One should be at the bottom one at the top. I understand space on the phone is a premium but a second port would make the phone so much more usable. Wired headphones, flash drives, camera modules, speaker modules, keyboards, even connection to a TV, all could be used while charging. It’s a shame it’s not a thing, USB is extremely versatile port, but you only get one and it’s used for charging half of the time. (I am aware dongles exist)
I can’t relate at all. My phone is a PHONE, with options of short-term entertainment. I have other devices for other “computery” activities. I personally almost never use even my single USB-C port, thanks to wireless charging and wireless headphones. Sounds like your phone is your main device.
Many countries not so well off like us in the West do not have the luxury to have a smartphone and a computer. So options with 2 USB ports would be interesting. The bastardisation of the smartphone is a disgrace.
What exactly is getting bastardized? Phones never had 2 USB ports. And there are still new phones with headphone jack (Zenphone 10 comes to my mind). Yes, many brands dropped it, but it’s not a conspiracy (or at lest doesn’t have to be), it’s just basic economics.
What I call bastardisation is the many steps stopping us from using our phone as general computing platforms. Our phones have no reason to be confined by software locks like locked bootloaders, root login, etc.
As for the lack of 2 USB ports, it pictures that phones where never thought as general purpose computers. Maybe two ports is not the way to go but the lack of an interface which can act as a display output and a USB connection like what we have now with Thunderbolt on the desktop is a shame. The inability to turn my phone, which is more powerful than my current laptop, into a normal computer unencumbered by software and hardware restrictions is a shame.
The path taken by Pinephones and their Linux ecosystems is a step in the right direction. It shows that smartphone companies can do better.
As you said, it’s basic economics, it’s more profitable for them if we buy a new phone every two years, so they lock us out of our properties with software and hardware restrictions because they can.
For what current flagship phones cost they should absolutely be capable of general purpose computing.
Maybe come with a usb-c dock and screen as well for convergence.
Well, it depends what you imagine “general purpose computing” is. Android OS is primarily targeted at phones, with specific set of requirements, so I don’t think it can ever match desktop OSes, without major sacrifices from the both worlds.
The main reason why Android cannot work as a general computing OS are the many barriers and restrictions it has compared to traditional desktop operating systems.
Linux for example, which Android is based on, works fine* on the desktop but also on tablets or phones.
*as in most modern apps scale properly and are usable on the desktop, tablet or phone. Support for the hardware, especially on phones and tablets, varies greatly.
I have a desktop i use at least 50% of the time and a couple of laptops i barely use because i don’t like to carry them, so when i need to do something away from the PC I’ll do it with my phone if at all possible. Sounds like you don’t use your devices in different places often.
