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What happened to the Android phone ecosystem? Android phones used to offer unique and useful features like removable batteries, headphone jacks, IR blasters, S

What happened to the Android phone ecosystem? Android phones used to offer unique and useful features like removable batteries, headphone jacks, IR blasters, SD cards, etc. Now it seems that Samsung and Google are obsessed with copying whatever Apple does, even their controversial decisions like removing the headphone jack, even after making fun of Apple for doing it. No thanks, why would I buy a shittier iPhone with a worse OS? When my LG V20 bites the dust or becomes obsolete I don't know what I'll replace it with. I hope that the Linux phone ecosystem matures by then otherwise I might buy an iPhone.

michaelmrose 6y ago
My $170 new moto g7 power has a 5ah battery, a headphone jack, an sdcard slot, a 6 x 3 in screen, and no lock to any carrier. I wouldn't love a Linux phone but app support is going to be in need of help unless it can run android apps
- OkayPhysicist 6y ago
  Amen. Best phone I've had, because it flawlessly hits the only things I care about in a phone: Stock Android, an SD card slot for my music library, a screen big enough to read shit on, a biggass battery, and cheap enough that I don't feel too bad when I inevitably lose or break it.
deleted 6y ago
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scruffyherder 6y ago
I’ve been thinking of getting a pine phone. The concept sure looks interesting.
deleted 6y ago
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- toiletfuneral 6y ago
  Honest question, who are the people who need more chargers? Definitely being anecdotal but everyone in my circle is drowning in generations of random usb adaptors, myself included. I’ve been very supportive of removing wasteful redundancy but again, this is subjective
  - klondike_ 6y ago
    While that's true right now, it might not be true a few years in the future if manufacturers stop including them. Also, people are more likely to use dangerous counterfeit chargers (Amazon sells plenty!) if they don't get one included in the box. Considering how many devices run off USB nowadays, having a couple extra laying around the house isn't that big of a deal.
  - e-clinton 6y ago
    I now have tons of USB C to lightening cables laying around the house with nothing to plug them into. So I either have to go buy USB C chargers or toss what I have. While the idea was a good one, the execution has been complete BS
  - kiwijamo 6y ago
    Many people who hoard chargers still hang on to old chargers that only do the 5W standard. For modern devices fast charging is very useful especially for high battery capacity devices. I've recycled all chargers that don't support any of the fast charging standards.
  - tomjen3 6y ago
    I have tons of chargers because I have had a smart phone for ten+ years. Most of the chargers are usb, not USB-C, so that won't help me if I buy an iPhone, although I have an old cable so that would be fine. However anybody buying their first phone, anybody selling the old phones or anybody wanting to take advantage of fast charging would need a new(er) charger they might not have.
zozin 6y ago
They're obsessed with making money. No 3.5mm means you're more likely to buy bluetooth earbuds. No SD? Cloud services. Battery? You'll get a new phone after 18-24 months. No charger? Wireless charging pad. Apple can "get away" with it because to a lot of people it's a luxury/lifestyle brand. Android vendors copy them because they want to create new revenue streams by removing features/out of nothing too!
- unreal6 6y ago
  Then why wasn't there massive commercial success for the phones that kept these features, like a headphone jack an SD card? Samsung tried to market it for a few years, but eventually surrendered to the same trends like the rest of the market. If this was really so bad for consumers, they would've chosen the alternatives that were available at the time.
  - Judgmentality 6y ago
    The only reason I bought a Pixel 4a instead of a Pixel 5 is because I wanted a headphone jack.
    - galangalalgol 6y ago
      Battery life is better too. Love my 4a.
  - Exmoor 6y ago
    I'll be interested to see what happens with Samsung's decision to drop SD. They did that once before with the Galaxy S6 and brought it right back with the S7 after disappointing sales. Personally, I just purchased a Note20 Ultra (at a heavy discount) because it looks like it might be the last phone with microSD that gets long term updates. In theory they sell phones with larger amounts of storage, but they rarely seem to drop below MSRP or are always out of stock if they do.
  - klondike_ 6y ago
    Vendor lock in. People might be upset at Apple for removing features, but all their pictures are on iCloud and all their friends are on iMessage, etc. They'll stick with a mediocre iPhone because the friction to switch is too high.
bawolff 6y ago
Apples controversial decisions aren't without reason, probably they realized it makes sense for them too.
hardwaregeek 6y ago
They realized people use their phones as fashion accessories and don't care about specs? Removable batteries create bulk, make the phone ugly. Headphone jacks? Added width and makes it harder to sell the consumer bluetooth headphones. IR blasters/SD cards? Nobody cares.
- ekianjo 6y ago
  > Removable batteries create bulk, Not even remotely true. The LG V20 is very thin and still has a removable battery.
  - Judgmentality 6y ago
