Casual Conversation

to fit in a hand

The capacity to easily switch operating systems.

If it's a mobile computer, then I want the same operating system flexibility that I have for my PC.

Privacy. No listening in to send me ads.

I'd like to to tell me exactly what data it is sharing with apps. Not a list of permissions, I want the JSON

I want the apps back from 10 years ago. Well functioning, beautiful, no ads, no subscriptions, just one payment.

Proper physical keyboard.

Week-long battery life.

Bezels (so you can touch the damn thing without operating it).

Root (in case that's not obvious and implicit).

I would love to have the ability to expand a reason for why the app need access to things like calls and contacts.

Does it need access to calls so it can mute itself? That is different than needing access to calls for some other reason. Maybe the reasons are a lie, but if they take the time to put in something that makes some kind of sense at least I'm not second guessing why they need some seemingly random thing.

Also it would be great if the access was more obviously granular. Let them ask for the whole thing or specific parts, because if they pick specific parts that is a sign that they are actually using it for the stated purpose.

Micro SD slot

Pinch to zoom anywhere.

0. I already have these but most people don't: a headphone jack and micro SD card slot.

1. Removable battery. Loved this on my old LG G4, even though it wasn't the best implementation. I really miss the days before smartphones where I could buy an external charger and just swap batteries as-needed instead of needing my phone to be tethered. I know this has largely been solved by longer battery lives, faster charging speeds, wireless charging, battery banks, and better charger availability. But I still miss the days of just swapping. Great for traveling, great for breathing new life into an old device.

2. Front facing speakers. My ears are not behind the device or below the device. The technology of vibrating the screen to use to as a speaker sounds terrible. My first smartphone was the HTC One M8, and it is still the best-sounding phone i have ever had. I will happily deal with the bars at the top and bottom of the screen to make this happen.

3. More permissions controls. Let me not just turn off my location data, but use a dummy location like the North Pole for apps that "require" it where I don't actually wan to give it uo, for example

4. Better support for launchers, icons, and other customization. This is stuff I already DO on all of my phones, but it always feels like I'm fighting against the manufacture to sneak it by them. Especially replacing icons, which I like to do seasonally. If I have to manually override an icon, the system seems to permanently disconnect that app from ever changing as I change the system icon set, meaning I need to manually go in and change all the ones that aren't ubiquitous every time.

5. Physical buttons. Bring them back. I am willing to compromise for the keyboard, but give me a physical Back, Menu, and Home button.

6. Phones designed for 1-handed use. I'm an adult man who apparently has medium-large hands, and yet most smarthphones are too big for me to use one-handed. I'm a musician who plays extended range guitars and basses, so I'm probably experiencing this problem less than most people and it's still really annoying. If I really want a bigger screen that's what tablets are for.

7. Thicker phones. This can somewhat be helped by cases, but we reached the point a while back where phones are too slim to hold comfortably too. Keeping your fingers pinched that close together for extended periods is just unnatural. It's the same reason the Switch's JoyCons are extremely uncomfortable for anyone with larger than tiny hands.

1 a bezel on the top edge with the camera in it, instead of the screen going around and having to try to scroll to read the word the camera is covering

2 analog audio and an sd card slot

3 fingerprint reader on the back of the phone

4 removable battery

I would like the ability to falsely report my location to some apps while leaving it accessible for others.

Id like to be teleported to the nearest pokestop

A couple of times, I've thought "it always just seems to be improving cameras or making phones thinner that get billed in updates", but then I wondered what the things are that I would like to see myself.

I'm kind of trying to move more of my use to a laptop on Linux from a phone on Android

more open system. But if something were going on the phone:

• I'd like to have a way to get an external antenna that I could place somewhere in some situations to get better reception. Maybe have a standard for an entire external USB or Bluetooth transceiver and just have the internal SIM do auth.

• I'd like external USB-connected power banks to be able to report battery level and have a phone treat the power as contributing to its remaining running time. I went through the USB spec some time back, and USB permits for power supply devices to report a battery level. I've seen Bluetooth earpieces that do report battery level, though USB power banks seem not to do so. Part of that is probably chicken-and-egg, though: unless Android (and GNU/Linux, which is in the same boat) make useful use of that data, battery bank manufacturers probably won't start reporting it. Someone has to take the first step.

I love my S23, it's not too big and fast enough.

The one thing I miss is an audio jack.

Most things people mentioned here, plus: the ability to buy separated components with different specs, and build your smartphone at home. Like a PC.

(I'm aware this will probably never happen.)

Would be cool to have better window management :3.. I considered putting linux on it with a TWM but there's some android only apps I can't give up