Original? Clever? Ha.

ListenUpGuys

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OK, so a dramatic title gets some clicks, but the point I wanted to make is that I do not find any of the new WP8 devices especially appealing. They are for the most part nicely designed, and it's a good line up, but none of them offer much more than they have to. "Features" seem to be things like a better camera, more storage, or dedicated internal chips. How exciting.

If one of the manufacturer's wants my money then they're going to have to address the problems with my current phone (Omnia 7) and give me a reason to upgrade.

For starters, I'd like an LED that blinks when I have a message. Better yet, since WP8 is suddenly all about colour, give me an RGB LED like on the Xperia X1.

Give me USB host. My old phone had USB host which let me plug my old phone into the car to diagnose engine problems. That was useful. It would also be useful to copy things from flash drives.

I do not like capacitive buttons, and I'm not alone. Will someone put regular buttons on a phone again?

How about a second camera button that just takes a photo? No loading of camera app, or other UI. Take a photo, now, quick! Just use infinity focus, I need this picture.

Put a switch on the side for Wi-Fi. Are switches so unfashionable that we really need to pin a tile or go through a menu just to flick Wi-Fi on and off? I'm nearly always in the middle of something when I want to turn Wi-Fi on, so a quick way to do this would be welcome.

Do not integrate the battery. What if my phone crashes? How am I going to get it back on quickly if I can't cut the power? And what if I want a spare battery or a larger battery? I really couldn't care less if there's a line on the back where the battery cover comes off. And if that makes the phone ?50 cheaper, so much the better.

And on a slightly less conventional note, if someone made a WP8 phone with a 12 key T9 keypad, they'd have my attention. There was a time when I could text without looking and with just one hand, but now I have to push these tiny on screen keys and the predictive algorithms are actually worse.

Finally if Microsoft can't get over their hang-up about call recording, and refuse to integrate call blocking, then I'd be interested in phone that implemented its own solution. Whatever happened to Samsung's call blocking app?

Oh and Miracast please.

What I don't need is NFC. I'm not really interested in LTE either. I'd rather have better coverage at OK speeds - and a WiFi switch.

Am I on my own here? Does anyone else want some features that just aren't available? Smartphones are going the way of fridges - no innovation at all.
 

Chazz

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Good luck in your search for another platform.

^This.

You're pretty much asking for OS features, that could even be already added in WP8 for all we know.

The actual hardware features you mention are very nice and I'd like them too, but that in no way makes the other improvements they've added useless.

+1 to miracast, hardware buttons and wifi on-off switch.
 

Winterfang

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TheHomer.jpg
 

odin09

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I am happy with the new offerings. They are a substantial step up from our current devices. The only way that you will see more devices with more variety such as physical keyboards is if people support wp8! Until the platform can support more devices choices will be limited.

Sent from my mwp6985 using Board Express
 

Scout_313

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I see hardware buttons as a weak point seeing as how they are extra mechanical parts that can/will fail at some point. As for a wi-fi switch, I just leave it on all the time as it hasn't had any effect on my battery that I've been able to notice. As for the second camera button, if they were to implement that feature, the camera would have to be running in the background at all times which may or may not affect performance for those that run a lot of apps at a time.

I agree on the LED part and I will admit that I can type extremely fast on a physical T9 keypad. I think one of my coworkers had a T9 keyboard on his EVO 3D and he seems to like it. As to the other complaints, I don't really care either way. In the end, I hope you find a device that suits your needs.
 

SnailUK

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What i don't get, is why everyone thinks someone should be building the exact phone they want.

There isn't a perfect phone. Everyone has different requirements. Nokia, samsung, HTC,etc have to make a phone for a target audience. Hit as many checks on the average users list as possible.

I look down your list, and see nice features, i don't see a killer feature there, or anything innovative.
 

theefman

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Any chance you posted that in the android and iphone forums as well? Just in case your magical device already exists there....:cool:
 

ListenUpGuys

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Any chance you posted that in the android and iphone forums as well? Just in case your magical device already exists there....:cool:

Well I've no doubt that if a phone with all these features existed it'd be an Android device, relatively heavy, and very expensive. The point isn't that a phone should have all this stuff, but that it'd be nice to see a handset with something extra such as one of the above.

It would hardly be a magical phone though. Many of these features were in the Xperia X1 and/or HD2. The X1 was way ahead of its time, flaunting a Retina-equivalent screen at a time when the iPhone was just getting 3G. It had RGB LEDs, buttons to dedicate to any function you wanted (I had one for Wi-Fi toggle), a keyboard - albeit not T9, SDIO (which includes USB host)... it had all sorts. But it's terribly slow and isn't a nice product to use owing to it's age and Windows Mobile. It also had proper internet sharing as opposed to tethering.

As a side note, I don't think I've seen such a thoughtless group of teenagers in one thread in a very long time. Some of it doesn't even make sense, but it's good to see some people supporting some of the things which can set a phone apart from the plain slabs that have become the norm.

