this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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For me its the 'Knock Code' that LG had on their phones (I really wish LG still made at least the V series phones)

Basically there was a four-square area and you set up a sequence of where you would tap to unlock the phone. That set of squares was only shown when you set up the code

Then, to unlock your phone, you would tap those areas in the sequence you set up (even with the screen off).

Fingerprint readers are nice, but I really do miss the knock code

Edit: did find this article with a way to do the knock code, but if done wrong, could brick your phone I guess.

Plus, article is from 2014. When I looked at XDA's info on it (they also being the developers) it looks like development on it is over, but individual modules may or may not still be supported by their devs

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[–] CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml 201 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Unlockable bootloader, removable battery, headphone jack, being assembled with SCREWS rather than GLUE.

[–] BigMoe@lemmy.zip 35 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Love the first answer as, I have to get on my Linux soapbox here.

I remember first using Linux (Ubuntu 9.10 for those curious). One of the big ideas behind it was 'its your computer, do what you want'. That's why you can have access to Root or the Super User. Since its open source, root can do what it wants.

Android was initially built on Linux, but they have taken Root and turned it into a way to restrict users not just from sensitive things (like necessary system apps), but also from bloatware (looking at you Samsung). Years ago I had a phone that came with the NFL Network which I didn't want. Could I remove it? Of course not, I would have to be Root to do that!.

Sorry for the rant, but really, I should have access to anything on my phone if I want it. Give me a warning, make it so people can't get to it 'accidentally', but then let it be on me.

[–] GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago

You want to… own the phone you bought???

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[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 103 points 1 year ago (26 children)

Removable battery is the big one. I had a phone where they only cost like $15, so I could take 2 of them on a trip and last a week w/o charging.

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[–] distantorigin@kbin.cafe 91 points 1 year ago (5 children)

User-replaceable batteries.

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.ml 89 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (14 children)

IR Blasters!

I feel like I'm the only one who used them or cares that they were quietly phased out of phones.

You used to be able to use your phone as a universal remote. Being able to control my TV, sound system, ceiling fan, and lights all from my phone was so convenient! Plus if you were stuck in like a waiting room and they had ads or garbage like Fox News on, you could change the channel or turn it off completely. It was an incredibly useful feature to me, but I guess barely anyone else used since it was removed from phones without any complaints.

Except me. I'm complaining!

[–] zero_iq@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Back in the day, I discovered I could i) print over IR to our office's HP laser printer from my Psion organiser, ii) print control codes from the built-in OPL language to change the display message on the printer. I would occassionaly send messages like "insert coin", "too much paper", "grammatical error", etc. when colleagues were printing.

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[–] gelcue69@hoboninjachicken.com 78 points 1 year ago (5 children)
[–] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 45 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

And its buddy SD card slot.

Why phone manufacturers? Why?

You condemn us to dongle life.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 27 points 1 year ago (10 children)

It's all about selling the solution to a problem they created.

No SD card slot? You are forced to upgrade since you cannot store anything more than what they allow.

No headphone jack? Hope you like buying our inferior first party wireless earbuds or the shitty dongle thing.

Next up on the chopping block will be the charging port in favor of wireless charging, I swear.

By that point, I think I would rather just buy a phone that has all of those features and replace the components as needed instead of upgrading while also having a burner phone I can transfer whatever "e-sim card" they force upon me.

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[–] Selery@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I miss the notification lights. One of my first true smart phones was the original oneplus. It was fun setting up custom colors for different types of notifications and came in handy every now and then

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[–] sloonark@lemm.ee 67 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone. So you'd pick it up and your finger would naturally fall on the sensor, so that by the time you look at the screen, it's unlocked.

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[–] eeltech@lemmy.world 66 points 1 year ago (11 children)

IR blaster. You could have a universal remote app and control any tv from my palm PDA

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[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 62 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (26 children)

Headphone jack, dedicated fingerprint reader, removable battery, physical sim card trays

Edit: expandable storage

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[–] PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com 57 points 1 year ago (9 children)
[–] shadowsrayn@reddthat.com 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Or even just the navigation buttons being separate from the screen.

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[–] Im28xwa@lemdro.id 52 points 1 year ago (14 children)
  • iris scanner
  • Dedicated MicroSD card slot
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Removable/user replacable battery
  • Metal backs
  • Front firing speakers
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[–] bearfootbees@lemmy.ca 46 points 1 year ago (10 children)

This may sound dumb... An old Samsung phone I had years ago, came with alarms that gradually faded in. The most memorable, started with the ocean, and the seagulls... Then there was a fog horn in the distance. Slowly the horn got closer, and closer... Until it was all you could hear, and your alarm was going off.

I've looked everywhere for the sound file... It must be Locked away in a basement at Samsung somewhere.

One day I'll find it

[–] ott@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

idk why, but I dug around YouTube for an hour or so to try and find that alarm for you. I stumbled across one that's so close to your description, though it's from a BlackBerry, not a Samsung:

https://youtu.be/bOBaJHw36Dc

Is this the one?

