Everything. We’re down to barebones and marketing now focus solely on camera software updates or phone materials (“now with titanium!” How fucking sad is that?) And they are all selling the same phone.
Some of the most important loses…
Swappable batteries changed travel for me. Always having two extra charged batteries in my backpack, that you could swap top 100% in 20 seconds, made me ONLY use my phone as a free and completely useful tool without any planning or restrictions on my use. Otherwise, you can’t take too many pictures or videos, stream music or video or make video calls too long or you might be fucked when you need phone, GPS, payment or to get a rideshare to where you’re staying.
Audio jack similarly meant freedom. Bluetooth headphones out of battery, broken or one earbud lost? Have a pair of wired in the backpack always add backup. Also better audio quality through wired with DAC on certain models and less daily device load to charge/babysit
secondary screens LG V10 had a bar on top, they also had the T shaped dual screen phone and the secondary screen phone case. There was just creativity and attempts at innovation.
microSD expandable memory, again less and less available and this was about freedom - fuck your cloud storage add its data leaks, corruption and redaction. I own my data, you don’t control it.
I also very much miss the removable batteries. I spent 8 years with my old phone simply because I didn’t want to give up it’s easy swap ability but I have to say that the headphone jack is the thing that really affects and annoys me the most. For years and years I literally carried a pair of wired earbuds with me everywhere I went (coiled up and carried in the small pocket of my jeans). No matter where I was or what I was doing, I could literally be ready to go music mode at any time. I absolutely loved it. Being saddled with the bluetooth buds now and their annoying battery life is not at all ideal for me. I often take very long daily excursions that end up seeing my headphones die on me frequently now and I miss my wired headphones nearly every single day.
My new android phone is waterproof, rugged, has 5 days of battery life, 2 microsim, 1 microsd (up to 1TB i think, for apps and/or photos depending on partitioning via adb), headphone jack, no stupid notch or hole in the display and a notification light for $100. Sure I only get 4GB of RAM, a 24MP camera without stabilization, 64GB of slow-ish flash and an 8 core mediatek cpu. But if Google or HTC won’t give me what I want, I’ll buy the Doogee S51 with the fake 2nd wide angle camera that is just a dummy lens.
I was really baffled when I got a November 2023 security OTA update. Didn’t expect that. Also it isn’t loaded with crapware like a Samsung or Lenovo. Overall I am quite satisfied with price/performance.
I think the reason why you get the OTA is because Doogee uses mostly non modified Android software, making the official releases available for your phone with ease.
Swappable batteries are coming back in 2027 because of the EU.
Under the legislation, consumers must be able to "easily remove and replace” portable batteries used in devices such as smartphones, tablets, and cameras.
I just tried a Pixel 8 for a few days after years of using a Pixel 6 - it is legitimately a worse phone. Even with its higher frame rate screen (which is considerably smaller), all the phones animations look like garbage because the CPU struggles to keep up. I found some menus that I tested side by side on the pixel 6 and 8… the 6’s reaction was instant and smooth, while the 8 took about half a second to register that it had been touched, after which the menu’s animation was glitchy. My wife tested one too, and was having issues getting her fingerprints to save.
Is there even an option for a decent modern android phone that doesn’t have bloatware (i.e… Samsung)? I was hoping the pixel would be acceptable so I could use Graphene OS, but it doesn’t look like that is going to be happening. Is there another device that works well with Lineage or something similar that would be a decent alternative to a Pixel with Graphene?
So much this. I’d love Blackberry Passport but with modern Android. I don’t mind it being wide, I just need a good keyboard which I use far more than designers think.
How hard is it to get into the phone game in terms of regulatory stuff? Like if I had the device designed and manufacturing ready to go, what legal hoops would I have to jump through to become a phone maker?
Is it a closed space? Can I enter it? Do I need to register with FTC or get other huge corps to cooperate with me or anything?
A simple way for any audio output device following the global standard used for the past 25 years to output sound directly from the device. Failure rate is one tenth that of any other external port. Use is so widespread in home audio that it’s absence is seen as a detractor.
The original Walkman has a 3.5mm jack. That’s how far back this standard has been in common use.
I can’t comprehend why anyone puts up with not having an audio jack.
I know most people here knock the always on display, but my Samsung has the option to only show if I tap the screen or a notification comes through. I also use the option that blinks a certain color light around the perimeter of the screen and/or the in screen camera so it effectively simulates that old led.
Asus Zenphone? I’m not sure if it’s absolutely top notch specs but every review I’ve ever seen for it loves it. And it’s tiny. I love my phones as big as possible so I’ve never tried it but I’ve always wanted a bigger version of it so that I could.
Software support is quite a downside though. Asus is not great at supporting their Zenphones in comparison to other manufacturers. You only get around 2 years of OS updates (and 4 years of security updates? I guess it differs for each phone a little) The hardware looks great, but this was the reason to not buy it for me as I usually use phone for 4-5 years.
I went with the Pixel 8 Pro, I do really love the extra camera features, but the phone is just so big. I was using a regular Pixel 8 the other day and it was so comfy.
