6 of the best smartphone features that have emerged in the last 10 years

Despite the fact that the smartphone market is stagnating, there is always an opportunity to look back, because it was not always so: not long ago smartphones were actively developing, changing, getting cool chips. It’s a pity, but now is a different time: there is nothing truly new at all, but it is never too late to remember what useful functions have appeared recently. For example, over the past 10 years. Do you remember how it all began? Smartphones were wildly clumsy, gradually morphing into sleek devices. Today, let’s recall the important functions that have appeared and improved over the past 10 years.

Smartphone camera

I know that cameras in smartphones appeared much earlier, but it was in the last decade that they began to be pumped and improved: all those triple camera modules that are now appeared precisely due to the rapid development of the industry in recent years. I’m not a fan of cameras , but I admit that this is an important feature in a smartphone: photos from a phone really came close in quality to professional images.

If you remember, before phones were music, gaming, camera phones, and then everything got mixed up: as a result, even budget smartphones got good cameras. Whatever one may say, but this is very cool: after all, the camera in a modern smartphone is the most important parameter by which it is chosen.

NFC in smartphone

Short-range data transmission technology was announced back in 2004, but became widespread in the last decade. It is thanks to her that we can make payments using a smartphone , open cars without carrying keys and not use plastic cards when traveling in transport . Not only is the technology convenient, but also quite safe: not so long ago we told you about whether they can steal money through NFC . Already now, the NFC chip is used not only for payment, but for many important daily processes. For instance:

• For identity cards (passports and other documents).
• NFC tags (chips that can contain any information readable by any device with an NFC module).
• Search for Bluetooth, Wideband and Ultra-wideband wireless connections.

In general, it is difficult to imagine a modern smartphone without NFC – this is an insanely important technology.

Big screen smartphones

Smartphone screens have grown exponentially over the past 10 years . This is partly due to content that is important to users. But this is largely due to the fact that manufacturers want to give consumers more options by slowly converting smartphones into tablets. It is difficult to say whether this is good or bad: some smartphones have even replaced laptops, but they still cannot be conveniently used to watch movies , play and even write a book . Regardless, a smartphone with a large screen like the OnePlus 9 is much more useful and convenient than the Xperia Mini or the 1st generation iPhone SE. One thing I can say for sure: thanks to the progress for the big screens in smartphones.

Smartphone processor

At the beginning of the last decade, processors in smartphones were much inferior not only to current devices, but also to computers of that time: in my Nokia 5230, the processor frequency was only 434 MHz – some kind of joke by the standards of 2021. Now smartphones have flown into space not only due to the performance of the processors, but also the battery life. The chips themselves have become much more energy efficient, which allows manufacturers not to increase the capacity of the battery, but to work with what they have.

Not so long ago, Qualcomm introduced a new 8 Gen 1 processor , which will be the basis of the flagships of 2022 – for example, Xiaomi 12. The flagship Xiaomi 12 Pro did not receive a powerful battery, limiting itself to only 4600 mAh – they say this should be enough for a long time. This is how modern processors work, and they use battery power wisely.

Fast charging in smartphones

It is thanks to fast charging that you can recharge your smartphone in a few minutes before leaving the house in a hurry. The technology implies a supply of current exceeding 5V – it is different for each smartphone. Xiaomi already offers the fastest charging in the world, which allows you to charge your smartphone in minutes to optimal performance.

What 4G gives in a smartphone

Already, we can say that without 4th generation networks there would be no streaming services, no social networks, no applications in their usual form. Many countries are already transitioning to 5G: we just have to try what it is in the coming years . Nevertheless, 4G speeds are sufficient for everyday needs: watching movies, listening to music, downloading content and working with familiar services.

The communication format became widespread in the last decade, replacing 3G. Years later, we can talk about how much the high-speed mobile Internet has changed our habits: voice assistants , services for ordering a taxi and other services, as well as remote control of devices and even a smart home, online games and much more – something without which life has appeared in 2021 it is difficult to imagine.