(ThyBlackMan.com) What are the most useless smartphone features? Well, there are tons of gimmicks we do not need or want on a smartphone. Pointless features, pre-installed apps, app permission nonsense, split view on a small screen and more don’t make any sense on a smartphone but they do exist. Here we have listed 7 smartphone features which we find the most pointless things available on a smartphone.
Volume Buttons
Just like how we control brightness on smartphones, we can control the volume in the same way and some apps allow us to do so. When everyone in the smartphone industry is embracing touch input, why do we need physical buttons to control audio on our phones? On many phones, these buttons are used as shortcuts for apps and features but when we already have squeezable edges on smartphones, why can’t we make a phone with no physical button.
This includes the power button as well. The on/off button can be buried under the screen or squeezable edges. It’s funny that Samsung is now adding a Bixby button on smartphones. I still remember the embarrassing moments of accidental music button press on my Galaxy Music phone.
Half-baked features
So one day, augmented reality and artificial intelligence will be everywhere and that’s why smartphone makers are making your phone future proof with AI-powered hardware and features which are useless at present. We have seen smartphones with AI-enabled processors and features but in the current scenario, they do nothing more than transforming your facial image into an emoji. Do we need to spend money on hype and flashy features when the road to that wonderful future is a long one?
More megapixels
Customers’ journey from J-Phone to Huawei’s P20 Pro is exciting and we have seen smartphone cameras ranging from 0.11MP to 40MP. But having more megapixel count on a camera doesn’t matter. More megapixel count cannot guarantee better pictures as there are many other factors that work in producing the best quality images. From aperture to lighting conditions and angles, many factors play an important role in determining the quality of an image.
CPU cores
This one belongs to the hardware side, but people who think more CPU cores are better, need to understand that this isn’t the case. Octa-core chips have double cores than the quad-core processors. So, does it mean that phones with octa-core processors perform better than quad-core processors? No, they aren’t. There’s a little difference between the two so don’t fall for this marketing gimmick.
4K video recording
Some things in smartphone industry have little to no practical use but they are sold to make money. So you’re excited about 4K video recording on a smartphone and thinking that the quality of the videos will be amazing. It’s true that the quality will be better than normal HD videos but do you have the resources to enjoy that quality?
If you will play those 4K videos on your 1080p HD TV or monitor, it’s pointless to buy a phone just because it records videos in 4K. Even if you are planning to get a 4K TV in the future, the amount of storage consumed by your 4K recordings will make you want to go for external storage options and on top of that, the difference in quality is hardly visible in most of the cases.
Gesture controls
Despite criticism from fans and developers, smartphone manufacturers are putting efforts to make you prefer gesture controls. The idea is to increase convenience, but it only looks good in theories. It’s pointless to hold a phone and move it in different ways to access certain features when you can just use touch input and get things done. Some will argue that it will come handy in many situations, but what’s the point when you’ll still be holding a touchscreen phone and avoiding touch input.
Dual camera mode
So you’re taking pictures of your family and want to be a part of that picture. Earlier, you had no other option than using image editing software or asking someone to click your family photo. With the dual camera mode on smartphones, you can click pictures from both front and rear cameras at the same time. Sounds great? But it’s useless in many cases and you’ll rarely use this feature unless you want to see your expressions while taking photographs.
Tell us which mobile phone features you find useless. What’s that thing that makes you feel proud of yourself for not buying gimmicks that surface with almost every smartphone launch?
Staff Writer; Corey Shaw
Have any Tech Tips? News? Hit up our Tech Guru at; CoreyS@ThyBlackMan.com