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The smartphone industry is evolving as ever. With the evolution, some great innovation and concepts come along. Smartphones are no longer just a candy bar shaped devices with some basic features like a screen, a camera, and an average battery capacity. They have come a long way including unique and never seen features. Some features are so unique from others that it creates a benchmark for other brands. Lets take a look at some amazing innovations in smartphones over the years.

Curved Displays

Since years, displays in smartphones were flat as supposed to be. But, Samsung did something different and introduced curved displays on the edges. The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge was one of its kind at that time. It was basically just a Galaxy Note 4 but with one curved edge on the right side of the phones. This was very unique and never done before. Later on this concept was carried forward to Galaxy S series and Galaxy S6 Edge being the first ever phone with dual curved edge screens.

Today, we can find this smartphone concept in various high end devices already like Samsung’s own Galaxy S8, 9, 10 series and even Note 8, 9, 10 series. Other phones like Huawei Mate 20 Pro & P30 Pro and OnePlus 7 Pro have implemented the same.

Flip Cameras

Flip cameras in smartphones are one of the best features at least in the functionality department though some may not like it for the concern of its durability. The best thing about flip camera is that the back camera is the selfie camera which means you’ll get the same crisp and detailed quality for your selfies as well. This smartphone concept was introduced by Oppo way back in 2014 with its Oppo N1. Further down the line, Huawei also introduced its version of flip camera in the form of Huawei Honor 7i.

Currently the best flip camera implementation is executed by Asus in the form of Zenfone 6/Asus 6z. This camera module has dual cameras one being normal lens and the other is ultra wide angle. These too are motorised automated like the Huawei Honor 7i. This smartphone concept certainly opens more possibilities.

In-display Fingerprint Scanner

First of all, fingerprint scanners making its debut in phones is an achievement in itself let alone in-display fingerprint scanner. Fingerprint scanners were initially used in high tech securities but have trickled down to smartphones since then. The iPhone 5s was one of the first to have a physical fingerprint scanner embedded on its home button.

Then came in-display fingerprint scanners which are embedded underneath the display itself. This paved way for a beautiful aesthetic for the back panel on the phones as fingerprint scanners were moved to the front. First ever in-display fingerprint scanner was introduced by Vivo when it announced Vivo X21. This tech currently only works in AMOLED displays but efforts are being made to implement it into LCD panels so that it can be used for mid-range centric smartphones.

Projector in Phone

Yes, you read that right. an actual projector in a phone exists. This phone is Samsung Galaxy Beam and was launched way back in 2012. The perks of this is that media can be consumed in a bigger and wider concept. Galaxy Beam has a projector on top and supposed to be put on a flat surface. Whatever is displayed on the screen would be projected on the screen which can be a white wall in most cases.

Modular Phone

A modular smartphone is a phone made using different components that can be independently upgraded or replaced in a modular design. This aims to reduce electronic waste, lower repair costs and increase user comfort. The most important component is the main board, to which others are attached. The closest example could be the now scrapped Google project ‘Project Ara’.

This smartphone concept could have been revolutionary but unfortunately Google discontinued it. Motorola came up with its own version of modular concept with the Z series. This series is dedicated to attachable mods known as ‘Moto Mods’. Various mods can be attached to unleash the capabilities of the phones. Some of the mods are Battery mod, Gaming mod, Speakers mod, Projector mod etc.

LG also came up with this idea but it failed drastically. It launched the then flagship LG G5 with attachable accessories, but here is where it messed up. The LG G5 had to remove the battery every time to use an accessory as the accessory itself accumulated battery for the phone also. This was just a hassle and the point of having accessory when every time you had to switch off the phone made it not so exciting experience. LG scrapped this smartphone concept and looks like it’s never gonna adapt it until a great solution is found.

Cooling Fan in a Phone

Long gone are the days when only PCs had fans to cool down the internals. A brand has recently come up with a cooling fan inbuilt to a smartphone which will help in cooling down the phone during long hours of gaming. This phone is from ZTE which is Nubia Red Magic 3. It is a gaming phone with top of the line hardware and therefore is quiet thick also as compared to other phones. This is because it has a large battery and a fan to keep things chilling.

Mosquito Repellent Phone

LG announced a mosquito repellent phone, LG K7i and it claimed to repel mosquitoes with ultrasonic waves well atleast that is what the company marketed when it announced it. But it seems like that’s not the case at all. American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) and other groups say it won’t work. Texas A&M University entomology professor Dr. Roger Gold spent years running studies that have debunked ultrasonic bug repellant as well. According to the AMCA: “At least 10 studies in the past 15 years have unanimously denounced ultrasonic devices as having no repellency value whatsoever.” The organization goes on to say that nevertheless, the tech has proven to be an “exceedingly effective marketing tool for the repeller manufacturers.”

This smartphone concept may have failed miserably but it sure had potential and a new and innovative way to repel mosquitoes especially in a nuisance mosquito place.

Dual Screen Phone

When one screen is not enough. This means that one screen would be on the front as it normally would and the other screen on the rear side of the phone under the rear camera itself. The first phone to implement this was the Yotaphone which had a LCD display on the front and a capacitive grayscale display on the back same used in Amazon’s Kindles. The advantage of the back display would be same same purpose an ink display would perform, reading content, battery efficiency and others.

Recently, more and more phone with dual displays have been emerging with better screens on both the sides. In the age of bezel less phones, this phones can be utilised to the fullest as only a back camera module is required and the front display is all screen. The latest entrant of this smartphone concept is the Nubia Z20 which is an all-round beast with high end specs. The back display of the Z20 is 5.1 inch AMOLED panel and when that screen is not in use, one cannot say that there is an display on back of the phone.

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