With 2019 at the horizon, here is a look at what changed in the industry this past year.

2017 set the ball rolling in terms of a new design philosophy in the smartphone industry. From the beautiful Samsung Galaxy S8 to the polarising Apple iPhone X, shrinking bezels was the common denominator. 2018 saw manufacturers religiously adhering to this, and doing everything possible to make sure the screen-to-body ratio was as high as possible. Lo and behold, the trends that stood the test of time, all throughout 2018.

The Notch

In a nutshell

This year, manufacturers sought to maximise the screen size, and consequently, 2018 saw an all-time high in the screen-to-body ratio. This, in turn, gave way to the notches. Notches have become infamous, with people speaking out both for and against the idea — largely criticising the added asymmetry and the subsequent “ugliness” that it brings. However, both parties can agree that it has largely increased the screen size to a point where most phones nowadays are almost completely screen in the front.

The good

Manufacturers did so by pushing the boundaries of the phone as close to the edge as possible and reduced the bezels in the display. Moreover, they also concentrated any and all technology on the front of the phone to a smaller region, hence arriving at the notch. While it initially unsettled creators that use the platform, they have slowly begun to embrace and adopt the new aspect ratio.

The bad

Like every radical change, the notch too was accompanied by a mixed reaction. On one hand, it gave greater screen real estate, providing content creators with a greater space to play. However, aside from how it divides the crowds over its looks, it has pretty much become a glorified notification bar. Interestingly, Samsung is the only major manufacturer that is yet to make the jump to the notch design.

The Camera

In a nutshell

From the time when ‘megapixel count’ was directly equated to camera quality, to now, where smartphone photography has become an occupation in itself, new smartphones have always seen improvements in their cameras. This year, however, the industry saw a drastic increase in the number of cameras in a smartphone. What started off as a thoughtful dual-lens setup, turned rogue and gave way to triple and even quadruple cameras on a single phone. In general, the mid-tier manufacturers tend to invest their resources into the hardware aspect, with little to no game-changing additions to their camera app. Upper echelon manufacturers like Apple and Google placed their chips on computational photography and went all-in on their software.

The good

Smartphone photography is now, more powerful than ever before with a wide array of lenses at the user’s disposal. In today’s social-media-dominant world, such flexibility is a welcome addition and it directly ties in with an increased quality of content consumption on platforms like Instagram, YouTube and the like. Software optimisation and AI have pushed the boundaries of photography. At the pinnacle of this, stands Google and their camera app which is as close to magic as it gets. What they have been able to do with just a single lens, is the perfect exhibit to showcase the present and the future of software-based photography. This section will be left incomplete without the mention of their Night Sight technology — a shooting mode that takes low light photography to new heights. Special mentions to Huawei and other manufacturers that integrated AI into their cameras for improved scene and object detection. While it may be just a little more than a marketing gimmick at this point, the future holds bright for such technology.

The bad

As Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) slowly zeroed in on the most aesthetic way to fit two lenses on the back of the phone, some manufacturers went above and beyond. Most notably, Samsung and Huawei brought triple and sometimes, even quadruple lens setups. The icing on this (rather ugly) cake was the leaked penta-lens setup proposed by Nokia. To make things worse, none of this even matters if the software is not optimised to squeeze the maximum out of the hardware. As previously mentioned, this trend is seen with lower and middle tier manufacturers who skimp on their software and make the entire experience less than ideal. We are at a stage where the novelty of having multiple lenses is lost, and manufacturers are pushing for these things, just to keep up with the rest of the industry. Hopefully, 2019 is the year where manufacturers figure out the optimal number of cameras and the best possible industrial design to suit the needs of the community.

Gaming phones — fab or fad?

In a nutshell

Smartphones have evolved to literally become mini-computers in our pockets. So when an industry leader in the PC gaming space, Razer, stepped into the smartphone market in 2017, great things were expected. Fast forward to 2018 and Asus stepped into industry with their ROG Phone — a balls-to-the-wall phone with an aggressive industrial design, gaming-grade specs and a lot more. This was in addition to the second edition of the Razer Phone, aptly named Razer Phone 2. Expect at least one new phone geared towards gamers in 2019, given how this gained some “clout” among the audience.

The good

Just like how good gaming PCs are good PCs in general, good gaming phones prove to be overall powerhouses. For power users, these phones usually provide great performance and above-average battery life. The ROG Phone in particular shows off an innovative means of cooling. The vapour-based cooling system can potentially pave the way for future overclockability options in future devices. The ROG Phones have first-party add-on modules that expand the functionality of phones. Currently, these add-ons are catered towards the gaming community, but this can be extended to other facets as well.

