Do you miss any of these things from Android phones?

Donoreo

https://www.howtogeek.com/features-i-wish-never-went-missing-from-android-phones/

removable batteries
powerful front-facing speakers
LED notifications
expandable storage with microSD cards
fun designs with smaller flagships.

Yes for sure. I do miss this, but batteries tend to be better now and last longer, so a trade off.
Meh, I usually have the “media” volume off. I never watch YouTube on my phone unless I have to (it is a horrible experience IMO) and Instagram Reels and Stories have such horrible music selections.
This was a handy thing, quickly see if you missed something
I think some phones still support SD cards, when I moved to Pixel I was disappointed to lose it.
This is subjective.

AlphaPhoenix

I miss all of those things.

Josephine

removable batteries and 4. expandable storage with microSD cards for sure.
Sometimes they don’t even send a wall charger now.

px_eliezer_

Removable batteries.

Especially because I buy renewed/refurbished phones, and the bad battery life (poor capacity) tends to be the big drawback.

Donoreo

px_eliezer_ Removable batteries.

I knew a lot of people who used to have more than one battery.

OmegaWolf747

Donoreo All of the above, plus the headphone jack and physical keyboard!

urbanriot

Donoreo

removable batteries

100%

powerful front-facing speakers

I’ve been extremely happy with my Samsung S25 Ultra’s speakers, they’re very loud and crisp, with an unexpected amount of bass. I’m not even sure what direction they face but the audio is so good it just emanates from the phone.

LED notifications

100%. I used to have a Blackberry and assigned different services and different contacts with different colours, like I’d know if an incoming message was Facebook because the phone had a flashing purple LED or if it was a text, it was bright blue, but if it was my wife it was bright blue with intermittent red, etc.. This was so awesome.

I did find a way to replicate the experience with the aodNotify app, it puts a ring around the camera lens and it works pretty good, I pretty much have the same experience although it does have a minor impact on the battery.

expandable storage with microSD cards

Not really, I went with a 512GB phone and I previously had a 256GB phone and it took me a long time to fill it up. I download a lot of pictures to my phone so I don’t really notice it.

I would probably miss it more 20 or so years ago when I downloaded a lot more albums and shows and such but these days I’m doing more podcast streaming.

fun designs with smaller flagships.

No, bigger is better. As I age I’ve come to appreciate larger text and image sizes. The size of the S25 Ultra is just right for me, anything too big and the phone would be cumbersome.

Headphone Jacks - this is the biggest thing that I miss. I bought the last iPad that had a ⅛″ jack and I’m so glad I did, I lost a couple of my USB-C headphone adapters so I’ve been using my iPad instead of my 10″ tablet. Not just that, I’m not keen on wearing down or damaging the charging post because of audio use. The removal of the jack was just dumb.

OmegaWolf747

urbanriot In a way, it was smart because if the ports wear out faster due to increased usage, we have to buy new devices more often, which means more profit for the corpos.

Somewhat-Reticent

Would low-power bluetooth serve?

Donoreo

I am surprised headphone jack was not on the list instead of the “design” one.

telcodad

OmegaWolf747 All of the above, plus the headphone jack and physical keyboard!

LOL, I thought I was the only one who misses a physical keyboard. My first LG phones were the enV and enV2:

david3

My android phone has an sd card, in the SIM tray.

I miss the LED notification light, though. Sometimes I’ll leave my phone on my desk for just a few minutes and come back, only to realize an hour or more later that I missed a call or message. I try to remember to tap the phone to wake it up to check, but it’s sad when that’s sort of a habit.

aaronwt

Donoreo
I miss none of those things.

1. removable batteries
I have no need to remove the battery. I change out my Galaxy S phone every year.
2. powerful front-facing speakers
I rarely use the speakers that way. I would use earbuds so I don’t disturb anyone else.

3. LED notifications
Never used them since my phone is either in my pocket, when away from home. Or, on the wireless charging cradle at home. I access phone calls from my cordless phone system while at home. And can view/send/receive texts through my PCs or tablets. So it’s extremely rare I touch my cell phone while at home.

4. expandable storage with microSD cards
I only need to use the internal storage. Plus, I use three cloud backup services. The only times ever lost any data, on my cell phones in the past, was when I used SD cards. I’ve had no issues since I stopped using them.

5 .fun designs with smaller flagships.
I could never go back to the smaller sized phones. I used the base Galaxy S phones since the Galaxy S6. Then, in 2023 I started using the, S23+. Then In 2024 I switched to the S24 Ultra. And now I have the S25 Ultra. I could never go back to the smaller screen phones. Since I am now used to the larger screen sizes.

AlphaPhoenix

I have a Google Pixel 6 Pro.

I also miss the powerful front-facing stereo speakers.
Also the LED notification light.
I wish for microSD card slots.

urbanriot

OmegaWolf747

In a way, it was smart because if the ports wear out faster due to increased usage, we have to buy new devices more often, which means more profit for the corpos.

Guess what I found to offset this - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQZCQCVJ

A friend of mine just bought a pile of those and connected them to his wired headphones, his chargers, etc., and I’m waiting to hear back on how well it works /doesn’t work. He said so far it magically works just as well with his headphones as it does with his charger.

OmegaWolf747

telcodad I remember seeing those back in the day and wanting them.

telcodad

OmegaWolf747 I remember seeing those back in the day and wanting them.

Yeah, but eventually I did get used to virtual keyboards.

codezer0

Donoreo
All of the above, and more.

I was super sad when I had to give up my LG v20. By that point, I’d had to have the screen replaced three times, too. But what finally did it was being unable to make or place calls even though i was still able to use data. Rather hard to take on jobs and earn more overtime if I can’t actually receive the calls, can I?

Headphones jack is also another that bothers me being gone on higher tier phones. No reason for it. The dac in the v20 was rather good, after all. Most car audio still seems to exclusively use the least compatible Bluetooth modules, whereas the auxiliary in, is foolproof.

I also miss the slide out keyboard, since it meant that i always had some manner of controls for emulators, but also a good one can nullify the typing errors to the point of being able to turn off autocorrect completely.

The loss of removable batteries is a trash tier feature and every company involved can eat my entire butt for leaning towards it. I hate sealed battery phones. I hate them to death, and I’ve never been satisfied with one even once.

aaronwt

urbanriot
I used to use those magnetic USB cables, years ago. Before I switched to using wireless Android Auto. For wired Android Auto they worked extremely well for quickly attaching the USB cable in the car. But since I got my Galaxy S6, I’ve been wirelessly charging my phone. So I rarely use a cable for charging. And since I switched to Wireless Android Auto in the car, I’ve had no need to connect a cable in the car.

urbanriot

aaronwt

I’ve been wirelessly charging my phone

I keep forgetting that’s a thing…