What niche phone features would appeal to you?
What niche phone features would appeal to you?
I went through my late teens as the initial smart phone boom was happening. I had a Motorola q that could get TV channels and had a keyboard. I had the enV that flipped open. And many androids/blackberries that I loved for their unique form factor and functionality.
I have never balked at spending money on a phone and for a long time i felt locked into generic flagship devices. With the debut of folding screens I feel like my appetite for unique devices rekindled. I think the power of android lies in its diversity of implementation.
So what features and functionalities would you choose over the next flagship release?
A fucking headphone jack
I feel like I wouldn't mind the lack of headphone jack so much if they just gave us another USB-C port on the bottom instead so you can charge and listen to music without a dongle.
How did we end up in a world where this is a niche feature. 😭😭
HEADPHONE JACK.
GIVE ME THE GOD DAMN HEADPHONE JACK BACK
Ironically enough the headphone jack is more common on cheaper phones. Honestly though the mid grade phones are so good now that I can't see myself buying a flagship device unless there's some incentive.
Hit the road, bc Jack won't come back home no more
I second that
Pixel 3a FTW!!!
I'd like a phone with no camera facing me, and physical hardware switches to completely disable the mic, camera, battery, and entire modem. Not some software interrupt and lock. I mean, the switch is circuit ground for these circuit blocks. When I select OFF, it means real world "this thing does not exist any more ever" until I turn it back on.
It would be interesting to have a modular rear camera with a removable lens, removable IR filter, along with public documentation and the full API for the sensor. This would open up an enormous range of applications. I would mostly mess with astrophotography more.
The modular rear camera idea makes a lot of sense when you consider that camera bumps have become an industry standard.
physical hardware switches to completely disable the mic, camera, battery, and entire modem
There is one, the Librem 5.
Warning: Usability is not great last I heard. Runs on a linux distro so no android apps.
Edit: nvm don't bother checking it. They just raised the price to $1299 and it's 32 gb storage with 3gb ram. I mean at this point, just get a google pixel and slap on graphene os.
I miss having a notification LED. It used to be super common to have a "breathing" effect with a given color when an app had sent a notification.
So a Snapchat for example would show the breathing as yellow, etc. Super convenient to check for messages without going and grabbing the phone.
I think the galaxy s9 was the last that had that for the galaxy seriesm. When I got my S20U I handed my s8plus? The flagship to my mum. I still miss the notification light and it's such a shame that we can't even use the AMOLED screen to emulate the notification light.
Checkout "aodnotify" for a screen notification replacement for the led. Works like a charm for me on my s7 and s10 and has tons of options to make it app specific, colors, and notification styles. You do need the purchased version instead of free for some of the features, but think it's well worth it.
Yea I only ever had this on a Samsung S9 and I did find it helpful. Snapchat as you said did a good job using it.
Headset jack and let me replace my damn battery. Also default option to uninstall non-OEM apps
You're in luck for the battery thing. It's basically going to be mandatory in the EU which should hopefully help push change everywhere
I really hate that it is becoming mandatory. I would have preferred the option to either have a reasonably priced service to replace the battery or have it user replaceable. Forcing one solution just seems not very consumer friendly.
I don't like the compromises they have to make to make them easily replaceable and I never had a battery fail on me.
Apparently most of my requirements/desires fit this. I require an unlocked bootloader, because I need root to not throw my phone through a window. An amazing camera would be needed as well.
I REALLY, REALLY would like a removable battery, IR blaster, small form function, a headphone jack, and a rear fingerprint reader.
I miss the IR blaster on my Galaxy S4. I remember when I finally upgraded to the S8, I was using it for several months before realizing it was gone. I tried to change the channel on the TV at work only to find out that they removed that feature from their Galaxy line pretty much right after the S4. Needless to say, I was disappointed, but it makes sense to remove a super niche feature from their mass-marketed device line.
because I need root to not throw my phone through a window.
true, just a simple toggle button to unlock bootloader without connecting to some servers ou waiting 10 days for permission
OMG great question! I want:
- Laser range finder/"tape" measure
- Thermal camera
- Air quality sensor
- Radiation detector/Geiger counter
- Multimeter capabilities
- IR LED (so I can use it as a remote)
- Ultrasound capabilities
- Peltier so I can put a drink on my phone to chill it down 👍
An unlocked bootloader and a normal Linux distribution where I have root!
