For me its the ‘Knock Code’ that LG had on their phones (I really wish LG still made at least the V series phones)

Basically there was a four-square area and you set up a sequence of where you would tap to unlock the phone. That set of squares was only shown when you set up the code

Then, to unlock your phone, you would tap those areas in the sequence you set up (even with the screen off).

Fingerprint readers are nice, but I really do miss the knock code

Edit: did find this article with a way to do the knock code, but if done wrong, could brick your phone I guess.

Plus, article is from 2014. When I looked at XDA’s info on it (they also being the developers) it looks like development on it is over, but individual modules may or may not still be supported by their devs

    • Dizzy Devil DuckyEnglish
      27•1 year ago

      It’s all about selling the solution to a problem they created.

      No SD card slot? You are forced to upgrade since you cannot store anything more than what they allow.

      No headphone jack? Hope you like buying our inferior first party wireless earbuds or the shitty dongle thing.

      Next up on the chopping block will be the charging port in favor of wireless charging, I swear.

      By that point, I think I would rather just buy a phone that has all of those features and replace the components as needed instead of upgrading while also having a burner phone I can transfer whatever “e-sim card” they force upon me.

          • @nzodd@beehaw.orgEnglish
            1•1 year ago

            Yeah, I sacrificed my SD slot in favor of the headphone jack when I chose my Pixel.

            Remember when buying a phone meant they added new features instead of taking them away from you? Those were the days.

      • @sim642@lemm.ee
        0•1 year ago

        Hope you like buying our inferior first party wireless earbuds

        You don’t have to buy phone brand headphones. There are other wireless ones.

        • Final Remix
          4•1 year ago

          Wireless ones suck. And the dongle is a shitty DAC that determines what your wired headphones’ tone is like. I’ve got a couple dongles that really only work well in my car’s tape adapter, and others that only sound okay on certain headphones. It’s a crapshoot.

          • @vext01@lemmy.sdf.org
            1•1 year ago

            You can get good dongles, but you will pay for it.

            I have a Bluetooth receiver that I plug my wired headphones into now.

            • Final Remix
              0•1 year ago

              Been buying them off and on every few months. Don’t.give a damn about wireless headphones though. They’ll never sound as good as wired, and fuck needing to charge yet another peripheral.

        • Dizzy Devil DuckyEnglish
          2•1 year ago

          Yes but you’ll always see the phone manufacturers advertising that you should get their product since it’s guaranteed to work or all the other products are inferior or some other excuse, even if you decide to go with another brand.

    • monkEnglish
      6•1 year ago

      My first smart pocket device had two SD slots, a full-sized one and a mini- one, accessible at all time with no bullshit attached. I remember using it to share photos between people’s cards right at the end of parties. I thought it can only get better from there.

      Now I’m typing it from the phone that’s twice the size and if I were to attempt ejecting my microSD card / SIM tray, it’ll shutdown.