Storage, Battery, Software, Other Features

Storage: 128GB NAND plus MicroSD

In 2022, the ideal smartphone receives a straightforward upgrade over final year's model: an increase in on-lath storage from 64 GB to 128 GB. Yous never know what y'all're going to chuck on your phone over the course of its life, so it's best to take a ton of storage available at your fingertips. Like the previous platonic smartphone, this phone would have an Apple-like NVMe controller for extremely fast transfer speeds.

For those that desire to add together in more storage without paying a ridiculous premium, the ideal smartphone would as well pack a microSD card slot. You can take hold of a 200GB microSD for under $80 these days, and while this storage wouldn't be as fast as the internal NAND, it's a cheap and easy way to add together in extra storage as needed.

Battery: Not-Removable 4,500 mAh

The most controversial aspect of my previous ideal smartphone was the bombardment. Some people didn't similar that I chose a non-removable bombardment for my ideal device, and these same people volition exist disappointed one time again. But before you jump in the comments to complain, there is a skilful reason why I want my battery to be sealed inside the handset.

Showtime, removable batteries add thickness and heft to a device. To add in a removable battery, y'all need to include several extra layers of housing for the bombardment and its insert, plus a mechanism to remove the battery. Opting for a sealed bombardment means you tin can remove these housing layers, which leads to a slimmer device or a larger battery in the same space. The mechanism to remove the battery, whether that'south a slide-out tray or a removable back cover, would compromise this ideal smartphone'southward beautiful metal unibody.

Removable batteries are likewise more of a hassle than external battery packs. Replacing a removable battery requires a restart of your phone, whereas battery packs do not. You'll also need to either purchase a proprietary charger, or constantly swap batteries to ensure your spare battery is charged. Battery packs can exist charged via standard telephone chargers, and can be used to charge more devices than just your smartphone. Battery packs are typically much cheaper than telephone-specific removable batteries for the same capacity and quality.

There are some legitimate reasons to want a removable battery. Swapping a expressionless battery for a fully charged one takes yous from 0 to 100% in nether a infinitesimal, and is less cumbersome than carrying around a bombardment banking company with its cable. Removable batteries also let you to buy tertiary-party solutions that increment the phone's rated battery capacity, at the expense of thickness (and often quality, also).

Both concerns are assuaged through one simple feature: this ideal smartphone packs a massive 4,500 mAh bombardment inside. With this battery, you won't run out of accuse during daily usage. You won't need a cumbersome third-party battery to extend your battery life. The ideal smartphone packs platonic battery life: enough capacity to final a full mean solar day, regardless of your usage patterns. Only put: if this phone doesn't last long plenty, it's not an ideal smartphone, is information technology?

4,500 mAh should exist plenty to achieve this bombardment life goal without making the telephone ridiculously big. Both Meizu and Xiaomi have flagship five.5-inch phones with 4,100 mAh batteries that clock in effectually 8mm thick. With a smaller display and a slightly larger battery, I look this phone will clock in around 9 to 10 mm thick, which is perfectly fine for a portable yet powerful flagship.

At that place'due south 1 final concern about removable batteries that the ideal smartphone would also address: battery longevity. Bombardment deposition is inevitable after 12 to 24 months of consistent usage, and replacing information technology is piece of cake with a removable battery: it only requires swapping the old battery for a new ane. This is harder with a sealed bombardment, so the ideal smartphone would come with a bombardment replacement guarantee instead. With this guarantee you lot would be able to get your battery replaced after 18 months at a registered repair station, gratis of charge. Due to an fantabulous internal design, this process would take nether an hour to complete.

Software: Android seven.1 plus Assistant and Fast Updates

I prefer to use Android, so the platonic smartphone would pack the latest version of Android, rather than iOS. At the time of writing, this means the inclusion of Android 7.1 out of the box, in an unaltered version without whatsoever OEM skins. The only software additions would be those to support the hardware of this smartphone, and whatsoever relevant optimizations to performance and efficiency.

The platonic smartphone would receive Android security and characteristic updates on solar day one, at the same time as Google's Pixel and Nexus devices. Carriers would be prohibited from interfering with or delaying updates, like Apple'southward iOS update procedure, ensuring you'll go updates when they are announced and released to the earth.

Google Banana would be included with the ideal smartphone, a feature that's currently only available with the Pixel and Pixel 40. It'due south non fully polished at this phase, but Assistant is 1 of the all-time voice assistants on the market, along with Amazon'due south Alexa. It'southward only going to get better, and I think this technology will exist seen in a wide range of products in 2022.