A lot of the older CAT phones have these features, like Thermal, Laser Rangefinder, Air Quality. Though not all of them in a single phone unfortunately.
Honestly, headphone jacks are number 1.
Then also, FM radios. Most Android phones had them up until a few years ago, when Apple stopped shipping iphones with the feature, to push more people onto iTunes. I'm not a huge radio listener. But having the functionality during an emergency is invaluable. There was a really bad storm in my country a few years ago. Me and my family had no power and no internet for nearly a week. I would listen to my battery powered radio to get weather updates and to find out what the situation was like elsewhere. I don't understand why that same functionality can't be implemented in phones.
Besides that, removable batteries, sim card and SD card slots.
FM Radio and removable Batteries may come back. FM due India requiring it by law now and the EU demanding by law that each electronical device with a battery needs a easy way for the end user to replace said battery
Modular everything. I really wanted Project Ara to come to market.
Man I really go hard for the module projects as well. After all the failed attempts I just don't believe it's possible any more =/
I hear ya.
I'd even take the Moto Z series back at this point.
I know some phones had already did this, but I always liked the idea of support for using your phone as a TV remote. The phone has replaced so many pieces of hardware that it feels silly that TV remotes haven't been replaced yet.
I also specifically wish Chrome supported extensions on mobile. Firefox does it. Why can't the biggest browser do it?
I miss the innovation of early 2010s phones. Using the IR blaster to mess around with bar TVs was a ton of fun. Not to mention headphone jacks, SD card slots, and removable batteries.
I wish Firefox mobile supported desktop extensions. I know its doable with Nightly builds, but that's a pain to set up.
A swappable battery. I could buy a few batteries and never be out of power. I could replace the battery on an older phone without pretty much having to replace the phone itself.
Have you seen the Fairphone? It allows to swap the battery and repair other hardware, is ethically sourced and has an extended warranty. Unfortunately the hardware is from 2021. I hope they release a new one this September.
Have they improved with newer models? I had a Fairphone 2, but it would regularly crash when using it on my bike (I assume modular design and vibrations didn't really work that well) and after a few dozen times of removing the cover the plastic started to crack already.
I loved the mission statement, but the product itself seemed a bit lacking and needed handling it very carefully.
I had not seen it before, but it looks interesting. My biggest concern would be about compatibility with US carriers.
This.
Niche feature....
By Apple's standards a headphone jack.
By Android's standards IR blaster. Had them in my last 2 phone and man is it nice to turn the volume down on a TV which is too loud in a public place like a Hotel Lobby or a Restaurant
I'd like to have the IR blaster and a good app on WearOS devices. Even more discreet and handy than a phone!
I feel the space could've been used for something else. But the alure of pretenting to be a spy it too tempting to pass up.
I was looking into smaller form factor phones awhile back, and an interesting feature I noticed some of them had was a programmable button.
I don't know that programmable buttons on phones are that niche, but it's certainly not common either so far as I'm aware, so this super simple feature would be wicked imo. I'd also really like if more phones just stole Motorola's gesture interactions (e.g. quick twist for camera, firm double-shake for flashlight, etc.).
Also, uh...Speaking of small form factor phones, I don't know if that counts as a feature, but it's one detail I'd like to see come back, or flip phones with separate screens (clunky, sure, but better than the screen eventually creasing imo).
A good well implemented button anywhere is a joy and I think there would be a lot of interest in smaller phones with interesting features.
Dedicated media playback buttons might also be nice.
I want a Galaxy Fold style phone, but the external screen is eInk. Have it set to always show the book I am reading. This will let me read in bite sized pieces.
That would be awesome, although it might make the camera experience worse since you usually use the camera folded. I saw a prototype for a phone a while back that had a regular screen on one side and e-ink on the other, I always thought that was cool.
Officially supported rooting! Makes this less complicated.
Rooting is easy if the phone manufacturer allows unlocking the bootloader (99% of phones)
Just a bit hard when there are no tutorials online. Use magisk for rooting, most apps assume it is how you rooted tour phone and don't work properly any other way (its also the only method that works on newer phones)
99% of phones
Not anymore
I miss my IR blaster.
same 🥲
I have that on my Poco X3 Pro. Pretty useful. I lost the remote from my TV, but I don't have to care about that :)
Headphone socket. They are taking away what was a universal feature and replacing it with inconvenient crap.