    Batteries have to hold substantially more power now than they did 5 years ago. EDIT: Huh, I looked it up and I'm completely wrong. Battery sizes haven't changed.
    - speedgoose 6y ago
      They charge much faster now, which is good for sales because a battery that charges fast is very convenient. So it progressed. Fast charging degrades the battery slightly faster than slow charging but it's not the end of the world in my opinion. I'm guessing it's much better to not keep your phone battery at a high state of charge for a long time, much of the chemical reactions that degrade the battery happens at high state of charge, than avoiding to fast charge it to 80%.
      - ekianjo 6y ago
        The LG V20 already supported fast charging so its not recent tech by any means.
- starky 6y ago
  >Removable batteries create bulk, make the phone ugly. I've always found this who argument hilarious given that a majority of people put a bulky, ugly case on their phones.
shp0ngle 6y ago
There is lots of weird Android stuff on AliExpress.
- ehsankia 6y ago
  You don't even need to go that far. - ASUS is on it's 5th? gaming focused phone (with attachable fan and all) [1] - You have folding, flipping and stretching [2] phones - You still have plenty of great niche hardware keyboard phones [3] The issue is that these mostly fill niches, as the majority of people are happy enough having the a clean simple phone. [1] https://rog.asus.com/phones/rog-phone-model/ https://rog.asus.com/phones/rog-phone-model/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF-Hfzntue0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF-Hfzntue0 [3] https://www.fxtec.com/ https://www.fxtec.com/
  - karlshea 6y ago
    > with attachable fan and all Oh my god you're not kidding.
    - saagarjha 6y ago
      I mean it is literally the "Republic of Gamers" phone
    - fomine3 6y ago
      All passively cooled thin highend phones can't run highly loaded games longer, due to GPU makes massive heat, so actually fan is practical for such use case.
      - oriolid 6y ago
        Wouldn't a water cooled phone be much more awesome?
        fomine3 6y ago
        "Water cooling" is just a heat transfer method, so you need water, pump and external fan or large heat sink. I believe just a fan without water is enough unless you're LTT. Possibly you mention about some manufacturer that advertises vapor chamber as "water cooling". I don't like their advertisement because it's just a improved heat pipe.
benatkin 6y ago
Samsung hasn't copied Apple any more than Apple has copied Samsung. The most notable thing recently is that Samsung phones kept supporting Fingerprint ID. It was a tremendous PITA having to enter my passcode at night because of the move to Face ID without continuing to support Touch ID.
- kiwijamo 6y ago
  I thought Face ID used some sort of radar/infrared technology and thus didn't really need light to work? Happy to be corrected on this.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    Nope, it works perfectly fine in the dark.
rektide 6y ago
LG V20 is a fantastic phone. It feels so much better than every other device I've ever owned. Space-age frame with such core ruggedness, great screen, great for it's day camera, sd card, sweet audio. And! And! Someone managed to unlock the bootloader. So there's a variety of decent roms one can run on it. All aging now, a little bit too old at this point, but this 2016 device was swinging mightily until it became utterly bereft & unsupportable. It's just so pathetic that we rely on these shitty ass vendor OSes. The v20 is a case study in how amazingly awesome devices are when consumers have any right what-so-ever to maintain & work with their devices. By hook here! One uses the "dirty santa" exploit (with pixelated santa junk) to unlock the blasted thing. And with that it is a semi-modern, loveable device. By community effort. By contributor effort. No thanks to Google nor LG. But modern phones are more impervious. This 2016 device is one of the last devices that (unintentionally) allowed access. After this, everything slid downhill. Everything went to shit. Android collapsed into a pitiful shitmound. Libre was squeezed out. Consumerism & obsolescence are enforced in firmware now, almost ubiquotously. What a pathetic trash heap Android is. John Deere tractors have nothing on the disposable technology that Android levers against it's users. It's a vile situation. Unlock the bootloaders you frigging jerkwads. This is hell you perpetuate against your users! Stop this madness.
- striking 6y ago
  OnePlus ships phones with unlockable bootloaders. They're great! However, when you unlock your bootloader, you lose access to things that demand devices be trusted by Google. So Netflix no longer even shows up in the Play Store, you can no longer use NFC pay, etc. And ROMs are not what they used to be (though the update process being lighter and quicker is a nice change). It's too bad, but I get why it is the way it is.
  - pimeys 6y ago
    I never used my old xiaomi with anything else than lineage os and I used NFC payments and a bank app all the time with my phone. You're mileage may vary I guess...
    - 6y ago
rtkwe 6y ago
