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Personally, the Pixel 5 was the perfect size and weight for a phone.
No bulky cameras. No thick chassis. No glass adding pointless weight. Very usable as a one handed device. Symmetrical bezels.
Pixel 3 and Samsung S4 and j series were good
Typing this from my pixel 5. The best sized phone ever. I think imo the use case for big ass 15 feet phones is a little overkill. Most people are just buying it because it’s “premium”.
The best sized phone ever.
Steve Jobs called the first release of the iPhone with its 3.5" screen, “the perfect size for human hands”.
Say what you want about Steve’s other claims, he was probably fairly right on that one. Humans have opposable thumbs and the average range of said thumbs when touching something cradled in the palm without external movement is about 3-4 inches.
And yet I’m typing this on a “moderate” sized Samsung A71, and to tap something on the top of the screen I need to use my other hand or shift the phone downwards in my grasp to do so.
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Pixel 5 is great, but 4a was perfect
Nexus 5 was a good size for me, this 4a is too big to be comfortable. If rather have the bezels back, too. Much easier to use without 100% screen coverage.
Yeah, its super annoying that you can’t grab phones without touching the screen
Puts the virtual keyboard uncomfortably low, as well. I didn’t mind the buttons having a dedicated space.
I’m still using mine.
I still have mine on my desk but it has a screen issue so it’s unusable. I still pick it up just to feel it. It’s just so good in the hand.
I recently busted out my Pixel 5 (currently using Pixel 7) to try out Lineage OS and absolutely love how it feels in my hands. It’s light and easy to reach all of the screen with one hand. Man I miss that phone.
Nice. And with Lineage its fast, root and add Kernel Adiutor to really tweak both performance and battery life.
The s23 is basically the same size as the pixel 5.
https://m.gsmarena.com/size-compare-3d.php3?idPhone1=10386&idPhone2=12082
S23 will cut your palm with its sharp edges though
I just don’t get on with Samsung devices. The software bloat ruins their great hardware for me. That’s an amazing looking phone though.
5 years ago, I would’ve agreed, but it’s pretty good today
Currently using an Essential Ph1 running Lineage (Android 13) and I’m about to switch to a Pixel 4a of all things, because of size, weight (its plastic), cheap as hell (so I can keep a hot spare around and do testing for a low cost), and it has one of the highest NIT ratings of any unlockable phones.
The 5 looks good too, just not as bright, slightly larger, and a little heavier.
Edit:spelling
My son has the 4a and it’s a great phone. Same size as the Pixel 5 too.
From what I’ve seen online, the 5 is trivially larger (like 1mm each way).
What drives me to the 4a is the brighter screen, slightly lighter, and plastic. So when I drop it (not if), it’ll bounce better.
Also, they’re cheap as hell from Walmart of all places, about $100, lol. So I can afford 2 or 3 of them for the cost of a newer phone that has performance and features I really don’t care about.
My perfect phone would be a galaxys s5 with modern camere processer and compatibility with graphene os
The day mines dies I might just not have a phone lol
Yeah I wish my 5a was a little smaller, it’d be perfect. Still been a great phone so far. But my screen is scratched to hell because I forgot to put a protector on it.
Add a screen protector - it can hide the scratches.
I just want phones that are shorter. They keep getting longer, which means more risk of breaking, and means the keyboard is unusable in landscape since it blocks the textfield.
Conspiracy part of my brain wants to say thats by design… To artificially increase sales by replacing broken ones.
Same reason they sealed up the phones so you couldnt replace the batteries/repair them.
as far as conspiracies go I think you could probably do better
not everyone is bold enough to artificially slow down the phone to frustrate you into upgrading like Apple did.
Just saying, we need a sub called “inconspiracies” where every post is literally just a known (or assumed) fact that sounds like a conspiracy
Months ago my coworker and I were joking that something similar would be a funny podcast, then we both went no. No one should ever do this….it would not end well.
Jtlyk, you can use a custom keyboard, like Swift Key. Many have the option to scale according to your preferences.
