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
Physical keyboards.
I really miss how the blackberry volume rocker buttons would seek media on a long press
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
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
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 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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Squeeze to activate Google Assistant, from the Pixel 2 XL (and maybe others, I don’t remember)
Specifically, modern computers have inherently more delay time between the keyboard (or other input devices), the software, and the display than much-older (1980s) computers. This means that it is not possible to create games that are as responsive to player inputs as the arcade, console, or microcomputer games of the past.
USB is slow. HDMI is slow.
These guys seem to agree https://zed.dev/
