What discontinued feature do you miss from phones or other technologies?
What discontinued feature do you miss from phones or other technologies?
For me its the 'Knock Code' that LG had on their phones (I really wish LG still made at least the V series phones)
Basically there was a four-square area and you set up a sequence of where you would tap to unlock the phone. That set of squares was only shown when you set up the code
Then, to unlock your phone, you would tap those areas in the sequence you set up (even with the screen off).
Fingerprint readers are nice, but I really do miss the knock code
Edit: did find this article with a way to do the knock code, but if done wrong, could brick your phone I guess.
Plus, article is from 2014. When I looked at XDA's info on it (they also being the developers) it looks like development on it is over, but individual modules may or may not still be supported by their devs
Unlockable bootloader, removable battery, headphone jack, being assembled with SCREWS rather than GLUE.
Love the first answer as, I have to get on my Linux soapbox here.
I remember first using Linux (Ubuntu 9.10 for those curious). One of the big ideas behind it was 'its your computer, do what you want'. That's why you can have access to Root or the Super User. Since its open source, root can do what it wants.
Android was initially built on Linux, but they have taken Root and turned it into a way to restrict users not just from sensitive things (like necessary system apps), but also from bloatware (looking at you Samsung). Years ago I had a phone that came with the NFL Network which I didn't want. Could I remove it? Of course not, I would have to be Root to do that!.
Sorry for the rant, but really, I should have access to anything on my phone if I want it. Give me a warning, make it so people can't get to it 'accidentally', but then let it be on me.
You can still buy Android phones that have manufacturer support for unlocking the bootloader. Once that's done obtaining root is trivial. Pixel phones notably support this. Personally, I only buy phones I can unlock the bootloader on to show the demand for this feature. It doesn't matter to me how great a phone is otherwise. Can't unlock the bootloader? Not buying it.
That said, I completely agree with you. We all pay for and own the hardware, but let the manufacturer dictate what software it can run. That's like buying a car and letting the car company tell you what roads you're allowed to drive your car on. I don't really blame the average use for not giving a crap because end users will never care about this stuff as long as their basic needs are met. It's a failure of the people in the software industry to stand up for the open systems that built everything we have today. Without that constant fight for openness companies are going to be more than happy to take advantage of a locked down system to create a competitive advantage. Hell, look at what Google is currently doing with WEI in Chrome. If they have their way, the web will become just as locked down as smartphones are now.
Android was initially built on Linux
For the record, it still is.
You want to… own the phone you bought???
Spot on, my daily driver is a PinePhone Pro with keyboard case. It ticks all the boxes. It also covers the "physical keyboard" feature which is a few comments down.
It has its downsides, but it's a full fledged Linux computer in my pocket. What's not to love?
Shits me off that rooting the phone immediately blocks most banking apps.
After a few years of playing cat and mouse with the workarounds for safety net I finally said fuck it.
If they’re going to force me to live with an unrooted phone, I might as well have shit that works with the rest of my families eco-system and go iPhone.
Fair phone seems to be doing it... except their last phone removed headphone jacks and introduced "fair ear buds" or some such... even the open company wants to increase sales.
Yeah that's why I have the fairphone 3, also the 4 is REALLY expensive. And fairphone isn't really an open company but more open than others
Sony phones still do the bootloader and headphone jacks at least. I'm pretty happy with mine.
Problem is they're kinda overpriced and not very good value. Also I hate the super tall aspect ratio that they've gone with.
Many midrange phones still have headphone jacks, and removable battery has to come back if they want to continue selling in the EU.
Slowly going away though. Samsung took them off in the A53, and Xiaomi did the same with the T series phones.
Screws. Hell ya.
wait phones have non-unlockable bootloaders? I've never seen that before although you do have to do some annoying stuff on some to unlock them which isn't necessary
Plenty of phones have unlockable bootloaders and it used to be pretty much an expected thing on Android phones until manufacturers and carriers started locking it down and being more Apple-like. You can't run most custom ROMs without an unlocked bootloader as being able to run a custom kernel requires an unlocked bootloader. Being able to use non-Android Linux operating systems like postmarketOS also depend on unlocked bootloaders.
On most it's just a matter of toggling an option in developer settings and using fastboot to unlock. Some make it more difficult than that, others completely prevent unlocking (and thus become e-waste after the official software stops getting updated).
