Poll: Which abandoned Android phone features do you miss the most?
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It always surprises me that so many people still want this. I know it's representative of the anti-choice homogenisation of phones in general, but something like removable batteries or expandable storage seems so much more important than a dedicated old headphone connector.
I personally hate how annoying headphone wires are, but even if you like them then is it so inconvenient to leave an adapter connected to your headphones? And a splitter as well if you're desperate to charge simultaneously?
USB-C ports get damaged over time by excessive unplug/replug in that use case
There's a reason it's still the top requested feature in the poll.
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How recently? In May Google changed everything about root detection so it may have changed again.
Plexus has a few people claiming it works from the last months though.
I was playing today
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It’s a Motorola gesture. I don’t have a Motorola anymore, but I think shaking is the best gesture for turning on the flashlight.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Doesn't it activate when it's in your pants and you are moving about in a rough manner?
Holding the power button when the screen is off works pretty great and won't ever activate on accident. It is also a default Android feature I believe.
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It's because the U.S. Government can make it seem as if your phone is powered down, but it's actually still on and spying on you, sending data to whatever alphabet agency wants it. Removing the battery is the only defense against that attack, so they 'encouraged' manufacturers to stop allowing it.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Sounds like a dumb conspiracy. Especially since Fairphone sells in the US.
More likely is that manufacturers want to make more money so they make their phones more difficult to repair so customers have to pay them to get a battery replaced.
I blame Apple
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Ah yes, let me just pull out my phone, unlock, open remote app, switch to 'my tv/air-conditioning manufacturer' profile and press off.
The IR experience on a phone is not convenient for day to day, especially when (love it or hate it) most things can be controlled over WiFi without needing line of sight.Lock screen widgets are a thing now.
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Why do you need to buy more than one?
Since they break
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I might be the only one, but KEYBOARDS!
I even designed my own keyboard attachment to get one back.
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USB-C ports get damaged over time by excessive unplug/replug in that use case
There's a reason it's still the top requested feature in the poll.
More so than they would from charging?
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Since they break
Seems like an issue with buying cheap adapters rather than with the concept of adapters, cheap headphones will presumably break just as easily
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My Motorola Moto Z had a shake shake flashlight feature. Not sure if this was Android or Motorola but it was very useful.
They still have it as a built-in feature. Had Moto Z, g 5g plus and now rocking g85. All of them have it. Too useful.
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Sounds like a dumb conspiracy. Especially since Fairphone sells in the US.
More likely is that manufacturers want to make more money so they make their phones more difficult to repair so customers have to pay them to get a battery replaced.
I blame Apple
wrote last edited by [email protected]You can believe what you want. I didn't hear it from a conspiracy theorist, I heard it from Edward Snowden, and this was actually old news when he mentioned it, but his revelation on national TV made it even more widely known.
"Coincidentally" it was right around the time Snowden blew the whistle that Android manufacturers started switching over to non-replaceable batteries.Yes Apple are greedy fucks and it's obvious that forcing iPhone users to get their phones repaired by a 'genius' was a part of their strategy from the beginning. But Android manufacturers who didn't have a repair store they could force their users to use and wouldn't benefit from that were happy to continue letting users replace their own batteries, because it was a legitimate benefit for the consumer and way to differentiate themselves from Apple.
I'm sure that phone manufactures save a few pennies by forcing users to either buy a new phone or pay an expensive repair bill, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the only reason it's done.
Edit: Even if you ignore their ability to wiretap you when your phone is 'powered off', the fact remains that the government can and does track you by you cell phone and removing the battery is a great way to stop that.
Of course, it's not the only way- If you feel like you don't want to be tracked for any reason a Faraday bag is a decent option. It makes your phone less useful, but so would removing the battery.
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I miss the days when everything wasn't glued together. The biggest hurdle to battery replacement or screen replacement is all that damn glue.