I bought an unlocked pixel 7a because of lots of custom roms once it goes out of support
It’s huge and doesn’t have a headphone jack or SD card slot but it’s very fast and has a good camera
My dream phone would be:
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Unlocked bootloader
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Replaceable battery
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Small
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Expandable storage
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Good camera
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IR blaster
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Updates provided for a long time
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Stock Android
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Very durable
I’d buy that phone for sure. Sounds hella good.
I’d add NFC to that list because mobile payments are awesome.
Nah personally I would trade SD card support for headphone jack any day, but hey I get why they got rid of it, something to do with the environment
The Samsung flagships (s22, 23) are the only “small” phones, but they’re actually pretty good. I’ve been using Samsung for a few years now and it actually improves on the things that annoy me with stock android.
ir blaster gang gang
The closest you could get is the fair phone, its not perfect but once its available where I am I’m thinking on getting it.
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Try a large phone and you’ll stay for the battery life alone.
My phone is about 15cm (~5¾ in) tall, and to me, that’s the absolute maximum. It’s slightly too big. The width, about 7cm (~2¾ in) is totally fine.
This (Galaxy XCover 5) was the smallest phone that seemed to exist (and I wanted one woth durability, removable battery, SD slot, headphones etc). It was very expensive though.
Trying to find cheaper ones for various people in the extended family, they all specified “oh, not bigger than my current one”, but it was impossible. There’s basically nothing less than 16cm tall, and most are even bigger.
I’m scared of this one breaking. The XCover 6 is 17cm x 8cm.
That size os about the max for me too. I wonder what I’m gonna do if my current phone fails…
If it were shoes I’d say “just get ten sets of what’s the right size”, but the problem with tech is we’re still going to want more ram, more storage etc.
Like who is going to keep all the buttons, ports, dimensions and connectivity, whilst upgrading the innards?
Like a Thinkpad of phones?
I… don’t really see your point. Could you elaborate?
Computers, for example, reduced significantly with time. Better technology is allowing to put more transistors in smaller packages and fit more components in the same space. At the same time, the move to digital connectivity allows to save more space.
Anyway, even if we had the thinkpad of phones, why can’t we also have the raspberry pi of phones?
Sorry, I was unclear. I’ve got a pair of workshoes that fit me perfectly - so I bought 5 pairs exactly the same. When my current pair wears out in a year, I’ll replace it with an identical pair.
It would be tempting to buy 5 copies of my current phone - except by the time this one breaks in 3-4 years, the innards (processor/ram/storage) will be poor in comparison to newer versions, and it may not be able to run newer versions of software.
It is a shame that no company is saying “lets keep it basically the same on the outside, but improve the internal specs” - they tend to do things like making it bigger, removing headphone ports, removing other physical buttons, or making it thinner but giving it a rubbish battery that’s nonreplaceable.
I used Thinkpad as a comparison, as you can still buy an older model of Thinkpad and pack it with newer innards - so buy the older model with the case you like, but refurbished with more ram, a better processor etc.
If you put my 2 year old Thinkpad laptop next to my old one, they look pretty much the same, except the new one is thinner and much lighter - they still both have physical touchpad buttons, the trackpoint, lots of ports down both sides. I can still use my older laptop bag, because they’re nominally the same size and shape.
I wish some phone models followed a similar process - “here’s the same thing you already have, but better”.
I would absolutely love a barebones, tiny, configurable Raspberry Pi of phones.
Now I get it, thanks for taking your time to explain. I feel the same, not only about phones, but with hardware in general.
Xperia 10 V is 15.5x6.8 cm. Might be worth a try
That’s not bad actually, still bigger though - but not by as much as most :)
Galaxy S23 is 14.6×7.1cm, so almost the same.
That looks perfect - until I saw it’s £850! My current phone was about £250, which was more expensive than I wanted - but the only one that was small enough and had the dust/water/drop-off-a-ladder resistance.
Still, those S23s may be cheap in a few years when they’re “old” :)
Galaxy S8 was my perfect phone, I still keep it around and throw my SIM card in for certain things.
