We have seen so many flagship smartphones in 2014 but each one just seems to miss out on something. It’s very hard to get that perfect smartphone. Oneplus tried to address that with their flagship killer, The Oneplus One, however that smartphone also misses out on some hardware qualities because of low price point. For this dream smartphone, we are putting the cost aside and purely focusing on a smartphone with no compromises. Granted, the choice of the operating system (iOS vs Android) will come down to personal preference but let’s focus on the hardware for now. MKBHD has recently published a video that focuses on this very same topic. So let’s summarize the desired points and add some missing components to this dream smartphone.
Users typically complain about screen size, camera, speakers, battery life, performance, and design. So we will focus on those very topics.
Display (Screen)
MKBHD mentioned a 5.5″ QHD Display (1440px, 550 ppi), which is great. However, that quad HD display is not necessary as after 1080p you can’t notice a clear difference in picture quality. In addition, quad HD displays are very heavy on the battery and performance. So for the screen we are picking 5.2-inch SuperAMOLED 1080 x 1920 pixels (424 ppi). The 5.2-inch screen size provides smaller dimensions for the phone and better battery life than higher resolution screens. The AMOLED screen will be ideal for ambient display introduced with the Nexus 6 and Android 5.0 Lollipop.
Camera
For the camera, I agree that Samsung Galaxy Note 4 sensor is very good. The first pick was the iPhone 6 Plus 8MP camera but since this is our dream smartphone I would go for 16MP sensor present in Samsung Galaxy Note 4. It is an ISOCELL sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), f/2.2 aperture and 1.12um pixels. The higher mega pixel count provides more detail in the picture, which is perfect for zooming in and cropping pictures without losing picture quality. Apple seems to have perfected the image processing game, so I would like to have iPhone’s image processing together with this ISOCELL 16MP camera. I would keep the HTC One M8 Front facing camera with 5 MP, 1080p@30fps, HDR capability.
Performance
For performance I’m replacing the Snapdragon 805 with Snapdragon 810 processor with a 20nm 8-core 64bit CPU. The Snapdragon 810 combines Quad-core ARM® Cortex™ A57 and quad-core A53 and provides Adreno 430 GPU and 3GB RAM.
There is also support for 4G LTE CAT6, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.1, Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology. The Snapdragon 810 also comes with support for NFC. This processor will be more than capable to handle games and process heavy apps of the future. ” The Snapdragon 810 processor offers highly advanced features, performance and power-efficient design.”
Battery
I was very impressed with the 3900 mAh battery in the Motorola Droid Turbo. A 4000 mAh battery would be even better but the smaller size of the AMOLED display will make up for that difference and bigger battery also needs more space in the phone. So for my dream smartphone, I would like a 3500 mAh battery, which should be enough to last for two full days of usage. With the 5.2-inch 1080p AMOLED display, the 3500 mAh battery will leave no room for battery life complaints.
Speakers
The speakers are very important part of the smartphone as they provide better video playback and gaming experience along with rich notifications. I am a big fan of HTC’s boom sound duel front facing stereo speakers, so I am picking those exact speakers for my dream smartphone.
Design
For many, the design of the phone is the most important aspect. With the introduction of Nexus 6, everyone was very shocked with the huge size of the device. MKBHD talked about having 5.5-inch display with very narrow bezels, but I think that narrow bezels are not very user friendly as they will register unwanted touch inputs. The bigger screen does have its benefits but has even more drawbacks. For instance, while the screen size is nice for watching movies, browsing the web, and playing games; the bigger size means battery life takes a hit and the phone is hard to use with just one hand. I have always been attracted by bigger screens but anything more than 5.2-inches gets hard to manage with one hand. Thus, my dream smartphone will have dimensions of 5.54 x 2.85 x 0.37 inch (146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm), which ensures ease of use with better battery life.
Operating System
With the recent update of Android to version 5.0 Lollipop, Google has finally released an operating system that manages to perform and look like the perfect operating system for a smartphone. Keeping that in mind, Android 5.0 is clearly the right choice for my dream smartphone. However, the choice of operating system comes down to personal preference.
The Dream Smartphone Specifications:
- Display (Screen): 5.2-inch AMOLED 1080 x 1920 pixels (424 ppi)
- Camera: 16 MP, 5312 x 2988 pixels, f/2.2, OIS, iPhone image processing (5 MP Front)
- Performance: Snapdragon 810 (8core, 64bit), Adreno 430, 3 GB of Ram
- Battery: 3500 mAh with Motorola Turbo Charging
- Speakers: Dual Front-facing stereo speakers
- Design: 5.54 x 2.85 x 0.37 inch (146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm)
- Operating System: Android
What is your dream smartphone? Please tell us in the comments below.
I am officially a tech addict and enjoy providing my views on matters related to this industry. I am always interested in trying out new tech gadgets and I have owned multiple smartphones including the legendary HTC One, SGS2, Nexus 4, iPhone 4, 5S, 6S, XR, Note 9. You can ask me any tech related questions in the comment section or on twitter @hookedNav