I have lost hope on this subject. Turns out most people don't care. Meanwhile I can't stand a giant phablet in my pocket, and prefer a smaller (less captivating), screen. I got an iPhone 13 mini a...
I have lost hope on this subject. Turns out most people don't care. Meanwhile I can't stand a giant phablet in my pocket, and prefer a smaller (less captivating), screen.
I got an iPhone 13 mini a few months ago. I think I' going to be stuck with it until Apple EOLs it.
I still stand by this is one of those things where customers didn't have any choices. In 2019, the most popular iphone models were the smallest size sold I linked the discussion because it also...
Turns out most people don't care.
I still stand by this is one of those things where customers didn't have any choices. In 2019, the most popular iphone models were the smallest size sold I linked the discussion because it also had some great points, in particular this well-said post:
This is not sufficient reasoning — industries can independently yet collectively decide what the next big thing is, and operate in tandem to produce a market where only that thing exists. Notably, the shift to large phone sizes occurred rapidly, suggesting this may have been the case. That the shift was not a reaction to consumer interest, but rather in anticipation of it.
The biggest recent example of this effect was the 5 years or so where every new tv was a 3D TV; its now been phased out in favor of SmartTVs, which I personally believe are shitty enough to likely have no real consumer support. Another example is car touchscreens, and their somehow consistent terribleness across all brands, even luxury ones.
We get our choices based on what some coked-up marketing executive thinks people want based on sales numbers and imaginary lines. Not based on A/B testing of equivalent models at the same time for several years to account for factors like replacement age.
Also, on the rare occasion a company did make a big and small version of the same phone the smaller one was almost always lesser in some way other than just size. Do you want the big phone with...
Also, on the rare occasion a company did make a big and small version of the same phone the smaller one was almost always lesser in some way other than just size. Do you want the big phone with better processor, more ram, and an extra feature or two? Or do you want the smaller phone without those things?
To some extent, there may be a technical reason for this. For example, a larger phone can fit a larger battery, which can support a more powerful processor. However, I personally would happily...
To some extent, there may be a technical reason for this. For example, a larger phone can fit a larger battery, which can support a more powerful processor.
However, I personally would happily take a thicker phone to make up for it. I do not prize thinness because it's not the dimension that stops phones from fitting in my pocket — plus it makes phones more uncomfortable to hold.
While i may not have lots of hard facts and data to substantiate my claim, my limited experience and info, shows that indeed choices are dictated by a very small number of people, and they rarely...
We get our choices based on what some coked-up marketing executive thinks people want based on sales numbers and imaginary lines. Not based on A/B testing of equivalent models at the same time for several years to account for factors like replacement age.
While i may not have lots of hard facts and data to substantiate my claim, my limited experience and info, shows that indeed choices are dictated by a very small number of people, and they rarely use data or strategies like A/B testing and other methods to even get at least some facts, insight. Some person in the relevant role gets a tiny, miniscule amount of info (not even data, just heresy)...and then runs with it if it holds up their non-facts-based theory....Then, everyone else in the org just believes them, and supports and extends that non-facts-based theory...and this is how we end up with crap stuff nowadays - including, especially bigger mobile phones. Sorry, i'm going to switch to decaff now, as my morning has dipped a little in the happy department. ;-)
One of the first Android phones with solid sales was the Motorola Droid. Best I could tell, that form factor never returned in spite of that. There was no "Droid but with a nicer screen, more...
One of the first Android phones with solid sales was the Motorola Droid. Best I could tell, that form factor never returned in spite of that. There was no "Droid but with a nicer screen, more power, more battery life."
I think the phenomenon described between us (and that other poster I quoted) is the byproduct of rapidly shifting employment within industries. Engineers/Designers/Marketers/Executives all rotate within an industry and create a vortex hivemind of "what consumers want."
I think proper disruption is only possible when a product is released that actually provides what customers want, bucking against that groupthink. And that's why we see it happen so often in software and so little in electronics and cars.
An example case study: The massive success of the Wii.
I think the success of the Droid was less about its form factor and more of it being the first smartphone to be offered on the US’s largest telephone network at that time.
I think the success of the Droid was less about its form factor and more of it being the first smartphone to be offered on the US’s largest telephone network at that time.
I won't deny that, but also, there were like 4 other Android models that came out on Verizon inside of 3 months. They were not nearly as popular. I went down a rabbithole exploring this more....
I won't deny that, but also, there were like 4 other Android models that came out on Verizon inside of 3 months. They were not nearly as popular. I went down a rabbithole exploring this more.
The Epic 4g was their last slide-out model. When you compared it against its contemporary models (and not the much-faster phones that came out a year later), it comes out massively ahead:
Epic 4g: 1,897,000 - keyboard
Fascinate: 1,434,000
Captivate: 1,390,000
Intercept: 1,292,000 - keyboard
Transform: 604,000 - keyboard
Vibrant: 1,021,000
So, to tally that up, Samsung's total physical-keyboard sales for the last generation they made them came out to be just shy of 9.2 million. The touchscreen-only variants came out to just over 3.8 million in that same time window.
And the real kicker: The reason Samsung phones were so desirable back then had far less to do with anything besides their AMOLED screens, which were a technological leap over the LEDs at the time. This is likely what catapulted them to dominating the Android market in spite of their awful software. If the Motorola Droid 2 (which I forgot about cause I was still rocking my Droid 1) had an AMOLED screen, the sales numbers would likely have told a different tale.
I think the real reason Samsung ditched the slide outs is because of what @mxuribe described: The execs saw the strong sales of the slabs out of the gate, while ignoring carrier availability (the slideouts were only available on sprint), making decisions for the next year's model, and then completely missing that the slide-out had a much longer sustained sales rate.
Oh, and seeing that the iPhone was still the best selling, so they just looked at Apple's numbers and designs and assumed that they would get those numbers by copying the design.
I do wonder if the slide-outs were more expensive to build, though. Like, it's the exact same thing, but with a keyboard in addition to everything else. But you can't really charge that much more...
I do wonder if the slide-outs were more expensive to build, though. Like, it's the exact same thing, but with a keyboard in addition to everything else. But you can't really charge that much more for it because it's still "a phone", right?
I can't recall how many years ago it has been (maybe a full decade or close to it?), but my partner desperately misses their android phone from motorola with the slide-out keyboard! They would...
I can't recall how many years ago it has been (maybe a full decade or close to it?), but my partner desperately misses their android phone from motorola with the slide-out keyboard! They would give up any current phone for a modern one that has even a halfway decent slideout keyboard. :-)
That data is based on existing iPhones, so of course the smaller screen phones are winning out. There were more small phones in existence. And the X was a significant jump up in price from the...
That data is based on existing iPhones, so of course the smaller screen phones are winning out. There were more small phones in existence. And the X was a significant jump up in price from the equivalent "small" screen 8. In 2019, the X and the XS were considered expensive phones compared to the past equivalent flagships. The 7 was $649 at launch and the X the next year was $999, a 53% increase.
Besides that, the X and XS were physically similar in size to the 6, 7, and 8. The screen size might have been larger, but the physical size was not really.
When the iPhone 12 Mini came out, the rumors were that the sales were bad. But maybe people who would have bought a Mini were already on a new phone? Well Apple gave it another chance the next year with the 13 Mini and fixed the biggest problem with the 12 Mini, the battery. It still sold terribly and they discontinued it. Some estimates are that the 13 Mini only made up 3% of overall iPhone sales.
Yup. Even if I want Phone A, my network might refuse to let it make or receive calls. I have to go with the models they support otherwise tech support won't even try to work with me. And there are...
Yup. Even if I want Phone A, my network might refuse to let it make or receive calls. I have to go with the models they support otherwise tech support won't even try to work with me. And there are virtually no other networks in Canada beyond the trio of oligarchy Bell Rogers Telus.
I couldn't agree more. I refuse to go big, and it is basically impossible. Just finding a mini took a lot of effort, since it's no longer available for sale and the refurbs sell out immediately...
I couldn't agree more. I refuse to go big, and it is basically impossible. Just finding a mini took a lot of effort, since it's no longer available for sale and the refurbs sell out immediately when Apple drops a batch.
We got truly screwed when the 12 mini dropped... in fall of 2020. People weren't valuing portability in a phone in the middle of a pandemic. And unfortunately now the execs have all the data points they need to reinforce that 'nobody buys small phones'.
The small screens were also the cheapest though, so I don’t think this is some revealed preference for small phones. The real driver is probably just battery life. More screen means more volume to...
The small screens were also the cheapest though, so I don’t think this is some revealed preference for small phones.
The real driver is probably just battery life. More screen means more volume to cram battery in.
More pixels also equals more energy to power it. I wonder what the cost/benefit there would be, considering the screen is the single greatest power consumer on a phone.
More pixels also equals more energy to power it. I wonder what the cost/benefit there would be, considering the screen is the single greatest power consumer on a phone.
Every generation of iPhone that has had a large variant has seen the large variant with significantly better battery. The bigger battery offsets the bigger screen and then some. The only other...
Every generation of iPhone that has had a large variant has seen the large variant with significantly better battery. The bigger battery offsets the bigger screen and then some. The only other hardware difference in the large screen variants is usually just the camera, which doesn't impact battery tests.
Edit: Quick googling of a review said 25% more screen time for web browsing on the 16 Pro Max vs 16 Pro.
I've had the 13mini since it came out and if it ever dies I'll probably replace it with another 13 mini. I was really hoping they'd do a new SE with the mini's body but instead the 16e seems to be...