Niche or not, I want an SD card slot that actually fucking works. Like, yes, I can move files to it, but I can't actually install apps to it. There's the "move to SD, but that doesn't matter when the app files are still stored on the internal storage.
Whenever I buy a phone there's two function I look for that is getting phased out: LED indicator and a 3.5mm audio jack. It's why I have a Sony Xperia. The thing is there's no user configuration for the LED indicator. You either need to pay for a third party app or unlock the bootloader and install a custom firmware. I would love if a flagship phone had an LED Indicstor that was customizable. i.e. Blue for a text, Red for an email, Green for battery at 80%+, etc.
I was actually writing up a big thing about how I'd gone out of my way to get a used Note 9 with the headphone jack, which also has the LED indicator, and how you could set the LED colors for individual apps. But after spending about 20 minutes Googling and looking for the settings in my phone, I'm not sure it's actually possible. Maybe it was my Note 8 that had LED indicator options? Or maybe I just imagined it entirely. Hmm
Only ever had a Note 9 and I do remember the LED indicator being customizable. Try the extended utilities app from Samsung store? Edit: Good Lock
I'm not sure but its unfortunate that more companies don't offer it in their software.
I feel like OLED screens partly replace this, since they could have a small indicator on the screen without needing to power a backlight etc
More phones like the Fairphone/Framework Laptop. Easy to repair and upgrade in a modular manner, as well as install what ever OS I choose.
Something interesting. Like 2 USB-C ports, also a nice hard plastic back, since they are so hard to find now.
E-Ink would be nice, whether integrated as part of an OLED/LCD screen, or a separate module that goes over the top.
Most of the things that I use my phone for don't generally need the full colour display (text isn't that expensive to display), and I wouldn't mind trading that for vastly better battery life that you can get from e-ink, but having the option to use both is probably the best way to go.
An IR transceiver wouldn't go poorly either. It's not something I use much, but it was handy to have when I did, whether to send things around, or to just use my phone as a remote for televisions and things.
OLED or LCD + e-ink hybrid screens are probably quite a few years off yet, but I know there was at least one laptop with an e-ink screen on its lid
so many smart phone manufacturers are so gung ho about making the back of the phone out of glass (which I hate), I wonder if they could be convinced to swap it for an e-ink panel?
being able to just flip the phone around in your hand when you step into bright sunlight, instead of having to fumble with the status bar pulldown menu's brightness slider, would ABSOLUTELY RULE
plus you know. like. eyestrain relief or whatever :)
I don't know if having the phone be a touch screen on both sides would be that good of an idea, since it just seems like it would be an awful experience to accidentally fumble things because your hand was touching the back (or be unable to use a case with it).
Maybe if it was combined with some of the newer folding phones? You have an e-ink outer screen, with a regular LCD/OLED inner screen?
IR emitter . Super handy wen you use old stuf like me like VHS dvd combo crt ect .
Or turning down that one TV in the gym
IR blasters. I love that about Xiaomi
Plastic back and a removable/user replaceable battery.
Yeah yeah I know it "feels cheap" but honestly I LIKED when phones were made of more plastic. Now they're heavier and both sides are breakable. Like, the metal backs were fine, but apparently metal backs suck for NFC and wireless charging so instead of giving us some classy Nokia Lumia style plastic they went with glass backs.
Also I keep my phone in a case because otherwise the back is so smooth it shoots off the couch if someone walks across my apartment. It's legit only in the case to add some friction.
I really miss the feel of my Nexus 5. It's still one of my favorite phones.
Glass backs suck so much. Slippery and fingerprint magnets. If you only want to add some grip and do not want to use a case, something like a dbrand skin helps a lot.
One without a damn camera, I swear to God most of the price goes into having "quality cameras" I never end up using.
Right? A camera module from 2020 would be just fine and cheap to make but no, gotta redo it every year to price it "as new"
I miss the IR blaster. Being able to control my TV and other set-top boxes was amazing. Now that functionality has been replaced by each manufacturer having their own control app that needs an internet connection and all your information. Bring back the IR blaster!
Came to say this. I had one with an IR blaster and thought it was gimmicky until I remembered my wife has ADD and we lose remotes constantly
I will never buy a phone that doesn't have GrapheneOS, so that limits me to Pixels.
I prefer more secure OSes as well. Like GrapheneOS and CalyxOS. I wish GrapheneOS had more options for data/internet permissions like CalyxOS does. (allow app only over vpn, ETC) I much prefer the sandbox approach to google services however.
