Anon notices what they've taken from us

Next will be memory. They will say everything you meed should be stored online for a subscription fee.
- Microsoft is already trying hard. My poor mom did not notice all her files are on OneDrive. Now she has two laptops with everything remote on OneDrive. It's has some advantages, but it's annoying in so many more ways.
  
  There's a setting in Onedrive to keep a copy of everything on the device. It will still get stored in the cloud too, but it means that everything will be available if the internet goes down.
  
  I fell victim to that :(
  
  Drake in the first picture: marketing.
  Drake in the second picture: surprise, we signed you up without asking. You're welcome.
  
  It's not annoying at all. It's peace of mind. People are just not used to it
- Google keeps trying to back up my non existent photos. It's annoying.
  
  Google photos made it difficult to download or delete your pictures on purpose. You have to manually select them. There is still a way to get them and it was because of GDPR, when you ask google for the whole data of your account they include the pictures and video from google photos.
- This is Apple already.
  Oh. You can only afford 4GB iPhone? Not to worry, for only $10 a month we can store stuff for you.
  
  Also we got rid of photo stream and if you delete the file from the cloud then we remove it from every device

They'll take away volume control (SW/HW buttons) and replace with dynamically adjusting "magic volume" so that you can't mute ads.
- Oh Christ. You've just triggered a premonition in me–the Galaxy S32 Ultra will be the first smartphone with no physical buttons or ports. You can turn it "off," but that will only turn on a sort of extreme power saving mode. It will still ping your location once every few minutes, and will keep the fingerprint scanner active. You will "turn on" the device by holding your finger on the fingerprint scanner for four seconds. They will advertise the "quick startup" as a new feature. Volume will be controlled by sliding your finger along the right edge of the phone, which the screen will wrap around all the way to the back. It will be impossible to hold the phone without touching some part of the screen.
  It will only allow wireless charging. You will not be able to connect it directly to a computer. In marketing, this will be to meet rigorous water safety standards. In reality, this will be to prevent you from using ADB to remove apps that come with the phone. You cannot turn off mobile data. You cannot turn off location. You cannot use a third party SMS application. You cannot choose your own wallpaper. You cannot set a private DNS. You cannot install applications that haven't been approved by Samsung. You cannot block ads. This is all covered on page 74 of subsection 32(a) of section G8 of the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you set up the phone.
  They will meet the physical limitations of how well a small lens can focus light. Zoom will cap out at 150x. Nevertheless, there will be seven cameras.
  
  correction a bit, you can use adb via wifi. That's what I do to sideload an app to my Android TV
  
  You will not be able to connect it directly to a computer. In marketing, this will be to meet rigorous water safety standards.
  Making devices water-proof is also a marketing scheme to avoid replaceable batteries :
  Some manufacturers are already eyeing an exemption for batteries used in "wet conditions" to opt out electric toothbrushes and possibly wearables like earbuds and smartwatches. The exemption is "based on unfounded safety claims," states Thomas Opsomer, policy engineer for iFixit, in Repair.EU's post.
  Despite the coming up regulation on batteries and waste batteries by the EU Council batteries in water-proof devices will probably be exempt from being replceable, because the water proof feature of the device cannot be guaranteed. This undermines the right to repair and manufacturers can hope that customers replace their entire devices soon. Making phones water-proof is a loophole to seal off the device so that it is not to be repaired, at least without keeping the water-proof features after repairing.
  
  nahhh you'll be able to choose your own wallpaper, the average user will eat up all of those "feautres" but god forbid Keighleeeigh can't put her little baby Xaileeyn as her screen saver
  
  This is when I go back to having a "dumb" phone 🫡
  
  That's when I go flip
  
  Why are people up voting this? This is such ridiculous FUD that I can't take it seriously.
- Oh jesus christ I think you're right
- These people need stabbed.

Don't forget the RGB notification led!
I switched to Chinese brand phones, they still have all this and they're dirt cheap, currently rocking an Ulephone power armor 18t, which also has a flir infrared camera and a microscope for some reason. No I'm not joking, they work surprisingly well and have come in handy more than I thought they would!
- Not sure I'd consider £600 "dirt cheap" but the thermal camera is definitely cool.
  
  They have frequent sales, i got it for under 300
- That was the first thing I missed when I went to a Galaxy S22. But aodNotify works great as replacement (you can make your own notification light this way and customize it, not a lot of battery drain either due to the OLED screen). But yeah, removing the notification light sucked.
- All except the IR blaster, right?
  And optional microscope connects to the phone, looks like.
  
