Android

Folding phones.

I was so skeptical at first, and even now it seems most people still are. It's a complete game changer though. There's almost nothing I can't do on my phone anymore, due to the multitasking and the larger screen. I can comfortably use desktop websites when necessary for banking etc. I have watched many dozens of movies and tv shows on it. It's just nicer for reading and browsing the web, and makes your phone feel so much more powerful to have the tablet form factor. I've actually been travelling for over a month with no laptop, just my Fold and a Steam deck.

I'm also appreciating having what is essentially a 5G-connected tablet where in the past I've always dismissed the LTE-connected ipads as a gimmick. It's hard to justify paying extra for the device and then a monthly fee, but now that I have it I can definitely see the appeal of a tablet that just works anywhere you go. Except since it folds you can put it in your pocket too.

The active edge squeeze feature on the pixel 3. I loved being able to gently squeeze the sides of the phone to trigger google assistant.

Stadia, I had great internet and it worked great.

I'm old... the internet.

Idk if this counts as i dont really involve myself in a lot of discussion, but MAN do i miss two button navigation. it may still be present in some other Android distros but on Graphene an update removed it for me a while ago.

The ringlight on the bottom of Xperia U.

Apple’s 3D Touch on iPhone. Force Touch or whatever they called it. The ability to hard press to get something like a right-click. Wish they’d kept it. Used it every day for placing my cursor.

Rear power and volume buttons.

To this day my favorite phone remains the LG v10. It has nice metal rails on the side, a rubber removable back, sd card slot, aux port with a high end dac, wide(er) screen, and buttons on the back of the phones right where your indexed finger would rest when holding it.

Figure print sensor on the button didn't work all that well, but worked better than this shit on screen reader. The buttons being on the back meant your could just grab the phone in anyway with out worrying if you're gonna Power the phone off, turn the vol down, take a screenshot, etc. This also meant getting it knot phone holders was almost never an issue.

That was the closest an android phone got to perfection. After that they started trying to follow tends and phase out the good parts to the point of leaving the Android market entirely.

Hardware navegation buttons.

The internet

Soli. My phone sensing I was reaching for it made it feel like it was alive. Didn't know what I had until it was gone. I want you back Soli!

Keyboards, optical scroll, and IR blasters.