Evolution dead-ends: premium phone features that died off

20 December 2017
We look back at several features once associated with high-end phones that proved to be a dead end.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • mTn
  • 25 Dec 2017

AnonD-725787, 25 Dec 2017talk about the IR blaser, barely any smartphones manufactur... moreI specifically bought my honor8 over a oneplus 3 at that time because it had the IR-blaster. It even has a 2-way IR-blaster unlike the Samsung phones with an IR-blaster. So you can beam over the key presses from your regular remote to the honor IR-app. That way i can still use it to control my ancient but still great dolby-digital/dts-surround system. Great stuff :-)

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • y@2
    • 25 Dec 2017

    > "You could use it in your car or at home to stream your music to basically any radio built in the last 50 years."

    Wat?

    Streaming FM radio from phone to radios built in 50 years?

    What are you on about?

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • mTn
      • 25 Dec 2017

      Anonymous, 24 Dec 2017Symbian is a prehistoric OS. There's nothing that Android d... more- Android can't record calls properly
      - no FM transmitter
      - no proper flash
      - still image quality still can't match 808pureview
      - best audio-recording on a phone even today.
      - true multitasking, no need for "butter", "doze" or whatever crap they "invent" at the chocolate factory.
      - loud loudspeaker... and i mean LOUD especially the 808pv wuth a simple tweak.
      - lots if tweak options
      - there was lots of software to be found even outside the ovistore which you could install wherever you wanted, phone-memory, internal storage or micro-sdcard.
      - UI was optimised for the amoledscreens at that time unlike the fugly material design of today.

      As a PHONE an old nokia 808 or 701 is still fantastic with proper high quality 2-way callrecording . As an mp3-player it still fine it can even "stream" to your old car radio over FM. It still syncs perfectly with e.g. MS outlook. The OS itself is fast. The only problem is webbrowsing. These phones simply don't have the raw performance of today's models.

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        • AnonD-725787
        • nCN
        • 25 Dec 2017

        talk about the IR blaser, barely any smartphones manufactureres put it on their phones these days, such an underrated feature to use your smartphone as a universal remote

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          • Luxor
          • tVn
          • 25 Dec 2017

          Anonymous, 24 Dec 2017"definetly died" are you serious. This is about features of... moreRead again, I said 'will'. Not the past, but saying it for the future. That will be on the list in the future. The screen cut-outs is definitely a feature to put that camera there. Fandroid? Oh, so you an isheep? I see where this is going. Just because im hating on the notch suddenly im a fandroid? Wow. Nice prejudice there. I dont regret one bit selling off my iphone 6 years ago. How is your iphone? Not 'slowing down' yet? It is also a 'feature' in case you havent read the news yet. Get yourself an android for christmas.^^

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            • Luxor
            • tVn
            • 25 Dec 2017

            AnonD-702396, 24 Dec 2017No! Bad Fandroid! Bad! Don't call it a notch. It's a state ... moreWhat on earth you talking about...Im just saying the cut-outs on the screen should be an obsolete 'feature' other phone manufacturer trying to adopt. Regardless if there is a camera or kinect thingy whatsoever. The notch cut outs need to be gone. Put a real bezel if you really need tnat kinect camera thing even if it for the future.

              Alien , 25 Dec 2017I was one of the biggest Symbian fans out there. I develope... moreI can handle all i want. Problem is, i don't want to do anything with this spyware. And btw, you contradict yourself. OS that can run lag free only on high end gadgets, is fatally flawed. Btw, Sony Xperia Z was my only Android phone, wouldn't call it cheap chinese replica. Was close to unusable after year or so. Anyway, i won't even bother to elaborate. As about iOS, i don't give rats ass also. Using Symbian and Windows Phone and waiting for 40 mpx camera Sailfish phone.

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                • 3D memorys
                • vV5
                • 25 Dec 2017

                I quite missing the QWERTY keyboard for landscape typing.

                  AnonD-463101, 24 Dec 2017FM transmitters were the bomb :)Some today flagships still have the FM Transmitter , just wasn't' that booming as was in the past . One of them is Sony Xperia XZ series . Although they didn't have FM Radio pre-installed anymore since X Performance , they still have Apk of their FM Radio in their official APKMirror account . The others still has too such as LG G6 .