There's decent reasons behind most of those, or at least consistent ones, a lot is around slimness which drives strength and material decisions. > removable batteries Those usually require relatively flimsy backs that slide fit onto the phone. This has problems with water proofing and it's a part that can wear and eventually fit poorly or fall off. It's a lot easier to waterproof/resist a phone when you can seal the whole back of the phone off from the outside world. It also allows using soft polymer batteries that can eek out a bit more volume without the protective bits removable batteries need to be safe(r) to handle. On the more cynical side maybe they figured it'd induce people to replace their phones more often though I don't have data showing how much of a factor bad battery is in replacing a phone versus other stuff like better performance or FOMO. > IR blasters Honestly don't think I had a phone with one of these since my Palm Centro in high school and college and I don't think I ever used the IR feature on there. The only real use I see is slow data transfers (better accomplished with Bluetooth now) and controlling TVs. The latter isn't a huge draw for most people I bet because people generally either have one remote (that more often can control everything if setup properly either through ARC and HDMI control signals or the cable box remote also sending the TV signals when needed) or many remotes and are willing to spend money on a nicer universal like a Harmony. There's probably still some out there today but it seems like an extra part that most people won't care about so the extra fractions of a cent + to include it gets wiped out to increase profits over a few million phones. > SD cards This one is maybe a little more cynical. There's some justification for reducing the number of intrusions in the waterproofing seals and increasing the internal volume available to squeeze more battery in. I think another reason is to induce people to buy the more expensive version of a phone. If you include SD card expansion storage it's harder to upsell people on the larger more expensive storage options because usually SD cards are cheaper than the equivalent sized storage in a phone > headphone jacks This one I think is a mixed bag. Including the jack sets some hard design limits on the shape of the edge of the phone and it's a pretty large hole to plug against water and other intrusions. I think Apple might have had more coldly calculated reasons for doing it with the close launch of their own AirPods. Some phone companies have similar offerings where you could see a calculated plan to increase profits. I think we're maybe also just reaching the more mature phase of the smartphone design. There's a basic set of features most people care about and optimizing for that pushes companies in a pretty similar direction. There's some margin for small experimentation around the edges but those induce compromises in the core features people judge on so that limits the market and profit of making those choices. There's technology like foldable screens that might shake things up but they're pretty new with some big compromises at the moment so they haven't really hit the core incentives and forces that are corralling phones into the same tight design and feature list.
umvi 6y ago
Get a Jelly 2
arvinsim 6y ago
Androids have become iPhone sheep. That is, whatever iPhone decides to do, they just copy it. I don't know if it is because the business just decide to follow market trends or if the designers are secretly Apple fanboys.
- deleted 6y ago
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- deadmutex 6y ago
  Umm, there is a lot of useful tech that iPhone is missing/Android phones had first: E.g. - >60Hz displays - 5G (e.g. S10 5G was released >1 year before iPhone with a 5G). - Notchless phones, etc. This is why if you watch Apple presentations, they'll always say "best iPhone ever", not "best phone ever".
Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
I agree that the hardware omissions are blatant copy from Apple as the way to have more markup and revenue from accessories, software services but I like to differ on the OS front. Android's power user ecosystem couldn't be matched in iOS. Even without root, Tasker can automate every single aspect of the OS - Want to send and receive WhatsApp messages over email?[1], Want better accessibility e.g. Voice summary of news?[2], Want a butt triggered pomodoro timer?[3]. Termux runs a Linux container and it can run complete Linux distribution inside it with PRoot[4]. Best of all, Tasker & Termux can communicate with each other for endless possibilities. Of course Google can mess it up with their policy/API changes for Playstore, but that's where 3rd party app stores like f-droid comes in and can ensure open-source apps like Termux can be published without hurdles. Not to mention the privacy focused apps on f-droid. And if one doesn't want anything to do with Google, LineageOS has proven itself to be a viable replacement for stock android. [1] https://abishekmuthian.com/send-and-receive-whatsapp-messages-through-email/ https://abishekmuthian.com/send-and-receive-whatsapp-message... [2] https://abishekmuthian.com/voice-summary-of-news/ https://abishekmuthian.com/voice-summary-of-news/ [3] https://abishekmuthian.com/butt-pomodoro-a-butt-triggered-pomodoro-timer/ https://abishekmuthian.com/butt-pomodoro-a-butt-triggered-po... [4] https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot
- pjmlp 6y ago
  Termux is on their way out as they refuse to implement in Java the requirements of newer Android versions, not exposed as NDK APIs.
  - Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
