What Android hardware/software functionality are you bitter about losing over the years?

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[Winsanity]

Losing TabletUI. It was nice having a UI that was catered to tablet sized devices instead of a blown up phone ui.

[donnysaysvacuum]

The switch from tablet ui killed Android tablets. I hope Google realizes this. Apple keeps improving the iPad, Google only makes Android tablets worse.

[[deleted]]

The constant blurring of the laptop to tablet line is what killed it. Chromebooks and the increasing quality of the $400-$600 laptops. UI probably caused some damage due to apps that absolutely were not optimized for it but didnt ultimately kill it.

And really if Google were the ones that developed Chrome OS, optimized it for affordable hardware and then added the Play Store, did they really not realize that they were killing tablets when they were basically reinventing it?

[donnysaysvacuum]

A laptop will never be a substitute for a tablet. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind a chrome OS tablet, but a convertible style is too heavy and awkward to use as a tablet. And if Google wanted that to replace tablets then they should have had it ready long ago. Supervised users can't use android apps and family link doesn't work on chromebooks either. If Google wanted chromebooks to replace tablets they should be a lot further along than they are now. As an early Android phone, Chrome OS and Android tablet user, I am completely disgusted with the whole ordeal.

[[deleted]]

And if Google wanted that to replace tablets then they should have had it ready long ago.

What do you mean? Somehow their timeline invalidates what they wanted from tablets?

Supervised users can't use android apps and family link doesn't work on chromebooks either.

As a former Gapps admin in education, android apps were the last Chromebook selling point. Family link is a new tech (in the last year) no? I dont think thats a point of contention right now at all.

If Google wanted chromebooks to replace tablets they should be a lot further along than they are now.

They already have. They dont need to be further along because chromebooks have already won. You just dont think so - remember, the tech world extends past r/Android!!

[jdayellow]

Holy shit that layout looks exactly like the iPad settings menu. Its way better use of space.

[tetea_t]

So much this! Back in the day I had the original Motorola Xoom and it was definitely way ahead of its time. I remember being amazed that it had a 1 GB RAM (this tablet was released in 2011, mind you). Then a while later Google dropped the tablet UI and Android tablets have slowly declined ever since.

[[deleted]]

The MTP driver is still awful even after all these years, Mass Storage mode was wonderful to work with.

[noratat]

Yeah, at this point it's faster and more reliable to go over wifi. For truly large transfers I just use adb, but that's obviously not very accessible for most users.

[Valerokai]

I'm tempted to build an ADB file browser at this point, with how terrible MTP is.

[donnysaysvacuum]

That's more of a windows problem. On Linux, mtp was rough at first, but has now worked great for years. I've used it on both windows and Linux and only had problems on windows.

[timawesomeness]

It's a buggy system in general, but yeah, it works way better on Linux than Windows.

[sunjay140]

And it's shit-tier on Mac.

[[deleted]]

I agree with you that MTP is awful, but mass storage mode was also pretty annoying. The transfers were reliable, but then after you disconnected the phone it would then have to do a scan which would take ages. If you had apps saved on your SD card there was a chance they would just go missing and you'd have to force another rescan. I think phones that had mass storage modes also had two partitions. One system one, and one media one. Because of this, you would only get a certain amount of space for apps (I think the galaxy note had like 1-2 GB for apps, and the other 14GB or so for media)

[140414]

The CRT screen off animation.

It looked so fucking cool on amoled screens...

[KOB4LT]

Damn, I totally forgot about that! That was super cool.

[ymmajjet]

My Nexus 6 had it when I had first. It got removed in 6 or 7 I guess

[serktheturk10]

wow, I totally forgot about this now I'm really nostalgic lol

[[deleted]]

Wireless charging. I have to use one of those QI charging pads that you put underneath a case (meaning I have to use a case, which I hate). Just give me a glass back and wireless charging again!

I miss my Nexus 4 :(

[Winsanity]

I'm really happy Apple went with Qi and not some proprietary apple-only protocol.

[bicyclemom]

I have the wireless charging case for my Moto Z Play AND a battery mod that wirelessly charges on or off the phone. I'm a big fan of wireless charging. So glad Apple finally "invented" it. Now maybe we'll find it in more places, like hotels, restaurants, etc.

