Wow, I read "the ability to navigate the interface using eye movement, and the inclusion of an adhesive case that allows the phone to be attached to surfaces" and thought: gimmicky eye navigation feature that doesn't work and massive lint problem.
Am I so cynical that I can't understand how great this phone is? Or are the people they're asking for ideas idiots?
That was exactly what I thought when I first read of this.
Eye navigation is an utterly brain dead idea - simply because it _forces_ you to actually look away from what you're doing in order to navigate. It's so stupid I can't even think of a fitting simile of something equally stupid. It's like ... tying your legs together to walk more efficiently?
Of course, as an accessibility feature, this has its uses - and as such, should be available on _all_ phones. Making smart devices more accessible to those with various handicaps is a worthy goal, after all.
Also, self-adhesive backing? Why not just convince one of the bajillion makers of "gecko pads" and the like to start making phone cases? Then you could get whatever phone you like, and still have it covered in _all_ the dust. (Also, a case is actually removable and washable, unlike most phones' backs.)
> Of course, as an accessibility feature, this has its uses - and as such, should be available on _all_ phones. Making smart devices more accessible to those with various handicaps is a worthy goal, after all.
Making "all" phones more expensive for everyone for the sake of making them more accessible to a vanishingly small percentage of the population is not a worthy goal, quite the opposite.
Eye tracking, at least in decent lighting conditions, should be feasible through software with standard FFCs of reasonable quality. It's the software that's lacking. And if Google actually made the effort to integrate this into Android (as they've done with countless other "expensive" concepts) it would essentially be free.
Also, arguing against accessibility features because of "cost" does place you in the running for "ableist a**hole of the year." Congratulations. You might consider checking your privilege ever so slightly, perhaps from time to time considering the perspectives of people different from yourself. Your apparent ideological stance that "tech is for the able bodied and/or the rich" has some inherent logical, philosophical and ethical flaws. Just saying.
"The adhesive case is being billed as a convenient feature, and while I don't really see the use of it, it's obviously something that was proposed to ZTE and supported by enough users that it was chosen to be put into production"
And as we know, customers always know exactly what they want.
To be fair there are niches which clearly exist but aren't filled. As an example the only small high spec phone is the iPhone 6SE. There is nothing like it running Android despite the iOS version selling extremely well.
What about the Xperia Z Compact line, which has a larger screen (4.3" - 4.6") with higher resolution (1136*640 vs 1280*720) but is only 14% larger in front surface area.
There is Sony Xperia Compact line, but the last model that was universally considered great and small (4.3") was Z1 Compact, that is, the first one. For instance, Z5 Compact has an all-plastic body and is larger to the point where controlling it with a thumb becomes inconvenient (4.6"). X Compact isn't waterproof and has a weaker SoC than Z5C for some reason, despite a year gap in release dates. Z1C was the only one that wasn't a compromise.
Actually X Compact IS waterproof. It just isn't advertised and covered by the warranty. Search youtube - there is proof of it being waterproof.
Regarding SoC i would say SD625 that XC uses is more powerful than the aging 810 in Z5C. Defenetly more powerful than SD801 in Z3C and Z1C. So i would not get too upset about it.
The main weakness is battery life. Z3C that i own is still one of the best of all time with 101h rating (accoring to GSM Arena). Compared to 70-80h on newer compacts. I don't know why that's the case tho considering the newer SoC-s are supposed to be more power efficient and the battery capacity is largely the same.
Anyway i think Z3C was and still is the best in the series. It has it's problems too like the super fragile back glass but nothing outstanding. Would i have liked it to be 4,3" or even 4,0"? Hell yes. But in the absence of competition 4,6" will do.
It seems odd that the enthusiast community would dream up an 8x A53 setup *yawn*. I'm sure they had to in order to get the price below $200, but I would think an extra $30 would be worth it to step up to 2 x A73 and 2 x A35. That seems like the best of all worlds with no excess of cores, 2 power efficient cores to run the UI and 2 powerful cores for everything else. Seems to work well for Apple with just the 2 powerful cores....
Absolutely... mind you, are there any SoCs out there with 2xA72 and 2xA35 (I'd say A73 is too new to be in the wild yet). I've not seen any A35 SoCs yet which seems odd given how long ago it was announced...
