My Ultimate Android Smart Phone: the Balance

[G+_Duncan Jaffrey]

My Ultimate Android Smart Phone: the “Balance”

Dear Friends and OEMs the world over,

heading into 2015 THIS is the phone I want you to make. It’s not a cheap phone, it’s a quality phone and I know you’ll never make it, but here it is anyway.

 

Screen

5” screen: (super AMOLED would be nice) anything larger is too big.

1080p: the extra definition of QHD (or more) vs. battery drain isn’t worth it.

Slim but not non-existent bezels with a little space top and bottom to hold the thing (symmetrically distributed).

On screen buttons.

 

Internals:

Snapdragon 810 or similar (it should be as good on all fronts) processor.

3GB ish of RAM.

Always listening processor (not on the SOC).

International cellular radio support.

Great quality Cellular, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips and antennas, they have to work all the time.

 

Storage:

32 & 64 GB options at a minimum.

SD card slot.

 

Camera:

Min 13 MP sensor with Optical Imaging Stabilisation (I’m going to back it off to 8 MP anyway).

Fast accurate auto focus (I mean fast).

True tone LED flash.

A dedicated camera button on the side.

A decent front facing camera.

 

Speakers:

Front facing Stereo speakers (I like them cut out of the top and bottom of the display like the Sony Z2a)

 

Battery and charging:

Qi charging.

USB C connector.

I’ll take battery life over obsessively thin, I don’t like battery size as a measure but somewhere in the 3500mAh zone with efficient components should get there. It has to last a solid 18 hour day of real world use.

 

Rom:

If you’re going to skin it look at motorolla’s stock + feel, if you can’t do that release a GPE edition as well.

Include tap to wake either way.

I like the “active” notifications of Motorola see what you can do

the inclusion of the “palm” to turn off the screen from android Wear would be useful (I keep trying this on my current phone).

 

Build:

Everything above was an easy decision but I have agonised over the build materials. It’s easy to say I want it to be premium, but what does that mean. Around the front it’s easier, gorilla glass 3 or whatever is the latest (I don’t think sapphire is likely yet) and you’re basically done, most of us will slap a nice glass screen cover on there and we’re happy.

But the rest of the build is difficult. It has to be kind to radios and wireless charging, it has to have a nice hand feel, it has to have holdability, dropability and durability .

~ I have found metal phones (M8) to be premium to hold but slippery and dents easily when dropped (which is worsened by the slipperiness).

~ the Samsung plastic is mostly accepted to be cheap and nasty feeling, if robust .

~ my experience with glass backs is scratches, cracks, smears and smashes.

~ the Nexus 5 soft touch is nice and durable but not exactly premium.

The build of a phone is much more than the materials, it’s the overall execution:

~ does it have the right hand feel and weight distribution?

~ are the components seamlessly integrated or does it feel hacked together in a Lego factory?

~ when looking at the overall design, materials, colours and finish does it equal beauty or blocky?

~ can I customise it, or are their choices, to make this phone truly unique and mine?

 

As this is a please make me this phone post I have to make a choice (have you noticed my procrastination up to here) I am going for:

~ a non-metal unibody design.

~ the material of the 2013 Moto X with standard white and black colour.

~ from the front soft tapered corners with a gentle curve top and bottom (Nexus 5 ish).

~ on the sides a gentle rounded edge (ala Sony Z3).

~ on the back a mostly flat finish with gentle curve to meet and complement the rounded edges.

~ the camera will NOT protrude from the back, the phone will be thick enough to hold it and any spare space will hold battery.

~ The buttons should be metal, slightly raised with soft round edges, the power button on the top right, volume rocker on the top left and the dedicated camera button on the bottom right. As this is a one handed phone this layout will work (sorry lefties about the camera button)

~ the sim tray and SD card door will be precisely engineered into the body so that if you not looking at them you can’t find them.

~ Headphone jack on the top left, USB centred the bottom.

~ You my illustrious OEM may emblazoned you name on either or both of the front and the back, I prefer the back and like the recessed/ etched look on the back if you’re asking.

 

I have created a very very very rough line drawing to express the front look and feel (no photoshop at the moment sorry).

 

So my fellow smartphone devotees, is this smartphone for you? Have I got it perfect or for you is this another travesty of a phone? Answer the survey below or hit up the comments.

 

Thanks D