For me its the ‘Knock Code’ that LG had on their phones (I really wish LG still made at least the V series phones)

Basically there was a four-square area and you set up a sequence of where you would tap to unlock the phone. That set of squares was only shown when you set up the code

Then, to unlock your phone, you would tap those areas in the sequence you set up (even with the screen off).

Fingerprint readers are nice, but I really do miss the knock code

Edit: did find this article with a way to do the knock code, but if done wrong, could brick your phone I guess.

Plus, article is from 2014. When I looked at XDA’s info on it (they also being the developers) it looks like development on it is over, but individual modules may or may not still be supported by their devs

  • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Unlockable bootloader, removable battery, headphone jack, being assembled with SCREWS rather than GLUE.

    • BigMoe@lemmy.zipOP
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      1 year ago

      Love the first answer as, I have to get on my Linux soapbox here.

      I remember first using Linux (Ubuntu 9.10 for those curious). One of the big ideas behind it was ‘its your computer, do what you want’. That’s why you can have access to Root or the Super User. Since its open source, root can do what it wants.

      Android was initially built on Linux, but they have taken Root and turned it into a way to restrict users not just from sensitive things (like necessary system apps), but also from bloatware (looking at you Samsung). Years ago I had a phone that came with the NFL Network which I didn’t want. Could I remove it? Of course not, I would have to be Root to do that!.

      Sorry for the rant, but really, I should have access to anything on my phone if I want it. Give me a warning, make it so people can’t get to it ‘accidentally’, but then let it be on me.

      • foo@withachanceof.com
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        1 year ago

        You can still buy Android phones that have manufacturer support for unlocking the bootloader. Once that’s done obtaining root is trivial. Pixel phones notably support this. Personally, I only buy phones I can unlock the bootloader on to show the demand for this feature. It doesn’t matter to me how great a phone is otherwise. Can’t unlock the bootloader? Not buying it.

        That said, I completely agree with you. We all pay for and own the hardware, but let the manufacturer dictate what software it can run. That’s like buying a car and letting the car company tell you what roads you’re allowed to drive your car on. I don’t really blame the average use for not giving a crap because end users will never care about this stuff as long as their basic needs are met. It’s a failure of the people in the software industry to stand up for the open systems that built everything we have today. Without that constant fight for openness companies are going to be more than happy to take advantage of a locked down system to create a competitive advantage. Hell, look at what Google is currently doing with WEI in Chrome. If they have their way, the web will become just as locked down as smartphones are now.

        Android was initially built on Linux

        For the record, it still is.

        • treadful@lemmy.zip
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          1 year ago

          Only problem is all the apps that won’t run in a rooted environment. I’m not sure why they should even know that information…

          • Sneexy@catgirl.pub
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            1 year ago

            there’s some projects that exist that try their best to hide root from specified apps to make them seem as if they aren’t running in a rooted environment of course, they can’t completely hide all traces but most of the time they’re usually actively updated to make most apps seem as if they really aren’t running in a rooted environment

      • minkshaman@lemmy.perthchat.org
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        1 year ago

        Shits me off that rooting the phone immediately blocks most banking apps.

        After a few years of playing cat and mouse with the workarounds for safety net I finally said fuck it.

        If they’re going to force me to live with an unrooted phone, I might as well have shit that works with the rest of my families eco-system and go iPhone.

        • AdmiralShat@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          To be fair, there still is quite a bit that can be done using ADB and no root, much more than you’ll ever get with iPhone.

          But yeah, I agree my banking app is 100% of the reason I stopped rooting my phones.

      • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Spot on, my daily driver is a PinePhone Pro with keyboard case. It ticks all the boxes. It also covers the “physical keyboard” feature which is a few comments down.

        It has its downsides, but it’s a full fledged Linux computer in my pocket. What’s not to love?

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        This isn’t an Android thing. First-party Google phones can do this. This is on other Android OEMs.

    • jet@hackertalks.com
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      1 year ago

      Fair phone seems to be doing it… except their last phone removed headphone jacks and introduced “fair ear buds” or some such… even the open company wants to increase sales.

      • krimsonbun@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Yeah that’s why I have the fairphone 3, also the 4 is REALLY expensive. And fairphone isn’t really an open company but more open than others

    • Carobu@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Sony phones still do the bootloader and headphone jacks at least. I’m pretty happy with mine.

      • HidingCat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Problem is they’re kinda overpriced and not very good value. Also I hate the super tall aspect ratio that they’ve gone with.

    • angstylittlecatboy@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Many midrange phones still have headphone jacks, and removable battery has to come back if they want to continue selling in the EU.

      • HidingCat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Slowly going away though. Samsung took them off in the A53, and Xiaomi did the same with the T series phones.

    • krimsonbun@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      wait phones have non-unlockable bootloaders? I’ve never seen that before although you do have to do some annoying stuff on some to unlock them which isn’t necessary

      • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Plenty of phones have unlockable bootloaders and it used to be pretty much an expected thing on Android phones until manufacturers and carriers started locking it down and being more Apple-like. You can’t run most custom ROMs without an unlocked bootloader as being able to run a custom kernel requires an unlocked bootloader. Being able to use non-Android Linux operating systems like postmarketOS also depend on unlocked bootloaders.

        On most it’s just a matter of toggling an option in developer settings and using fastboot to unlock. Some make it more difficult than that, others completely prevent unlocking (and thus become e-waste after the official software stops getting updated).