Dont know about you, but im looking for a new phone and find the current phones on the market arent that great.
Currently have a HTC Desire HD which I have had for nearly a year and a half and much the same as the newest phones on the market. Even the new One series isnt that impressive.

Do you think we have now hit a peak with what we can do with Smartphones and they will not really change much over the next couple of years?

NFC
LTE
Built in projector
Touch less control (touch less touchscreen)
Bigger screen
Higher def
barometer assisted GPS

There is some good stuff out there or already announced.
But ....
To be fair .... what did the desire HD bring over the original desire?

We were all spoilt by our first jump to a smartphone. Everything moving forward is likely to be baby steps.

I have a desire hd like you and think the same really.

All HTC phones look the same. They seem too busy releasing new phones every other day to pay attention to design. You may think what you like about WP7, but Nokia Lumia 800 is a beautiful phone.

I think the same too, Yeah faster processors and better camera's are all well and good but i think radical new designs are definatly whats missing. The one size fits all design is almost making the market stagnant.
Nokia used to be great with new designs and styles of phones but even they seems to have fallen into the same as all the others.
No one is saying reinvent the wheel but i think more thought could go into somthing new. Look at the new ps vita handheld gaming console thats come out, it has a back touch panel which i think would be a nice idea for a phone not to mention to stop finger prints all over the screen.

Does anybody care about the hardware ?

Its all down to the apps.

What is it your looking for exactly in a phone? I would say phones are developing faster then anything else right now so not sure why you think they are all the same.

Move to a brand new phone from your DHD and you will see big differences.

there will be phones with flexible screens soon that is pretty different.

I'm seriously thinking of going back to a nice retro phone. The whole smartphone thing has become a bit of a bore.....I think I'll always have one but may not carry it around at all times....Unless of course something special comes along....

Another DHD owner here, I'm so glad I bought mine sim free and have looked after it, mine is in perfect condition as new and I'm still enjoying it after all this time.

I use google listen every day, tunein, the sat nav built in, all the apps I love etc every day and there's nothing more I've seen on any newer phones that make me really want one.

I'm on a 30 day notice contract which is £10 a month with loads of data, calls and texts so I'm making a massive saving now by keeping the phone for longer and longer.

Even the battery is replaceable and very cheap to replace. So until proper LTE comes out in the UK I'm not going to upgrade I don't think.

Nothing new and exciting?!

What about the Asus Padfone http://www.asus.com/Mobile/PadFone/
Or
Ubuntu for Android? http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

I dont think that will ever take off in phones.

I cant see a use for it in a phone whatsoever. I think 1 or 2 phones will come out with it at a stupid price and will fail pretty quickly.

Padfone looks interesting and nice, but in general improvements and changes in Android camp seem to happen almost exlusively under the hood. Half of the consumers are women, the look matters and not only for women. It's not enough to innovate and then stuff it in a fugly generic HTC box. Apple did not get that far by not caring how their products look.

Look at the form factor of the new Sony Xperia range? Absolutely stunning imo.

Apple caring about looks eh? The original iPhone was a real object of desire which is hard for me to admit as a committed Apple hater, but the 4/4S is an ugly brick of a design with a ridiculous massive bezel. But that is only my opinion and many many others don't agree so lets not start down that road.

I actually think innovation in the phone market is accelerating, but it can be hard to see unless you are a power user
The DHD was a top phone when it came out so it should not be a surprise that it can still hack it. I can imagine the wailing if your 18 month old phone was completely obsolete. The OP expects to much.

Surely its a market which is digging its own grave. Surely there needs to be something fundemntally differrent or people will just keep ahold of their current phones and not bother with an upgrade.
My DHD is perfect condition and never had any issues wih it (touch wood). Would ideally like something different in terms of hardware, however it can do anything that any other new phone on the market can do, in my opinion.

Longer battery life? But arent all smart phones pritty much the same?

How about the Razor max?. I think this is the kind of battery performance I want.

If you use a camera much, they have some pretty impressive changes in recent years - time between button press and taking the photo is far improved.

I would agree that it is all about what phones actually do, which means apps at the moment. Sat nav combined with street view would interest me, as would a decent built in car mode (speaking texts, large buttons, automatic activation when in cradle).

Disagree there, the ability to have larger screens that unfold to tablet size should you need it would be fantastic. The fact it would be no larger than a standard phone in normal operation I think will be a real change.

To be fair, what does average Joe want with a projector in there phone? Barometer GPS? Bigger Screen, My SGS2 is to big for me really, why would I want it bigger.

How about a pocket nuclear reactor for longer up times between charges. That should solve that problem, at least until quadcore processors come They keep hanging on more and more bells and whistles on the phones, but the basic thing, that I want it to last at least a week is ignored by everybody.

NFC - Not really used right now, yet
LTE - Not in the UK and won't be for a little while
Touch less control - DHD has a capacitive screen
Bigger screen - DHD is big enough
Higher def - meh, maybe although not something I'd upgrade for
barometer assisted GPS- I've already got network assisted GPS and have no problems with a quick lock

what did the desire HD bring over the original desire? more RAM, better design, bigger screen, aluminium body, DLNA, HSDPA 14.4 instead of 7.2, new website functionality to track your phone or manage online, 8MP camera instead of 5, inbuilt navigation and maps included, etc...

More ram .... so a small baby step
Bigger screen ..... baby step ....
Better camera ..... baby step ....
Navigation and maps and tracking???? My desire had all those for free???

My point wasn't to diss the desire HD. Far from it. More to state that everyone's first smartphone is the big leap and anything from there is small steps.

I have a nexus. Whilst IMHO I wouldn't trade back down to a desire I'm also fully aware that the desire did pretty much the same stuff except lower Res and slower.

My original post was that new stuff is being produced. Not all will appeal to everyone but isn't that the great thing about choice?

Dhd screen is big enough for you. Fine. But its not for everyone.
I personally thing lte and nfc will be great once they take off but for this to happen interest has to start and phones have to start gaining these features.
Touch less control .... I don't mean capacative/resistive I mean genuinely touch less as sony as soon to trial .....

Not sure really how any one can say there is nothing new in smart phone design or anything different, what are you looking for a hologram phone that sits in the palm of your hand?

The same anaology could be applied to Tv's cars or anything, why buy a 3d HD TV when my old CRT does me fine. The process is a evolution and you wont see the changes your seeking in the space of a year or two.

If you look at the best rated phone of 18 months ago the desire to the one x now it is a world of difference.

Its exactly why screens are getting bigger and features more comprehensive.

HDMI, NFC, MHL etc etc. all extra features to persuade you to say 'in with the new'.
It is also why Siri moved house.

Foldable touch screen? Large phone that takes up half the room in your pocket?

I think when LTE comes out properly then I'll upgrade because that will be a big benefit. Until then I'm going to stick with the phone I have as it does everything I'd want out of a smart phone.

Of course everyone wants something different, so what is right for me wouldn't necessarily suit somebody else. However I have 2 other friends on the DHD who are pretty much of the same opinion.

eh? explain