"any other user does want a feature that somehow uses those perms,"
Nobody "needs" or "deserves" or is "entitled" to my location and contact list merely because they would really like to spam me and my friends. If that is "development" then I don't want it. My contact list is absolutely positively none of their business and I will not cooperate with them. They need me a lot more than I need them, so we'll see how this turns out.
You misunderstood. If the app has any other users that want to use a feature that needs it on their phone the app maker has to request it on your phone too even if you would never use it.
There are way more people that want new features from their apps than there are users that check the permissions list. This is a lost cause until Google fixes Android.
And you misunderstand: for many of us, that's an absolute dead stop.
It's also an ethical issue: my contact list isn't even mine -- it's other people's data, and their association with me. Even if I am OK providing it, there's no way I can assure that others are. Requesting contact lists is utterly immoral (and yes, so are companies which do it).
What I'd like? What I'd like is granularity on this. I'd like to be able to mark my contact info off-limits. I'd like to duck the surveillance society altogether. I'd really like a legal framework which governs this stuff, as it doesn't seem there's any other way to get the changes I'd prefer. Yes, I'm aware that's going to cause a lot of pain for a lot of companies, but it's absolutely something they've brought on themselves with the present set of circumstances.
Well, that makes two of us. I'm sure all Android developers would like the option to request permissions at point of use, so users who want to use the feature can give the permission, and the ones who don't, don't have to. But it isn't there, period. So the choice is: don't add features users ask for and listen to the people telling you they don't trust you to use the permissions you request wisely, or add features your users are asking for, and tell the ones that don't trust you to get lost.
You get one guess at what application developers do.
BTW. Good luck with getting the government to legislate that you can't implement features users ask for.
Nobody "needs" or "deserves" or is "entitled" to my location and contact list merely because they would really like to spam me and my friends. If that is "development" then I don't want it. My contact list is absolutely positively none of their business and I will not cooperate with them. They need me a lot more than I need them, so we'll see how this turns out.