No A35 SoCs to my knowledge but the Kirin 960 has been out for months and it's got 4 A73 cores and 4 A53 cores, so it does exist in the wild through the Mate 9 and all its variants.
"What seems to be counter-intuitive is that ARM sees the A35 not as a successor to the A53, but rather a replacement for the A7 and A5"
there isnt much of a reason for the a35 to be in smartphones (as interesting of an idea that is). Performance would probably be too poor. Better off waiting for a 53 replacement.
That being said, a a73/35 config would probably give amazing battery life.
In case anyone was wondering: The eyeball tracking and sticky back were chosen over a vanilla AOSP software experience in the poll that decided which crowd sourced ideas to include.
I'd have probably gone with an Axon 7 when I bought my phone if it weren't for all the minor software annoyances (you have to tap a bell icon on your lock screen every time you want to see your lock screen notifications for instance).
This one looks like it doesn't have the Axon 7's front facing stereo speakers but having a back that sticks to anything would solve the Axon 's problem of being slippery to hold on to I guess.
given the costs of developing a platform, a company that only manages 1 billion gross profit per quarter might not want to take the samsung approach of flinging things at a wall.
The kickstarter is a good way to gauge interests in these niche products.
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23 Comments
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Flunk - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
Wow, I read "the ability to navigate the interface using eye movement, and the inclusion of an adhesive case that allows the phone to be attached to surfaces" and thought: gimmicky eye navigation feature that doesn't work and massive lint problem.Am I so cynical that I can't understand how great this phone is? Or are the people they're asking for ideas idiots?
Valantar - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
That was exactly what I thought when I first read of this.Eye navigation is an utterly brain dead idea - simply because it _forces_ you to actually look away from what you're doing in order to navigate. It's so stupid I can't even think of a fitting simile of something equally stupid. It's like ... tying your legs together to walk more efficiently?
Of course, as an accessibility feature, this has its uses - and as such, should be available on _all_ phones. Making smart devices more accessible to those with various handicaps is a worthy goal, after all.
Also, self-adhesive backing? Why not just convince one of the bajillion makers of "gecko pads" and the like to start making phone cases? Then you could get whatever phone you like, and still have it covered in _all_ the dust. (Also, a case is actually removable and washable, unlike most phones' backs.)
SharpHawk - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
> Of course, as an accessibility feature, this has its uses - and as such, should be available on _all_ phones. Making smart devices more accessible to those with various handicaps is a worthy goal, after all.Making "all" phones more expensive for everyone for the sake of making them more accessible to a vanishingly small percentage of the population is not a worthy goal, quite the opposite.
Valantar - Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - link
Eye tracking, at least in decent lighting conditions, should be feasible through software with standard FFCs of reasonable quality. It's the software that's lacking. And if Google actually made the effort to integrate this into Android (as they've done with countless other "expensive" concepts) it would essentially be free.Also, arguing against accessibility features because of "cost" does place you in the running for "ableist a**hole of the year." Congratulations. You might consider checking your privilege ever so slightly, perhaps from time to time considering the perspectives of people different from yourself. Your apparent ideological stance that "tech is for the able bodied and/or the rich" has some inherent logical, philosophical and ethical flaws. Just saying.
Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
The stickiness is not built into the phone, it's a removable case, as is stated quite plainly on the KS page.Hinton - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
I wonder whether the feature is named after Stephen Hawkins, or that its just random that he'll find such a feature usefull.The adhesive will keep the phone stuck to his dashboard, when he's doing corners.
K_Space - Friday, January 20, 2017 - link
>Am I so cynical that I can't understand how great this phone is? Or are the people they're asking for ideas idiots?<I think people were being funny/sarcastic or whatever word you want to use; do you remember the RRS David Attenborough naming fiasco?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRS_Sir_David_Attenb...
ZTE were the idiots for actually falling for this!
lefty2 - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
adhesive case is a great idea. Just stick a bit of velcro on one side and you can hang it off your jumperdstarr3 - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
"The adhesive case is being billed as a convenient feature, and while I don't really see the use of it, it's obviously something that was proposed to ZTE and supported by enough users that it was chosen to be put into production"And as we know, customers always know exactly what they want.
