The HTC Rhyme just came out for Verizon. It seems to be a good phone and HTC is a good company but honestly who cares?
It’s another Android phone with a big hi res touch screen and cameras and an LED light and a cool interface. It has all the features of an iPhone which has all the features of a Droid which has all the features of an Evo. Nothing matters anymore.
I’m not picking on the phone. It’s good. If I had one I would keep it but it’s not any different than the iPhone I have now. Since the first iPhone came out in June of 2007 four years ago all of phone design has largely gone in the same direction. The world has gotten used to tablets as well and even windows is making a very real effort to be useful through a pure touch interface. More software and more features will continue to come up as well as faster processing and higher data rates but none of it will feel like a revolution until the form factor is reinvented once again.
I don’t know what that new form will be. There were plenty of miniature projectors developed recently that lead to cool interfaces but they aren’t really ready for prime time.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9KEsMlw6gY[/youtube]
There are flexible touch screens in the works and tools that harvest energy from sound but it’s not going to change things until someone else comes up with a whole new experience for real people, not engineers, to use. Usually these innovations are half intention and half happy accidents. The app store was not planned by apple but it was immediately demanded by a few nerds that had the skills to make it on their own. Until this next revolution happens feel free to make a new mobile device every month or two but don’t expect me to get too excited.