Technologies that have not taken root in smartphones

When we remember old smartphones, we inevitably compare them with the current ones. And face the obvious

the fact that, despite the evolutionary pathdevelopment, modern models are not at all like what they used to be. The only exception is the iPhone, which was immediately created as we know it now. Yes, initially it had more disadvantages than advantages, but it was with the release of the very first model in 2007 that Apple managed to predict what the entire market had come to over the next 15 years. This is not to say that the modern iPhone is the pinnacle of technological development, but the evolution of smartphones of all other brands has shown that Steve Jobs was right. And dissenters gradually weeded out on the way or remained in very narrow niches where specific technologies are still in demand due to the peculiarities of the work of some user groups.

Mainstream models remain similar to each otherfriend and similar to the iPhone. Not because they copy it (rather, it's Apple "stealing" other people's ideas without restraint), but because the majority of users are characterized by very similar algorithms for using the phone. But just as ordinary phones lost the rotary dialer, so smartphones gradually got rid of technologies that were, for one reason or another, unclaimed or inconvenient for most users. Let's remember what smartphones have already lost and what they will inevitably lose as soon as technologies reach a level acceptable for implementation in models of all price categories.

Open operating system
Hardware buttons
Trackball and touchpad
Stylus
infrared transmitter
TV tuner and radio
3D camera and 3D screen
Physical Connectors

Open operating system

The first thing to say is that the ideaThe open OS in the smartphone is actually dead for a long time. Since the smartphone ceased to be a communicator created to solve narrow problems by people with at least a basic level of programming skills, the movement has gone in one direction - to simplify the operating system so that the user never needs to interfere with its code. Yes, Android still, in theory, allows you to access the source code, but with many conditions and restrictions. Manufacturers of specific models impose even more restrictions, up to a direct and explicit ban on obtaining root rights. And it didn't just happen. The user was given maximum options for customizing his phone without interfering with the OS. The hardware inside is working to the limit of its capabilities, so intervention in the vast majority of cases will not add anything. Outcome? Ten years ago, in the reviews, we always wrote about whether it is possible to get root rights, now this question is of no interest to anyone.

Hardware buttons

When did the first ones enter the market?communicators, the level of development of touch panels was such that they simply could not do without hardware buttons. For Symbian models, the absence of a touch screen as such was generally the norm, and BlackBerry made an image for itself on models with a hardware QWERTY keyboard, which had no equal. But all the while, technology has progressed, touch screens have gotten better, and hardware keyboards have lost their meaning. For some time, manufacturers still exhibited models with high-quality keyboards, emphasizing that typing on such a device would be more convenient and faster. However, then Swype appeared, and the “faster” argument ceased to be relevant. There was a hypothetical “more convenient”, which added extra weight and body thickness to the device, which made its everyday use not very comfortable. For a while, there were buttons for receiving and releasing, and a number of touch-sensitive control keys in Android. But they didn't make any sense. Apple clung to its round button the longest, because it was part of the image. But the image could not resist a simple fact - on the front panel you only need a universal control, which is the screen in a smartphone. It has become completely unreasonable to sacrifice the usable screen area for the sake of an archaic button. As a result, to date, only the power button and volume rocker have been preserved. But their fate is almost sealed. For several years now, prototypes of smartphones have been demonstrated without physical buttons at all. All that stops designers from practical implementation is technological limitations. Once they are overcome, these buttons will also become a thing of the past.

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Trackball and touchpad

Now 99.99% of all management operationssmart phone can be done from the touch screen. Because it is the fastest and most convenient way to navigate the menu. That's just not always the quality of the touch panel, which could be built into the screen, provided fast and accurate navigation through the graphical menu. As a result, manufacturers were looking for additional ways to control navigation, which would be more convenient than a five-way key, would not be lost like a stylus, and would solve the problem of how to get to any point on the screen without error. An obvious crutch associated with the imperfection of technology. Therefore, it is not surprising that modern smartphones do without it. The touchpad was the first to disappear from the design of the smartphone. It just took up too much space, and its advantage over the touch screen was not so great, the accuracy was not always significantly higher. Trackballs had a bit more potential due to the rejection of physical control in favor of optical. HTC has invested a lot of effort and money to make this technology almost perfect. But the victory remained with the direction of improving the graphical interface, which would optimally match the capabilities of the screen.

