Over the last few years it has become rather fashionable to say that all the new smartphones are, essentially, the same now. To give everyone saying that some grace: for quite some time, it did seem like the case. That being said, it is also true that, even though today we are starting to get some more interesting ideas circulating around (such as a tri-folding Samsung phone or various minimalist phones that are based on e-ink displays), overall the market has landed upon the “correct” smartphone design and has been running with it for quite some time.
That being said, things were certainly quite different some time ago, when all the details of phone design didn’t yet seem to be set in stone. Whether working out kinks with the shape of the smartphone, or thinking of some new ideas to improve its usability, over the years there have been numerous smartphones that did something much more interesting than just design a flat, rectangular phone.
Even though many of these design choices have proven to be one-off attempts, it’s still worth revisiting the ideas that, in a sense, got us to the place we’re now. Also, after some time, maybe it’s time to revisit some of these attempts with a fresh set of eyes and better technology? I certainly wouldn’t mind rocking some of these.
Tired of turning your phone sideways?
That’s where LG Wing comes in
When the all-screen smartphone firmly entrenched itself as the go-to design, manufacturers started wondering what the next step in phone design could be. After some years, we know that what was settled on was folding designs. However, LG’s idea was a little bit different.
Instead of a phone that you could unfold in order to make its screen bigger, LG decided that elastic screens were too fragile. Instead, the company settled for the next best thing: a vertical phone with a second screen that you could turn to make it sideways.
The idea was rather clever. You could keep holding your phone vertically, with easy and convenient access to, for example, a keyboard, while still using the horizontal space of the other screen to watch some content. Unfortunately, the software implementation left a lot to be desired, but the idea itself was one of the bigger inspirations for later folding phones.
Let’s get projecting
Samsung was beaming with inspiration
It’s difficult to forget the iconic way Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world. It was:
A phone, an iPod, and an internet communicator
Ever since this reveal, various devices attempted to merge even more types of devices into the form factor of a smartphone, but Samsung certainly went the farthest with its Samsung Galaxy Beam.
The idea was simple in its craziness. The company decided to take its flagship Samsung Galaxy phone and strap a projector to the back of it. What came out of this strange marriage was a uniquely compact projector with its own, quick operating system that let you watch all your YouTube videos, movies, or show pictures around anywhere you went thanks to the built-in projector.
Unfortunately, that was only the theory. In practice, because of the technological limitations, the projection capabilities were rather bad, the image was dim and lacked contrast, and the impact on battery life was humongous. All that being said, with how much farther we’ve moved with both smartphone and projector technology, maybe it’s high time to revisit this idea with a modern twist?
You think your camera is ahead of its time?
Nokia Lumia 1020 came for the digital camera market
Just after the idea of putting a camera in a phone came the idea that this phone could function as your only photo-taking device. While other manufacturers only half-leaned into that, Nokia really took that to heart when making the Lumia 1020.
The fact that the whole Lumia lineup fell apart was, ultimately, one of the biggest tragedies in smartphone history. Not only was the operating system absolutely incredible, clean and fast, the phones themselves always had something interesting to offer. Plus, the designs were just so gorgeous, with bold colors and great-quality plastic unibodies. The Lumia 1020 as the flagship offering, took that to a completely different level.
The phone was equipped with a then-unheard-of 41 MP image sensor with optical image stabilization and Carl-Zeiss optics, which was monstrous in comparison to its 5-8MP competition. Moreover, the image sensor was huge for the time, measuring 1/1.5″, which is comparable to today’s flagship standards. Unfortunately, the phone didn’t take off as much as Nokia wanted, and the company ultimately had to sell their business to Microsoft shortly after.
Small phone with a big problem
Why would your Palm need a bigger brother?
Ever since smartphones have really started to take off, the idea of a minimalist phone has been floating around. With all the distractions that smartphones offer, it’s rather understandable why you might want a device that firmly cuts you off from all that noise, and lets you focus on other things while still keeping you connected when it’s really necessary.
The Palm Phone was supposed to be an answer to that need. It was a miniscule device, around the size of a credit card, with a 3.3″ screen to boot. It was supposed to be a replacement for your “big phone”, not something you swap to forever, but rather a device you take for a walk, when jogging, or when you need to focus on your work without distractions.
The concept is great, but what came out left a lot to be desired. The biggest gripe was rather straightforward: the Palm Phone required constant communication with your “big phone”. This meant you couldn’t really leave it behind and go full-Palm. Combine that with a rather steep price and limited capabilities, and the Palm Phone turned out to be a bit of a letdown. However, with the popularity of minimalist phones nowadays, this might be an idea worth revisiting.