I want a small phone with easy replaceable battery and a plastic sturdy screen.
A plastic screen? Doesn’t that get scuffed up really easily?
Plastic will get scratched, but won’t shatter. I honestly think a plastic screen with a glass protector is the ideal option.
I actually went opposite on my Pixel 8. A matte tpu screen protector gives you a self-healing protective layer that feels like paper and doesn’t have glare. A beautiful bright display with a high refresh that feels like a kindle.
What irks me about the larger phones is that there is so much wasted screen real estate. The phone doubled in size, but can only show me half the number of items on my shopping list?
That sounds more like an iPhone problem than a large phone problem. You have complete control over both text size and display scaling in Android.
Google and Android aren’t perfect but fuck man I love Android.
Buttfuck Man, my favorite super hero of all time. Can’t wait till he gets his own movie.
And this wasn’t just any but fuck man. It was the “perfect but fuck man I love”!
I just wish phones would get thicker, instead of longer. So they can fit beefier batteries.
I’d love to be able to charge my phone like twice a week
I wanted small phone after 4 years with op7t and went logically for S23. But few years back it would be massive phone. Nowadays I found it like a perfect sweet spot of size, weight… Performance, software and camera wise it’s the only option.
I got the S23 because it was smaller, then returned it and got a bigger phone. I guess I’m one of the people that only thought they wanted a smaller phone.
I did the opposite.
I always found big phones very hard to use (even though I have big hands), so I preferred small phones.
Then I got an S21, which was borderline too big (relative to the S10e), so I was looking for a solution and found phoneloops. Using this is so comfortable, I figured I don’t really need small phones anymore.
I dropped my S21 and a couple of things went broke, so I figured I would try an S23 ultra with phoneloops.
It was comfortable to use with the loops. I liked the huge screen for consuming content and I found the pen pretty handy at times. But I just couldn’t get used to the thickness and weight. I didn’t like using it because of it. After two months I grabbed my old phone and was blown away by it’s small size and weight. I ordered some replacement parts and switched back (daughterboard, loudspeaker, battery, glue). I appreciate it’s size even more now.
I guess if they would make a 170g, 8mm thick phone with a 7 inch display (FLAT), I would definitely give it a try.
I didn’t try the S21, but I always thought the S8 was a very comfortable phone to hold. It was tall, but narrow, and very thin. I’m not sure I’d go back to that now, but I did like it a lot at the time.
The S21 is wider by a lot (71mm vs 68mm)
There are just a handful of flagship phones coming out in the last two years that are sub 69mm wide: the zenphones, and the xperia 5 IV and V (and the apple iphone SE 2022)
Agreed.
Manufacturers seem to think that we all need a massive screen to watch films and play games on.
I guess most people browse the web and that’s why bigger screens work better. I happily bought bigger phones. Some people like to pretend phones are for calls but that’s just not true IME.
I just find a smaller screen easier to operate.
The size of the pixel 7a was a good compromise.
Also agreed. However the manufacturers know how many of each device they sell and seem to think the smaller form factor devices aren’t very popular. I imagine there’s multiple reasons, like the smaller phones tend to also have lower battery life and lack other features due to size and they tend to appeal to people on tighter budgets that upgrade less often.
man I just miss being able to type and reach all corners of the screen with one hand without having to be a contortionist or accidentally clicking on the one-handed keyboard that I never actually use because I’ve already resigned to always using two hands anyways
I’ve since realized that you can turn off the one handed keyboard completely but the fact that it has to exist at all still annoys me
It’s not the manufacturers fault that your and my hand sizes haven’t kept up with demand. /s
I think it’s part of a push of making your smartphone your “everything” device. I love small phones but I will say that some tasks are just impossible with them.
That’s why I switched to a flip phone. It’s smaller in my pocket.
I really liked it when I tried my Samsung GT-S5830i again. It only has a 3.5" screen. It’s just perfect for one-handed use. And it has a home button. I miss those.
But anyway, I still probably wouldn’t choose a small phone. I prefer bigger ones overall. I really liked phablets when that was a thing. 6-7 inch screen but in 16:9 aspect ratio. For me, that’s gold, as I usually use my phone in landscape (I am typing this on phone in landscape too).