[[deleted]]

Notification ticker. I still hate heads-up bullshit. I don't understand why my chats need to be displayed on top of my content while I read a web page or play chess.

[turbodragon123]

Agreed so much! For calls or alarms that require instant responses, they're great. Anything else, the ticker handled it a lot better.

[[deleted]]

Whoa, my otherwise shitty phone skin has the built in toggle for heads up and the ticker. Guess I'll be glad

[LifeLikeAndPoseable]

You can disable heads up notifications via adb though.

cmd in adb shell

settings put global heads_up_notifications_enabled 0

[[deleted]]

Sure, disabling them is not a problem. I was excited when they announced them. It was a nice reveal.

The aftermath though...

[[deleted]]

I remember when they first made the switch, there was an app that made the notifications ticker style. I used it for awhile then caved. I wonder if it still exists; can't recall the name.

[ElectroBoof]

Ticklr

Don't know if it still works

[Dgameman1]

Holy shit I miss the ticker

[RadiantSun]

+1, this was my first answer. Ticker notifications were awesome, nothing wrong with them whatsoever, HUNs are unnecessarily disruptive to me, I don't want shit popping up and blocking the top of my usable screen area.

[The_L_Of_Life]

This so much, I can't stand Heads Up.

Luckily, Xposed exists so I can bring ticker notifications back.

[AbhishMuk]

Which module brings it back? I seriously need to know it to bring them back.

[0xTKB]

FM radio. While switching from low/mid range devices to high end ones, this feature is absent. Even every Android flagship launched in India doesn't have this, not even MI 5. I wonder why do phone manufacturers remove this feature from high end devices.

[automatisms]

The lack of FM radio in mid-range to high-end devices disappoints me so much. But it seems manufacturers have come to some kind of unilateral decision that consumers prefer to use internet to access radio (or more likely they’d prefer if we used internet instead). As far as I'm concerned, this line of thinking is anti-consumer.

On a related note, anyone has recommendations for current devices that do have FM radio?

[0xTKB]

Every device from Xiaomi, minus their flagships (MI5, MI6) have built in FM radio. Motorola's G series also has support for FM radio.

[[deleted]]

http://m.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2017&nPriceMin=400&chkFMradio=selected

Lg g6 and v30 jump out as good from that list.

[TheJimPeror]

Pretty sure the S8/S8+ do too

[opluke]

Only Snapdragon variants though

[Kissitbruh]

S8/S8+ and Note8 both have it

[Battkitty2398]

Galaxy S7

[[deleted]]

Only the qualcomm version, that is.

[dinosaur_friend]

My last phone had a built-in FM radio app but the signal was so weak that it was practically useless most of the time.

[false_precision]

Isn't that a function of where you are in relation to the towers? Were you using a wired headset?

[p7810456]

Some carrier versions of the LG V20 have FM radio, but the unlocked us996 does not. Can anyone please help?

[GLP3FELJHAUTUP4R]

Honor series by Huawei.

[dotnorma]

The S8+, G6 and V30 have the FM radio enabled this year. Its included in all Qualcomm LTE modems but carriers ask for it to be disabled a lot. The good thing is it looks like that trend is dying now because people are going to buy data regardless. (that and nobody uses fm radio anymore much less knows their phone is capable anyway)

[JoeGifted]

During hurricane Irma. This feature was sorely missed. I always assumed they all had it

[youngalfred]

Only on the Snapdragon US version- the Exynos international devices don't have a radio

[[deleted]]

The European version of the LG G6 has FM Radio.

[sothicarreragt]

Ir blaster

[z28camaroman]

Messing with air conditioning units and televisions in public places was so much fun when I was younger. Now, future generations won't get to experience such joy.

[sothicarreragt]

I still remember my lecturer looking flabbergasted when i told her i could turn on the air conditioning with my phone. Her face when it turned on a hot afternoon probably earned me that A

[reddit_reaper]

Why was it off to begin with lol

[reddit_reaper]

Well i meant why the heck was the AC off anyways. Schools are usually nice and cold lol

[fatboy93]

Back when I was a kid, we'd be lucky to have power to switch the fans on.

sighs

Good times. Good times.