Of course it depends on body size and style of trousers you prefer. If you rock Cargo pants you will have no issues for sure :D Ask a female friend for example, i guess lot of them cannot fit a modern phone into there pockets
Id disagree about bluetooth these days. I have a pair of headset I use daily between my computer and phone. Quality is there, ive done side by side conparisons via 2.4ghz dongle, bluetooth and wired (headset supports all) and I cant hear a difference.
There may not be a difference when you’re sitting in front of a computer but Bluetooth quality can go way downhill if you’re trying to listen to earbuds while your phone is in your pocket or a bag or similar, especially if you’re moving around and/or there’s a lot of electronic interference in the area. My city commute is when I really miss wired listening.
Bro how shit are your bluetooth headphones?? I’ve had busy city commutes plenty with even cheapoid wireless headphones, iphone 6s, phone in pocket or bag…
Dude, I live in a faraday cage (lath & plaster with chicken wire embedded in it) and I can walk around my house with little to no issues. Bluetooth 4+ has been rock solid for me. At most my phone disconnects but thats my phones issue. Bluetooth to my PC is perfect an never had any dropouts.
Really? Something that has a range of 30’ (9m) and use it for a fucking concert and use the same frequencies as 1000’s of atendees?
Bluetooth is a short range low bandwidth (at least vs wifi, 3/4/5g) protocol. Using it for something well outside its capablilites is stupid. Like taking a mini mudding or hammering in nails using a rachet
You hypothetical situation is just pointing out the very well known flaws of the bluetooth protocol. So once again, what a stupid line of questioning
Dude, I miss the LG G5 and the V20. Had some pretty good ideas for the time. I liked how the V20 had a tiny always on display so the main display could power down. Although OLED dont have the power drain problem that LCD have when using AOD
Bluetooth audio can’t be bad, it’s digital. I would understand it drops packets or is choppy but quality should be given. What can suck is DAC on your headphones, which is the likely culprit.
Because chances are your device has Bluetooth version 5.2, as all newer phones have and standard has been out for almost a decade now. That version supports both aptX and LC3 codecs. Both of which are significantly higher quality than default inital SBC. In fact aptX has been around since 2009. In 2009, Senheizer released first ever Bluetooth headset with aptX support. Later in 2016 we got aptX HD.
Even Sony’s proprietary LDAC codec has been added to Android in version 8 and was officially supported by all Android devices since then. That codec can push 32 bits/96 kHz, which is more than enough quality.
Of course with all digital protocols, like Bluetooth is, received data is the same as transmitted data. If your headset audio quality is lacking, that is on headset, not protocol itself since Bluetooth supports high quality audio for decades now. Only time when Bluetooth will revert back to old codec which was “reasonable quality” as they describe it is if your headset doesn’t support better codecs.
Relying on a codec, which intrinsically plays priority on the basis of specific frequencies, is intrinsic to the limitations of using low-energy radio waves in the UHF range. Codecs are for phone calls and data packets, not full spectrum audio. That doesn’t solve the issue, it just slaps a bandage on it so it’s less noticeable. If I need a larger spectrum, rather than a patch of bass and treble, Bluetooth continues to fall dramatically and irritatingly short.
I’m glad it works for your purposes, though. I do not mean to come off like a jerk; I just prefer dedicated bands for anything wireless that cover a wider range.
It was a build-up of something or other (carbon?) on the microphone part of the caller’s handset. You could fix it by tapping the handset sharply on a hard surface. Source: I used to work in radio back in the 80s.
Not trying to be snarky here, but what are you trying to do with your phone without opening your eyes? I sometimes snooze my morning alarm with the power button on the side without looking at it, but what did the home button do for you when you weren’t looking at the screen?
Check out Silverstone cases, they have a few that are understated, and make them in a variety of form factors if you wanted to do, say, a custom NAS, server or media center build.
All of that exists, don’t by an iPhone and don’t buy the latest and greatest nvidia graphics card. Buy a used 3060 for example. I am wirting this from a rooted zenfone 8, with notification light, headphone jack and on the second battery. Get a fairphone if you want to flip them in the fly.
For the smartphones I mostly agree. Even Pixels, although easily unlockable and rootable, make you jump through hoops if you want to use things like banking.
For PCs, there are still options available. Fractal have cases with no RGB and even metal side panels (as opposed to tempered glass ones) if that’s your thing. Noctua and be quiet! still make non-RGB fans and coolers.
For the smartphone, what do you mean by software unlocked parts? For the rest I’m in total agreement.
The high end graphics card market really needs more clean RGB free stuff. My 3090’s lights didn’t turn on despite it functioning just fine so maybe that counts :) ?
As for case I know you had plenty of answers already, but I recently got a Corsair 4000D my latest build it’s sleek and has no inbuilt RGB lighting.
By unlocked parts, they may be referring to how Apple serializes parts in iPhones so that you are forced to pay for repair at the Apple store. Part serialization means that if you took two real iPhones apart, swapped every component with each other, and tried to use the phone, certain features just stop working… Here is a demo from Hugh Jeffreys, who has demonstrated this problem with many recent iPhone models: youtu.be/dbRKQ0OjQeE
I just hope android devices never adopt this anti-feature like has happened many times in the past with Apple’s anti consumer design choices.
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