I've had the 13mini since it came out and if it ever dies I'll probably replace it with another 13 mini. I was really hoping they'd do a new SE with the mini's body but instead the 16e seems to be the way that they're going forward with "entry level" options. Not that it's about price for me, heck, I'd probably pay extra for a smaller one.
The ONLY reason i jumped beyond that when my old one died was because of the USB C, because i'm just sick of having to carry around "an iphone ONLY" cable or adapter. I won't be getting another...
The ONLY reason i jumped beyond that when my old one died was because of the USB C, because i'm just sick of having to carry around "an iphone ONLY" cable or adapter.
I won't be getting another one until they make something small.
I resisted it for a long time because I was picky. Not interested in FaceID, no headphone jack. I used my 2016 SE until OS updates stopped and eventually essential apps stopped supporting iOS 15....
I resisted it for a long time because I was picky. Not interested in FaceID, no headphone jack. I used my 2016 SE until OS updates stopped and eventually essential apps stopped supporting iOS 15. Then I tried an Xperia XZ1 Compact with a custom ROM. Lovely phone, but flaky connectivity because modems are complicated. Then I tried an inherited Pixel 4a, which turned out to be too big.
The mini is a great size. But if I'm being honest, being stuck with lightning and no headphone jack are kind of silly. FaceID is fine but I would honestly prefer a TouchID power button; FaceID struggles with sunglasses, transitions, and sometimes with no glasses!
I've always prefered big phones myself, but I figured that the flip fold phones would become the solution to this long term. The main issue right now is cost. IOS is tough though. They only really...
I've always prefered big phones myself, but I figured that the flip fold phones would become the solution to this long term. The main issue right now is cost.
IOS is tough though. They only really focus on one or two new lines a year.
The article actually explains why they don't exist right there in the introduction This isn't true for most people anymore. Most people don't have a laptop - their phone IS their main computer....
The article actually explains why they don't exist right there in the introduction
Let’s say you want or need a new phone. As a reader of a tech blog like Manual do Usuário, you probably have your own laptop and/or a company-provided one, a scenario that diminishes the importance of your phone, which can be limited to… phone/mobile tasks, like messaging on the go, making calls, payments, calling an Uber, or guiding you with maps.
Watching movies? Reading a long-form article? Answering emails? Your laptop is right there, with its large screen and comfortable keyboard.
This isn't true for most people anymore. Most people don't have a laptop - their phone IS their main computer. They watch netflix on it, they do their taxes on it (no, seriously), they budget their family's spending on it.
And that's when having a big screen matters. For the niche, small proportion of the userbase of nerds who have these "laptop" or "desktop" things, a phone may just be a portable communications device and the cost of lugging around a large brick isn't worth it, but this is ultimately a small and insignificant proportion of users.
It is possible in some areas of the world this is true. If so that is terrifying and is also a factor of the current trend of tech illiteracy and general decline of usability of sw and online...
It is possible in some areas of the world this is true.
If so that is terrifying and is also a factor of the current trend of tech illiteracy and general decline of usability of sw and online services(also enshitification).
Smartphone at its current iteration is horrible for not just productivity applications but also for maintaing agency in digital interactions and gaining basic minimal undetstanding of the sw used to direct the daily life of average person.
Just to offer another perspective... There are over a billion indians. The median income there is ~350 usd/month. There are 1.5 billion Africans, and for those who live in cities median income is...
It is possible in some areas of the world this is true.
If so that is terrifying and is also a factor of the current trend of tech illiteracy and general decline of usability of sw and online services(also enshitification).
Just to offer another perspective... There are over a billion indians. The median income there is ~350 usd/month. There are 1.5 billion Africans, and for those who live in cities median income is likely similar.
That's about a third of the entire world for whom a laptop is impossibly out of reach but a smartphone with a big screen isn't. (Not a good one, of course, but a cheap Tecno).
It's kind of the opposite of a decline in technical competency in that for almost all of these people, their phone is their first exposure to the internet.
I was going to say: the technological landscape is completely different from how it was even 10 years ago. For the vast majority of humans now, the smartphone is The Computer. The desktop vs....
I was going to say: the technological landscape is completely different from how it was even 10 years ago.
For the vast majority of humans now, the smartphone is The Computer. The desktop vs. mobile dichotomy doesn't even register with them.
People who grew up using desktop computers and then bought smartphones when they were introduced are the global technological 1%. The smartphone was initially a luxury product aimed at affluent techies in wealthy, developed countries like the US and Japan.
That makes the current status quo of mobile computing that much sadder. So many people will never get to experience what an open computing experience provides. As I tell my children: The only...
That makes the current status quo of mobile computing that much sadder. So many people will never get to experience what an open computing experience provides.
As I tell my children: The only substantial difference between a Switch and an iPhone is which company controls the keys. Either could run programs for the other if they were not locked up. Somebody decided to cripple your use of that computer.
I use my electric company's app. It has the best daily graphs of my electric usage. I also use my electric comany's website on my desktop. Because that's the only way to download my usage history...
I use my electric company's app. It has the best daily graphs of my electric usage. I also use my electric comany's website on my desktop. Because that's the only way to download my usage history in CSV with 15 minute increments. Even "use desktop mode" on mobile doesn't work for this.
One of my general gripes with modern websites: that “use desktop mode” is a largely useless feature. Due to display screen size or some other indicators within the user agent string, a website...
One of my general gripes with modern websites: that “use desktop mode” is a largely useless feature. Due to display screen size or some other indicators within the user agent string, a website will straight up ignore a “desktop” HTTP request and instead return the mobile version instead. It’s this paternalistic infantilizing of the user that leads to part of the tech illiteracy that’s been growing.
Sometimes the desktop version of a website has richer features, or more verbose content. Since screen real estate is limited on a mobile device you can lose out on important details, and many times I actually lose site functionality (it’s ridiculous that I have to install Chrome on my phone just to use certain websites that refuse to present me with their desktop version when requested). Many images or graphs can be unzoomable on mobile versions of sites, and yet the desktop version gives me full control of my viewport.
I’m tired of these user hostile design choices. I still use old Reddit and zoom in despite the “poor UX” because I don’t want to give into the addictive tendencies that mobile apps lead to. Why can’t I control my own experience? Shouldn’t I know what’s best, especially if it’s a more technical request? My browser should be the agent that decides what’s best rendering for the user, not the website itself.
It’s not just the phones themselves that ignore users demands, but the software, too.
Yeap, phones are the best all-around device for most people, hands down. What astonishes me is that our kind, people who have laptops and wish they could have a small phones, are so insignificant...
Yeap, phones are the best all-around device for most people, hands down. What astonishes me is that our kind, people who have laptops and wish they could have a small phones, are so insignificant to the market to the point there's no reasonable option available left…
apologies if linking to YT vids is bad form in comments, but having read this thread today I was somewhat startled to hear Carl Pei confirm exactly this when discussing the size of the new CMF...
apologies if linking to YT vids is bad form in comments, but having read this thread today I was somewhat startled to hear Carl Pei confirm exactly this when discussing the size of the new CMF phone here
I actually thought that this was the direction the article was going to go, having mentioned tech blog reader bias and Brazil market early on. The average person has different desires and often...
I actually thought that this was the direction the article was going to go, having mentioned tech blog reader bias and Brazil market early on. The average person has different desires and often income levels from techies. The poorer you are, the less likely you are to own a laptop or desktop. Laptop/desktop ownership is only about 50% in countries like Brazil and China, while smartphone ownership is close to 100%. If it's your only device for media consumption, it makes sense if larger screens are more popular. This also explains why there are only smaller screens in the high end segment since people with more money are more likely to use their phone as only a secondary computing device.
I’m going to poke the bear here with good intentions. I don’t mean to be rude or accusatory with anything I say below: Every time this discussion (and similar ones) about phones features comes up,...
I’m going to poke the bear here with good intentions. I don’t mean to be rude or accusatory with anything I say below:
Every time this discussion (and similar ones) about phones features comes up, I have the same thoughts. This vocal minority seems to always ask for the same list of features:
Headphone jack
Removable battery
Long-lasting battery
No camera bump
SD cards
Small size
IR blaster
Oh, and it has to be cheap too
No manufacturer in their right mind is going to make this phone because the only people who would buy it are the 20 people who listen to FLAC music offline for 12-16 hours per day, and have $2000 to spend on a device.
There are certainly phones with a subset of those features. I can’t help feeling like the people asking for this are resistant to change.
To be clear, I get wanting a small phone. Ergonomics are the one thing you can’t adjust your workflow to accommodate.
If this is your dream phone, tell me about your use case, and what your current setup is.
I'll admit I'm probably one of the only people that care about the IR blaster. My Galaxy S5 was my universal remote. I never had to worry about losing it in the couch. Added bonus was that it was...
I'll admit I'm probably one of the only people that care about the IR blaster. My Galaxy S5 was my universal remote. I never had to worry about losing it in the couch. Added bonus was that it was a universal remote in my pocket so I could change the channel on every public TV I walked past off of Fox News. I still have my S5, and I'll probably revive it as the remote once I get around to replacing the dead battery.
For several years I used a Pixel variant and a Galaxy S21 from Verzion. Because my employer was buying and I wasn't gonna carry two phones. So I begrudgingly used bluetooth headphones, streaming music, and embraced cloud storage because my options were removed from me. Thankfully, my employer was buying so naturally I got the one with the greatest storage.
Now that I can buy my own phones again, I rock a used Pixel 7 with Graphene OS. I also hate it, but I've been stockholmed into tolerating bluetooth headphones and cloud storage so I just accept it now. My favorite headphones have been relagated to computer use, because carrying dongle.
The key is that there is one major factor that trumped any on your list: Having an unlocked bootloader that I could flash a de-googled OS on. That eliminated a lot of players.