    Did you mean way out of Google Play Store due API 29? As that's why I mentioned f-droid and f-droid doesn't require API-target restrictions. Termux is being updated only on f-droid because of those changes. If you meant Termux on Android 11, Here's the quote from the developer- >"Most of things work on Android 11. Only few packages have issues (including zsh) and restricted /proc/net which renders network information utilities like netstat unusable without root. Rest seems working correctly unless hit by some known issue not related to Android 10+."[1] [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/mj142i/whats_the_future_of_termux/ https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/mj142i/whats_the_fu...
hunter-2 6y ago
My V20 died a few months back and I reluctantly switched to OnePlus. Man, I miss my V20 every single day.
Tiktaalik 6y ago
It's not that Samsung n' co is copying Apple, it's that Apple is making the right design and tech choices for the right reasons and Samsung is figuring this out too and making the same choices.
- cageface 6y ago
  Samsung has led the way in many respects. Higher refresh displays, multiple cameras, always-on displays, in-screen fingerprint readers, much larger phones, etc.
  - bengale 6y ago
    Doesn't this just come down to them being able to put emerging technology in their devices faster due to not having the same insane supply requirements that apple has?
    - cageface 6y ago
      Samsung sells a lot of phones too. I think it has more to do with the fact that better and more innovative hardware is the only way Samsung can differentiate from other Android vendors and that they don't have the sticky ecosystem that Apple has so they need people to keep upgrading.
blackoil 6y ago
With fast charging, removable batteries aren't that important now. IR blaster is too niche. SD card, headphone jack are still available in lot of phones, but again aren't deciding factor for most people. IPhone is an aspirational brand with awesome marketing, so things like notch which don't make much sense are copied by everyone.
- scaladev 6y ago
  >removable batteries aren't that important now If you like throwing out your phones every two to three years, then sure.
  - dageshi 6y ago
    The part of the audience that drives the market certainly don't have a problem doing that it seems.
  - f6v 6y ago
    It’s not like a battery is soldered there, you can still replace it and it’ll cost you much less than getting a new phone. AFAIK I can still get a new battery on my iPhone 7 which is 4.5 years old.
    - ungzd 6y ago
      Replacing iPhone battery feels like reassembling a mechanical watch. It isn’t soldered, but it’s glued in weird way requiring applying heat. To change battery, you have to disconnect 4-5 tiniest connectors, looking like LPT for fleas, extremely fragile. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+12+Battery+Replacement/140588 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+12+Battery+Replacement/1... And you just can’t buy original battery, they’re available only to selected service centres.
      - f6v 6y ago
        Well yeah, I've replaced the battery and the button on my iPhone 4s myself back in the day. Handling those tiny connectors feels like you're performing an open heart surgery if you're not doing it for a living. But let's be honest, personal computing devices are going to get smaller and more intricate in the next decades. The days of replacing the battery yourself are long gone.
fomine3 6y ago
Happily they stopped cloning the iPhone's decision to adopt face auth and drop fingerprint auth
deleted 6y ago
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jayd16 6y ago
The way I see it, WWDC has been full of 2 year old Android features for 3 years now, and the iPhone hardware is always strictly less featured than that year's Galaxy phone. Certain changes sweep through the industry like the notch or no headphone jack etc, but you can always fine some Android phone with the mix you want. If it wasn't for the Apple silicon (and the advantage is clearly Apple's) it would be just come down to whether you preferred iOS enough to overcome the obvious feature advantages on the Android side.
- f6v 6y ago
  > obvious feature advantages on the Android side I remember Samsung flagships from 2013-2014. That thing had eye tracking, ie it scrolled the page for you as you read it. That’s just one example, the phone was packed with those. How many of those features are useful in daily life though? It’s as if Samsung is trying to pack as many features as they can to compensate for something.
f6v 6y ago
> even their controversial decisions like removing the headphone jack I love wireless headphones myself. But you’ve got to admit that it’d be much harder to sell those if phones had 3.5mm jack. It’s as if corporations do anything to increase revenue...
dagurp 6y ago
I recommend Motorola phones. They have headphone jacks and (almost) stock Android
- summm 6y ago
  And horrible security update, policy, you can basically throw them away after 1 year...
vbezhenar 6y ago
There are plenty of phones which provide features you mentioned. samsung galaxy xcover pro: removable battery, headphone jack, SD card. That's just one example.
- summm 6y ago
  Also phones with good cameras and more than 4gb of RAM?
herbst 6y ago
I have all those features and my next android phone will have them too. Are you comparing samsung with the android ecosystem?
- twirlip 6y ago
  What current phone out there has a high-impedance 3.5mm headphone jack, user-replaceable battery, and IR blaster? Asking as a V20 owner.
MetaWhirledPeas 6y ago
If you want to keep a phone going, try a Fairphone. https://shop.fairphone.com/en/fairphone-3-plus https://shop.fairphone.com/en/fairphone-3-plus I'm too spoiled on having snappier phone specs to enjoy something like this, myself.
- klondike_ 6y ago
  I wish they sold this in the US