The bad

As is faced by the PC market in this day and age, OEMs might start to use the “gaming” tag as marketing mumbo-jumbo. Akin to how the addition of RGB does not make a normal device perform any better, phone manufacturers should avoid making incremental upgrades to the existing hardware, adding some aggressive industrial design, and calling it a “gaming” phone. Speaking of industrial design, if manufacturers opt to go the ROG route, the overall feel of the device will become a lot less professional than what most people would like (kudos to Razer Phone 2, for keeping it somewhat neutral). Lastly, the aforementioned add-ons are currently an expensive affair — driving up the effective cost of a device that was already on the pricey side of things.

#Throwback — The Return of Mechanised Phones

In a nutshell

This year saw another interesting trend with a wave of nostalgia splashing over tech geeks with throwbacks to past technology. The sliding mechanism from the iconic “old school” Motorola saw a resurgence this year, with mechanisms where the front-facing cameras and sensors would slide up as and when they’re called. However this idea isn’t a novelty, the very idea of concealing cameras within the phone body and revealing them with a sliding mechanism is quite old, as old as the Nokia XpressMusic series.

The good

This design change has largely reduced the bezels and has given a slightly futuristic look to phones. In a stagnant industry where headlines are made by the presence or absence of a headphone jack, this quirky design shows that creativity hasn’t died yet.

The bad

While this is an out-of-the-box design idea that holds great promise, as it stands now, almost all phones are glass-metal sandwiches, and adding another moving layer in between can compromise structural integrity. Moreover, in an era where phones are pretty much submersible, adding moving parts would further complicate waterproofing and make it near impossible to obtain IPXX ratings, which leads to a classic “one step forward, two steps back” situation. Further, the durability of these phones is quite uncertain and can only be determined by time. Even though only two phones came out with this tech this year, it can become a potential trend in the coming year.

In-glass fingerprint sensor

In a nutshell

In 2017, we saw manufacturers aim to shrink the bezels on their devices and the subsequent birth of the in-glass fingerprint sensor. Vivo, being one of the early adopters of this technology, rolled out a prototype device to showcase its prowess. In 2018, a few more manufacturers joined the party with OnePlus 6T being the most notable one. Synaptics, the folks behind this ingenious creation, assisted manufacturers to push their screens to the very edge of their phones, while still retaining the convenience of a fingerprint sensor.

The good

Synaptics has enabled manufacturers to take the first steps in the right direction to make a zero-compromise phone. Moreover, the concept of an all-screen phone is much closer to fruition thanks to this elegant solution. In the future, this technology can be expanded to accommodate a larger sensor area and potentially turning the entire front of the phone into a massive fingerprint sensor. This truly is the future, as users can unlock the phone in any orientation, at any point on the phone.

The bad

Like any new piece of technology, this too has its shortcomings. The 1.0 version of the sensor is considerably slower when compared to today’s standards of capacitive sensors. To nobody’s surprise, this is one reason why manufacturers are hesitant to go in this direction. Adding insult to injury, the accuracy is also not on par with conventional touch sensors. As online payments and authentication are at an all-time high, this is a potential security breach waiting to happen. Lastly, this sensor works only with OLED displays. While almost all major manufacturers opt to go the OLED route in their flagship devices, the mid-tier and budget oriented consumers are left in the dust as OLED screens generally translate to more expensive devices. 2019 could be the year where giants like Samsung, Apple, Google, etc. adopt this novel piece of tech and make it an industry standard.

Flexible Displays

In a nutshell

Another curious trend in technology this year was the advent of phones with flexible displays. While the tech community is no stranger to “foldable” technology, each with its own gimmicks and shortcomings, this year saw the rise of phones that could become “true” foldable phones. Foldable phones gained traction when Samsung themselves started teasing the idea of a phone with a truly flexible display. A China-based company named Royole stole Samsung’s thunder by announcing and subsequently unveiling their foldable phone, the Royole FlexPai, prior to Samsung. Although it became the first phone that boasted a flexible display, the FlexPai was riddled with errors and issues that disappointed the community. Samsung showed off their take on a foldable phone in November. Their phone, like the FlexPai, could go from Tablet-size to a regular phone-size. Samsung’s foldable screen technology — “Infinity Flex” — uses what they call, an “advanced composite polymer” that is about as tough as normal glass, yet flexible enough for a foldable phone.

The good

Nevertheless, flexible screens remain one of the most promising innovations to come out this year, not just for phones, but for technology in general. Once the technology becomes viable, the potential applications for it in other fields become endless. They plan to come up with a different UI exclusive for the Infinity Flex that could bring out the most of the phone. They also state that they are working with Google to make it run Android more natively.

The bad

However, the conference was in itself quite “shady” in a more literal manner. The stage was devoid of the usual bright lights that adorn it, and the phone itself was seemingly disguised in a block-y case. Both these facts could point to the fact that the phone is still in its primitive stage, would go through quite a bit of change before it can hit the market.

