Open Letter to Smart Phone Manufacturers

Dear Smartphone Industry,

I don’t need a bigger screen, OK? I need a screen that will fit comfortably in my pocket. My front hip pocket to be exact. The dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy S5are about as big as I can go. Really, the S2 was more comfortable.

I don’t need a thinner phone. I need a phone that feels comfortable in the hand.

I don’t need a thinner phone. I need a phone with ample battery, such that I don’t need to charge for several *days*, despite heavy use of the device. If you made the phone phone that was inch thick, and all that extra space was battery, and I could go a week without charging, that would be AMAZING.

While we’re at it, I would also really like intelligent battery management. I would like apps that need to use the network to not talk to the network directly, but talk to a network handler, which will determine if/when to allow the data to be transmitted. I can then configure the network manager to either not allow any transmission (like airplane mode; saving maximum battery), or allow all transmissions at any time (fastest response but lousy battery), or burst mode (leaving the transmitters off most of the time, but waking up and reconnecting every N minutes, sending/receiving data that has accumulated in that time, or when I request it).

Lastly, tell network providers to quit bundling apps with their phones. I don’t want or need so many of them, and there’s no way to uninstall the ones that are baked into the firmware. I can figure out what I need and install it. If I’m upgrading or migrating from an old phone, it should carry all that stuff over, with all my settings and data anyway. There’s no need to bundle anything. Just provide me with a bare phone.

And tell network providers that they must roll out security updates in a timely fashion (days, not months) so that users aren’t left vulnerable. Frequent, more granular updates rather than one or two monolithic updates before support for my handset model is dropped entirely, would be great.

Thanks,

3 Comments

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  1. You really need to look at a Nexus phone unless you want an iPhone. Check out the Nexus 5X if size is important. Nougats data saver is close to what you’re looking for in network management.

    Nexus phones get updates monthly for security, and updates to the new Android OS in a timely fashion.

    Good deals on the 5X right now, no carrier attachment either.

    I don’t know if the iPhone does any of the other things you are looking for.

    Lastly, phones that have the usable batteries you, and honestly what I want, are apparently unable to be designed because they are akin to designing a unicorn.

      

    1. Agreed, Nexus phones are much better about timely updates; the rest of the industry is sadly lacking and needs to do something about it.

      As for battery, the 7500mah Anker battery I have for my S5 is great, but it's aftermarket, and because it's so bulky, I can't use the fingerprint reader because it is so deeply recessed in the extended case, and the extended case is not IP67 rated (waterproof) like the OEM case is. Also, it's out of production now, so as it ages I get less and less use out of it, but I can’t replace it. When it was brand new, I could run all day with the phone, using it constantly, unplug from charger around 7am and plug in at 11pm, and be around 80% at the end of the day, without resorting to all kinds of power saving hacks, which made long weekends away from charging possible, which is a godsend.

      It's entirely possible to build a thicker phone and put a 7,000-10,000mah battery in it. Manufacturers just aren't doing it, most likely because it saves cost while creating a market for extended batteries so more sales.

        

      1. This thin phone small battery crap is probably collusion between them all. I said something about this on Facebook. Eliminate the camera hump and fill with battery. I don’t need my phone so thin I can replace my pairing knife. I need it to work.

          

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