• Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    You know what else they’ve taken from us? Actually unique designs for phones. When I look at modern day smartphones, for some reason they look like clones of each other. Where’s all the spunk that these manufacturers used to put in their devices?

    Fuck you, minimalism. Ever since you’ve ruined my iPhone back in 2013, my life has never been the same.

    • Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      There’s literally still dozens of phones and manufacturers that have unique everything. It’s just not your typical 1k dollar phone. Gotta look for smaller brands.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      taken from us? Actually unique designs for phones

      It’s like they want to make everything the same but won’t commit to having identical form-factor so my battery case will fit the new phone.

      Ironically Apple’s been the best in preserving another company’s hardware compatibility, which is two things they’d usually neither support (missing out on a hardware deal) or recognize (another company).

      • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        It’s all fun and games until the Chinese government comes to take your data or whatever. It’s the one thing stopping me from getting the Chinese stuff.

        • Miaou@jlai.lu
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          10 months ago

          Meh, the US already has everything, might as well even the playing field

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      I miss the wild and crazy days of Nokia. My brother had the ngage, I even got this one feature phone where the dial pad flipped up and over the phone screen revealing a split qwerty fingerboard on either side of the screen (which then rotated to support typing in that form factor).

      So many weird designs, some were complete flops, but others were really cool and should have caught on, but didn’t for some reason or another.

    • lichtmetzger@feddit.de
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      10 months ago

      You can be minimalist and still innovative. I love my Nothingphone and the awesome Glyph interface on the back, wish more manufacturers would do something like that.

      Unihertz has a similar device with the Luna, but the software isn’t great.

      • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        The Nothing company actually brought back the transparent design that was so trendy back in the 90s. I like that.

      • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        It’s pretty cool, but that phone is pretty fragile as a result, not to mention it’s twice the price of your typical flagship phone, and I don’t know if things have improved to the point of actual usability yet, so… I’ll probably wait a few more years.

        • Hexarei@programming.dev
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          10 months ago
          1. My primary point was regarding uniqueness. It’s a unique design, for sure.
          2. “is pretty fragile” isn’t really something I think about for my phones; It’s not like I’m throwing them across the room or such - It doesn’t have to be a tank, just survive daily use (it does). The only real “fragility” thing that crosses my mind is that I avoid leaving it open when I sit it down and walk away from it… but I think about similar stuff with any phone. I don’t leave a regular phone sitting unattended on the couch, where it could be sat on for example. All of that said … The folding devices are more durable than you’d think.
          3. The price is a bit of a point of frustration for some, sure. But for anyone who can afford it, it’s rather moot in the context of uniqueness/usability.

          As someone who has had a Galaxy Z Fold 4 for about 14 months, it has no scratches or blemishes on either screen - inner or outer. It’s definitely at the point of usability, and I can’t see myself being comfortable going back to a normal phone at this point.

      • Resol van Lemmy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Idk, maybe take some cues from Nokia during the Windows Phone days, or Samsung during the days of the “edge” phones. Or even the curved metal back that HTC phones had. Even iPhones had cool designs, especially the iPhone 4 (the one I had by the time iOS 7 came out).

        Give me a picture of a recent release of a smartphone without telling me who made it, and chances are if it’s not an iPhone, I wouldn’t be able to guess who made it.

    • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It’s not “minimalism” it’s a direct response to what the market demands. Sorry, but no one gives a shit what you individually want from a phone that costs billions to develop and manufacture.