Samsung aren’t saying that they will charge for Galaxy AI feature but the fine print says the following:
“Galaxy AI features will be provided for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices. Different terms may apply for AI features provided by third parties.”
I think Sony is the only flagship phone left that still has minijack. IDK about SD
SD is not much of an issue IMO, with newer phones being available with 512 MB now, even in mid range.
You can get wired USB headphones, if it’s because you want the wire to not lose them and to not need to charge headphones too. But I haven’t tried it, it may suck.
Most of the phones I’m looking at max out at 256 Gb storage, minus whatever the OS uses. My next phone will almost certainly be a Sony because of the SD card slot. I do a lot of RAW photography, and travel in enough places without data service and/or sketchy cell access that large local storage is not negotiable.
I wanted the Sony, but they only give 2 years of security updates which is abysmal. That killed it for me
Just to offer an alternative viewpoint, because I have come across these issues and ended up buying a Sony phone because I had such a bad time without the 3.5mm headphone socket.
Some people want more internal storage than even 512gb - I have a 400gb microSD in my phone because with the OS and apps getting bigger, even a large internal storage can fill up fast. Also, it’s nice to have media collections, photos, and other files with you, rather than relying on data and cloud storage, and the cost is now very low for a large microSD. It’s also easier to transfer large amounts of data between devices that way.
As for headphones, dongles are a pain and USB headphones have to have a (usually not great) DAC in them to work, plus many people already have great headphones they want to keep using. All of that said, the biggest issue with USB headphones IMO is that there is only one USB port - the wear and tear of using it for everything is significant. Also, USB-C plugs are much more breakable and harder to replace than a 3.5mm jack. Additionally, you cannot charge and listen at the same time without a dongle and many of those are bad (none of the ones I have tried have worked for more than a few weeks before connectivity issues started).
the cost is now very low for a large microSD.
Absolutely, most phones available with more storage cost way more extra than buying an SD card.
It’s also easier to transfer large amounts of data between devices that way.
I completely forgot I used to do that! Now I use USB2 becaue very few phones have USB3, and USB2 sucks for transferring large amounts of data.
USB headphones have to have a (usually not great) DAC in them to work,
Yes it’s kind of infuriating when the Phone already has the DAC, it just doesn’t have a connector.
Some of ASUS’s phone have headphones jacks too, notably the ROG phone line (excluding the 3 IIRC)
I miss the notification LED so much, AOD is an impractical alternative IMO. Using AOD to just emulate a notification LED is overkill, using it for too much kills the battery.
If a good reasonably priced phone arrives with all these functions back, I’d buy that over anything currently on the market.
