The Evolution of Smartphones: A Question of Purpose

If you're familiar with smartphones, you may have heard about the Oppo Find 7, an incredible phone released in March 2014. It had mind-blowing specifications, a gorgeous looking display, and was one of the most powerful phones to ever hit the market. Fast forward to July this year, rumors started circulating about the phone's successor, the Oppo Find X9. Predictions suggested that it would have beastly specifications, including 6 gigabytes of RAM combined with the Snapdragon 820 CPU and the Adreno 530 GPU, making it a true next-generation device.

However, what I made this video for is a dilemma that I'm having in my own head. Is there actually a point to any of this? Sure, specifications are great for nerds like me, as seeing a phone with 6 gigabytes of RAM would make me very tempted to buy it. But then, is that what the smartphone market has become? Is it just an arms race to throw in as many components as you can into your next smartphone, even if it doesn't really yield any noticeable benefit?

You may remember the original Galaxy S smartphone, which was probably the first true Android smartphone that could safely compete with Apple. At first, at least, the iPhone was well ahead of the competition. Since then, Android has developed and moved ahead leaps and bounds, with more powerful components, larger and sharper displays, genuinely enhancing the experience. However, I think it's reached a point where that is plateauing a little bit.

Even if they double the power on current smartphones, would it really be any faster? For example, if you get a Galaxy Note 5, everything you do is silky smooth, every action takes place almost instantaneously, there are no bugs and glitches, the screen is well above Retina quality, and it's so big. However, making it any larger would always make it unprofitable when playing games. And what surprised me is that Android games aren't getting much more complex in terms of graphics. 1995 maybe even 99% of them are still 2D games or very basic 2.5 D or 3D titles.

There's very little development on that front, and I think it's mostly because of the touchscreen nature of these devices. Playing a game like Modern Combat 5, it does look and feel quite nice, but it doesn't live up to the console feel that it's trying to replicate. And there will never be mainstream phones with physical buttons on them, as that wouldn't make sense for the majority of people. As a result, smartphones just won't become hardcore gaming alternatives.

What's really confusing is that while next-generation smartphones are getting exponentially more powerful every time, battery life basically hasn't budged since they began. Our smartphone camera quality has undoubtedly improved from generation to generation, but it just will never be able to replace a dedicated DSLR because those huge optics won't fit in a space this small.

While I'm not saying that the smartphone market is stagnating, as it's not, there is constantly innovation, and there has to be. There are this styluses, fingerprint sensors, virtual reality, all these things could become the next thing. But it's just why are we actually increasing the power of these smartphones? What is the actual purpose of it now?