I remember the last time this got brought up and I complained about my thumb not being able to reach the other side of the iphone 3 mini. Well, I tried the Samsung Z Fold the other day and I really like how narrow it is to the point where my thumb can effortly reach the other side when the phone is folded. Perhaps I’ll get that phone in the future when my current iPhone 13 mini dies. At the same time, I do enjoy my Apple Watch though and I appreciate the longetivity of the iPhone compared to other brands.
This is the angle that makes me reconsider folding phones. Either fold direction, and you’ve got a smaller screen that’s usable in one hand.
My friend got the original galaxy fold and kept it until this year when she bought a fold5. She still has the original fold as a backup phone, too. I’m not sure longevity is necessarily a worry, by that metric.
I got the fold 3 and the one thing that suprised me above everything else is how sturdy the phone is. How durable it is. Ive had it for just over 2 years and i domt think i will upgrade when the contract ends. Its exactly what i need and is still working perfectly without a scratch on it.
I appreciate the longetivity of the iPhone compared to other brands.
I used my galaxy 4s mini for literally a decade.
It’s a nice idea, but I’d be worried about the wear and tear on the folding screen. I can’t imagine it would hold up through the years of use I put phones through.
Have the new Z Fold after years of owning borderline-phablets and the usability is much better. My previous phone (Galaxy S20+) felt too big and painful to use one-handed, yet typing with two hands felt awkward. This splits the use cases. Slim one-hand phone on the outside. Mini-tablet typing monster on the inside. 🤌
Phablet? Now that’s a term I haven’t heard in a very long time.
The Z fold is 67.1mm across in folded mode. The iPhone 12 & 13 Mini is 64.2mm.
So that must be my the cover making my iPhone hard to reach, gotcha. Though I suppose I wouldn’t expect to use a cover as thick if I use the fold
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I have a theory about small phones:
I see so many people asking for smaller phones, and, at the same time, the sales aren’t very good when companies give it a try. How can both be true?
I believe (from my anedoctal observations) that small phone users tend to be people who don’t want to replace their phones just for the sake of getting a newer one, and use their devices for several years, resulting in fewer sales than expected.
See also: manual transmissions in cars. I say this as someone who, until going electric, exclusively drove three pedal cars. People just weren’t buying them, but toward the end it did seem like manufacturers were making it less appealing to buy them by only putting them in base models.
I also believe it’s usually high(er) end model being smaller and people who want smaller phones want something cheaper. At least that’s what’s going on in my social bubble.
Yes. I was shocked at the price of the iPhone mini.
On the other hand I was genuinely torn between the pixel 7 pro and the pixel 7a when I lost my Pixel 5 because I wanted the pro features but the smaller size of the 7a. Ended up getting the pro because the size wasn’t so far apart to make much of a difference, both were massive anyways compared to the 5.
But I bought second hand open box so maybe I’m not in the demographic that matters to Google.
I don’t want smaller phones, I’m just having a hard time growing my hands and pockets to keep up.
I prefer smaller phones but none of them have the specs I want. I’m never looking for bleeding edge flagships either. I just want a good enough camera, good enough screen, goddamn micro SD slot damn it, and flat glass edges with a bit of a bezel so I can put a case and tempered glass on. And whatever the maker needs to make available for custom roms to be possible because I’m damn well going to keep using it after official updates end.
They wouldn’t even need to make a new model as frequently, maybe minor revisions to replace no longer available components. USB port update shouldn’t be needed for a good chunk of time since c seems pretty great. There’s probably a shitload of tooling and supply chain issues to work out even ignoring the likely toxic workplace politics though.