Many tech-enthusiasts believe that the smartphone space is getting saturated. While this may partially be true, there is some hope for the tech community and the consumers, as manufacturers battle it out to see who gets to keep the largest slice of the massive pie that is the smartphone market.

This article was co-authored by Harish Ramesh.

Top Smartphone Trends — 2018 was originally published in The Pragyan Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The final day of Festember ’18 was graced by the ever-popular Nithya Menen. A few members from Team Festember had the opportunity to interview her prior to her guest lecture and dive into the minds of one of the industry’s finest. The guest lecture was a part of the Carpe Diem series of lectures, where multiple renowned professionals in the fields of art, music, and films, amongst many others, share their experiences and wisdom.

A woman with dashing beauty and remarkable boldness, she is a journalism student from Manipal University, who made her entry into Indian Cinema through a Kannada Film. ‘Seven O’ Clock’ marked the beginning of her career, which was followed by multiple blockbusters and award-winning movies in all Southern languages. ‘Ala Modalaindi’, ‘Ustad Hotel’, ‘OK Kanmani’, ‘Mersal’, ‘Ishq’ and ‘Bangalore Days’ are few of the many successful projects that she has undertaken.

While she would have liked to do things differently, if given a chance to revisit the past, her views were along the lines of ‘every person is here to serve a purpose’. As a result, she felt that what ifs were unnecessary. When asked about the topics that resonate with teenagers the most, she felt very strongly that light must be shed on the mental and physical changes that occur. “They are the future of the nation and hence, it is important to set a good foundation”, she added. The guest lecture also focused on this topic, as she addressed an audience of more than a few thousand students.

Her take on intelligent films and intelligent filmmaking was brought under the spotlight as well. She told Team Festember that such films focused on the script and the related elements. By keeping monetary goals and cast-specific storylines out of the equation, films naturally end up becoming intelligent. Such films also require the cast to take up physically and mentally challenging roles, like the one she took up in ‘Kanchana 2’. Nithya Menen humorously described the role as “not me”, when asked about some of the challenging roles that she had to nail.

“ When they say ‘action,’ I am into it completely and forget everything around. When they say ‘cut,’ I am back to myself.”

The pairing between a director and an actor/actress is always crucial in ensuring the success of a film. While some stars have a preferred set of directors who they like to associate with, Nithya Menen told Team Festember that names do not matter to her. “I want to work with somebody who has the ability to realize my potential and make use of it on screen”, she added. Having said that, she also acknowledged the amazing work that director Mani Ratnam did, in ‘OK Kanmani’. Out of the many good movies that she has done, she picked a particular scene from the very same movie as she was talking about her all-time favorite scene.

“I want to work with somebody who has the ability to realize my potential and make use of it on screen”

The final day of the Arabian Odyssey, that was Festember ’18, came to a close with her guest lecture that left thousands in awe. Overall, it was an exhilarating experience for Team Festember, to get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact with one of South India’s biggest film stars!

This interview was taken along with Kavya Muralidharan and Anurika Umasudan.

Talks By The Firelight 1.4: Off Script was originally published in The Festember Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A year ago, on the 12th of September, the smartphone space saw a paradigm shift in its industrial design. The iPhone X gave a new direction to smartphone manufacturers, and as customers, we were greeted with new features that were previously unavailable to us. This year’s Apple Special Event started off in a dramatic, Mission-Impossible-themed manner and it was only fair, that the announcements followed suit.

Apple Watch Series 4

Overview

Smartwatches, since their inception in the recent past, have placed significant emphasis on fitness tracking and monitoring of the users’ health, along with keeping them connected. The latest edition of the Apple Watch — the Series 4, uses these three pillars as the primary focus for innovation. The team of engineers tasked with achieving this, used a host of new and improved sensors to monitor and log real time health and fitness data. When paired with thinner bezels, rounded corners and elegant UI updates, the device truly screams 2018!

Apple Influences: Future of Healthcare

Next-gen accelerometer and gyroscope sensors help the Apple Watch in setting new trends in the healthcare sector. Firstly, Apple introduced a new feature that helps detects “falls”. By conducting extensive studies on real world people, real world fall scenarios and the associated movements of our limbs, Apple was able to calibrate the sensors on the Apple Watch to detect when its user falls down. Upon detection, the SOS feature triggers an alert to call for assistance. If the watch detects no motion for a minute, it sends the location of the user to the preset emergency contacts, and automatically triggers an SOS call for medical attention. One does not need to look far, before finding a suitable use case scenario for this technology.

