When we start scourging the Web for a mobile phone, browsing through various websites like GSMArena, Univercell, FoneArena, YouTube, etc.., we keep an important factor in mind – the form factor of a phone. At some point in my life, I’m sure that people’s opinions seemed to favour mobiles that were small in height, width and weight. Nokia sensed this and made some of the tiniest mobiles around. And they were the market leaders for quite some time. I mentioned “were”, because Nokia isn’t the leader any more, thanks to competition from Apple, HTC, Sony, Blackberry and, most importantly, Samsung (fan-boys, cheer!). I’m not sure when this trend changed, but I can guess that mobile operating systems changed it all. With the introduction of touch screen phones, people preferred the User Interface and applications provided by the manufacturers.
When the Java operating system was introduced, integration with social networking sites and chat became possible. With power comes responsibility. The operating system for mobiles had to handle a large quantity of data and processing speed needed to be faster. Also, the User Interface had to be intuitive so as to enable the users work seamlessly with their phones. With mail exchange servers such as Microsoft Exchange, RIM’s server, etc.., working with email on mobile phones became easier. And then, Apple introduced the iPhone, a paradigm shift in the world of mobile phones. Now, a touch screen mobile included an operating system, a truckload of applications and, to the surprise of users, was bigger in size. Notice the turn around? Touch screen mobiles are best experienced when they are big enough. The UI becomes more intuitive, watching videos, taking photos, reading books, etc.. is realistic and gives you an awesome experience. Naturally, it attracted a lot of users and made a lot of fans. Now, many manufacturers took this cue, but it was Samsung and Google, with their powerful combination of hardware and software, turned it on big time, that led me to this discussion. With their wide range of touch screen phones, the Galaxy series, and the highly customizable Android operating system, Samsung made an impression in people’s minds that bigger is better. Google didn’t make a big impression in Desktop operating systems, but in mobile operating systems, I don’t find a person who doesn’t know Android.
Damn. I’m an Apple fan myself, but I’m under the impression that Apple has to release more phones, or at least, quicker – after working for a year on iPhone 4, we have the iPhone 4S, with only specific upgrades like the camera, iPad’s processor and a voice assistant, which we don’t REALLY need. Okay, I don’t want to divert from the topic, but the point is, by this time, users had already forgotten that at some point in their lives, they believed that the smaller the mobile, the better. Now, I see people with exceptionally large mobiles (not anything smaller than 3.5″ touch screen – and hey, anyone remember the stylus?). The stylus is making a comeback with the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Getting back to the topic (I think I have ADD – I get distracted real easy), mobile cameras also contributed their part in bringing about this change of opinion. When a phone is large, you get enough detail to view the picture and click it as you intended. Video cameras speak more. Fitting 720/1080p into a thin and small mobile phone would be an anachronism. Imagine a Motorola W270 (just for discussion sake, as it doesn’t even have a camera) clicking 5 MP pictures and 720p video. That would be friggin’ hilarious.
The processor is going to make a big difference as well. You don’t believe me? Ask the Apple fan boys! After waiting for a year expecting nothing short of a quad-core processor, all we got is a dual-core processor! But wait, isn’t a dual-core processor good enough? Heck, many work stations and laptops have a dual core processor, and that isn’t going to be a big deal. But as the quote says “Yesterday’s luxury is today’s necessity”, we want nothing short of all of this. Even though the iPhone 4S is great (please take some time to look at its specifications as a normal phone, leaving aside the manufacturer – it”s great, I assure you), it would still get a low rating owing to the delay in its release. And how does it contribute to the size of a phone? Obvious, big processor, big size. And you need more memory as well? Be my guest.
Finally, I’d say that sometime later, all of this is not going to be enough and people are going to need more than just jolly applications, UI and 1.4 GHz processor (all the characteristics of a touch screen mobile these days). They’d need more in the business end as well. More businesses are focusing towards cloud computing and applications are being developed for this too. To satisfy all of this, tablet PCs might just be the key – they have a bigger touch-screen, a better support for hardware and better impression throughout.
-Suresh Gururajan
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