  What do you use the IR blaster for? Controlling TVs?
  
  Yeah, missing the IR blaster unfortunately! It does have an accessory port for microscope/endoscope, I just got an endoscope but haven't tried it yet.
- Don’t forget the RGB notification led!
  The Nexus One had this, the trackball had an RGB LED inside it. With custom ROMs it could be customised to flash different colours and patterns for just about anything.
- How did you buy this? It pretty much had everything I want! Big battery, good screen, SD card, waterproof. Any bugs on it day to day? It does seem to have some shitty Chinese android skin.
  
  Aliexpress, or Amazon if you want to pay a bit more but get it faster. I've had it a few months, no bugs i've noticed, it runs essentially stock Android.
- The notification LED became a bit obsolete with AOD. I don't need a bright flashing light, the notification being visible when the screen is off is enough.
- I never had one of those, that I can recall.

At least removable batteries will be mandatory in EU by 2027.
- There are different categories of removable.
  With my old Note, I had an extra battery that came with case/charger combination. If my battery on my phone died, I could swap the battery in 10 seconds.
  
  It states that any battery should be removable and replaceable by the user. So this slap on tactic will only work if your device has no internal battery.
  I also noticed this is for all batteries. Not just phones, but also cars etc.
  EDIT: As any EU law there is a lot of nuance and exceptions. I dig a little further and found the following:
  The regulation introduces requirements that say that portable batteries should be easily removable and replaceable by the end-user and LMT batteries and cells in LMT batteries should be easily removable and replaceable by an independent professional.
  So what is LMT?
  The regulation defines five battery categories depending on how the battery is used:
  Portable batteries
  Light means of transport (LMT) batteries
  Starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) batteries
  Industrial batteries
  Electric vehicle (EV) batteries
  I couldn't find any concrete wording for "easily removed and replaceable". But I sure hope it means no more glue for the portable batteries.
  Source: https://www.intertek.com/blog/2023/08-17-battery-regulation/
  
  I agree. I used to carry a spare at all times as well. So nice to be able to swap as soon as you get close to empty. I'm hoping we'll get back there eventually.
- No. This law keeps being misquoted, and people are going to be disappointed if they go into 2027 thinking we'll be able to pop out batteries like the good ol' days.
  It does not necessitate battery removal like that. Only that it not be too difficult to change out for a repair (i.e. stuff like gluing it in place with a strong glue, or necessitating removing the display before the battery). That's still a good change, I'd be happy if it were something like removing 4 screws then unplugging, but it's not the same as what everybody makes out.
  It also doesn't apply at all for batteries over a certain capacity, or so long as the battery retains 63% capacity or more (presumably this means throughout the warranty period, but I'm unable to find a timeframe for which this standard gets applied) from 2027, or 73% from 2030.
  There's also a 2 year grace period after the law comes into effect where it won't really be applied.
  
  No. This law keeps being misquoted, and people are going to be disappointed if they go into 2027 thinking we'll be able to pop out batteries like the good ol' days.
  I know. While I didn't read the full legal text, tech news sources are saying it needs to be replaceable by an independent third party or the customer themselves with regularly available tools. I'd love to have easy slide in/out batteries, but I know this is not that.
  It also doesn't apply at all for batteries over a certain capacity, or so long as the battery retains 63% capacity or more (presumably this means throughout the warranty period) from 2027, or 73% from 2030.
  I didn't know about this clause. That's too bad. :(

This goddamn camera built into my screen instead of above the screen pisses me off so fucking much. So often I have to move a picture down to read the top of it.
IT'S BLOCKING MY MEMES GOD FUCKING DAMMIT MY MEMES
- Hey man, I know this is a rant, but in case you didn't know there should be a setting to resize things to make a black bar at the top. Google it for your phone, but for samsung it's something like "full sceeen apps".
  
  Just looked. Not a thing for pixel 6A :(
- People look at me like I'm fucking insane when I get as upset about the blighted notch on my screen as I do. This screen technically has more real estate than my Razer Phone 2 back in 2018 did, but between the obnoxiously tall aspect ratio and the fucking notch, it has like 75% of the usable screen space. You know what was really nice? Watching TV shows on my RP2, with the 6" screen, all of which was used for the video. You know what sucks? Having a half inch of black bars on either side of the screen so that the 16:9 aspect ratio video can fit on the 18:9 aspect ratio screen. And it's even more ass than that, because the top and bottom of the video look like shit because the screen wraps around the fucking sides.
  If the FBI could hear what I have to say about the engineers at samsung, I would have been arrested years ago
- I drift through this world in a mood of indifference requently moving into disgust.
  But at times I read a comment like this and see that there is still beauty in the world. I love you.
  