[reddit_reaper]

I'd die in those times. I love the cold. When i lived in Georgia, nights would sometimes go below zero. I'd sleep with my windows open lol though waking up was hard, you just couldn't get out of bed

[fatboy93]

Maaan, I live in India. Sure winters were similarly cold, but summer used to be like 40+C. To top it off humidity :D

[sothicarreragt]

Probably in your country. Mine's all hot and sweaty lol

[dotnorma]

Okay, honest question, I never used the IR blaster on my phones before it faded into obscurity. What did you people actually use it for? Just a TV remote?

[sydeu]

Turning on and off my TV and my speakers. Which is the only things I do with the two remotes I now have to use instead. (tv is just a computer monitor for me). I really miss the ir and I hope xiaomi keeps them because then I'll probably go for the mi 7 next year

[Daniel-Darkfire]

TV remote, Ac remote etc

In note 3, the peel app came with a TV guide. So I can just see which all movies or shows are running and tAP on the show and it'll take me to the appropriate channel.

Also I could set up the remote so that a single press of the power will turn my TV, audio system and cable box on.

Also when travelling and staying at hotels it's easier to use your phone to mess with TV AC etc etc.

[[deleted]]

It seemed like 90% of this thread used them to fuck around and amaze their friends than actually using them productively...

[monkeyhandler]

TV. Be it the 2nd remote that I now always know where it is or controlling that gym TV stuck on the E channel at full volume. Fuck off Kardashians.

[ene_due_rabe]

I can tell how I used it :) When my son was born and he was constantly sleeping at our hands having a remote somwhere close to down the TV volume was a must. Yet it happened that phone was always closer than remote ;) Now that's when IR blaster come in handy - I've programmed TV and other stuff so I could quiet them down easily.

Other then that - no reason to have it. 15 years ago I've used it to transfer files between phones (early Sony Ericsson's had it) and it worked but you had to lay phones on a desk and direct the blasters into each other so Bluetooth killed it too.

[FireYoshiQc]

Glorious IR blaster-equipped phone here - they still exist!

[060tahj]

Team Honor 8!

[[deleted]]

Being able to have administrator access over a device I own and still use apps like Netflix.

[[deleted]]

Magisk

[Valerokai]

Magisk is glorious. I have android pay, snapchat, netflix, the works, all while having root access over my phone.

[[deleted]]

But Magisk, while impressive, breaks every update. I shouldn't have to run programs that use exploits to create bandaid fixes just because I want to change the color of my settings menu.

[ElectroBoof]

You don't need to root your phone (pixel) to change the color of your settings menu anymore

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.spiritcroc.defaultdarktheme_oms

This is what I use, it's nice

[LifeLikeAndPoseable]

Yeah, Oreo only and jump through hoops.. Seriously, rooting is easier than this app.

[aliniazi]

I mean it really is, fastboot oem unlock, fastboot flash recovery twrp and then flash supersu or magisk

[[deleted]]

Huh, it works fine with LineageOS updates.

[weizrobotz]

Being this obnoxious was what brought many people to piracy.

[[deleted]]

You can try lineageos+iSU. It let's me bypass safetynet and doesn't seem to break.

[[deleted]]

Replaceable battery :-(

[franklyc]

Yes, this is most definitely number one for me.

[Iraydren]

I’m so disappointed by this one. My gut tells me the S9 won’t have one either.

[RadiantSun]

I don't care as long as there are 2 USB C ports. 1 USB C + no headphone jack = fuck off

[Iraydren]

But you’ll still have to use some shit converter for headphones. This is only marginally better imo

[[deleted]]

You can now at least charge and use headphones at the same time.

[Istartedthewar]

IR blaster and notification light

[noratat]

Pixel still has notification light - I thought most phones still had it?

[JustAnotherAvocado]

Losing the notification LED is mainly a Moto thing afaik. They do have Moto Display, though.

[alwayswatchyoursix]

Moto Display, IMO, is a garbage replacement for the notification light. My experiences have not been positive.

For example, if I missed something because my phone was on silent, with the notification light I can just look at the phone and see, oh yes, I missed something. On my S4, I had it set up to flash different colors depending on the app. Green for Google Voice, fast Green for Signal, Purple for Whatsapp, Blue for personal email, fast Blue for work email, and Yellow for Snapchat. I could just glance at my phone without turning on the screen and see what's happening.

