Survival of the Thinnest
As you know, I occasionally like to post non-identity silly stuff: that’s one of those cases!
I was digging in my old phones stash searching for a specific SIM card, and I couldn’t help noticing how the shape of the devices appeared to favor specific traits through time – which I like to think have been Darwinianly selected by consumer’s preferences. Namely, those traits appear to be:
- increasingly large screens
- progressively thinner bodies
- shedding of the hardware keyboard
Pretty self-evident, you say… and you are probably right. But still, actually observing those guys side by side makes the process very tangible.
The models shown above are:
– HTC S730 – the last survivor of a long list of Windows Mobile devices I handled, and the last phone I owned actually resembling a phone. Luckily my Universal hit eBay long ago, otherwise it would have ruined my pretty progression… OTOH the Motorola MPX200 (not sure what happened to it) would have been perfectly on trend.
– LG GW910– first Windows Phone 7 device I developed with, basically a prototype I conquered by getting a very good placement in the speakers ranking of the PDC during which we unveiled it 
nice physical keyboard with arrow keys.
– Dell Venue Pro – Yes, I loved physical keyboards so much that I went through all the troubles of tracking one and coping with all the initial issues it was plagued with. Hardware-wise, it was a fantastic phone.
– HTC 8x – Very good device, although not the one I wanted… unfortunately T-Mobile does not carry decent Nokias. I am still using it as the primary phone, for the reasons below.
– Nokia Lumia 1520 – an absolute dream. Awesome hardware, amazing software. Gorgeous screen, super fast and super responsive, incredible camera… its only drawback, and it’s unfortunately an enormous one, is that even if you buy the full price version (as I did) AT&T won’t unlock it, and that fact has a long list of drawbacks I won’t detail here to avoid degenerating in a rant but apart from that, one of the best devices I’ve ever laid fingers on.
I guess the bottom line is that both hardware and software are evolving at exceptional pace… I am wondering if the thinner/larger screen trends will continue, or if we are close to some inflection point that will lead to something completely different. What do you think?