  I'm sorry but I think we should just be friends
- the home button now being a part of my screen instead of... a button.
  
  You don't need a navbar if you switch to gesture controls
- How often do you come across tall pictures? Most pictures sit well below the camera for me
  
  At least a couple times a day

THEY TOOK MY SLIDE OUT QWERTY KEYBOARD!
- They're going to bring back an ABCDEF keyboard instead!
  
  Bringing back the t9 typing perhaps?
- This is indeed the biggest crime. I miss my Google G1!
- I use Colemak, so I kinda welcome the on-screen keyboard, as the layouts can be switched.

They removed my slide out keyboard, too.
- I just want my physical keyboard back, damnit!
  
  They now sell it as an addon in a phone case
- They should include a slide out controller now instead
  
  how to reinvent the ninetendo DS in five easy steps.
  
  RIP Sony Xperia play
- Fxtec still builds phones with slideout keyboards. And Unihertz embraces the old Blackberry form factor.

The IR blaster needs to come back. They were mostly on phones pre-smart device where they had super limited usage. With a smart device, they could practically do anything. I wanna use my phone as a universal remote, damn it.
I want a 0hysical.keyboadd too. Touch screen sucks.
- I had it on my Xiaomi around 5 years ago, amazing stuff. Could turn on-off air conditioning anywhere, great party trick
  
  my POCO has it, one remote is great feature, and it's easier to find when it can be pinged.
- 0hysical.keyboadd
  They were removed, not suppressed. No need to write in code like it's spam for dick-pills. Though I would like my goddamn ¢@mεra bu#0n back.
  
  They mistyped because they were typing on their phone. Lol.
- Oh man, I wish I still had this. I miss the days when I could mess with a friend's device and watch them lose their mind. Definitely a fun game as long as everyone else in the room knew it was a harmless prank.

I still have an S9 with a notification LED.
From my cold, dead hands.
- still using the 3.5mm on my S8 every damn day
  
  Same. I've used the 3.5mm port for my truck daily for the past 10 years. Don't need it as much now that I got a new truck, but I still use it when I ride my motorcycle. Bluetooth earbuds just don't fit under my helmet.
- I miss this so much. It is extra annoying cause my phone has a similar LED it uses for other things.
  
  Maybe https://github.com/Chainfire/HoleyLight will be up your alley.
- Wouldn't those be warm hands? Pretty sure the S9 was the one that caught fire all the time? Or was that the S7?

Smartphone manufacturers, if you're reading this:
I spent 6 hours on google to find a phone with a screen smaller than 6 inch. I did find none (except an old iPhone, but I want android), so I had to buy one 6 inch. It is too unwieldy. I am annoyed.
There is a serious market for people like me. Do not look away. Somebody will buy these phones.
Also, by the way, it's not bad if the phones are a bit thicker.

Do many people know that there is actually a patent for the idea of an advertisement that plays to a certain point... and then does not end, will not let you skip it, until you as the user, via a camera and microphone, can be verified to have assumed a pose, made a facial expression, and/or said a specific phrase?
The actual patent shows a smart tv 'owner' standing up and saying McDonalds! in order to like keep watching Netflix.
We quite literally have the tech and the legal framework for 'Drink Verification Mountain Dew Can' to actually be a thing.
- The illustration of that patent practically a meme, many on Lemmy should know it.
  Though it should be kept in mind there's thousands of patents that were never actually applied, and this one was filled back in 2009.
  We quite literally have the tech and the legal framework
  Do patents necessarily have to follow the law?
  
  Though it should be kept in mind there's thousands of patents that were never actually applied, and this one was filled back in 2009.
  This is genuinely a good thing, then. If you patent something and "accidentally" never use it, it prevents other companies from using it legally. Screw over advertisers and save the consumers from their terrible ideas by hoarding patents and working with a patent troll firm :)
  
  Eh? Do patents necessarily have to follow the law?
  ...no? They are ideas.
  They are also a legal construct to organize business uses and control of ideas around.
  Hence a patent and the patent system are a legal framework.
  Legal frameworks are often involved in things that later end up being determined to be illegal.
  Large businesses usually like to set up some kind of comprehensive legal framework before they roll out a new product or feature.
  Not saying they will. I am saying setting up a legal framework is usually groundwork before you do though.

