For me its the ‘Knock Code’ that LG had on their phones (I really wish LG still made at least the V series phones)
Basically there was a four-square area and you set up a sequence of where you would tap to unlock the phone. That set of squares was only shown when you set up the code
Then, to unlock your phone, you would tap those areas in the sequence you set up (even with the screen off).
Fingerprint readers are nice, but I really do miss the knock code
Edit: did find this article with a way to do the knock code, but if done wrong, could brick your phone I guess.
Plus, article is from 2014. When I looked at XDA’s info on it (they also being the developers) it looks like development on it is over, but individual modules may or may not still be supported by their devs
Unlockable bootloader, removable battery, headphone jack, being assembled with SCREWS rather than GLUE.
Love the first answer as, I have to get on my Linux soapbox here.
I remember first using Linux (Ubuntu 9.10 for those curious). One of the big ideas behind it was ‘its your computer, do what you want’. That’s why you can have access to Root or the Super User. Since its open source, root can do what it wants.
Android was initially built on Linux, but they have taken Root and turned it into a way to restrict users not just from sensitive things (like necessary system apps), but also from bloatware (looking at you Samsung). Years ago I had a phone that came with the NFL Network which I didn’t want. Could I remove it? Of course not, I would have to be Root to do that!.
Sorry for the rant, but really, I should have access to anything on my phone if I want it. Give me a warning, make it so people can’t get to it ‘accidentally’, but then let it be on me.
You want to… own the phone you bought???
You can still buy Android phones that have manufacturer support for unlocking the bootloader. Once that’s done obtaining root is trivial. Pixel phones notably support this. Personally, I only buy phones I can unlock the bootloader on to show the demand for this feature. It doesn’t matter to me how great a phone is otherwise. Can’t unlock the bootloader? Not buying it.
That said, I completely agree with you. We all pay for and own the hardware, but let the manufacturer dictate what software it can run. That’s like buying a car and letting the car company tell you what roads you’re allowed to drive your car on. I don’t really blame the average use for not giving a crap because end users will never care about this stuff as long as their basic needs are met. It’s a failure of the people in the software industry to stand up for the open systems that built everything we have today. Without that constant fight for openness companies are going to be more than happy to take advantage of a locked down system to create a competitive advantage. Hell, look at what Google is currently doing with WEI in Chrome. If they have their way, the web will become just as locked down as smartphones are now.
Android was initially built on Linux
For the record, it still is.
Only problem is all the apps that won’t run in a rooted environment. I’m not sure why they should even know that information…
there’s some projects that exist that try their best to hide root from specified apps to make them seem as if they aren’t running in a rooted environment of course, they can’t completely hide all traces but most of the time they’re usually actively updated to make most apps seem as if they really aren’t running in a rooted environment
Shits me off that rooting the phone immediately blocks most banking apps.
After a few years of playing cat and mouse with the workarounds for safety net I finally said fuck it.
If they’re going to force me to live with an unrooted phone, I might as well have shit that works with the rest of my families eco-system and go iPhone.
To be fair, there still is quite a bit that can be done using ADB and no root, much more than you’ll ever get with iPhone.
But yeah, I agree my banking app is 100% of the reason I stopped rooting my phones.
Yeah, but I mostly did it for ad blocking.
I was able to strip ads out of games too, super effective.
iOS does everything else, and I still have an android tablet
Lucky Patcher strips ads without root.
Yeah, but that needs to patch each app.
Root level ad blocking was apply once
Spot on, my daily driver is a PinePhone Pro with keyboard case. It ticks all the boxes. It also covers the “physical keyboard” feature which is a few comments down.
It has its downsides, but it’s a full fledged Linux computer in my pocket. What’s not to love?
This isn’t an Android thing. First-party Google phones can do this. This is on other Android OEMs.
Fair phone seems to be doing it… except their last phone removed headphone jacks and introduced “fair ear buds” or some such… even the open company wants to increase sales.
Yeah that’s why I have the fairphone 3, also the 4 is REALLY expensive. And fairphone isn’t really an open company but more open than others
Sony phones still do the bootloader and headphone jacks at least. I’m pretty happy with mine.
Problem is they’re kinda overpriced and not very good value. Also I hate the super tall aspect ratio that they’ve gone with.
