For me it’s the notification light you used to find on older phones, was particularly good to know if your phone was charged without picking it up

  • Dyskolos
    link
    fedilink
    21111 months ago

    Absolutely the damn LED. I would love to trade the stupid never-being-used selfie-cam for a damn 5 cent LED.

    And swappable batteries. And a headphone-jack. And root by default (imagine you winpc came with no admin-pwd. Lol)… And…

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      6511 months ago

      I used to love customising the notification colour on my old phones, so good.

      I miss my headphone jack so damn much, I’m over Bluetooth earbuds breaking constantly and being so damn expensive and low quality.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1711 months ago

        Then buy phones with headphone jacks. Mine has one, I dont buy ones without it.

        If it matters for you to have it, dont buy phones that cut it. If models with it keep selling, theyre less likely to ditch it.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          311 months ago

          I’d rather just buy a DAP than randomly replace a perfectly good phone with one that sucks in comparison.

          • deweydecibel
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -211 months ago

            And that why you’ll never get it back. You’re clinging to brand loyalty and hung up on arbitrary crap rather than just trying competing phones. Have you actually used any of those “suck” phones, or are you just going with the usual iPhone/high end android circlejerk?

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              111 months ago

              You have assumed completely wrong, friend.

              As I mentioned in another comment, if you’d bothered to read it, I have particular needs that mean I can’t really replace my phone with something else right now. I have absolutely no loyalty to brands, and I’m not clinging to something arbitrary.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            -511 months ago

            Lol I only buy jack phones, and if you think they suck you need to shop in places that arent back alleyways

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              611 months ago

              It was a perfectly good MacDonald’s, thank you very much!

              But in all seriousness, I just have particular needs that literally can’t be met by anything else.

      • Dyskolos
        link
        fedilink
        311 months ago

        U could try a usb to jack converter. Looks stupid but at least there’s a jack. Quality sucks anyway as they all use cheap dacs now 😩

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          2
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          usb to jack converter

          All Most of the ones you can get nowadays actually have a sound chip inside the cable (in the flat part behind the USB-C). So they’re pretty much a USB-C soundcard with just a headphone out. So it’s worth shopping around to find one that has a good soundcard built in.

          A good alternative is getting a decent portable Bluetooth audio receiver to plug your regular headphones into. Can get a better headphone amp that way.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            511 months ago

            There are phones that output analog audio over type C so you can have a type c to jack adapter with no dac inside, just wires. That is possible through Audio Adapter Accessory Alternate Mode.

            My huawei tablet works with such an adapter, but when I try it with the samsung s10e which has a jack, it gives an error and doesn’t work.

            Type C alternate modes are cool, too bad they are not advertised, they should be clearly labled and easily distinguishable. Type C has so many features yet it’s so hard to know what’s available without actually having the devices and connecting them. It’s both a blessing and a curse.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              2
              edit-2
              11 months ago

              Thanks for the correction. I had thought that only some of the early Motorolas had that feature, but it looks like there are quite a few more phones that support analog audio out via USB-C.

              From the wiki article:

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C#Alternate_modes

              Moto Z/Z Force, Moto Z2/Z2 Force/Z2 Play, Moto Z3/Z3 Play

              Sony Xperia XZ2

              Huawei Mate 10 Pro, Huawei P20/P20 Pro, Honor Magic2, LeEco

              Xiaomi phones

              OnePlus 6T, OnePlus 7/7 Pro/7T/7T Pro

              Oppo Find X/Oppo R17/R17 Pro

              ZTE Nubia Z17/Z18

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          211 months ago

          I’ve got a suprisingly good pair of USB C earbuds that I found in my mailbox at the moment, but yeah at some point I’ll probably get a DAC

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        211 months ago

        I used to have a similar problem - even if well reviewed, budget and midrange bluetooth earbuds would not last while budget-midrange wired earphones would last forever.

        Think it’s just build quality for bluetooth buds. I got a set of Galaxy buds, 1st gen, roughly 3+ years and still running strong to this day. Was not cheap though.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          311 months ago

          I’ve been through two pairs of Sennheiser’s wireless buds, and I’m just over it.

          The only thing that might bring me back is the ANC, but even then I get significantly better ANC from my over ears, so probably not.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      4811 months ago

      What I don’t understand is why the notification LED was removed in the first place? It can easily be put under the screen.
      The LED was so helpful, and it’s so annoying when I don’t see an important message for hours, because I haven’t used my phone.

