Smartphones

Dear smartphone makers - DO YOU USE YOUR PHONES? They are getting worse and worse with every new model.

I use my phone, a Google Nexus 5X, for, in order of usage -

• ebooks
• portable music player - organized by folders, MP3s from CDs and Amazon, always with Apple wired earphones
• phone calls - almost always with Apple wired earphones
• calendar - synced to my Google calendar
• portable email
• text messaging
• navigation
• camera, calculator, news, stock market, etc.

HOW ARE THEY GETTING WORSE?

"Bezel-less" screens - How am I supposed to hold the phone without touching the screen if the screen goes all the way to the edge of the phone, or worse, curves around the edge? I need a border that is not an active part of the user interface - bottom and both sides.

Curved screen - Rounded edge screens do not handle screen covers well and screen covers have saved my screen many times.

No headphone jack - I prefer a headphone jack, but if you don't have one I can use the USB port - IF it is offset to the side so that I can plug in the headphones while the phone is in my (horizontal) belt case. If the USB port is centered, the phone won't sit in the case.

Voice assistants - The first thing I do when I get a new phone is turn off the voice assistant. I don't mind if you include them, but don't think they are a selling point, and don't make it hard to shut them off.

Odd interfaces such as squeeze - I don't want more interface mechanisms - buttons work. By button, I mean touch screen and physical. I don't want gestures - buttons work. I don't want phone motion moves - buttons work. I don't want pressure sensitive buttons - ordinary buttons work. Finger sliding scrolling is useful. Pinch/spread zoom is useful, especially when the web page hasn't disabled it. That's it.

Backlit LCD screens - these do not allow "always on" display of time, date. While they handle normal duties well enough, an always on display is a step forward. So don't think you're at the forefront of smartphones with a backlit LCD screen.

Android - why can't you set a mode where the notification line and bottom menu line are always shown and the apps must fit in the rest of the screen. (This would be a very good use of the new 2:1 ratio displays.)

Split screen, Android 8 insets - useless and annoying.

THEN YOU FAIL TO FIX PROBLEMS.

Volume - Some phone calls are too loud even when the volume is at minimum. Why is the volume range so limited?

White backgrounds are often too bright. Why can't I set a reasonable brightness level without turning off automatic brightness control?

Glossy screens have a terrible reflection problem. After market matte screen covers, in my experience, destroy the screen resolution. Why won't you spend a bit of effort to fix this with an anti-reflective coating or a high resolution matte surface. Matte screen colors aren't as saturated as glossy screens? That's true IF there is no reflection from overhead light - when does that happen?

Android 7+ - You killed all of the apps that turn off the display. The screen turns off but the fingerprint restart fails. It's still not working right in Android 8.

Android - why does Android preload useless apps. If you think it's useful to preload apps - ask me which apps are useful.

Every alarm clock and countdown timer app should have options to ramp up the alarm volume and automatically shut off the alarm after a specified time.

We need to be able to back off to a previous version of an app. All too often new versions of apps and operating systems break important function. But we are stuck with the new version.

Google Maps - the window size when navigating needs to be adjustable. It's so small that you have no clue where in the trip you are. How hard can it be to let the user specify a default size - miles, or percent of trip, or the rest of the trip would be useful.

Google Maps - alternate routes on the phone app are useless. On the desktop they can be adjusted. On the phone you just choose between bad alternates.

Google Maps - how about letting me optimize routes by: prefer interstate highways; prefer four (or more) lane roads; minimize stoplights; minimize turns. This would be a much better use of "artificial intelligence" than voice assistants.

Google Maps - how about letting me pause when I want to take a small break - gas, food, rest?

iPhone music - the last time I used iTunes, 2013 I think, it was on Windows and it was a horrible experience. But I only needed it for one thing - transfer MP3 music to my phone. Now that I use Linux, as I understand it, there is no iTunes, so an iPhone is not even an option for me. Why can't you fix this trivial issue? Let me download a file to the music folder.

Music players - music levels between songs don't always match. Why can't I set a volume bump for each song? I'm constantly adjusting the volume when listening to tune collections. Why is something so fundamental to music ignored while gimmicky features such as album covers and light shows are included?

SO WHY SHOULD I BUY A NEW PHONE? WHAT HAS IMPROVED?