anything ground-breaking with pre-existing IPs and tech. Remember when the USA and Japan provided us gadgets that wowed us year after year? General consumers are so obsessed with brand loyalty these days it's like nobody cares how boring tech have become.

We used to have phones made of steel, ditched that to make phones lighter(not really , it was just costly),now we have phones of 6.7inches with 5000 - 7000mah batteries , completely destroying the reason to steer away from steel. Now we got rid of 3.5mm jack , denying me my much costly headphones to be used. I'd rather not buy such a phone. Why?(Manufacturers-why not, we can sell wireless variants to make money).

Then price of a mid tier phones of today was equal to the flagship phones 5 years back.

Besides, why make phones of carbon fiber , Kevlar ,steel when you're gonna chuck it after 2 years or so.

There's also the biggest reason of all-stagnation of mobile industry innovation. Whatever's currently been done sounds like a gimmick.

The fairphone addresses some of these issues by upgradable hardware.

Fairphone would have been a substantial success if their ability to swap hardware was able to keep up with latest top tier processors and camera and what not.

I wish main stream manufacturers would design phones more toward practicality by making certain series of phones with 7000mah batteries.

a Fairphone with 7000mah battery made out of steel with 3.5mm jack , latest snapdragon processor would be a dream come true.

Alas! That does not seem to be happening.