Evolution dead-ends: premium phone features that died off
- a
- abc.to.xyz.000
- 6P%
- 25 Dec 2017
Do you realize that almost all form factors except one (or two) are dying? :p
Btw, let me list the features that I miss the most.
1. IR Remote - was much helpful.
2. TV-output - now one need to go through much fuss for that. Only Xiaomi sort of brands offer it now.
3. Sliding QWERTY Keyboard - I remember that typing was a breeze at my last Nokia C6 with its keyboard. Touch no matter how good it gets will not replace the physical feedback of keypress. Strangely no major manufacturer seems to have that option with Android.
3. Xenon Flash - LEDs are almost useless for taking night photos. Xenon used to result with different, yet high quality images.
4. Themes - Android surely got launchers. But you are stuck with rest of the UI unless you find some third party app aiding you at places or not.
5. Character - Phones look same now, there's no flip n twist or funky look or add-on body casings anymore.
6. Symbian - Despite having memory allocation problems, it was a much matured product. Android feels like a kids toy with similar functionalities for last 4-5 years. Imagine a Symbian upgrade running over Quad-Core CPUs. Google steals way too much data now.
8. Advanced Applications - We had apps like 'Stacker' who used to compress apps before closing them, Android offers low quality apps on play store. Apple's a joke. Even if its powered by Linux at heart, there would be loads of modding required to get such app running.
- H
- Hotkolbas
- 7th
- 25 Dec 2017
IR blaster is somthiing that you do my see of top end phones these days bar Chinadroids.
Loved my s5 for it and usin ? It on daily basis was great to control kids watching tv or for work purposes.
I do have a spot in my heart for old school Nokia's though, and they marketed them well C series, E series, N series and they all played a part.
- R
- Raphi7
- 3V1
- 25 Dec 2017
Crocop, 25 Dec 2017I still have original Samsung Omnia laying around, and it s... moreOh! My tablet on 4.4 android,which died recently, had one ! I never used it, BUT i imagine it would be great to have on low-end phones susceptible to freeze! I also had one on my much older MP4 Sony gaming system thing (dunno if it's fake , like it had NES Super Mario Bros on it !😂😂😂😂😉) and it was useful cz it freezed frequently .
- D
- AnonD-720827
- sF$
- 25 Dec 2017
Anonymous, 25 Dec 2017Who cares if it's illegal? You can install a lot of call re... moreI know u can install apps. But apps are apps. They are not the original implementation of manufacturers and ROM cookers. Hence if they work badly, don't blame the OS for it. Custom ROMs that enable call recording works very well. (As least in my experience with Samsung phones and older Sony phones)
- Y
- Yann
- 0nn
- 25 Dec 2017
I'm still using my Nokia 808 on daily basis and enjoying great camera and FM transmitter in my car.
Yes, it is old phone with dead OS, but still have my ms account with contacts, e-mails and great great camera with xenon flash.
And it is compact size with great battery life.
Don't care about new gimmick streaming music functions - I've all music on my SD card always with me.
- F
- FinnishInquisition
- m}@
- 25 Dec 2017
That Meizu solution with a small rear AMOLED screen for the main camera, glance screen, etc, would make the possibility of removing the front camera (thus having a true full-screen display) possible!
And you could slap an LCD in as the main screen, keeping the cost down without impacting the battery for the glance feature or longevity due to burn-ins.
- C
- Crocop
- ptC
- 25 Dec 2017
I still have original Samsung Omnia laying around, and it still runs well on Windows phone 6.1, if I'm not mistaken. It also has some features that went extinct, like connecting it through HDMI, turning on actual cursor that you could operate with on small touch pad (touch sucks on this phone, so I'm glad that this was added). Also, it also has a small reset "hole" on the body, so if there was a major problem you could just reset it with needle or something through that. It would be useful today when there are almost no removable batteries, but yeah we have combination of buttons, I know. But yeah, it's sad to see 3.5mm jack also going away, since there is actually no alternative for it, except bluetooth and type C headphones (but forget charging then).
- M
- M
- 60}
- 25 Dec 2017
Anonymous, 25 Dec 2017Dude you're no programmer.. Symbian can be hacked to instal... moreEven if you be a developer you don't have enogh information and you should know no one is crazy to kill his own OS when he is in LEAD! Of OS market and there is going to be a future for it. Yeah it was on lead if you count the whole device sells up to that time but on that specific years they barely sold any devices. It was Dead and it is obvious. All OS programming limitation was what killed symbian. Android the future of mobile phones is because it is Open Source and that's all.
- a
- abubasim
- arg
- 25 Dec 2017
Anonymous, 24 Dec 2017Padfone ... had one of those - (Padfone 2). Great concept, ... moreI'm using a PadFone S. Bought it on eBay about a year ago. Works well and it has received two Android version updates but the last one came more than a year ago so I guess no more will be coming. I love everything except the camera. Too much noise reduction and sharpening makes the photos not suitable for anything except viewing on a small display - don't zoom in unless you want to feel nausea.
