With recent rumours suggesting that the new Samsung Galaxy S4 may contain ’eye scroll’ technology, it got me questioning whether smartphones are simply too smart? Do we really get the full use out of our phones? Plus, are all these features worth the loss of battery life?
Personally, I hardly use any of the features on offer on my 8X – I have my social media apps, use the music player, email and messaging apps, but I know I’ve hardly touched the surface with what I can do with the phone: I only discovered Wallet the other day!
I will admit that I use my Nexus 7 for a lot more: I work from it and use it a lot more for apps and editing, so I feel like I get slightly more use out of that, but still I know I could do a lot more with it and my tech in general – I don’t even have my 8X hooked up to my Xbox account.
I’m sure I’m not alone in this, so I posed the question to Twitter and had some great replies with most people feeling the same way. Even Rachid, who I like to think of as an Android Guru, was sure there’s more he could do with his phone:
@lauralouise90 They aren’t smart, they allow us to be smart ;P I get a hell of a lot out of mine….
— Rachid (@le3ky) March 6, 2013
@lauralouise90 …but I reckon I’m still barely touching the boundary
— Rachid (@le3ky) March 6, 2013
So if even the smartest of users feel they aren’t even touching the boundary with features on phones, do we need more fancy features that either don’t get used or eat up all our battery life?
As Rachid said, phones allow us to be smart; however the problem with having such a smart phone is that the battery life drains super fast. You’re lucky to get a full day with most smartphones; half a day is a bonus if you frequently use them – therefore why can’t the battery life of phones match their brains?
I’d happily give up some of the features on my 8X in exchange for a better battery; after all the main reason for having a phone is to communicate with people – all the added extras are just a bonus.
So here’s my message to the phone giants: Focus less on the fancy faddy features and increase the battery life!
About Laura Hogan
22 year old Windows phone owner, Android tablet user and Macbook lover.
I can be found @lauralouise90 or dunking a biscuit in a fresh brew!