I love it when uninformed troglodytes complain about a hole in the screen. They didn't add a hold in the screen. The hole was already there. They just wrapped your screen around it for more screen. 😅
- Haha, that's a pretty good point.
- It's really infuriating seeing the downvoted on some other replies that point this out. The time/notifications/battery bar along the top used up screen space. Now those notifications are in the formerly dead space with the camera. It is objectively better. It's not debatable because there is measurably more useable screen space without making the phone larger.
- That's nothing. Wait until manufacturers figure out that the optimal place for that "hole" is 1-2 inches lower than that. People are going to have a fit about dead pixels in the middle of the screen, even though they can now facetime with "eye contact".
  
  That's been solved already by apple and nvidia: Just correct your eye direction with ai.

The day I can't find a phone that has an headphone jack is the day I go feral and become a hermit in the woods.
- It's the SD card for me. We are getting phones with 1tb now, so that will work. But with the phones that do offer it, you have to get the most expensive version for it. Meanwhile if they just give me an SD card slot, I can have that fixed myself. Just take the one out of my current phone and plop it in the new phone.
  
  And 113GB used by system
- If you want the rest of the specs to be decent, then that day is fast approaching or already here.
  I had to jump from a phone that had about 5.5 of the features on that list to one with none of them (although I do like the 3 rear cameras) and I hate that I had to do that.
  But I kept "Easily rootable" and that's what really matters to me.
- I hate the loss but just buy a bunch of USBC to headphone adapters, stick them on all your headphones/aux cables, and forget you don't have a headphone jack on your phone.
  
  Adapters are not a solution.

You know what else they've taken from us? Actually unique designs for phones. When I look at modern day smartphones, for some reason they look like clones of each other. Where's all the spunk that these manufacturers used to put in their devices?
Fuck you, minimalism. Ever since you've ruined my iPhone back in 2013, my life has never been the same.
- This dude doesnt prison phones and it shows
- There's literally still dozens of phones and manufacturers that have unique everything. It's just not your typical 1k dollar phone. Gotta look for smaller brands.
  
  My IQ has officially gone down today. I shall now be punished by swimming in an ocean of downvotes.
- I think the fun stuff is all Chinese which doesn't get marketed in the US. Someone in this thread linked the Unihertz Tank which seems crazy fun.
  https://www.unihertz.com/products/tank-2
  
  It's all fun and games until the Chinese government comes to take your data or whatever. It's the one thing stopping me from getting the Chinese stuff.
  
  Large battery yes, but non-replaceable just like the others.
- taken from us? Actually unique designs for phones
  It's like they want to make everything the same but won't commit to having identical form-factor so my battery case will fit the new phone.
  Ironically Apple's been the best in preserving another company's hardware compatibility, which is two things they'd usually neither support (missing out on a hardware deal) or recognize (another company).
  
  That is really ironic.
  
  Ironically Apple’s been the best in preserving another company’s hardware compatibility,
  What do you mean?
- I miss the wild and crazy days of Nokia. My brother had the ngage, I even got this one feature phone where the dial pad flipped up and over the phone screen revealing a split qwerty fingerboard on either side of the screen (which then rotated to support typing in that form factor).
  So many weird designs, some were complete flops, but others were really cool and should have caught on, but didn't for some reason or another.
  
  Those were the good ol days.
- You can be minimalist and still innovative. I love my Nothingphone and the awesome Glyph interface on the back, wish more manufacturers would do something like that.
  Unihertz has a similar device with the Luna, but the software isn't great.
  
  The Nothing company actually brought back the transparent design that was so trendy back in the 90s. I like that.
- Gimme an L shaped phone.
  
  Galaxy Z Flip?
  
  Nokia Lumia may nog be shaped like an L, but it sure does have an L in its name. I'm not saying that it's bad, I'm just saying that it didn't perform well sales wise.
- I dunno man, my phone folds in half. That's pretty unique
  
  It's pretty cool, but that phone is pretty fragile as a result, not to mention it's twice the price of your typical flagship phone, and I don't know if things have improved to the point of actual usability yet, so... I'll probably wait a few more years.
- spunk in my phone gizzards
  
  I like the design of the PearPhone. That surely has a lot of spunk.
- I just want a physical keyboard again
  
  Google Clicks case
  
  Same
- How extra do you need your phone to be?
  
  Idk, maybe take some cues from Nokia during the Windows Phone days, or Samsung during the days of the "edge" phones. Or even the curved metal back that HTC phones had. Even iPhones had cool designs, especially the iPhone 4 (the one I had by the time iOS 7 came out).
  Give me a picture of a recent release of a smartphone without telling me who made it, and chances are if it's not an iPhone, I wouldn't be able to guess who made it.
- It’s not “minimalism” it’s a direct response to what the market demands. Sorry, but no one gives a shit what you individually want from a phone that costs billions to develop and manufacture.
  