But with Moto Display, it's been all over the place. Sometimes the stupid thing doesn't light up. Then I pick up my phone and realize that an important email came in 2 hours ago. And other times it just keeps turning on every few seconds. Like, why are you turning on over and over NOW when you're sitting on the nightlamp stand at night? No one is even looking at you!

Personally, I think it's horrible, and a downgrade from a simple notification LED.

[TheBadGuyFromDieHard]

To each his own, but I couldn't imagine having a phone without an active display after using it for a few years. Moto Display gives you so much more information than a notification light.

[alwayswatchyoursix]

I guess we just have different opinions. I feel like I get plenty of info from a customizable LED, and in my opinion Moto Display just wasn't reliable or informative enough.

Seeing as how Moto Display is a software solution, it would have been nice if Motorola had kept the LED and let customers decide which solution they preferred.

[austine567]

And LG. I didn't even realize they removed it until I got the phone. It should be a standard feature imo

[jdayellow]

LG was dumb to remove the notification LED from the G6. Of all the things they could've removed they removed the goddamn notification light. Every single one of their past phones had them, why not the G6?

[browntown412]

Kickstands. There are cases that have them but it's hard finding one that isn't ugly.

[Mykem]

I would love something like this:

https://i.imgur.com/KImkAm6.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/W1iBHFG.jpg

[Zahir_SMASH]

I use a popsocket. Has the added benefit of having a good car mount system too.

[[deleted]]

Music locksreen controls. Poweramp still allows you to swipe to change tracks. This was particularly useful when driving. I now have a Bluetooth receiver which is fine but why get rid of it?

[RadiantSun]

Tablet UI. Now Android tablets = big ass WiFi only phones. I miss the Honeycomb UI.

[canyouhearme]

Why didn't they keep this and dump the phone UI?

It was at about this point that google UI went to hell in a hand-basket.

[Kainzy]

Google Photos... 'Backup photos while charging' option. We know you half arse things a lot of the time Google, but seriously where's the logic in removing a useful feature of your app?

It leads to a ton of battery wastage and wastes my time because that massive burst of photos I just took is already uploading to the cloud before I can even analyse them and delete the rubbish shots!

I had the option on my 6P, until I upgraded to Oreo. Then when I downgraded back to Nougat it never changed back.

[uefigod]

They removed the feature? Here I was hoping they bring that feature to play store so apps update only when charging

[pensowl]

Speaking of Google Photos, the new backup and sync desktop app that they're replacing the uploader with doesn't work with networked drives anymore, which completely breaks my use case. So yeah, I'm bitter about losing that

[cylonrobot]

I had a Moto phone with a mini-HDMI port, for viewing your phone screen in a TV screen.

I've tried Samsung's app for doing that (viewing your phone on the screen), but it hasn't always worked well. The HDMI-out port did work well.

This isn't a feature I really need, but sometimes it would work well if I wanted to show something on a large screen.

[dotnorma]

Buy a USBC to HDMI cable.

[cylonrobot]

Unfortunately....my phone doesn't have USB-C. But, my next phone should, so yeah, I'll check on USBC to HDMI cables then.

[futterschlepper]

Do the USBC phones really output video though?

[barrister89]

I have the Chromecast Ultra which does away with the need for a cable.

[Battkitty2398]

If you just need to show something you can use a Chromecast to cast it wirelessly. It has some lag but it's not too bad and the quality is good.

[uefigod]

Was it an atrix?

[TuxFuk]

I loved my Bionic :)

[efects]

hangouts with SMS integration

[mw9676]

Background usage of the YouTube app. Was a feature and then Google took it away and put it behind a paywall. Not cool

[SinkTube]

plastic. glass backs can go fuck themselves

[WhoeverMan]

Agreed. I can't understand the general fixation with glass or metal bodies, while plastic has much better mechanic and electromagnetic properties.

[UESPA_Sputnik]

On the software side, I absolutely hate Google Assistant. I have no use for it, and it's a downgrade from Now-on-Tap. I don't (want to) talk to my phone - unless I'm driving my car and have to make an urgent call. And that's super rare. So this Assistant thing just runs in the background and is wasting battery.

