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?
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
Did those radios ever actually work well? I tried to use it once in an old phone but reception was just terrible and would cut out constantly while walking outside.
You likely would need to have plugged in an aerial. I actually used a fork as an aerial once.
It has been a while, but I think the plugged in head phones were supposed to work for that.
But I guess just for emergency use, a spotty signal is still better than none.