michaelmrose 6y ago

My $170 new moto g7 power has a 5ah battery, a headphone jack, an sdcard slot, a 6 x 3 in screen, and no lock to any carrier. I wouldn't love a Linux phone but app support is going to be in need of help unless it can run android apps

OkayPhysicist 6y ago
Amen. Best phone I've had, because it flawlessly hits the only things I care about in a phone: Stock Android, an SD card slot for my music library, a screen big enough to read shit on, a biggass battery, and cheap enough that I don't feel too bad when I inevitably lose or break it.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

scruffyherder 6y ago

I’ve been thinking of getting a pine phone. The concept sure looks interesting.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

toiletfuneral 6y ago
Honest question, who are the people who need more chargers? Definitely being anecdotal but everyone in my circle is drowning in generations of random usb adaptors, myself included. I’ve been very supportive of removing wasteful redundancy but again, this is subjective
- klondike_ 6y ago
  While that's true right now, it might not be true a few years in the future if manufacturers stop including them. Also, people are more likely to use dangerous counterfeit chargers (Amazon sells plenty!) if they don't get one included in the box. Considering how many devices run off USB nowadays, having a couple extra laying around the house isn't that big of a deal.
- e-clinton 6y ago
  I now have tons of USB C to lightening cables laying around the house with nothing to plug them into. So I either have to go buy USB C chargers or toss what I have. While the idea was a good one, the execution has been complete BS
- kiwijamo 6y ago
  Many people who hoard chargers still hang on to old chargers that only do the 5W standard. For modern devices fast charging is very useful especially for high battery capacity devices. I've recycled all chargers that don't support any of the fast charging standards.
- tomjen3 6y ago
  I have tons of chargers because I have had a smart phone for ten+ years. Most of the chargers are usb, not USB-C, so that won't help me if I buy an iPhone, although I have an old cable so that would be fine. However anybody buying their first phone, anybody selling the old phones or anybody wanting to take advantage of fast charging would need a new(er) charger they might not have.

zozin 6y ago

They're obsessed with making money. No 3.5mm means you're more likely to buy bluetooth earbuds. No SD? Cloud services. Battery? You'll get a new phone after 18-24 months. No charger? Wireless charging pad. Apple can "get away" with it because to a lot of people it's a luxury/lifestyle brand. Android vendors copy them because they want to create new revenue streams by removing features/out of nothing too!

unreal6 6y ago
Then why wasn't there massive commercial success for the phones that kept these features, like a headphone jack an SD card? Samsung tried to market it for a few years, but eventually surrendered to the same trends like the rest of the market. If this was really so bad for consumers, they would've chosen the alternatives that were available at the time.
- Judgmentality 6y ago
  The only reason I bought a Pixel 4a instead of a Pixel 5 is because I wanted a headphone jack.
  - galangalalgol 6y ago
    Battery life is better too. Love my 4a.
- Exmoor 6y ago
  I'll be interested to see what happens with Samsung's decision to drop SD. They did that once before with the Galaxy S6 and brought it right back with the S7 after disappointing sales. Personally, I just purchased a Note20 Ultra (at a heavy discount) because it looks like it might be the last phone with microSD that gets long term updates. In theory they sell phones with larger amounts of storage, but they rarely seem to drop below MSRP or are always out of stock if they do.
- klondike_ 6y ago
  Vendor lock in. People might be upset at Apple for removing features, but all their pictures are on iCloud and all their friends are on iMessage, etc. They'll stick with a mediocre iPhone because the friction to switch is too high.

bawolff 6y ago

Apples controversial decisions aren't without reason, probably they realized it makes sense for them too.

hardwaregeek 6y ago

They realized people use their phones as fashion accessories and don't care about specs? Removable batteries create bulk, make the phone ugly. Headphone jacks? Added width and makes it harder to sell the consumer bluetooth headphones. IR blasters/SD cards? Nobody cares.

