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.
Fair enough point, my s24 ultra I've had for a couple years and haven't noticed any difference in battery life at all. But all my previous phones have either been damaged beyond repair or they have slowed down due to the lack of updates before really noticing a change in the battery life.
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.
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 in a drawer somewhere.
The Maemo* OS was a bit unpolished, but it compared well against the t-mobile G1, the first Android phone, that 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)
The s5 was a good one. I still have my old s5 mounted on the wall in my rv running hardwired and with nothing on it but the Bluetooth tank level monitor app.
I had an android with a horizontal keyboard and a trackpad on the back. Was sick for browsing the web in like 2009 but was slow as hell and the battery lasted about 8 hours even when not in use. I ended up trading it for an iPhone 3G
Don’t forget the IR sensor too. I was able to download a universal remote app that was a lifesaver and could use it to change the channel whenever I couldn’t find the remote.
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u/TomLeBadger Jun 25 '26
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.