What exactly do you want from your smartphone?

Android, IPhone doesn’t matter for this… I just have been thinking a bit lately about how everyone is wowed or disappointed with new releases and I have to ask myself, what are people wanting from phones that they aren’t currently getting?

Years ago, there was a huge feature war with phones coming out all competing for the next big selling point feature, the next spec sheet topping device or gimmick that changed how you use your phone but really, I have to wonder, what are phones missing at the moment that people are clamoring for.

I am willing to concede that phones have ‘gotten a little bit boring’ on the whole but is that necessarily a bad thing? For me what I want most from my phone are a few things: 1. Battery life able to last the whole day at least under regular use. 2. To nail the fundamentals, ie. Texting, calls, email, web browsing, basic function apps. 3. To have a good enough camera setup to not make me reach for a dedicated camera for everyday use. 4. Have a good enough screen to consume the media I watch or listen to on the phone. 5. Be durable enough to take the rigors of life under everyday use. 6. Have a solid and supported os experience where I’m not forced to upgrade devices because of a sudden end to support.

For me, most modern phones do this. My 13pro still does this. For a device that’s become an extension of one’s everyday life and reached for at the same time as car keys and a wallet to make sure you ‘have the bare minimum with you’, I can’t often see why so many seem upset with the lack of major developments and changes in the cell phone space. I do get why people like foldable phones in that they can offer the best of both worlds for some use case scenarios, but I’ve never found myself in a situation where my phones screen size limited me in a way where if I had a bigger phone, I couldn’t have also been more comfortable solving that with a tablet, laptop, desktop or tv experience.

So what is it that I’m missing. Why do people seem bored with phones or lambast the lack of innovation these days?