Android

Slide out controller, like the Xperia Play. I've gotten super into (at least the idea of) SBC handheld gaming, and there's just nothing quite like the Xperia Play now. Sure, there's bluetooth controllers, but I'm not a big fan of bluetooth, and the majority of the bluetooth controllers make portability a pain rather than it being a sleek package.

Better system font/typeface selection and a way to install new ones. I know it's a petty gripe, but the default android options are few and terrible.

Max 4 inch screen, IR blaster, physical keyboard with speed dial settings for buttons, form factor like the Xperia x10 mini pro, headphone jack, cameraless, LED with customisable lights for different notifications, bonus - built in projector, satellite phone capability,

Hackability

Native Bluetooth GPS support. I do mapping for OpenStreetMap a lot and the built in GPS modules are just too bad for that. Currently I have to use an app to get my Bluetooth GPS connected. But sometimes this app fails and the built in GPS takes over and ruins my logs.

Does the alert slider counts as a niche feature? Very few brands provides this.

Niche feature....

By Apple's standards a headphone jack.

By Android's standards IR blaster. Had them in my last 2 phone and man is it nice to turn the volume down on a TV which is too loud in a public place like a Hotel Lobby or a Restaurant

Today my wish is for an internal pihole instance running on the device.

A full physical QWERTY keypad on my 3rd hand Blackberry Bold (in 2013) was the best thing I had seen on a cell phone. I wish full physical QWERTY keyboards would make a comeback.

I want a phone with an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, those are apparently a niche feature nowadays. The optical readers are terrible by comparison.

What about an external, optical camera lens ? I would 100% pay for a phone that looks like a brick but that has an optical zoom

It's the rear fingerprint reader for me, I use the pulldown action constantly. That and stereo front-facing speakers.

Basically an Asus Zenfone 9 with a removable battery and an Sd card. Also, make the front like Sony phones - larger bezels on the top and the bottom of the display and house stereo speakers and front camera there instead of a cutout.

A microsd card slot and a headphone jack

• Removable battery
• Ambidextrous button placement
• Screws instead of glue where possible
• USB4 + desktop mode

IR blaster

duck duck go tracker blocking that doesn't use vpn technology

I will never buy a phone that doesn't have GrapheneOS, so that limits me to Pixels.

The ability to easily unlock bootloaders, IPS screen and removable batteries.

Headphone jack, apparently..

I've had 3 Motorola's where the charge port stopped working just past warranty. Now I always look for wireless charging.

I enjoyed the squeeze to activate assistant on Pixel 2 XL..just felt right. I even configured it to activate flashlight when I needed a quick light.

physical keyboard. I particularly liked the two letter per button like was used on the BlackBerry Pearl.

A swappable battery. I could buy a few batteries and never be out of power. I could replace the battery on an older phone without pretty much having to replace the phone itself.

3D Screen Pico Projector HDMI out Notification LED Removable battery

The first smartphone I owned was the Lobster 700TV, Which as the name suggests had a digital TV receiver built in. The screen was too small to be practical, but I've always liked quirky features like that

One without a damn camera, I swear to God most of the price goes into having "quality cameras" I never end up using.

I liked the physical toggle for silent mode on iPhones. Flip/slide-out keyboards were also kinda cool

As far as apps though... I really loved having a good programmable remote app on devices with an IR transceiver. The best one was actually on Palm of all things, and you could add custom icons to a layout and then record inputs from your actual remotes to replay.