Removable battery is the big one. I had a phone where they only cost like $15, so I could take 2 of them on a trip and last a week w/o charging.
Removable batteries may come back since the European Union has mandated all smartphones have them by 2027
I did see that, of all phones and manufacturers, the Kyocera DuraForce Pro 3 on Verizon actually has removable batteries (and an sd card slot).
There's definitely a business opportunity for hot swapable batteries. I really don't understand why no one is exploiting this market. Construction, factory and all scale workers need phones and if they can hotswap battery they'll gonna love that.
They make rugged phones and tablets for industrial setting with replaceable batteries. But they are way more expensive that consumer devices of the same spec.
Samsung does produce the xcover series for construction/industrial use. I seriously considered one, the issue was it would have been a downgrade for me in CPU, display and doesn't have dex
I don't understand that argument, power banks are widely accessible nowadays, you can charge your phone without downtime, also can't imagine charging this additional battery, like shutting the phone down jest to charge the second one? I'm all for user replaceable batteries tho in case of battery degradation and prolonging device's life
The only phone I had to even consider changing the battery was a Windows phone in 2015 and the replacement battery was the same age (and degraded state) as the old one. I don't get the need for quickly swappable batteries.
I used to carry a backup battery so if I was away from a charger camping or so ething I could just pop a fresh battery in
IR Blasters!
I feel like I'm the only one who used them or cares that they were quietly phased out of phones.
You used to be able to use your phone as a universal remote. Being able to control my TV, sound system, ceiling fan, and lights all from my phone was so convenient! Plus if you were stuck in like a waiting room and they had ads or garbage like Fox News on, you could change the channel or turn it off completely. It was an incredibly useful feature to me, but I guess barely anyone else used since it was removed from phones without any complaints.
Except me. I'm complaining!
Back in the day, I discovered I could i) print over IR to our office's HP laser printer from my Psion organiser, ii) print control codes from the built-in OPL language to change the display message on the printer. I would occassionaly send messages like "insert coin", "too much paper", "grammatical error", etc. when colleagues were printing.
I love it! Those messages are hilarious!
Wing night at the pub took on a whole new danger. The IR blaster was a total selling point for me on a few devices.
Still had one on my previous phone - LG V20. Loved when people starter looking around confused when I started browsing the channels on the public TV on gas stations, waiting rooms, gym etc.
I really miss it too. My wife loses the remote every 5 minutes.
Redmi Note phones still have (or at least had) them.
IR blaster. You could have a universal remote app and control any tv from my palm PDA
100% this. I used to be able to control my ceiling fan, my portable a/c, and my TV from my phone.
Now I have to use the fan remote, the a/c remote, and install and create an account with some stupid TV app.
...it was also fun for changing the channel of TVs at bars & restaurants.
You can still buy a universal IR hub and place it somewhere within line of sight of your appliances, then control it via an app, which often has Google Home / Apple Homekit integration.
This brings memories back for when IR data exchange was a thing and you had to carefully place two phones head-to-head and not move them for minutes just to transfer a song lol.
One of the reasons I had Xiaomy phones in the past 5 years. Many models still have IR blaster.
Funny thing is I work for a company who manufactures products with infrared sensors and we have an app specifically for IR capable snartphones to fine tune these products. In the past 5 years I did not see a single client who would have IR on their phones, so basically the app is not used by a single person anymore. Either this or they can buy our official remote... for 200 euros a piece.
Pubs were fun with these.
Same with screwing around at school
Yep. My final phone to have one came with this app to control it that was straight malware. Force click a pop up every time you open the app type shit. I still miss it
Not everything uses IR blasters anymore.
User-replaceable batteries.
They're coming back!
If you have a Fairphone that's still the case
Samsung Galaxy XCover 6 Pro gang!
Headphone jack, dedicated fingerprint reader, removable battery, physical sim card trays
Definitely miss the dedicated fingerprint reader. Had a metal case once that came with a fairly thick (tempered glass I think) screen protector. Everything worked great except the fingerprint reader.
Removable batteries may come back since the European Union has mandated all smartphones have them by 2027
Samsung xcover pro
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_xcover6_pro-11600.php
physical sim card trays
Seems like a backwards move IMO. honestly haven't needed a tray in ~6 years
That tray is important to me at least since my last couple phones used that same tray to also hold the SD card. I can't speak for anyone else, but a phone without an SD card for extra storage is a huge NO from me, so that tray is an absolute make or break for what my next upgrade is gonna be.