If they ever produce a compact Fairphone that would be it
I’m a staunch and unyielding small phone user and this does, admittedly, describe me. I used my LG Optimus (4.75" or 120mm) for something like 6 or 7 years and I loved it. I don’t use my phone for games or video and just want something I can always tuck in a pocket (on women’s clothes this means tiny). It was the perfect size for my hand. When it stopped working because of the 3G/4G change over I upgraded to the smallest, most decent phone I could find: a Samsung Galaxy S7. I am still using it something like 5 years later and I would never go bigger than this, it fits comfortably in one hand, is light, and the battery is replaceable and lasts me all day. It sticks out of pants pockets but fits in a coat or jacket pocket. I would be willing to pay a higher up front cost to get a new phone if it was exactly what I wanted though, about 5" with no bloatware, replaceable battery, headphone jack, and a great camera.
You’re just like me hahaha. My first smartphone was an LG Optimus too, the L70 model. I used for almost the same amount of time, until 2020. It still works, but I stopped using it due to the lack of storage space (2GB only) and older android version. I still think that phone is the perfect size, and would love to have the same model, but with upgraded specs. Then I had to get another one, and moved to Samsung too, but the A01 core.
Yeah the older android version is what killed it for me really, as I would have even kept using it as a wireless device. I couldn’t install my preferred browser, email app, reddit is fun etc on it after enough years. I even rooted it and looked into installing a new version of Android on it but couldn’t haha. It was compact, comfortable to hold, but big enough to browse and read text or to use an onscreen keyboard without much trouble. I was really disappointed to learn that there just were no phones compatible with 4G/LTE running Android 8 or higher that size, not even cheapie ones.
I managed to install lineageos on mine and extend its life for a few years, but the storage limitation was the bottleneck, as I had about 600mb for all my apps and data. I still used that device for a good while, even after buying another, because that size is so comfortable to me. It was so sad when if stopped working after emmc wear :(
You see so many people asking for smaller phones in the forums and places you frequent.
They do not necessarily represent the views of the common public. I personally could do with a slightly smaller phone because the compact size allows for easier holding with single hands. But, sadly, I have not seen folks around me deciding which phone to buy based on their screen size. Neither is that a priority for them. Simply put, our Venn diagrams do not fully overlap.
I see a lot of people around me asking for smaller phones, from my family to work and friends. Perhaps it’s something cultural, I don’t know.
But I’m well aware that our perception can trick us in so many ways, and can’t speak for itself. I would love to see atual data on phone size preferences around the world.
Still, I doubt that there aren’t enough people wanting smaller phones to sustain a market niche.
True, geographic diversity is a thing. Smaller phones like iPhone mini or Zenfone didn’t caught up in the Indian market. But, should demand exist for them, atleast some companies ought to be making them in some parts of the world. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be happening and that presents one less choice to the customer.
I feel like when there is a small phone released, though, it has compromises on battery life and camera quality that people might not accept. I think a lot of people who “want a small phone” want a small phone with no other compromises other than the size of the phone.
I’m compromising on those things right now with a phone that’s ten (!!) years old now. If I could get one running a current OS, that was between 120-150mm with a replaceable battery, headphone jack, usb c, and the ability to take a 1TB micro sd along with a physical sim, I would take that upgrade.
I think you may be on to something. I keep hearing podcast ads for a t-mobile phone upgrade service that brags about offering 2 year upgrades, which sounds bizarre to me because I want my phones to last at least 3 years.
Maybe it’s about perspective. When smaller phones were the default, other phones were more of an exclusion. When bigger phones became the defacto default, smaller phones started to seem smaller in spec in comparison (mostly battery) while being at about the same price.
The point I feel is that small phones have a small but vocal userbase and is not lucrative for smartphone manufacturers as more R&D is involved in the packaging for product which has a small audience
You meet them online, but they’re a vocal minority. Especially when a smaller phone means a smaller battery and worse camera system, two of the consistently top priorities for consumers.
Could be a larger demographic thing. Tech enthusiasts tend to have lots of devices(tablets, portable computers, etc.), so they tend to like the smaller form factor phones since they can always use their tablet/laptop when the small phone is limiting. Those people are also the ones you see in these kinds of online communities. For a lot of other people though, they’re getting the big phone and then not having a personal tablet/portable computer at all. Those aren’t the kind of people that hang out online and talk about tech stuff though.
