Looking at all the features that older phones uses to have compared to newer ones, I never hear anyone talk about the removal of the notification LED. I personally really liked that feature, being able to see if I got an email, a text or missed a call without turning on my phone was awesome. My Samsung note 8 had this feature, but to my knowledge, newer phones (in the major companies anyway) have abandoned this feature. Did everyone else unanimously agree they don’t care for this feature?
I think it just got sort of replaced by the “always on display” as Android calls it, where the screen is “off” but still displays the system clock and any notification icons received. For me, it’s accomplished the same thing while being more specific than the LED
True, OLED have the always on screen, but a lot of phones (mainly low/middle range) don’t have OLED and have no LED notification :-/ I remember I found this very useful on my old zenfone/nokia (my latest cell is OLED)
It’s also worth noting that most phones these days always have at least one item in the “notification” bar at some point. Like, right now I’ve got two apps taking up a slot, and Google’s weather thing up there, and that’s a normal day.
The LED would always be on.
I am pretty sure you can exclude permanent notifications.
deleted by creator
Nah. They used to flash different colours for different events, and you could filter what created an LED event. Even with the OLED screen, leaving the notification/clock on all day drains the battery noticeably more than having it disabled. I find it better to only have that on at night when charging. Not to mention you didn’t need to look at the screen. You’d see the flashing light and know there’s something to check.
But, what they COULD do is simulate a series of LEDs properly with OLED. That should in theory take a similar amount of power (for the screen at least) as a real LED. But, I suspect driving part of the screen would require the screen controller active. I suspect the older phones with LEDs had some separate low power driver storing the most recent events from when the phone last “woke up” using minimal power for the flashing LEDs.
So, in all it genuinely is a missing feature that has no equivalent in modern phones.
Maybe older models were a lot less efficient with always on display, but I just checked for my Pixel 8 Pro and the ambient display was <1% battery usage.
Don’t think an S20+ is that old. I turned it on full time just after I posted that last comment, just on the edge of the screen. Low brightness. 3.5% of the battery use in 5 hours.
I use third party apps to disable permanent icons, for me it’s the alarm. I always have repeating alarms on, so the icon is pointless, I disabled it in the app settings. I’d like for a first party way to do that, but oh well
Those would never show up in the notification LEDs. Only temporary stuff like you’ve gotten a text would.
The notification led is one of the biggest things I miss. I glance at my phone from across the room and based on the color of the led, I knew what notification I had. Now I have to check my phone periodically to see if/what notifications have been received. Particularly annoying when my phone is charging somewhere.
Same. My Nexus 5x was the last device I had with this feature. Until then evvry device I owned had it, and I always tweaked it so color was unique to each app. Its a shame when something not useful to 100% of users is phased out with no alternative.
deleted by creator
There is an app called aodnotify that can do that using the always on display option, but only displaying the notification light.
I think very few people cared. The Nothing Phone has a feature similar to that though, where the back of the phone lights up depending on what’s happening (notification, call, etc).
They flash the flashlight now. I was in a meeting last week and this marketing dipshits flashlight kept flashing on and off every time his phone vibrated with a notification
This is an accessibility feature. My deaf friend uses it because he can’t hear the chimes and wants to know about notifications even if his phone is on the desk. That being said, it would be super distracting in a meeting.
That makes sense for the deaf, hasn’t thought of that. This guy isn’t deaf, just works in marketing so has to be as annoying as possible
My classmate uses that and it’s really obnoxious.
There was a guy in the cinema recently who had this feature turned on. He didn’t even bother to turn on do not disturb after the first time and he just didn’t give a fuck that it was bothering everyone.
I think the problem that notification LEDs were designed to solve is just solved in other ways now, notably smart watches or the Always-On Display for OLED devices. Both consume more power than a notification LED would, but they also don’t require a dedicated physical space on the phone.
I like notification LEDs, but I don’t use them for notifications. Instead as a battery/charging indicator.
For notifications I have Mi Band. This allows me to always have my phone on silent.Fun fact about one phone I have: The Moto G5s Plus does have a notification LED, but there’s no way to use it with stock ROM. The hardware is there, but it’s not used. I am not sure what weird decision has led there. Anyway, it can be used in PixelExperience (custom ROM).
