Smartphone features that are getting old

Through the years, smartphone features have been evolving. From thick form factors, smartphones have become slimmer with more camera sensors, larger displays, bigger memory, long-lasting battery capacity, and other features that make them more capable than its predecessor. However, some features seem to have overstayed their welcome and are already getting old.

Removable battery

Previously, removable batteries on first-generation smartphones are adopted from GSM mobile phones. Since batteries were then removable, the logical way to get extra power for your smartphone is to buy another battery.  As unibody designs with water and dust-resistance become a trend, most smartphone brands stopped using removable batteries to their premium and mid-range smartphones. Although having a user-removable battery has its perks, going for a non-removable design seems to provide more benefits.

Single-SIM slot

Before, smartphones can only accommodate one SIM slot. This ranges from standard to micro size of SIMs since nano-SIMs were not yet supported at that time. As subscribers start to explore mobile data, the demand for smartphones with dual-SIM slots increased. Professionals with specialized mobile numbers dedicated to working find it inconvenient to bring two smartphones at a time. While there are smartphone models that still use a single-SIM slot, most of them have support for e-SIM.

Physical keyboards

As mobile phones progress to manufacturing smartphones, some brands adopted the use of physical keyboards. Popularly adapted by Blackberry, the QWERTY keyboards on these smartphones promote more productivity since first-generation touch screens were still not responsive and seamless as it is today. It is more reliable than touchpads since it has keys for symbols, letters, and numbers. Some even have a key shortcut for voice assistants and unlocking the smartphone. While there are users who still prefer physical keyboards, smartphone manufacturers nowadays prefer to full-screens to accommodate heavy multimedia needs.

Physical home button

Connected to keyboards, the home buttons of previous-generation smartphones allow users to navigate apps and menus quickly. However, the use of home buttons started to be rare when Apple included floating widgets that also serves as an alternative to home buttons. The same also applies to Android smartphones before on earlier models of the Samsung Galaxy S series. Home buttons were also prone to malfunction due to daily presses that users tend to do when the display is unresponsive.

FM radio

With the presence of streaming services, FM radios have become redundant to smartphones. This is just one of the major factors why smartphone brands decided to disable FM receivers on smartphones. So while it is true that most smartphones do not have FM radios, it is not totally dead. According to a Mashable India report, it is just hidden since some countries require smartphones with FM radios to be tuned according to their requirements. This makes inconvenience to global smartphone producers. To solve this, other brands decided to disable it in other smartphones. It can still be activated with a compatible app such as NextRadio. FM receivers can also be useful for communication during national emergencies.

micro-USB port

As fast charging protocols continue to dominate smartphones’ battery trend, old battery standards from previous smartphones were being phased out. Although there are still some entry-level smartphones with micro-USB ports, the feature is becoming old. USB-C ports can now be found in affordable mid-range smartphones for faster data transfer, reversible plugging, and to support faster-charging protocols if applicable.

And there you have it. As smartphone brands continue to introduce innovations, some present features might be gone once they become irrelevant for future technologies. Do you remember these old features from your first smartphone? Please share it with us in the comment section below!