this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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For me it’s the notification light you used to find on older phones, was particularly good to know if your phone was charged without picking it up

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago (7 children)

Absolutely the damn LED. I would love to trade the stupid never-being-used selfie-cam for a damn 5 cent LED.

And swappable batteries. And a headphone-jack. And root by default (imagine you winpc came with no admin-pwd. Lol)... And....

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I used to love customising the notification colour on my old phones, so good.

I miss my headphone jack so damn much, I'm over Bluetooth earbuds breaking constantly and being so damn expensive and low quality.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Then buy phones with headphone jacks. Mine has one, I dont buy ones without it.

If it matters for you to have it, dont buy phones that cut it. If models with it keep selling, theyre less likely to ditch it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I'd rather just buy a DAP than randomly replace a perfectly good phone with one that sucks in comparison.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (9 children)

People keep going on about that and I get it from the point of not having to charge headphones all the time. But to me that is a very mild inconvenience compared to having to deal with those fucking cables all the time. I hate cables so damn much.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (11 children)

There are often enterprise versions that still have it. Like the S10E for example.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (6 children)
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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Physical buttons in cars

Repairable phones

Repairable laptops

Resoleable shoes

Hand-crank drills (for those quick and easy projects where dealing with batteries or cords isn't worth it)

External frames on hiking packs

Actually tough jeans that need to be broken in and last a while

Headphone jack

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I miss physical buttons on everything. We're a tactile species living in a digital purgatory

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

By far replaceable batteries. You used to be able to purchase physically larger and higher capacity batteries to get insane battery life, but because they would include a larger rear plastic for the phone it would still look normal. Now we have to waste space and lose efficiency with external power banks.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Swappable batteries in mobile phones.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (7 children)

It will most likely come back due to EU legislation.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Pretty much everything the Galaxy S5 had

  • Notification LED
  • IR blaster
  • Replaceable battery
  • Headphone jack
  • Heart rate monitor
  • SD card slot

I currently use a FP3 which has 4 out of the 6 features above, which I feel is the best we'll get right now.

Admittedly the Heart rate monitor is more of a gimmick nowadays, especially that it's standard and automatic on most smartwatches and sports watches. Back then when stuff like the Sony Ericsson LiveView and LG W100 watches were popular, they did not have heart rate sensing built in

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Dear god yes 😭 I miss those so much

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Not a feature but I do miss phones having side bezels. You could firmly hold your phone and not disturb the content on your phone. I can barely use youtube now because i keep touching my screen apparently

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Headphone jacks and small phones

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Hard disagree here. Your fingers are already on the display to use your phone, fingerprint reader in the front makes far more sense.

Often my phone is on a table, all I need to unlock it is touch the screen. No need to pick it up.

I wouldn't buy a phone with the fingerprint reader in the back.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Meh, I prefer it under the screen personally.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (6 children)

SD card slots, user-replaceable batteries, and headphone jacks.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

The audio port for headphones and headsets. Replaceable batteries. Extendable storage. Fuckers charge 100x more for every little upgrade now.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Real buttons that you can feel. Hence could use them without looking at the screen.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Fuck modern features; gimme back my god damn 3.5mm audio port.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Not sure if an automatic transmission qualifies as a modern gadget, but I remember push starting my car back in the day when the battery died.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I freaked someone out one time by pop-starting a stick shift car on a hill. He had no idea what I was doing.

My car, which is 24 years old, is a stick shift, but everything else we've owned since then is automatic.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Rootable modable phones, with a 3.5mm headphone jack, SD card slot, and an ultrasonic fingerprint reader cherry on top. Maybe some heart rate monitor sprinkles if you are so inclined. My S10 that I still use checks all of the boxes minus root. It feels like I have a sundae with all the high quality toppings I could want... but no proper ice cream. And I want the whole custom sundae, which these days seems impossible to find.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Most features that smart phones had. Most prodomimantly the micro SD card slot, headphone jack and IR blaster.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I miss how gadgets used to be nifty and little. Every time I get a new phone now I have to stretch my fingers more and more just to hold it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Good keyboards on computers. At the office, everything are those extremely uncomfortable $5 dell keyboards. At a climbing gym or pool, the liability iPads that you sign forms on is using those really uncomfortable apple keyboards too.

I miss the better keyboards that we had back 25 years ago. Modern box jades bring some of that back for your own PC.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Simplicity.

iPhones are far too big and have too many huge cameras for me. Everything requires a subscription or some login to do anything. Applications and operating systems are updated at the whims of CEOs while the job of UX designers is de-prioritized. Software updates keep breaking established workflows. I can no longer rely on devices or apps to maintain a consistent experience from one year to the next. It's just been years and years and years of disappointment and stress as technology changes for the worse.

All this is pushing me towards a more unplugged lifestyle. Which is a bit ironic given how it adds more complexity with the need to own and travel with more things. A bag of five 'things' that always work regardless of network connection is better than a little tablet that could crash or die or be updated at any moment and having a significant impact on your lifestyle.

There's just no fucking zen anymore. I feel like I'm living inside a simulation built by the same people who brought us Windows 95.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I miss buttons. This message was brought to you by fat thumbs.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Tactile buttons, all my homies hate cap-sense

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Graphic design with depth or shading.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Of course the 3.5mm headphone jack, but also IR Blasters.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Ooh I'd have to say an IR blaster, before switching to an S23 Ultra, my Huawei P20 Pro had one and a notification light. Didn't realise how much I used the IR blaster until it was gone.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I too miss the LED notification light. If you have an amoled display, check this out:

https://github.com/Chainfire/HoleyLight

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

FM receiver on phones + 3.5mn jack was a crucial source of local radio transmissions. I suspect some phones still ship radio receivers but the popular types like Samsungs and iPhones don’t seem to care (or perhaps that competes with their music and podcast markets).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Everything apple and Samsung helped remove from phones to squeeze more pennies out of their customers. Headphone jack, micro SD card slot, ir blaster..... etc

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Rechargable bat-trees, the headphone jack, nugget shaped phones (ie. BlackBerry Bold much), and the damn hardware keyboard >:(((

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I want a IR blaster again and a front notification light.

Or at least let me easily simulate the notification light without a third part app.

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