It's been some time since we've seen a truly "revolutionary" smartphone shake up the market.
We've become accustomed to certain form factors – the feel of them in our palm and the ways in which they're used. While there are projects that push the envelope, we're yet to see any actually hit it big.
OEMs such as LG and Samsung have made recent attempts to alter the way we interact with handsets featuring curved displays with the LG G Flex and Samsung Galaxy Round. But on the fringes, there are a few companies stepping outside the box and developing smartphones that just may change the way we think about and use them entirely.
Project Ara
After Google sold Motorola to Lenovo earlier this year, the Mountain View conglomerate made sure to keep the company's Advanced Technology And Projects (ATAP) group, including a number of projects that were in the works.
One of those developments, Ara, is a real moonshot project. It is a modular phone concept that lets users swap out interchangeable components and parts of the main module, allowing for the upgrading of parts or "blocks" completely by hand.
The Ara team is making strides, with the first of three Ara Developer Conferences to be staged on 15-16 April in Mountain View, California.
The group credited with the original idea, Phonebloks recently provided a video update on the progress of Ara and its team at Google. The video demonstrates how electro-permanent magnets will ensure the blocks remain secure for real-world use.
The end goal of Ara is to provide users with a device that doesn't need to be thrown away when it's time to upgrade, encouraging them instead to add more advanced blocks whenever they deem change is necessary.
YotaPhone
Russian phone manufacturer Yota Devices recently launched the YotaPhone; a handset with an LCD front display and e-paper rear display panel.
The idea behind the dual setup is simple – battery consumption. The YotaPhone takes Motorola's active display notifications to another level, with the e-paper display serving as an always-on display to present notifications and information for users to deter them from sapping the LCD panel with wakes.
The phone makes clever use of the always-on feature by allowing users to make a screen cap of any content on the main display using a two-finger swipe gesture and display it on the e-paper panel; ideal for reminders or information users need on hand.
The company is already in talks to release a second-generation YotaPhone later this year, with a full touch e-paper panel.
Fairphone
Coming from a more organic level, there's the Fairphone. It aims to make consumers more aware of the social and environmental impacts surrounding the purchase of electronics. The company recently announced it was producing 35,000 Fairphones in its second batch, having made 25,000 in its first batch in November.
So what's "fair" about the Fairphone?
- They source conflict-free materials and minerals
- They're promoting fair wages, reasonable hours and good working conditions for supply chain workers
- Each purchase grants funding to global e-waste recycling initiatives
- Their long-term goal involves the creation of a completely recyclable phone, free from plastics and toxins
The Fairphone won't blow away consumers with its specs. The handset sports a 4.3-inch qHD display, a quad-core 1.2GHz MediaTek chip, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage expandable up to an additional 64GB via micro SD, powered by Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and sustained by a 2,000mAh battery.
By comparison, the outgoing Samsung Galaxy S4 – which can be picked up for roughly the same price as the Fairphone, $480 – comes with a 5.0-inch FullHD display, a quad-core Snapdragon 600 chip clocked at 1.9GHz, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage expandable by another 64GB via micro SD, a guaranteed Android 4.4.2 KitKat update and a 2,600mAh battery.
If it lets you sleep at night knowing you're ethically sound, the compromise in a FairPhone should well make up for what you're evidently missing out on in specs. It's what the company describes as a "movement", one that aims to put "ethical considerations first". It changes the way we view what goes into manufacturing devices and from where materials are sourced.
Blackphone
For those who hold privacy close to their heart, private communications firm Silent Circle has teamed up with Spanish manufacturer Geeksphone to launch the Blackphone. Blackphone runs on PrivatOS, a forked version of Android that removes all user-tracking components of Google's OS and goes so far as to provide its own Silent Circle apps.
The suite of apps currently includes Silent Phone, Silent Text and Silent Contacts, which encrypt all related user data and file transfers to other users with Silent apps.
The phone grants private browsing through a VPN service from Disconnect, while access to a secure cloud service is provided by SpiderOak. Both of these products are free for a two-year subscription with the purchase of the Blackphone. Beyond that, users are expected to either purchase new subscriptions or upgrade their Blackphone.
The company began taking preorders in February, following Mobile Congress World 2014, but the device is marked as sold out on its website. The Blackphone is expected to ship in June of this year.
InTechnology was appointed the first distributor for Australia by Silent Circle at the start of the year, though the distie was not sure whether it would bring the Blackphone down under.
Amazon Phone
Here's one that is still in the realms of speculation. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is set to debut its smartphone in June with a 3D interface that does away with the need for glasses.
Hoping to bolster the thriving ecosystem established with its Kindle Fire and more recently, Fire TV products, the Amazon Phone is expected to incorporate the company's forked version of Android, Fire OS.
It is said that the front of the phone will feature a standard front-facing camera, but could be accompanied by an additional four front-facing cameras that work in conjunction with a range of sensors to yield a 3D effect. These cameras will track the user's eye movement.
Since the phone is not yet official, leaks of specs and photos are the only "proof" that exists at the moment, but if and when it eventuates it could just be the device to bring together Amazon's extensive library of media content across its range of devices.
A high-end smartphone would seem to fly in the face of one of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' previously stated principles – that we "want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy devices".
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