Rumours about the next Apple, LG and Samsung flagships have started popping up everywhere. Everyone’s nattering on about screen size, processor type and amount of RAM they all could be equipped with. Whilst all this hardware and software is important, there are other much more exciting smartphone features that need to be improved or added. These are features that can massively improve the way we use our smartphones and we can only hope that every smartphone will one day come equipped with them.
Improved wireless charging
Wireless charging, despite making us feel like we’re in the future, still has a long way to go. A lot of wireless charging pads or stands are temperamental for the most part and require you to place the phone in a certain area. If you accidentally knock your phone out of position, you then have to fiddle around placing the phone back into position. Not every smartphone gets wireless charging, either. Those like the Sony Xperia Z3 and LG G4 require you to spend extra cash to get a case that makes them wireless charge compatible. We only hope that the LG, Apple and other manufacturers follow Samsung and add built-in wireless charging to their next flagship devices, but only if they can make them easier to use and less fidgety.
Higher-quality front facing cameras
Manufacturers usually push rear-facing cameras as a smartphone’s main selling point, which means front-facing cameras can often be overlooked. Most phone brands fit front-facing cameras that don’t often exceed 5MP on their devices, which is a shame. The ASUS ZenFone Selfie broke this trend with its 13MP-front facing camera, which is a seriously good quality snapper. With so many of us using smartphones for video calls and or taking selfies at summer events like Glastonbury 2015, is a high-quality front-facing camera too much to ask for?
Dual cameras
Most smartphones nowadays have a refocusing effect that allows you to adjust the focus of a photograph after you’ve taken it. However, none impressed us as much as the Honor 6+‘s refocusing feature. This is helped by the two 8MP cameras on the Honor 6+’s rear. Both use different focus settings and this allows you to create some truly stunning focus effects unlike those of any other phone. It’s also very easy to use and, considering the Honor 6+ costs half the price of the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6, shows you don’t have to pay a premium for this fantastic feature.
Stress-free fingerprint scanning
Fingerprint technology has been on smartphones for a while now, but none have really impressed us as much as the Samsung Galaxy S6‘s fingerprint scanner. A huge improvement over the S5’s buggy fingerprint scanner, it was easy to set up and we used it as our preferred unlocking method. With news that fingerprint technology will be used more widely on phones running the Android M operating system, all of next year’s flagships will miss out if they don’t use fingerprint technology like Samsung’s.
More well-designed cases
A good smartphone case can help prevent your £600 smartphone getting a cracked screen or unsightly scratches. That’s vital for outdoor trips or events like Glastonbury 2015 where the elements are a danger. Most share one problem, however: they can often make a well-designed phone look very ordinary.
That’s not a problem for most devices. But when you’ve got the gorgeous Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, which has a design that demands a £100 premium over the regular Galaxy S6, you don’t want to cover it up with a boring case.
Samsung themselves clocked onto this and released the Clear View case for the S6 edge. Not only does it protect the smartphone, but it ensures its unique design isn’t hidden away. It’d be a waste for LG, Apple and Samsung to create a beautifully designed flagship smartphone and not provide cases that highlight their work.
What feature do you want to see on the next batch of smartphones? Do you think we’ve missed some important ones? Let us know in the comments below.