Many midrange phones still have headphone jacks, and removable battery has to come back if they want to continue selling in the EU.
Slowly going away though. Samsung took them off in the A53, and Xiaomi did the same with the T series phones.
Screws. Hell ya.
wait phones have non-unlockable bootloaders? I’ve never seen that before although you do have to do some annoying stuff on some to unlock them which isn’t necessary
Plenty of phones have unlockable bootloaders and it used to be pretty much an expected thing on Android phones until manufacturers and carriers started locking it down and being more Apple-like. You can’t run most custom ROMs without an unlocked bootloader as being able to run a custom kernel requires an unlocked bootloader. Being able to use non-Android Linux operating systems like postmarketOS also depend on unlocked bootloaders.
On most it’s just a matter of toggling an option in developer settings and using fastboot to unlock. Some make it more difficult than that, others completely prevent unlocking (and thus become e-waste after the official software stops getting updated).
Removable battery is the big one. I had a phone where they only cost like $15, so I could take 2 of them on a trip and last a week w/o charging.
Removable batteries may come back since the European Union has mandated all smartphones have them by 2027
I did see that, of all phones and manufacturers, the Kyocera DuraForce Pro 3 on Verizon actually has removable batteries (and an sd card slot).
There’s definitely a business opportunity for hot swapable batteries. I really don’t understand why no one is exploiting this market. Construction, factory and all scale workers need phones and if they can hotswap battery they’ll gonna love that.
They make rugged phones and tablets for industrial setting with replaceable batteries. But they are way more expensive that consumer devices of the same spec.
Just curious, what situations do you find yourself in relatively frequently that a hot swappable batter would be more convenient?
Nowadays w/ 15 SOT I don’t think I’ve actually needed one minus camping where I don’t really use my phone much anyways.
Being able to rip the battery out when the phone locks up. Needing to make sure it’s actually off and can’t be remotely powered on. When it’s 3 years old and the hardware is still well up to the task but the battery lasts 4 hours.
Being able to rip the battery out when the phone locks up
How often does your phone lock up that that’s necessary? I used to have lockups a lot more but android is damn stable now, haven’t had one in years.
Needing to make sure it’s actually off and can’t be remotely powered on
Do you disconnect your PC’s PSU?
When it’s 3 years old and the hardware is still well up to the task but the battery lasts 4 hours.
Fair, but if you’re getting 4 hours SOT after 3 years, it’s just not a great phone. My current Note 10+ still pumping out 10 hours SOT and I’m a HEAVY user.
Honestly in 2015 I’m totally on your side for this, but in the last few years I’ve never felt the need to hotswap batteries, and only slightly felt the need to replace it in general.
Samsung does produce the xcover series for construction/industrial use. I seriously considered one, the issue was it would have been a downgrade for me in CPU, display and doesn’t have dex
The next administration will just revoke it
Not really how the EU works.
Every president does it
What are you talking about? The EU doesn’t have a president.
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Go back to Reddit troll.
I don’t understand that argument, power banks are widely accessible nowadays, you can charge your phone without downtime, also can’t imagine charging this additional battery, like shutting the phone down jest to charge the second one? I’m all for user replaceable batteries tho in case of battery degradation and prolonging device’s life
While true, my personal gripe is when the main battery goes to shit. It’s nice to be able to swap it out and get another 3-4 years out of it
Yeah that’s what I meant, it’s carrying extra batteries to swap in case one in the phone dies, that I don’t understand
At that point you are using outdated tech
That’s not the point. Everyone has their reasoning for prolonging the lifespan of their equipment, outdated or not. This mindset of disposable gadgets needs to end.
I prefer newest tech
Good for you, not everyone can afford to upgrade their stuff every two years
Thats a choice. Anyone can make money. Sell your old stuff
The only phone I had to even consider changing the battery was a Windows phone in 2015 and the replacement battery was the same age (and degraded state) as the old one. I don’t get the need for quickly swappable batteries.
I used to carry a backup battery so if I was away from a charger camping or so ething I could just pop a fresh battery in
The real key to making this work properly is standardized battery sizes. You know, like the AA and AAA standards we’ve had for one hundred years.
“Real” batteries would be too big because they need casing. Phone batteries on the other hand are fragile, because: no casing.
As I said, there’s no need for quick-change batteries like in an xbox controller, because most people can go years on a single one.
