Poll: Which abandoned Android phone features do you miss the most?
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finger print scanner being on the back of the phone not under the screen. and headphone jack
I liked it on the power button more. My Xiaomi had it there and it was incredibly fast.
Just worked. Pixel 7 is nightmarish, plus blasts white light into your eyes late at night
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Hmm, I found this German forum thread from 2019, which says it doesn't support all frequencies used by US carriers.
Of course, this may very well be different with more modern models. You can try also asking on their forums, or maybe you're able to contact support directly. So far, I've always gotten a response fairly quickly.
Also just to note, I'm on the SHIFT6mq, which isn't being produced anymore.
I believe, they're currently in a bit of an awkward in-between phase, where you can only really get the SHIFT5me, which is an even older model, while they're planning out the SHIFTphone 8. That might still take some months, and quite possibly more than a year.
I don't think they have the capacity for two flagship models at the same time, so you just get these fairly long pauses in availability, which I just can't sugarcoat...Thanks for looking. I'll see if I can poke around in their forums.
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Physical keyboard
I miss them nostalgically I think. I have four different styles of small wireless keyboards and other than responding to a quick text they are mostly infuriating.
Everything is swipe or speech now for me.
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Unimpeded root. You can still get it on maybe a handful of phones but apps are getting harder and harder to run with it enabled.
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I just want the LG G5 back. It had a(n):
- Removable battery
- SD card slot
- Infrared blaster
- FM Radio
- 3.5mm jack
- Compass
- Barometer
- Gyro
- NFC
- Fingerprint reader
And a ton of other stuff. Truly the best android phone ever made
Closest I can find now is the Ulefone line (no removable battery) but I have no idea if they're decent phones or not.
Think I had a LG G3 I miss it. Wish they would of kept making phones.
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I thought I'd be okay without a headphone jack but I'm now learning that USB-C to headphone adapters will enter a power save mode after a few seconds of silence, and quiet moments in shows or music can cause that, then it takes a split second to power back up, so the end result is choppy sound if it isn't constant. Maybe it's better with a better adapter, but also how the heck do you search for such things on Amazon and the like? It's not exactly a specification they list...
Aww geez man, that's even worse! I learned about adapters and figured I'd at least be able to tolerate (but resent) the switch. But that will prevent me using sleeping headphones at all...
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A physical, landscape mode, QWERTY keyboard. FAHAHAHAHUCK typing on a touch screen.
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finger print scanner being on the back of the phone not under the screen. and headphone jack
Nexus 5 had the best finger print reader i've ever used. I still miss it to this day.
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- Headphone jack.
- Removable batteries.
- Sidekick/Palmtop form factor with the full width keyboard.
- MicroSD Card slot, and OS support for executing software and accessing data on the card.
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Rounded screens have mostly fallen out of style. I kinda like them tbh
They're only nice if you can afford to run without a case. All curved screen cases suck and add unnecessary bulk for questionable protection.
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Being able to take out the battery so that I can swap it with a pre-charged one. Those were great times. Then you can just throw the nearly-dead one on the charger.
This is identical to having the super power of being able to restart your phone to get a full battery charge.
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Samsung had a little pressure sensitive area at the bottom of phone screens in the S9 era. It was handy and I had it set up like a hidden home button.
The S9 also had a variable aperture camera, which I feel like could have been developed a lot more.
I also miss notification LEDs. Sure, AOD mostly replaces it, but it was fun setting different colors for people, situations, etc
The Essential phone had a ceramic back that was very comfortable and cool in the hand. Though it was slippery. Another idea that could have been developed further.
The different back materials on the Moto X were very satisfying. The customization of that phone was unmatched!
AOD causes burn in on every single device I've ever seen it used on. I want my notification LED back too. Hell, use the OLED display, just flash a colored dot every ten seconds at the top of the screen. Could even move around each flash to prevent burn in. I really miss that notification LED
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The feature where you can hold the phone comfortably in one hand and without having to do any gymnastics to reach the top corner.
I found my old S4 active the other day, it fit so much better in my hand than my current OnePlus. You basically need to use a pop or a ring or something attached to the case to use a phone one handed anymore. And they just straight don't make new small android devices.
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finger print scanner being on the back of the phone not under the screen. and headphone jack
Going from my old pixel 5 rear-scanner to an in-screen scanner ahs been a nightmare. I have dry hands and i have gone from a <0.5s unlock to a 3-10s unlock depending how many times i need to scan or lick my finger, wipe it off then scan, or usually failing scans/giving up and typing in pincode.
"Oh my child is doing something funny or i quickly need to gake a photo of something...aaaaand its gone".
It is really fucking frustrating missing something, or even just trying to check a notification or timer quickly and having to stop and go through the whole dance of just unlocking the phone.
Seriously considering just going back to typing the fucking pincode 50 times a day. -
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Root. No root means its never gonna be my device. I want more buttons back as well.
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Don't forget about the IR blaster.
Most useful gimmick on a phone ever. I never had to deal with an annoying TV in public throughout most of the 2010s. It was nice; it was one of my most-used features and I miss it dearly.
OnePlus still offers this one on some of their phones.
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Going from my old pixel 5 rear-scanner to an in-screen scanner ahs been a nightmare. I have dry hands and i have gone from a <0.5s unlock to a 3-10s unlock depending how many times i need to scan or lick my finger, wipe it off then scan, or usually failing scans/giving up and typing in pincode.
"Oh my child is doing something funny or i quickly need to gake a photo of something...aaaaand its gone".
It is really fucking frustrating missing something, or even just trying to check a notification or timer quickly and having to stop and go through the whole dance of just unlocking the phone.
Seriously considering just going back to typing the fucking pincode 50 times a day.While I fully sympathise and agree, most android phones have a camera shortcut that doesnt need you to unlock with fingerprint. just swipe up the camera icon usually bottom right on lock screen
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Being able to take out the battery so that I can swap it with a pre-charged one. Those were great times. Then you can just throw the nearly-dead one on the charger.
This is identical to having the super power of being able to restart your phone to get a full battery charge.
Even just being able to easily replace it with a new one was nice.
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Blinking LED when I got a text
Customizable notification led color!
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The feature where you can hold the phone comfortably in one hand and without having to do any gymnastics to reach the top corner.
I bought a new phone somewhat recently. My main feature request was small. There were 0 options, so I ended up with one that's 50% larger than my last phone.
My eyes work fine. I don't need a huge screen. I just want something that I can hold.
I also don't need a razor thin phone. More battery capacity is an acceptable compromise for added durability and not hurting my hand.
