date: 2024-01-17T21:24:43+02:00

If ever I’d dreamt of a mobile phone in 2024, then it would have been not the one that’s been produced.

Musts

NFC - for 2 factor authorisation

OLED screen OR LED indicator - see notification presence instantly at distance

2 SIM - better than 2 phone

USB type C charge port - standartisation for the win

Unlockable bootloader - really don’t want the bloat. Google Maps is bloat already. Also battery management. And other nice things

RAM 3GB - kind of mainstream. Never had issues with 2GB though

Memory 32GB - 16 is a bit too little. Especially with 4k camera if present

1080 pixels short side - reading ability is a must

Bests

eSIM+SIM simultaneous - I’ve bumped on a phone where one has to chose either SIM or eSIM. Not good

OLED screen - nice energy-wise

1920x1080 ratio or smaller - thin screens are harder to read on. Not to mention reaching upper side

MicroSD - swappable storage, forgotten luxury

3 fixed buttons at the bottom - there are ways to make permanent buttons. And it’s not in OS’s settings - this one does disappear in the fullscreen applications. A dedicated “menu” button saves so much time not having to guess where it is hidden in each application

No haircut for screen panel - preferably square corners too. Makes life easier especially with the powerline

Goods

No borderless screen - it interferes heavily with proper protective phone cases. Been there, did not appreciate

Dontcares

* It would be nice to have more features but usually the fancy innovations come with tradeoffs

Thickness - pockets can fit two modern phones in cases. I’d prefer one though

Weight - I don’t remember a feeling of having an overweight phone. Not sure if it’s possible nowadays

Cameras - if there is no AI then I’d be more pleased. RAW support is appreciated. Don’t support the “painter in you phone” trend. Camera has to be present, and that’s it. Been a while since I’ve seen a cameraless smartphone anyway

Case material - I don’t even know what is a colour of my phone inside the case

Screen DPI - I’d rather trade font smoothness for more words per line

Refresh rate - watching 60FPS videos at x2 is not something that I’d enjoy more on 120FPS screen. Proper backlight PWM frequency is way more important

AI - the less cloud-based black boxes on my phone - the better I feel about it

LIDAR/TOF autofocus - launching an app for phone camera makes it too slow anyway, so superspeed autofocus won’t make any difference for me

Water resistance - never had problems with water on my phones. Although it might bring more peace of mind, it’s another feature that make the dreamphone even more inexistant

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Overall, only the “musts” section is already too much to ask for: there are no phones to satisfy this section alone. Adding “bests” would make it 10-years-unreachable