Honestly? For all the bitching when Apple first removed it, I hadent and haven’t used wired headphones for a long while. I had Bluetooth headphones long before then.
It's probably a rarer use case, but I use the headphone jack on my S10 all the time to connect it to my stereo and get good audio quality, most cheaper bluetooth receivers only use SBC so the difference is quite noticeable. (Also because the S10 has a pretty good DAC).
I dont care about the jack, the lightning-3.5 for 10bucks is more than a-ok, that said fuck bluetooth headphones, apart from the “smart” features, sub 50$ cans can and will blow the audio quality out of the water for many of the “entry level” (quotes cause entry is still approaching 100 bucks) BT ones and when you match price it is no-contest.
That said BT cans are still fine but after dabbling with hi-fi I can’t go back to BT.
Same
I miss the notification lights. One of my first true smart phones was the original oneplus. It was fun setting up custom colors for different types of notifications and came in handy every now and then
We got my legally-blind grandma a flip-phone with a notification LED on the outside. That little light has been a huge pain, because anytime she misses a call from a telemarketer/scammer or gets a marketing text, it turns on and she just. can’t. ignore. it. If that light is on, I’ve gotta drive all the way over there and clear the notifications.
I would like to ask about if you can not teach the poor old people some button combos to "mark as seen" but i imagine some old people want to know everything on their phone even if those texts and calls are scams and even they knew they are scams. Nevermind.
God yes. I had a phone with a bright LED right next to the front camera and it was so convenient to know exactly what app was notifying me at any time
If you have an OLED phone, this is still a thing you can do.
Galaxy XCover 6Pro still has one. Also headphone jack, SD slot and user removable battery
Physical keyboards.
Or even just the navigation buttons being separate from the screen.
I really miss how the blackberry volume rocker buttons would seek media on a long press
Preach it, brother!
What sucks is it would be easily doable.
Before smartphones were big I had a Samsung Messager (I think) with a slide out keyboard). Why not? A slide out keyboard would be sweet, and then you could choose to enable the digital keyboard if you wanted.
Wonder if they make a phone case with a keyboard (they certainly make the bluetooth keyboards for phones)
Edit: did some looking. It looks like they used to make these in a way I was thinking, such as this one
They don't seem to make them that way now (at least not for phones). I did run into a phone that has a new-ish phone that has a physical keyboard
I still have my G1 and G2, both in their original boxes. I adored the G1 so much.
PinePhone with keyboard case!
Brave.
Wrong but brave
I could type almost three times as fast on a t9 as I can on a touch screen, and I've written an entire novel on a touch screen.
The old ways are forgotten. They were not wrong.
Fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone. So you'd pick it up and your finger would naturally fall on the sensor, so that by the time you look at the screen, it's unlocked.
I'm still on the original google pixel, and I am dreading the day I'm forced to upgrade. It has the backside fingerprint sensor, and is in general pretty much the platonic ideal of a smartphone.
On my Samsung fold 3, fingerprint sensor on power button is awesome.
Works really fast and it's very reliable. Much better than fingerprint sensor under screen in my old oneplus 7 pro.
Except at current screen sizes, holding your phone such that the index finger is firmly in the middle of the back of the phone means you have barely any screen reach with the thumb.
Headphone jack
And its buddy SD card slot.
Why phone manufacturers? Why?
You condemn us to dongle life.
It's all about selling the solution to a problem they created.
No SD card slot? You are forced to upgrade since you cannot store anything more than what they allow.
No headphone jack? Hope you like buying our inferior first party wireless earbuds or the shitty dongle thing.
Next up on the chopping block will be the charging port in favor of wireless charging, I swear.
By that point, I think I would rather just buy a phone that has all of those features and replace the components as needed instead of upgrading while also having a burner phone I can transfer whatever "e-sim card" they force upon me.
Look, we have made a 1TB SD card!
Too bad you can't use it.
My first smart pocket device had two SD slots, a full-sized one and a mini- one, accessible at all time with no bullshit attached. I remember using it to share photos between people's cards right at the end of parties. I thought it can only get better from there.