If I had discovered the Jelly linked above before I had bought my phone, I would have likely imported it and done my best to find a carrier that it works with.
If you have some ideas, here's my wishlist, in order:
Unlocked bootloader and/or rootable
Can run Android apps, so a Linux phone with a compatibility layer would be ok
On-call level of reliable (thus ruling out a lot of the Linux phones)
Getting security updates
Small size
Easily swapped battery (ie under 1 minute like the Galaxy S5) OR
User-replaceable battery with little more than the correct screwdrivers and pry bars.
Headphone jack
No camera bump
Physical SIM (these are being phased out)
SD cards
Backside Fingerprint scanner
IR blaster/FM radio
But the actual reality is: Nobody gets to choose what the manufacturers make. We get to pick among the stuff they put out, limited to what local carriers support, and then decide how much of our list we have to ignore to have a working phone.
I'll happily pay $1,000 for a phone that meets all but that last one. I realize that IR and FM have gone the way of the dodo and have 0 expectations there.
It sounds like we understand each other. No mainstream phone is ever going to have close to the complete list. I almost made a joke in my original post that the only people who’d buy such a phone...
It sounds like we understand each other. No mainstream phone is ever going to have close to the complete list.
I almost made a joke in my original post that the only people who’d buy such a phone are Arch Linux users. I was not aware that “Linux Phones” were a thing, but that sounds like the only way a phone could get anywhere near this feature list.
Open source hardware baby. If someone wants an IR blaster in the Linux phone, they better submit a merge request.
It's not a phone, but if you're desperate for a gadget that can do interesting things with IR, RF, and Bluetooth, there's a more sophisticated and versatile version of the Flipper Zero that's just...
It's not a phone, but if you're desperate for a gadget that can do interesting things with IR, RF, and Bluetooth, there's a more sophisticated and versatile version of the Flipper Zero that's just been released on Kickstarter.
I still have my S5 Active for the IR blaster. Battery still works well, too. It's my favorite phone of all time with the S8 Active in a close second. But I've got through three S8s throughout the...
I still have my S5 Active for the IR blaster. Battery still works well, too. It's my favorite phone of all time with the S8 Active in a close second. But I've got through three S8s throughout the years. I have no loyalty to my current S24. I really wish there was a smaller form factor. And God I miss the IR blaster.
Yep. I think a lot of people get lost in the sauce in an internet bubble and think that the issue is that phone manufacturer's aren't listening to what customers want, when what's actually...
Yep. I think a lot of people get lost in the sauce in an internet bubble and think that the issue is that phone manufacturer's aren't listening to what customers want, when what's actually happening is that they are simply the minority of customers and manufacturers are listening to what their consumers want - bigger screens, more dust and water resistance, bigger and better cameras.
It's just what naturally happens when products move from the enthusiast market to the mainstream. If cars were made for enthusiasts, they'd all have manual shifts, big wings, amenities like rear...
It's just what naturally happens when products move from the enthusiast market to the mainstream.
If cars were made for enthusiasts, they'd all have manual shifts, big wings, amenities like rear seats removed for weight relief, and a variety of OEM cosmetic options. Instead we have ungainly bricks with armchairs inside.
I don't think thats the case, particularly for screens and cameras (I'll wholly accept the general premise that people prefer touch phones these days over the physical keyboards). I think it is...
I don't think thats the case, particularly for screens and cameras (I'll wholly accept the general premise that people prefer touch phones these days over the physical keyboards).
I think it is much easier to brag in press releases and ads about how much better your phone is than your last one when you can measure that improvement in grams, megapixels, and millimeters though.
See also: "4nm" fab processes.
"We made the exact same phone as last year, but with a handful of invisible subtle hardware improvements" doesn't exactly bode well for sales numbers, even if that is the genuine reality for the vast majority of cellphones made since roughly 2019.
Agreed that big numbers are easier to sell and likely has influence on product direction. However as someone involved on the silicon side of things, I will argue that the process node changes are...
Agreed that big numbers are easier to sell and likely has influence on product direction.
However as someone involved on the silicon side of things, I will argue that the process node changes are a massive technology point. The numbers are meaningless now, but the technology is not.
Whether that should be a selling point to consumers is up for debate. It certainly does signal important information to the tech world and investors.
Hey, it's me, that's my dream phone, except it also needs to have an OLED screen and an unlockable bootloader. I don't want to carry something massive around because I'm not on my phone all the...
Hey, it's me, that's my dream phone, except it also needs to have an OLED screen and an unlockable bootloader.
I don't want to carry something massive around because I'm not on my phone all the time. I just want to be able to text friends, look things up occasionally, and watch movies on the plane (using my wired earbuds - I never want to have to think about whether my earbuds are charged).
I need the SD card because I take a lot of videos with my phone and I don't want to ever have to think about deleting things to make more room, and it's very quick to transfer shows/movies to removable media (although I don't watch things on my phone that much).
I need the removable battery because I never want to have to think about what I do if my battery runs out. If my phone's low before I leave the house, I put a fresh battery in. I also keep a fresh battery in my backpack and car. They're cheap (~$10 each), so I can have a bunch of them. Instant charging > fast charging, imo.
I could live with a camera bump and no IR blaster. I like having the IR blaster but I don't use it that much. You didn't list it, but I also don't care about water resistance because I'm not a child and I've never dropped my phone while scrolling tiktok on the can.
I feel like all the things you listed are pretty reasonable if you're the type of person who needs a phone but doesn't use it that much and doesn't want to think about replacing it all the time. My Galaxy S4 has all the things you listed, it Just Works, and I'll never need to replace it until 4G goes away, at which point hopefully the cell phone industry won't be such an embarrassment and I can buy something that's an upgrade over the phone I got 10 years ago.
Thank you for the detailed rundown. I have some follow up questions. If you’re scattering batteries around like acorns for winter, why not just have a few portable chargers that hold multiple full...
Thank you for the detailed rundown. I have some follow up questions.
If you’re scattering batteries around like acorns for winter, why not just have a few portable chargers that hold multiple full charges?
What prevents you from staying plugged in for a few short stints throughout the day?
If you’re swapping batteries instead of charging, why not use USB-C headphones or an adapter to your favorite 3.5mm pair?
These seem like minor hurdles to me, but I understand everyone’s different. Why not make some small workflow changes to get a modern (not to mention secure) device?
This sounds like approximately the same thing, except chargers are more expensive and don't work as fast. I usually do; when I'm at my desk, I keep my phone on a wireless charging stand. But every...
why not just have a few portable chargers that hold multiple full charges
This sounds like approximately the same thing, except chargers are more expensive and don't work as fast.
What prevents you from staying plugged in
I usually do; when I'm at my desk, I keep my phone on a wireless charging stand. But every so often I'll want to leave the house and my phone isn't charged (maybe it's evening and I've already been out all day, or maybe I forgot to put my phone on the dock), and in those cases it's nice to just top up to 100 as I walk out the door and not have to think about carrying a brick around or looking for an outlet while I'm out. It doesn't happen often, since my battery normally lasts me over a day, but I'm quite grateful to be able to swap it when I need to.
why not use USB-C headphones
Valid point. I like the mechanics of the 3.5mm connector more than USB-C and I would be annoyed at having to buy a dongle for my earbuds and my car, but those are minor inconveniences. If I had to replace my phone, the jack would be one of the first things I'd compromise.
These seem like minor hurdles to me... Why not make some small workflow changes to get a modern (not to mention secure) device?
It's not that I couldn't, it's that I have no reason to. My phone can already handle texting, web browsing, taking videos, etc., so buying a new phone with a bunch of minor compromises wouldn't be an upgrade for me. The S4 got its last security update last year (exactly a year ago, as of today); while it's unlikely to receive another one, Android 11 is modern enough for my tastes going forward, and I'm not worried about getting pwned because I don't have many apps and almost all of them are free software. The other reason is that I sort of resent companies for taking those features away. IR blaster and no camera bump, maybe not so much, but removable batteries and media are objectively good for the usability and longevity of a device. Samsung made snarky ads blasting Apple for not having the removable battery, then removed it on their own phones with the S6 (and I don't want to hear about water resistance, because the S5 was already IP67). They're infuriatingly transparent. Since my phone works fine, I'm happy to vote with my wallet and wait it out until the industry fixes itself, which it seems to (slowly) be doing.
I don't think it is possible to make these kind of assertions about customer demand for these features. There is no equivalent model with a subset of these features and one without to compare...
I don't think it is possible to make these kind of assertions about customer demand for these features.
There is no equivalent model with a subset of these features and one without to compare against. They are not sold because they are not made. And no I don't think that is due to nonexistent demand. I don't know how the decisions about phone featuresets are made but I think it is clear actual customer concerns come after force pushing with marketing the manufacturers concerns.
I do think this full feature set would be specifically sought out by a minority but it is hard enough to find any single item on it.
In the context of these features, I don’t think it’s as simple as the manufacturer pushing their preferences. I think they are concerned with user preferences, just not those of the users request...
In the context of these features, I don’t think it’s as simple as the manufacturer pushing their preferences. I think they are concerned with user preferences, just not those of the users request these particular features.
To be clear, I am not defending any companies and saying they always do right by their users.
Examples:
SD Cards are notoriously unreliable and slow. There are faster SD interfaces, but asking the average person to figure out the naming conventions, personal requirements, and sourcing is not realistic. Just put more of the same fast internal storage inside and your parents are good to go.
Need to move files around? As of the last few years, every flagship has 5-10Gbps of USB transfer speed. If a user knows how a thumb drive works, they can figure this out.
Removable batteries take up more internal space than ones more tightly integrated. That’s a challenge for small form factor devices.
