The "cult following" Android phone starter pack

I'd rather have an IR blaster than a headphone jack

Some Xiaomi phones still have them

Forgot that. Actually, the Redmi Note 12 that I'm typing this on actually has one! But in the US, yeah.

I was not missing it for about a couple years but now I'm missing it again, it was just so damn good and like why can't our monitors and PCs get IR receiver then we would be about to use a remote to play/pause, control volume, and forward and rewind things on it (yes you can also use wifi based apps, but I don't want to set up an ad hoc network every time I need it or connect to an open WiFi)

P.S. I'm aware my idea isn't the best, but it's just the perfect mix of convenience and usability for me

I still have mine on my phone, one of many reasons I haven't "upgraded".

I just hooked up a CD burner diode to my phone (also a DVD but thats a red laser)

How to kill IR receivers (fast)

Is that you FlossyCarter? 😂

Just get yourself a flipper

If you really want to control your TV from your phone, why not just use an app to control it over the local network that’s probably available if your TV has been released in the past 10 years or so? Doesn’t even have to be in line of sight for that.

I just bought a USB C adapter two weekends ago. Lives on my keychain for when I'm somewhere with a TV that's a little too loud.

Samsung did NOT like reading this

yup imagine not being able to run anything you want on your own device. it should be mandatory

I agree! And it flashed different colors for different notifications! Things were awesome!

Wait, aren't most phones OLED? Wouldn't it be trivial to light up a few pixels in the corner of the screen when it's off? Do phones not do this (I'm still running my S7 into the ground so I have a dedicated LED)?

The Xperia Z2 had a notification light bar, I miss that one especially.

I saw a comment on lemmy some time ago about a foss app that mostly brings it back, but I can't find it anymore.

It's not the one I saw, but a quick google search led to this: https://github.com/Chainfire/HoleyLight

Why do you need it with an OLED screen?

I just use the camera notification circle. It works just fine. I can set it to use a notification dot but the circle is cooler

That's literally my first requirement for a phone, that it be small and actually fit inside my hand without any straining. It gets harder everytime I need a replacement - like, dudes, if I wanted aa small tablet, I'd buy a small tablet. I want a phone.

Zenfone 10 proves that you can fit a lot of phone in a small place and none if its problems are from its size.

Try a pop socket. Wife got me one and it gets rid of this issue for me.

Personally I don't have tiny baby hands, so I dont need to worry about that... but it would definitely be nice if there were more options to choose from.

Pop sockets. I never do the pinky thing.

There is no evidence to support that holding moden phones have changed bond structure in fingers.

Pretty much.

Aren't there phones which still have led? Though I guess you can't test it

Still got one on my Sony Xperia 1 IV

https://www.fairphone.com/en/

I'm just suggesting this, I don't actually own one, yet. I'll probably be buying my next phone from them in the next few years when my current Samsung Galaxy S10e dies.

If a phone hit all of these, and added 6 years of guaranteed (timely) OEM OS updates, I would pay upwards of $2,000+.

OEMs hit me up - I’ve got a credit card ready to go right now.

Sony, except the battery, but that is coming with new EU regulation.

Actually cheap phones often have more of these things, although it's getting rarer.

Especially the custom roms.

Xiaomi has all of these, but custom roms are hit and miss.

Asus zenfone unfortunately doesn't have a removable battery but good to go on everything else

Fairphone

Oneplus one. Hands down. It was as good as S5 with exynos that was thrice the price, allowed custom roms (came with inbuilt cyanogen os) and the sandstone finish was amazing.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 made me a meme at my local network provider store between 2013 and 2015. That model just kept on breaking for no discernible reason.

My first S4 (S4 0), the one that I actually bought with my new service plan, held up nicely for about half a year. Then, it started to randomly power off. Using my phone as my alarm in the morning, I overslept several times due to this. It also just randomly turned off in my pocket, and later even in my hand. I was able to replicate the error in the store. They replaced the phone with a new one (S4 1).

The entirely brand-new phone had a swelling battery after three months, which I replaced out of pocket with a new original one. This one, too, bulged up soon. A third, off-brand battery did the same. Back to the shop I went. Of course, they told me it ought to be user error, which I couldn't disprove on the spot. So I offered to insert one of their brand new batteries and leave my phone with them for two weeks, using a loaner. They accepted and, lo and behold, the phone inflated that battery, too, just lying in their shop drawer being charged. This got me my second replacement device (S4 2).

