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?
A fucking headphone jack
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.
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.
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.
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.
HEADPHONE JACK.
GIVE ME THE GOD DAMN HEADPHONE JACK BACK
Ironically enough the headphone jack is more common on cheaper phones. Honestly though the mid grade phones are so good now that I can’t see myself buying a flagship device unless there’s some incentive.
lol yeah the last phone I bought was the Pixel 5A because of that.
…But they better keep it that way >:(
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.
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.
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.
Headset jack and let me replace my damn battery. Also default option to uninstall non-OEM apps
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
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.