I haven’t used a phone with a removable battery in a while, but unless they’ve started bolting the enclosure shut, the plastic clips are flimsy and pop open when dropped. I certainly don’t miss my battery skidding across the parking lot.
Water and dust resistance is also much improved without a removable battery. It’s certainly possible to have both, but it comes with tradeoffs. Most phones can have the battery professionally replaced these days, and retain IPx ratings. Inconvenient sure, but some minor maintenance every few years in order to keep your phone running for nearly 10 years seems reasonable, for those that want to do that.
IR blasters are always described in a novelty use case. It’s just not necessary, but I will admit it does have whimsy and was fun. All about trade offs.
Most people really like enjoy wireless headphones, and USB-C headphones/DACs/AMPs all exist. If you really have to charge at the same time and never take your headphones off, there’s splitters and wireless chargers for cheap.
All of these features were once somewhat common, if not standard, and went away because most people don’t know what an SD card is.
How about just small? I used to care about headphone jacks and SD card slots and removable batteries, but I gave up the battle because I literally couldn't find any usable phone with those...
How about just small? I used to care about headphone jacks and SD card slots and removable batteries, but I gave up the battle because I literally couldn't find any usable phone with those features. But small is a hill I'll die on; a smartphone doesn't have to be any bigger than the 2016 SE, 13 mini, or mayyyybe the 2nd and 3rd gen SEs IMO. Bigger than that gives me no benefit, is harder to fit in my pocket, and isn't usable in one hand, which is terrible for my active lifestyle.
Fuck it, I'll pay $2k for an iPhone 17 mini. I don't care about price. I just want a usable small phone!
As I mentioned in my original post, I am 100% on board with small phones as a standalone feature request, mainly because users can’t change their ergonomics.
As I mentioned in my original post, I am 100% on board with small phones as a standalone feature request, mainly because users can’t change their ergonomics.
Get ready for my old guy rant here. You frame it like people are asking for a $2000 super phone here, but realistically, you're missing the point. People that want these things, myself included,...
Get ready for my old guy rant here.
You frame it like people are asking for a $2000 super phone here, but realistically, you're missing the point. People that want these things, myself included, have ALREADY HAD these phones. No one is asking for something unimaginable or on make-able. I literally have a few old phones that check off that entire list sitting in my desk drawer, but are no longer supported. I have little use for the incredible performance offered by current high end phones. The wish list you have above is just that, a wish list, but I don't see why a smaller phone with a couple other features (say a headphone jack and maybe a removable battery) needs to be some treated as unobtainable.
I feel like an OEM could clean up by making that their actual feature pitch. Just taking what was a popular actual phone from 5-10 years ago and put some midrange chipset in it. No need for an SoC as fast as many laptops. No need for a nearly 7" screen or giant battery to power it. No need for the newer highend camera tech, a decent camera from 5-7 years ago would be fine. Most people are looking at these photos on their phones anyway, not making posters out of them.
I just had to buy my daughter a new phone and she needs to have a headphone jack (for school weirdly). The best affordable option has a 6.7" screen and a giant battery. I can't imagine that a smaller phone wouldn't be cheaper to produce or require less battery, but hey what do I know.
If Samsung released bootloader keys and code for drivers for the Galaxy S5, such that a talented hobbiest could compile a recent kernel against them and have most everything work, albeit slowly,...
If Samsung released bootloader keys and code for drivers for the Galaxy S5, such that a talented hobbiest could compile a recent kernel against them and have most everything work, albeit slowly, I'd use that phone tomorrow.
The Galaxy S5 benchmarks about as well as a Raspberry Pi 4. That's plenty of compute for an awful lot of tasks.
I'd be totally down for that, although I suspect it would struggle with modern (read: overly heavy) web browsing a bit. But throw even a midrange Mediatek SoC in one of those things, 4GB of RAM,...
I'd be totally down for that, although I suspect it would struggle with modern (read: overly heavy) web browsing a bit. But throw even a midrange Mediatek SoC in one of those things, 4GB of RAM, and a bit more storahe and it would be perfectly fine.
I care about like three things on that list (small size, headphone jack, removable battery) and one thing not on it (USB-C charging). My phone currently fulfills two of those four things...
I care about like three things on that list (small size, headphone jack, removable battery) and one thing not on it (USB-C charging). My phone currently fulfills two of those four things (headphone jack, USB-C charging), and as a result I'm just a little bit annoyed every time I use it.
My use case is I want to be able to use my phone one-handed without constantly adjusting my grip and therefore dropping it. I'm an average-sized woman, so at least 25% of the population similarly can't use their phones one-handed. I also want to be able to plug in my headphones when their internal battery dies because I forgot to charge them. And I want to be able to change the battery to prolong the rest of the phone's life and reduce e-waste. What of that is unreasonable in your opinion?
As I mentioned in my original post, I am 100% on board with small phones as a standalone feature request, mainly because users can’t change their ergonomics. I’m also against e-waste. Most phones...
As I mentioned in my original post, I am 100% on board with small phones as a standalone feature request, mainly because users can’t change their ergonomics.
I’m also against e-waste. Most phones can have their batteries replaced professionally, or at home with a bit of hassle. Sure it’s not as convenient, but when you want the device to last 3-7 years, I think a bit of maintenance is reasonable. Manufacturers should provide the tools and service options.
I will also add that there is absolutely a trade off between battery life, phone size, and the ability to replace it easily.
I think it is easy to take for granted how much our phones do these days. Past phones may have had replaceable batteries, but they didn’t always have the pretty-good battery life we have now, and they certainly weren’t doing half as much work. That’s all to say, I understand why that feature is dropped by manufacturers.
The last time I had a phone's battery replaced it involved replacing some glue that held the back of the phone on. The new glue didn't stick properly and the back broke beyond repair when it fell...
The last time I had a phone's battery replaced it involved replacing some glue that held the back of the phone on. The new glue didn't stick properly and the back broke beyond repair when it fell off. It clearly wasn't designed to ever be taken apart, by me or a professional, and there was no indication that that was the case until it needed that maintenance.
Wanting a removeable battery for me is less about wanting to avoid hassle than it is about wanting to know it can be done without breaking the phone.
I'm using Sony Xperia 5 IV and considering to buy the next Xperia 1 (although it is the same price as iPhone 16 Pro Max here - I don't have a need for it but the 5 series is dead and the next is...
I'm using Sony Xperia 5 IV and considering to buy the next Xperia 1 (although it is the same price as iPhone 16 Pro Max here - I don't have a need for it but the 5 series is dead and the next is 10 which is a midranger). My previous phone was Pixel 3a XL which was the very last pixel with headphone jack.
It has: headphone jack, no camera cutout, microSD, power button as fingerprint scanner, wireless charging (and reverse charge), and almost stock Android (you could say it is more stock than Pixel - it doesn't even have text selection during app switch!). The size is the same as Pixel but narrower. The secondary sim is either a physical one, which share the same physical location as microSD, or eSIM in some markets.
When I used Pixel 2 XL which doesn't have a headphone jack I'm tired of my headphone running out of battery. The USB-C audio adapter does help, but after traveling I plug the same headphone into the Macbook's headphone jack which requires me to remove the adapter (USB-C seems to be removing USB ports on device due to how complicated it is). I don't want to lose the expensive adapter, as Pixel requires an active adapter - cheap ones are not active (i.e. it is not a sound card) and the expensive ones are usually not marketed as active. The best USB-C audio adapter seems to be Apple's, which make the Pixel sounds like iPhone but the short cable feels very flimsy like typical Apple cables.
The cons of Xperia is that the camera is really bad. This particular phone ranked dead last in MKBHD's blind test of that year. When I used Pixel I just snap, sometimes while even walking. With Xperia I always take 2-3 backup photos and my hand needs to be very steady.
I think my hard requirements are - Near-stock Android OS by non-Chinese vendors, headphone jack, no screen cutouts, monthly security update (note that after 2nd year my 5IV update is quarterly, which is why I'm considering buying new one), majority CPU architecture, wireless charging, NFC. I'm opening up to underscreen fingerprint sensor, but I still believe Pixel 2 and Zenphone had the better implementations. Unless Sony stop making phones with these I'd buy them even if they're overpriced.
There is incredibly low choice generally for smartphones on actually important features. The typical smartphone is a sealed, large and ridiculously thin rectangle with raised cameras, one general...
There is incredibly low choice generally for smartphones on actually important features.
The typical smartphone is a sealed, large and ridiculously thin rectangle with raised cameras, one general charging/data port and running either closed down ios or android with generally truly trash tier ux by default(adware, nagware, bloatware, telemetry, take your pick).
Anything that breaks this trend is niche and has varying downsides.
My guess is too large costs to enter the market and dominance of Apple and Google.
Along with unwilingness of average person to actually research the massively important(whether anyone likes it or not) in today society device before they buy it. Something that they will likely be using daily.
I've not complained publicly about this, but fuck this trend in particular. Taking a thing that is meant to go easily in and out of a pocket and then just add some grappling hooks to it. Just make...
raised cameras
I've not complained publicly about this, but fuck this trend in particular. Taking a thing that is meant to go easily in and out of a pocket and then just add some grappling hooks to it.
Just make the damn phone as thick as the whole camera. And if that makes the battery pack too big and the phone too heavy, make the damn thing smaller. Make more of these.
The problem is that if it isn't available as a financing option with the carrier, that phone essentially doesn't exist in the US market.
The Pixel 9a doesn't have a camera bump, just a smooth back. What's wild is the reviews saying that they didn't like that look or that it was boring. Somehow they figured that the bump on the back...