BedfordTim - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
To be fair there are niches which clearly exist but aren't filled.As an example the only small high spec phone is the iPhone 6SE. There is nothing like it running Android despite the iOS version selling extremely well.
Death666Angel - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
What about the Xperia Z Compact line, which has a larger screen (4.3" - 4.6") with higher resolution (1136*640 vs 1280*720) but is only 14% larger in front surface area.TheinsanegamerN - Friday, January 20, 2017 - link
many in the small phone niche claim even the SE is pushing it for one handed use. The x compact is too large.and at least now, the x compact doesnt have flagship specs like the iphone, and has much worse battery life. it doesnt really compare.
now the z5 compact, OTOH, was better. but still too large.
moozooh - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
There is Sony Xperia Compact line, but the last model that was universally considered great and small (4.3") was Z1 Compact, that is, the first one. For instance, Z5 Compact has an all-plastic body and is larger to the point where controlling it with a thumb becomes inconvenient (4.6"). X Compact isn't waterproof and has a weaker SoC than Z5C for some reason, despite a year gap in release dates. Z1C was the only one that wasn't a compromise.R7 - Saturday, January 21, 2017 - link
Actually X Compact IS waterproof. It just isn't advertised and covered by the warranty. Search youtube - there is proof of it being waterproof.Regarding SoC i would say SD625 that XC uses is more powerful than the aging 810 in Z5C. Defenetly more powerful than SD801 in Z3C and Z1C. So i would not get too upset about it.
The main weakness is battery life. Z3C that i own is still one of the best of all time with 101h rating (accoring to GSM Arena). Compared to 70-80h on newer compacts. I don't know why that's the case tho considering the newer SoC-s are supposed to be more power efficient and the battery capacity is largely the same.
Anyway i think Z3C was and still is the best in the series. It has it's problems too like the super fragile back glass but nothing outstanding. Would i have liked it to be 4,3" or even 4,0"? Hell yes. But in the absence of competition 4,6" will do.
bug77 - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
A device sold in 2500 (or so) units will surely get speedy updates. /sfanofanand - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
It seems odd that the enthusiast community would dream up an 8x A53 setup *yawn*. I'm sure they had to in order to get the price below $200, but I would think an extra $30 would be worth it to step up to 2 x A73 and 2 x A35. That seems like the best of all worlds with no excess of cores, 2 power efficient cores to run the UI and 2 powerful cores for everything else. Seems to work well for Apple with just the 2 powerful cores....Meteor2 - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
Absolutely... mind you, are there any SoCs out there with 2xA72 and 2xA35 (I'd say A73 is too new to be in the wild yet). I've not seen any A35 SoCs yet which seems odd given how long ago it was announced...Trixanity - Thursday, January 19, 2017 - link
No A35 SoCs to my knowledge but the Kirin 960 has been out for months and it's got 4 A73 cores and 4 A53 cores, so it does exist in the wild through the Mate 9 and all its variants.TheinsanegamerN - Friday, January 20, 2017 - link
"What seems to be counter-intuitive is that ARM sees the A35 not as a successor to the A53, but rather a replacement for the A7 and A5"there isnt much of a reason for the a35 to be in smartphones (as interesting of an idea that is). Performance would probably be too poor. Better off waiting for a 53 replacement.
That being said, a a73/35 config would probably give amazing battery life.
Meteor2 - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
Who on earth asked for 8xA53s??evilpaul666 - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - link
In case anyone was wondering: The eyeball tracking and sticky back were chosen over a vanilla AOSP software experience in the poll that decided which crowd sourced ideas to include.I'd have probably gone with an Axon 7 when I bought my phone if it weren't for all the minor software annoyances (you have to tap a bell icon on your lock screen every time you want to see your lock screen notifications for instance).
This one looks like it doesn't have the Axon 7's front facing stereo speakers but having a back that sticks to anything would solve the Axon 's problem of being slippery to hold on to I guess.
ABR - Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - link
Yeah, a Kickstarter. Because it's not like a multi-billion dollar corporation can afford to take a chance on funding something experimental.TheinsanegamerN - Friday, January 20, 2017 - link
given the costs of developing a platform, a company that only manages 1 billion gross profit per quarter might not want to take the samsung approach of flinging things at a wall.The kickstarter is a good way to gauge interests in these niche products.