  Sucks to be me.

Physical keyboard? Notification LED?
- I miss the LED for sure. How much money could that have possibly saved?
  
  For the physical part? A couple cents per phone sold.
  But it's also one less part for for the circuit board designers to accomodate in their ever-shrinking layouts, one less part to inventory, track, and warehouse, one less behavior to verify by Q&A, one less SW and/or HDL code module to maintain, etc etc etc. When you look at the entire design, verification, and manufacturing process, multiplied by millions of units, every part and behavior carries a cost.
  There are plenty of valid reasons to crap on the major phone manufacturers, especially when they take away features and capabilities we like. But "it's just one small part" usually isn't one of them.
- The notification LED is the only feature I truly miss
- OLED displays have obsoleted notification LEDs. And phones with physical keyboards don't sell.
  
  OLED displays certainly could, but there is no baked it app that wakes up the screen only if you have a message, blink in different colors or frequencies depending on the message and use the low power always on display api.
  Yeah, you can glance at your always on display and make out the little symbol. But that's not an adequate replacement to the notification LED. If I had to guess, it was removed to drive up engagement with your phone.
  
  No they don't.
  Also, keyboard phones don't sell because they don't make good ones.
  
  I wouldn't call the "always on display" some kind of innovative technology that makes notification LEDs obsolete... AOD is a battery draining complement to notification LEDs, not a replacement -- we just don't have the latter anymore because of corporate greed and consumer mentalities :/
- Controversial: it was much easier and safer to text while driving with a physical keyboard. You could type with one hand, hold the steering wheel with the other, all while still looking at the road because you could feel where the buttons were.
  
  I'd still prefer you didn't do that
  
  Back in the flip phone days that raised 5 let me text behind my back in class. I mean, I have no need for that now but it was pretty fucking sweet back then.
  
  My car has T9 input which is much better than a full touchscreen keyboard, especially since I have a ton of practice from the old Nokia days
  
  Controversial: Drinking while driving was easier and safer with a beer helmet since you can just sip directly from the straw instead of looking down to pick up the can.

For me it's the small size. They are so big now I can't fit them in my pocket or use them with one hand.
- 100% my pain too. These gigantic rectangles are so unwieldy to hold, particularly with one hand. There was one phone I saw recently that touted it's "compact" size of 6.1 inches. Ridiculous
  
  Yeah, I seem to only have four choices atm, Google pixel 8, galaxy s23, Asus zenfone 10 or an iPhone. They are all expensive and I don't want the iphone because I would have to change ecosystems. If prefer NOT to buy a new phone but mine keeps messing up in the middle of a call and requiring a reboot.
- I cant hold them firmly, they are too thin. I want thicker phones.
  
  Look at rugged phones, my phone is thick like a brick and weighs a pound, although it's a extreme. There are some cool ones slightly thicker than the average phones, with better batteries (huge plus, u don't have to recharge them 2 times a day, I have to every 4 days or so) and they rarely break. They're also pretty cheap. I think I paid mine 300€. Tons of companies make them, from unknown ones (like the one that made mine, lol, although it's pretty good I must say) to known ones like IIRC Motorola, Samsung and even caterpillar (the ones that make construction equipment)
  
  Deleted
  
  I bought the Nothingphone, it's thicc! So nice to have a thick phone without rounded bezels. I had a Samsung Galaxy before and it was terrible to grab firmly.
  
  I can't seem to hold the phone without activating the touch screen. It's also much too slippery - I think they make them that way so you drop them more often. A case is an absolute necessity. And because the battery doesn't last the whole day, I have to carry around a power brick to charge it. I miss my Note 3 and the aftermarket case with the 8000 mAh replacement battery!
  
  Yeah thicker would be nice but only if it got smaller, too, otherwise it doesn't fit in my pocketses.
  
  I love my popsockets lol
- For me they're almost the perfect size currently but I'm a pretty large person.
- I have an iphone mini, and have been using it over 2 years now. It feels like a pretty good size to me.
  
  Yeah, but I'm android. I don't hate on apple but I don't want to change my whole ecosystem.
- You mustn’t be an American, aren’t ya?
  
  Just an unusual one. Don't drive big cars either.