The Pixel 9a doesn't have a camera bump, just a smooth back. What's wild is the reviews saying that they didn't like that look or that it was boring. Somehow they figured that the bump on the back was a feature instead of an annoyance. Like, they're actually dinging the score of the 9a for looking like the boring rectangle that a phone actually is. Meanwhile I have a Pixel 9 and when I take the case off I have to marvel at how hideous and impractical the giant camera bump is.
Honestly with what phones cost I don't see how anyone is keeping them out of a decent case at this point. It's DUMB that's how it has to be, but it at least gets the phone flush with the camera so...
I've not complained publicly about this, but fuck this trend in particular. Taking a thing that is meant to go easily in and out of a pocket and then just add some grappling hooks to it.
Honestly with what phones cost I don't see how anyone is keeping them out of a decent case at this point. It's DUMB that's how it has to be, but it at least gets the phone flush with the camera so you aren't unloading your entire pocket every time you reach for it.
I feel this pain so much. Right now I use a de-googled and dumb-ified Unihertz Jelly Star as my primary driver. It's got a cute little 3 inch screen (a lot fatter than a normal smart phone...
I feel this pain so much. Right now I use a de-googled and dumb-ified Unihertz Jelly Star as my primary driver. It's got a cute little 3 inch screen (a lot fatter than a normal smart phone though), and has all the features of a full-fledged Android--NFC, dual sim or sim + SD card capable, fingerprint reader, even an IR blaster (no removable battery though). I don't think I can ever go back to a phablet again, but I may be forced to eventually since Unihertz is no notoriously terrible about providing any kind of software/security patch updates for their phones. Usually you get one post-launch update to fix a few bugs and then that's it forever. It's possible to install certain Lineage GSIs on it but I get no connectivity on those with my provider, and there isn't really an active dev community, so I'm probably stuck on the Android security update from June 2023 until I replace it.
Do you have any more details about how you feel about it? This is the first I've heard of it and I'm looking to upgrade my phone. I usually go with Motorola, but this is pretty intriguing and has...
Do you have any more details about how you feel about it? This is the first I've heard of it and I'm looking to upgrade my phone. I usually go with Motorola, but this is pretty intriguing and has the features I want (SD Card/Headphone Jack).
Curious how big of a deal those Security updates are?
Other than the anxiety of not having the latest security patches I'm very satisfied with it (after running uag-ng on it to remove all the Google stuff I don't want--also a few manufacturer things...
Other than the anxiety of not having the latest security patches I'm very satisfied with it (after running uag-ng on it to remove all the Google stuff I don't want--also a few manufacturer things but it's a pretty clean stock Google experience out of the box). It's great as a quasi-dumbphone because even if you leave a browser and other social media apps on it, it's so frustrating to type and uncomfortable to read tiny text on such a small screen that I think I'd be deterred from using them very much anyway. I installed Futo Voice Input on it for on-device voice recognition and usually use that whenever I need to send or reply to a text.
edit--I will add, the one garbage feature that the manufacturer added is called "App Blocker," which is turned on by default and essentially disables multitasking entirely so no app will ever get notifications and you can't listen to music apps in the background or with the screen off, but it can be disabled system-wide with a single toggle, and I've never had it sneak its way back on, so it's not too terrible.
I wonder if this day and age of AI, that you could apply security patches yourself. As long as you're staying on top of what needs to change, that you could maybe fork your own things and have...
I wonder if this day and age of AI, that you could apply security patches yourself. As long as you're staying on top of what needs to change, that you could maybe fork your own things and have Gemini or whomever auto-patch.
The main problem with building Android is that most phones have unique hardware characteristics that the manufacturers specifically patch support for into the OS (compatibility shims and drivers...
The main problem with building Android is that most phones have unique hardware characteristics that the manufacturers specifically patch support for into the OS (compatibility shims and drivers and other stuff), without which the phone loses a lot of functionality, up to and including an inability to connect to any mobile networks which renders the whole thing useless. It's extremely rare for those companies to open source their changes, and without that you can't really build your own OS for it unless you're willing to do a bunch of reverse engineering or trying to hunt down where their functionality is in the official rom so you can copy and paste binaries and hack your build to use those anywhere it needs to. And as far as AI goes, I would be kind of shocked if you could even have an AI walk you through the process of setting up a build environment and compiling a generic Android image, let alone making meaningful changes to the code.
People often fail to mention the Sony Xperia phones when talking about the small models. I really like my 5 iv, which replaced a 1 ii (their model naming is dumb). Not only is it small, but it has...
People often fail to mention the Sony Xperia phones when talking about the small models. I really like my 5 iv, which replaced a 1 ii (their model naming is dumb). Not only is it small, but it has a decent camera, decent display, headphone jack, MicroSD, and (the holy grail) a notification LED! It's not cheap though, and it could be smaller. Sadly I think Sony may gave killed their Xperia line though - historically they would have announced a successor by now. Also, the more recent models don't have updated Wikipedia pages, which I'd imagine is due to them slashing their marketing ahead of killing the line. If this phone dies I'll probably go Unihertz.
The Sony smartphone page for Sweden is showing me a reveal date for May 13th. You got me worried as it's been my phone of choice for two personal iterations.
The Sony smartphone page for Sweden is showing me a reveal date for May 13th. You got me worried as it's been my phone of choice for two personal iterations.
I used a Zenfone 10 for a decent amount of time entirely because it was small. It also still had a headphone jack. Great phone. Basically everything you could want in today's world on a small...
I used a Zenfone 10 for a decent amount of time entirely because it was small. It also still had a headphone jack. Great phone. Basically everything you could want in today's world on a small phone. Then the next year they made a normal sized phone.
I think flip phones are the future for small phones. Sadly we are stuck on making tablet sized foldables. I rocked the Samsung Flip 3 for a decent amount of time and loved that tiny brick. The only reason I dropped it is because Samsung software/bloatware is still trash. I really hope more companies make flip phones, but it's the same problem as small phones, not enough people buy them.
My current phone is a zenfone 10 and I still consider it a big phone. It's too big for me to use one-handed, which is generally my criteria for "too big", but it was the smallest decently-powerful...
My current phone is a zenfone 10 and I still consider it a big phone. It's too big for me to use one-handed, which is generally my criteria for "too big", but it was the smallest decently-powerful option I could find.
I do have a Jelly 2 that feels great for making calls, but being just a bit too small for messaging and the aggressive power-saving killing apps I only briefly navigated away from made it impractical to keep using as my main phone.
Fair enough. I can use a Google Pixel 9 Pro one handed and found using the Zenfone 10 easy to use one handed so I probably just have bigger hands than most people.
Fair enough. I can use a Google Pixel 9 Pro one handed and found using the Zenfone 10 easy to use one handed so I probably just have bigger hands than most people.
Core Device, the company founded by the Pebble (and Beeper) founder were looking at making a small phone. They did some interest check two years ago. Now they're focused on resurrecting Pebble and...
Core Device, the company founded by the Pebble (and Beeper) founder were looking at making a small phone. They did some interest check two years ago. Now they're focused on resurrecting Pebble and the phone is on the backburner.
I have lost hope on this subject. Turns out most people don't care. Meanwhile I can't stand a giant phablet in my pocket, and prefer a smaller (less captivating), screen.
I got an iPhone 13 mini a few months ago. I think I' going to be stuck with it until Apple EOLs it.
I still stand by this is one of those things where customers didn't have any choices. In 2019, the most popular iphone models were the smallest size sold I linked the discussion because it also had some great points, in particular this well-said post:
We get our choices based on what some coked-up marketing executive thinks people want based on sales numbers and imaginary lines. Not based on A/B testing of equivalent models at the same time for several years to account for factors like replacement age.
Also, on the rare occasion a company did make a big and small version of the same phone the smaller one was almost always lesser in some way other than just size. Do you want the big phone with better processor, more ram, and an extra feature or two? Or do you want the smaller phone without those things?
To some extent, there may be a technical reason for this. For example, a larger phone can fit a larger battery, which can support a more powerful processor.
However, I personally would happily take a thicker phone to make up for it. I do not prize thinness because it's not the dimension that stops phones from fitting in my pocket — plus it makes phones more uncomfortable to hold.
While i may not have lots of hard facts and data to substantiate my claim, my limited experience and info, shows that indeed choices are dictated by a very small number of people, and they rarely use data or strategies like A/B testing and other methods to even get at least some facts, insight. Some person in the relevant role gets a tiny, miniscule amount of info (not even data, just heresy)...and then runs with it if it holds up their non-facts-based theory....Then, everyone else in the org just believes them, and supports and extends that non-facts-based theory...and this is how we end up with crap stuff nowadays - including, especially bigger mobile phones. Sorry, i'm going to switch to decaff now, as my morning has dipped a little in the happy department. ;-)
One of the first Android phones with solid sales was the Motorola Droid. Best I could tell, that form factor never returned in spite of that. There was no "Droid but with a nicer screen, more power, more battery life."
I think the phenomenon described between us (and that other poster I quoted) is the byproduct of rapidly shifting employment within industries. Engineers/Designers/Marketers/Executives all rotate within an industry and create a vortex hivemind of "what consumers want."
I think proper disruption is only possible when a product is released that actually provides what customers want, bucking against that groupthink. And that's why we see it happen so often in software and so little in electronics and cars.
An example case study: The massive success of the Wii.
I think the success of the Droid was less about its form factor and more of it being the first smartphone to be offered on the US’s largest telephone network at that time.
I won't deny that, but also, there were like 4 other Android models that came out on Verizon inside of 3 months. They were not nearly as popular. I went down a rabbithole exploring this more.
Here's a cool court document revealing Samsung's sales numbers.