I miss my keyboards
Me too. I have the Unihertz Titan and Titan Slim, both have keyboards, but they are really low spec devices that don't operate well with modern wifi and no 5G.
I would pay premium price for a Galaxy S24 with a slide out keyboard.I was contemplating the Unihertz phones, but was really put off by the odd keyboard layout. How do you find typing on them?
I am looking at picking up a Pro OneX hopefully its keyboard is good. The Titan was my other thought
Me too, I still suck at typing on a touchscreen. Nothing beats a good physical keyboard; I still miss my Treos.
OMG PLEASE THIS I WANT MY KEYBOARD BACK YOU BASTARDS! I can type 20 times faster and more accurately with my thumbs on buttons than I can with this obnoxious onscreen crap. How many times is my machine gonna just go with "8'm" instead of "I'm" before it can figure out that I have fat fingers and just autocorrect....
I hate on-screen keyboards with the fire of 1,000 suns.
I want a phone with an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, those are apparently a niche feature nowadays. The optical readers are terrible by comparison.
Samsungs use ultrasonic. Definitely way better than any optical I've ever used.
DisplayPort over USB C. Preferably with some desktop optimization like DEX. I don't want to buy a personal laptop beside my company owned machine, but obviously there are things I want to do in a desktop environment without my employer's all seeing eye during traveling.
Its frustrating that it is a flagship feature and the only conviniently working solution are Galaxy S devices.
I really wanted to switch to a Galaxy Flip, but the lack of DEX settled that I shouldn't have one.
Wait Z flip lacks Dex??
I liked the physical toggle for silent mode on iPhones. Flip/slide-out keyboards were also kinda cool
As far as apps though... I really loved having a good programmable remote app on devices with an IR transceiver. The best one was actually on Palm of all things, and you could add custom icons to a layout and then record inputs from your actual remotes to replay.
Headphone jack, apparently..
Oh I forgot, a clamshell folding phone but with only one screen and the other side is a physical keyboard, like a mini-laptop.
Nobody seems really know how to do a folding screen well, so why have the screen fold at all?
Like the sidekick? Motorola really knew how to make phones back then!
Yeah, that'd be pretty cool, but I'm thinking something modernized, like the Lenovo Yoga but smaller, that they can fit a bunch of USB-C and even audio jacks to. Modern phones are big enough to fit a real keyboard anyways, and you can probably do something even crazier like have mini-OLED screens inside programmable buttons a la one of the Mac Pros.
QUERTY slider would allow to use the phone without unfolding so I would prefer that. Loved the Motorola Droid series.
Today my wish is for an internal pihole instance running on the device.
A full physical QWERTY keypad on my 3rd hand Blackberry Bold (in 2013) was the best thing I had seen on a cell phone. I wish full physical QWERTY keyboards would make a comeback.
It's the rear fingerprint reader for me, I use the pulldown action constantly. That and stereo front-facing speakers.
I loved the IR Blaster on my old Galaxy S4, was really fun to mess with the TV's in public places with it sometimes and was also pretty useful at home as well!
Oh yes, also the little known LG F4Optimus that had the same feature. Man that phone was such a small little thing but surprisingly packed of features
The ability to easily unlock bootloaders, IPS screen and removable batteries.
Out of curiosity, why do you prefer IPS screens?
Burn-in
A phone built somewhat like a desktop PC. All parts replaceable or even upgradable. Choose the components for your needs and budget, or buy a pre-built.
But let's get to more standard smartphone concept.
On software side, no bootloader locks, or easily unlockable bootloader (not requiring internet) and root access that could be enabled in developer settings.On hardware side:
IR blaster - Control your AC, TV, etc.
Front-facing stereo speakers - could give a better stereo sound. And bezels aren't a big problem. Actually they can be positive as you can hold your phone better with them.
Headphone jack - Obvious. Would be cool if it had mode for composite output, but that's quite extra.
Dedicated fingerprint scanner on front - I had this on Moto G5s Plus. It allowed awesome gesture navigation, much better than using whatever on-screen.
Trackpoint - Early Androids used to have that. Would definitely be useful with large screens.
FM, HD Radio, DAB, DAB+, DVB-T2 Lite receiver - Radio is pretty useful. AM would also be nice, though you would need external antenna better than cable from earphones. I think FM radio is the minimum here.
TV Receiver - Just like with radio, except now you're saving much more on mobile data.