Now I'm typing it from the phone that's twice the size and if I were to attempt ejecting my microSD card / SIM tray, it'll shutdown.
I wont buy a phone without one out of principle
I'm still mad they removed cassette decks from cars, myself.
I miss my smart watch waking me up outside of detected REM sleep.
On the Microsoft Band you could set a time window where the alarm would go off - say between 0700-0800. If you're in REM sleep at 0700, the alarm stays off until you naturally rouse, or 0800.
I've worked as a sleep scientist for 7 years, and the idea of not being woken out of REM is such a neat idea, and yet no other watch seems to do it.
Probably because that detection isn't done on the watch. It's a machine learning model running on the phone (if not worse) I guess.
Sleep as Android seems to offer such alarm.
+1 for sleep as android. Been using it for years by now.
The Huawei Talkband series does it. It's a smartwatch which turns into a bluetooth headset. For some reason, most reviewers struggle to see why anyone would want that but I struggle to see why anyone wouldn't...
I really miss the Band 2. It was so far ahead in terms of features, sensors, and the display was gorgeous.
A battery which lasts up to a week.
This sounds like such an impossibility nowadays, but a whole week would be amazing!
This may sound dumb... An old Samsung phone I had years ago, came with alarms that gradually faded in. The most memorable, started with the ocean, and the seagulls... Then there was a fog horn in the distance. Slowly the horn got closer, and closer... Until it was all you could hear, and your alarm was going off.
I've looked everywhere for the sound file... It must be Locked away in a basement at Samsung somewhere.
One day I'll find it
idk why, but I dug around YouTube for an hour or so to try and find that alarm for you. I stumbled across one that's so close to your description, though it's from a BlackBerry, not a Samsung:
Is this the one?
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/bOBaJHw36Dc
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
ARE YOU READY KIDS?
Didn't even know i needed that, nevermind it used to be a feature on a phone.
Do you want the exact same tone, or are you willing to try something new? My OnePlus has some tones similar to what you're looking for I think. They start off gradually and gently and I've been using the same tone for years now and haven't started hating it, which says a lot!
Physical buttons. Sometimes an app or the OS itself will fuck up and not show you the home or back button for example.
I would miss headphone jacks but any phone worth buying still comes with those... for now
I know people hate on the iPhone, but even it can accept wired headphones with a simple adaptor. The fever over losing wired headphones is strange because if certain people want them so badly, they can easily have them.
I have a wired earbud set as a backup, and the few times I have had to use it at the gym, it’s always felt like more of a hassle than Bluetooth earbuds.
It’s nice to be able to set the phone anywhere while doing things and not have to worry about the cord tangling up.
Similarly doing various chores around the house, with wireless I can set the phone anywhere and not worry about cords tangling up, or my phone coming out of the pocket of my shorts.
I’ve got some cheap 3rd party wireless earbuds with silicon earpieces, nothing fancy and they stay charged for ages. I know people complain about battery life, but it’s very rare for me to run out of charge with them.
Blame the shitty devs. Headphone jacks are not the solution anymore, we have USB-C & Bluetooth.
Maybe USB-C can be a viable alternative because it's so polyvalent, but one way or the other i want my stuff corded. If you don't want to deal with cables, you have to deal with batteries, and i hate batteries, they make stuff more expensive, more complicated, less durable, and heavier.
Also bluetooth and other wireless technologies are still unreliable, whereas you plug a cable into a socket and it's almost imposible for it not to work.
Specifically, modern computers have inherently more delay time between the keyboard (or other input devices), the software, and the display than much-older (1980s) computers. This means that it is not possible to create games that are as responsive to player inputs as the arcade, console, or microcomputer games of the past.
USB is slow. HDMI is slow.
These guys seem to agree https://zed.dev/
Fair point.
I like where phones are now for the most part, but the thing I miss the most is that magic moment of what leaps and bounds new technology/form factor/whatever was being incorporated into a new phone. Like when the iPhone was first announced or when Motorola announced (and marketed the hell out of) the original Droid - I can still hear the boot up sound.
I remember the debates and arguments had when the first 4+” phone was released and how it was “way too big” compared to the ideal sized 3.5” iPhone. The idea of swiping to type!? What a breakthrough! A fingerprint scanner to unlock your phone, that took like three or four tries some times and was met with skepticism by others.