But a self-service battery change when it’s ruined should be a thing. Preferably without glued-in parts.
User-replaceable batteries.
IR Blasters!
I feel like I’m the only one who used them or cares that they were quietly phased out of phones.
You used to be able to use your phone as a universal remote. Being able to control my TV, sound system, ceiling fan, and lights all from my phone was so convenient! Plus if you were stuck in like a waiting room and they had ads or garbage like Fox News on, you could change the channel or turn it off completely. It was an incredibly useful feature to me, but I guess barely anyone else used since it was removed from phones without any complaints.
Except me. I’m complaining!
Headphone jack
And its buddy SD card slot.
Why phone manufacturers? Why?
You condemn us to dongle life.
It’s all about selling the solution to a problem they created.
No SD card slot? You are forced to upgrade since you cannot store anything more than what they allow.
No headphone jack? Hope you like buying our inferior first party wireless earbuds or the shitty dongle thing.
Next up on the chopping block will be the charging port in favor of wireless charging, I swear.
By that point, I think I would rather just buy a phone that has all of those features and replace the components as needed instead of upgrading while also having a burner phone I can transfer whatever “e-sim card” they force upon me.
Look, we have made a 1TB SD card!
Too bad you can’t use it.
My first smart pocket device had two SD slots, a full-sized one and a mini- one, accessible at all time with no bullshit attached. I remember using it to share photos between people’s cards right at the end of parties. I thought it can only get better from there.
Now I’m typing it from the phone that’s twice the size and if I were to attempt ejecting my microSD card / SIM tray, it’ll shutdown.
I wont buy a phone without one out of principle
It’s funny really. When the iPhone 7 came out, without a headphone jack, I’d been using Bluetooth headphones for years with iPhones 5/6 for a few years, so the lack of a jack in my next phone didn’t bother me at all.
My last couple of iPhones haven’t had a port, and instead of using a dongle, I’ve wandered back to using an iPod instead, so the lack of a port still doesn’t bother me. I have used a dongle, but only occasionally.
I miss the notification lights. One of my first true smart phones was the original oneplus. It was fun setting up custom colors for different types of notifications and came in handy every now and then
If you have an OLED phone, this is still a thing you can do.
God yes. I had a phone with a bright LED right next to the front camera and it was so convenient to know exactly what app was notifying me at any time
We got my legally-blind grandma a flip-phone with a notification LED on the outside. That little light has been a huge pain, because anytime she misses a call from a telemarketer/scammer or gets a marketing text, it turns on and she just. can’t. ignore. it. If that light is on, I’ve gotta drive all the way over there and clear the notifications.
I would like to ask about if you can not teach the poor old people some button combos to “mark as seen” but i imagine some old people want to know everything on their phone even if those texts and calls are scams and even they knew they are scams. Nevermind.
Galaxy XCover 6Pro still has one. Also headphone jack, SD slot and user removable battery
Fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone. So you’d pick it up and your finger would naturally fall on the sensor, so that by the time you look at the screen, it’s unlocked.
I also found these to work way more consistently than on screen fingerprint scanners.
Eh, I was worried about this when I got my current phone but I’m the end I like it much better. It’s just as reactive for me, and has the added bonus that I can unlock the phone while it’s resting on a table without having to pick it up, I guess I do that a fair bit because it was a pain point I felt with my previous phone.
Hadn’t thought about the table use case. Good point
I always put my phone face down so I have to pick it up anyway.
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On my Samsung fold 3, fingerprint sensor on power button is awesome.
Works really fast and it’s very reliable. Much better than fingerprint sensor under screen in my old oneplus 7 pro.
I’m still on the original google pixel, and I am dreading the day I’m forced to upgrade. It has the backside fingerprint sensor, and is in general pretty much the platonic ideal of a smartphone.
Is this discontinued? My phone does this.
I think the most logical placement for a fingerprint scanner is power button>back>bottom screen=on screen
Except at current screen sizes, holding your phone such that the index finger is firmly in the middle of the back of the phone means you have barely any screen reach with the thumb.
You don’t have to leave your finger on the sensor while you use the phone.
That’s my whole point… It’s an extra move.
IR blaster. You could have a universal remote app and control any tv from my palm PDA
100% this. I used to be able to control my ceiling fan, my portable a/c, and my TV from my phone.
