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
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Headphone jacks and the ability to expand available memory using SD cards.
Unlockable bootloader, removable battery, headphone jack, being assembled with SCREWS rather than GLUE.
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).
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 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.
You want to… own the phone you bought???
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
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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
Aux ports are nice for versatility, even if I was already using wireless earphones. Along with being able to listen to FM right on your phone. It’s features I don’t use often, but occasionally. I wish the USB-C connector had the option with a clip. IR-blasters were useful and much fun. I never even used the actual remote to manage my LED strip.
I never realized notification lights just kind of stopped existing. But I don’t miss them in light of always on displays. Under screen finger print readers is basically a dream come true. Having multiple cameras is nice. OLED screen is an absolute godsend. Overall I’m not unhappy.
Physical keys that you had to type multiple times to get letters. I could write a whole text message with my hands in my pocket.
T9 .
It’s funny how people didn’t have to write ‘lol’ anymore and fight with the onboard dictionary … but still did. Losers.
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.
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.
3.5 jack
Small sizes
Multicolour notification LEDS - customisable for each app
Smaller camera bumps and less cameras in general - not everyone wants or needs to be a professional photographer.
Plastic bodies, with removable batteries via covers.
I don’t know how many current phones support it but mine doesn’t… Extendable storage via micro sd
Customisable vibration patterns for different contacts and apps - I remember how super old early Android Xperia phones being able to do this (alongside the LED mentioned above). I used to think this was stock android, I guess not. But if it was, why did they remove it, same guess for LED
Fingerprint readers are a bad idea for a variety of reasons. So this does seem like a loss! What a cool concept.
I’m not sure exactly what it was called but any time you took a photo with a Note8, it was always taking photos from right before to right after the photo. This resulted in much fewer garbage photos because a few frames before or after the shutter was pressed would be a better photo, one that is not blurry! Now instead of a useless photo, I would have at least something workable. I have not seen that on any other phone with this feature, including my current one.
It can’t know when you’re going to press the shutter button, so it has to actually just record video all the time. Taking snapshots from video is much lower resolution and quality than properly exposed photo.
Yeah, but the average consumer doesn’t care. I’ll share a photo from my camera to someone who’s sharing a smeared shitty blown out phone picture back, and it’s just depressing.
Hardware keyboards on mobile phones
There are still some smartphones that have hardware keyboards. Unihertz makes a few (I have the very unwieldy OG Titan). There’s also the Fxtec Pro1 X.
Thanks, I’ve looked at all of those but they either have substandard, Microtek CPUs that are so far below adequate that the productivity hit would impact me more than the loss of physical keys (Unihertz) or have problems delivering actual phones altogether (Fxtec Pro1) or aren’t really phones but more micro-laptops (Planet Computer).
I’m just looking for a nice, mid-ranged phone with a mobile keyboard. Actually I think the closest to achieving that goal is the Fairberry mod which fuses a surplus BlackBerry Q10 keyboard on to a Fairphone with a 3D-printed case, but that requires electronic assembly and soldering.
It really depends on your use case. My Titan’s MediaTek is enough for me as I don’t do super intensive tasks on it. In a pinch it does the job. If I’m away and need to quickly SSH into my servers, I can do that, no problem. I can make calls and text people and it has a huge battery. Right now it’s as de-googled as it can get with the stock ROM.
The drawback is that due to the wonky 1:1 aspect ratio display, a lot of apps either have bugs or bad usability, because they were created for taller scrrens. To me, it doesn’t matter, as I cut down on smartphone usage and just have a handful of apps.
Bluetooth keyboards
Not the same thing :(
- iris scanner
- Dedicated MicroSD card slot
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Removable/user replacable battery
- Metal backs
- Front firing speakers
removed by mod
Enjoy living in 2000
removed by mod
Good for you
ITT: people who bought the wrong phone then complain.
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.
Hope you like buying our inferior first party wireless earbuds
You don’t have to buy phone brand headphones. There are other wireless ones.
I wont buy a phone without one out of principle
How come? The issue is solved
Yeah, the lack of hardware features issue is solved by buying superfluous crap, and that’s lame
I missed how I could set an alarm and then shut my blackberry off overnight and the phone would turn itself back on in the morning to alarm
Any PC can do that
Active Edge, which LG originally came up with and that Google adopted with the Pixel 2. Of course they dropped it after a few devices.
It was basically a button/key press that you could configure to trigger actions by firmly applying pressure with you hands around the lower third of your phone. It gave a very satisfying haptic vibration response based on the amount of pressure you applied and you could even set the amount of pressure until it was triggered. It had something magickal about it.
If you’re interested in the tech: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2017/10/19/google-pixel-2-teardown-ifixit/