Give me back my goddamed physical keyboard
I still remember the extended conversation I had with the cell phone man on the day I realized that time had moved on, and it wasn't even possible for me to buy a third-party phone that still had a keyboard and then hook it up to their network anymore. I was just going to have to poke haplessly at the glass and get letters wrong for the rest of my life.
IT'S MY MONEY, LET ME BUY THE KIND OF PHONE I WANT
- This is why I like the audible haptic feedback on a cell phone keyboard that everyone else seems to hate. I gotta know that I pushed the button, otherwise in my mind, I didn't push it. At least when I have a physical keyboard I could feel it.
  
  I tried to enter some text on someone else's phone and it had no haptic feedback, only sound. It was almost impossible to use.
- https://www.androidauthority.com/clicks-creator-keyboard-hands-on-3401952/
- The fact that we literally cannot vote with our money screams monopoly.
- You remind me of this guy.

I miss the FM radio
- I appreciate the feature but despise broadcast radio. It's definitely silly to have people carry around a gizmo for two-way audio communication, on a surprising variety of wireless frequencies and protocols, and tell them to carry a separate gizmo for a century-old music streaming service that's in every single modern car.
  
  The century old music streaming service is so fast you can literally set your watch to it. While the same stream digitally has a thirty second delay 🥲
  
  Don't mentionthe century-old and universal parts, especially with "service" added. DO NOT give them any ideas.
- My current Motorola still has one.
- We don't even have FM here anymore. They'd need to implement DAB+ for my region
  
  Seriously? That's horrible!

Who doesn't use all the cameras on their phone? Is there like a specific focal length you never use? Or are you unaware that zooming in the camera app switches lenses?
- I rarely use the camera at all.
  
  Yup. Pretty much from the ground up, whoever they designed these devices for, it wasn't me.
  
  Just about the only time I use my camera is to take a picture of the shopping list on a whiteboard on my fridge
  
  Then buy a smartphone that doesn't prioritize the camera
- I barely use my camera.
- Yeah, the extra camera is the main reason I got a higher end phone to begin with.
  Let’s just say that after some shitty times I have learned to put more priority on filling my life with things that I enjoy enough that I want to photograph and video them.
  
  Same. Some events I know I'll need my standalone camera, but for random parties and things that aren't big milestones it's nice to have a good camera to capture the unexpected.
  
  Ok, but at this point you could install android on real camera
- I might've used all of them at one point, but again I'd be fine with just one - after all it's a smartphone, not a dedicated camera. Personally it annoys me that manufacturers have started shoving multiple cameras not just into high end models (for which it's kind of understandable) but also into midrange and even low end ones - whatever I pick, I end up paying for stuff I don't necessarily use. I'd be happy to buy a high end device with just one camera with normal or wide-ish lens - but nobody is selling that.
  
  Personally it annoys me that manufacturers have started shoving multiple cameras
  Multiple camera modules is how a phone can take better photos than they could before. Why do you care about the technical details needed to achieve a better quality photo?
- I think people believe they need to use special settings or apps to activate each of the different cameras. I don't understand why people argue about tech they have obviously never tried.
- I move the mobile itself. So I use the front one and whatever one is 1x on the back.

I feel like this is just a ploy, by the phone company, to figure out what they should deprive us of next.
Stop giving them ideas!!!

that's what happens when a product is designed only for 95% of people.
- I think 95% is a bit of a high figure.

Here's my take on what phone companies will do next: replaceable batteries are back! With an inkjet twist:
1- You have to buy them precharged
2- You can no longer recharge them
3- The phone will explode if it detects a 3rd party battery

They removed many useful features that benefited users but spyware only increases

They took the fingerprint scanner out and put a really bad one behind the screen...
- My Samsung still has the fingerprint reader in the power button. Works 10x better than the behind-screen fingerprint readers.
  
  I miss my Pixel 1, which had a fingerprint reader on the back that I could easily touch with my index finger, and which was able to respond to up- and down-swipe gestures. For example, to open or close the notification shade.
- I think capacitive ones were too good tbh. Kept accidentally unlocking my phone in my pocket. I've assigned the screen one to my thumb, with always on display on, unlocking feels natural. I also find it works better with wet hands, which capacitive was absolutely hopeless at.
  I'm on pixel 6 btw, which apparently had a bad reputation as well
  
  I'm on a refurb Samsung A5 and fingerprint scanner still works great. Just have to wipe it with thumb real quick
- At least it's not as bad as the one in your power button. That shit doesn't work 30% of the time.
  
  Honestly, I'll take having to try a few times until it works than being blasted by maximum brightness if I dare touch the phone wrong when waking up in the middle of the night.
- My oneplus has been wonder full with the screen scanner to be honest. I love that it's behind the screen.
  