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                    • AnonD-58355
                    • D7M
                    • 25 Dec 2017

                    SpiritWolf, 24 Dec 2017I second that. 808 is full package. Too bad those brainwash... moredude you are right .. But it's not only the people who destroyed the os .. when people started abandoning nokia phones it was for a reason .. android os was not that excellent os but it provided something that is new which are the great variety of app .. on an android phone back then in the last symbian days you could have many cool apps on your phone and many of them was free at that time the ovi store wasn't good like the goole play store ..and many of the apps on it wasn't cheap .. my friend had a nokia 808 back in 2013 and i had an android phone ... he had some games and apps like mine but me i downloaded them for free and he had to buy all these stuff .. Andriod is an open source system which attracted many developers to create apps there more than the symbian so people were attracted more and more to andriod .. So Nokia also played a part on destroying it's own os not only andriod users or " google sheep " .. if nokia concentrated more on the apps deal you would have seen a nokia symbian flagship today .. because even " google's sheep " can't deny that nokia phones had the best designs and cameras and thier old cameras back then still can compete many flagship cameras today .. and yes andriod user interface for me is not that nice and I think i like the symbian ui more .. But dude don't buy a 808 now .. It Literally has no apps and even the browser is very bad .. I carry a windows phone mobile the apps is the biggest issue but my browser is just very good .. but now even whatsapp is not working on 808 .. Unless you are very rich and you don't mind wasting your money and buying this beside your daily smartphone as a secondery one

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                      • Alien
                      • ndn
                      • 25 Dec 2017

                      SpiritWolf, 24 Dec 2017I second that. 808 is full package. Too bad those brainwash... moreI was one of the biggest Symbian fans out there. I developed a lot of themes for it. But saying that Symbian is better than Android makes me laugh so hard.
                      You're trying to say that an old '70s Fiat is better than a 2018 Mercedes. Get real dude. On android you can even hack and perform a lot of nasty things if you're capable enough. I write code and scripts on my phone.
                      On Symbian the main feature was that it could play mp3s and view gif photos lmao.
                      Sure, it had the potential, but nobody did nothing to improve it.
                      When i got my hands on android (eclaire) for the first time I felt like i went out of stone age.
                      Maybe android is too complex for you. If you can't handle it, buy an iphone.
                      As for the lags, it's all on you. Try a HIGH-END Sony or sammy next time and stay away from those cheap spying replikas if you don't want any lags.
                      Also I suggest you root your phone and debloat it. If that's too complicated for you, stick to crapple...

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • a02
                        • 24 Dec 2017

                        SpiritWolf, 24 Dec 2017I second that. 808 is full package. Too bad those brainwash... moreSymbian is a prehistoric OS. There's nothing that Android doesn't do better than Symbian, get real.

                          Dan808 , 24 Dec 2017My Nokia 808 Pureview still rocks with its outstanding 41.5... moreI second that. 808 is full package. Too bad those brainwashed google sheep killed Symbian. Belle was definitely better than Android back then. And some of it's features are unique until today. Getting my second 808 soon. Laggy spyware named Android can eat sh*t.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • a0A
                            • 24 Dec 2017

                            Its so sad im going to bend over and let a stranger have a go.. Totally irrelevant

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • JA%
                              • 24 Dec 2017

                              Asaf, 24 Dec 2017What about the infra red port? What's the reason phone man... moreMost Xiaomi phones still have it.

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                                • AnonD-692822
                                • xja
                                • 24 Dec 2017

                                Asaf, 24 Dec 2017What about the infra red port? What's the reason phone man... moreHuawei mate and P series?

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                                  • AnonD-375713
                                  • P4m
                                  • 24 Dec 2017

                                  TheGoldenMellifluous, 24 Dec 2017Just , the batteries can't removed by us easily / instantly... moreIndeed, don't also forget it may need new gaskets and glue for all the removed panels.

                                  That's nowadays repairability for you... "things evolve" yeah...

                                  This article itself is a nice proof that personality is dead on nowadays manufacturers. All just copy the same dumb formula and change what needed/IF needed. You get barely no option other than the basic formula and dumb trends.

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                                    • AnonD-308446
                                    • L@W
                                    • 24 Dec 2017

                                    still waiting the KZoom update

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                                      • Asaf
                                      • xv6
                                      • 24 Dec 2017

                                      What about the infra red port?
                                      What's the reason phone manufacturers abandoned this feature? I use it a lot.
                                      I don't switch my note 4 edge cause there's no better phone that have this option

                                        Anonymous, 24 Dec 2017I think you meant the iPhone X's $1,000 early-beta software... moreTrue dat

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