Electrocardiogram (commonly known as ECG) is made available to the general public, for the first time, through the Apple Watch Series 4. By using an electrode present inside the digital crown of the watch, users can get an ECG done right from their homes (or literally anywhere else). Effectively, this helps doctors monitor their patients throughout the course of a regular day and log essential data. With the advent of predictive analysis and intervention of data science into every facet of our lives, this is truly a change to look forward to.

iPhone XS/XS Max/XR

Overview

“Leaks” and “rumours” are accurate now, more than ever before. As a result, it came as no real surprise when Apple announced a trio of new iPhones for the coming year. Continuing on the trend that was momentarily paused last year, Apple came back with an “S” and “S Plus” (known as “S Max” this time around) skew of the phone that they released the previous year. The iPhone XS and XS Max stay true to the Apple product cycle and receive upgraded internals, while remaining fairly similar on the outside.

In true Apple fashion, the keynote speaker called these phones, “by far the most advanced iPhones ever created”. This time, however, there is more truth to the statement than just marketing mumble-jumble.

The XR is reminiscent of 2013, when Apple launched the iPhone 5C lineup of phones. For the most part, it can loosely be described as a “Diet version” of the iPhone X. It retains much of the functionality and processing power, while cutting corners in the display and camera departments. It has no unique selling point except its (relatively) reduced price point. For an Apple Fan who just cannot shell out the cash for an iPhone X or its XS successor, the XR is the perfect option.

Apple Influences: Future of Silicon Industry

In their new A12 Bionic processor, Apple shrunk their transistor size from 10 nm to an industry-first 7 nm. This helped increase transistor count from 4.3b last year, to a whopping 6.9b. Moore’s law is certainly on the decline, but for now, Apple seems to have no issues in increasing the transistor count (albeit, not doubling) in their processors. This beefy new processor forms the backbone of multiple new advancements on the software side of things.

Apple Influences: Future of Augmented Reality (AR)

Apple has been heavily invested into the AR sphere, for a while now. The release of the original AR Kit, saw many app developers hop on-board the AR hype train. The subsequent release of CoreML paved the way for endless integration between the two developer tools.

In a rather impressive demo, the developer of the basketball training app, Home Court, along with the recent NBA Hall of Fame inductee, Steve Nash, showcased the power of the devices in our pockets. The ‘Real Time Shot Science’ technology broke down jump shots of a shooter like never before, using nothing but an iPhone. From the automatic detection of the court boundaries and the hoop, to displaying real time metrics for each shot, this app poses a serious threat to more expensive, sensor-based solutions that are in the market today.

Given that the sample space for AR apps is limited, it will certainly take a while before we can completely invest ourselves into this sphere, but there is no denying the fact that the potential waiting to be unlocked is humongous.

Apple Influences: Future of Photography/Videography

Smartphone cameras have been on an upward trajectory over the last decade or so. With each new phone, we are greeted with new optics and/or new software updates. While the optics and the lenses underwent upgrades, the stars of the show are ‘Smart HDR’ and the adjustable depth-of-field slider.

Smart HDR takes regular HDR photography and places it on a pedestal above the rest. Aptly named ‘Zero Shutter Lag’ the camera app takes multiple pictures with multiple exposures over a small time frame. It utilises the Neural Engine in the A12 Bionic chip to filter out the best from each picture and stitch them together to give the best possible image. This is made possible by the massive 1 trillion operations per photo that can be done using the A12 Bionic processor.

We are heading towards the era of computational photography (brought to the mainstream by Google’s single-lens Pixel 2 series), and this is increasingly fuelled by the advancements in digital image processing. In an effort that can be regarded as a technological marvel, they have successfully managed to integrate a variable depth of field slider into the ‘edit’ menu of their ‘Photos’ app. For the first time ever, users can alter the depth of field from F1.4 to F16, after the photo has been taken. A demo at the event showcased the massive potential this technology has, and why this is the next step forward in the realm of photography. The XR draws parallels with the Google Pixel 2, where portrait mode is achieved using a single lens and tons of processing.

Last, but certainly not the least, videography also benefits from these groundbreaking innovations. Adding to that, the ability to record stereo sound natively is going to expand the smartphone videography space.

It will be interesting to see the direction Apple goes, with all of this. They clearly have their sights set on an industry much bigger than the smartphone space. Influencing the character of an industry is not an easy thing to do, but if we trust anyone to do it, it has to be Apple!

Disclaimer: This article was never intended to be a comprehensive round-up of all the announcements. Rather, this was aimed at extrapolating the current technologies to give us a glimpse of what the future looks like. For a full roundup, check out CNet’s coverage of the event.

Apple Reminds Us Why It Is The Biggest Name In Tech — Special Event 2018 was originally published in The Pragyan Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Pragyan ’18 gifted me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview Mr Ajay Bhatt, the co-inventor of USB. Through various groundbreaking innovations, his presence is still very much felt in the PC space. Inspired by something as meager as a power outlet on the wall, he proceeded to simplify our computing experience and in many ways, spearhead the development of consumer technology.