I think there were multiple Motorola phones that had the LED unused in stock ROMs, which makes me think it was a patent/legal issue, rather than an engineering decision.
Notification LEDs kinda only make sense for phones without OLED since you can simply display a notification with minimal energy construction.
Meh, an RGB notification LED was still much more glanceable. I agree that it’s somewhat redundant, but I had OLED phones with notif LEDs and it was still nice.
Idk about minimal energy consumption. I tried it on my s23 and the battery drain was a noticeable difference.
Ooof. Jumping in to say im currently on an s9 that is dying and was thinking of going to the 23. Didnt even consider the notification light til seeing your post and some comments here.
There is an app (not mine) called aodnotify that only turns on the always on display under certain circumstances. Customizable kinda like different light colors were. This might help? I use it on my s9 but have no clue if its updated or compatible with newer phones.
I have seen other replies about that app. I need to try it and see how it is. The s23 is still a solid phone though. But it depends on if you want a headphone jack and SD card.
Also phones get so many notifications these days that the light has mostly lost its meaning. Last time I had a phone with one was around 2018 and the light was pretty much blinking at all times.
Meh, personally I only care if I missed a call, got a text, or an email. Only need 3 colors for that. Miss my Nexus 6 so much now…
I just bought a Sony Xperia 5 IV, it was released last November, and it has one. So they’re not completely gone yet. I really appreciate it. Always on displays seem like overkill for that purpose.
Headphone jack, 2 SD card slots, physical shutter button, front-facing speakers
Sony is really behind the competition when it comes to making worse products.
Haha, exactly why I bought it
Front facing speakers, SD card for Spotify downloads, shutter button is nice and basically stock android is great. The 21:9 ratio is something I don’t think I could live without now. It’s amazing.
That’s awesome that Sony is keeping the feature alive. I never liked the AOD concept, it just uses more battery than benefit it provides.
They dropped it in the newest Xperia 1 V. Still kept all of the other great features though.
I was going to say that my Xperia Z5S had one, but thought they may have phased them out by now. Good to see they still include this!
Nothing phones have excessive notification LEDs at the back of devices, and they are customizable.
Nothing is a OnePlus’ successor
Wait do you mean oneplus doesn’t make phones anymore?
They still do but as far as I know the company Nothing was founded by the same guy who founded OnePlus, and I think he has nothing to do with OnePlus anymore
Not on newer phones. Similar to the headphone jack, most phones got rid of it to expand the bezel. You do get some phones that fake one by using the display, but an actual notification LED seems to be a thing of the past.
The Sony Xperia IV series came out late 2022 and that still has a notification LED and a 3.5mm jack. The newer Xperia V series removed the LED but still has the jack.
RIP
I think my Xperia 1 has one, since it doesn’t do the punchole nonsense. There’s definitely a LED in the top bezel, and I think it’s color coded. To be honest, since I have a watch it’s not as relevant anyway. I do miss legacy features enough to have moved to this thing, though.
I always enjoyed that feature. If memory serves, my Galaxy S4 had that and I found it useful.
It died like 10 years ago for AOD and bigger screens
I kind of miss it. It was discrete and useful.
AOD is kind of more discreet tho
True, but I found a flashing colour more informative. I knew instantly what it meant. With an AOD I’d have to look more intently at the phone or bring it closer to my ageing eyes.
am I the only one who misses funky antenna bobs that would flash like old nokias? that was handy
Afaik they don’t work on modern phone anymore because of the different frequencies and much lower transmit power. Those old phone has pretty high transmit power to the point of causing radio interference if you receive a call near an active speaker. Even if there is a version that work on 4g/5g phones, it’ll be very annoying because it’ll light up all the time due to modern smartphone’s persistent data connection.
causing radio interference if you receive a call near an active speaker
Oh damn, this just bought a flood of memories back from nowhere. That distinct sound that would comee out of the speakers right before you got a call. I don’t think I even noticed that it doesnt happen anymore.
sounds like a whole new line of bluetooth accessories are n lol
