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.
I’ve really tried hard with these usb-c headphones / adapters and they just don’t work very well for me. They function mostly, but much more often come unplugged or slightly ajar.
Because the audio jack is the perfect connector for its purpose: It’s omnidirectional, the connection is as wide as it comes, and it locks the plug. The point for using a USB-C connector would be that it’s more versatile as you can use it for data transfer and power as well.
Yeah it’s just crazy that you have to always keep them around. I own a qudelik 5k And I have a couple cheap adapters that came with tablets or something but I never remember to have them on me.
Maybe if you have a wallet case you could kind of stick it in there but otherwise they’re just too easy to lose.
How did we end up in a world where this is a niche feature. 😭😭
Taking it further, I miss a built-in preamp
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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.
lol yeah the last phone I bought was the Pixel 5A because of that.
…But they better keep it that way >:(
The pixel 6a doesn’t have a headphone jack unfortunately.
I hate that they often tie the better camera to the flagship model, especially a longer lens. That would be pretty high on my wish list.
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.
Well, what we’ve seen this far is not making it mandatory just means that the battery will not be user-replaceable on 99% of devices, because that’s the most profitable way of doing it even if it results in a lot of extra waste
Would that be so bad if there was a cheap way to get it replaced? I mean you are going to do it every few years at worst, just make it so the manufacturer has to offer that option at a decent price or open it up to your local repair shop (or make it replaceable).
Yeah, the cheap way for it too be replaced is for me to buy a new battery, pop off the back, and change it. Even a screw-on back would be fine if people were concerned about the cover popping open etc, and they’ve already done devices with removable batteries that were IP67 rated (not waterproof, but also not going to get wrecked with brief exposure).
There’s no reason this needs to be a difficult thing, and I don’t really see any benefit to not doing so other than planned obselescence
I guess we’ll just have to disagree on that. I just don’t see a huge benefit in it and there are downsides (needed space, thus something else has to give) which I value higher.
Space? There’s really not any reason a removable battery needs to take up more space than otherwise if the phone is designed well.
It doesn’t need to be pop-in/out just replaceable without being glued in place and not underneath a glued chassis.
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Add on an SD slot and you and I have an identical list.
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Man, I forgot all about notification LEDs. My list is practically identical to yours.
There are apps that simulate one using your OLED screen. They make a blinking RGB dot roughly where the LED would be.
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I’m not sure about all of them, I do know that the most popular Samsung-specific one actually hooks into the AOD and therefore uses the same amount of battery life (~3%) than the native AOD implementation. I wouldn’t know about how that interacts with true sleep, though.
Do you have a name for that application? Im on a s10
If I recall correctly, it’s “AOD Notify”
Yeah but it’s not the same even though it is essentially.
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
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.
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.
Through wifi. They used to have IR blasters that work just like the real remote
Xiaomi phones usually still have IR blasters at least.
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.
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.
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 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.