Back in 2009, Intel launched a massive ad campaign titled ‘Sponsors of Tomorrow’, with Ajay Bhatt as its poster-child. So I decided to ask him about this celebrity status and what got him there.

Intel portrayed you as quite the rockstar, in an ad campaign, back in 2009. How did it feel to acquire a rather unique celebrity status?

The whole campaign was about engineers, and Intel wanted to make a point that when it comes to engineering, they too have rockstars, much like in the movie industries and sports. We are the leading manufacturers of electronics, and our engineers are ‘our’ rockstars. They were looking for an invention that a common person could relate to, and after searching through our portfolio of innovative products and patents, they determined that the USB was one that a lot of people knew about, and they could appreciate its everyday usage. That’s how they picked me. Till then, even though I had done a lot of creative work, people didn’t know about me as such, and that included my family. They didn’t know about the work that I had done. Most of all, my relatives and my friends have come to appreciate what I’ve done. I’m proud of this campaign, because it highlighted engineers, and I was just one of many that Intel has, and had. It feels good that at last, people are aware of the brains behind this bleeding edge technology.

There are well over 100 patents in your name. What is it that kept you going throughout your career?

Well, you sort of come across things to do, because, if you’re just perceptive and look around, there are plenty of opportunities to improve, or invent things or address an unmet need. So my primary focus has never been on patents. If I just focused on patents, I could probably get 500 patents. But instead, I looked at unmet needs in my areas of expertise. Then we pursued the technology that would meet those needs. Once we worked on it and looked at some idea that is original, we filed a patent. My company would always encourage us to file patents because it gives them the exclusive rights. It’s a byproduct of what you’re doing.

‘Startups’ and ‘entrepreneurs’ are increasingly becoming household terms, owing to the breakneck pace of development in the field of technology. The proposition of the USB being the product of a stand-alone company is definitely a worthwhile one. Ajay Bhatt, however, had a completely different take on the topic.

If the startup space was as booming as it is today back when you came up with the idea of USB, would it still have been royalty-free, or would we have witnessed the rise of a tech giant?

“I never thought of initiating a startup. And quite frankly, ideas as big as the USB or as broadly adopted as the USB, would probably never happen if this technology were a startup. Technology like USB or PCI Express is like creating an infrastructure, right? It is like constructing a highway. People then build cars, trucks, tractors or whatever and then they drive over it.”

When it comes to designing a highway, yeah, you can charge a little bit of toll, but you can’t charge too much. Our primary goal in defining USB was to make computers easy to use, thereby, easy to interface to. In order to do that, we needed a bunch of companies to work with us. We wanted someone to write software, we wanted someone to make the systems, we wanted someone to build the chips for us, and so on. It was this diversity of expertise that we brought together which allowed the USB to takeoff. This is all it was; if you can make computers easy to use, then people would buy more computers, and if they buy more computers, Intel, as a company would still benefit as we can sell more chips, right? When you look at the bigger picture, instead of direct revenue due to the USB, you get indirect revenue by creating a much bigger market for your products.

Keeping in line with the current standards of connectivity, we asked about his thoughts on USB Type C and the wireless revolution.

Considering the introduction of Type-C, do you envision any further improvements for the USB standard in the near future?

I think so. One of the things that is happening with Type C is that it is getting merged with Thunderbolt. So now, Thunderbolt technology is being delivered on the same connector as the USB. As we go forward, these two technologies will synergise and hopefully, it will merge, if appropriate. Like I said, you need one wire and that wire is USB type C.

Do you think the wireless revolution poses a threat to USB?

I don’t think ‘threat’ is the word. Wireless technology is quite complementary to what USB is. There are a whole bunch of instances where wireless is sufficient, and you don’t need to use the wires. I think, with the advent of 5G, you will see that even more. I don’t suppose it’s either-or. But then, there are instances where wired connections offer much higher performance, like charging. Even though there is wireless charging, USB based charging and more importantly, turbocharging capabilities are coming up, which are significantly better. So these are complementary technologies. Wireless instances are easy to use, while at the same time, pairing two devices wirelessly require some amount of knowledge. Of course, it is getting easier, but connecting wires is just very easy.

To cap it all off, the interview concluded with a question about the future of PC technology.

In many ways, the USB reimagined the way we think of computing. What do you think is the next leap forward for the PC space?

The 5G is usually associated with phones. I say 5G technology is going to come to PCs. PCs are getting lighter, thinner, right? In fact, the computer that I’m using is a merge of PC and a tablet. Windows 10 and beyond, make that transitory experience much better. I think we’ll also see a merge of AR and VR. One of the biggest things with the PCs is VR, right? PC as we know, comes in different forms and shapes. I have seen PCs in a belt-buckle. Or a PC motherboard smaller than an iPhone motherboard. So a tremendous amount of performance of PC architecture is being packed in a lot of different form factors. We’ll see PCs in different form factors play a significant role in the 5G unification with AR, VR, MR and also contextual computing.

