this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
1097 points (90.8% liked)

Technology

60082 readers
3089 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 108 points 1 year ago (6 children)

There are gaming phones, phones with crazy cameras, and iPhones where the lack of features is a feature. What I wish to have is a phone with as many features and functionality as possible.

That includes (but not limited to): IR blaster Headphone jack MicroSD card slot FM Radio RGB Notification/Status LED

Rather than a slim phone with a glossy finish that will pick up scratches right away unless wrapped in a phone case, the outer cover of the phone should be rugged and replaceable. Like with old Nokia phones. I don't care about few extra grams, or another millimeter of thickness. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I was hopeful about the Fairphone at first, but they started removing features as well.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

When I changed in my iPhone 3g for an original Galaxy S, with barometer, I thought that by the iPhone/Galaxy 10 we would all be rocking tricorders. What kind of crazy sensors would they jam in by then? Zero. Here we are at generation 15 with no additional cool sensors.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

My guess is that eventually the back of the phone will be completely covered by cameras.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's intentional. They'd like to drop features to cut on design and manufacture costs, while taking out features most of the target audience doesn't really care about. Some of these are just greedy. Phones used to rely on microSD expansion, but once you drop this option you could charge for additional space much more than what the equivalent microSD card would cost. You can also stop shipping phones with chargers because most people have them anyway. This is pure profit as the customer is paying the same price, but doesn't get a charger.

As for other features, they probably dropped them because people just didn't care enough.

It seems to be incredibly difficult to design a phone from scratch, and that's why we only see a handful of manufacturers, with the small endeavors being able to make something that looks obsolete by the time it rolls out and even then it takes a few months to overcome all the bugs and glitches. Fairphone is the closest we've got, but it's still far off and strays further with each generation.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

"You don't need practical capabilities, you need to be an obedient consumer."

—OEMs

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Disappointed Moto Mods didn't catch on. The obvious approach of "skinny phone with minimal features but you can slap whatever you like onto the back (radios, projectors, beefy batteries, gamepad, etc)" - just makes sense for me. I loved my old Moto Z.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Still have my force 2 with the click on battery, loved that phone.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I actually meant to reply to your comment but replied to the main thread by mistake, I had the same frustrations with modern phones losing features, and even fairphone dropping the 3.5mm jack was a wtf decision to me. See my comment on the ulephone 18t, it had virutally everything I wanted in a phone.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

That includes (but not limited to): IR blaster Headphone jack MicroSD card slot FM Radio RGB Notification/Status LED

My Poco F2 Pro has all of those but microSD slot (none of my recent phones have had it, and I'm starting to miss it right now with 128 gb of base storage) and the IR blaster has saved my ass more than once!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I still have my LG v20 because of this. I'd love to upgrade but nothing that's come out since even comes close.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I still have my V10 and v20. My v60 is better though. Definitely some trade-offs but I will argue that v60 is better

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yea, I wasn't ready to upgrade yet when the v60 came out. I guess I should have said "nothing I looked at to upgrade has come close" looking at it now though the non removable battery is a deal breaker.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Still have stacks of batteries for my V10 and v20. I thought it would be a deal-breaker too but it's not as bad as I thought. The huge battery they put in the v60s really been lasting. I do admit I prefer to wirelessly charge slowly which possibly helps.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

V60 was the best phone ever, represent!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The v60 is the best phone ever.

All the features, very fast, 2 screens.

My v35 was on par and had the back fingerprint, but otherwise the v60 was the ultimate phone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Non removable battery is a pretty big deal breaker IMO especially in an era where every subsequent phone is more and more stripped down.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, the v60 was truly incredible, and the battery especially.

I upgraded to a zfold 3 and the battery life is garbage now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

But when the battery wears out you're fucked if you can't find an upgrade. I'm on my 3rd battery on my V20 because I can always just pick up a new one (or at least as long as someone makes them). I'm not saying the v60 wasn't a nice phone. Just I don't want one that's lifespan is limited by the battery. That is a big deal to me.