Am I the only one who assumes the volume button is going to go away in order to prevent muting ads?

Spotify already does this even with the presence of buttons. If you lower the volume during an ad it will automatically pause, only way to resume is to up the volume again.

I cannot wait for the fad of "less ports, less buttons, less options" to end.

I still remember the fad of "let's see how many weird things we can cram onto a cell phone". It led to some pretty cool if impractical phones. Every phone I've gotten seems to be just a step towards less and less physical buttons each time. The physical home button was the last one to go I'm pretty sure.

or less screen space, aka ugly notches

I always thought sonys physical quick access camera button was an underappreciated good idea.

Eh, I don't think it's enough of a value add to justify a standalone button. Double-tapping the power button works just fine.

My LG has a dedicated Google button. I wish I could remap it for other purposes, but I haven't found a way.

have you tried the latest tasker update? there's an option to remap the bixby button on my phone, I just hadn't got around to doing it yet as theres a few things they need to be done first like plugging into a computer and entering some ADB command

> But no matter what, we will have to cope with the fact that they are taking our buttons away, just like they took the physical keyboard and the headphone jack. And eventually, they will eliminate the screen itself, too.

Is that when we've implanted direct interfaces into our brains? How far off is that?

bet charger is next, use non servicable phone with drm battery for 1 or 2 years before being forced to replace the whole unit when battery runs out.

Contact lenses and voice control i would guess. Artificial eyes also.

In an ad-laden world, I'm not signing up for this.

> If phone makers really work out any potential accidental touch issue

Doesn’t seem very likely. Maybe if you keep your phone in a purse or wallet, and you’re not very active. I can’t leave the ‘touch screen to wake’ setting on with my phone because it is always trying to butt dial emergency numbers.

In 2016, Explained Casually had a prediction about the future: One day, Apple will release the iPhone X, a solid block of featureless aluminum. This article indicates Xiaomi might beat Apple to it!

YouTube: Casually Explained-The Future(2016)[1m:16s]: https://youtu.be/8BeCFWh1Auc

Amazing how people complain that there is no innovation in the phone space, and then when there is innovation they complain about that. No, you can’t have buttons on that foldable display. Yes, a wrap around display means you’ll have to do without physical buttons.

what would be the financial benefit of this though? taking away the headphone jack meant that people would buy said phone manufacturers bt headphones but would they be selling here? will apple be selling a button dongle?

tomsguide.com not to be confused with tomshardware.com

Waterproof and 3.5mm headphone jack can't exist together. Simple as that.

Incorrect. Samsung phones have been waterproof for a while despite having a 3.5mm headphone jack.

I thought they had a patent on it, however, I haven’t been able to find anything...

I dunked my xz1 compact underwater the first day I got it just to see if it was actually waterproof or not. it has a headphone jack and its still working perfectly to this day

Absolutely incorrect. There have been a ton of ip68 phones on the market for 7+ years

I had a waterproof Walkman in the 80's

I have a Cat S60 with a headphone jack and last night it sat in my pocket in a hot tub for 3 hours and still works fine. Granted, I don't know if I can have headphones plugged in in the water.

Just to clarify, the phone was on and submerged in near boiling water for 3 hours? If so, that's amazing. Most "waterproof" phones say in small print that they shouldn't even be used in the shower.

Yeah, this was actually the first time I tried a hot tub (it's been in many pools, lakes, and rivers). I might have spoke a little too soon though, because looking at it today there is some minor screen discoloration in the lower left corner and the (physical) back button seems to have stopped responding.

I'm due for a new phone anyway, which is why I chanced it, but this thing is tank-like. All the ports have aluminum-backed rubber flaps that seal when not in use and the speaker and mic close with little "5 meter" switches.

I've had it since 2016 and put it through some serious drops and stresses and it's held up really well. The one complaint was that the "carbon fiber" finish on the back started peeling off after about 6 months.

Rubber doesn’t hold up well to soap, that’s why you shouldn’t use these items in the shower.

No. Sony used to make phones that have the jack, are water resistance, and even have removable battery.

My OnePlus 5 took a nice dip in a hot tub. Still works fine 18 months later and so does the headphone jack