this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
1019 points (97.4% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26903 readers
1991 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

For me it’s the notification light you used to find on older phones, was particularly good to know if your phone was charged without picking it up

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

The Nexus One had so many features I miss:

Trackball for scrolling

Notification light built into the trackball with customizable colors depending on the app

Back plate came off, replaceable battery

Small and a one handed wonder, the trackball kept my fingers off the screen

It was a replacement for my jail broken iPhone OG, such a better interface for me than the iPhones and it had very basic multitasking when the other guys could only do one app at a time

Edit: Formatting

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

For real, you sold me on that trackball. That sounds like the coolest feature a phone could have, right down to the multi-color led built in beneath it. I really really hope we see a return to something like that! Touch screens are very useful and have their place but physical buttons/controls are usually preferred when done properly. Here's a pic of the Nexus 1, that trackball indeed appears to be cool as fuck:

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Oh hey, it's my 2nd smartphone ever. How nostalgic! This phone was built like an absolute tank. It really was a great little phone.

That said, the problem with physical controls is that you either need a larger device or smaller screen to accommodate them. For most people, the tradeoff just isn't worth it.

For a while, I bemoaned the loss of the physical button bar. Having four (!) indicator lights was really useful to boot. Now I happily use gestures with no looking back.

Would be nice to still see some phones offer this for those who want them, though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

If they can do holepunch cameras they can do holepunch trackballs. That would be the greatest thing ever 👌

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I thought the digital trackball of the HTC Incredible was cool as shit. It was my favorite phone and I would still be using it today (not as a phone) if it didn't have a restart bug that HTC refused to acknowledge.