While a completely wireless future is being conceptualized and implemented rapidly, the wired connectors are far from being obsolete. With the current rate of advancement in the data transfer speeds and single-cable power delivery, the universal ‘infobahn’ is not too far away!

This interview was taken in collaboration with Sanjivi

Talking Tech with Ajay Bhatt was originally published in The Pragyan Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With 2017 just gone by, here is a throwback to few of the major changes that occurred in the smartphone industry.

Phones as we knew them in 2016 underwent an exponential change during the course of one year. Here, we bring to light, few of the major trends that swept the world of smartphones in 2017.

1) The Bezel-less Revolution

In a nutshell

Attempts to make bezel-less phones were made in 2016. Phones like Elephone S3 and Nubia Z11 implemented this, but it never caught the attention of the mainstream consumers. The design of LG’s flagship, the G6, can be aptly described as one that portrays the transition of smartphones from yesteryear, to the present. It lies somewhere in between a regular phone with a rectangular screen and a slab of glass that’s nearly all-screen. Samsung’s decision to adopt a similar design philosophy and combine it with their experience in creating their “Edge” lineup of phones, paved the way for the entry of bezel-less phones into the mainstream market. In many regards, this catalyzed a much-needed change in the phone industry. Apple’s much-anticipated iPhone X and Google’s Pixel 2 XL, among many others, went almost bezel-less and that is proof enough, that 2017 sparked the bezel-less revolution!

The good

Doing away with the bezels allowed for a unique screen-to-body ratio. It enabled the manufacturers to fit a larger display in a smaller overall footprint. On a subjective note, doing away with bezels also enhanced the visual appeal of the phone.

The bad

More screen meant increased risk of sustained damages due to falls. Owing to the increase in screen size, one-handed usability of various on-screen elements on the top corners of the display may be reduced. This might hamper the overall user experience.

2) New Bio-metric Locks

In a nutshell

A direct impact of the increased screen-to-body ratio was observed in the positioning of the fingerprint sensor. Some companies decided to move it to other locations on the phone, while other companies (or ‘company’, rather) decided to replace it with new and improved biometric security mechanisms. S8 rolled out their “new” retina scanner. Most notably, Apple ditched its fingerprint sensor entirely and replaced it with facial recognition, called ‘Face ID’. When compared to the Touch ID of their previous phones, Apple claims that Face ID has less chances of being tricked. Razer Phone (yes, the same folks who make gaming peripherals) integrated their fingerprint sensor with the power button. This unique design choice was well received by majority of the tech community. Lastly, this section would be incomplete without a special mention to the companies trying to integrate a fingerprint sensor under the display panel itself. At the time of writing this article, Vivo (in partnership with Qualcomm), and Synaptics are one of the first companies to integrate a fingerprint sensor right into the display.

The good

The tech-head in me was left feeling warm and fuzzy inside, after watching the major tech giants battle it out to see who gets to implement the fastest and most secure bio-metric authentication. Technology like Face ID is more secure and this is essential, given the exponential rise of online transactions and the subsequent rise in the use of biometric authentication.

The bad

New technology is usually limited to the top-of-the-line devices. As a result, finding it on the mid-tier devices will be hard and this will limit the target audience. Capacitive fingerprint sensors offer the quickest way to unlock a device and as a result, they are head and shoulders above any other form of authentication (speaking strictly in terms of quickness). Moreover, the proven reliability of the existing technology will cause phone manufacturers to think twice before ditching it entirely.

3) RIP Headphone Jack

In a nutshell

2016 officially marked the beginning of the demise of the headphone jack. Phone manufacturers like Motorola and Apple were among the first ones to bid adieu to the headphone jack and replace conventional analog audio with a digital alternative. This year, however, almost all major players in the market decided to do away with the traditional 3.5mm jack. Most notably, Google’s flagship, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, decided to go the digital route. This raised a lot of eyebrows, especially after they threw shades at Apple for doing the same, in their previous flagship. The reactions of the consumers to this decision by the major tech giants, have been varied, to say the least. While some of them have come to accept this as the future of audio consumption, others seem to dearly miss the convenience factor that accompanies the good ol’ headphone jack.

The good

It is almost certain that we are moving towards a wireless future. In effect, removing the headphone jack is a way to push towards this (wireless) future. Digital audio also paves the way for more advanced control. Active noise cancellation, for example, can be enabled on the phone itself, without the need for dedicated hardware. Moreover, the digital connectors deliver more power to the headphones that are plugged in and subsequently achieve higher quality audio.

