Here in this thread we'll cover every phone except maybe those funny things with a wheel. Cellphones, DECT phones, satellite phones... Slightly outdated trunking radio phones...
Military radiophones. NASA/ISS "phones". Skype-like apps... 

So, what sort of a phone have you had/do you have? Brand?

The P800 wheel was brilliant. In addition to the wheel movement  it had three button presses, in, up, and down. A decade has gone since the hardware buttons disappeared in most phones and we still don't have haptic interfaces, so the user experience is much poorer.

I think I'd generally want the highest *workable* quality, i.e. the quality easy to play back, share and upload. If I or my contacts can't play it back, why would I want to record this quality?

True, but I'm not talking about RAW images or anything here. Higher JPEG quality visibly produces less artifacts without adding too much extra.

When recording video, the default quality is 1080p. There's a distinct setting to record 4k, which is unworkable for most common folks and ordinary machines. Xperia M5 itself plays a 4k video without any issues.

Shooting in UHD allows you to share a lot better quality FHD videos (unless they're in a lower bitrate). But this isn't really comparable to adding an extra 100 kB or so to a 2 MB picture.

I'd be grateful if you try Dolphin to see if your backside button scrolls. I think it would be interesting for yourself also to know, how this kind of scrolling works. With an edge button it works pretty good.

It's just the volume button. However it is interesting that Dolphin allows you to enable on-screen zoom buttons, plus settings its text size smaller actually has an effect. Unfortunately it seems to be superior to Firefox Mobile, and possibly Opera/Blink Mobile as well. I'm pretty sure Firefox didn't want access to my identity, although I'd have to double check...

decade has gone since the hardware buttons disappeared in most phones and we still don't have haptic interfaces, so the user experience is much poorer.

Hear, hear!

My new LG Stylo came today from T-Mobile, the American subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom

My new LG Stylo came today from T-Mobile, the American subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom

This one? http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_g_stylo_%28cdma%29-7245.php

What made you choose it? Did you get a good price or did some of its features attract you?

Looks like the stylus might be a distinguishing feature.

I like having a stylus. Samsung's button placement on it leaves something to be desired but it is nice to have a more precise interface than my finger. I don't use it as much as I could because of old ingrained touchscreen habits it guess.  Pinch zoom or a double tap usually works well enough that I don't really think to slide the stylus out to navigate with much. But for notes or lists more than a line or so it's way faster to write it, after some getting used to, than type on a virtual kybd. I do still use SMS for short on the spot notes out of habit. So again it hasn't been much of a game changer for me but others may love having a stylus more.

For a bit more precise input, I occasionally long to be able to tap and draw with my pinkie's fingernail again. This used to work in the very first touchscreen smartphone, SE P800, whose stylus broke easily. When I received, once upon a time, my second-hand SE P800, the stylus was already a little cracked and only got worse over time, but it wasn't a problem because my pinkie's fingernail did the same job more conveniently.

Currently I am getting good easy results by connecting my newest smartphone with ordinary keyboards via USB OTG. It's possible to select any random keyboard layout. Pretty much all the keys work, even though it's a bit app-dependent. For example Shift doesn't seem to work in TurboEditor (fairly major issue actually), but works in QuickEditor. Menu key works. Media keys work. Even Alt+Tab works! And the mouse works too via USB OTG, so it makes sense to acquire a travel keyboard with trackpoint/trackpad and the smartphone becomes a near-complete netbook.

keyboards via USB OTG

well played .

btw is it possible to use otg to usb , and then usb to vga .
even it is only can do 800x600 , cos i dont think it support usb 3.0 for higher resolution .

btw is it possible to use otg to usb , and then usb to vga .

Connected to a monitor via VGA? I don't have such connectors/adapters, so I haven't tried.

On one of my monitors, I have a weird hole where I can stick a cable that was provided. The other end is supposed to go to USB on my computer, but when connected, it seems to be doing nothing. (Otherwise the monitor does the ordinary monitor thing via VGA connector.) I have no faith that monitors connected to mobile phone via USB would perform better. But as said, I haven't tried.

If your phone can use MHL you should be able to convert the HDMI to VGA with an adapter.

weird hole

i think it is Hdmi .

with an adapter it can connect   mini hdmi ( smartphone ) to HDMI monitor /HDtv .

monitors connected to mobile phone via USB would perform better

it aint perform better .
but hence,  it will make the text bigger and higher resolution .