- y
- yee
- n5D
- 25 Dec 2017
How abt a home button.....
looks like this will not last much longer huh?
- ?
- Anonymous
- mY2
- 25 Dec 2017
AnonD-720827, 25 Dec 2017First , Call recording is ILLEGAL in alot of countries incl... moreWho cares if it's illegal? You can install a lot of call recorder apps. And you can root the phone to remove the other limitations like speaker loudness or shutter sound.
- D
- AnonD-720827
- sF$
- 25 Dec 2017
TomSeo, 24 Dec 2017I really love Oppo back then, itÂ’s N3 is just beauti... moreYep. OPPO made it's name in my country through the N1 because of how unique it was. But then next thing we know is OPPO is copying other manufacturers. The N2 and N3 never reached my country. It's just copy phones after the N1
- D
- AnonD-720827
- sF$
- 25 Dec 2017
Anonymous, 25 Dec 2017- Android can't record calls properly - no FM transmitter ... moreFirst , Call recording is ILLEGAL in alot of countries including those where most phones are now manufactured. Hence, call recording is getting less support from manufacturers and it's not the OS's fault. Back in the days where Sony enabled it it worked perfectly. Second, I also agree that speakers in phones nowadays are very soft compared to old phones but it's also because of laws that would not allow loud speakers any more. Especially Korea phones because in Korea the speakers in phones are capped to a certain loudness by the LAW. Just like in Japan every phone's camera MUST produce a SHUTTER SOUND because it's required by the LAW. Even Samsungs and iPhones sold in Japan has no way to disable shutter sound by switching your phone to silent mode.
- ?
- Anonymous
- r0G
- 25 Dec 2017
not forgetting the Nokia 5330 TV edition,digital mobile TV on the go,would like to become standard with the addition of future-proof dab+ radio,for those not always streaming nexflix and the likes.good to see Samsung mobile adding few like grand prime duos TV but only for brazil,make international version,hope they listen.
- ?
- Anonymous
- IVy
- 25 Dec 2017
Alien , 25 Dec 2017I was one of the biggest Symbian fans out there. I develope... moreDude you're no programmer.. Symbian can be hacked to install unsigned apps.. Heck symbian even had custom roms long before android.. I'll say this here and now.. Symbian is BETTER than Android Oreo.. Symbian can install apps wholly on external memory whereas android can't.. Symbian even allows you to hot-swap microSD with all installed App on it.. And app launchers will be displayed whenever a new app is detected on the inserted SD card.. Try that on Android LOL.. Symbian supported microSDXC with exFAT file format upto 200GB back in 2012 when android only supported SDHC with FAT upto 32GB only.. Android IS a java emulation and will always remain that even if they change the runtime fron dalvik to ART to whatever next.. Symbian died just because Stephen Elop killed it and not because of the competition.. When symbian was announced dead they were still the market leader even with emerging iOS and android
- D
- AnonD-725827
- 6i{
- 25 Dec 2017
Anonymous, 25 Dec 2017> "You could use it in your car or at home to stream you... moreYour phone will act as a mobile Radio station for a short range, say you're in an old car with no AUX or Bluetooth connection to play your music but you've got old Radio set up in it. Your car's radio will play what you play on your phone. Look for " N8/808 FM Transmitter" on YouTube.
- D
- AnonD-2186
- t7N
- 25 Dec 2017
Anonymous, 25 Dec 2017"your music" means your mp3-music collection. I take it,... moreI can relate to that. When you have your mp3 collection, you can play from the music app without consuming too much battery unlike streaming thru wifi or using data. Just make sure you have more than a day worth of mp3s(at least I did) so you can have nonstop music or have multiple selections. Then you can plug your headset or audio component or even TV(using TV-out if supported but will consume more battery) thru the 3.5mm audio jack. Back then every Nokia phone has a rating for music playback which is usually more than a day. Sadly my N8s jack became loose that my option was to use bluetooth or FM transmitter. Also, can't find a new battery. Today, I use it as a mini clock using its sleeping screen feature.
- ?
- Anonymous
- mTn
- 25 Dec 2017
Anonymous, 25 Dec 2017> "You could use it in your car or at home to stream you... more"your music" means your mp3-music collection.
I take it, you are too young to remember that we, old buggers, carried our music with us. First on cassette tape using ancient tech called a "walkman" and later digitally using socalled mp3-players.
Streaming for us, old folk, isn't the same as "listening to the radio". :-)
- ?
- Anonymous
- teq
- 25 Dec 2017
Where are the innovations from Apple?
I miss the old Nokia phones, they were super cool.