Camera with optical zoom - We've been there with Samsung in the past. But I understand it makes things too large and heavy.
Projector - We've been there with Samsung in the past, again. I think it was done pretty nicely on the projector part with Beam 2. It didn't even add much thickness. Just the rest of the phone was meh.Oh! I remember having a Samsung that could receive TV signal and I absolutely loved that feature!
I want a phone small enough to fit in my pocket with the pocket flap buttoned shut
Yeah I still have my Pixel 4a as the secondary device and I can actually fit it in my front pocket on one of my sweatshirts with a little zipper. End of life is August though, so I don't know what I'm going to replace it with
I'll keep using it probably for a year or whatever but eventually I'll need to replace it and it's just hard to find anything that smaller light. Maybe by then the Motorola razr will be cheaper on the resale market or something.
Late to the thread but here's my thoughts on everything I'd like in a phone. Having just a few of these would make a huge difference in how much I'd want the phone.
Hardware:
- Standard features like a 3.5mm jack and MicroSD slot.
- Multiple USB ports (especially on tablets)
- Thunderbolt port
- Here's a simple idea: Instead of making a thin phone with a massive camera bump, you make a thick phone with the camera flush with the back, and use the extra space for a bigger battery?
- User-replacable battery
- Modules like the modo mods
- Battery passthrough when charging
- Upgradable SoC, RAM, internal storage???
Software (here lies my hopes and dreams that will never be manifested):
- Starting off simple, a feature that lets you manually limit how much you charge your battery.
- Manual over/underclocking controls for the CPU
- Separate WiFi/data toggles
- More control over how big or small icons and text is
- Easy root access with app makers not getting all "you sus" over the fact that your device is rooted
- No data harvesting (duh)
- Better file management (and removing scoped storage)
- Multiple logins to a phone (like what you can do with a desktop)
- One app, multiple accounts
- Just having the software take less system resources.
- Open sourcing hardware drivers
- Multiple floating windows like with a desktop OS
- More than 3 split screen options
- I'm sure there's a lot more I can't think of now
Ability to use the screen as a display through the USB port so I can debug a lot of my systems at home without needing to carry a monitor around.
sounds like more of a software feature
Actually I doubt it, video in and video out likely needs totally different wiring, so most phones probably couldn't do it without hardware changes
Unlocked bootloader by default
I'm on a Fold 4 now and I do love the novelty/oddity aspect of having a folding tablet.
But I would love to see the return of IR blasters on most phones and sliding phones for physical keyboards.
Lots of Xiaomi phones come with IR and an app called Mi Remote with many devices/brands to control.
Yeah there are still options out there that offer an IR blaster, but I'd really like to see it return as a mainstream feature. Now it's more of a niche thing you don't see often.
- Incredibly jealous of you having the fold 4.
- I miss a physical keyboard so much. As an appdev I know I would get a lot out of it.
A phone without the actual phone part. Just SMS/MMS. Maybe a notification that someone tried to call
that's called having a Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact and living in the US where they shut down all the 3g towers and all the carriers, including MVNOs, blacklisted its VoLTE capability >:[
—passive aggressively typed on the dinner plate of a phone that i had to replace my nice tiny XZ2c with
Ah yea that would be so cool. Like a pager plus good messaging platform.
SMS isn't encrypted
An OEM FM/AM transmitter. I would love to be able to playback music directly to any old ass car. Or even use it as a very short range walkie talkie with the right program.
N900 gang?
I wish. I will get my hands on one though... Someday
3D Screen Pico Projector HDMI out Notification LED Removable battery
The first smartphone I owned was the Lobster 700TV, Which as the name suggests had a digital TV receiver built in. The screen was too small to be practical, but I've always liked quirky features like that
Max 4 inch screen, IR blaster, physical keyboard with speed dial settings for buttons, form factor like the Xperia x10 mini pro, headphone jack, cameraless, LED with customisable lights for different notifications, bonus - built in projector, satellite phone capability,
Out of curiosity, why would you want a phone with no cameras?
And do phones with built in projectors exist? That sounds amazing, even if I would almost never use it
I've had 3 Motorola's where the charge port stopped working just past warranty. Now I always look for wireless charging.
An open bootloader and a removable battery.
being able to run scrcpy easily over wifi
Hackability
Really would love a dedicated camera button that acts as a soft shutter release. Or a button in that position that's programmable.
