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Gimmick features in general. So many android phones are just designed to be android flavors of an iPhone, removing all the character that used to be one of the benefits of not going with Apple.
I had a phone that had a built in kickstand. It was both useful for propping the phone up and as a fidget toy. My last phone had a camera that would pop up out of the top of the phone so they could put a better camera for the selfie cam while also not having a hole in the screen.
That's probably my top 4. Easily swappable battery I can do without, but able to replaced with basic tools would be nice (like a screwdriver, not a specialist kit that involves regluing the damn thing).
There used to be a one-click root option in older phones (I don't remember which one)
Blackberry Priv form factor:
The keypad doubled kinda like a touch pad as well. I could use keyboard shortcuts, typed way faster tha touch. All that without compramising screen space.
If that phone didn't have a first-gen 64-bit chipset that sucked power for lunch, I'd probably still be using it to this day. It was peak convergence, and even had a headphone jack, and an amazing camera. Only way it could've been perfect would be a user-serviceable battery.
Audio jack 3.5mm!!! I'm sick of buying USBC to audio jack adaptors! Just add a damn audio jack! IR for remote control.
I really wish IR blasters would come back into style. They're not even expensive to manufacture, and they're small enough that they can be incorporated into any modern smartphone design pretty easily. And almost everybody with a smartphone has SOMETHING in their home that they control with an IR remote. There's basically no reason to have stopped including them.
Human coded Smart Keyboard. Ever since they changed to learning algorithms the spelling and grammar corrections have gotten much worse.
I straight up turn the autocorrect off wntirely these days. Natural rypos are so much easier to read than autocorrect switching out entire damn wprds...
(leaving in typos for example)
IR Blaster, Headphone Jack, swappable battery.
Ultimately...
Less thin, I hate this constant race to be the thinnest phone - lighter I would maybe be for - but thinner, fuck off.
Why I didn't buy a Fold7 recently:
I'd forgotten all about the notification LED. I wonder, could you flash a small part of an OLED display to achieve something similar while still being low power?
Sub 5" screen, 3.5mm jack, removable battery, 2-stage camera shutter button.
My old Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact had all of those, except for the removable battery.
Everybody misses their IR blaster it seems. And why not? randomly turning off the neighbors TV is good wholesome fun.
I miss the days when everything wasn't glued together. The biggest hurdle to battery replacement or screen replacement is all that damn glue.
Samsung had a little pressure sensitive area at the bottom of phone screens in the S9 era. It was handy and I had it set up like a hidden home button.
The S9 also had a variable aperture camera, which I feel like could have been developed a lot more.
I also miss notification LEDs. Sure, AOD mostly replaces it, but it was fun setting different colors for people, situations, etc
The Essential phone had a ceramic back that was very comfortable and cool in the hand. Though it was slippery. Another idea that could have been developed further.
The different back materials on the Moto X were very satisfying. The customization of that phone was unmatched!
AOD causes burn in on every single device I've ever seen it used on. I want my notification LED back too. Hell, use the OLED display, just flash a colored dot every ten seconds at the top of the screen. Could even move around each flash to prevent burn in. I really miss that notification LED
I might be the only one, but KEYBOARDS!
I even designed my own keyboard attachment to get one back.
Animated and spanning backgrounds.