And so the MWC rolls around and we get lots of shiny new things. Hurrah. Except every step forward seems purely designed to obtain positive reviews from the journalists (sorry guys), many of whom seize on the same point (like MoTD pundits) and cling on dear life.
The S5 isn’t as nice to hold as a HTC. True, but it’s not the most important feature of a phone. Here’s a thread for you all to post the bugbears you have with Smartphones (of all colours and creeds) and maybe someone developing the S7 or M10 or iPhone 7 or many of the tier two manufacturers (Oppo, OnePLusOne etc.) will consider.
I currently have a Samsung S5 and these are the things I want in a phone (other than the ability to make calls):-
· decent camera that performs in average (not even poor) light and can handle moving images without blurring. With kids, under bright halogen spotlights, I need to take 10 shots and hope that in one they’re both perfectly still. The addition of a flash does little other than to make skin tones look slightly green;
· shatter proof, or designed with a view to minimising impact. Everyone tries to make beautiful phones, but the slick design makes them more likely to shatter meaning you cover up the lovely design with a bulky, ugly case. Sony use rubberised corners on their handsets – genius!
· everyone adds a screen protector (many with bubbles) as soon as the get their new phone. Why not add one in the factory instead of the usual thin plastic wrap? A cheap and easy innovation that shows you actually care about the user.
· My Samsung S5 is waterproof, but I’d never test that feature out… Why does it remind me with an annoying warning every time I restart or remove the charging cover/back cover that I need to make sure it’s closed to maintain waterproof integrity. Why can’t I de-select this option?
· Power saving – a replaceable battery is a life saver, and means I can refresh my phone’s performance after 12 months.
· Also – why can’t it be set up with some decent optionality around power saving mode (i.e. at 45% battery, dim the screen, at 30% dim it more, at 20% turn off blutooth and GPS; at 15% turn off Wi-Fi/mobile data and switch to greyscale?)
· Micro SD cards just make sense. Every time. Nothing says “we don’t care about our customers” quite like dropping a great feature that people all really want.
· Glass backs scratch and shatter. See above – cue the thick cases….
· Let me dismiss the voicemail icon easily – I get a voicemail I call the EE voicemail number, I delete the message and the icon remains. I need to call the international voicemail number and wait to the end of the call and then hang-up, wait 2 minutes and then the icon disappears. It shouldn’t have to be that difficult.
· Google and Samsung Apps. Why are they so hard to disable? If my phone stops working correctly, I can re-enable. (PS why tell me how to manage the “default app for X” functionality every time I set a default function).
· Google+ running results in my phone’s contacts failing to work (with a pop-up message to that effect 10 times a day). Disable (but not uninstall, because it’s Google app) and the warning stops.
The S5 isn’t as nice to hold as a HTC. True, but it’s not the most important feature of a phone. Here’s a thread for you all to post the bugbears you have with Smartphones (of all colours and creeds) and maybe someone developing the S7 or M10 or iPhone 7 or many of the tier two manufacturers (Oppo, OnePLusOne etc.) will consider.
I currently have a Samsung S5 and these are the things I want in a phone (other than the ability to make calls):-
· decent camera that performs in average (not even poor) light and can handle moving images without blurring. With kids, under bright halogen spotlights, I need to take 10 shots and hope that in one they’re both perfectly still. The addition of a flash does little other than to make skin tones look slightly green;
· shatter proof, or designed with a view to minimising impact. Everyone tries to make beautiful phones, but the slick design makes them more likely to shatter meaning you cover up the lovely design with a bulky, ugly case. Sony use rubberised corners on their handsets – genius!
· everyone adds a screen protector (many with bubbles) as soon as the get their new phone. Why not add one in the factory instead of the usual thin plastic wrap? A cheap and easy innovation that shows you actually care about the user.
· My Samsung S5 is waterproof, but I’d never test that feature out… Why does it remind me with an annoying warning every time I restart or remove the charging cover/back cover that I need to make sure it’s closed to maintain waterproof integrity. Why can’t I de-select this option?
· Power saving – a replaceable battery is a life saver, and means I can refresh my phone’s performance after 12 months.
· Also – why can’t it be set up with some decent optionality around power saving mode (i.e. at 45% battery, dim the screen, at 30% dim it more, at 20% turn off blutooth and GPS; at 15% turn off Wi-Fi/mobile data and switch to greyscale?)
· Micro SD cards just make sense. Every time. Nothing says “we don’t care about our customers” quite like dropping a great feature that people all really want.
· Glass backs scratch and shatter. See above – cue the thick cases….
· Let me dismiss the voicemail icon easily – I get a voicemail I call the EE voicemail number, I delete the message and the icon remains. I need to call the international voicemail number and wait to the end of the call and then hang-up, wait 2 minutes and then the icon disappears. It shouldn’t have to be that difficult.
· Google and Samsung Apps. Why are they so hard to disable? If my phone stops working correctly, I can re-enable. (PS why tell me how to manage the “default app for X” functionality every time I set a default function).
· Google+ running results in my phone’s contacts failing to work (with a pop-up message to that effect 10 times a day). Disable (but not uninstall, because it’s Google app) and the warning stops.
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