And a camera app wouldn't necessarily have to be running all the time; that's like asking for faster horses because you can't envisage cars - it's closed-minded. Things change and it's bound to happen.
 

Heron_Kusanagi

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OP, here's a suggestion. Make a company as big as Apple's, write your own OS, dictate your own parts and maybe you can get the phone you always wanted.

Like what Steve Jobs did.
 

Agent-P

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OK, so a dramatic title gets some clicks, but the point I wanted to make is that I do not find any of the new WP8 devices especially appealing. They are for the most part nicely designed, and it's a good line up, but none of them offer much more than they have to. "Features" seem to be things like a better camera, more storage, or dedicated internal chips. How exciting.

If one of the manufacturer's wants my money then they're going to have to address the problems with my current phone (Omnia 7) and give me a reason to upgrade.

For starters, I'd like an LED that blinks when I have a message. Better yet, since WP8 is suddenly all about colour, give me an RGB LED like on the Xperia X1.

Give me USB host. My old phone had USB host which let me plug my old phone into the car to diagnose engine problems. That was useful. It would also be useful to copy things from flash drives.

I do not like capacitive buttons, and I'm not alone. Will someone put regular buttons on a phone again?

How about a second camera button that just takes a photo? No loading of camera app, or other UI. Take a photo, now, quick! Just use infinity focus, I need this picture.

Put a switch on the side for Wi-Fi. Are switches so unfashionable that we really need to pin a tile or go through a menu just to flick Wi-Fi on and off? I'm nearly always in the middle of something when I want to turn Wi-Fi on, so a quick way to do this would be welcome.

Do not integrate the battery. What if my phone crashes? How am I going to get it back on quickly if I can't cut the power? And what if I want a spare battery or a larger battery? I really couldn't care less if there's a line on the back where the battery cover comes off. And if that makes the phone ?50 cheaper, so much the better.

And on a slightly less conventional note, if someone made a WP8 phone with a 12 key T9 keypad, they'd have my attention. There was a time when I could text without looking and with just one hand, but now I have to push these tiny on screen keys and the predictive algorithms are actually worse.

Finally if Microsoft can't get over their hang-up about call recording, and refuse to integrate call blocking, then I'd be interested in phone that implemented its own solution. Whatever happened to Samsung's call blocking app?

Oh and Miracast please.

What I don't need is NFC. I'm not really interested in LTE either. I'd rather have better coverage at OK speeds - and a WiFi switch.

Am I on my own here? Does anyone else want some features that just aren't available? Smartphones are going the way of fridges - no innovation at all.

You'd be more likely to find all these features in an Android phone. However, with that being said, many of the hardware features will be difficult to find on any phone. The trend is to move toward thinner phones. Physical switches and removable batteries take up more room than removing the physical buttons and making the battery fixed.
 

jmshub

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I think asking what if is important for innovation. People should be willing to think about how to improve things. A WiFi switch wouldn't be a bad idea for me. I do like easily replaceable batteries too. The hardware buttons do not interest me at all...especially T9. I think real keypads are best left dead.

I think NFC and LTE are important next steps in mobile devices...better connectivity is a goal of lte. I think a platform like winphone or android will be increasingly valuable for different chassis to dot different types of people, compare to iPhones one size must fit all.

Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express
 

GoodThings2Life

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ListenUpGuys ... You know, as I read your rather lengthy opinion, I found myself rejecting about half the ideas you mention and refuting the other half on one simple premise:

OEMs market to the majority, not the individual. Even though the devices may have features that make it more personal (color choices, case styles, etc), the fact remains that to be successful you have to target the features first that the majority want. It's a compromise of sorts.

As an example ... frankly, I've always hated LEDs flashing notifications. They're distracting to me. I understand why people like them, but they're personally irritating to me. Likewise for physical buttons. That's why I don't like phones with a physical Windows button... if they all did that, I'd probably be cussing about it.

The point is, these phones exist based on research on style preferences and trends for a majority.

What do any of your requests have to do whether or not the platform is "Clever" or "Original"? Nothing. They're just feature requests, so go to the WP suggestion site and submit them. If people agree, they'll vote them up.
 

TheNerdlyKnight

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It sounds to me like you either need to go design your own phone or find a genie to grant you this magical device you seek. I won't speak to your whole laundry list but let's look at one for example like keyboards. Many manufactures like HTC have called keyboards dead oh phones recently and said they plan to offer little to none when it comes to devices with physical keyboards. Its all touchscreen from here. As for camera modes and buttons how do you expect someone to frame/line up the photo they are capturing if the phone does not launch its camera mode? These aren't traditional cameras where we can just look into a viewfinder unless you want them to add that too.

I think Windows current button on the side with quick launch even from the lock screen works just fine. Oh and if you want physical buttons I've got a Lumia 710 you can buy...
 

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