Why is your smartphone screen so dumb?

Cellcom

how much is a iPhone

the iPhone 5

64gb iphone

samsung s4

iphone 5s

iphone 5c

I recently fell out of love with my smartphone. What had previously seemed like a charming selection of apps on my homescreen had become a labyrinth of folders and icons, most of which I never touched. And yet each time I looked at the device they'd be there screaming out for attention.

The launch of the iPhone refined the smartphone concept in some brilliant ways. But the home screen was not one of them. It retained rows and rows of icons, adding little to what had come before. And after years of this metaphor, and despite twists from Windows Phone and Android, it remains a relatively static setup, and ignores the main feature mobile hardware – changing context.

We use our phones in a way unlike any other computer, keeping it with us and calling upon it in an ever-expanding range of contexts and locations. So why do we still end up staring at the same range of apps, widgets or tiles no matter where we are? Why haven’t smartphones become more aware of their surroundings?

More from our tech blogs:
How we laughed at Amazon's drones. No wonder the Uk doesn't have an internet giant
Tech is robbing us of the precious ability to forget
Has someone invented an iPhone app for sex pests?

For a few weeks now, I’ve been using the beta of Aviate, a new free Android homescreen that hopes to solve this challenge. Aviate replaces a single mobile homescreen with “Spaces”, starting with Home, Work and Going Somewhere. Using your GPS location, it presents you with a lineup of just the Apps and options that are relevant at that point in time, rather than everything you've ever installed.

For example, when I'm at home, Aviate presents Netflix, TV Guide and options to turn on a quick alarm or "do not disturb" mode. At work, it prioritises “Send Email” and “New Event” buttons, next to Google Drive, Evernote and a calendar preview. All this is complemented by a second panel of apps you use everywhere that simply slides over the top with a nice background image. Finally, Foursquare location data helps guess if you're in common places like a restaurant or the gym, and provides user reviews, photos and apps based on what others use nearby.

Aviate: is this how things could be?

It's hard to go back to the icons after getting used to a simplified the experience. While Samsung and HTC ship every conceivable widget and tweak in their modified Android phones, they tend to increase the complexity, not reduce it. As we start to carry a number of these smart devices with us, from phone to tablet to watch, we need innovation.

However, it's unlikely to come from those who run the major phone operating systems. Having just shipped the major iOS 7 revamp, Apple is unlikely to announce another radical shift, Windows Phone is committed to its Live Tiles across everything from Xbox to Laptops, and Android remains more of a base layer for anyone to have their way with it. There's no clear path for these features to reach a mainstream audience quickly.

This leaves both customers and those who produce more context-aware phone interfaces stuck in the middle somewhere. Perhaps we'll have to live with the icons a while longer. But someone's missing a big opportunity here.