The Epic 4g was their last slide-out model. When you compared it against its contemporary models (and not the much-faster phones that came out a year later), it comes out massively ahead:
So, to tally that up, Samsung's total physical-keyboard sales for the last generation they made them came out to be just shy of 9.2 million. The touchscreen-only variants came out to just over 3.8 million in that same time window.
And the real kicker: The reason Samsung phones were so desirable back then had far less to do with anything besides their AMOLED screens, which were a technological leap over the LEDs at the time. This is likely what catapulted them to dominating the Android market in spite of their awful software. If the Motorola Droid 2 (which I forgot about cause I was still rocking my Droid 1) had an AMOLED screen, the sales numbers would likely have told a different tale.
I think the real reason Samsung ditched the slide outs is because of what @mxuribe described: The execs saw the strong sales of the slabs out of the gate, while ignoring carrier availability (the slideouts were only available on sprint), making decisions for the next year's model, and then completely missing that the slide-out had a much longer sustained sales rate.
Oh, and seeing that the iPhone was still the best selling, so they just looked at Apple's numbers and designs and assumed that they would get those numbers by copying the design.
I do wonder if the slide-outs were more expensive to build, though. Like, it's the exact same thing, but with a keyboard in addition to everything else. But you can't really charge that much more for it because it's still "a phone", right?
I can't recall how many years ago it has been (maybe a full decade or close to it?), but my partner desperately misses their android phone from motorola with the slide-out keyboard! They would give up any current phone for a modern one that has even a halfway decent slideout keyboard. :-)
That data is based on existing iPhones, so of course the smaller screen phones are winning out. There were more small phones in existence. And the X was a significant jump up in price from the equivalent "small" screen 8. In 2019, the X and the XS were considered expensive phones compared to the past equivalent flagships. The 7 was $649 at launch and the X the next year was $999, a 53% increase.
Besides that, the X and XS were physically similar in size to the 6, 7, and 8. The screen size might have been larger, but the physical size was not really.
When the iPhone 12 Mini came out, the rumors were that the sales were bad. But maybe people who would have bought a Mini were already on a new phone? Well Apple gave it another chance the next year with the 13 Mini and fixed the biggest problem with the 12 Mini, the battery. It still sold terribly and they discontinued it. Some estimates are that the 13 Mini only made up 3% of overall iPhone sales.
Nobody bought the iPhone 12 or 13 mini models when they were an option
Yup. Even if I want Phone A, my network might refuse to let it make or receive calls. I have to go with the models they support otherwise tech support won't even try to work with me. And there are virtually no other networks in Canada beyond the trio of oligarchy Bell Rogers Telus.
I couldn't agree more. I refuse to go big, and it is basically impossible. Just finding a mini took a lot of effort, since it's no longer available for sale and the refurbs sell out immediately when Apple drops a batch.
We got truly screwed when the 12 mini dropped... in fall of 2020. People weren't valuing portability in a phone in the middle of a pandemic. And unfortunately now the execs have all the data points they need to reinforce that 'nobody buys small phones'.
The small screens were also the cheapest though, so I don’t think this is some revealed preference for small phones.
The real driver is probably just battery life. More screen means more volume to cram battery in.
More pixels also equals more energy to power it. I wonder what the cost/benefit there would be, considering the screen is the single greatest power consumer on a phone.
Every generation of iPhone that has had a large variant has seen the large variant with significantly better battery. The bigger battery offsets the bigger screen and then some. The only other hardware difference in the large screen variants is usually just the camera, which doesn't impact battery tests.
Edit: Quick googling of a review said 25% more screen time for web browsing on the 16 Pro Max vs 16 Pro.
I've had the 13mini since it came out and if it ever dies I'll probably replace it with another 13 mini. I was really hoping they'd do a new SE with the mini's body but instead the 16e seems to be the way that they're going forward with "entry level" options. Not that it's about price for me, heck, I'd probably pay extra for a smaller one.
The ONLY reason i jumped beyond that when my old one died was because of the USB C, because i'm just sick of having to carry around "an iphone ONLY" cable or adapter.
I won't be getting another one until they make something small.
I resisted it for a long time because I was picky. Not interested in FaceID, no headphone jack. I used my 2016 SE until OS updates stopped and eventually essential apps stopped supporting iOS 15. Then I tried an Xperia XZ1 Compact with a custom ROM. Lovely phone, but flaky connectivity because modems are complicated. Then I tried an inherited Pixel 4a, which turned out to be too big.
The mini is a great size. But if I'm being honest, being stuck with lightning and no headphone jack are kind of silly. FaceID is fine but I would honestly prefer a TouchID power button; FaceID struggles with sunglasses, transitions, and sometimes with no glasses!
I've always prefered big phones myself, but I figured that the flip fold phones would become the solution to this long term. The main issue right now is cost.
IOS is tough though. They only really focus on one or two new lines a year.
The article actually explains why they don't exist right there in the introduction
This isn't true for most people anymore. Most people don't have a laptop - their phone IS their main computer. They watch netflix on it, they do their taxes on it (no, seriously), they budget their family's spending on it.
And that's when having a big screen matters. For the niche, small proportion of the userbase of nerds who have these "laptop" or "desktop" things, a phone may just be a portable communications device and the cost of lugging around a large brick isn't worth it, but this is ultimately a small and insignificant proportion of users.
It is possible in some areas of the world this is true.
If so that is terrifying and is also a factor of the current trend of tech illiteracy and general decline of usability of sw and online services(also enshitification).
Smartphone at its current iteration is horrible for not just productivity applications but also for maintaing agency in digital interactions and gaining basic minimal undetstanding of the sw used to direct the daily life of average person.
Just to offer another perspective... There are over a billion indians. The median income there is ~350 usd/month. There are 1.5 billion Africans, and for those who live in cities median income is likely similar.
That's about a third of the entire world for whom a laptop is impossibly out of reach but a smartphone with a big screen isn't. (Not a good one, of course, but a cheap Tecno).
It's kind of the opposite of a decline in technical competency in that for almost all of these people, their phone is their first exposure to the internet.
I was going to say: the technological landscape is completely different from how it was even 10 years ago.
For the vast majority of humans now, the smartphone is The Computer. The desktop vs. mobile dichotomy doesn't even register with them.
People who grew up using desktop computers and then bought smartphones when they were introduced are the global technological 1%. The smartphone was initially a luxury product aimed at affluent techies in wealthy, developed countries like the US and Japan.
That makes the current status quo of mobile computing that much sadder. So many people will never get to experience what an open computing experience provides.
As I tell my children: The only substantial difference between a Switch and an iPhone is which company controls the keys. Either could run programs for the other if they were not locked up. Somebody decided to cripple your use of that computer.
I use my electric company's app. It has the best daily graphs of my electric usage. I also use my electric comany's website on my desktop. Because that's the only way to download my usage history in CSV with 15 minute increments. Even "use desktop mode" on mobile doesn't work for this.
One of my general gripes with modern websites: that “use desktop mode” is a largely useless feature. Due to display screen size or some other indicators within the user agent string, a website will straight up ignore a “desktop” HTTP request and instead return the mobile version instead. It’s this paternalistic infantilizing of the user that leads to part of the tech illiteracy that’s been growing.
Sometimes the desktop version of a website has richer features, or more verbose content. Since screen real estate is limited on a mobile device you can lose out on important details, and many times I actually lose site functionality (it’s ridiculous that I have to install Chrome on my phone just to use certain websites that refuse to present me with their desktop version when requested). Many images or graphs can be unzoomable on mobile versions of sites, and yet the desktop version gives me full control of my viewport.
I’m tired of these user hostile design choices. I still use old Reddit and zoom in despite the “poor UX” because I don’t want to give into the addictive tendencies that mobile apps lead to. Why can’t I control my own experience? Shouldn’t I know what’s best, especially if it’s a more technical request? My browser should be the agent that decides what’s best rendering for the user, not the website itself.
It’s not just the phones themselves that ignore users demands, but the software, too.
That's why we need web browsers that lie about their stats and features and then render whatever the user wants instead.
Yeap, phones are the best all-around device for most people, hands down. What astonishes me is that our kind, people who have laptops and wish they could have a small phones, are so insignificant to the market to the point there's no reasonable option available left…
I'm over smartphones. I want my Motorola RAZR V3 back.
apologies if linking to YT vids is bad form in comments, but having read this thread today I was somewhat startled to hear Carl Pei confirm exactly this when discussing the size of the new CMF phone here
I actually thought that this was the direction the article was going to go, having mentioned tech blog reader bias and Brazil market early on. The average person has different desires and often income levels from techies. The poorer you are, the less likely you are to own a laptop or desktop. Laptop/desktop ownership is only about 50% in countries like Brazil and China, while smartphone ownership is close to 100%. If it's your only device for media consumption, it makes sense if larger screens are more popular. This also explains why there are only smaller screens in the high end segment since people with more money are more likely to use their phone as only a secondary computing device.
I’m going to poke the bear here with good intentions. I don’t mean to be rude or accusatory with anything I say below:
Every time this discussion (and similar ones) about phones features comes up, I have the same thoughts. This vocal minority seems to always ask for the same list of features:
Headphone jack
Removable battery
Long-lasting battery
No camera bump
SD cards
Small size
IR blaster
Oh, and it has to be cheap too
No manufacturer in their right mind is going to make this phone because the only people who would buy it are the 20 people who listen to FLAC music offline for 12-16 hours per day, and have $2000 to spend on a device.
There are certainly phones with a subset of those features. I can’t help feeling like the people asking for this are resistant to change.
To be clear, I get wanting a small phone. Ergonomics are the one thing you can’t adjust your workflow to accommodate.
