[General Topics] roosta:
A decade ago to yesterday, there's been so many developments in mobile technology....we used to see a release of 1 or 2 types of phones to suit certain markets/demographics. Now; rather than seeing this, it's generally unheard of, or extremely uncommon for a big manufacturer to release fewer than 6-10 different types of phones in a calendar year. So my question is this; with the market so heavily flooded with competition of making and selling the best smartphone and so much more variety and pricepoints to choose from, WHY in the BLUE hell can 1 manufacturer NOT make this?? ---

These are of course, my personal preferences and some features or functions I'm sure m,any of you can live without. But that's my point; these features/functions are NOT big changes or improvements, so living without is really not acceptable when all of these can be made and found on ONE device:

Screen/body size and type - Just give me something that looks vibrant, accurate AND is comfortable to operate in ONE hand

Not only that, just let it fit easily in and out of my pocket!

The trend has been pretty obvious - smart phones and screens are getting bigger! As a result over the last 5-6 years, screen sizes have become ridiculously large and now phablets are a 'thing'.

5" is probably the ideal screen size. The dimensions of my Huawei P10+ seem rather acceptable for me, at: 153.5 x 74.2 x 7 mm (6.04 x 2.92 x 0.28 in)

We should be championing better technology of 2K AMOLED or OLED screens and not falling back to cost cutting with crappy 720/1080p FHD TFT LCD types

LED Notification Light - I care about notifications without having to pick up[ my phone to check it!

Just give me something where I have control over the colour/intensity and frequency and stop locking these features away.

The LED notification light has shrunk from a large vibrant size to the pin-head size we can barely make out on phones that currently adopt it.

I'm in Australia and care about fast download speeds; so until 5G is here, give me band 28 - 700Mhz

My carrier and most phones support the 4G network, or Telstra's '4GX'. So I need a phone with the capability and to not offer it (or lock certain bands down) is preposterous.

DUAL SIM popularity is increasing and I want this capability for personal AND work purposes!

Dual-active! Not dual standy-by; because 2G is switched off in my country. Give me 3G/4G dual or 4G/4G with the abilty to switch off data (for 1 SIM) if I don't need or want it.

I have friends carrying 2 phones and one carrying 3 phones around, which IMO is utterly pointless. One truly 'smart' phone will do, thanks.

Technological advancements allow it, so why not make it? TWO sim slots with the microSD card that --DOES NOT-- take up a SIM slot: #separateslot

Is it really asking so much to have a dual SIM phone with microSD card slot as an extra slot for memory?

Seriously! You know what...If it is, then just give me inbuilt memory of 32GB bare minimum inside the phone itself. If one manufacturer can do it, all can.

Camera - High quality point and shoot in low light will no that can take a pretty decent video

12mp minimum rear-shooter with f1.8. Ideally I want to take 4K videos at 30fps as well with good stabilisation

I'm not a selfie-maniac, so anything from a 5mp and UP as a front shooter camera at f2 is fine for me

Every year I see these changes in camera types, megapixel and feature rich enhancements...yet my P10+ fails to take good quality sharp images in medium to low light. Some cameras like my P10+ over-saturate in post production...one of many adjustments manufacturers make within their apps. Just give me a pretty basic 12-13mp camera that is top of its class for taking brilliant sharp pictures in any light but also able to shoot good video at 30 or 60fps 1080p and 4k videos at least 30fps; nothing too fancy, just minimum expected these days.

Accessibility is everything - so give me what all-half decent phones have today...

Bluebooth (4.0 minimum)

NFC

WIFI 802.11ac, DLNA, WiFi Direct, Hotspot

All the sensors for smartphones; accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass

Wireless charging

Why are Samsung seemingly the ones ones who want to offer this?

I can go without, but don't see why so many manufacturers who do offer this, cut so many other corners on other features mentioned here

A newish OS without excessive bloatware

I'd be happy with Android 7 Nougat or 8 (Oreo). Take off the bloat and give me the basic apps required on the phone without locking them down

CPU/RAM - Just give me a chip which handles dual-active SIM's with battery efficiency

I'm happy with a 4GB amount of RAM. It doesn't need to be 6GB or above top of the line.

Look at Asus Zenfone 2 from 2015. It handled dual-active SIM slots using Intel Atom Z3580 Quad-core 2.3 GHz with GPU PowerVR G6430. I'd suggest 3 years on from this release, anything above this will do...as this is really, a bare minimum.

Can't forget about connectivity - the basic ports will do

- USB Type C (USB 3.0 idea) with fast charge capabilities

- 3.5mm headphone jack; even though I'm moving to a bluetooth ear or headphones, the port should still exist for users who want and need it

- REAR MOUNTED Fingerprint sensor

While I'm not fussed, I liked the idea of LG v20's fingerprint sensor which doubled as a power button. 2 in 1. Also hard to accidentally knock if it's in a case. I can't stand front facing sensors, it's much more easy and convenient to whip the phone out of your pocket and lock without having to get your thumb fiddling with front sensors.

Battery technologies and improvements have been made, so STOP giving us 3000mAh to 3200!

If Huawei and other manufacturers can do it, why can't all phones by 3600 to 4000mAh at minimum now?

Infrared (IR) blaster. WHY is this a dying art?!

If your phone can be used as a backup remote for your TV, set top box, air con years ago, then why is this economical option disappearing from phones? Include one!

If we truly want to make an all in one device and have it be really smart, give it an IR blaster, or even a sensor for learning other IR remotes.

I do not need me phone to

- Be an all metal design; if plastic helps boost the mobile/data signal then I'll just use a case on it!

- Be WATERPROOF; unlike all those idiots with videos on youtube, scratching, dropping, burning and swimming with their phones. DONT need it! Splashproof maybe.

- Be squeezed for a certain action to take place

- have a 99.5% "screen to body" ratio. This is silly, just give me a good screen!

- Have one over-the-top insanely expensive feature, like a 22mp camera; or 8GB of RAM

- Destroy all geeky benchmarks. Nope. Just perform standard or above average. One that performs will with multi-tasking apps, the occasional games and FHD video playbacks

So what do you think? Agree/disagree? If apps or key features like controlling certain pro camera features or changing the LED notification light colour is locked down, the manufacturer needs to open this up up their consumers who will want to use the phone in their own way. Googling phone by feature and popping these features in yields no results, and only 3 or 4 phones come fairly close. LG v20 and P10+ which has a faint LED light and lacks system root; only OS root.

/end rant

RoOSTA