Android

An OEM FM/AM transmitter. I would love to be able to playback music directly to any old ass car. Or even use it as a very short range walkie talkie with the right program.

A swappable battery. I could buy a few batteries and never be out of power. I could replace the battery on an older phone without pretty much having to replace the phone itself.

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

I want a phone small enough to fit in my pocket with the pocket flap buttoned shut

I miss my keyboards

Something interesting. Like 2 USB-C ports, also a nice hard plastic back, since they are so hard to find now.

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,

IR emitter . Super handy wen you use old stuf like me like VHS dvd combo crt ect .

• Removable battery
• Ambidextrous button placement
• Screws instead of glue where possible
• USB4 + desktop mode

I'm on a Fold 4 now and I do love the novelty/oddity aspect of having a folding tablet.

But I would love to see the return of IR blasters on most phones and sliding phones for physical keyboards.

Plastic back and a removable/user replaceable battery.

Yeah yeah I know it "feels cheap" but honestly I LIKED when phones were made of more plastic. Now they're heavier and both sides are breakable. Like, the metal backs were fine, but apparently metal backs suck for NFC and wireless charging so instead of giving us some classy Nokia Lumia style plastic they went with glass backs.

Also I keep my phone in a case because otherwise the back is so smooth it shoots off the couch if someone walks across my apartment. It's legit only in the case to add some friction.

Really would love a dedicated camera button that acts as a soft shutter release. Or a button in that position that's programmable.

Phone upgrades.
Battery.. Non lithuim. Flexible and new. []
Flexible screen. Wrist strap or just flexible. []
Fitness/health capabilities. []
Usb 3.1 reversible.. Proper specs [x]
Wireless charging. Using new WiFi microwave to charge phone without mat. Wattup []
Better nfc/Google pay [x]
Smaller screen oled,s than 5.5 []
Better speakers none conduction or ceramic
Encryption []
Bezelless. Screen to screen hole cut out. 2018 []
Solar panel in screen. Sapphire glass. Smudge and germ

This list was created a few years ago.

Some things have been implemented but not all.

Slide out controller, like the Xperia Play. I've gotten super into (at least the idea of) SBC handheld gaming, and there's just nothing quite like the Xperia Play now. Sure, there's bluetooth controllers, but I'm not a big fan of bluetooth, and the majority of the bluetooth controllers make portability a pain rather than it being a sleek package.

Better system font/typeface selection and a way to install new ones. I know it's a petty gripe, but the default android options are few and terrible.

Ability to use the screen as a display through the USB port so I can debug a lot of my systems at home without needing to carry a monitor around.

Does the alert slider counts as a niche feature? Very few brands provides this.

Hackability

Native Bluetooth GPS support. I do mapping for OpenStreetMap a lot and the built in GPS modules are just too bad for that. Currently I have to use an app to get my Bluetooth GPS connected. But sometimes this app fails and the built in GPS takes over and ruins my logs.

IR blasters. I love that about Xiaomi

I enjoyed the squeeze to activate assistant on Pixel 2 XL..just felt right. I even configured it to activate flashlight when I needed a quick light.

Today my wish is for an internal pihole instance running on the device.

I liked the physical toggle for silent mode on iPhones. Flip/slide-out keyboards were also kinda cool

As far as apps though... I really loved having a good programmable remote app on devices with an IR transceiver. The best one was actually on Palm of all things, and you could add custom icons to a layout and then record inputs from your actual remotes to replay.

i'm certain this is going to be a just me thing but i'm a nostalgic fool and would love a notch in the casing to put a lanyard/phone strap. that, and a physical keyboard. if you could get modern android and a good camera in the form factor of the original motorola razr i'd be so happy lol

I will never buy a phone that doesn't have GrapheneOS, so that limits me to Pixels.

One without a damn camera, I swear to God most of the price goes into having "quality cameras" I never end up using.

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

This is going to be such a stretch and I doubt this would ever happen, but if you could get a decently sized camera sensor on the back of a phone and a mirror less style lens mount...I would sell my DLSR in a heartbeat.

Headphone jack. I've used multiple LG phones before, currently using the LG V60 and seems like Sony is the only way to go in the future, unfortunately.

true background process management and battery

Headphone jack. 5in or less screen size.