ekianjo 6y ago
> Removable batteries create bulk, Not even remotely true. The LG V20 is very thin and still has a removable battery.
- Judgmentality 6y ago
  Batteries have to hold substantially more power now than they did 5 years ago. EDIT: Huh, I looked it up and I'm completely wrong. Battery sizes haven't changed.
  - speedgoose 6y ago
    They charge much faster now, which is good for sales because a battery that charges fast is very convenient. So it progressed. Fast charging degrades the battery slightly faster than slow charging but it's not the end of the world in my opinion. I'm guessing it's much better to not keep your phone battery at a high state of charge for a long time, much of the chemical reactions that degrade the battery happens at high state of charge, than avoiding to fast charge it to 80%.
    - ekianjo 6y ago
      The LG V20 already supported fast charging so its not recent tech by any means.
starky 6y ago
>Removable batteries create bulk, make the phone ugly. I've always found this who argument hilarious given that a majority of people put a bulky, ugly case on their phones.

shp0ngle 6y ago

There is lots of weird Android stuff on AliExpress.

ehsankia 6y ago
You don't even need to go that far. - ASUS is on it's 5th? gaming focused phone (with attachable fan and all) [1] - You have folding, flipping and stretching [2] phones - You still have plenty of great niche hardware keyboard phones [3] The issue is that these mostly fill niches, as the majority of people are happy enough having the a clean simple phone. [1] https://rog.asus.com/phones/rog-phone-model/ https://rog.asus.com/phones/rog-phone-model/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF-Hfzntue0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF-Hfzntue0 [3] https://www.fxtec.com/ https://www.fxtec.com/
- karlshea 6y ago
  > with attachable fan and all Oh my god you're not kidding.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    I mean it is literally the "Republic of Gamers" phone
  - fomine3 6y ago
    All passively cooled thin highend phones can't run highly loaded games longer, due to GPU makes massive heat, so actually fan is practical for such use case.
    - oriolid 6y ago
      Wouldn't a water cooled phone be much more awesome?
      - fomine3 6y ago
        "Water cooling" is just a heat transfer method, so you need water, pump and external fan or large heat sink. I believe just a fan without water is enough unless you're LTT. Possibly you mention about some manufacturer that advertises vapor chamber as "water cooling". I don't like their advertisement because it's just a improved heat pipe.

benatkin 6y ago

Samsung hasn't copied Apple any more than Apple has copied Samsung. The most notable thing recently is that Samsung phones kept supporting Fingerprint ID. It was a tremendous PITA having to enter my passcode at night because of the move to Face ID without continuing to support Touch ID.

kiwijamo 6y ago
I thought Face ID used some sort of radar/infrared technology and thus didn't really need light to work? Happy to be corrected on this.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Nope, it works perfectly fine in the dark.

rektide 6y ago

LG V20 is a fantastic phone. It feels so much better than every other device I've ever owned. Space-age frame with such core ruggedness, great screen, great for it's day camera, sd card, sweet audio. And! And! Someone managed to unlock the bootloader. So there's a variety of decent roms one can run on it. All aging now, a little bit too old at this point, but this 2016 device was swinging mightily until it became utterly bereft & unsupportable. It's just so pathetic that we rely on these shitty ass vendor OSes. The v20 is a case study in how amazingly awesome devices are when consumers have any right what-so-ever to maintain & work with their devices. By hook here! One uses the "dirty santa" exploit (with pixelated santa junk) to unlock the blasted thing. And with that it is a semi-modern, loveable device. By community effort. By contributor effort. No thanks to Google nor LG. But modern phones are more impervious. This 2016 device is one of the last devices that (unintentionally) allowed access. After this, everything slid downhill. Everything went to shit. Android collapsed into a pitiful shitmound. Libre was squeezed out. Consumerism & obsolescence are enforced in firmware now, almost ubiquotously. What a pathetic trash heap Android is. John Deere tractors have nothing on the disposable technology that Android levers against it's users. It's a vile situation. Unlock the bootloaders you frigging jerkwads. This is hell you perpetuate against your users! Stop this madness.

striking 6y ago
OnePlus ships phones with unlockable bootloaders. They're great! However, when you unlock your bootloader, you lose access to things that demand devices be trusted by Google. So Netflix no longer even shows up in the Play Store, you can no longer use NFC pay, etc. And ROMs are not what they used to be (though the update process being lighter and quicker is a nice change). It's too bad, but I get why it is the way it is.
- pimeys 6y ago
  I never used my old xiaomi with anything else than lineage os and I used NFC payments and a bank app all the time with my phone. You're mileage may vary I guess...
  - 6y ago

