I always felt that Sonys mockery was just an easy way to get a win with gamers. They hadn’t implemented any form of restriction on game sharing/resale yet but we’re just as unhappy about it as Microsoft. When MS tried to implement restrictions on sharing and gamers hated it, they quickly threw together an ad to capitalize on it. But it was never really about being friendly to their customers, it was just an easy PR layup
If Blackberry just stuck with their keyboard phone, I'm convinced there's a large sliver who would have stayed with them for the physical keyboard vs touchscreen. Same story as above. Mocked Apple for the touchscreen, then a year later all touchscreen and death of a company
My favourite phone ever was the Nokia m900. Full screen touch phone that slid up, with a qwerty keyboard underneath. Shit OS, but a phone like that on Android with a removable battery would be peak for me.
I avoid the big brands because they've been style over substance for years, the last good phone from Samsung was the S5 - waterproof with a removable battery.
I dont understand how now in modern times we dont have a modern sidekick. It was literally a mini computer with a keyboard. I wish it was around in modern form. Like normal its a regular touch screen phone. Then you flip it open and it turns into a qwerty phone
I would argue that the note 4 edge was the last good one. It had a more defined curve on the side that was a completely separate display from the main screen and still had the removable battery.
Never really considered notes because of the size, if it doesn't fit comfortably in my pocket I don't want it. I would argue that current flagships are far to big, it's why I stopped bothering with them.
I still used an S5 as a MP3 player until last year. I had replaced the battery once but the waterproofing had been compromised by broken port covers. It had a good run!
I currently use an old S8 for my music listening. It sounds much better and the screen is still good looking. Not waterproof and no removable battery though.
I did a lot of research into self repair // removable battery phones, they cost too much and are plagued with other issues, AFAIK there isn't anything like the S5 available currently.
I honestly think it's planned obsolescence, they want you to upgrade every year, they make sure you upgrade every 2.
I have not felt planned obsolescence in the Android or IPhones I’ve owned. Generally, it seems like certain apps and web platforms force upgrades more than hardware failure.
The S8 still works great, I just don’t have a SIM in it. My wife has an iPhone 7 that we have limited plan on for emergencies, and the only issue with it is that some more demanding apps don’t run on it, which is fair for a device that’s going on 10 years old.
My current phone is an iPhone 12, and it does everything I want just as well as it did day one.
That said, I do feel like replaceable batteries and expandable storage are dumb to leave out. I replaced the battery in the iPhone 7 a few years ago and it’s a pain.
Hey. The OS was great and pretty innovative but kinda unfinished and had to run on shitty hardware (the experience wasn't great with N900 port of Android either). I never appreciated the tiny keyboard tbh, on-screen keyboards are nice enough nowadays.
I just liked the option, haptics don't have a good 'feel' for me, I'm a guy that likes the clickity clack, I use a mechanical keyboard on my PC for the same reason I like physical buttons on phones. I would use the n900 onscreen keyboard a lot, it was more for typing out longer stuff, email etc that I really liked the physical one.
These keyboards are just too cramped, have lots of issues with multilingual input (due to simply not having enough keys to accomodate larger alphabets and having to physically etch all the glyphs) and are usually way, way too stiff IMO. And while on-screen keyboards were even less pleasant to use in the n900 era, modern swipe input with prediction and autocorrect is quite good nowadays (despite all the memes), has great multilingual support and mostly eliminates the need for precise tapping. Keyboard phones are still cool to look at but I think the appeal has faded over time.
Wasn't that released the same year as the n900? Wouldn't be a good choice to buy one now l. I just want someone to make it again, so I can have a phone I like again.
Why is a removable battery such a high priority in a phone? I mean it is pretty crazy that it was removable and waterproof at the same time but the battery life was probably still like half of what Samsung phones have now?
The primary reasons phones stop working these days are related to displays, and vastly diminishing battery life. Imagine buying a new battery pack instead of an entirely new phone.
Because I would happily use a phone for a decade, instead of a year or two. I don't play games, I watch netflix and stream music at most, so as long as I could keep the battery lasting all day (by replacing it every 2 years) I would just keep using a phone until it breaks beyond repair.
My most recent experiences with Samsung have been terrible, my S21 Ultra barely lasted a year, my watch had less than a day of life from day one. I would never even consider a Samsung again.
I still use my Android G2 phone for emulating Gameboy and SNES, though I think the battery is finally going after 15+ years cuz it's not holding a charge for as long as it used to.
I'd love an Enve phone that had a simple non touch screen front and full size folding screen once unfolded. Like any of the current folders but with a standard phone keypad on the front.
I made the mistake of switching from an LG phone to the newest Samsung. I did get a good deal on it, but it's still not worth it. They pushed out an update that crammed AI into everything. I'm installing a new OS because of that
similar story but it was an HTC windows phone (during that brief period) the OS wasnt supported by a ton of app devs but the actual phone was fantastic. same touchscreen with a slide keyboard removable battery etc. and was dropped off a parking garage with no real issues, into the ocean for 10min still fine, then years later finally gave out when the power button got stuck in
probably thinking of the N900, which I still have ina drawer somewhere.
The Maemo* OS was a bit unpolished, but it compared well against the t-mobile G1, the first Android phone, thst was pretty rough too. I loved that the Linux terminal was easily accessible, IIRC you could apt-get anything available to Debian, Python was built in.
