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

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
    732·
    6 months ago

    Everything. We’re down to barebones and marketing now focus solely on camera software updates or phone materials (“now with titanium!” How fucking sad is that?) And they are all selling the same phone.

    Some of the most important loses…

    Swappable batteries changed travel for me. Always having two extra charged batteries in my backpack, that you could swap top 100% in 20 seconds, made me ONLY use my phone as a free and completely useful tool without any planning or restrictions on my use. Otherwise, you can’t take too many pictures or videos, stream music or video or make video calls too long or you might be fucked when you need phone, GPS, payment or to get a rideshare to where you’re staying.

    Audio jack similarly meant freedom. Bluetooth headphones out of battery, broken or one earbud lost? Have a pair of wired in the backpack always add backup. Also better audio quality through wired with DAC on certain models and less daily device load to charge/babysit

    secondary screens LG V10 had a bar on top, they also had the T shaped dual screen phone and the secondary screen phone case. There was just creativity and attempts at innovation.

    microSD expandable memory, again less and less available and this was about freedom - fuck your cloud storage add its data leaks, corruption and redaction. I own my data, you don’t control it.

    • whiskybourbon@lemmy.world
      2·
      6 months ago

      I also very much miss the removable batteries. I spent 8 years with my old phone simply because I didn’t want to give up it’s easy swap ability but I have to say that the headphone jack is the thing that really affects and annoys me the most. For years and years I literally carried a pair of wired earbuds with me everywhere I went (coiled up and carried in the small pocket of my jeans). No matter where I was or what I was doing, I could literally be ready to go music mode at any time. I absolutely loved it. Being saddled with the bluetooth buds now and their annoying battery life is not at all ideal for me. I often take very long daily excursions that end up seeing my headphones die on me frequently now and I miss my wired headphones nearly every single day.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
        2·
        6 months ago

        When the iphone first came out, it was nice to be able to use the earbuds with my macbook too.

        I don’t think I’ll ever forgive apple for what they did with the lightning jack

    • TheMurphy@lemmy.world
      31·
      6 months ago

      Swappable batteries are coming back in 2027 because of the EU.

      Under the legislation, consumers must be able to "easily remove and replace” portable batteries used in devices such as smartphones, tablets, and cameras.

      Full article here.