Keyboard and not every phone looks like a black slab
Yeah. Give me a physical qwerty keyboard and FM radio and I'm good. I like my little pocket screen and all, but I'd much rather split between a small tablet for viewing things and a smaller phone with a keyboard for inputting things.
Headphone jack. I've used multiple LG phones before, currently using the LG V60 and seems like Sony is the only way to go in the future, unfortunately.
Yeah I would like to support Sony but boy they make it hard with the MSRP. It always buy a used one but at that point I'd still be better off just buying with or sticking with an LG device since the v60 still has Android 13.
Asus has the headphone jack still, if they were to bring back SD card support and at least offer 3 or 4 years of security updates that's probably the direction I would go. Also the only company still offering a flagship phone under 5.10 in or even under 6.1 in
What about an external, optical camera lens ? I would 100% pay for a phone that looks like a brick but that has an optical zoom
Pixel Pro has optical zoom.
I just want a new Droid with a slide-out keyboard
I've had every one of them until the Droid 4 and they never released a new one
I hate how companies claim that physical keyboards are dead because people werent buying them, but the companies kept making mid or shit tier specs on such handsets. Only niche manufacturers make em now and it's a damn shame
IR Blaster, Headphonejack, SD Card Slot, removable battery
A microsd card slot and a headphone jack
There are some niche phones with a thermal camera, would love to see more of that. Thermal modules are getting smaller, cheaper and better all the time and the main producers like infiray or guide are offering modules that seem to be clearly targeted at the smartphone market.
I'm still discovering new uses for my thermal camera and I wish I could have it in my pocket all the time. The obvious uses are finding gaps in your house's thermal insulation or finding devices that draw a lot of standby energy. But you can also use it to find studs in your walls, find things that have recently been used, like cars in a parking lot or chairs in an office.
Thermal cameras are also really handy for electronics repair and spotting invisible water leaks in ceilings.
Slide out controller, like the Xperia Play. I've gotten super into (at least the idea of) SBC handheld gaming, and there's just nothing quite like the Xperia Play now. Sure, there's bluetooth controllers, but I'm not a big fan of bluetooth, and the majority of the bluetooth controllers make portability a pain rather than it being a sleek package.
I miss the d-pad and slide out keyboard on my Motorola droid. It made playing games so nice.
- unlockable bootloader
- ability to flash a custom bootloader
- no camera or very bad camera in exchange for being cheaper
- no selfie camera so I don't have to deal with a notch
- battery life
- community custom OS support (like lineage os and post market os)
And finally:
- RISC-V (probably not recommended for daily driving but who cares?)
true background process management and battery
i'm certain this is going to be a just me thing but i'm a nostalgic fool and would love a notch in the casing to put a lanyard/phone strap. that, and a physical keyboard. if you could get modern android and a good camera in the form factor of the original motorola razr i'd be so happy lol
I got a Samsung flagship mostly for DeX, even tho I'm enjoying the whole thing, I really wish desktop mode on Android was more easily accessible. Like 99% of the market doesn't even use the required USB C version for it.
As well as better app compatibility when going on a big screen, a lot of android apps just don't scale well.
Better system font/typeface selection and a way to install new ones. I know it's a petty gripe, but the default android options are few and terrible.
I mostly use wired headphones since they offer better performance than many Bluetooth headphones, so i would love a headphone jack, i know that sony still have them but i would like more alternatives.
Headphone jack. 5in or less screen size.
Security wise, I totally get why it's not used much, but I really miss having WPS on my phone. My work involves me connecting to different wifi networks all the time to troubleshoot and, since I have physical access to the router, it's so much easier to just press a button then to run around chasing down someone with the password.
Phone upgrades.
Battery.. Non lithuim. Flexible and new. []
Flexible screen. Wrist strap or just flexible. []
Fitness/health capabilities. []
Usb 3.1 reversible.. Proper specs [x]
Wireless charging. Using new WiFi microwave to charge phone without mat. Wattup []
Better nfc/Google pay [x]
Smaller screen oled,s than 5.5 []
Better speakers none conduction or ceramic
Encryption []
Bezelless. Screen to screen hole cut out. 2018 []
Solar panel in screen. Sapphire glass. Smudge and germThis list was created a few years ago.
Some things have been implemented but not all.
Solar panel sounds neat, but the math really isn't really great. An iPhone 14 Pro is about 0.01 square meters, solar irradiance is around 1300w/sqm, and an average solar efficiency of around 23% and ideal case is 2-3 watts.