The bad

The transition period can be a little rough, as can be deduced from the displeasure of the consumers. Charging the phone and listening to music using a wired audio device, becomes nearly impossible, unless the consumer is willing to shell out more money for an external dongle. It is a known fact that Bluetooth audio quality is subpar to the quality of analog, wired audio. High quality Bluetooth headphones exist, but come at a significant price premium. Hence, entry into the wireless audio realm can be an expensive affair.

4) New Kids on the Block

In a nutshell

We were greeted by new players entering the smartphone market. While there were many such entries, we will be focusing on two major ones: Razer Phone by Razer, and Hydrogen One by RED. These companies have a major share in the gaming peripherals and high-end cine-camera industries, respectively. This allows them to use their expertise in the respective fields, to impart a unique flavour to their phones. Razer did a pretty good job in incorporating a 120Hz display, along with an exemplar audio experience. While this is in no means, a complete review of the device, it goes to show that Razer’s experience with the gaming community played no small part in taking these decisions. One of the Hydrogen One prototypes showcased a modular camera setup, to go along with their phone. This is a very RED-esque move, as modular cameras are their forte. However, the most awaited feature of the phone had nothing to do with RED’s expertise with cameras. They partnered up with Leica to create the first phone ever, to feature a holographic 3D display, marketed as ‘4-View’. This is a step forward, in the right direction for the smartphone industry as a whole, because, let’s face it, who does not want innovative technology at the touch of our fingers?

The good

More competition urges the manufacturers to strike a more balanced price-to-performance ratio. From the consumer side of things, we are spoilt for choice with multiple offerings from multiple companies at highly competitive prices. Moreover, each manufacturer will try to pack some new junk in their trunk to gain some market share. This constant tussle expands the horizons for smartphone technologies.

The bad

When looked at from the consumer side of things, there is minimal to no disadvantages that come with new players entering the market.

5) Resurrection of Front-Facing Speakers

In a nutshell

Although front facing speakers did not really die completely, mainstream manufacturers started to opt for a single speaker on the bottom of the phone, in exchange for better industrial design. Main disadvantage of this move, was that the speakers were easily covered by the users’ palms during media consumption and/or gaming. The HTC M8 and M9, featuring their famous ‘Boom Sound Speakers’ were well appreciated by the tech community, mainly due to their best-in-class speakers. Nexus 6 too, featured a pair of front facing speakers which proved indispensable for avid watchers of Netflix and YouTube (which is basically a good majority of us). In 2017 we were greeted by multiple manufacturers opting to go back to a dual front-facing speaker setup. While Apple stuck to the pseudo-stereo setup, Google upped the ante with their flagships, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. Both these phones featured dual front facing speakers for an immersive stereo experience. One of the new players in the market, Razer, took a step in the right direction and featured stereo front facing speakers in their Razer Phone. The Dolby Atmos certification was the cherry on top, amplifying the media consumption experience.

The good

Quite obviously, the presence of two speaker units is going to provide for a louder sound. With a stereo speaker setup, the sound is fired right at the user, instead of reflecting from a surface. This enhances the overall immersiveness of the user experience. In a nutshell, stereo speakers is to audio, what bezel-less display is to video consumption.

The bad

Speaker grills put physical constraints on the industrial design of the device. Insanely high screen-to-body ratios become very hard to incorporate (albeit, the Pixel 2 XL does a pretty neat job with this). For those who prefer form over function, this addition will be a major dealbreaker. Hence, phone manufacturers will think twice before agreeing to make the trade-off.

The smartphone space is growing rapidly and companies are having an all-out brawl to see who can push better technology to more number of customers. As someone who is watching from the sidelines, I hope the stakes rise in 2018 and both, the tech-heads and the regular consumers are left with one too many choices!

Top Smartphone Trends — 2017 was originally published in The Pragyan Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Is this truly the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone?

On the 12th of September 2017, Apple held its much awaited “iPhone X Event”. This was the first conference to be held in the Steve Jobs Theater of their new “Spaceship” campus, that they call, ‘The Apple Park’. Even though there were a host of products launched, the iPhone X (pronounced as ‘iPhone Ten’) was the major headline, as this phone marks the 10th Anniversary of the iPhone. Here are some of the top announcements that were made during the event:

Apple Watch Series 3

Overview

The Apple Watch Series 2 boosted the growth of the lineup by around 50% year-to-year. Hence, it is not surprising that the company revealed the Apple Watch Series 3 to build on the previous success. This edition of the Apple Watch features built in cellular capability (LTE) and can now place and receive calls. Integration with Apple Music enables the user to stream over 40 million songs straight to their wrists. The new W2 chip serves as a way to reduce power consumption and thereby increase the time of usage.

