I blame Apple (and then Samsung for copying Apple) for stealing this form factor from us.
Didn’t have that one, but I did have the HTC TouchPro2 that came with Windows Mobile but was able to shoehorn a functional version of Android “Froyo” on it. Peak smartphone form factor limited by the technology of its time. Shame.
I also managed to put Gingerbread on both HTC Diamonds - not a real Rom. Iirc it was on top of Windows Mobile. So both were running in the background …
It’s been a while, but I think that’s mostly how mine worked. You had to launch it from within Windows Mobile, but after that, only Android was running the device. Android booted from the SD card and basically kicked Windows mobile out of memory and took over from there. AFAIK, WM wasn’t still in the background, at least on the Froyo build for it. I want to say that’s the case since the TP2 didn’t have much RAM, and Android ran way too well to be sharing memory with Windows Mobile lol.
Regardless, my interest in building and running custom ROMs was born the day I did that lol.
I had completely forgotten about that aspect of it until you mentioned it lol. I just remember rarely seeing WM after getting that Android build on there.
Market demand is not the only factor, though. Manufacturers make design decisions based on a variety of factors, from supportability and manufacturing efficiency to alternative profit vectors like bloatware and proprietary ports.
If someone made a slider phone with a physical keyboard, it could be the best selling phone on the market without making the most money for the company.
Technically true, and niche devices with QWERTY keyboard like the ones from PlanetCom still exist. But they don’t really benefit from economies of scale, are prohibitively expensive, and are usually at least a generation behind in hardware.
Plus Apple started, and Samsung joined, the “thinness wars” that got us to where we are today. Slide out keyboards were definitely a casualty of that, and I still hold some hope, albeit slim, that those could still make a comeback.
There is demand though, it’s just not as high. They could make a smaller number of them just to capture the people who want it. Same goes for all the other features that are hard to find on a phone anymore. I think a lot of people are confusing “lack of demand” for “the features they want aren’t available so they just buy whatever the corporations are jamming down their throat when they need a new phone”. I for one haven’t purchased a new phone since 2016 because there’s no option that has more features than my current one. If it were to break I would be forced to buy a new shittier phone that can’t do everything I want.
I blame Apple (and then Samsung for copying Apple) for stealing this form factor from us.
Didn’t have that one, but I did have the HTC TouchPro2 that came with Windows Mobile but was able to shoehorn a functional version of Android “Froyo” on it. Peak smartphone form factor limited by the technology of its time. Shame.
Yes the form factor was on point.
I also managed to put Gingerbread on both HTC Diamonds - not a real Rom. Iirc it was on top of Windows Mobile. So both were running in the background …
It’s been a while, but I think that’s mostly how mine worked. You had to launch it from within Windows Mobile, but after that, only Android was running the device. Android booted from the SD card and basically kicked Windows mobile out of memory and took over from there. AFAIK, WM wasn’t still in the background, at least on the Froyo build for it. I want to say that’s the case since the TP2 didn’t have much RAM, and Android ran way too well to be sharing memory with Windows Mobile lol.
Regardless, my interest in building and running custom ROMs was born the day I did that lol.
ah - yes this sounds more like it
I had completely forgotten about that aspect of it until you mentioned it lol. I just remember rarely seeing WM after getting that Android build on there.
I had the Touch Pro 2 and loved it! Windows Mobile was a complete mess in the best possible way.
HTC tried to make it usable with their TouchFlo (I think that’s what it was called) skin, but once you veered out of that, it was a mess, yeah. lol.
Which is kind of sad because under the hood, it was pretty advanced for its time.
Samsung had my favorite version of the slide phone with the Samsung Epic 4G Touch Galaxy 2.
Neither prevents other companies from making a phone with this form factor. It probably disappeared due to lack of market demand.
Market demand is not the only factor, though. Manufacturers make design decisions based on a variety of factors, from supportability and manufacturing efficiency to alternative profit vectors like bloatware and proprietary ports.
If someone made a slider phone with a physical keyboard, it could be the best selling phone on the market without making the most money for the company.
Technically true, and niche devices with QWERTY keyboard like the ones from PlanetCom still exist. But they don’t really benefit from economies of scale, are prohibitively expensive, and are usually at least a generation behind in hardware.
Plus Apple started, and Samsung joined, the “thinness wars” that got us to where we are today. Slide out keyboards were definitely a casualty of that, and I still hold some hope, albeit slim, that those could still make a comeback.
There is demand though, it’s just not as high. They could make a smaller number of them just to capture the people who want it. Same goes for all the other features that are hard to find on a phone anymore. I think a lot of people are confusing “lack of demand” for “the features they want aren’t available so they just buy whatever the corporations are jamming down their throat when they need a new phone”. I for one haven’t purchased a new phone since 2016 because there’s no option that has more features than my current one. If it were to break I would be forced to buy a new shittier phone that can’t do everything I want.