What other phone manufacturers are doing
Not everyone sees phones in the way apple does. We explore how its rivals are trying to stand out against the Cupertino giant
The Apple rumour mill never sleeps, with leaks, news, tidbits and gossip doing the rounds on a near-constant basis. When you’re invested in the Apple ecosystem, it’s easy to forget other phone makers exist, such is the ubiquity of Apple rumours.
But exist they do, and some of them are researching areas and creating products that are radically different from Apple’s smartphone vision. From folding screens and in-display fingerprint sensors to modular, allweather devices, there’s a lot going on.
Whether Apple is taking any notice is another matter, but it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on the competition. Whether you look on the Android world with envy or derision, it’s interesting to see how different Android phones often are to iPhones.
So let’s dive in and see what lies in wait on the other side of the phone divide.
Undoubtedly the biggest news from the smartphone world in the last few months has been the arrival of folding phones. Both Samsung and Huawei have been hard at work on their own devices, the Galaxy Fold and Mate X respectively.
Interestingly, each takes a slightly different approach to how the phone folds and works. On the Galaxy Fold, the device opens outwards like a book. On the Mate X, however, it’s the other way around – imagine opening a book facing away from you, and you’ll get the picture.
These differences mean the devices are constructed differently. The Galaxy Fold is comprised of two equally sized displays connected by a central hinge. When the phone is folded, you get a display 4.6in diagonally – a smidgen narrower than the iPhone 8. When folded out, the display measures 7.3in across.
The Mate X, however, works differently. Instead of having the hinge exactly in the middle, it is slightly to the left of centre, meaning the right panel (6.6in) is larger than the left one (6.38in). Given that you use the right display when the phone is folded, that means you get a larger screen to work with, and one that’s more akin to the 6.5in iPhone XS Max. The unfolded size of the Mate X display (8in across) also gives you more breathing space, but doesn’t offer as much screen protection as the Galaxy Fold.
The different approaches also make for some fairly considerable differences in thickness. For example, the Samsung device doesn’t fold up perfectly flat – it’s 15.5mm at its thinnest point, and 17mm at its thickest (the hinge). That’s more than twice as thick as the
iPhone XS, making it a chunky device. Huawei’s phone maintains the same thickness at either end, hitting a uniform 11mm (still almost 50% thicker than the 7.7mm XS).
Know when to fold
Developing such bleeding-edge technology hasn’t come without its costs, especially for Samsung. Shortly after samples arrived with reviewers – and just weeks before the planned launch – news started appearing that Galaxy Fold review units were breaking. Bulges were appearing under the screen, apparently caused by debris entering gaps in the hinge. Elsewhere, some reviewers mistakenly removed a thin (but essential) layer on the display, mistaking it for a screen protector. In many cases, this caused the display to fail. The drawback to wanting to be first to market is you are often dealing with largely untested technology, and sometimes that backfires.
This marks a clear distinction in approaches between Samsung and Apple. Samsung is happy to experiment with its products, releasing dozens of different models in different markets around the world. If something doesn’t work, it takes stock and moves on. Sometimes, as with the Galaxy Fold and earlier Note 7 (complete with exploding batteries), this results in bad press.
Apple is very different. The company is regularly pilloried for ‘failing to innovate’ because it doesn’t rush to market with new ideas, preferring instead to enter when the technology is ready. But Apple is interested in being best, not first. Think about AirPower – Apple realised it wouldn’t work and cancelled it. If Samsung was aware of the issues with the Fold, it pressed on regardless in a bid to be first.
Patent sleuths have uncovered a number of documents suggesting Apple is considering making a folding phone. However, while folding phones may not remain an exclusively Android domain, you can be sure that if Apple does pursue this option, it will take its time to get it right before bringing it to market.
Security screening
Back when the iPhone X launched, it was swiftly followed by a deluge of notch-wielding lookalikes in the Android world. Now, as display tech has evolved, many phone makers are attempting to eradicate the bezels from their devices entirely, notches and all.
Samsung is one such company, with its new Galaxy S10 featuring an almost entirely bezel
free front display. Indeed, the only blemish is a small ‘hole-punch’ for the front-facing camera.
Of course, Apple’s iPhone notch isn’t just for show. It houses the dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator in addition to the camera, all essential for Face ID. Phones like the Galaxy S10 have to make a trade-off, swapping the security of a system like Face ID for the attractive design of an almost all-screen display.
While Apple has gone the way of facial recognition, its Android rivals are taking a different path, with many sticking with fingerprint readers but embedding them beneath the screen. The Xiaomi Mi 9’s scanner, for example, houses a small camera under the display where you place your finger. This spot is then lit up, allowing the camera to ‘see’ your fingerprint, snap a picture of it and verify it, thus unlocking your phone.
Samsung’s Galaxy S10 uses an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. This uses ultrasonic waves to create a 3D scan of your fingerprint, bringing a few benefits over optical alternatives. For one thing, it avoids the LCD degradation that can occur when the display is constantly illuminated to scan your fingerprint, as happens with optical scanners. As well as that, the ultrasonic method is more secure because it’s not just a simple image of your thumb. Finally, it’s much more reliable when there’s dirt or moisture on your finger.
Photo opportunity
These days, most smartphone cameras are top-notch, with very little to separate them. That said, many companies are still trying to get ahead in the photography game and push the boundaries of what is possible. For the Nokia 9 PureView, that means a whopping five lenses on the rear of the device, all made by renowned optics company Zeiss.
DxOMark is an image-quaility rating website and its smartphone camera reviews are widely respected; its analysis of the Huawei P30 Pro pegged it as the best phone camera money can buy (later equalled by the Samsung Galaxy S10). What really impressed DxOMark’s reviewers was the P30 Pro’s zoom capabilities. Using clever hardware engineering, Huawei was able to achieve optical zoom levels of 5x – much greater than the 2x currently in Apple’s
best cameras. The P30 Pro can go to 10x zoom using a blend of hardware and software (Apple’s 10x zoom is software-only), while using just the software can get the P30 Pro’s zoom to 50x.
Real ruggedness
Snap a case onto most modern smartphones and they should be fairly well protected. But with many phones adopting glass backs to enable wireless charging, you may feel they’re just not sturdy enough. If that’s the case, Doogee has designed a phone that’s not only rugged but modular too. The Doogee S90 has a base module of the phone itself, which can then be equipped with various add-ons. There are modules for a night-vision camera, a digital walkie-talkie, a portable games controller and a 5,000mAh power pack.
In addition to that, Doogee claims the phone can withstand high-pressure water jets and continuous immersion in water up to 1.5m for two weeks. The company also says the phone is dust-proof and can survive up to 100 drops from a height of 1.5m, meaning it can go through a pounding.
While Apple may not feel the need to follow or mimic its competitors when it comes to the evolution of the smartphone, it’s enlightening to cast an eye over what its rivals are up to. A healthy market is one where developments at one company spur on the advances of others, and we’ve seen evidence of that many times with Apple’s products. (Just look what happened with larger handsets!)
Just weeks before launch, news appeared that Galaxy Fold units were breaking