rtkwe 6y ago

There's decent reasons behind most of those, or at least consistent ones, a lot is around slimness which drives strength and material decisions. > removable batteries Those usually require relatively flimsy backs that slide fit onto the phone. This has problems with water proofing and it's a part that can wear and eventually fit poorly or fall off. It's a lot easier to waterproof/resist a phone when you can seal the whole back of the phone off from the outside world. It also allows using soft polymer batteries that can eek out a bit more volume without the protective bits removable batteries need to be safe(r) to handle. On the more cynical side maybe they figured it'd induce people to replace their phones more often though I don't have data showing how much of a factor bad battery is in replacing a phone versus other stuff like better performance or FOMO. > IR blasters Honestly don't think I had a phone with one of these since my Palm Centro in high school and college and I don't think I ever used the IR feature on there. The only real use I see is slow data transfers (better accomplished with Bluetooth now) and controlling TVs. The latter isn't a huge draw for most people I bet because people generally either have one remote (that more often can control everything if setup properly either through ARC and HDMI control signals or the cable box remote also sending the TV signals when needed) or many remotes and are willing to spend money on a nicer universal like a Harmony. There's probably still some out there today but it seems like an extra part that most people won't care about so the extra fractions of a cent + to include it gets wiped out to increase profits over a few million phones. > SD cards This one is maybe a little more cynical. There's some justification for reducing the number of intrusions in the waterproofing seals and increasing the internal volume available to squeeze more battery in. I think another reason is to induce people to buy the more expensive version of a phone. If you include SD card expansion storage it's harder to upsell people on the larger more expensive storage options because usually SD cards are cheaper than the equivalent sized storage in a phone > headphone jacks This one I think is a mixed bag. Including the jack sets some hard design limits on the shape of the edge of the phone and it's a pretty large hole to plug against water and other intrusions. I think Apple might have had more coldly calculated reasons for doing it with the close launch of their own AirPods. Some phone companies have similar offerings where you could see a calculated plan to increase profits. I think we're maybe also just reaching the more mature phase of the smartphone design. There's a basic set of features most people care about and optimizing for that pushes companies in a pretty similar direction. There's some margin for small experimentation around the edges but those induce compromises in the core features people judge on so that limits the market and profit of making those choices. There's technology like foldable screens that might shake things up but they're pretty new with some big compromises at the moment so they haven't really hit the core incentives and forces that are corralling phones into the same tight design and feature list.

umvi 6y ago

Get a Jelly 2

arvinsim 6y ago

Androids have become iPhone sheep. That is, whatever iPhone decides to do, they just copy it. I don't know if it is because the business just decide to follow market trends or if the designers are secretly Apple fanboys.

deleted 6y ago
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deadmutex 6y ago
Umm, there is a lot of useful tech that iPhone is missing/Android phones had first: E.g. - >60Hz displays - 5G (e.g. S10 5G was released >1 year before iPhone with a 5G). - Notchless phones, etc. This is why if you watch Apple presentations, they'll always say "best iPhone ever", not "best phone ever".

Abishek_Muthian 6y ago

I agree that the hardware omissions are blatant copy from Apple as the way to have more markup and revenue from accessories, software services but I like to differ on the OS front. Android's power user ecosystem couldn't be matched in iOS. Even without root, Tasker can automate every single aspect of the OS - Want to send and receive WhatsApp messages over email?[1], Want better accessibility e.g. Voice summary of news?[2], Want a butt triggered pomodoro timer?[3]. Termux runs a Linux container and it can run complete Linux distribution inside it with PRoot[4]. Best of all, Tasker & Termux can communicate with each other for endless possibilities. Of course Google can mess it up with their policy/API changes for Playstore, but that's where 3rd party app stores like f-droid comes in and can ensure open-source apps like Termux can be published without hurdles. Not to mention the privacy focused apps on f-droid. And if one doesn't want anything to do with Google, LineageOS has proven itself to be a viable replacement for stock android. [1] https://abishekmuthian.com/send-and-receive-whatsapp-messages-through-email/ https://abishekmuthian.com/send-and-receive-whatsapp-message... [2] https://abishekmuthian.com/voice-summary-of-news/ https://abishekmuthian.com/voice-summary-of-news/ [3] https://abishekmuthian.com/butt-pomodoro-a-butt-triggered-pomodoro-timer/ https://abishekmuthian.com/butt-pomodoro-a-butt-triggered-po... [4] https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/PRoot

pjmlp 6y ago
Termux is on their way out as they refuse to implement in Java the requirements of newer Android versions, not exposed as NDK APIs.
- Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
  Did you mean way out of Google Play Store due API 29? As that's why I mentioned f-droid and f-droid doesn't require API-target restrictions. Termux is being updated only on f-droid because of those changes. If you meant Termux on Android 11, Here's the quote from the developer- >"Most of things work on Android 11. Only few packages have issues (including zsh) and restricted /proc/net which renders network information utilities like netstat unusable without root. Rest seems working correctly unless hit by some known issue not related to Android 10+."[1] [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/mj142i/whats_the_future_of_termux/ https://www.reddit.com/r/termux/comments/mj142i/whats_the_fu...

hunter-2 6y ago

My V20 died a few months back and I reluctantly switched to OnePlus. Man, I miss my V20 every single day.

