They’ll take away volume control (SW/HW buttons) and replace with dynamically adjusting “magic volume” so that you can’t mute ads.
Oh Christ. You’ve just triggered a premonition in me–the Galaxy S32 Ultra will be the first smartphone with no physical buttons or ports. You can turn it “off,” but that will only turn on a sort of extreme power saving mode. It will still ping your location once every few minutes, and will keep the fingerprint scanner active. You will “turn on” the device by holding your finger on the fingerprint scanner for four seconds. They will advertise the “quick startup” as a new feature. Volume will be controlled by sliding your finger along the right edge of the phone, which the screen will wrap around all the way to the back. It will be impossible to hold the phone without touching some part of the screen.
It will only allow wireless charging. You will not be able to connect it directly to a computer. In marketing, this will be to meet rigorous water safety standards. In reality, this will be to prevent you from using ADB to remove apps that come with the phone. You cannot turn off mobile data. You cannot turn off location. You cannot use a third party SMS application. You cannot choose your own wallpaper. You cannot set a private DNS. You cannot install applications that haven’t been approved by Samsung. You cannot block ads. This is all covered on page 74 of subsection 32(a) of section G8 of the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you set up the phone.
They will meet the physical limitations of how well a small lens can focus light. Zoom will cap out at 150x. Nevertheless, there will be seven cameras.
Next will be memory. They will say everything you meed should be stored online for a subscription fee.
Microsoft is already trying hard. My poor mom did not notice all her files are on OneDrive. Now she has two laptops with everything remote on OneDrive. It’s has some advantages, but it’s annoying in so many more ways.
It’s not annoying at all. It’s peace of mind. People are just not used to it
No, its kidnapping your data to keep you trapped as their customer. If you want peace of mind, you can make your own backups.
- If this hasn’t been done already, being able to unlock the bootloader
- Adding “AI” integrated into the OS with vague benefits even though the processing is done on the cloud (like Windows) just so the OEM can spy on you better
- Forced volume limiters: The phone won’t let you stay at max volume for more than 5 minutes a day, even if connected to a BT device set at substantially under max volume
- Making it take more clicks to disable Internet, Bluetooth, other connected features
- DRM built into Android itself
- Being able to sideload
- Ads within the OS
All of these are already on their way to being implemented:
- Already the case with the vast majority of phones
- Pixels already have this. Samsung is focusing on this in 2024. Several Chinese OEMs already have some version of this.
- This was an idea Google attempted to implement in Android 14. Seems like it didn’t go through that year, but there’s always this year.
- Google already made it harder to do this in Android 12. Apple also does this with the toggles only disabling WiFi/BT until tomorrow. Other OEMs are good for now.
- After widespread disdain for Google’s Web Environment Integrity BS, Google is quietly pivoting to this stupid change.
- Google is now making it harder to do this on all Android phones. Now, you can only sideload apps targeting an Android version at most 8 behind the current one. This disables lots of little FOSS projects that were light on system resources.
- Most Chinese OEMs already do this, although you can usually turn it off. Samsung used to do this, but backpedaled. Also bloatware exists.
I love it when uninformed troglodytes complain about a hole in the screen. They didn’t add a hold in the screen. The hole was already there. They just wrapped your screen around it for more screen. 😅
Smartphone manufacturers, if you’re reading this:
I spent 6 hours on google to find a phone with a screen smaller than 6 inch. I did find none (except an old iPhone, but I want android), so I had to buy one 6 inch. It is too unwieldy. I am annoyed.
There is a serious market for people like me. Do not look away. Somebody will buy these phones.
Also, by the way, it’s not bad if the phones are a bit thicker.
I use all four cameras. (one is a sensor)
The EU is mandating easily replaceable batteries from 2027.
They removed 3 ways water could get inside the phone
They made it a thin piece of glass that slips out of your hand.
still better than plastic
Nope. I’d rather have a plastic or rubber shell and rubber mounting for the screen. They’ve made fragile as a marketing gimmick so you’d have to replace your phone sooner.
Physical keyboard? Notification LED?
Controversial: it was much easier and safer to text while driving with a physical keyboard. You could type with one hand, hold the steering wheel with the other, all while still looking at the road because you could feel where the buttons were.
Controversial: Drinking while driving was easier and safer with a beer helmet since you can just sip directly from the straw instead of looking down to pick up the can.