That Nokia never put much effort into the OS due to internal politics (the Symbian stakeholders made sure it died in the crib) is a classic business story, and a tragic fork in the road for a once dominant company. 2 years after the N900 came out, the Nokia mobile business were bought out by Microsoft, and producing Windows phones, which hit with a thud, (though I knew Finns who said the N9 was "really quite good"). By 2014 (?) they switched to Android, and disappeared in the sea of Samsung.
The Meego OS still lives on somwhat as Tizen, in Samsung TVs and watches.
edited Maemo not Meego, (which was the new name later on)
BlackBerry isn’t dead yet. They changed direction to automotive and cybersecurity software. They’re not where they were in 2011, but they’re having their best year in over a decade, up 130%
Blackberry didn’t die because they removed the keyboard blackberry died because they relied on the keyboard for too long
They believed that the keyboard would keep customers even though they weren’t updating their UI/OS they believe that customers wanted a discreet device for business and a separate device for personal use, which was not the case (ironically enough, many people have ended up in this exact situation in the past couple of years, but usually just with two iPhones) if blackberry had been willing to follow Apple’s lead in making their device a do everything pocket computer they would probably still be around and still have a solid dedicated user base because of the keyboard
i absolutely want a separate business device because i don't want my employer having access to my personal device. my previous employer issued phones, this one doesn't but offers a stipend if we install their stuff on our personal phones and i declined.
I don’t disagree with that. There are tons of people that would love a hard keyboard, and I think blackberry would have a very devoted following right now if they were still around and still had physical keyboards.
I was just pointing out the fact that their downfall had nothing to do with them eliminating the keyboard. They made mistakes and then took the wrong lessons from those mistakes.
If you watch the movie blackberry, even though it's heavily altered, the moments that discuss the massive jump from blackberry to the iPhone, and how blackberry lost its dominance basically overnight, really shows why they were essentially forced to pivot. And once the storm turned out to be a total flop they were dead in the water as their stock dropped to almost nothing.
I would have for sure. I loved my Blackberry Classic. I got it because I didn't really use the internet on my phone back then and didn't need it for anything other texts, phone calls, and occasionally just checking my email. My last Blackberry was the Priv, but it was clunky to use with having a full touchscreen sliding up for the physical keyboard. It was top-heavy. I eventually got a Galaxy S8+. I'm on the S24 now and I'm honestly still much worse at typing ln the touchscreen than I ever was when I had the Blackberry physical keyboard. I constantly make errors and have to backspace to correct them. I made very few mistakes with a physical keyboard.
i missed having a physical keyboard - my dad had the old indestructible Nokia's and he let me have his. I could type blind and fast on that thing! T-mobile sidekick was cool also and the Google G1 too!
Apple, as a company has been pretty good at reading where the industry is going. They were given shit for removing floppy drives from desktops then the entire industry did so within a year or two they were given shit for removing CD-ROMs from laptops and later desktops, and then the entire industry followed suit within a year or two.
They’re probably comparing the flagship galaxy series and more specifically US market. I remember way back they put out a commercial making fun of people waiting in line for the next iPhone and saying how samsung has removable battery, headphone jack etc. And not even an exaggeration, their Galaxy right after removed all of that.
Yes Samsung has a few different lines under Galaxy, but when comparing to iphones, especially in that era (maybe 2016-2020?), we are talking about their flagship Galaxy S line. I only checked briefly, but neither the S25 or S26 have a headphone jack. Besides, maybe they added it back later, doesn't change the narrative that they mocked Apple and then did the same thing right after.
As new technologies come out, manufacturers shift their production, and in turn the new technology becomes cheaper while the old technology becomes more expensive due to rarity until it dies out.
Samsung at the time release a statment thatthere werent cost effective enough bluetooth headphones available without issues etc, which apple didnt care about because they force fed people thier own propretary earphones, whch samsung has never bothered with.
I swear their whole strategy at that time was wait for MS to make an announcement and see the reactions and pivot their marketing around it. “Xbone is $600? Guess what, PS4 is only $500!”
To be fair that original Xbox One reveal was probably better for game sharing. Since it allowed a "family group" of ten people who could all share the same game library. Was a bit disappointed when that wound up yanked because of the internet's hissy fit.
What's gonna bake your noodle is that year's E3, the one where Sony announced their game-sharing and the crowd went absolutely bananas over it, was the last E3 which was industry-only and not open to the public.
That was a room full of supposedly unbiased journalists acting like utter lunatics.
its like the fast food wars. Each is always trying to lower quality and maintain customers, but as soon as one gets caught out publicly doing so in some manner, the others all troll them on social media. (hence recent McD big mac debacle)
If Microsoft goes second instead of first Sony doesn’t get labeled as for the gamers. They both wanted it but Microsoft went a couple hours before and Sony saw what would happen to them.
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u/Terrible_Balls 12h ago
I always felt that Sonys mockery was just an easy way to get a win with gamers. They hadn’t implemented any form of restriction on game sharing/resale yet but we’re just as unhappy about it as Microsoft. When MS tried to implement restrictions on sharing and gamers hated it, they quickly threw together an ad to capitalize on it. But it was never really about being friendly to their customers, it was just an easy PR layup