What made you choose it? Did you get a good price or did some of its features attract you?

Well, I got a decent price at 75 USD off I also liked that it had such a large screen and the stylus will probably come in handy

For a bit more precise input, I occasionally long to be able to tap and draw with my pinkie's fingernail again. This used to work in the very first touchscreen smartphone, SE P800, whose stylus broke easily. When I received, once upon a time, my second-hand SE P800, the stylus was already a little cracked and only got worse over time, but it wasn't a problem because my pinkie's fingernail did the same job more conveniently.

Using e.g. an old Windows Mobile phone or my Nintendo DS makes me utterly despise capacitive touchscreens all over again every time.

On one of my monitors, I have a weird hole where I can stick a cable that was provided. The other end is supposed to go to USB on my computer, but when connected, it seems to be doing nothing. (Otherwise the monitor does the ordinary monitor thing via VGA connector.) I have no faith that monitors connected to mobile phone via USB would perform better. But as said, I haven't tried.

Many monitors have an integrated USB hub. Are you sure yours doesn't?

Many monitors have an integrated USB hub. Are you sure yours doesn't?

I know what a USB hub is. The weird hole doesn't act this way. The cable has the following endings and the weird ending goes to the weird hole I am talking about.

I call it weird because it looks weird. And I haven't noticed it do anything.

That's just a standard USB like you'd use for a printer, scanner or other peripherals.

If your monitor is a touchscreen it'd have one too... I think Frenzie was just suggesting the monitor might have USB ports on it. Sometimes hubs are built into monitors so you don't have to reach around everything to plug stuff in. (Often around the edges or on the face at the bottom)

I have a USB hub in some of my keyboards and I use them for the trackball, so I know how this works. I also know what is supposed to happen when you connect a printer to the computer.

In the case of this monitor, it has a D-Sub (VGA) connector which does the monitor thing. Then it has the USB cable which does nothing. Literally. Possibly meant to be connected somewhere else than to a computer...

Okay. You wouldn't be the first person to miss a USB port on the side of a monitor. I just feel like this is an answerable question so I just wanted to be sure all is clear.

So now it's either the monitor has some features the OS can use with software... like it's a touchscreen but not necessarily only that... Or maybe it can work as some sort of kiosk or POS aux monitor. Again that would require software and/or hardware to pull that off via USB. It's not just gonna plug in and work. But I'm just shooting in the dark out of curiosity. Not like I have any real information to go on.

You are right that a CD-ROM came with the monitor. The software of course doesn't do anything in Linux.

Or maybe it can work as some sort of kiosk or POS aux monitor.

What does POS stand for in this case?

Oh my fault. - Point of Sale. Like a cash register's screen or the screen that faces the customer and shows the total (and usually ads).

Got yourself an odd-ball there.

thats printer cable .

if i am not wrong some modem also have that kind of   port .

about  why monitor have that kind of port , i really have no idea .

thats printer cable .

No, it's just a regular USB cable. I'd say a "printer cable" is one of those parallel things from the '80s and early to mid-'90s, although even those were used for much more than just printers. My monitor sports the same thing, except it's USB 3 so it has a little extension on top.



My monitor has one of the USB ports hidden among the other connectors (DP, mini-DP, HDMI), which is inaccessible with the back panel on. I've been thinking about buying a tiny extension cord for it. The other hole is simply on the back, which is where I typically plug in my Xbox One controller.

Burn all the phones. We don't need brain washing.

Now my old phone^[1] has this issue - as soon as I arrive within the city limits on the train, the network vanishes. As soon as I return home after work on the train, the network reappears precisely at the city limits. Regularly so for a week now. My provider is not visible to my phone within the city limits at all. Other providers are, but they are blocked from me. It's as if my provider were in the process of removing the old GSM frequencies. Just to force me to buy another new phone, I suppose...

¹ Bought 2007, like 9 years ago? In old times one would certainly expect things to last at least this long, if not longer.↵

The reason I had to replace my own 5/6-year old '06/'07 feature phone by my already defunct first "smart"phone is that it started having trouble reconnecting to the network after being in the metro. In principle that's normal -- your connection might get lost occasionally in a tunnel or something -- but it should reconnect right after. I discovered it never seemed to reconnect without a restart, prompting me to buy my already defunct first "smart"phone.^[1] Phones are weird.

¹ The battery was ready for replacement after four years, but seeing how the biggest problem was that all the software had become too heavy it didn't seem like a worthwhile investment...↵