The Smartphone landscape has both peaked and plateaued. Design wise, phones haven't offered much innovation over the last 10 years. Curved screens were easier to damage (and ridiculously expensive to repair)....Wait, was there any physical improvements mainline smartphones offered up asides from Samsungs dud curved screen & slightly tougher bodies?
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| Pretty cool, now you can accidentally touch your screen just by holding your phone |
Regardless, we've hit a wall, the only major innovation all of these manufactures ever seem to offer are more ways to achieve quicker planned obsolescence.
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| a VERY generous comparison of Smartphone designs. It's not easy to find comparisons of current models (with the screen off), as they'd be so indistinguishable, it'd be pointless |
But I'll lay it out for you, I'm sure I'm not the only person who sees this. Mobile gaming still hasn't had a truly significant, exclusive title. Sure, the money is there, we live in a capitalist environment in which it's the only thing that matters. But honestly, what are your exclusive smartphone/device games? Games born on the platform that didn't fizzle out like an Angry Birds or become dependent on addicts like a Candy Crush Saga?
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| Subway Surfers, one of the most popular mobile games with over a billion downloads. A simple runner game with not much else going gameplay wise...a billion downloads |
Even Nintendo placed some of their prized IP's on Mobile devices like Mario, Pokemon or Animal Crossing, but those games didn't even originate on Mobile/Touch Screen devices and definitely weren't considered masterpieces or classics (despite Pokemon Go's massive cultural impact). Asides from the mobile game design becoming almost entirely dependent on a micro-transaction model (which is another lengthy conversation), there isn't much that pushes the control scheme as something that has it's own major perks in comparison to VR, AR, motion controls or our standard controllers.
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| Pokemon Go: Probably the best exclusively mobile game of all time, which uses your devices camera & GPS functions for gameplay...Still not fundamentally a great game in itself though. |
Gaming Smartphones did try to happen
Physical controllers on mobile devices were barely a blip on the smartphone design timeline, we had the Sony Xperia Play, which showed a tonne of promise (and is excellent for playing retro ROMs) and a few China exclusive gaming smartphones with physical controls. But these form factors never took off and we've been left with devices that haven't left their comfort zones for over a decade. This is probably down to the ease of designing and manufacturing devices with very little buttons or moving parts, in fact this design choice is probably a compete steal considering just how much these corporations roll out new models, an upgrade, each year featuring a camera, processor and software upgrade and not much else... easy money.
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| iReadyGo Much W1 / Snail Mobile 78P01 |
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| iReadyGo's PSVita Smartphone clone |
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| Sony's Xperia Play, a great format for keeping buttons concealed and safe from wear |
The Pitch?
So the market is ripe for an innovative heist and here is how you do it: -
- Bring back Physical Controls
This can be near minimal, a mobile device with a slide out, clam-shell, detachable or front facing D-Pad, four buttons and left/right shoulder buttons. Two analogue sticks would be a great addition for FPS (First Person Shooters), one of the most popular genres and the only extras you would really need.
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"Not a phone": This slide out/clam-shell design maybe the best to protect physical controls  |
- A solid line up of platform Exclusive Games
Imagine a new contender or a established manufacturer creating a new/off-shoot brand of Smartphones, aimed at the hardcore/diversified gamer audiences, those who play a variation of game genres, with changing levels of depth. The main thing ANY platform needs are the games, they'll need an easy to get into MMO, a fun FPS, a Beat 'em up, racing games, sports titles, RPG's and some other unique exclusives. A platfrom with games that simply look fun to play and are "worth a try", is already a massive step to building an audience that's already ripe for harvest.
- Deliver a Solid, Flexible OS
Going down the Apple route of having a highly tight knit device with little permissions for the end user would be the capitalists only vision, control the OS, hardware and software, gate-keep to control the cash flow. But, unless you're promising a 5-star quality library or a (curated) Steam like library, it'll be a hindrance building a loyal user base. This idea could work with a basic or modified Android OS, plus, the option to install emulators would instantly open the doors to a massive audience of retro gaming enthusiasts.
- Hardware and Software exclusive functions
This would tie neatly to the gaming experience, albeit, the most difficult, tying hand-in-hand with "exclusive games" taking advantage of the smartphones hardware; Bluetooth (for sharing data), NFT (touch scan functions), Wi-Fi/Data (online gaming, uploading and downloading), Cameras (AR games), Compass/GPS/Pedometer (AR/Real world interaction). Even if some of your games are 'Timed Exclusives', you still end up with a unique experience.
- But there's more...
If you device, can offer a quasi-social network experience, storing all of their gaming data (Similar to Steam, PSN or XBOX Live), instant/voice messaging, friend-lists, OS exclusive avatars (i.e, Mii's), trophies, functions similar to the 3DS families "Streetpass" and maybe even a gaming hub world similar to Miitomo, Habbo Hotel or The Sims, even a simplified version of Animal Crossing (Imagine a customizible personal hub, others can visit). With something like this, you could hit a sweet spot between gimmick and game changer.
Overall, smartphones going in this direction feels inevitable, either that or handheld consoles become "part time smartphones". With the right team behind it, going in the right direction, it's a concept with endless potential. Similar to the days right before the advent of the iPhone, the obvious direction is right there, it's just up to the manufacturers to help make it happen.