This is more of a software thing, but:
The Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact (and I think some other Xperias) shipped with a 3D Creator, a 3D scanner app. I found this out after having decided on the XZ2c for other feature reasons (mainly it being smol) but as a 3D printing dabbler, this was an exciting bonus.
Was it easy to use? Kinda
Could it produce scans with enough accuracy to be useful in 3D printed part design? Maybe
Did I ever get around to using it for that? Nope
Was it fun to scan all my friends' heads with and mess around with the gimmicky facial animations? HELL YEAHXperia phones are great, their marketing department is awful. I want a new Xperia I just don't know which is the newest one because they are named random shit like Sony Xperia Z1 IV... Z1 X and so forth. As Opposed to Flip 4, Galaxy S23, Iphone 14
My favourite phones have been the original Z and the Z3 Compact. 4k underwater camera, incredible.
Maybe a dumb one but: a tactile switch for sound/silent is really nice. Currently on oneplus - the last stand of clickity clackaty
An ir blaster, great as a universal remote
Larger, swappable battery. Squeeze for assistant
+1 for the battery. I turned off squeeze for assistant when I had it, lol. It kept going off by accident.
Slide out physical keyboard, notification LEDs or some form of cool lights, a dedicated camera shutter button, and a scroll wheel / touch pad like what used to be on the blackberry or like the LG KE970 I really liked that.
I really miss notification LED's though, always on display is good, but a little light is going to use far less battery and be immediately apparent from across the room by the colour what app the notification came from is.
edit : formatting
I'm so annoyed that my Moto G60 has a sign of life LED that can't be used for notifications.
That sounds infuriating, I really miss these features, its not like there isn't even space to put them in, screen real estate isn't everything.
I don't remember what phone it was, but it used the same camera for front and back. So when you wanted to take a selfie, the camera flipped itself. It's probably not durable but I find it very cool.
Basically an Asus Zenfone 9 with a removable battery and an Sd card. Also, make the front like Sony phones - larger bezels on the top and the bottom of the display and house stereo speakers and front camera there instead of a cutout.
My brother had one of the original Moto X phones which had this neat gesture where you waved over the screen and it turned on to show you your notifications. I think it was a basic proximity sensor thing, but it was super useful when the phone was on the table.
Can't believe I haven't seen it since.
Remember Moto's "karate chop" to turn on flashlight? Was really useful
Oh yeah I forgot about that. The double twist for the camera too.
Man I was so jealous of that phone.
I remember this! I loved showing it to people as a neat albeit kinda gimmicky feature. I think my pixel 2 mightve had it? Or maybe it was the redmi note 4x running a custom rom i had before it. handy if you had dirty hands but apart from that it was always quicker and more reliable just to reach over and actually hit the power button to wake the screen.
I got a Samsung note and can't go back to a non-stylus phone now. my fingers are too fat to press keys accurately. not a niche feature I know but I also would definitely buy any stylus phone that also had an SD card slot. the note 20 ultra last the last two have it and I won't be upgrading ever unless someone invents case technology to incorporate SD card slots
Does the alert slider counts as a niche feature? Very few brands provides this.
a decent battery life and a big screen, I bought a pixel 7 pro and am very satisfied.
I guess we should start with the obvious which is bring back the headphone jack, bring back SD card support, bring back some kind of reasonable access to the battery... Doesn't need to be hot swappable necessarily.
And then something smaller, something between like an iPhone mini and a Pixel 4a. If it's small enough I would love for it to have purpose-built cases with like a lanyard or something.
Is a big fan of what LG was doing these last few years so I wish the dual screen case was still around, the Hi-Fi DAC, the wacom pen support and the desktop mode.
I would have loved to see a company partner with like moondrop or somebody and release a phone that comes with a parametric EQ and a Hi-Fi dacand maybe bundle it with a nice pair of IEMs
Also had a screen mirroring option where you could adjust the aspect ratio so there was less letterboxing. Even if you weren't using a desktop mode screen mirroring was much better.
I love the pixels astrophotography mode, I would like to see that come to more phones as well.
IR blaster
Hardware: IR tech. It has been so damn useful the couple of times I have used it. Software: Just pure android, with sideloading enabled.
- Removable battery
- Ambidextrous button placement
- Screws instead of glue where possible
- USB4 + desktop mode
A Silent/Vibrate/Ring switch like on the OnePlus phones, headphone jack and a easily swappable battery.