Tiktaalik 6y ago

It's not that Samsung n' co is copying Apple, it's that Apple is making the right design and tech choices for the right reasons and Samsung is figuring this out too and making the same choices.

cageface 6y ago
Samsung has led the way in many respects. Higher refresh displays, multiple cameras, always-on displays, in-screen fingerprint readers, much larger phones, etc.
- bengale 6y ago
  Doesn't this just come down to them being able to put emerging technology in their devices faster due to not having the same insane supply requirements that apple has?
  - cageface 6y ago
    Samsung sells a lot of phones too. I think it has more to do with the fact that better and more innovative hardware is the only way Samsung can differentiate from other Android vendors and that they don't have the sticky ecosystem that Apple has so they need people to keep upgrading.

blackoil 6y ago

With fast charging, removable batteries aren't that important now. IR blaster is too niche. SD card, headphone jack are still available in lot of phones, but again aren't deciding factor for most people. IPhone is an aspirational brand with awesome marketing, so things like notch which don't make much sense are copied by everyone.

scaladev 6y ago
>removable batteries aren't that important now If you like throwing out your phones every two to three years, then sure.
- dageshi 6y ago
  The part of the audience that drives the market certainly don't have a problem doing that it seems.
- f6v 6y ago
  It’s not like a battery is soldered there, you can still replace it and it’ll cost you much less than getting a new phone. AFAIK I can still get a new battery on my iPhone 7 which is 4.5 years old.
  - ungzd 6y ago
    Replacing iPhone battery feels like reassembling a mechanical watch. It isn’t soldered, but it’s glued in weird way requiring applying heat. To change battery, you have to disconnect 4-5 tiniest connectors, looking like LPT for fleas, extremely fragile. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+12+Battery+Replacement/140588 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+12+Battery+Replacement/1... And you just can’t buy original battery, they’re available only to selected service centres.
    - f6v 6y ago
      Well yeah, I've replaced the battery and the button on my iPhone 4s myself back in the day. Handling those tiny connectors feels like you're performing an open heart surgery if you're not doing it for a living. But let's be honest, personal computing devices are going to get smaller and more intricate in the next decades. The days of replacing the battery yourself are long gone.

fomine3 6y ago

Happily they stopped cloning the iPhone's decision to adopt face auth and drop fingerprint auth

deleted 6y ago

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jayd16 6y ago

The way I see it, WWDC has been full of 2 year old Android features for 3 years now, and the iPhone hardware is always strictly less featured than that year's Galaxy phone. Certain changes sweep through the industry like the notch or no headphone jack etc, but you can always fine some Android phone with the mix you want. If it wasn't for the Apple silicon (and the advantage is clearly Apple's) it would be just come down to whether you preferred iOS enough to overcome the obvious feature advantages on the Android side.

f6v 6y ago
> obvious feature advantages on the Android side I remember Samsung flagships from 2013-2014. That thing had eye tracking, ie it scrolled the page for you as you read it. That’s just one example, the phone was packed with those. How many of those features are useful in daily life though? It’s as if Samsung is trying to pack as many features as they can to compensate for something.

f6v 6y ago

> even their controversial decisions like removing the headphone jack I love wireless headphones myself. But you’ve got to admit that it’d be much harder to sell those if phones had 3.5mm jack. It’s as if corporations do anything to increase revenue...

dagurp 6y ago

I recommend Motorola phones. They have headphone jacks and (almost) stock Android

summm 6y ago
And horrible security update, policy, you can basically throw them away after 1 year...

vbezhenar 6y ago

There are plenty of phones which provide features you mentioned. samsung galaxy xcover pro: removable battery, headphone jack, SD card. That's just one example.

summm 6y ago
Also phones with good cameras and more than 4gb of RAM?

herbst 6y ago

I have all those features and my next android phone will have them too. Are you comparing samsung with the android ecosystem?

twirlip 6y ago
What current phone out there has a high-impedance 3.5mm headphone jack, user-replaceable battery, and IR blaster? Asking as a V20 owner.

MetaWhirledPeas 6y ago

If you want to keep a phone going, try a Fairphone. https://shop.fairphone.com/en/fairphone-3-plus https://shop.fairphone.com/en/fairphone-3-plus I'm too spoiled on having snappier phone specs to enjoy something like this, myself.

klondike_ 6y ago
I wish they sold this in the US