Windows 10 Mobile wasn't considered for obvious reasons (lack of apps being the main one), but I'd like to see Android prefer something like to Continuum, transforming this ideal smartphone into a basic desktop through a simple USB dock. I'd be surprised if Google wasn't working on software like this, but it may not be ready for 2022's batch of handsets.

Other Features

  • The ideal smartphone needs to charge quickly, specially every bit the battery is not removable. This phone would support Qualcomm'south Quick Charge 4.0 technology, which just edges out OnePlus' Dash Charge for the (supposed) fastest wired charging tech on the market. Ideally we'd run into a 20 to 80 percentage charge in less than 30 minutes.
  • Interest in this technology has waned somewhat over the past yr, but the ideal smartphone would also pack fast Qi wireless charging. This would exist an engineering challenge due to the metallic exterior, just not impossible.
  • A USB Type-C connector for charging and data transfers is an obvious inclusion, but the ideal smartphone takes this to the next level through USB three.1 transfer speeds. Most USB-C phones don't back up USB 3.1, instead sticking with USB 2.0, but non the ideal phone. A iii.5mm headphone jack will also exist included, because removing it is just dumb.

  • iv GB of RAM is yet sufficient for the ideal smartphone, although I'm sure no ane would complain if more than RAM was included. It goes without proverb that NFC will exist role of this phone's hardware stack as well.
  • Dual SIM support is key for emerging markets, merely it can too be useful for those in other countries. This would hands allow you to use the phone for both work and personal life, or to optimize your program spending by leveraging multiple carriers.
  • An RGB notification LED would be included and so you can easily see whether yous have unread notifications at a glance. This would complement ever-on display functionality that displays the fourth dimension and other data, even when the screen is 'off'.
  • Full support for Qualcomm's X16 LTE modem and wireless connectivity. Some flagship phones don't include the antennas or other hardware to fully back up the modem inside Qualcomm'due south elevation-finish SoC. The ideal telephone would fully support Cat xvi/13 LTE and all the X16'southward LTE features, and would include all the necessary LTE bands for usage anywhere around the globe in the one SKU.

  • Much of this phone'south hardware is geared towards virtual reality support, and so information technology goes without proverb that the ideal smartphone volition back up Google Daydream.

Wrap-Upwardly

Now that I've gone through every aspect of this smartphone's hardware, allow's take a expect at the final spec sheet:

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 835: 4x Kryo 280 CPU cores at 2.45 GHz, 4x Kryo 280s at ane.nine GHz, Adreno 540
  • 4GB of dual-channel LPDDR4X RAM
  • five.three-inch AMOLED at 2560 x 1440 (554 ppi). No curved edges.
  • Rear Camera: 12-megapixel 1/two.v" Sony IMX260 with 1.4μm pixels, f/1.9 24mm lens, OIS, dual pixel applied science, dual-tone LED flash, 4K recording, 240fps boring motion at 720p
  • Zoom Camera: 12-megapixel 1/2.5" Sony IMX260, f/2.2 72mm lens, OIS, dual pixel technology, 4K recording
  • Front Camera: 12-megapixel ane/2.5" Sony IMX260, f/1.7 24mm lens, OIS, dual pixel technology, 4K recording
  • 128 GB of NAND with microSD expansion
  • 17.32 Wh (iv,500 mAh) non-removable lithium-ion battery. xviii-calendar month battery replacement guarantee
  • Dual-SIM LTE Category 16/thirteen, global LTE ring support
  • USB three.1 Type-C with Qualcomm Quick Charge four.0
  • Fast Qi wireless charging
  • IP68 h2o resistance
  • Rear fingerprint sensor, NFC, iii.5mm sound jack, stereo front speakers, notification LED
  • Metal and Gorilla Glass 4 unibody, less than 10mm thick
  • Android 7.1 or afterward with Google Assistant, Google Daydream, and fast updates

As this is a flagship phone, it would come with a flagship price: $599. Yeah, this is $200 more than the OnePlus iii's attractive $400 price point, but it comes with elevation-end hardware on every line. To ensure success in the crowded telephone market, it would be priced roughly $fifty cheaper than the Google Pixel and Apple iPhone 7.

I'd purchase one in an instant. It'd be an engineering science challenge to produce, but it'd be the best phone ever made.