Strategy Analytics latest look at its spec-tracking (hence the name) SpecTRAX database of wireless devices has unearthed a few juicy tidbits of information, none more notable than the fact that phone thickness is at a new all-time low -- 13.96mm on average, the first time the metric has ever fallen below 14mm (for comparison, Motorola's original DynaTAC clocked in around 89mm, so we're making some solid improvement there). USB penetration is at a new high, too, supported by some 85 percent of newly-entered devices in the database, and battery life is up 25 percent from two years ago. Of course, that's still not nearly long enough -- battery tech is falling dangerously behind virtually every other technology that goes into the making of a mobile device, sadly -- but we'll take any improvement we can get.
[Via
MobileTechNews]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dave @ Oct 10th 2009 9:55PM
3 year old samsung x820 still making thin phones look fat... :-D
TouchMe @ Oct 10th 2009 11:03PM
the razr started it all.
unless you're an apple fan, in which case the iphone started it all.
Joe @ Oct 11th 2009 11:29AM
I would definitely love to see less emphasis on making phones smaller and adding features, and more focus on battery life. I'm pretty sure that phones are a good size nowadays. We're not carrying around 2 lb bricks anymore, except for costumes/jokes. One would think that the thinner these phones get, the more likely they are to fail, from lack of durability.
Yoshiki @ Oct 12th 2009 3:09AM
samsung u106 5.9mm i have one xD
SpecTRAX @ Oct 12th 2009 10:42AM
You're right Joe. I make exactly that point in my report (http://tinyurl.com/yabxjzl) that the trend to thin phones can't go on forever. Yes the Samsung Ultra series uses amazing technology to make it so thin (TouchMe is right about the RAZR starting it all http://tinyurl.com/yllsfjv and Samsung has developed it further) but I'd be scared to put the U106 in my pocket in case it breaks when I sit down or bend over, Yoshiki! And battery technology really needs to catch up. The "energy gap" in cellphones is growing (http://tinyurl.com/csmyfr) because improvements in component power consumption and battery chemistries aren't sufficient to offset the growth in feature penetration and application usage. We really need something like fuel cell technology, Silver Zinc and/or some other chemistry to take over from Li-Ion and give us a 30% or 50% jump in energy density, instead of the pitiful 8% improvement that Li-Ion is able to give each year despite massive investment in R&D. We live in hope.