  Me too, no problems with the under screen one on my oneplus
- Oooh, the replies you have here are interesting.
- I had multiple phones with a dedicated fingerprint scanner and never used any of them.
  That's one thing I personally don't miss at all.

Three years ago I predicted Apple would remove wifi from phones and call it a feature.
So far, I was wrong. Thank fuck.
- They seem to be all about wireless though. Things like the charging port, sim tray (do the latest still use physical sims at all?), and any remaining mechanical buttons seem like obvious candidates.
  
  They still would be - but 5G only, with no use for local networks. "No more wifi passwords," they'd say. Like it's a convenience.
- Android got rid of NFC and Beam
  
  NFC isn't going anywhere, what are you on about?

DRM Battery, you can only refill it the X amount of times that is paid for. Don't worry you can have it serviced for an exorborant fee, that will become another subscription.
- Now I pray that nobody of the executives see your comment.
  
  something like that would 100% be yeeted from Europe in a split second
  
  If a random person on Lemmy thought of it, odds are an executive has as well.
  
  Apple already does it.

I bought a Sony Xperia 1 V mostly because of this. No hole on the screen, it has a 3.5mm jack and tooless access to its SD/Sim card tray
- Sony does a lot of things right, but I'm not spending €1200 on a phone that gets a measly 2 years of updates. With that hardware and that price tag there's no excuse for that bullshit.
- I'm still on the Xperia 1 III. I've sworn by Sony phones for years. The price point does put off a lot of people, but it's worth it IMO.
  That said, unlike a lot of people, I don't care for the 3.5mm jack nowadays. I've had wireless noise cancelling headphones for long enough that I actually forget this phone has the jack. 🤷🏼‍♂️
  And the cameras have to be quite possibly the best on the market!

*laughs in Fairphone 3
- The newer fairphones removed features too y'know. Also, it's not available in the states.
  
  good

we need to make open source wireless communications infrastructure.
how?
idk the FCC is the major block as long as it's funded by telecom
- HAM radio have been around for decades.

genuinely dont understand the logic behind having that many cameras. Surely it would just be better to have a singular better sensor, and some additional hardware for it?
- I believe the extra cameras are fixed optical zoom. The physical limitations of the phones dimensions means you can't have 1x-10x zoom, because the lens would need to move forward and backward like on a real camera lens. So you've got a 1x, 3x, 10x, fish-eye, etc.
  Edit: I should add that Motorola came out with a hardware attached camera by Zeiss. It was okay, but now I had to keep up with a bag that held all my attachments.
  
  My suspicion is that the main purpose behind the multiple rear cameras is mostly to more easily create depth mapping and improved accuracy location metadata.
  
  now I had to keep up with a bag that held all my attachments.
  That seems to be what they want. Or, where do you keep your USBc<->3.5mm conversion dongle if not in the bag with your headphones, lens clip, etc -- in your kitchen drawer.
  
  i mean, size constraints, sure. But camera bumps ONLY get bigger, and more unreasonable. Remember the iphone 6? little itty bitty nub. That's not the case anymore.
  apple? (Idk, i dont care tbh) recently unveiled the incredible technology known as "two mirrors" in order to abuse the dimensions of an iphone to get a longer focal length.
  Even then, surely you could just put a bigger, higher resolution sensor on it, and then use digital zooming instead. That way it at least pretends to have features. Even then why bother adding more features, it's a phone, all it's going to do is be a nuisance at family gatherings. Because for some reason people HAVE to take pictures of everything.
- Hold my beer...

Man i used my samsung galaxy whatever's IR blaster SO MUCH and I miss the fuck out of trolling my friends by turning their shit on and off

No screen. Just AI conversation.

Current smartphones are just vehicles to harvest people’s data. I hate the current smartphone market.

Profit motive is the enemy of quality.
In a utopia, everything's designed for compatibility and longevity.

A sixth camera is the obvious answer

I am never buying an expensive Smartphone again. Just something that works for emergency calls and 2FA and lets me buy a ticket for public transport. I am not gaming on it, I rarely listen to music with it, I only have about 6 apps on it in total. Give me a long lasting battery and let me replace it. The only thing that I need is a big screen, because I am handicapped and have bad eyesight and it is easier to see and use the software if it isn't too small, otherwise I would prefer a smaller size and I give a f*ck how slim or thick the phone is or how water proof, non of my phones ever got even a tiny bit wet. In the 7 years I own my current phone I have taken about 50 pictures and 48 got deleted shortly after. I also do not need a lot of storage.

