For me it’s the notification light you used to find on older phones, was particularly good to know if your phone was charged without picking it up
Actual keyboards, my Moto Droid was my favorite phone I’ve ever owned. Miss it so much. I’d give anything to have an updated version of it.
The audio port for headphones and headsets. Replaceable batteries. Extendable storage. Fuckers charge 100x more for every little upgrade now.
To be fair, expandable storage as we’ve had it sucks. MicroSD cards cause a lot of issues, and a good chunk of Android apps block the ability to use them. Connecting an SSD to your phone is a much better experience.
Connecting a piece of hardware via a cable, to a small mobile handheld device, is a better experience? Talk about hardware issues. Jostling cables around, looking for a way to charge the phone while its charging port is blocked… SD cards might have been a little slow, but they were at least internal.
We also lost the ability to encrypt them. There’s basically no external drives that let you encrypt data on the fly.
Replacement batteries should be a legal requirement. My 5 year old android phone needed a new battery and people kept telling me to get a new one as the phone is old anyway. It still does what I need so why should I get a new one just because of a battery.
I ended up taking the phone apart myself and replacing it. Wasn’t easy and took me over 2 hours.
I’m up for anything which keeps phones working for longer. Such a waste of money and resources for what should be a simple job.
I want a IR blaster again and a front notification light.
Or at least let me easily simulate the notification light without a third part app.
Small Flagship Android Phones. Im just not a big fan of phones which doesnt fit into pockets :(
Do you have tiny pockets or something? My Galaxy S22 Ultra fits in my front and back pockets with no issue at all, with an Otterbox on it.
I too miss the LED notification light. If you have an amoled display, check this out:
Headphone Jack.
The rotary disc on phones!
While I’m downright chuckling at the desire to go back to rotary phones, I gotta appreciate that there’s always someone who liked things better the old way.
Thanks for the necessary XKCD. First time reading that one.
Well, to be honest, I won’t be THAT guy, nor am I crazy to bring back the rotary disk.
If you’re serious: https://skysedge.com/telecom/RUSP/index.html
Thanks!
And no, I’m not serious. Just reminding that technology, like everything else, changes.
But I loved that project! Made me smile thinking how creative people are.
Grandma? Nice to see you figured out Lemmy.
Not a feature but I do miss phones having side bezels. You could firmly hold your phone and not disturb the content on your phone. I can barely use youtube now because i keep touching my screen apparently
I had to put mine in a case. Any use without is just “oh, was that a gesture”.
No motherfucker, I’m just trying not to drop £500 of glass-coated electronics that I rely on for fucking everything.
This is why I always use a case. I can’t touch the side accidentally.
I use a case too, still doesnt work as I also have a glass screen protector and just have large hand. 6.8" screen and i can wrap my hand around and touch thumb and middle finger, with a TPU case
I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone mention IR transmitters in phones. Luckily, some phones are bringing them back (cough OnePlus Open cough)
My first cell could use this as a wireless connection to my laptop as a hot spot, circa 2003. Great times. Laser Internet
SD card slots, user-replaceable batteries, and headphone jacks.
Where did they go? Just vanished?
There are several advantages to not having them: without all the extra parts needed to support these features you can make the phone thinner (thickness is traditionally a key marketing point for smartphones) and cheaper to make.
Additionally, it seems that a lot of people no longer need these features, making them prime candidates for exclusion: Bluetooth headphones have become very common, internal storages have become large enough, and people buy a new phone often enough nowadays that battery wear is not as much of an issue.
Of course, if you are one of the people who still do want these features you’re pretty much out of luck. Which sucks.
Excellent, I love when my phone is so thin it risks bending.
The idea that people don’t need headphone jack seems pretty weird. Phones removed the 3.5mm jack, so people had to buy Bluetooth headphones, because now there is just 1 port on the phone.
And now, because of this change, you’re looking back and saying that that’s a not needed feature.
Does that sound right?
I guess people don’t use sd cards to increase storage but to keep their data handy when device dies or somehow renderes inaccessible.
without all the extra parts needed to support these features you can make the phone thinner
I don’t think the 3.5mm jack is the limiting spec on how thick phones are. The latest iphone (15) without the jack is 7.8mm thick, while my phone that has one is 7.9mm. The 15 pro is 8.3mm. Thickness may have been a selling point in the past but I don’t think people care anymore bc essentially everything’s pretty thin these days–size concerns are way more focused on length/width.
