My first Android phone was the HTC One M8. I got it because at the time it made my iPhone 5 look like a chump. Bigger screen, unrivaled stereo front speakers, much more internal storage you name it.
I also got the LG G series after that because I loved that the battery was removable (I ended up with an enormous aftermarket battery pack that lasted 3.5 days of constant use) and the buttons were all on the back of the phone.
I got the Essential PH1 because the ceramic body was nice and the promise of the 2 pin magnetic accessory port was really neat (only a 360 camera was released for it but still).
I got a Pixel 4a because every Android phone at that point was a 6 inch rectangle with side buttons and a fingerprint reader but at least it was cheap and still had a headphone jack.
I'm glad to see flip phones returning because I think it is giving Android back what has always been its biggest advantage to me which is unique hardware features.
Personally, the HTC M8 speakers with the button layout of the LG G4 would be an intsa-buy for me to this day.
What kind of hardware features have you guys fallen in love with over the years and what do you value or would like to see return?
Here's a short list of things I personally want
- Change hardware parts
- Extendable storage
- 3.5 mm jack
The fact that the whole phone is a unit is both absurd and stupid. It makes it nearly impossible to repair or replace anything but the screen. I cannot even remember how many phones I have been forced to recycle due to the fact that the battery no longer hold charge over time.
Storage might not be a big thing, most of us probably use cloud storage, but I don't want cloud storage with a subscription fee, when it would be easier (and cheaper) to have storage directly in my phone.
I'm going to say it - fuck bluetooth! Every day it's: will it connect? Do I have to re-pair? Is the sound really coming out of my headphones only or do everyone around me here what I hear?
You don't need to pay a subscription fee for cloud storage when it's super simple to host your own, and Android allows the mounting of different filesystems too.
SMB on a rasp pi + cheapo storage + Tailscale, all the way to paying £$€ for a dedicated NAS enclosure with as much storage as you can afford also with Tailscale?
Yup, fuck subscription fees.
You also can then use the corporate cloud storage providers like G/ProtonDrive etc to use their free offerings for off site backup of the most important data.
Counter argument: I get frustrated when people complain about the lack of SD card and headphone jack on every phone that doesn't have those. I get it some people really want those features but do they really expect manufacturers to add them after they've gone? Sony's the only manufacturer that changed course and they only did it because they're a niche brand with an audience that appreciates those features.
I feel it's foolish to expect someone like Google to suddenly change their mind because someone on the internet said they wouldn't buy their phones without those features. They've not had expendable storage on any Nexus or Pixel phone except for the Nexus One and the jack has been gone since the Pixel 2. I know the A series had it longer but it's been two generations since it's disappeared from there as well.
For whatever it's worth, I would like to have the headphone jack personally but it's not a dealbreaker if it's not there. Don't care about the SD card and wouldn't use it anyways since it's extremely slow compared to internal storage and I've had a bad experience when I've used it on previous phones when it got corrupted and I lost a significant amount of pictures. Didn't use it for apps because I knew it would result in slower load times so was really disappointed when it got corrupted. I'm not the only one who thinks this way, app developers hate the SD card too. Linus Sebastian also said that someone in the industry said it has gone away because of performance concerns.
Note: this isn't aimed at you, it's just a rant against the "no SD card, no 3.5 mm, no buy" crowd that always posts those comments whenever some phone doesn't have it.
More telephoto cameras on midrange phones. It seems like they're returning on some Chinese flagship killers. Would be great if Samsung and Google followed suit. Would be especially nice if we got periscope lenses.
I'd like to see LTPO on more phones, seems like it's limited only to the highest end flagship now. Would be nice to save battery when the screen is not being touched.
Something I don't like on a lot of Chinese midrangers - those rubbish 1/4" 8 MP ultrawides, don't think it would cost much more to have a 12 MP ultrawide and the difference in quality would be big enough to justify using it. Samsung do it on the A2x and A3x too.
I think the 8MP ultrawide is probably a deliberate attempt to ensure they don't cannibalize their higher end phones. The poco x3 that was released 3 years ago had a 13mp ultrawide. Similarly priced phones released later downgraded the ultrawide cam.
They were using the telephoto as a point of differentiation too. I'm not sure why they even bother with that awful 8 MP ultrawide since it's unusable. The images have no detail at all. Might as well just have one good camera instead of one useable and two unusable cameras.
Telephoto seems like something Google could do to really set the next Pixel Xa series apart from the competition. If they care to that is.
I doubt they'll do it since it's not on the regular Pixel 8. I think that's a feature they'll keep for the higher end. Pixel Xa series already has a faster processor and better cameras compared to their competition in North America, Australia and Western Europe.
It's not hardware on Android I want. I want pure Android on these phones. All these overlays and additional OS bits from these companies highlights why they aren't good software companies.
Back in the day Microsoft cracked down on overlays like HP Personal Page. Some bitched about it, but it was absolutely necessary. Google needs to do something similar.
