What niche phone features would appeal to you?

I went through my late teens as the initial smart phone boom was happening. I had a Motorola q that could get TV channels and had a keyboard. I had the enV that flipped open. And many androids/blackberries that I loved for their unique form factor and functionality.

I have never balked at spending money on a phone and for a long time i felt locked into generic flagship devices. With the debut of folding screens I feel like my appetite for unique devices rekindled. I think the power of android lies in its diversity of implementation.

So what features and functionalities would you choose over the next flagship release?

Weezard,

Slide out physical keyboard, notification LEDs or some form of cool lights, a dedicated camera shutter button, and a scroll wheel / touch pad like what used to be on the blackberry or like the LG KE970 I really liked that.

I really miss notification LED’s though, always on display is good, but a little light is going to use far less battery and be immediately apparent from across the room by the colour what app the notification came from is.

edit : formatting

BlueSwitch,

I’m so annoyed that my Moto G60 has a sign of life LED that can’t be used for notifications.

Weezard,

That sounds infuriating, I really miss these features, its not like there isn’t even space to put them in, screen real estate isn’t everything.

notapantsday,

There are some niche phones with a thermal camera, would love to see more of that. Thermal modules are getting smaller, cheaper and better all the time and the main producers like infiray or guide are offering modules that seem to be clearly targeted at the smartphone market.

I'm still discovering new uses for my thermal camera and I wish I could have it in my pocket all the time. The obvious uses are finding gaps in your house's thermal insulation or finding devices that draw a lot of standby energy. But you can also use it to find studs in your walls, find things that have recently been used, like cars in a parking lot or chairs in an office.

a1studmuffin,
@a1studmuffin@aussie.zone avatar

Thermal cameras are also really handy for electronics repair and spotting invisible water leaks in ceilings.

dutchkimble,

Max 4 inch screen, IR blaster, physical keyboard with speed dial settings for buttons, form factor like the Xperia x10 mini pro, headphone jack, cameraless, LED with customisable lights for different notifications, bonus - built in projector, satellite phone capability,

NicoCharrua,
@NicoCharrua@lemmy.ca avatar

Out of curiosity, why would you want a phone with no cameras?

And do phones with built in projectors exist? That sounds amazing, even if I would almost never use it

dutchkimble,

I never really use the camera for anything meaningful, and prefer video call on the laptop.

Don't think projector phones exist, just a wishlist for something cool!

harry315,

Afaik there used to be a smartphone with an inbuilt (shitty) projector. You could show off pics and video clips from a distance of around 30 cm (that's around 1.3 medium sized standard bananas in imperial units). It was only enjoyable in a dark room, but nevertheless, the tech existed 10 years ago. I think it was called the something-bee-something-phone.

fraenki,
@fraenki@feddit.de avatar

Foldable display - They are still way too expensive!

Metal case - I just loved the heavy Samsung Omnia 7 metal case. It made it unbreakable and grippy!

XLRV,
@XLRV@lemmy.ml avatar

A Silent/Vibrate/Ring switch like on the OnePlus phones, headphone jack and a easily swappable battery.

Apophis,

Basically an Asus Zenfone 9 with a removable battery and an Sd card. Also, make the front like Sony phones - larger bezels on the top and the bottom of the display and house stereo speakers and front camera there instead of a cutout.

bigbox,

A microsd card slot and a headphone jack

MargotRobbie,
@MargotRobbie@lemmy.world avatar

Oh I forgot, a clamshell folding phone but with only one screen and the other side is a physical keyboard, like a mini-laptop.

Nobody seems really know how to do a folding screen well, so why have the screen fold at all?

mazkarth,

Like the sidekick? Motorola really knew how to make phones back then!

Nytelock,

Headset jack and let me replace my damn battery. Also default option to uninstall non-OEM apps

phx,

You're in luck for the battery thing. It's basically going to be mandatory in the EU which should hopefully help push change everywhere

Thadrax,

I really hate that it is becoming mandatory. I would have preferred the option to either have a reasonably priced service to replace the battery or have it user replaceable. Forcing one solution just seems not very consumer friendly.

I don't like the compromises they have to make to make them easily replaceable and I never had a battery fail on me.

phx,

Well, what we've seen this far is not making it mandatory just means that the battery will not be user-replaceable on 99% of devices, because that's the most profitable way of doing it even if it results in a lot of extra waste

HouseMouse,

The debut of the Google Pixel Fold got me interested in foldables. If Google is joining the game then android hopefully will become better optimized for foldable screens.

SuperSpruce,

Late to the thread but here’s my thoughts on everything I’d like in a phone. Having just a few of these would make a huge difference in how much I’d want the phone.

Hardware:

  1. Standard features like a 3.5mm jack and MicroSD slot.
  2. Multiple USB ports (especially on tablets)
  3. Thunderbolt port
  4. Here’s a simple idea: Instead of making a thin phone with a massive camera bump, you make a thick phone with the camera flush with the back, and use the extra space for a bigger battery?
  5. User-replacable battery
  6. Modules like the modo mods
  7. Battery passthrough when charging
  8. Upgradable SoC, RAM, internal storage???

Software (here lies my hopes and dreams that will never be manifested):

  1. Starting off simple, a feature that lets you manually limit how much you charge your battery.
  2. Manual over/underclocking controls for the CPU
  3. Separate WiFi/data toggles
  4. More control over how big or small icons and text is
  5. Easy root access with app makers not getting all “you sus” over the fact that your device is rooted
  6. No data harvesting (duh)
  7. Better file management (and removing scoped storage)
  8. Multiple logins to a phone (like what you can do with a desktop)
  9. One app, multiple accounts
  10. Just having the software take less system resources.
  11. Open sourcing hardware drivers
  12. Multiple floating windows like with a desktop OS
  13. More than 3 split screen options
  14. I’m sure there’s a lot more I can’t think of now
Lilium,

It’s the rear fingerprint reader for me, I use the pulldown action constantly. That and stereo front-facing speakers.

StarLuigi,
@StarLuigi@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I loved the IR Blaster on my old Galaxy S4, was really fun to mess with the TV's in public places with it sometimes and was also pretty useful at home as well!

zorrothefox2001,
@zorrothefox2001@lemmy.world avatar

I just want a new Droid with a slide-out keyboard

I’ve had every one of them until the Droid 4 and they never released a new one

xbhaktapur,
@xbhaktapur@lemmy.world avatar

A full physical QWERTY keypad on my 3rd hand Blackberry Bold (in 2013) was the best thing I had seen on a cell phone. I wish full physical QWERTY keyboards would make a comeback.

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