The section on copy pasted designs really hit home for me. Android phones used to be the wild west of experimentation and phones that were cool tech in your pocket, not just mini computers. I think part of it is because phones are required for day to day living so they've converged onto a single design style. LG had some of the coolest experimentation but never really stuck with one or ever fleshed out any of their ideas. The G5 was awesome and I wish they had pushed it more for it's modularity. I had one until it got run over and upgraded to a G8, which is fine I guess? It's a very boring phone, no IR blaster, and no subtle curves leading up to the camera and fingerprint sensor.
Some of the coolest phones I've ever see were the ones that were sold with Caterpillar Inc. Rugged phones that could survive a lot, and some of them had thermal cameras, which seems like a gimmick but were incredible when you needed it.