Add in an IR blaster, and that’s my whole list.
3.5 headphone jack
Apps like Garage Band are completely useless over Bluetooth.
Simplicity.
iPhones are far too big and have too many huge cameras for me. Everything requires a subscription or some login to do anything. Applications and operating systems are updated at the whims of CEOs while the job of UX designers is de-prioritized. Software updates keep breaking established workflows. I can no longer rely on devices or apps to maintain a consistent experience from one year to the next. It’s just been years and years and years of disappointment and stress as technology changes for the worse.
All this is pushing me towards a more unplugged lifestyle. Which is a bit ironic given how it adds more complexity with the need to own and travel with more things. A bag of five ‘things’ that always work regardless of network connection is better than a little tablet that could crash or die or be updated at any moment and having a significant impact on your lifestyle.
There’s just no fucking zen anymore. I feel like I’m living inside a simulation built by the same people who brought us Windows 95.
Physical buttons in cars
Repairable phones
Repairable laptops
Resoleable shoes
Hand-crank drills (for those quick and easy projects where dealing with batteries or cords isn’t worth it)
External frames on hiking packs
Actually tough jeans that need to be broken in and last a while
Headphone jack
I agree with all but hand crank drills. If you own a battery drill it’s probably stored with it’s battery and with keyless chucks (that don’t work on a hand crank drill) getting a battery drill ready for work is faster than a hand crank, and it will do the job faster too.
also it looks cool when you change the battery like a gun
I miss physical buttons on everything. We’re a tactile species living in a digital purgatory
I switched to the 2022 iPhone SE for this last year only for the EU to pull the usb-c thing toward apple (who of course requires the Apple certified cables now anyways so it solved nothing). and after that happened I know the writing is on the wall for this phone one day because of its design. I’m going to be using it until the very bitter end when not a single app is supported anymore. I will be a physical button warrior to the end.
That single button is hardly worth holding out for. If you switch, I think you’d find it’s no worse, just exactly as shitty.
Actually tough jeans that need to be broken in and last a while
Doesn’t that have to do with the fact that modern jeans have some stretchy materials added in which makes them more comfortable?
Surely one could buy old type jeans if one really wanted too.
Physical buttons
in carsMy induction hob, my extractor fan, a light above the countertop… All of these things just in my kitchen don’t have physical buttons and I hate it. Physical buttons are so easy to use and in so many ways superior to these “touch” buttons.
There are some products that buck the trend for a couple of your points:
Repairable phones - https://www.fairphone.com/
Repairable laptops - https://frame.work/
I have a framework 13 and absolutely love it. Not used a Fairphone yet, and I believe the latest model might have sadly scrapped the 3.5 headphone jack, but will still be a strong contender when I next need an upgrade.
You can still readily get crank hand drills, I have a (vaguely) modern one that I use for situations where I want the control/tactile feedback and/or have restricted access or the like. It covers a different set of problems than the standard cordless.
Mine is Fiskars branded and a little plasticky (and not the version they sell currently). I like it enough that I’ll get a nicer one if I kill it.
Nice! I inherited mine from my grandfather and I hope to pass it on myself someday.
Lack of notch
Many phones have no notch. Just a small camera hole.
Good keyboards on computers. At the office, everything are those extremely uncomfortable $5 dell keyboards. At a climbing gym or pool, the liability iPads that you sign forms on is using those really uncomfortable apple keyboards too.
I miss the better keyboards that we had back 25 years ago. Modern box jades bring some of that back for your own PC.
You can get nice mechanical keyboards these days. They’re not cheap though
Back in 2004 the company we worked at (we worked for another company who provided tech contract work for them) was bought and they were dismantling a particular site. I remember getting to the e-trash dumpster and finding boxes of almost new computers and HP keyboards. I had a truck so I grabbed them all. The computers, I donated. The keyboards I still have maybe 3 or 4, after having given others to friends and family.
There were no good keyboards 25 years ago.
Excuse me, the IBM model M was made from 85-96, there was then a 10 year gap until the Das Mechanical came out in 06 but the Model M was 100% widely available used during that time and Cherry AG stayed in business so there were still modders and small companies making Model M type keyboards even then.
Sorry, that’s just disgusting.
