You can make them waterproof and the last thing I want right now is a thinner and even more fragile phone.
I want the old Nexus 5 just with newer chips and camera. Indestructible poly-carbonate shell w/non-slip rubberized coating, good sized screen, headphone jack, really good battery life, no nonsense OS.
Nothing added to newer phones (Pixel or iPhone) have improved my experience, all have made them worse in various ways. Newer phones are less durable and more expensive because they are made from fragile "luxury" materials like glass. They are thinner and have crappy battery life as a result (though this is getting better as batteries have caught up to design ambition). The thinness is rendered moot by needing a case. I didn't need a case on my Nexus 5, it was already indestructible. New phone + case is definitely thicker as a result.
Actual advantages of USB-C or BT audio mostly come down to a higher quality DAC in those devices vs crap they put on a lot of phones/laptops/etc.
Thing is that doesn't need to be the case, you can totally have a properly good DAC on-board. Especially if you aren't fighting for thinness and can put it on an isolated daughter board.
IMO the enemies of a good phone design are thinness and aluminium + glass construction.
It turns what should be a utilitarian device into a fashion accessory and because that is what the high-end looks like there is nothing but a sea of copycats doing the same thing but worse.
I want the old Nexus 5 just with newer chips and camera. Indestructible poly-carbonate shell w/non-slip rubberized coating, good sized screen, headphone jack, really good battery life, no nonsense OS.
Nothing added to newer phones (Pixel or iPhone) have improved my experience, all have made them worse in various ways. Newer phones are less durable and more expensive because they are made from fragile "luxury" materials like glass. They are thinner and have crappy battery life as a result (though this is getting better as batteries have caught up to design ambition). The thinness is rendered moot by needing a case. I didn't need a case on my Nexus 5, it was already indestructible. New phone + case is definitely thicker as a result.
Actual advantages of USB-C or BT audio mostly come down to a higher quality DAC in those devices vs crap they put on a lot of phones/laptops/etc. Thing is that doesn't need to be the case, you can totally have a properly good DAC on-board. Especially if you aren't fighting for thinness and can put it on an isolated daughter board.
IMO the enemies of a good phone design are thinness and aluminium + glass construction.
It turns what should be a utilitarian device into a fashion accessory and because that is what the high-end looks like there is nothing but a sea of copycats doing the same thing but worse.