I would love to hear your opinions on this in the comments below, thanks again for watching, and I missed you.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enif you guys already haven't heard of the Oppo find 7 it was an incredible phone released in March 2014 it had mind-blowing specifications a gorgeous looking display and was one of the most powerful phones to ever hit the market in July this year rumors started to circulate about the phone successor the Oppo fight 9 and they predicted a pretty beastly specification and it's only recently in sort of December time that rumors have begun picking up again this time all of them pointing towards the phone having 6 gigabytes of RAM this combined with the Snapdragon 820 CPU and the Adreno 530 GPU would make this a true next-generation device but what I actually made this video for and the kind of dilemma that I'm kind of having in my own head is is there actually a point to any of this now sure specifications are great for nerds like me I mean if I see a phone which has the six gigabytes of RAM that alone would make me very tempted to buy it but then is that what the smartphone market has become is it just this arms race to throw in as many components as you can into your next smartphone even if it doesn't really yield any noticeable benefit you may remember the original Galaxy S smartphone which was probably the the first true Android smartphone that could safely compete with Apple because to begin with at least the iPhone was well ahead of the competition and since then Android has developed its moved ahead leaps and bounds more powerful components larger and sharper displays have really genuinely enhanced the experience but I think it's kind of reached a point where that is plateauing a little bit even if they double the power on current smartphones would it really be any faster I mean if you get a Galaxy Note 5 for example everything you do is silky smooth every action you take happens almost instantaneously there's no bugs and glitches the screen is well above Retina quality and it's so big but making it any larger would always definitely make it unprofitable when you play games just about any high-end Android device will slice through anything with and what surprised me is the Android games really aren't getting much more complex in terms of graphics 1995 maybe even 99% of them are still 2d games or very basic 2.5 D or 3d titles there's very little development on that front and I think it's mostly just because of the touchscreen nature these devices playing a game like modern combat 5 well it does look and feel quite nice just doesn't live up to the console feel that it's trying to replicate and it never will because of the form factor there will never be mainstream phones with physical buttons on them because that doesn't make sense for the majority of people so as a result these smartphones just won't become a hardcore gaming alternative and what's really confusing is that while the next smartphones they're getting exponentially more powerful every time battery life basically hasn't budged since they begun our smartphone camera quality is undoubtedly improving from generation to generation but it just will never be able to replace a dedicated DSLR because those huge optics won't be able to fit in a space this small and whilst increasing the power of your smartphone may be able to help you capture higher megapixel images it just won't be able to physically replicate the optics of a larger camera now don't get me wrong I'm not saying that the smartphone market is stagnating because it's not there's constantly innovation because there has to be this styluses there's fingerprint sensors this virtual reality all these things could become the next thing but it's just why are we actually increasing the power of these smartphones what is the actual purpose of it now I would actually quite like the star discussion on this because I'm genuinely curious and if you guys have any insights on this I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments below thanks once again for watching guys I missed you who's the boss and this is insanely cool deckif you guys already haven't heard of the Oppo find 7 it was an incredible phone released in March 2014 it had mind-blowing specifications a gorgeous looking display and was one of the most powerful phones to ever hit the market in July this year rumors started to circulate about the phone successor the Oppo fight 9 and they predicted a pretty beastly specification and it's only recently in sort of December time that rumors have begun picking up again this time all of them pointing towards the phone having 6 gigabytes of RAM this combined with the Snapdragon 820 CPU and the Adreno 530 GPU would make this a true next-generation device but what I actually made this video for and the kind of dilemma that I'm kind of having in my own head is is there actually a point to any of this now sure specifications are great for nerds like me I mean if I see a phone which has the six gigabytes of RAM that alone would make me very tempted to buy it but then is that what the smartphone market has become is it just this arms race to throw in as many components as you can into your next smartphone even if it doesn't really yield any noticeable benefit you may remember the original Galaxy S smartphone which was probably the the first true Android smartphone that could safely compete with Apple because to begin with at least the iPhone was well ahead of the competition and since then Android has developed its moved ahead leaps and bounds more powerful components larger and sharper displays have really genuinely enhanced the experience but I think it's kind of reached a point where that is plateauing a little bit even if they double the power on current smartphones would it really be any faster I mean if you get a Galaxy Note 5 for example everything you do is silky smooth every action you take happens almost instantaneously there's no bugs and glitches the screen is well above Retina quality and it's so big but making it any larger would always definitely make it unprofitable when you play games just about any high-end Android device will slice through anything with and what surprised me is the Android games really aren't getting much more complex in terms of graphics 1995 maybe even 99% of them are still 2d games or very basic 2.5 D or 3d titles there's very little development on that front and I think it's mostly just because of the touchscreen nature these devices playing a game like modern combat 5 well it does look and feel quite nice just doesn't live up to the console feel that it's trying to replicate and it never will because of the form factor there will never be mainstream phones with physical buttons on them because that doesn't make sense for the majority of people so as a result these smartphones just won't become a hardcore gaming alternative and what's really confusing is that while the next smartphones they're getting exponentially more powerful every time battery life basically hasn't budged since they begun our smartphone camera quality is undoubtedly improving from generation to generation but it just will never be able to replace a dedicated DSLR because those huge optics won't be able to fit in a space this small and whilst increasing the power of your smartphone may be able to help you capture higher megapixel images it just won't be able to physically replicate the optics of a larger camera now don't get me wrong I'm not saying that the smartphone market is stagnating because it's not there's constantly innovation because there has to be this styluses there's fingerprint sensors this virtual reality all these things could become the next thing but it's just why are we actually increasing the power of these smartphones what is the actual purpose of it now I would actually quite like the star discussion on this because I'm genuinely curious and if you guys have any insights on this I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments below thanks once again for watching guys I missed you who's the boss and this is insanely cool deck\n"