Now I feel like, despite how monstrously capable are phones are now compared to even five years ago, there’s just not as much of a spark anymore. New phones are iterative and have been for a while. Bendable displays are sort of neat, but just doesn’t quite tap the same bit of magic for me.
Hardware keyboards on mobile phones
Yes! God I miss my old Droid2.
The Samsung Alias was my.fucking JAM back in the day. Had a two-way hinge that opened in portrait for a standard phone, or landscape for a full keyboard.
The T-Mobile G1 was my favourite phone ever.
I missed how I could set an alarm and then shut my blackberry off overnight and the phone would turn itself back on in the morning to alarm
Headphone jack for sure. Like 90% of my phone usage is either listening to music or watching videos, so decent audio is like the only thing I care about lol.
Charging once a week.
I loved how older versions of Android (and afaik iOS as well) could set the album cover of the currently played song as the lockscreen background.
It's a tiny and maybe completely unnecessary feature, but i loved it.
I think Spotify and YouTube music still do this, you may need to turn notifications on for the app (so that the lock screen player can appear)
The lockscreen player is visible but the background isn't changing anymore
I really miss small phones. Used to be a time when manufacturers were competing to make them as small as possible and Dell's 5" phone was universally mocked as too big.
You can still get really small phones - small enough that countries want to ban them for being too easy to smuggle into prisons - Zanco is one relevant brand
yes but porn
I miss the notification LED on older Galaxy phones.
This app is not available for your device
On a Samsung.
Removable battery and LED notification lights.
The RGB notification light is genius, I really hated that they removed that.
EU is bringing back the first one, apps like aodNotify bring back the second.
I miss the function when the phone would stay tethered to its cable at home where it wouldn't bother me all the time when I was out and about.
No one's forcing you to take it out and about...
I would seriously consider only having a home phone if I can ever afford to buy a place. Maybe a lightphone or similar to carry that only direct family have the number for in case of emergency.
Tactile keyboards
I was looking for this. every single time I type something on my phone I wish I had a blackberry still
SensMe in Sony and Sony-Ericsson phones and players. It was the tool that analyzed your music collection and sorted it according to energy, mood and tempo.
The best variant was on the later products whey you had a list of channels representing either moods/styles (Energetic, Emotional, Lounge, Dance etc.) or time of the day (from 'Morning' to 'Midnight'). The results were very good, especially for the time channels (except the morning) which were perfectly fitting the mood and pace of times of the day, much like Indian ragas. It really felt like your personal radio stations, freeing you from having to make playlists by yourself ever again...
It was discontinued in 2010s because of declared low adoption by users according to some obscure internal studies :( I've been dreaming of replicating it using Python ever since, but never had time to do a proper research.
Plexamp does this with sonic analysis. I haven't used it but it sounds cool.
I miss actually owning software and hardware you bought.
I kinda miss flip phones? These days phones are too big for my hands and pockets. I find myself buying cheaper phones just so it's a little smaller.
And if you want a flip phone now it's actually much worse than flip phones were when they were commonplace. It's bizarre.
Because today phones are all jewelry instead of screwdrivers.
I loved my candy bar phone. My purse got stolen and I was most upset about losing that phone. I had programmed custom ringtones into it. I still feel fonder of that phone than I do about my iPhone, I think because the iPhones are pretty soulless and that little teal phone had plenty of character.
Man.. The Motorola Razr v3.
Fuck, That thing was so goddamn cool
I wanted it so goddamn bad that even now I feel the twangs of heartache over never having got one.
Well that's technically making a comeback with the bendable displays.
Keyboard and the ability to physically close the phone to turn it off/sleep/hangup.
My wife loved the Samsung flip because you could close it to hang up on people.
It was a good idea, also not pocket dialing people was cool.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 had a feature in the camera app which would take several pictures in a row and you could then choose the one with best quality. Extremely useful feature especially in low light. I'm sure there's an app out there that can do this but I can't find one.
That's still a feature on Pixel
https://support.google.com/googlecamera/answer/9937175?hl=en
Well damn. I have the Google Camera mod installed but it doesn't have that feature
You can still take burst shots. Just hold the camera button down.
Yeah I do but it's difficult to compare two photos side by side in the gallery. I need the ability to switch between photos that are zoomed in to be able to spot the difference and see which one is crispier.
