5 Mobile trends that didn't catch on, but should have

If the Stone Age had to refer to us, there couldn’t be a more suitable term than ‘Mobile Age.’ To name a few current trends, one could pick out touchscreen smartphones, 5 to 8 MP camera, social network integration, HD quality displays and more. While trends make or break with each passing day, we decided to look back at what got attention for a while but eventually faded out in the stream of mobile trends. However, we think these mobile trends should have sustained for a longer period of time or their presence faded earlier than expected. Here are a few mobile trends that didn’t last longer.

Only touch

FM Transmitter
This was one hell of a kickass feature with early and the only active adopter being Nokia. Basically, this feature allows the handset owner to broadcast music from the phone through an FM signal. It caught on pretty well with car radio users, as one could simply listen to their favorite tunes via the car’s stereo speakers. Moreover, it did so by negating the clutter of wires. Simply load the phone with all your favorite tunes, which we assume one already does these days, and listen to music while travelling without connecting it to the car system. Arent we always on the look out for wireless functionality. However, surprisingly, this trend didn’t catch on and wasn’t widely adopted by other phone makers. There are several factors to have killed this feature like mobile music apps, streaming songs and so on.
 
Xenon flash
Cameras have become a standard feature in a smartphone. Lately, most high-end phone makers ensured to maintain the digit 5 with the sensor resolution. We shouldn’t be surprised if 8 MP is favoured by all in a short span of time. However, the beam of light or flash has also become quite essential or else what is the use of a high-end camera phone. Xenon has higher burst of light but couldn’t keep up with the trend, soon enough manufactures preferred LED flash over it. It does come in a handful of phones like the latsest Nokia 808 41MP camera phone, but overall the trend shows adoption of LED flash. The technical composition renders it futile for video recording. For instance, the popular breed of high-end phones such as iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Note. In fact, phone makers doubled the power and embedded phones with not one but dual LED flash such as HTC Sensation and the Nokia Lumia 800.

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Not just for paparazzi

Infrared port
Remember the infrared ports embedded on the edges of a mobile phone? We had to place two devices side by side and enable infrared to transfer data wirelessly from one device to another. An array of devices came with the infrared port before the Blue beasts took over. Mobile phones soon preferred the Bluetooth technology, owing to the faster connectivity and larger transfer range. The infrared port has become almost obsolete, while it could come handy for file tranfers as users have multiple devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops. A recent device to adopt it was the Sony Tablet S. Probably, other manufactures should take a cue from here.

Flap flopped

Clamshell design
The flip phones or clamshell design ensured a stylish look. But that wasn’t all; the flap ensured the screen is safe without scratches. Flip design was also considered so trendy, it was sort of a rage to flash that flap open. Manufacturers went on to embed a small external screen on the flap to give you a sneak peek into incoming texts and calls without the need to open the flap and get to the screen. Advanced features in a sleek attire was the main reason why the clamshell didn’t really work. The screens also came with Gorilla glass to further safeguard it.
 
Push to Talk (PTT)
The push to talk feature was incorporated in some phones. This function is like a walkie-talkie or a two way radio which can be used with mobile phones. It ensures communication to a group of people with a simple touch. All one needed is a PTT enabled phones or the PTT technology integrated with your phones. So, you could speak to a group of people simultaneously rather than just one person at a time. Nokia widely adopted the PTT technology, and it was also seen in Blackberry and Sony Ericsson phones.
 
Shards of these mobile trends seem to be visible here and there, but more or less they’ve not been heavily adopted by manufacturers and some like the Clamshell design have almost disappeared. With newer trends walking in, it wouldn’t take too long for new to turn old and redundant in the fast paced tech world.

Image credit: Getty Images