They'll fucking sell the phone and box separately
- Sell? That's a weird way to say lease
  
  Leasing phones is pretty popular over here these days due to the edge to upgrade every year

All I want is no front camera, single rear camera and no glue to get to battery.

While I do miss those things, my S23 Ultra takes fucking amazing pictures.
- But imagine if you got a cheapish phone and a 1000 dollar camera.
  
  You have to carry much more and fragile weight to always be ready for a beautiful photo.
  But I can imagine that there are people that could profit from that.
  
  Then I'd never have my camera with me.
  
  Then carry around a portable IR blaster, FM radio, thermal camera and headphone jack dongle
- It's weird how people want better pictures but then complain about the technical details needed to get better pictures.
  "I'd buy a new phone if it could take better photos of my kids."
  Here is a phone that does it.
  "I'm angry! You were supposed to give me better photos without adding a different lens!"
- Same, love this phone.

Next is making one phone with all the bells and whistles and locking them behind subscriptions
- A Slide out keyboard, but you have to give it $2 a day to use it.

I must be a fkn weirdo because I just don't care about any of these things.
Replaceable battery is an exception - but that's coming back anyway.
I don't have any devices that use infra red
I don't need a microsd because the on board memory is so much I don't even have to think about capacity any more
I much prefer bluetooth
I much prefer a larger screen instead of buttons.
They didn't really cut a hole in my screen, they expanded my screen around my front facing camera. You can disable that expanded portion of the screen on most phones ?
I use the rear camera on my phone all. the. time.

The EU is mandating easily replaceable batteries from 2027.

Unstoppable full screen ads you have to watch before you can answer a call or view a text on your own phone
- ... and they still won't connect two people when they try to call each other.

I hate both phone types horribly. On screen keyboards are complete trash. Not only did Android take the SD Card, but even if you happen to have a manufacturer who still includes it Google has made it horribly inconvenient to use so you buy their shitty cloud storage that loses people's data. Among many other issues.

You can still remove the micro sd, it's just hidden now.
- My phone doesn't have micro SD at all.

Most of these gripes are solved by simply not buying the flagship and instead purchasing the $200 unlocked version.
Now the battery, that's the one that pisses me off the most. But at this point we've been doing it for 10 years.

Dey took 'er jerbs!!
They killed his dawg
They ...

Subscription to the camera on your own phone, capped # of photos per week and only basic adjustment/editing features for the entry tier.
- They'd make bank on influencers.
- Google is already doing this with their photo editor app. All the new features require a subscription.

80 cameras and nothing to do and no where to go

User serviceability is intentionally not a focal point especially when it comes to anything a person has to use day to day. Any kind of tool or appliance- and especially electronic devices, forget about it. Luckily there are off the beaten path companies like framework and fairphone, but these are hard to market to regular joes and some are unavailable in a lot of regions.
Tech enthusiasts like presumably a lot of this comment section is are lucky there's at least something out there.

One must recognize that if those changes were truly not popular they would not have stuck.

If you want the good camera, you need to get the giant version of the phone.
If you want a phone that fits in human hands, you can only choose from subpar cameras.

If this hasn't been done already, being able to unlock the bootloader
Adding "AI" integrated into the OS with vague benefits even though the processing is done on the cloud (like Windows) just so the OEM can spy on you better
Forced volume limiters: The phone won't let you stay at max volume for more than 5 minutes a day, even if connected to a BT device set at substantially under max volume
Making it take more clicks to disable Internet, Bluetooth, other connected features
DRM built into Android itself
Being able to sideload
Ads within the OS
All of these are already on their way to being implemented:
Already the case with the vast majority of phones
Pixels already have this. Samsung is focusing on this in 2024. Several Chinese OEMs already have some version of this.
This was an idea Google attempted to implement in Android 14. Seems like it didn't go through that year, but there's always this year.
Google already made it harder to do this in Android 12. Apple also does this with the toggles only disabling WiFi/BT until tomorrow. Other OEMs are good for now.
After widespread disdain for Google's Web Environment Integrity BS, Google is quietly pivoting to this stupid change.
Google is now making it harder to do this on all Android phones. Now, you can only sideload apps targeting an Android version at most 8 behind the current one. This disables lots of little FOSS projects that were light on system resources.
Most Chinese OEMs already do this, although you can usually turn it off. Samsung used to do this, but backpedaled. Also bloatware exists.

Making them increasingly difficult to hold ("but design!" They cry) so you "accidently" have to buy a new one again.

I don't use the ultra wide camera but I absolutely use the telephoto camera