Kind of a weird poll when I still have all those features, except maybe the IR blaster. Like, yeah, I would miss those, but I don’t currently…
Let me guess a Sony smartphone?
Nope, it’s a smaller manufacturer called “SHIFT”. Kind of like a competitor to Fairphone, in terms of repairability, sustainability, Custom ROM support and being expensive AF. 🙃
SHIFT
I just looked at the site and it looks great, but parts of it didn’t look available in English. Do you have any idea if it’s fully compatible with US networks?
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.
I might be the only one, but KEYBOARDS!
I even designed my own keyboard attachment to get one back.
I was watching this Janus Cycle video at the weekend, and god it made me wish I could buy a folding keyboard case for my Pixel 9.
I miss them dearly. Luckily there is some options, I currently using clicks but it is not without its flaws mainly that my phone feels like a tv remote.
A lot of people miss physical keyboards actually F(x)Tec Pro1 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.
F(x)Tec Pro1 X
Super-weird formatting aside, that looks pretty interesting. Out of stock though.
The formatting most likely didn’t help with people being able to google it, or to remember the name even.
It’s quite old now and has been out of stock for a long time.
Yeah, I just noticed that it was released in 2023. Not necessarily a bad thing, really, but damn I’d like one of these devices if not for that form factor on its own. Still has official LOS support, too.
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.
Samsung xcover 6 pro
Had one of those, but it eventually died. Great phone.
3.5mm jack, Compass, Barometer, Gyro
These things are still in most modern phones.–
You’d be surprised at how many phones don’t have enough accelerometers to know their full orientation in space. Compass, NFC, and barometer are also not givens.
In order, I’d say SDcard slot, notification light, 3.5mm jack
My Zenfone 8 has two out of those three features. ;p
higher dpi/4k screens.
oled pixel layouts already have fewer subpixels than they should for say a claimed “1080p”, leading to weird blur or aliasing in places.
My high dpi phone has made my eink reader redundant; the sharpness simply makes it way more comfortable to read, for me enough to be on par with print.And now I can only await how long my phone will remain usable, knowing no new phones with higher dpi (600ppi+) are being made.
Gimmick features in general. So many android phones are just designed to be android flavors of an iPhone, removing all the character that used to be one of the benefits of not going with Apple.
I had a phone that had a built in kickstand. It was both useful for propping the phone up and as a fidget toy. My last phone had a camera that would pop up out of the top of the phone so they could put a better camera for the selfie cam while also not having a hole in the screen.
Wild cards for number blocking. You could block whole area codes. Goddamn worthless fucking Nazi bastards took it off.
I liked the notification LEDs that some of the nexus phones used to have, you could customize the color / flashing pattern per contact.
The trackball that had the customizable notification LED under it on the Nexus One was so damned cool. Since it was raised up and I had work emails, texts, personal emails, and GTalk all on distinct colors, I could tell from across the room whether it was worth even grabbing my phone.
I had a phone with this and I loved the hell out of it. Could tell at a glace if a notification was for an email, text, or voice call without opening the phone. Could also set a custom color for, say, a text from my wife.
Yes, I was gonna say this one too but it was like 2010 on a phone that had a physical keyboard. You could set it to flash for notifications - yellow for missed calls, green for texts, blue for an app. A simpler time
I use AODNotify, which lights up a ring around the front camera. It’s pretty configurable, maybe check it out.
Thanks! Playing around with it right now
Nothing has these ‘glyph’ lights, but software support for them seems to be pretty limited (not that I’ve looked too deep, all these modern phones are just boring). I hope they can come up with more controls for them, hardware seems to support quite complex patterns.
- 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 miss the days when everything wasn’t glued together. The biggest hurdle to battery replacement or screen replacement is all that damn glue.
I bought a modern off brand with an audio jack and micro SD, because why would I spend 3 times more for less features?
don’t be evil.
My HTC ChaCha had a full qwerty keyboard. Now I’m lucky if the on-screen one bothers to show up in some apps.
Reading through this thread gives me serious nostalgia. My first smartphone was a Motorola Droid, which really had it all: physical slide-open keyboard, headphone jack, removable battery, configurable notification LEDs, shake guesture for the flashlight. Good times. Kept on running with CyanogenMod well beyond the official support.
I think this is a One UI 7 thing, but the battery indicator for connected Bluetooth devices has completely disappeared. The only way to check the remaining battery life of my connected headphones or speakers is through a third party application, I can no longer find a way to do it in the OS itself.
I can see it on my pixel, but it might be because I have the app for my earbuds. I’ll test.
I have a pair of Galaxy Buds (1st Gen) and they are the only headphones that still display a battery icon. Not sure if I’m missing something obvious but it feels very much like the type of anti-consumer walled garden change Samsung would make these days in its “copy Apple” era.