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[–] Philipp@lemmy.loomy.li 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A battery which lasts up to a week.

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[–] threeduck@aussie.zone 41 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I miss my smart watch waking me up outside of detected REM sleep.

On the Microsoft Band you could set a time window where the alarm would go off - say between 0700-0800. If you're in REM sleep at 0700, the alarm stays off until you naturally rouse, or 0800.

I've worked as a sleep scientist for 7 years, and the idea of not being woken out of REM is such a neat idea, and yet no other watch seems to do it.

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[–] axb@lemmy.ml 36 points 1 year ago

3.5mm headphone jack.

[–] Metal_Zealot@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Being able reach the entire screen with one hand... Even with larger hands, reaching across a 6 inch screen with my thumb is bullshit and uncomfortable as fuck. I miss my iPhone 4S

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[–] ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Hardware keyboards on mobile phones

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[–] bemenaker@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] wowwoweowza@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 year ago
[–] thawed_caveman@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Physical buttons. Sometimes an app or the OS itself will fuck up and not show you the home or back button for example.

I would miss headphone jacks but any phone worth buying still comes with those... for now

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[–] sxan@midwest.social 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Small sizes

Multicolour notification LEDS - customisable for each app

Smaller camera bumps and less cameras in general - not everyone wants or needs to be a professional photographer.

Plastic bodies, with removable batteries via covers.

I don't know how many current phones support it but mine doesn't... Extendable storage via micro sd

Customisable vibration patterns for different contacts and apps - I remember how super old early Android Xperia phones being able to do this (alongside the LED mentioned above). I used to think this was stock android, I guess not. But if it was, why did they remove it, same guess for LED

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[–] Tramdan@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 year ago (7 children)
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[–] Gestrid@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Headphone jacks and the ability to expand available memory using SD cards.

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[–] Myriadblue@kbin.social 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

FM radio. Sometimes it was nice to listen to the radio on my phone.

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[–] degrix@lemmy.hqueue.dev 28 points 1 year ago

I like where phones are now for the most part, but the thing I miss the most is that magic moment of what leaps and bounds new technology/form factor/whatever was being incorporated into a new phone. Like when the iPhone was first announced or when Motorola announced (and marketed the hell out of) the original Droid - I can still hear the boot up sound.

I remember the debates and arguments had when the first 4+” phone was released and how it was β€œway too big” compared to the ideal sized 3.5” iPhone. The idea of swiping to type!? What a breakthrough! A fingerprint scanner to unlock your phone, that took like three or four tries some times and was met with skepticism by others.

Now I feel like, despite how monstrously capable are phones are now compared to even five years ago, there’s just not as much of a spark anymore. New phones are iterative and have been for a while. Bendable displays are sort of neat, but just doesn’t quite tap the same bit of magic for me.

[–] riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] GlendatheGayWitch@lib.lgbt 26 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Tactile buttons

Once I get my next phone, I'll miss the headphones jack.

Battery life, even with massive batteries, modern phones only last a day while older phones could last up to a week between charges.

Privacy

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[–] sneaky_b45tard@feddit.de 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I loved how older versions of Android (and afaik iOS as well) could set the album cover of the currently played song as the lockscreen background.

It's a tiny and maybe completely unnecessary feature, but i loved it.

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[–] pickelsurprise@lemmy.loungerat.io 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Headphone jack for sure. Like 90% of my phone usage is either listening to music or watching videos, so decent audio is like the only thing I care about lol.

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[–] BrineBlade@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 1 year ago

Headphone jack and IR blaster

[–] Nagairius@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I missed how I could set an alarm and then shut my blackberry off overnight and the phone would turn itself back on in the morning to alarm

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[–] TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] float@feddit.de 23 points 1 year ago (5 children)

IR transmitter, removable batteries (but they will come back), the notification LED.

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[–] theFae@programming.dev 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I miss the IR blaster in the headphone Jack of my old s5 every day

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[–] Epsilon@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Rear mounted fingerprint sensor 3.5mm Audio port

I refuse to use a phone without a headphone jack.

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[–] scala@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Removable batteries

Batteries that lasted a week.

Multi-colored LED notification light - better yet the Nexus One trackball + multi-colored LED light in one.

Headphone jack is always nice. I don't use it anymore, if anything USB-C dongle is fine.

An indestructible phone. Nokia and Sony Ericsson had some phones that were stronger than a brick. This weak glass sucks.

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[–] willeypete23@reddthat.com 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I had an htc one that could transmit IR signals meaning you could mess with TVs and other simple wireless electronics. You could also use the headphone wire as an actual radio antenna.

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[–] gabe@literature.cafe 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] fubo@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Modern computers are slow.

Specifically, modern computers have inherently more delay time between the keyboard (or other input devices), the software, and the display than much-older (1980s) computers. This means that it is not possible to create games that are as responsive to player inputs as the arcade, console, or microcomputer games of the past.

USB is slow. HDMI is slow.

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[–] shapis@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Removable battery and LED notification lights.

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