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?

    • Margot Robbie@lemmy.worldM
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      2 years ago

      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.

      • saladfork@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        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.

        • Margot Robbie@lemmy.worldM
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          2 years ago

          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.

        • KilgoreTheTrout@lemmygrad.ml
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          2 years ago

          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.

  • Indépendantiste (old)@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    sideloading is a requirement for me and unlockable bootloader, otherwise, some things like an IR blaster, headphone jack, removable battery (thx EU), RGB notification LED, front facing speakers would make a “good” phone become “great”

    • jjnjjlr@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Man, I forgot all about notification LEDs. My list is practically identical to yours.

      • kadu@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        There are apps that simulate one using your OLED screen. They make a blinking RGB dot roughly where the LED would be.

          • kadu@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            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.

  • Zebov@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    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.

    • Spraynard Kruger@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      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.

  • gears@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    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.

    • mazkarth@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      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.

      • Starsfanatic08@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        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.

  • Nytelock@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Headset jack and let me replace my damn battery. Also default option to uninstall non-OEM apps

    • phx@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      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

      • Thadrax@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        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.

        • phx@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          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

  • j4k3@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    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.

    • WaDef7@kbin.social
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      2 years ago

      The modular rear camera idea makes a lot of sense when you consider that camera bumps have become an industry standard.

    • 001100 010010@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      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.

  • CoderKat@kbin.social
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    2 years ago

    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?

    • SilentStorms@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      2 years ago

      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.

  • Elle@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    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).

  • FrankTheHealer
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    2 years ago

    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.

    • Thadrax@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      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.

      • FrankTheHealer
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        2 years ago

        In my experience they did. One of my first android phones was an early Samsung Galaxy, and it had an FM radio that worked really well

  • bigbox
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    1 year ago

    A microsd card slot and a headphone jack

  • Lalop@toast.ooo
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    2 years ago

    Headphone socket. They are taking away what was a universal feature and replacing it with inconvenient crap.