Personal remarks

The $399 (Rs. 26000 approx.) price tag for the LTE version does not really check-mark the bang-for-the-buck column. To put the price in perspective, Rs. 26000 is what an average student from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NITT) pays, for their food, accommodation and other amenities during a semester of study. This ridiculous price point just begs me to ask — is it really worth it?

Apple TV

Overview

Apple announced the 5th generation of Apple TV, complete with 4K and HDR support. While services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube are making the push towards 4K media, it is reassuring to see the same level of involvement from both the TV manufacturers and set-top-box solutions like the Apple TV. By charging the same prices for HD and 4K HDR content, it is pretty evident that Apple want to spearhead the push towards higher quality media consumption.

Personal remarks

With prices starting at $179 (Rs. 11500 approx.), the Apple TV makes for a great companion to your 4K HDR-compliant television setup. With that said, do not expect to see Apple TVs making its way into the college anytime soon. As long as the TVs in the common rooms do not see an upgrade, the push towards 4K HDR content consumption remains impeded!

iPhone 8/8+

Overview

This year, Apple decided to skip the 7S/7S+ and release the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8+. One striking new feature is the change of materials used to construct the phone. Apple has veered away from its aluminium uni-body construction, to a slab of well-polished glass. Both the 8 and 8+ are dust and water resistant, as is expected at a premium price-point. Both the phones feature the next-gen A11 Bionic processor. This 6 cored beast allows for better Image Signal Processing (ISP) and improved pixel processing. The shift to a glass-back phone enabled Apple to introduce Qi (pronounced as “chi”) wireless charging on both the phones.

The iPhone 8+ rocks a dual camera system on the back. Both the cameras are 12MP with one acting as a wide-angle lens, and the other being a telephoto lens. One of the latest additions is Portrait Lighting. By applying various machine learning algorithms, the iPhone 8+ provides users with an option to change the lighting effects on portrait mode, either before or after the photo has been taken. With support for augmented reality, iPhone 8+ aims to bring AR to the masses.

Personal remarks

Apple has indeed done a good job in improving upon the specifications of its predecessor. In all honesty, however, the changes on this device are about as significant as the necessary changes we make while ‘writing’ our assignments. Essentially, the 8/8+ lineup is basically the 7S/7S+ that was skipped. The upgrades over the predecessor do not justify the premium price point. Although the glass-back has a premium feel to it, the durability of the device is yet to be tested. Rough use scenarios occur more often than not in a student’s day, and hence the shift from a more durable metal uni-body forces us to think twice before making a purchase decision.

iPhone X

Overview

For the first time, Apple announced TWO new iPhones for this year. Numerous leaks and rumors were floating around since the beginning of 2017, and as far as the design of the iPhone X is concerned, the aforementioned leaks and rumors were eerily accurate. Apple boarded the ‘bezel-less display’ train and did away with the front bezels almost entirely. Another noteworthy feature is the display itself. Apple opted for an OLED display and were able to achieve a contrast ratio of 1000000:1. Owing to the lack of bezels in the front, Apple had to do away with the ‘Home Button’ and replacing it with the ‘Home Bar’. Users can interact with this bar by using various gestures to access the home and multitasking screens.

FaceID is Apple’s replacement for the ever-popular TouchID. The iPhone X uses an array of sensors near the front camera to accurately capture the users’ faces in a 3D space. They achieve this, by projecting a bunch of dots on the face of the user and then cross referencing the scanned face. The inclusion of an on-board neural network assists the device in learning changes in the users’ faces over time.

While the back camera system remains the same as the iPhone 8+, the front camera gets a major upgrade. Portrait Lighting is made available in the front camera, due to the host of sensors that are placed on the front of the phone. This very collection of sensors also led to the creation of ‘Animojis’. Animojis are essentially emojis that are controlled by the face expressions of the user. Users can then send these back and forth using Apple’s iMessages app.

Personal remarks

Personally, I am not a fan of the industrial design. The front of the phone looks nowhere as elegant as the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+. Doing away with TouchID, and replacing it with a much slower FaceID is a decision that is best described as questionable. The whole concept of Animoji is eyebrow-raising to me. At the core of it, Animoji is basically the infamous Talking Tom on steroids. As a student, the fact that this feature is restricted to the iMessages app in the iPhone X leads me to believe that not a lot of my friends are going to purchase the device, thereby rendering the feature useless.

This event gifted us with some pretty interesting announcements. Most of which were refreshed versions of already existing products. While some may argue that the technology being used is old, Apple must be given credit where it’s due. They have an innate ability to implement this technology in the best way possible and present it in a neat simple-to-use package. The engineering team, along with the design and marketing teams deserve a round of applause for their efforts!

Apple Keynote Event — Top announcements from a college student’s perspective was originally published in The Pragyan Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.