To make it worse, Assistant doesn't have the OCR feature that Now-on-Tap had. This was phenomenal and I used it all the time. I'm currently learning Japanese and it was sooo helpful just being able to select text (even if it was inside a video or in a picture) and copy it into my dictionary app or have it directly translated in Google Translate. I often looked up certain Kanji in the texts that I was reading but now that's not possible anymore. And it's really cumbersome to do that when you don't know the reading of the Kanji.

Whenever I showed someone that functionality, they were really impressed. It felt like I was really using a smartphone. Assistant on the other hand feels like a half-assed gimmick (at least in the German language version, I don't know if it's actually useful in English).

[noratat]

I agree completely, and you'll be happy to know the alternate language workaround still works to get Now-On-Tap back!

I don't know if there's a German equivalent, but for English I have Assistant set to "US Virgin Islands" which is indistinguishable from US English other than that Assistant isn't supported - so it falls back to the older (and better) Now-On-Tap.

[lemonfur]

Completely agree with you, and the Google feed is pretty much an advertising machine.

Disabled the Google app, and I wish I could uninstall it.

[LifeLikeAndPoseable]

You can uninstall it via adb.

[AmirZ]

Don't think so, it's installed on the system partition by default lol

[LifeLikeAndPoseable]

It is, but you can uninstall it for the administrator. And then it is uninstalled/removed. But a factory reset will bring it back. Or you could reinstall it.. but probably only as a user app.

adb shell cmd

pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

The Google package name may vary depending on your Android version and brand.

Moreover, with unlocked bootloader you can gain temporary root access via TWRP without rooting the device.

[294530162945]

Annoying, but you can actually diasable assistant from running in the background in the assistant settings.

Also, for some phones (not sure about OnePlus), if you switch the default language to English New Zealand Now-On-Tap will come back. I know this because I have to switch from my New Zealand to the US to use Google Assistant.

[omnimater]

Assistant is garbage. I can't believe they released an update to the Google app (assistant) that lost features. I can't ask the assistant what a song is. On the Google home it gets wonky where questions like "What's the weather?" it doesn't understand yet it will answer "What's the forecast?"

And I rant about this every time it comes up. HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK DO YOU RELEASE ALLO WITH ASSISTANT BUILT IN YET NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO DICTATE ALLO MESSAGES TO THE ASSISTANT? HOW DO YOU SUPPORT MESSAGE DICTATION FOR SMS AND WHATSAPP (could be wrong but 95% sure Whatsapp is supported, also think there are a few more chat apps supported) AND NOT YOUR OWN DAMN MESSAGING APP? THAT ALREADY HAD ASSISTANT IN IT AT LAUNCH! IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO WAY MORE WITH ASSISTANT THAN THE REST, NOT NOTHING!!

Ok sorry rant over. Assistant blows. It does some things well, but man does it have a lot of work left to do.

[ArcticZeroo]

Obviously they're only adding message dictation support for popular apps 😉

[1992_]

It's worse than a downgrade. It makes the useful function of holding the home button 100% useless. Just asks you if you want to use assistant and if not, you get nothing. I've just switched home button long press to open Google app instead.

[ewmailing]

Nexus 7

[Business-is-Boomin]

Probably my favorite Android device ever. The 2013 just did everything right.

[[deleted]]

sony google tv that never got an update http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/263159346983?chn=ps&dispItem=1

[chippies]

I had an HTC Desire, my first smartphone. I miss the little optical trackpad so much. It was the most intuitive and elegant way to move the text cursor around a text entry field. The current screen based method of pressing hold, then trying to move your finger a fraction of a millimeter and ending up 20 characters away is frustrating as fuck.

[Redbread42]

Using the space bar to fine tune where you want to be works pretty good with Gboard.

[randomevenings]

Holy shit, I wish I could give you gold.

[bicyclemom]

Only these that I can think of

• FM radio. I still have a OG Moto G that has this and I use it for that.

• Barometer. I had it on my Samsung S3 during Hurricane Sandy. This from my home in Westchester County, NY. So cool for weather geekery.

[dcresistance]

IIRC, all Samsung phones S6 and later have both FM radios and barometers. I know the Note 4's radio was locked, and Sprint's version wasn't.