Like "Single Take" on modern Galaxy phones? I think you can also do something like this with burst mode.
I miss the kick stand that HTC phones had. Yeah I know there are phone cases with kick stands, but in my experience they don't work as well.
Phones: ability to throw it on the ground without anything bad happening to it.
Other: software that you could just own.
Still remember my first phone, Motorola C200 (I think?). This pebble of a phone was solid, you could probably get away with using it as a hammer a few times. Not as sturdy as that legendary Nokia, but still.
Those Motorolas were solid.
I had the Sony Ericsson T100, I still like the design.
Replaceable batteries.
Well at least this one is going to make a comeback...
They're coming back!
A tactile keyboard. There was a time when I could text with my eyes closed (literally). Now it takes me 30 seconds to "type" out a text that should take < 10 seconds.
My wife once went over the 2000 word emails i'd text her from the train ride home when I lived abroad. T9 plus a decent text prediction was sooooo much easier and faster than this typo prone bullshit we put up with
Preinstalled snake.
Predictive text like my Nokia's T9. It knew how English worked and what the probability of a word in context was.
Now it's all: "the same time and consideration and I are going to be a good time to get the latest Flash player is required for video playback is unavailable right now because this video is not available for remote playback is unavailable right now because this...."
Even going back just a couple of years - the ability to default to entering what you actually typed rather than what the AI thinks you should have typed.
It used to be a benefit of android over ios - but now any unusual spelling you type just gets replaced by the nearest dictionary word or brand name, and backspace doesn't even get your word back.
I'm not sure exactly what it was called but any time you took a photo with a Note8, it was always taking photos from right before to right after the photo. This resulted in much fewer garbage photos because a few frames before or after the shutter was pressed would be a better photo, one that is not blurry! Now instead of a useless photo, I would have at least something workable. I have not seen that on any other phone with this feature, including my current one.
It can't know when you're going to press the shutter button, so it has to actually just record video all the time. Taking snapshots from video is much lower resolution and quality than properly exposed photo.
Yeah, but the average consumer doesn't care. I'll share a photo from my camera to someone who's sharing a smeared shitty blown out phone picture back, and it's just depressing.
I think live photos on iphones come sort of close. you can pick a specific frame after taking a picture and it records a bit before and after you pressed the shutter button
though for that to work you have to keep “live” on and it eats space much faster that way
For folks with an iPhone, iOS Live Photos does this by recording 1.5 seconds before and after the picture as a short video, and allowing you to choose the key frame that shows as the still image.
Pixel still does this
https://support.google.com/googlecamera/answer/9937175?hl=en
Active Edge, which LG originally came up with and that Google adopted with the Pixel 2. Of course they dropped it after a few devices.
It was basically a button/key press that you could configure to trigger actions by firmly applying pressure with you hands around the lower third of your phone. It gave a very satisfying haptic vibration response based on the amount of pressure you applied and you could even set the amount of pressure until it was triggered. It had something magickal about it.
If you're interested in the tech: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2017/10/19/google-pixel-2-teardown-ifixit/
This and 3d touch were really nice phone input improvements
Dunno if this counts, but screens that fit in my goddamn pocket.
For real. I'm so sick of every new phone having a slightly bigger screen than the one before it. At first it was nice but I literally cannot fit a phone bigger than my current one in my pocket. If this is the trend then my only hope is vertical flip phones get cheaper so I can at least have one that fits comfortably in my pockets again.
What size pockets you got? I've been rocking Pixel XLs for years in my skinny jeans without a problem. Men's jeans front pocket, for reference.
Regular men’s sized pockets with the outline of my phone clearly etched through every single one of them. I’ve been excited for curved screens to gain popularity so that I won’t have to replace my jeans as frequently.
The Snake game you could play on push button phones. Oh my goodness.
I had an old flip phone that came with a demo of Uno. I could play a single hand, then reset the demo and play again and again. There was only a nag screen when you were exiting/restarting the demo, and not a single other ad.
Passed hours with that little game.
I miss mobile gaming when it was like that.
Notifications that don't take up a big chunk of your screen.
I remember when notifications were just little icons at the top of the screen that represented the app, not three or four lines of text, or a picture, that let everyone nearby know what it's about.