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- IR blaster
- Headphone jack
- Expandable storage
- Physical keys, especially a D pad (I loved my Samsung i7500 for this)
That's probably my top 4. Easily swappable battery I can do without, but able to replaced with basic tools would be nice (like a screwdriver, not a specialist kit that involves regluing the damn thing).
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My Motorola Moto Z had a shake shake flashlight feature. Not sure if this was Android or Motorola but it was very useful.
I loved that feature. Karate chop for torch, twist for camera, twist again to swap camera to selfie, flip face down for silent...
One of those things that should be introduced in to mainline Android, but no doubt patents are probably an issue.
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I'd forgotten all about the notification LED. I wonder, could you flash a small part of an OLED display to achieve something similar while still being low power?
My problem with that is that I use a phone cover. Flashing a light on the side of the phone however could be great.
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I'm always shocked at how big the Nintendo switch was, and yet had such a small screen. I remember the first time I wondered, and held my galaxy s9 plus up to the screen and was like "holy shit it's the same size - how is the switch so much bigger and looks so much worse?"
That being said, I do support the idea of multiple sizes of phones for people that want different things. Let there be iPhone 1 or 2 size phones for people that want something convenient and small, and give me a 10 incher because I like that and need it in my life
Also, well-balanced, front-facing stereo speakers for fucks sake. Stop doing this weird one-forwards one-out stuff, Samsung, it sounds like shit.I don't work for them, I just happen to like the idea that there is a phone company making smaller sized phones, phone with physical keyboards, etc.
IB4 the comments complaining about android versions and such. Yes, I get it. Some of them are still running android 11, yes that is a security risk. Could be though that the people that want a small form factor phone also don't want to do banking or other financially related things on it as well.
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IR Blaster, Headphone Jack, swappable battery.
Ultimately...
Less thin, I hate this constant race to be the thinnest phone - lighter I would maybe be for - but thinner, fuck off.
Why I didn't buy a Fold7 recently:
- Too thin
- Cameras slightly below other flagships
- No S Pen support, because they wanted to make it thinner
- Bad water resistance
- Awful battery size and life
- Overall, one of the more underpowered and under spec'd foldable on the global market - all because they wanted to be thin
Across the board, in product survey after product survey, consumers agree with you every time about thin phones. At best nobody cares beyond being briefly conceptually impressed (in a way that doesn't translate into sales), at worst people actively hate how fragile it looks (or actually is). They always would rather have more battery life than a thinner phone, and actually below a certain weight most consumers prefer a phone to be heavier.
So why do companies keep racing to make the thinnest phones?
I honestly have no idea. This isn't one of those things where I pose a rhetorical question and then answer it. The planned obsolescence of the battery seems plausible, but a thinner battery doesn't really correspond to a shorter lifespan, just a shorter duty cycle. Maybe it's just a vanity thing, like a competition between companies, but the bean-counters don't usually let that sort of thing keep going if it doesn't sell. Maybe it's marketing, but that never really succeeds either. I really don't know.
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I might be the only one, but KEYBOARDS!
I even designed my own keyboard attachment to get one back.
A lot of people miss physical keyboards actually F(x)Tec Pro^1^ X has a physical keyboard. There is a modern clone of Blackberry Passport. There is the Clicks keyboard case for iPhones.
I think I'm one of very few enthusiasts who likes software keyboards better at this point lol.
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- IR blaster
- Headphone jack
- Expandable storage
- Physical keys, especially a D pad (I loved my Samsung i7500 for this)
That's probably my top 4. Easily swappable battery I can do without, but able to replaced with basic tools would be nice (like a screwdriver, not a specialist kit that involves regluing the damn thing).
I have an IR blaster in mine (still using my PoCo F3 after 4 years, it is still pretty snappy and all) and used it from time to time but now it looks like my remote for my AV is bluetooth anyway
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In order, I'd say SDcard slot, notification light, 3.5mm jack