Now I have to use the fan remote, the a/c remote, and install and create an account with some stupid TV app.
…it was also fun for changing the channel of TVs at bars & restaurants.
This brings memories back for when IR data exchange was a thing and you had to carefully place two phones head-to-head and not move them for minutes just to transfer a song lol.
One of the reasons I had Xiaomy phones in the past 5 years. Many models still have IR blaster.
Funny thing is I work for a company who manufactures products with infrared sensors and we have an app specifically for IR capable snartphones to fine tune these products. In the past 5 years I did not see a single client who would have IR on their phones, so basically the app is not used by a single person anymore. Either this or they can buy our official remote… for 200 euros a piece.
Pubs were fun with these.
Same with screwing around at school
There is a USB-C IR blaster that exists, but the Tiqiaa/ZaZaRemote app is awful.
Do you know any app alternative?
I didn’t find an alternative, when I looked a few months ago.
I remember seeing these everywhere and was super disappointed that by the time I could afford phones not bought at Dollar General, they weren’t a thing anymore.
Yep. My final phone to have one came with this app to control it that was straight malware. Force click a pop up every time you open the app type shit. I still miss it
Not everything uses IR blasters anymore.
Headphone jack, dedicated fingerprint reader, removable battery, physical sim card trays
Edit: expandable storage
Definitely miss the dedicated fingerprint reader. Had a metal case once that came with a fairly thick (tempered glass I think) screen protector. Everything worked great except the fingerprint reader.
Removable batteries may come back since the European Union has mandated all smartphones have them by 2027
Samsung xcover pro
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_xcover6_pro-11600.php
physical sim card trays
Seems like a backwards move IMO. honestly haven’t needed a tray in ~6 years
That tray is important to me at least since my last couple phones used that same tray to also hold the SD card. I can’t speak for anyone else, but a phone without an SD card for extra storage is a huge NO from me, so that tray is an absolute make or break for what my next upgrade is gonna be.
I find them VERY useful because if you break your phone, you can just swap your sim into a backup immediately.
But honestly it’s not a huge deal, I swapped an esim in under 3 minutes last week
Honestly? For all the bitching when Apple first removed it, I hadent and haven’t used wired headphones for a long while. I had Bluetooth headphones long before then.
I still don’t like them, audio gear should last, and Bluetooth earphones are the ultimate in disposable tech. Costs more, shorter lifespan; only good thing is that it’s a revenue driver for those producing them.
I’ve owned three Bluetooth headsets in total. The first I lost, the second is now my wife’s, and the third I still use. I wouldn’t call them disposable, but I’ll agree they are easier to lose.
Something a wired set of anything can’t give me is absolute freedom to move my head and walk away from my phone. I will never willingly go back to wired for anything other than gaming.
The batteries in them aren’t going to go past 4-5 years; I have headphones and earphones over 10 years old, with one pair about to reach the two decade mark.
That is honestly impressive. I can confidently say I’ve only owned one wired headset for a decade, and it’s the one I use for gaming so it never leaves my office.
Everything else has either broken, or been lost. Though I fully admit, serviceable wireless buds would be a thing of beauty. IIRC there are people out there actively working on the problem (other than the companies explicitly aiming for them to be a consumable forever.)
In my experience wired gear doesn’t last as long as wireless. The cable is a major weakness and there’s no affordable way around it.
Couldn’t disagree more. Plenty of wired headphones and iems come with detachable/ replaceable cables. On the other hand wireless earbuds can be difficult to keep track of and easy to lose if one happens to fall out. If you lose one, congrats you have to buy a whole new set because they don’t generally sell replacements and usually come paired from the factory meaning getting a second replacement wouldn’t work.
I’ve got wired buds i bought ten years ago that are still kicking and wired headphones made in the late 80s that have only needed cup replacements. Wired headphones will cost half that of wireless for similar quality and if a cable is ever damaged and isn’t detachable it really isn’t difficult to solder in a new one.
God I wish I could get a pair of wired headphones with detachable/replacement wires.
Definitely something I really wanna invest in some day in the future since I have had pretty bad luck with the audio jacks breaking on me.
You should look into the world of IEMs and “chi-fi”. There are great sounding headphones with detachable cables that are still very affordable.
I definitely will look into this.