      • the post of tom joad
        link
        fedilink
        40
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        I’m guessing… they don’t want us deciding whether to engage with our phones, they want us looking at them more. If that means less convenience for us we can get fucked

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          1811 months ago

          I think you may have a point, It’s kind of weird how the first 10 years of smartphones, was an ever higher climb for better phones, driven by competition.
          But now that everybody are dependent on the phones, they all agree on taking useful features away???

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          3
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          It’s probably also a little safer with only system apis accessing system hardware. If you look at how the camera assembly is one piece and apps basically access the whole thing securely.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2311 months ago

        I used to have a custom ROM that would allow me to change the color based on which app had the most recent notification: FB was Blue, SMS was Green. Let me be prepared ahead of time if it was going to be important or not.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          1911 months ago

          I used to have a custom ROM that would allow me to change the color based on which app had the most recent notification

          Even more than that, in early versions of Android this setting was baked in. I had colors set based on text messages, emails, etc. I think around 2.x was when the option was removed.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              211 months ago

              I don’t know about the original, but I rocked a Droid 4 for the longest time. It’s probably my all time favorite phone. I really miss how quickly I could type and the extra screen space I got from not needing the software keyboard.

      • xigoi
        link
        fedilink
        20
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        Nowadays most phones have OLED screens, which can easily replicate the function of the notification LED with the “always on” feature.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          1811 months ago

          Yet there are often warnings that even with OLED AOD eats a lot of battery, not so with a notification LED.
          The absolute newest OLED that can do 1Hz refresh are better. But that doesn’t change that the removal of the notification LED was detrimental to the functionality of the smartphone.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            211 months ago

            Someone else posted an app that gives the feature back. If you turn off other aid features and just use the app it won’t use more battery than a notification led.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              311 months ago

              If you turn off other aid features

              What?

              it won’t use more battery than a notification led.

              If the screen has 60hz or higher refresh, I’m pretty sure it will. The screen itself may not use much, but the DAC will still use power.
              I haven’t seen this actually tested, but many claim the difference in battery life is noticeable. I don’t think it matters much what app you use, many phones come with an AOD app, and I seriously doubt a third party app is better.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                311 months ago

                aid what?

                Typo: aod feature. Always on display.

                If the screen has 60hz or higher refresh, I’m pretty sure it will.

                It’s supposed to drop down to 1hz. The CPU refreshing a pixel of an OLED screen or a notification led is the same power usage. That is even if you have a notification led, the CPU could still be stuck refreshing it at 60 hz.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  311 months ago

                  AH ok that makes a lot more sense. ;) As I understand it, it’s only the newest top displays that can go down to 1 Hz. Or maybe it’s just when in use they can’t for some reason. I find the 1Hz capability to be extremely cool, so it would be great if it’s a more general feature of AOD.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            211 months ago

            OLED AoD eats a lot of battery because there’s still quite a lot of information(and thus, pixels turned on) shown on the AoD. A single pixel blinking on and off would at most use the same power as a dedicated notification led.

        • Dyskolos
          link
          fedilink
          311 months ago

          I really can’t. I did it all. It just doesn’t come near the tiny lil LED shining bright.

      • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)
        link
        fedilink
        English
        611 months ago

        Oh, in some cases the notification LED is physically there, but is disabled in software. At least I know that was the case with a bunch of Motorola phones, including my Moto G5s Plus.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          411 months ago

          I’m pretty sure mine has a tiny LED under the screen, that only shows very shortly on reboot. But as you say, it’s disabled for some weird reason.

      • Aniki 🌱🌿
        link
        fedilink
        English
        511 months ago

        Because if you can read an LED notification system you have no purpose to pick up the cellphone.

        Cellphones are not designed FOR YOU. They are designed by marketeers for you to use.

        Once you realize this, all the anti-consumer shit makes sense.

      • Dyskolos
        link
        fedilink
        311 months ago

        I have no effing clue. Maybe to get us to actually look at the damn phone more often? Because of the people who’re drowning in spam? Makes not THAT much sense. Probably to save a cent in circuit-design, because only the nerds were using the stupid LED? I really would like to know too.

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      111 months ago

      I also just don’t understand why apple didn’t put one in the dynamic island, could have worked really well

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        111 months ago

        Not sure but you can have the back camera led flash when you get a notification at least.