It's kind of over, isn't it?

by Volker Weber

Nokia-3310-Design1

As the press was flocking to Barcelona for MWC, the biggest news was Nokia with their 3310. And this isn't even Nokia, which does not have their six giant factories anymore. And it also isn't really a 3310. It only looks familiar and it's pretty much a dumbphone.

What does that say about the smartphone? LG announces the very decent G6 with dual camera instead of a stupid modular set, Huawei tries again to get some respect with their Leica badge, Sony is back with a 4k display, BlackBerry Mobile has the KEYone, which only people who forgot the Bold and the Classic see as a BlackBerry and not a chicklet-keyboard Android.

Where is the beef? Is there anything that you really need or want, making you dump your 2014 iPhone 6 Plus? One of our lead editors on mobile is pretty happy with his Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (SM-N910F), which is getting monthly security updates. I think we have reached a stage where we are moving sideways. It is becoming very hard to improve on the status quo. That does not mean we are going back to dumbphones, but the excitement is gone.

Did you notice that "Nokia" announced three inexpensive smartphones with pure Android? No skin, no crapware, just Google Android, promising monthly updates. I hope that this is where we are going, not the Leica-Zeiss-Hasselblads. Wanna buy a Rolex?

Comments

Supporting your point: the G6's predecessor G5 already sported a dual camera. Not much progress besides the LTE bandwidth being raised from 300 to 600 Mbps. As if there were a carrier supporting 300 Mbps in Germany.

Robert Dahlem, 2017-03-01

I thought about you yesterday when I heard this report on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/28/517779794/hmd-global-plans-to-bring-back-nokia-3310-cell-phone

I was hoping that you would comment on it. :-)

Gregg Eldred, 2017-03-01

Agree 100% in general. In a world where all the features have been basically defined, the only way to be 'brave' is to drop features (apparently).

Agree 100%, also, with the Galaxy Note 4... changeable batteries, wireless charging.
I have not yet seen anything better that makes me want to upgrade.

Craig Wiseman, 2017-03-01

Have you replaced your battery?

Volker Weber, 2017-03-01

Das neue/alte Nokia-Mobiltelefon auf dem Bild ist das 3310, kein 3110...

Hans-Peter Schmidt, 2017-03-02

Danke. Gleich korrigiert.

Volker Weber, 2017-03-02

Yes, every day. I have four batteries and an external charger for them.

On a typical day (4:30am - 11pm) I go through about 1.3 batteries. I usually swap batteries around 5pm.

Craig Wiseman, 2017-03-02

Interesting. If I ever run out of power during the day, I attach this:

https://vowe.net/archives/015931.html

But it's almost 2pm and I am at 82%. The iPhone 7 Plus has plenty of power to get through the whole day.

Volker Weber, 2017-03-02

I tend to have all my energy sucking processes active, all the time (GPS, traveler, mail client, social media, etc).

I just find it easier to carry around a small replacement battery, instead of having to attach something. I do have my anker powercore+ if I need real backup.

Craig Wiseman, 2017-03-02

and I usually have my screen cranked up bright, because I'm pretty blind.

So, basically, I ignore all the good advice in the articles that tell you how to maximize your battery life.

Craig Wiseman, 2017-03-02

http://dailysunknoxville.com/how-samsung-ruins-its-profits-with-galaxy-note-4/920017862

Craig Wiseman, 2017-03-05

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