With a plethora of new smartphones flooding the market each month, many designers are looking for ways that they can improve their designs and create a product that helps them stand out from the crowd. With the reasonable PCB design software from Altium making the design process a whole lot easier than it’s ever been, it is innovation and an understanding of what consumers want that is what differentiates an average smartphone from one that is truly extraordinary. Here, we’ll take a look at just what makes a good smartphone in the eyes of the majority of consumers.
Screen Resolution and Quality
With designers already achieving the smallest smartphone, and many people being quite happy to use ‘phablets’, what consumers are now placing a lot of interest into is screen resolution. The display is the first thing a user sees when they turn their smartphone on, and a screen that has a higher number of pixels is one that is clearer to the user. As a designer, you want to look for ways to incorporate a high-resolution screen into your design. Another thing to consider is the type of screen, with AMOLED and LCD being the most common. LCD screens currently have the advantage here due to their greater viewing angles and better color accuracy.
An Excellent Camera
Very few people carry a personal camera around with them anymore, opting instead to use their smartphone to take photos when on the go. It goes without saying, then, that a good smartphone should have a good camera. Megapixels are obviously very important here, but with most smartphones now including high megapixel cameras, consumers are looking for that extra something. Your camera design should, ideally, take the perfect shot. It shouldn’t be overexposed, blurry or out of focus. It should also be able to be used in different weather conditions. Designers who can overcome these obstacles are those who will succeed.
Battery Life
Another thing that consumers are overly concerned with is the battery life of their smartphone. Ideally, the battery of your phone should last for a whole day with moderate use. Designers who can create smartphones with even longer battery life will have a unique selling point that very few are able to consistently achieve. Remember when building your PCB that you’ll want to consider heat-wicking technology and efficient design; two things which can sap the battery life of a phone and make it clunky to use. Manage to get this right, though, and you’ll have something special on your hands. Manage to create a smartphone that lasts for over 24 hours with moderate use and others will be asking how you managed to do it!
Smartphone design is something that is incredibly important at the moment as many of the big design studios look for ways to improve the devices already on the market. The above are three things that consumers are most interested in right now, but many are open to other innovations that they currently don’t realize they need.