Motion graphic smoothing on some Oneplus phones. It basically adds extra frames in videos.
My last Android phone was an HTC One M8, and at the time I used Chromecast almost religiously, so it was very convenient to use the IR blaster eliminating the need for multiple remotes
I miss the FM radio
Radio streams never work as seamlessly
duck duck go tracker blocking that doesn't use vpn technology
Check iodéOS, an Android-based OS that has a built-in ad/tracker blocker as part of the OS.
hmm maybe i will consider double phones or even triple phones
amazing haptics minimum - Pixel phones quality ideal - iPhone level
Foldable display - They are still way too expensive!
Metal case - I just loved the heavy Samsung Omnia 7 metal case. It made it unbreakable and grippy!
LiDAR, like on the iPhone 12-14 Pro.
I'm surprised we don't have any Android phone with it. Android manufacturers will copy all the bad stuff that Apple does (removing the headphone jack, anti-repair, anti-'expandable storage') but never the good/cool stuff.
Not really a feature of the phone, but a design theory. I want my small phone back. Not this "zenfone 9" size small. Like HTC One size small.
Make it bifold wallet sized, and ~1/2"thick.
These hugely tall phones where you can't reach the top third if the screen without dropping the thing are just annoyingly huge. Then they make them so thin they can't fit a big enough battery for a full day use.
Beyond that would like an under display fingerprint sensor. Rear and side mounted always have issues with cases for me, and make it more annoying when using the device while it's on a desk.
Removable dual display like in LG G8x, V60 etc. When you need it you can have a beast of a phone with 2 screen or a slim normal flagship.
Dual band gps. It's stupid that only flagship Samsung phones have it but most mid range Chinese phones have it.
Sandbox features seem lacking overall
physical keyboard. I particularly liked the two letter per button like was used on the BlackBerry Pearl.
Yeah, if it was a black berry style I agree. But I had a sliding LG back on Ginger bread and man was it the worse. Constant miss types and when the cable started to get caged it would randomly fire off.
good ol' 16:9 aspect ratio
@Rdan33l DAB Tuner!
I liked having a fingerprint scanner on the back because I could use it for gesture controls.
Hifi dac...for sure. Especially now that LG is gone and Asus seems to have abandoned it.
Pop up camera Small phone with the purpose built case with a lanyard or something sort of like the ZenFone 9.
Support for either Wacom or USI stylus.
A rugged phone that had night vision which seemed kind of cool
Do any phones support USI? Is the official list up to date?
Just came up the other day, the ability to edit the name of an app on my homescreen.
Some apps that I use irregularly have names that aren't intuitive (why can't I find my video downloader? 1 hour latter Why is it named SEAL?)
Also I have both the Android App for Outlook (for my personal email), and the web app for Outlook(for my work email) and it certainly would be easier if I could name one work email.
I got a Samsung note and can't go back to a non-stylus phone now. my fingers are too fat to press keys accurately. not a niche feature I know but I also would definitely buy any stylus phone that also had an SD card slot. the note 20 ultra last the last two have it and I won't be upgrading ever unless someone invents case technology to incorporate SD card slots
The debut of the Google Pixel Fold got me interested in foldables. If Google is joining the game then android hopefully will become better optimized for foldable screens.
Keyboard. I want a damn keyboard. I'm a blackberry refugee hiding out on a unihertz titan/titan slim
Wacom-style stylus is a must for me. I've been using Samsung Note devices since the Note 3 because it is such an essential feature. I really do not understand how it did not catch on.
My old N900 had two niche features I quite liked - a physical qwerty keyboard and a FM transmitter.
One thing I haven't had but would like is a decent telephoto lens for the camera. I'm a bit over the only choices on most phones being wide or ridiculously wide...
Modular would be cool. At least to some extent. Imagine if framework did a phone!
Temperature camera is also cool.
And I like foldables, so that 😅Aluminium back instead of plastic or glass
The literal only thing keeping me on iOS/MacOS is the system wide glass transparency, continuity, and the battery life. I wish to Christ that Android/Windows/Linux would get their shit together.
My ideal system would be Android + Ubuntu with full glass UI and continuity between them.
This is basically why I stick with iOS too, despite being a big Android fan. There are too many papercuts to using whatever Android phone is the new hotness right now. An iPhone is an iPhone, for better or worse.