Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 206 posts

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#171

Post by Laforet »

rubber_duck wrote: post #111
lips wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I carried a G1 with two spare batteries when doing documentary work. It was lovely. I didn't have to hunt for outlets or deal with using the phone while plugged into a battery pack. If the phone is a widely used model, it's often not difficult to find new-old stock for a while. I gave this list of "not cares" a several year window of context. It's pretty obvious OP doesn't want a bag-phone, but might be perfectly hap…

You can buy a portable charger, not as convenient but also designed for carrying around unlike batteries (honestly carrying around an unprecedented fully charged battery in pockets (bag or clothes) sounds dangerous)

It's not quite like E-cig users and their naked 18650 cells.

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#172

Post by yoz-y »

izzydata wrote: post #109
justinhj wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you'd be fine with a flip phone from 10 years ago and a small high quality camera. You don't seem to be the target audience for the latest smartphones.

I doubt most people that own expensive smartphones utilize them and could do with much less.

I am quite sure they use them at least for the camera, facebook, instagram and the odd game. Why would they not want to get decent performance?

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#173

Post by kbutler »

evo_9 wrote: post #75
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #48

Things I don't particularly care about in a phone: - Bezel size - Weight - Thickness - Manufacturer-specific apps and skins - Screen resolution beyond that of my eyes - Fastest possible processor Things I care about in a phone: - Ability to make calls - Battery life - Replaceable battery - Fits in my pocket - Expandable storage - Durable - Decent camera - Inexpensive - Gets security updates And what do the latest pho…

Your personal needs are vastly different from the actual market; otherwise what you desire would be more aligned with what manufacturers are making. It's easy to think manufacturers ignore what the market wants but this is rarely the case. The phones being offered are more or less what people are asking for.

> Your personal needs are vastly different from the actual market; otherwise what you desire would be more aligned with what manufacturers are making.

An economist sees a $100 bill on the ground, but refuses to pick it up because if it were real, someone else would have already taken it.

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#174

Post by martin_henk »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #72
martin_henk wrote: post #3

It is probably the same tech as Sharp Crystal phone for Sprint. Foxconn bought Sharp and starts peddling its tech?

No, a friend of mine works in the startup Elliptic Labs that is working with Xiaomi on this. Their tech replaces the usual IR sensor package above the phone screen with an ultrasound based sensor that can sit behind the display.

I see... Would like to know how they do the bezel less part construction wise. Sharp uses the topglass as a kind of lens. That lenseffect 'covers' the actual bezel beneath...

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#175

Post by simplexion »

mrmrben wrote: post #40
neals wrote: post #4

Without the bezels, all our phones will look the same. We'll be holding a slab of pixels with some OS, with some voice-activated assistent, with some apps. More or less the same. Even more so than now.

Once we went to slabs with the original iPhone all our phones have generally looked the same. Thus this already happened.

"Once we went to slabs with the original LG Prada all our phones have generally looked the same."

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#176

Post by stiGGG »

vacri wrote: post #153
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've never had the need to put a case on any of my Android phones Me neither, but some people just manage somehow to smash a lot of phones at a record pace. No idea how they do it. There's a market for phone bumpers, and there's a reason for it.

That market exploded dramatically because of "you're holding it wrong". Before then, it wasn't so common to see phones in bumpers.

I remember a lot of people with these cases: http://www.fotokontorbilder.de/bilder300/50202.gif

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#177

Post by illicium »

GFischer wrote: post #118
Leynos wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 4 years ago, Sony Ericsson made an Android 2.3 phone called the Xperia Ray. It had a 3.7" 960x480 screen. I used it for 2 years (and again for another year after I broke the Huawei P6 I replaced it with). By the end of that time, it was really past its useable life. Not on account of build quality, battery life, or screen realestate. In all those respects it was fantastic, and still perfectly functional as a fe…

Quite a lot of people have asked me about a small but powerful Android phone, and there are none! It's incredible, but all companies go in the same direction. In the very few instances when they do innovate, they go in really odd directions (curve displays, in-built projectors), but they don't address basic stuff like size or physical keyboard.

That is because: powerful = power hungry = requires a large battery != small.

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#178

Post by GFischer »

morsch wrote: post #157
GFischer wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not the only one. But most diversions from the norm failed :( and large companies are afraid to innovate. LG's attempts are weird. My hope is now on Chinese companies like Xiaomi to do something different :) Also, Google hinders innovation by preventing hardware buttons. I miss the Photo button from my old Nokias the most, but also to answer the phone and other functions.

How is Google preventing hardware buttons? Sony's most recent phones (Xperia X) have dedicated photo buttons; and that's a longstanding Xperia feature. I doubt they're the only ones. Android defaults to on-screen bottom-row buttons (to reduce bezel size), but the OS supports off-screen buttons just fine, and phones with dedicated buttons exist.

I'm obviously mistaken then, sorry. I believe I read that at one time there were some rules or guidelines for hardware manufacturers that wanted to be Google certified (and have Play Store and all that). I'm trying to google that and coming up short, so I must have been confused.

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#179

Post by Eiriksmal »

justinhj wrote: post #60
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #48

Things I don't particularly care about in a phone: - Bezel size - Weight - Thickness - Manufacturer-specific apps and skins - Screen resolution beyond that of my eyes - Fastest possible processor Things I care about in a phone: - Ability to make calls - Battery life - Replaceable battery - Fits in my pocket - Expandable storage - Durable - Decent camera - Inexpensive - Gets security updates And what do the latest pho…

Sounds like you'd be fine with a flip phone from 10 years ago and a small high quality camera. You don't seem to be the target audience for the latest smartphones.

You know they make a few slick Android flip-phones, right? The newest generation of the Samsung Galaxy Folder was announced a few weeks ago. LG also offers one, the Wine Smart.

Personally, I fit your description to a tee. My phone is a Samsung Convoy 2 (the 3 and 4 are inferior) from ~5 years ago. My camera is a small Canon EOS 1200D/Rebel T5. Even the cheapo 18-55mm kit lens that comes with the camera takes better pictures than an iPhone 7.

The cheap camera paired with a cheap prime lens (I paid $90 for a CEF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens) results in jaw-dropping clarity and dreamy depth of field blurs that no phone will ever match--until we overcome the physical limitations of current camera technology requiring light to shine onto a sensor.

The Convoy 2 packs a camera equivalent to an iPhone 3G. It gets the job done fine in daylight, and is passable in dark settings. The LED flash is almost excessively bright.

Personally, I have no problem carrying both with me. The only time I'm surprised by something I'd like to take a high-quality picture of is of another car I see while driving. So even if I had a 2016-level smart phone, the picture's still going to mostly be of a dirty windshield and my car's A-pillar. (Plus, you know, the whole dangerous and illegal caveats.)

They make much smaller cameras than mine that still take great pictures. I suppose someone out there really does drag around both devices with them. I'd expect that number to increase somewhat as mirror-less interchangeable lens tech continues to rapidly improve.

Re: Xiaomi unveils concept phone with near bezel-less display

#180

Post by mey »

Laforet wrote: post #170
mey wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This honestly in general has me leery of Android as an ecosystem in general. I also don't like iOS's approach in other realms either. So it's essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place.

In general avoid obscure models, more popular hardware generally have much better community support and development. Having an unlockable bootloader is a bonus but not essential in all cases.

That's why I bought a Motorola flagship phone when they were owned by Google, with very few custom OS changes beyond ASOP... I've been bitten at least once by most mfgs at this point, HTC, Motorola, Samsung.
Post reply on HN