No affordable way around it? If you are approaching BT headphone cost, your headphones or buds will almost definitely come with a detacheable wire.
Personally my on the go is PortaPro, they dont have detacheable cable, the wire is flimsy but are only 30 bucks and the repair on them is actually super easy, the part where the wires solder on is actually easily accessible.
I don’t know why you are downvoted. Wires are major breakpoint in many earphones. When i used a cabled earphones daily for hours as a student, one wouldn’t last me 6 months. I could not solder freely since they always broke near jack entry for some reason and i didn’t have cables around me all the time since i wasn’t an electrician. Finally last headphone i used had detachable cables. After that i used bluetooth all the way.
It’s probably a rarer use case, but I use the headphone jack on my S10 all the time to connect it to my stereo and get good audio quality, most cheaper bluetooth receivers only use SBC so the difference is quite noticeable. (Also because the S10 has a pretty good DAC).
I dont care about the jack, the lightning-3.5 for 10bucks is more than a-ok, that said fuck bluetooth headphones, apart from the “smart” features, sub 50$ cans can and will blow the audio quality out of the water for many of the “entry level” (quotes cause entry is still approaching 100 bucks) BT ones and when you match price it is no-contest.
That said BT cans are still fine but after dabbling with hi-fi I can’t go back to BT.
I think it came a bit too soon. I had a mid-tier (couple hundred bucks) pair of headphones, so it was annoying to me until they broke and I moved to Bluetooth (Sony WH-1000 gang)
They did have a dongle for it. Annoying, but not insurmountable by any means.
I use them daily at work. Luckily I found a pair with a lightning connector. I also use cable in the car (it’s too old for Bluetooth) and it’s a pain not being able to charge and listen.
We have a Bluetooth adapter for our car audio and it’s great. Plugs into the aux jack and car power. Really handy not needing to plug in.
I use IEMs when I’m on the go. It would be much better if I had the functionality of using that port instead of the charging port.
Same
Physical keyboards.
Or even just the navigation buttons being separate from the screen.
I really miss how the blackberry volume rocker buttons would seek media on a long press
My oneplus does that when the screen is off. But you just reminded me how much I miss my blackberry curve, that thing was rad. One gripe was the trackball would get filthy, then they released the touch track thing.
Preach it, brother!
What sucks is it would be easily doable.
Before smartphones were big I had a Samsung Messager (I think) with a slide out keyboard). Why not? A slide out keyboard would be sweet, and then you could choose to enable the digital keyboard if you wanted.
Wonder if they make a phone case with a keyboard (they certainly make the bluetooth keyboards for phones)
Edit: did some looking. It looks like they used to make these in a way I was thinking, such as this one
They don’t seem to make them that way now (at least not for phones). I did run into a phone that has a new-ish phone that has a physical keyboard
I’ve seen such keyboard, packaged neatly into a folding case. Problem is the keyboard doesn’t have enough weight to support the phone so it becomes awkward trying to hold the weight of the phone with your fingers while typing.
I still have my G1 and G2, both in their original boxes. I adored the G1 so much.
PinePhone with keyboard case!
I do miss the tactile nature of it. However, I honestly don’t think I’d trade screen space for it again.
Brave.
Wrong but brave
I could type almost three times as fast on a t9 as I can on a touch screen, and I’ve written an entire novel on a touch screen.
The old ways are forgotten. They were not wrong.
- iris scanner
- Dedicated MicroSD card slot
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Removable/user replacable battery
- Metal backs
- Front firing speakers
This may sound dumb… An old Samsung phone I had years ago, came with alarms that gradually faded in. The most memorable, started with the ocean, and the seagulls… Then there was a fog horn in the distance. Slowly the horn got closer, and closer… Until it was all you could hear, and your alarm was going off.
I’ve looked everywhere for the sound file… It must be Locked away in a basement at Samsung somewhere.
One day I’ll find it
A battery which lasts up to a week.
I miss my smart watch waking me up outside of detected REM sleep.
On the Microsoft Band you could set a time window where the alarm would go off - say between 0700-0800. If you’re in REM sleep at 0700, the alarm stays off until you naturally rouse, or 0800.
I’ve worked as a sleep scientist for 7 years, and the idea of not being woken out of REM is such a neat idea, and yet no other watch seems to do it.
3.5mm headphone jack.