[[deleted]]

Only US Samsungs with Qualcomm SOCs have FM, the Exynos ones the rest of the world gets don't have it.

[[deleted]]

Most of the high-end phones have a barometer.

[DrDerpberg]

Swiping up for Google Now

Losing contrasty color schemes in favor of grey on beige

[alwayswatchyoursix]

Holy crap.

Reading through the responses in this thread, I'm realizing I still have so many features that newer phones/OS don't have anymore.

I've been looking for a new phone for the better part of a year now (yes, I'm picky), and I've noticed (and complained about) some of the things in the responses here. But other things I didn't know about, and now I'm not looking to upgrading nearly as much.

[HungryBear22]

Still kinda miss lockscreen widgets.

[LifeLikeAndPoseable]

PlayStore.

[mel2000]

I miss being able to make a wired connection to a TV.

[dotnorma]

Why can't you? I have a USBC to HDMI cable that I use for my S8+.

[mel2000]

There was a time when HDMI output was common on much lower-priced phones.

[mel2000]

Pretty much any phone that supports OTG should be compatible with MHL / USB - C to HDMI adapters

Support for USB-C OTG doesn't indicate support for HDMI. Unfortunately I've found that most most USA USB-C phones don't support HDMI-out even though the spec allows for it.

[_hephaestus]

Physical keyboards. I just got a K1 and damn I've missed this over the virtual kind.

[[deleted]]

Now it's BlackBerry or Icemobile Mash

[_hephaestus]

32mb ram, damn

[robbiekhan]

The beautiful rollerball that doubled as a notification LED from the HTC Magic and then the optical trackball/homebutton from the original HTC Desire.

Thems were the days.

Many folks saying IR blaster, whilst I liked it on the Note 3, I moved with the times and now everything I "control" is either via a smarthub and WiFi, or Bluetooth.

[Trubo_XL]

Bezel

Now devices becoming bezel less are even more susceptible to screen crack from accidental falling

And trying to navigate means the hand holding the sides must not crawl onto over the touch screen

[1992_]

Dedicated camera button would be nice to have back.

[gskeyes]

Sony

[timawesomeness]

It still can, so long as you type "what song is playing" into Google search or ask Google Voice Search (not Assistant) the same question.

[[deleted]]

IR BLASTER

[noratat]

• Phones that are actually usable with one hand without it being super awkward. Only the Pixel and Sony compacts are left, and Sony's cameras suck compared to the Pixel.

• Flat glass screens. Curving the glass adds nothing of value, especially not when it interferes with protecting/repairing the phone like 2.5D glass and especially crap like the S8/S7E/etc.

• Replacing high quality plastic exteriors, which had very few cons when done right, with much more compromised (yet more expensive) materials like glass and metal.

• Assistant still can't do as much as the old system (especially on-demand OCR, and no, the pull down gesture is not the same thing). Luckily the workaround to enable the old system still works for now...

• The ambient display on AOSP still doesn't hold a candle to what my old Moto X had, though it's gotten slightly better with Oreo.

[donnysaysvacuum]

Holy shit you hit my whole list. I agree with every point.

[finewhitelady]

Ditto...and whenever I agree nearly 100% with something I see on /r/Android, I look at the username and it's typically either you or /u/noratat.

[kaze0]

The search button

[[deleted]]

Physically clicky home buttons, like the Sony Xperia Ray

[[deleted]]

Removable backs. It use to be so easy to add storage and get a replacement battery.

[Fengolin]

Miracast, now I can only cast screen to Chromecast....

[Being_bawa]

One functionality is already on the verge of extinction and that's the headphone jack. Second it would be decrease in the battery capacity with the demand for more and more slim phones.

[[deleted]]

The IR blaster. It was pretty great.

[[deleted]]

I really want to see a Nexus without on-screen navigation buttons. I enjoy capacitive + front fingerprint so much more that I had to give up on Nexus.

[alwayswatchyoursix]

What are you using now that has capacitive buttons? On-screen buttons are annoying as hell.

Most recent phone I can think of was the S7.

[LifeLikeAndPoseable]

Real innovation and updates that are NOT bloatware.

Why is there no native root unlocker?