Stylus

And on this point, the owners of Samsung deviceslook on indignantly. How so? After all, the stylus has already made a victorious transition to the flagship model of the company, its capabilities are far ahead of any alternatives, and you will never be able to control your finger with the same accuracy, unless you proportionally enlarge the screen itself. However, if you look at the situation with an open mind, it turns out that not even all Galaxy Note buyers chose the device for the presence of a stylus in it. Other manufacturers tried to break into this niche, but quickly realized that without all the flagship-level hardware, a stylus in a smartphone would not be an advantage. No one could compete with Samsung's flagships, so the Korean company celebrates an unconditional victory by knockout in its corner of the ring. But this angle is very small due to specifics. In fact, the stylus in a smartphone is of interest only to those who, one way or another, are connected with design work on the go or have a need to constantly make handwritten notes and notes. Moreover, the second option is a gradually disappearing species of people who are more accustomed to the pen than to the keyboard. So the stylus in the smartphone will not disappear at all, but the demand for it will not be greater than for ultra-secure smartphones or smartphones with a built-in crypto wallet.

infrared transmitter

The idea itself is to manage your home from your phone.devices appeared before smartphones and has not disappeared anywhere now. But the very first wireless type of control of household appliances using an infrared transmitter from smartphones is gone. From time to time, in some models, it still pops up, but it has disappeared from the bulk of smartphones and will not return. Simply for the reason that there is no equipment that in the future would need to be managed in this way. Household appliances are becoming smarter and easier to control via the internet and apps rather than by setting up an infrared sensor. The corresponding technology is still actively used, but mainly due to the huge inertia of the home appliance market. The mobile market is developing faster, so you are less likely to find a phone with an IR transmitter, and the equipment that could be controlled in this way will gradually disappear. The fact is that for all the versatility of IR control technology, it has an inherent minus - it can only operate within the line of sight of the receiver and transmitter, turn on something, not only from the next room, but even being at a large angle, you cannot you can. Accordingly, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth look much more promising. It was they who replaced the IR transmitter from the phone.

TV tuner and radio

At one time, Chinese fakes for the iPhonediffered in functionality that Apple smartphones never had. They had an antenna and their own TV tuner to receive analogue TV channels. The owners of the original American (no) products could not afford this. Although, say, for the Japanese market there was a version of the Samsung Galaxy SIII, which was also equipped with a TV tuner. There were often other models that could receive both analog and digital television, which even formed a stable audience for such devices in the Russian market in the form of taxi drivers and minibus drivers. However, all this refers to the times when even stable HSPA + was not everywhere and not always, but where it was, mobile Internet cost so much that regular viewing of serials for a month would cost an amount comparable to the price of the smartphone itself. As soon as the development of YouTube and the mobile Internet crossed a certain line, the TV receiver in the smartphone ceased to be relevant. The longest such devices remained in the markets of Africa and Asia, but even there they were overtaken by the penetration of high-speed Internet at affordable prices. And given the development of streaming services, it is not surprising that receiving radio broadcasts on modern smartphones is no longer possible. The technology is still in demand in the market for conventional phones, but smartphones, having lost wired headphones, have also lost an antenna for receiving radio broadcasts.

3D camera and 3D screen

At the turn of the 2000s and 2010s, the whole worldgot carried away with the introduction of 3D images. Do not escape this fashion and smartphones. HTC, Samsung and LG even released several models that could not only take pictures in stereo mode, but also immediately display 3D content on the screen. Unfortunately for this technology, two things were missing: energy efficient screens and content to watch on them. The first was surmountable, but only in the long term. The second one was much worse. High-quality 3D content required additional costs during creation, which raised the question of the economic feasibility of such production. Accordingly, in order for the content to become more, it was necessary that the devices capable of reproducing it multiplied. But the devices were obtained with existing technologies more expensive and worse than analogues, and they could not reveal their advantages. As a result, 3D without special glasses never became a mass phenomenon. And in the case of smartphones, it will obviously not be anymore - virtual and augmented reality technologies are direct competitors with much greater capabilities now, not to mention the future.

Physical Connectors

I would venture to suggest that the physical connectors inSmartphones also don't last very long. Previously, they were needed in order to connect other devices, charge the battery or expand the built-in memory. But today all these functions are implemented without the physical connection of anything to the device. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC have almost completely replaced any wired connections.

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