Casual Conversation

I already have these but most people don't: a headphone jack and micro SD card slot.

Removable battery. Loved this on my old LG G4, even though it wasn't the best implementation. I really miss the days before smartphones where I could buy an external charger and just swap batteries as-needed instead of needing my phone to be tethered. I know this has largely been solved by longer battery lives, faster charging speeds, wireless charging, battery banks, and better charger availability. But I still miss the days of just swapping. Great for traveling, great for breathing new life into an old device.

Front facing speakers. My ears are not behind the device or below the device. The technology of vibrating the screen to use to as a speaker sounds terrible. My first smartphone was the HTC One M8, and it is still the best-sounding phone i have ever had. I will happily deal with the bars at the top and bottom of the screen to make this happen.

More permissions controls. Let me not just turn off my location data, but use a dummy location like the North Pole for apps that "require" it where I don't actually wan to give it uo, for example

Better support for launchers, icons, and other customization. This is stuff I already DO on all of my phones, but it always feels like I'm fighting against the manufacture to sneak it by them. Especially replacing icons, which I like to do seasonally. If I have to manually override an icon, the system seems to permanently disconnect that app from ever changing as I change the system icon set, meaning I need to manually go in and change all the ones that aren't ubiquitous every time.

Physical buttons. Bring them back. I am willing to compromise for the keyboard, but give me a physical Back, Menu, and Home button.

Phones designed for 1-handed use. I'm an adult man who apparently has medium-large hands, and yet most smarthphones are too big for me to use one-handed. I'm a musician who plays extended range guitars and basses, so I'm probably experiencing this problem less than most people and it's still really annoying. If I really want a bigger screen that's what tablets are for.

Thicker phones. This can somewhat be helped by cases, but we reached the point a while back where phones are too slim to hold comfortably too. Keeping your fingers pinched that close together for extended periods is just unnatural. It's the same reason the Switch's JoyCons are extremely uncomfortable for anyone with larger than tiny hands.