5 different smartphone features which are disappearing or no longer exist

We’ve seen a lot of smartphone features come and go over the years for a variety of reasons, so let’s take a look at a handful of smartphone features that have trended down or no longer exist in the smartphone world.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Good one newsbot!

 

[Deleted User]

Wow is the author in a time warp? Physical keyboards on a phone haven't been seen in nearly decades!

 

[Hadron]

Apart from on BlackBerry devices.

Landscape mode keyboards I'll agree haven't been available for best part of a decade: late 2010/early 2011 for the last ones I actually saw. One of my students had a Desire Z, and I've a vague memory that Slug used to own one of those too. Motorola made several models, but they also stopped after 2011. I know, it feels longer...

 

[Deleted User]

Yes of course Blackberry, and where are they now?! Got to say that touch screen keyboards are really slick now - I use the drag style predictive mode all the time on mine.

 

[Hadron]

Blackberry? They are another contracted-out-to-China Android manufacturer, but they remain the last holdout for those who want hardware keyboards

I've never got the hang of swiping, just used SwiftKey for the last 5 years or so. Though for the sheer hell of it I've decided to test GBoard for a bit...

 

[Deleted User]

I wonder if Blackberry would be in a stronger position now if they'd adopted Android, instead of persisting with their own O/S.

 

[Hadron]

It's a difficult one to guess. Given how far they fell I think "probably", but I can see why trying to stick with your existing users is tempting.

Nokia would certainly have done better, but that's a different story...

 

[Leon Marco]

Do you'll guys remember that there was actual an age when flip phones existed. The best one I remember I the keyboard flipping from the back of the phone forming a plus sign. The screen vertically positioned and the keyboard horizontally.

 

[Deleted User]

Do you'll guys remember that there was actual an age when flip phones existed. The best one I remember I the keyboard flipping from the back of the phone forming a plus sign. The screen vertically positioned and the keyboard horizontally.

Sure do, I used to have a flip phone and thought it was pretty cool.

 

[Hadron]

Motorola RAZR V3 - still have it, still works. For a couple of years my daughter would borrow it when she wanted something smaller and more robust than a smartphone when going out.

I'm not sure about a "+"-shaped phone, though I do remember this one:

though I never saw anyone with one in real life!

 

[Leon Marco]

Motorola RAZR V3 - still have it, still works. For a couple of years my daughter would borrow it when she wanted something smaller and more robust than a smartphone when going out.

I'm not sure about a "+"-shaped phone, though I do remember this one:

though I never saw anyone with one in real life!

The phone I speak of is similar. The only thing different in that was the screen remained vertical. Your phone looks cool too.