If this is your dream phone, tell me about your use case, and what your current setup is.
I'll admit I'm probably one of the only people that care about the IR blaster. My Galaxy S5 was my universal remote. I never had to worry about losing it in the couch. Added bonus was that it was a universal remote in my pocket so I could change the channel on every public TV I walked past off of Fox News. I still have my S5, and I'll probably revive it as the remote once I get around to replacing the dead battery.
For several years I used a Pixel variant and a Galaxy S21 from Verzion. Because my employer was buying and I wasn't gonna carry two phones. So I begrudgingly used bluetooth headphones, streaming music, and embraced cloud storage because my options were removed from me. Thankfully, my employer was buying so naturally I got the one with the greatest storage.
Now that I can buy my own phones again, I rock a used Pixel 7 with Graphene OS. I also hate it, but I've been stockholmed into tolerating bluetooth headphones and cloud storage so I just accept it now. My favorite headphones have been relagated to computer use, because carrying dongle.
The key is that there is one major factor that trumped any on your list: Having an unlocked bootloader that I could flash a de-googled OS on. That eliminated a lot of players.
If I had discovered the Jelly linked above before I had bought my phone, I would have likely imported it and done my best to find a carrier that it works with.
If you have some ideas, here's my wishlist, in order:
But the actual reality is: Nobody gets to choose what the manufacturers make. We get to pick among the stuff they put out, limited to what local carriers support, and then decide how much of our list we have to ignore to have a working phone.
I'll happily pay $1,000 for a phone that meets all but that last one. I realize that IR and FM have gone the way of the dodo and have 0 expectations there.
It sounds like we understand each other. No mainstream phone is ever going to have close to the complete list.
I almost made a joke in my original post that the only people who’d buy such a phone are Arch Linux users. I was not aware that “Linux Phones” were a thing, but that sounds like the only way a phone could get anywhere near this feature list.
Open source hardware baby. If someone wants an IR blaster in the Linux phone, they better submit a merge request.
It's not a phone, but if you're desperate for a gadget that can do interesting things with IR, RF, and Bluetooth, there's a more sophisticated and versatile version of the Flipper Zero that's just been released on Kickstarter.
I still have my S5 Active for the IR blaster. Battery still works well, too. It's my favorite phone of all time with the S8 Active in a close second. But I've got through three S8s throughout the years. I have no loyalty to my current S24. I really wish there was a smaller form factor. And God I miss the IR blaster.
Yep. I think a lot of people get lost in the sauce in an internet bubble and think that the issue is that phone manufacturer's aren't listening to what customers want, when what's actually happening is that they are simply the minority of customers and manufacturers are listening to what their consumers want - bigger screens, more dust and water resistance, bigger and better cameras.
It's just what naturally happens when products move from the enthusiast market to the mainstream.
If cars were made for enthusiasts, they'd all have manual shifts, big wings, amenities like rear seats removed for weight relief, and a variety of OEM cosmetic options. Instead we have ungainly bricks with armchairs inside.
I don't think thats the case, particularly for screens and cameras (I'll wholly accept the general premise that people prefer touch phones these days over the physical keyboards).
I think it is much easier to brag in press releases and ads about how much better your phone is than your last one when you can measure that improvement in grams, megapixels, and millimeters though.
See also: "4nm" fab processes.
"We made the exact same phone as last year, but with a handful of invisible subtle hardware improvements" doesn't exactly bode well for sales numbers, even if that is the genuine reality for the vast majority of cellphones made since roughly 2019.
Agreed that big numbers are easier to sell and likely has influence on product direction.
However as someone involved on the silicon side of things, I will argue that the process node changes are a massive technology point. The numbers are meaningless now, but the technology is not.
Whether that should be a selling point to consumers is up for debate. It certainly does signal important information to the tech world and investors.
Hey, it's me, that's my dream phone, except it also needs to have an OLED screen and an unlockable bootloader.
I don't want to carry something massive around because I'm not on my phone all the time. I just want to be able to text friends, look things up occasionally, and watch movies on the plane (using my wired earbuds - I never want to have to think about whether my earbuds are charged).
I need the SD card because I take a lot of videos with my phone and I don't want to ever have to think about deleting things to make more room, and it's very quick to transfer shows/movies to removable media (although I don't watch things on my phone that much).
I need the removable battery because I never want to have to think about what I do if my battery runs out. If my phone's low before I leave the house, I put a fresh battery in. I also keep a fresh battery in my backpack and car. They're cheap (~$10 each), so I can have a bunch of them. Instant charging > fast charging, imo.
I could live with a camera bump and no IR blaster. I like having the IR blaster but I don't use it that much. You didn't list it, but I also don't care about water resistance because I'm not a child and I've never dropped my phone while scrolling tiktok on the can.
I feel like all the things you listed are pretty reasonable if you're the type of person who needs a phone but doesn't use it that much and doesn't want to think about replacing it all the time. My Galaxy S4 has all the things you listed, it Just Works, and I'll never need to replace it until 4G goes away, at which point hopefully the cell phone industry won't be such an embarrassment and I can buy something that's an upgrade over the phone I got 10 years ago.
Thank you for the detailed rundown. I have some follow up questions.
If you’re scattering batteries around like acorns for winter, why not just have a few portable chargers that hold multiple full charges?
What prevents you from staying plugged in for a few short stints throughout the day?
If you’re swapping batteries instead of charging, why not use USB-C headphones or an adapter to your favorite 3.5mm pair?
These seem like minor hurdles to me, but I understand everyone’s different. Why not make some small workflow changes to get a modern (not to mention secure) device?
This sounds like approximately the same thing, except chargers are more expensive and don't work as fast.
I usually do; when I'm at my desk, I keep my phone on a wireless charging stand. But every so often I'll want to leave the house and my phone isn't charged (maybe it's evening and I've already been out all day, or maybe I forgot to put my phone on the dock), and in those cases it's nice to just top up to 100 as I walk out the door and not have to think about carrying a brick around or looking for an outlet while I'm out. It doesn't happen often, since my battery normally lasts me over a day, but I'm quite grateful to be able to swap it when I need to.
Valid point. I like the mechanics of the 3.5mm connector more than USB-C and I would be annoyed at having to buy a dongle for my earbuds and my car, but those are minor inconveniences. If I had to replace my phone, the jack would be one of the first things I'd compromise.
It's not that I couldn't, it's that I have no reason to. My phone can already handle texting, web browsing, taking videos, etc., so buying a new phone with a bunch of minor compromises wouldn't be an upgrade for me. The S4 got its last security update last year (exactly a year ago, as of today); while it's unlikely to receive another one, Android 11 is modern enough for my tastes going forward, and I'm not worried about getting pwned because I don't have many apps and almost all of them are free software. The other reason is that I sort of resent companies for taking those features away. IR blaster and no camera bump, maybe not so much, but removable batteries and media are objectively good for the usability and longevity of a device. Samsung made snarky ads blasting Apple for not having the removable battery, then removed it on their own phones with the S6 (and I don't want to hear about water resistance, because the S5 was already IP67). They're infuriatingly transparent. Since my phone works fine, I'm happy to vote with my wallet and wait it out until the industry fixes itself, which it seems to (slowly) be doing.
I don't think it is possible to make these kind of assertions about customer demand for these features.
There is no equivalent model with a subset of these features and one without to compare against. They are not sold because they are not made. And no I don't think that is due to nonexistent demand. I don't know how the decisions about phone featuresets are made but I think it is clear actual customer concerns come after force pushing with marketing the manufacturers concerns.
I do think this full feature set would be specifically sought out by a minority but it is hard enough to find any single item on it.
In the context of these features, I don’t think it’s as simple as the manufacturer pushing their preferences. I think they are concerned with user preferences, just not those of the users request these particular features.
To be clear, I am not defending any companies and saying they always do right by their users.
Examples:
SD Cards are notoriously unreliable and slow. There are faster SD interfaces, but asking the average person to figure out the naming conventions, personal requirements, and sourcing is not realistic. Just put more of the same fast internal storage inside and your parents are good to go.
Need to move files around? As of the last few years, every flagship has 5-10Gbps of USB transfer speed. If a user knows how a thumb drive works, they can figure this out.
Removable batteries take up more internal space than ones more tightly integrated. That’s a challenge for small form factor devices.
I haven’t used a phone with a removable battery in a while, but unless they’ve started bolting the enclosure shut, the plastic clips are flimsy and pop open when dropped. I certainly don’t miss my battery skidding across the parking lot.
Water and dust resistance is also much improved without a removable battery. It’s certainly possible to have both, but it comes with tradeoffs. Most phones can have the battery professionally replaced these days, and retain IPx ratings. Inconvenient sure, but some minor maintenance every few years in order to keep your phone running for nearly 10 years seems reasonable, for those that want to do that.
IR blasters are always described in a novelty use case. It’s just not necessary, but I will admit it does have whimsy and was fun. All about trade offs.
Most people really like enjoy wireless headphones, and USB-C headphones/DACs/AMPs all exist. If you really have to charge at the same time and never take your headphones off, there’s splitters and wireless chargers for cheap.
All of these features were once somewhat common, if not standard, and went away because most people don’t know what an SD card is.
How about just small? I used to care about headphone jacks and SD card slots and removable batteries, but I gave up the battle because I literally couldn't find any usable phone with those features. But small is a hill I'll die on; a smartphone doesn't have to be any bigger than the 2016 SE, 13 mini, or mayyyybe the 2nd and 3rd gen SEs IMO. Bigger than that gives me no benefit, is harder to fit in my pocket, and isn't usable in one hand, which is terrible for my active lifestyle.
