Android

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

Officially supported rooting! Makes this less complicated.

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.

Headphone jack. I've used multiple LG phones before, currently using the LG V60 and seems like Sony is the only way to go in the future, unfortunately.

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

An OEM FM/AM transmitter. I would love to be able to playback music directly to any old ass car. Or even use it as a very short range walkie talkie with the right program.

Hackability

Really would love a dedicated camera button that acts as a soft shutter release. Or a button in that position that's programmable.

I'm on a Fold 4 now and I do love the novelty/oddity aspect of having a folding tablet.

But I would love to see the return of IR blasters on most phones and sliding phones for physical keyboards.

I miss my keyboards

Plastic back and a removable/user replaceable battery.

Yeah yeah I know it "feels cheap" but honestly I LIKED when phones were made of more plastic. Now they're heavier and both sides are breakable. Like, the metal backs were fine, but apparently metal backs suck for NFC and wireless charging so instead of giving us some classy Nokia Lumia style plastic they went with glass backs.

Also I keep my phone in a case because otherwise the back is so smooth it shoots off the couch if someone walks across my apartment. It's legit only in the case to add some friction.

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,

Ability to use the screen as a display through the USB port so I can debug a lot of my systems at home without needing to carry a monitor around.

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.

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.

IR emitter . Super handy wen you use old stuf like me like VHS dvd combo crt ect .

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

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

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

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

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

This is going to be such a stretch and I doubt this would ever happen, but if you could get a decently sized camera sensor on the back of a phone and a mirror less style lens mount...I would sell my DLSR in a heartbeat.

I loved the IR Blaster on my old Galaxy S4, was really fun to mess with the TV's in public places with it sometimes and was also pretty useful at home as well!

Headphone jack. 5in or less screen size.

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

IR Blaster, Headphonejack, SD Card Slot, removable battery

Late to the thread but here's my thoughts on everything I'd like in a phone. Having just a few of these would make a huge difference in how much I'd want the phone.

Hardware:

1. Standard features like a 3.5mm jack and MicroSD slot.
2. Multiple USB ports (especially on tablets)
3. Thunderbolt port
4. Here's a simple idea: Instead of making a thin phone with a massive camera bump, you make a thick phone with the camera flush with the back, and use the extra space for a bigger battery?
5. User-replacable battery
6. Modules like the modo mods
7. Battery passthrough when charging
8. Upgradable SoC, RAM, internal storage???

Software (here lies my hopes and dreams that will never be manifested):

1. Starting off simple, a feature that lets you manually limit how much you charge your battery.
2. Manual over/underclocking controls for the CPU
3. Separate WiFi/data toggles
4. More control over how big or small icons and text is
5. Easy root access with app makers not getting all "you sus" over the fact that your device is rooted
6. No data harvesting (duh)
7. Better file management (and removing scoped storage)
8. Multiple logins to a phone (like what you can do with a desktop)
9. One app, multiple accounts
10. Just having the software take less system resources.
11. Open sourcing hardware drivers
12. Multiple floating windows like with a desktop OS
13. More than 3 split screen options
14. I'm sure there's a lot more I can't think of now

Foldable display - They are still way too expensive!

Metal case - I just loved the heavy Samsung Omnia metal case. It made it unbreakable and grippy!

IR blaster

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

A Silent/Vibrate/Ring switch like on the OnePlus phones, headphone jack and a easily swappable battery.