The smartphone fails and flops of 2019
In general, 2019 was a pretty good year for smartphones. However, with so many manufacturers, devices, new technologies, and a race to be the best new thing on the block, we are always bound to get a fail or two every now and again. So, what were the flops in 2019? Let’s check them out:
Nokia 9 PureView
A hotly anticipated device, which heated up our anticipation with every leak. Equipped with a total of 5 cameras placed in a weird pattern on the back, the new PureView was supposed to be an amazing cameraphone. Nokia also praised its capabilities when presenting the device on stage. The phone uses five 12 MP sensors that fire off at the same time when you press the shutter, and then stitches the photos together to supposedly achieve great detail and exposure.
Samsung’s ultrasonic fingerprint scanners
The first generation of in-screen fingerprint scanners that came out in 2018 was of the “optical” type — the sensor was located under the glass and whenever the user would place their finger on there, a small part of the screen would light up to allow the scanner to “see” and read the print. These are still in use today by various brands and have gotten quite good when it comes to speed and accuracy.
Samsung, however, chose to go a different path, which is why it arrived a bit late to the in-screen fingerprint scanner game. Sammy’s tech is an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, utilizing a complex combination of components to send a sonic pulse, bounce it off your finger, and then read a 3D map of the scanned print. Reportedly, it’s more secure than the optical tech, and it should also work consistently whether your fingers are wet, greasy, or smudged up.
The foldable future
As for the Huawei Mate X… by now, we have no idea if we will ever see this phone. It was supposed to launch in September, then it was delayed all the way to November. To top it off, Huawei is having trouble selling in international markets thanks to being barred from using Google’s framework on its Android forks. Reportedly, the Mate X did launch in China — it was a short, online-only flash sale, which ended as quickly as it began with the Mate X labeled as “sold out”. We have no idea how many of them are out there and whether we’d ever get to see one.
Worth noting: the Motorola razr (2019) has launched recently and, thus far, there are no fails. In fact, the phone is widely praised for its construction, compactness, and nostalgia points.
Touchless navigation
Project Soli: What was promised vs What was delivered from r/GooglePixel
Yeah…
Honorable mention: Google Stadia
While not strictly a smartphone thing, half of Stadia’s appeal is the ability to play AAA games on your phone. Well, the potential ability, because you probably can’t do it right now. Not only is Stadia running only on the Pixels right now, it isn’t doing great. Google was adamant that there would be absolutely no latency issues with Stadia on launch. However, the many people that pre-ordered a Founder’s Pack might want to argue that — some have reported input lags of up to 4 seconds (not milliseconds). So, it’s safe to say the Stadia launch wasn’t exactly a booming success.
Add to that some controversies around the picture quality — users were promised 4K but got upscaled 1080p on some games — and the weird pricing model, which will also ask you to buy your games specifically for Stadia, and we have a very shaky product. Google wants to be confident in Stadia’s future, but we sure aren’t.