This phone had no electronic problems. The screen, however, sat visibly snuck between the bezels. I applied a then-novel glass screen protector to the screen instead of the usual adhesive films. The screen developed tension cracks below the screen protector. Back in I went and got the screen replaced under warranty (to my own surprise). I even had them apply a new protector screen which had a little bubble around a speck of dust at the bottom. We were on first name basis at this point, so we laughed about it, arguing that the bubble needn't annoy me too, since I'd be back soon anyway.

I was back soon, anyway. The screen cracked again. They remembered the bubble, saw I hadn't dabbled with the protector, and surmised that the fault needed to be this phones faulty manufacturing. I got the third replacement (S4 3). It'd be my last one, too.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 was a great phone, in and of itself. It had great features at a competitive price point, was really slim and offered good performance while not entirely buying into the whole phablet trend. I liked it, in concept. The people at "my" cellular shop assured me that it was, in fact, freaky how often I had problems with the model. They were said to be as reliable as the current iPhones.

My last Galaxy S4 started to show the known power-off issue a few months shy of 2 years since my original purchase, meaning the EU-mandated warranty was about to run out. I sold it as partly defect and got a different brand phone.

Ugh I hate how true this comment was.
Honorary commendation for the lg v20 as well.

Truly a legendary phone, just like the Nexus 6P

LG v20 was the pinnacle IMO. I'm still on mine because I can't find anything that isn't a downgrade in functionality.

I don't understand why that one has gone away. Like, the 3mm audio jack made waterproofing difficult and was big. But that doesn't apply to the notification LED, does it?

I really miss that feature because now I have no indicator of a notification, short of the major battery drain of setting the screen to always be on. I remember even customizing the colour so that I could tell when I had important notifications. Now I often have to double tap my phone just to check if I have any notifications. So dumb.

Wait wait new phones don't have those anymore?

Same. Apparently demanding the bare minimum of user modifications, and tried and true technology, is being a cultist?

I'd apply that label to the iEcosystem users than us android bois.

I wanted a FairPhone, but they have yet to sell officially in the US and I couldn't afford to deal with the potential difficulties involved with not having the right bands.

Custom ROMs should be first on the list

Just ordered the 5 despite them removing the audio jack... Yeah I'm a bit salty about that

Oh yea. Even has Android 13!

Unfortunately, 1080p 60fps LCD display is way too bad for me to consider it.

man, i wish i had one

Which current Xperia is small? They dropped the compact line years ago.

Yay, I'm not the only person with an Xperia! 😂

I've got a 1 III and I'm pretty damn happy with it. I don't even care about the lack of replaceable battery.

I heard it had something to do with Blackberry owning a patent/copyright/trademark (don't know which), so phone makers would have to lease the right to do it from them. And Blackberry just... isn't interested, I guess?

I just realized a folding phone would be a great platform for a keyboard. When closed, the keyboard would be on the back, with a screen on the front. Open it to reveal the big screen on the inside, flip over to type on the keyboard using the front screen.

Particularly for work, geez.

I kept my old-ass text- only BBerry with the keyboard and side scroll wheel as long as IT let me have it, they made me go to a touch screen which, frankly, sucks for handling correspondence.

For my own phone, yes more screen real estate for videos and pics.

I mean the ones that people still try to use today, but they can be from that era.

I like the distinction, nice

You realize that there is a built in android setting to silence notifications if you lay your phone screen down. It's my favorite feature! No vibes no blinking lights. Silence.

I can't tell if you mean you slept face down or you slept with the tablet face down haha

I've covered the lights on several of my devices with black nail polish. It works pretty well. Some of them have angles that it won't adhere to very well, but even then it's a lot less obnoxious.

One coat to dim slightly, 3-4 to block light effectively.

On my phone the notification LED works as a charging/low-battery light. I can't use my phone in the dark when the LED is on, because it's so blindingly bright I can hardly see the screen.

Yeh, I thought I wanted a notification led again but once you have it you realise it's pointless. So many things can notify you about stuff you don't care about.

Nice to have and disable if you don't like it though.

https://shop.fairphone.com/fairphone-5