I've had times in the past where I've been playing with my kid on the phone, or reading a book or something, and a friend will message me something inappropriate. It opens on the top of my screen before I can do anything about it, and for no reason. I have to open the app anyway to see the full message.
The knock code really was so convenient and safe. No way for other people to see it.
I was an avid fan of LG phones, especially the G series. I mean yeah, some features were kind of pointless (G5 Module??)
No way for other people to see it.
What? You're still tapping the screen.
I didn't word that correctly, you're right In being able to see someone tapping their screen.
I don't know how familiar you are with the knock code. These are the reasons why it's near impossible for people around you to figure out the pattern, while still being very convenient:
You can have a very long knockcode, but still enter it really fast once commited to muscle memory
You can enter it while the phone is in Standby with display of
And lastly, the 4 seems weren't absolute in size and location on display. You could pick up your phone and enter the knockcode with your thumb, only moving it in minimal distances relative to each segments, and the knockcode would be registered. These possible small movements compared with a relatively long code make it nigh impossible to figure out from observation
Sharing contact information directly phone to phone.
Lock screen widgets, giving me information at an actual glance without the risk of getting sucked into other random bullshit.
Oh but getting sucked into random bullshit is what they want
Normal(small) size.
This one. I have an Samsung S10e, which is several years old now, and it is gargantuan compared to my previous phone even though it was one of the last 'compact' models you could get at the time.
The OnePlus 7 Pro and 7T Pro had a pop-up front-facing camera. No notch, no pinhole, no buttons at the bottom to mar the perfect full screen. It was gorgeous. My (tragically bricked due to my own water-based stupidity) OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren is probably my favorite phone I ever used.
Sticking with LG the little AOD app icon that would pop up when you get a notification on the V60. Forgot how much I missed it.
SIM card trays for sure.
So back in the day you could hold home to pull up Google assistant and tell it to translate whatever was on your screen. No matter what app, browser, etc it just worked. I have no idea why they ever got rid of it. Now with the modern version of tap to translate text has to be highlight-able in order to be translated, which is a bone headed decision. It's like they never use the stuff they make.
Thinking on this, you should be able to take a screenshot and use the camera featiin Google translate. It translates text on images (inheritantly not highlightable) so you should be good.
There is no way to play CD audio in the background on an X Box anymore. It used to be in Groove Music, and then supposedly in Windows Media Player, but I can't find either of those in the store.
Well, I suppose is old/discontinued, but my current phone has a motorized camera (Poco F2 Pro) I am not a selfie guy, so I could not care less about it, having no notches nor punch hole camera is nice AF.
You can even hide the navigation pill and mix it with some apps like Connect for Lemmy and you literally get 100% of content in your screen lol.
I would pay extra to have 3D Touch back
Extremely underrated, but once you’ve actually tried using it you just don’t want to miss it.
Headphone jacks. My current phone has it but I'm afraid of buying a new one.
I miss them being small and slim. I still use my iPhone SE everyday for a music player. It’s the perfect size for a cell phone.
- Sent from my iPad.
The likely reason it isn't a COMMON phone form factor is the hardware required to make it a phone would take up too much space
What are you talking about, my https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-2 even has a headphone jack.
I liked the People Hub that Windows Phone 8 started with. But none of the social media platforms wanted you to be able to use their services without seeing their ads so ...
Windows phone 7 & 8 were great. This coming from an iPhone user. Idiots at Microsoft should never have killed it off.
Squeeze to activate Google Assistant, from the Pixel 2 XL (and maybe others, I don't remember)
Some of the Samsungs that had a bixby button you could get an app that would let you customize it to go to Google Assistant. That was cool.
Since a lot of the other ones have been said already I'll do one that hasn't been said yet:
3D Touch
normal group chats without the apple bullshit
Is this more of a USA problem? Nobody here uses sms
Small sizes
Multicolour notification LEDS - customisable for each app
Smaller camera bumps and less cameras in general - not everyone wants or needs to be a professional photographer.
Plastic bodies, with removable batteries via covers.
I don't know how many current phones support it but mine doesn't... Extendable storage via micro sd
Customisable vibration patterns for different contacts and apps - I remember how super old early Android Xperia phones being able to do this (alongside the LED mentioned above). I used to think this was stock android, I guess not. But if it was, why did they remove it, same guess for LED
ITT: people who bought the wrong phone then complain.