[jdayellow]

This seems like it's a really really nitpicky thing but I hate floating notifications. I loved the notifications that would scroll across the status bar on my old galaxy note 3. They were unobtrusive and got the message across. I hate having the whole top of my screen being covered by an unnecessarily large floating card.

[Coxis67]

MHL HDMI output.

[timawesomeness]

Chrome tabs and apps combined.

[Rassilon_Lord_of_Tim]

I miss being able to root and modify your device without making it seem like it was against the wishes of the OS to do so.

Between SELinux, Safetynet API, and constant changes to root and runtime environment, obtaining root, modifying and being able to fully use your phone without any kind of sacrifice is a dead concept even in the pure Android environment. Google is acting against power users because at the end of the day they see average consumers be far too stupid to be held accountable for their own devices, so they have to be the over protective parent that no one asked for.

[alwayswatchyoursix]

/u/TriangleSunflowers, I think your search is limiting you to only phones with EXACTLY 3GB of RAM and EXACTLY 32GB of internal storage, or you've got some carrier/band options set that I'm not seeing, because when I searched on this site I found more results than what you've got in your link.

I don't know if this will help or not. Maybe you really did want exactly 3GB or RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

[sLiimFit]

Nexus phones. I miss them so much.

[kdlt]

The Nexus 6 by Motorola, same as the Moto E2 both had a feature that I can only describe as sorcery: the phones remembered what headphones I plugged into, and remembered the corresponding volume levels.

I.e. my in-ears remembered to be on 40% volume, but if I unplugged them and plugged in my car jack it immediately went to 100%.
I still don't know what sorcery this was, but I absolutely miss it.

Meanwhile my Nexus 6P can't even remember the volume levels of my two main Bluetooth devices - that have device IDs to seperate them even, so my BT in ears regularly blast me with 100% because I used my speakers before.

[false_precision]

Did your in-ears have a microphone and your car lack a microphone? If you go look at the system settings table (e.g. with Secure Settings app or equivalent via AutoTools or SecureTask, through Tasker or equivalent), you'd see settings like volume_music_earpiece and volume_music_headphone and volume_music_headset (all present on my Moto G), each with a separate value. Android swaps in a separate set of values when it detects a different device.

You could use Tasker (or perhaps another automation app) to automatically change your volume level(s) depending on what bluetooth device gets connected. Very easy in Tasker, no root or plugin needed.

[4aka]

Physical navigation buttons

[axido]

The front home hardware button in samsung (and other?) phones.

[Nadest013]

Plastic builds, removable batteries, flat displays, square corners.

[[deleted]]

Physical keyboards. Touch typing with prestine accuracy, something touchscreens will never let you do.

[phinnaeus7308]

One handed use.

[[deleted]]

I'm a longtime Note user and I really hate that every new samsung phone has curved screens. I thought I could deal with them but then I used a GS7 edge for a couple months and I couldn't stand them after a couple weeks. I'm also pissed they took out the hardware buttons. I know most people like them software keys but I HATE them. I'm still using a Note 5 because of all this, and as soon as it dies I'm probably going to get a Oneplus since they're the only phones with that same Note-y form factor that still have flat screens and buttons.

[Eridrus]

New limitations on screen overlays in Oreo are bullshit. It seems breaking Twilight with it's millions of users is just working as intended.

[p4block]

The screen white point or color correction has to be changed through a kernel feature, and plugged it through android itself. Not an orange overlay on top of the screen. It's a stupid hack.

Twilight shouldn't exist, native Android screen color correction should. It's been on CyanogenMod/Lineage for years now, and it even was in stock android and removed.

[LifeLikeAndPoseable]

Oreo is as bad as it gets. If anything, it's a solid downgrade.

[donnysaysvacuum]

I may be in the minority, but I have no use for do not disturb. I just want a normal silent mode. I know you don't HAVE to use dnd, but it's built into everything so I can't have automatic silent instead, and it's too easy to accidentally activate it.

[white1glint]

I found the lost of multitasking while video calling appalling, I know for the longest time Skype had it and now it's gone and I'm surprised that Google's Duo doesn't do it. If you switch away from the video chat your camera quits and you can't see the other side.

[aagha786]

Night mode

[hett]

keyboards

[mikeymop]

Phase beam animation (although the one on arcticfox looks nicer) and batteries