Remember when a phone was marketed as a phone and not a camera or some personal secretary?

Pepperidge farm remembers...

But seriously can we just get a phone marketed to people as a phone?
Like people in ads for the pixel 2 ask "so it's a phone?" and the s9's whole marketing thing was camera, camera, camera!

Really shits me up the wall when companies do shit like that for tech -,-

All i want in a phone is a battery i can replace if neede and the possibility to use lineage os (never tried it but it's on my list)

But it's not just a phone any more. It's a universal everything-in-a-pocket. The compact camera market is completely dead because everyone is using their phone cameras as their main shooting device. And I don't blame the consumers for choosing an inferior camera. I blame the camera manufacturers that still make stupid software, slow stuff, zero connectivity.

So yeah, obviously they have to market the camera.
A lot of very intelligent, sharp people that I've interacted with, have said that the determining factor when choosing a phone is the camera quality.
Because everything else works pretty much the same in every single other phone out there.

@lxmcf the essential phone is "just a phone." It doesn't even have a headphone jack or microsd slot. How more phoneish can you get?

Seriously, the essential phone is a decent phone.

@josersanchez I give massive credit to essential for the essential phone, that didn't say oh look at me I'm a camera that runs Android!

They said, look, it's a phone... It has a camera and has a screen, it's a phone, deserved more attention than it got

@lxmcf yeah. It got a lot of sales when it was selling for $200 on Sprint. Still, it would've been nice to get even more customers.

@AndSoWeCode

Honestly, I vastly prefer my pocket camera. The image stabilization is way better than almost any phone, better optical zoom, easier to use in one hand with no risk of fumbling, easy to swap out spare batteries, wayyyy cheaper than any phone with a remotely comparable internal camera, and possibly my favourite : no software updates on it. Ever.

If I could buy a phone that was just a phone, internet browser, and had a camera that wasn't good for much more than qr codes and barcodes, I likely would, once my s4 eventually dies.

@YouAreAPIRate wanna buy my old Galaxy S2? It fulfills all your requirements.

I went from cellphone to smartphone to cellphone to smartphone again. Every time I went to smartphone it amazed me how difficult it is to use it as a phone... Well, compared to a cellphone that is.

@FunkDelegate There is just so much shit in the way, just give us a phone with the bare essentials, so a camera app, text app, phone app and contacts app, that's it, let us decide what to add

You can still get phone that is just phone. Those are either phones for elderly or rugged phones marketed at people who need durable, simple phone. Tho even rugged phones now come as smartphones.

smartphones should be called palmtops

@lxmcf They still haven't launched it in Europe despite the fact that it started selling in the US six months ago. You know, there's other countries on the globe besides the US... Plus, it's already obsoleted by phones with Snapdragon 845.

@Arro
Do you always carry your pocket camera? Do you want to always carry with you?
Can you shoot and send something immediately (like "Hey dad, check out this table that I made", or "Hey HR, this is my new health insurance contract")?
Can you show the photos immediately to friends and family over a dinner?

Don't get me wrong, I understand the quality and versatility point quite well. When I was versatility-crazed, I used to own a Canon SX-50HS or something. That thing was versatile. Heavy and big, and because of that I rarely took it anyway.
I changed it to a Canon G7X, which is FAR far less versatile, but suits me much better. But again, I'm only carrying it with me when I know I'll shoot something.
When I need good photos and don't mind carrying a bag, I take the Canon EOS M6 with 3 prime lenses (22mm f/2.0, 50mm f/1.8, 90mm f/2.8).

However, with all of that, I take most day-to-day photos with my phone. That's why I always get last-year flagships when they drop in price.

Why don't you get yourself a feature phone?

What's getting on my nerves is how to pick up a phone call. I used to just clap open a cellphone. Now I have to open the case, put my finger exactly on the green phone icon and swipe to the right. The only good part is I don't need to enter a fucking password first.

I've remapped hanging up on the power button already a long time ago, gonna look for a way to tab any spot except for the red phone icon to take a call...

@FunkDelegate I can set the volume control keys to pick up calls...

@FunkDelegate Samsung devices can use the home button to answer calls. With custom ROMs you can get the same functionality on other phones, like I did on the OnePlus 2.

Plus, why use a case? I've been using phones for years and not a single one got dropped hard enough to even scratch it. Usually just some vinyl or wooden stick-on skin on the back, plus a protective glass screen in the front, is all you ever need for protection, unless you have a toddler in the house, and if you do, might I suggest you get a "rugged phone"? Most importantly IP68 (drool edition) certified.

@AndSoWeCode I broke my last two phones' digitizers by dropping them.

The first one was a really cheap device (Samsung Galaxy Ace Duo, I believe), so that's not surprising. The second one however was actually quite good (Nexus 5) and still broke.

It's becoming better and better though, at least for expensive smart phones (>= about 300€).

@theCalcaholic doesn't seem to be possible on my phone (Asus Zen)

@AndSoWeCode maybe I can make my own app 8)
The case is in artificial leather. I'm quite happy with it, apart from making taking phone calls more complicated...

"What's a smartphone?" <- apples new ad campaign for a new line of cellphones