We get awfully bogged down in the smartphone press by the way smartphones are designed, the specifications they pack and the way they look. Millions of words are spent discussing why the next smartphone is great and usually the reasons for greatness are levied at the specifications on board.
One thing we rarely talk about is what a smartphone means to the user and why it can become a pocket-sized gateway to the world around you. The web, social networks, instant messaging, GPS navigation, video calling, voice calling, texting, email and so the list goes on. If there is a way to contact another person, a smartphone can likely help you to get in touch. A quick game waiting for the bus or a quick read of a book- whatever you want or need to do it will be there with you to help you accomplish a task.
In a matter of days it becomes an inseparable tool that is held close like your favourite cuddly toy when you were a child and the more you use it, the more you forget that it is so damn clever. You begin to rely on it and the fascination starts concerning how they managed to cram so much in to a small space and then an updated model is released.
Suddenly you start looking at specifications and wondering if this new smartphone will be even better than the one you already own and so the cycle starts all over again, but this time you are now aware of what goes on beneath the surface. Because of this you will forever want something better and before you know it a ‘lot’ of money has been spent on finding the perfect smartphone. It will never happen.
I think that’s why ordinary folks (and by that I mean non – ‘powerusers’) just get a phone and enjoy it. The only thing I’ve ever heard any of them compare is the megapixels on the phone camera (which is pretty irrelevant when the aperture is like a tiny pin hole). In some cases it’s why they could be using a Symbian phone or an Android phone or a Windows Mobile phone and not realise it. The carriers re-brand those devices and if the user has been sold the phone based on how many minutes they can get with it, or because it has a decent camera, or because it includes GPS, they’re likely to remain blissfully unaware of a lot of the features.
When the Nokia N95 was available a lot of carriers offered very favourable minutes and text packages and quite a few of my friends got them. When I asked if they’d used the GPS, they replied that they didn’t know it had one!
HTC make several great phones with a range of different operating systems. They give them names, and then the carriers take them, rebrand them and give them different names, which again causes confusion so that users don’t really know which phone they have.
The one main exception to this is the iPhone. Regardless of which carrier you get it from, it’s always “The iPhone”, and when customers ask for it, it’s not because of the processor speed or the camera capabilities it’s because it has a lovely touch screen, thousands of apps, and can play their music and video.
Hit submit by accident.
There are lots of other phones that can do what the iPhone does (Android/WM/BlackBerry etc), but to consumers their capabilities can sometimes get lost because their branding and specifications aren’t as clear. Those same consumers will still buy those phones, but the way the phones are marketed and sold means that the specifications are highlighted.
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