I just discovered my old Samsung Galaxy S20 in the depths of a ‘lost electronics’ drawer, and the moment I had the phone in my hand, I was hit by more than just nostalgia.
With its compact form factor and elegant design, it made me wonder what we may have left behind in our never-ending search of newer technologies.
Some of the phones contain features that appear to be unjustly disregarded now, while others are deemed technological dead ends that may have been too quickly abandoned. So join me on a quest to discover which features from prior phones I’d want to see return this year or in the near future.
Smaller, thinner, and curved phones
More of a personal choice, but I liked the size and feel of slimmer, curved-shaped phones like my previous Galaxy S20, which not only looked sleek but also felt good in my hands and pockets.
However, since the iPhone 12, several phones have seen flatter edges and less curved designs, making them appear more utilitarian, despite the fact that curvier edges and screens were adopted in previous generations.
There are a few outliers, like as the OnePlus 11 and the Honor 90, but most phones appear to be going toward a similar design as seen on the latest iPhone and Samsung handsets; this makes sense considering that they are the best-selling smartphones, but it doesn’t provide much variation.
Phones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max have grown so huge and commonplace that they have displaced specialized ‘phablet’ phones like the now-defunct Samsung Note series. These were designed to provide larger screens for note-taking and productivity, not to become the worldwide standard for flagship phones, but that is exactly what has happened.
At some point, tiny phones can start to resemble tablets or simply become awkward, and there are precious few smaller phones with flagship features on the market; consider the discontinuation of the iPhone 13 mini as an illustration of the declining interest in compact phones.
So I’d want to see more flagship phone families have tiny choices that can be operated mostly with one hand. Or, failing that, more phones with curvier edges to resemble the pleasant phones of old.
Smaller camera modules
Older phones have much smaller camera modules. These were less advanced and had less capabilities than today’s flagships, but they were also more integrated with a phone’s back than they are now; we genuinely live in an era of bulky rear camera systems.
I’d love to see better-integrated cameras make a comeback, and happily, it appears that phones are usually moving in this direction. Even top-tier flagships, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 series and iPhone 15 models, have far more subtle cameras that maintain high quality.
Larger camera modules, such as those found on the HONOR Magic 5 Pro and Xiaomi 12S Ultra, can be an eyesore in addition to being functional. Having said that, I enjoy how the Google Pixel 8’s visor is integrated into the design; nevertheless, I hope this will be reduced in the future.
Smaller cameras are one thing, but front-facing cameras are sometimes housed in display notches or cutouts, which complicates matters. Pop-up cameras, such as those found in the OnePlus 7 Pro, were a fantastic – but often forgotten – solution to this problem, allowing selfie cameras to be hidden until needed.
The sleek cool of pop-up cameras seemed to come and go quickly, which is a shame. This smart method, well integrated by OnePlus in 2019, kept a phone’s screen free of holes and was ideal for more security-conscious customers by housing the camera within the phone’s body. As a result, I believe it’s time for phone makers to revisit pop-up cameras.
MicroSD slots
MicroSD slots are the feature I miss the most from current phones. For the uninitiated, these let you to increase a phone’s internal memory beyond what it came with. They also made it easy to transfer files from your previous phones to your laptop.
Despite accusations that they caused instability or discussions about how they effect water resistance and dust protection, the underlying reason for their deletion is most likely financial. It is far easier for manufacturers to sell you the larger storage version of a gadget, or better yet, to persuade you to buy a more premium model by including greater internal storage by default. Of course, there’s the extra cash they can wring from you in the form of monthly cloud storage plans.
I’m convinced that if a flagship Android phone reintroduces a microSD card slot in 2024, it will have a stronger appeal than marginally quicker performance and mildly enhanced cameras.
An included charging brick
It irritates me that you can spend a lot of money on a high-end phone just to realize that it doesn’t come with the adaptor needed to charge it fully.
Not all manufacturers do this, and all include some sort of USB charging cord, but I don’t think that’s enough.
Despite the fact that nearly everyone has a USB port somewhere in their home, charging a phone from, say, a laptop port is significantly less convenient and faster than connecting to a charging brick in a power outlet.
Granted, phone manufacturers claim that the removal of charging bricks is for environmental reasons, but the cynic in me believes it is more likely to save the manufacturer money on production. And I believe that there should be more options for getting a charger packaged in a box, at least with flagship phones; allow me to opt out of having a charger rather than forcing it on me.
VR functionality
When I first saw the Samsung Gear VR in 2015, I was immediately convinced. In fact, I believed that phone-based virtual reality headsets were the future. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, as the Gear VR was discontinued in 2017.
It was a head-mounted attachment designed in partnership with Oculus that allowed certain Samsung Galaxy phones to be placed in a plastic head mount. Your phone would then serve as the VR experience’s display and processor, as well as providing head tracking, a microphone, and an interactive touchpad. It lowered the entry barrier for VR, allowing practically anyone to enjoy immersive virtual reality games, videos, and material.
However, this never happened, and the Gear VR is now a footnote in mobile phone history, alongside Google’s Daydream project. Sure, there’s the Meta Quest 3 and its ilk, but it’d be amazing to see smartphone VR make a true comeback, especially considering the power and high refresh rate display on the finest phones capable of providing high-fidelity VR experiences.
DeX
Technically, this capability is specific to Samsung devices and has not been deleted or withdrawn. However, I believe it should be standard on more Samsung phones, and I am disappointed that it is not featured on the Samsung Galaxy Flip 5 and other models in the series.
DeX allows you to leave your laptop at home by changing your phone into a full desktop experience similar to a PC, complete with access to all of your files. This allows you to write emails, view work photos, or even watch film and video.
Given the capabilities of modern phone chips, I don’t see why more phones can’t offer their own DeX experience. Perhaps even license it from Samsung to genuinely transform cellphones into a tech tool for almost everything.
Alert sliders
While not required, I always enjoyed the alert sliders on phones like the iPhone 14 and OnePlus 11, since they provided a simple method to turn off any interruptions without having to look at your screen or navigate any phone menus. That was (and still is, in the case of OnePlus phones) ideal if you are careful of your screen usage and easily distracted while muting your phone through a menu.
These dedicated switches date back to the OnePlus 2 and have been a common feature on iPhones since the beginning.
And I believe they should be included on more devices, allowing more people to spend time away from their phones without having to store them in drawers. Failing that, adopting a multi-function slider or switch, such as the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, that can be customized to mute notifications and so on, would be an elegant way to bring back the classic alert slider.
Are you going to leave forever?
It’s unlikely that many of these features will reappear. However, flip phones have returned (although in the shape of foldable phones), and smaller camera modules appear to be the favorite of startup brands like as Nothing, so you never know what will come back.
Looking back while keeping an eye on evolution may be one way to keep future phones from being dull near-identical slabs with different branding, all caught up in repeated yearly upgrade cycles. So, I’m hoping that phone manufacturers will strive to be a little more adventurous in order to stand out; who knows what they’ll come up with and bring back.
But, for the time being, I believe I will keep my old Galaxy S20, not only for games and light tasks, but also as a nostalgic memory of all the practical features that smartphones have lost as technology has improved.
