“The soulless corporate brand is like is better than the one you like.”
Not even what it was once close to being unfortunately on the android side either.
Android users have also been losing features every year.
Flagships have seen the removal of:
-SD card expansion - what we could once count on to use phones like mirrorless cameras is now gone so they can rip you off for higher non expandable storage (128GB SD? $10. 128 -> 256 GB base? $200)
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3.5mm - why buy cheap wired headphones when you can force people to spend 10x as much on wireless! Coming up with a solution to a problem they invented.
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IR blaster - yes I used it since it worked on TV, receiver, DVD player, air conditioner, etc. Also super convenient if you have used stuff you bought without the remote
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FM radio - yes I used it again since no data needed! Can also be fun to listen to campus radio or when travelling
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notification led - The RGB led was pretty good when you had binds foe each app to know who texted you and why. Always on OLED draws substantially more power than the LED did
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Always unlocked bootloaders - the custom ROM scene was pretty big at one point, but has shrunk as more manufacturs have begun locking bootloaders ‘for safety’
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removable battery - phone no longer holding a good charge? $15 fix. Was also super convenient since I bought a spare that I kept charged and in my bag, meaning I could go 0% to 100% in 2 mins… better than fast charge!
List could go on for longer. Maybe it’s just nostalgia but I do miss some of those days.
- Losing SD Expansion sucks; they should bring this back. Only reason they stopped this is greed.
- Yet another Nice-To-Have that is gone; but I’ve never seen any phones that weren’t Samsung with this. This one doesn’t really even affect waterproofing; or phone size so they have no excuse.
- I certainly miss this one; but the FM Radio was present back on my 2020 Moto G6 Power. It was present on my 2020 Moto Edge. This one got stolen from us because we lost the 3.5mm Jack too…they used the wire from your wired headphones as an FM Antenna lead.
- This is nice; but I ended up having to root my Nexus 6 to make this work properly and use all the colors the LED could perform. I don’t really miss it with Bezel-less phones.
- I hate that bootloaders are frequently locked; but it’s been less necessary to root Android as it’s improved over the years. There are still a few pain points; but not quite as many that require root.
- This is another case of greed. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have removable batteries for phones that aren’t IP67 or higher. If it ain’t waterproof; there’s no reason to seal the battery in…and replaceable batteries is a benefit when they accidentally ship units that become “spicy pillows” when the batteries swell due to bad batteries. It also simplifies disposal of phones; which don’t need disassembly if they’ve got a removable battery.
- Losing SD Expansion sucks; they should bring this back. Only reason they stopped this is greed.
Fuck that noise. SD expansion was a terrible idea and I’m glad it’s gone. There are so many problems introduced by removable storage, it was a terrible PITA to deal with as a developer. One of Google’s dumbest ideas in early Android. Good. Fucking. Riddance.
Uh, No. Hell to the fucking no. Bring back SD expansion. Treat it like the data storage device it was.
Your beefs with Google are misplaced; because they were trying to mess with what folders were used; and with trying to protect user privacy because applications were misusing storage to violate their user’s privacy.
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Product elitism is dumb.
It was fun before… like 20 years ago. Now it’s just… eh. Apple users don’t care about any of that. They want a device that “just works” and has their ecosystem. They’re trapped in it, but eh, what’s the point. They aren’t going to convert, and after converting some people you learn you just become tech support for them.
Seriously, does anyone think Apple users care about unlocked bootloaders and LDAC codecs? They want whatever the new iOS features are and their AirPods to work seamlessly.
I have an Android phone and an iPhone, and they both do pretty much the same thing. I can do some things with Android that iOS can’t, but it’s nothing an average user couldn’t do without, or even know they’re missing.
mAh is a stupid way to measure batteries. Wh is more relevant.
It also tells nothing about the efficiency of the device. You can add a 50kWh battery to a device but it doesn’t matter if it uses 2kWh at idle
I’d argue Wh is a complete waste. Just use J, which is the much more established unit.
I disagree. Joules are really hard to understand to laypeople. Watt-hours directly relate to the power of a device without conversion, and can even be really translated in terms of power bill.
3.6 megajoules? Eh, I guess that’s maybe a lot? Or not?
1000 watt-hours? Oh, like running a microwave for a whole hour? Dang that’s a LOT!
How does this belong in memes??? thete isn’t a single meme able thing in this image, it’s not funny or interesting either. It’s brain dead fanboy fullshit, as many in the comments have shown.
Lame as fuck
Found the apple fanboy
user replaceable battery?
I’m no apple fan, but some of these features don’t really mean much, like the screen refresh rate, data transfer rate, or codec support. Pretty small subset of users are going to care about these, the vast majority of people just browse, play simple games, and maybe run a map or spotify or whatever.
That said, the 16 is built to use Apple’s AI, and that’s pretty much reason enough for me to not want to go anywhere near it. I’ll buy an older model before I support this AI crap.
That Sony retailed for $1300 when it launched
The iPhone goes for $800
The 13 Pro which released around the same time also had USB 3.2g2 and 120hz display. The Pros are clearly a better comparison.
That’s not to say Apple’s done good or anything, just a super expensive Android device vs the entry iPhone doesn’t seem like the best comparison
Was gonna ss with the 16 as comparison but it doesn’t show pricing. 15 is still $eu600 or greater REFURBISHED. The xperia is $eu 400 REFURBISHED. (SS shows the cheapest on amazon for both.)So, iPhones retain their value better?
in 2021
The iPhone 13 was 2021.
op’s post was making the point that a lot of specs of the 2024 iphone 16 were already found on the 2021 sony xperia 1 III. I don’t really care about either, and you could use a lot of different 2021 android phones as a comparison. I don’t even think the comparison is entirely fair, but to ignore the fact that apple is clearly lagging behind android on certain aspects while hiding behind marketing is just misguided. Also, their phones are just overpriced because of price, and the innovation argument is getting old.
Thanks for the clarification!
Someone should saw off the legs of the techbros that came up with the idea of removing the headphone jacks from phones. Just like the headphone jacks, legs are technologically “superseeded” by cars and electronic wheelchairs.
I don’t remember the last time I needed/missed 3.5mm
Wow, to see an Xperia phone being used as an example instead of a bloody Samsung.
Good day to be an Xperia user.
Xperia is in my opinion the only phone left worth buying. It has all the bells and whistles you expect from a flagship phone + a headphone jack, SD card slot and very good camera.
I love being able to manually do what ever I want in the camera app and having the camera button is just nice.
Had the Xperia Z3 back in the day after my beloved Sony Ericson Xperia Play died. Loved both phones. Switched to Samsung for a few years and are now back to Sony (Xperia 1 IV) since 2023. Words can’t describe how happy I am being back. :D
I love Z3. I still mourn the loss of it to this day.
However, I must admit that Xperia quality hasn’t been the greatest in the recent years, with the light lines issue plaguing the 5 series from mk II onwards, and now the 1 VI has similar issues too.
What do you mean with “light lines issue”? I haven’t had any major problems with my Xperia so far. Sometimes it reboots after being on for a few months, but that’s about it.
This one. My 5 mk II is completely unusable due to this. It’s a well documented issue on the Xperia sub on reddit.
Oh wow that sucks. :( Haven’t seen that yet, but damn shame that it is common issue.
Does it appear after some time, or mostly DOA? Does Sony replace the broken devices?
It appears after some time. And no, Sony doesn’t acknowledge this issue, so you have to pay out of pocket if your warranty is over to replace the phone.
Oh wow that’s really shitty.
Thanks for the info! :)