Fuck it, I'll pay $2k for an iPhone 17 mini. I don't care about price. I just want a usable small phone!
As I mentioned in my original post, I am 100% on board with small phones as a standalone feature request, mainly because users can’t change their ergonomics.
Get ready for my old guy rant here.
You frame it like people are asking for a $2000 super phone here, but realistically, you're missing the point. People that want these things, myself included, have ALREADY HAD these phones. No one is asking for something unimaginable or on make-able. I literally have a few old phones that check off that entire list sitting in my desk drawer, but are no longer supported. I have little use for the incredible performance offered by current high end phones. The wish list you have above is just that, a wish list, but I don't see why a smaller phone with a couple other features (say a headphone jack and maybe a removable battery) needs to be some treated as unobtainable.
I feel like an OEM could clean up by making that their actual feature pitch. Just taking what was a popular actual phone from 5-10 years ago and put some midrange chipset in it. No need for an SoC as fast as many laptops. No need for a nearly 7" screen or giant battery to power it. No need for the newer highend camera tech, a decent camera from 5-7 years ago would be fine. Most people are looking at these photos on their phones anyway, not making posters out of them.
I just had to buy my daughter a new phone and she needs to have a headphone jack (for school weirdly). The best affordable option has a 6.7" screen and a giant battery. I can't imagine that a smaller phone wouldn't be cheaper to produce or require less battery, but hey what do I know.
If Samsung released bootloader keys and code for drivers for the Galaxy S5, such that a talented hobbiest could compile a recent kernel against them and have most everything work, albeit slowly, I'd use that phone tomorrow.
The Galaxy S5 benchmarks about as well as a Raspberry Pi 4. That's plenty of compute for an awful lot of tasks.
I'd be totally down for that, although I suspect it would struggle with modern (read: overly heavy) web browsing a bit. But throw even a midrange Mediatek SoC in one of those things, 4GB of RAM, and a bit more storahe and it would be perfectly fine.
I care about like three things on that list (small size, headphone jack, removable battery) and one thing not on it (USB-C charging). My phone currently fulfills two of those four things (headphone jack, USB-C charging), and as a result I'm just a little bit annoyed every time I use it.
My use case is I want to be able to use my phone one-handed without constantly adjusting my grip and therefore dropping it. I'm an average-sized woman, so at least 25% of the population similarly can't use their phones one-handed. I also want to be able to plug in my headphones when their internal battery dies because I forgot to charge them. And I want to be able to change the battery to prolong the rest of the phone's life and reduce e-waste. What of that is unreasonable in your opinion?
As I mentioned in my original post, I am 100% on board with small phones as a standalone feature request, mainly because users can’t change their ergonomics.
I’m also against e-waste. Most phones can have their batteries replaced professionally, or at home with a bit of hassle. Sure it’s not as convenient, but when you want the device to last 3-7 years, I think a bit of maintenance is reasonable. Manufacturers should provide the tools and service options.
I will also add that there is absolutely a trade off between battery life, phone size, and the ability to replace it easily.
I think it is easy to take for granted how much our phones do these days. Past phones may have had replaceable batteries, but they didn’t always have the pretty-good battery life we have now, and they certainly weren’t doing half as much work. That’s all to say, I understand why that feature is dropped by manufacturers.
The last time I had a phone's battery replaced it involved replacing some glue that held the back of the phone on. The new glue didn't stick properly and the back broke beyond repair when it fell off. It clearly wasn't designed to ever be taken apart, by me or a professional, and there was no indication that that was the case until it needed that maintenance.
Wanting a removeable battery for me is less about wanting to avoid hassle than it is about wanting to know it can be done without breaking the phone.
I'm using Sony Xperia 5 IV and considering to buy the next Xperia 1 (although it is the same price as iPhone 16 Pro Max here - I don't have a need for it but the 5 series is dead and the next is 10 which is a midranger). My previous phone was Pixel 3a XL which was the very last pixel with headphone jack.
It has: headphone jack, no camera cutout, microSD, power button as fingerprint scanner, wireless charging (and reverse charge), and almost stock Android (you could say it is more stock than Pixel - it doesn't even have text selection during app switch!). The size is the same as Pixel but narrower. The secondary sim is either a physical one, which share the same physical location as microSD, or eSIM in some markets.
When I used Pixel 2 XL which doesn't have a headphone jack I'm tired of my headphone running out of battery. The USB-C audio adapter does help, but after traveling I plug the same headphone into the Macbook's headphone jack which requires me to remove the adapter (USB-C seems to be removing USB ports on device due to how complicated it is). I don't want to lose the expensive adapter, as Pixel requires an active adapter - cheap ones are not active (i.e. it is not a sound card) and the expensive ones are usually not marketed as active. The best USB-C audio adapter seems to be Apple's, which make the Pixel sounds like iPhone but the short cable feels very flimsy like typical Apple cables.
The cons of Xperia is that the camera is really bad. This particular phone ranked dead last in MKBHD's blind test of that year. When I used Pixel I just snap, sometimes while even walking. With Xperia I always take 2-3 backup photos and my hand needs to be very steady.
I think my hard requirements are - Near-stock Android OS by non-Chinese vendors, headphone jack, no screen cutouts, monthly security update (note that after 2nd year my 5IV update is quarterly, which is why I'm considering buying new one), majority CPU architecture, wireless charging, NFC. I'm opening up to underscreen fingerprint sensor, but I still believe Pixel 2 and Zenphone had the better implementations. Unless Sony stop making phones with these I'd buy them even if they're overpriced.
There is incredibly low choice generally for smartphones on actually important features.
The typical smartphone is a sealed, large and ridiculously thin rectangle with raised cameras, one general charging/data port and running either closed down ios or android with generally truly trash tier ux by default(adware, nagware, bloatware, telemetry, take your pick).
Anything that breaks this trend is niche and has varying downsides.
My guess is too large costs to enter the market and dominance of Apple and Google.
Along with unwilingness of average person to actually research the massively important(whether anyone likes it or not) in today society device before they buy it. Something that they will likely be using daily.
I've not complained publicly about this, but fuck this trend in particular. Taking a thing that is meant to go easily in and out of a pocket and then just add some grappling hooks to it.
Just make the damn phone as thick as the whole camera. And if that makes the battery pack too big and the phone too heavy, make the damn thing smaller. Make more of these.
The problem is that if it isn't available as a financing option with the carrier, that phone essentially doesn't exist in the US market.
The Pixel 9a doesn't have a camera bump, just a smooth back. What's wild is the reviews saying that they didn't like that look or that it was boring. Somehow they figured that the bump on the back was a feature instead of an annoyance. Like, they're actually dinging the score of the 9a for looking like the boring rectangle that a phone actually is. Meanwhile I have a Pixel 9 and when I take the case off I have to marvel at how hideous and impractical the giant camera bump is.
My wife and I are intending to upgrade our phones this year and the linked one is pretty tempting.
You should probably be aware that they don't have a good reputation for security updates.
Yea, and it's a shame, because otherwise it's like the perfect phone for me.
Honestly with what phones cost I don't see how anyone is keeping them out of a decent case at this point. It's DUMB that's how it has to be, but it at least gets the phone flush with the camera so you aren't unloading your entire pocket every time you reach for it.
It's almost like chasing the ever thinner phone in the name of style was a fools errand since most people would put it in a gigantic case anyhow.
I feel this pain so much. Right now I use a de-googled and dumb-ified Unihertz Jelly Star as my primary driver. It's got a cute little 3 inch screen (a lot fatter than a normal smart phone though), and has all the features of a full-fledged Android--NFC, dual sim or sim + SD card capable, fingerprint reader, even an IR blaster (no removable battery though). I don't think I can ever go back to a phablet again, but I may be forced to eventually since Unihertz is no notoriously terrible about providing any kind of software/security patch updates for their phones. Usually you get one post-launch update to fix a few bugs and then that's it forever. It's possible to install certain Lineage GSIs on it but I get no connectivity on those with my provider, and there isn't really an active dev community, so I'm probably stuck on the Android security update from June 2023 until I replace it.
Do you have any more details about how you feel about it? This is the first I've heard of it and I'm looking to upgrade my phone. I usually go with Motorola, but this is pretty intriguing and has the features I want (SD Card/Headphone Jack).
Curious how big of a deal those Security updates are?
Other than the anxiety of not having the latest security patches I'm very satisfied with it (after running uag-ng on it to remove all the Google stuff I don't want--also a few manufacturer things but it's a pretty clean stock Google experience out of the box). It's great as a quasi-dumbphone because even if you leave a browser and other social media apps on it, it's so frustrating to type and uncomfortable to read tiny text on such a small screen that I think I'd be deterred from using them very much anyway. I installed Futo Voice Input on it for on-device voice recognition and usually use that whenever I need to send or reply to a text.
edit--I will add, the one garbage feature that the manufacturer added is called "App Blocker," which is turned on by default and essentially disables multitasking entirely so no app will ever get notifications and you can't listen to music apps in the background or with the screen off, but it can be disabled system-wide with a single toggle, and I've never had it sneak its way back on, so it's not too terrible.
I wonder if this day and age of AI, that you could apply security patches yourself. As long as you're staying on top of what needs to change, that you could maybe fork your own things and have Gemini or whomever auto-patch.
The main problem with building Android is that most phones have unique hardware characteristics that the manufacturers specifically patch support for into the OS (compatibility shims and drivers and other stuff), without which the phone loses a lot of functionality, up to and including an inability to connect to any mobile networks which renders the whole thing useless. It's extremely rare for those companies to open source their changes, and without that you can't really build your own OS for it unless you're willing to do a bunch of reverse engineering or trying to hunt down where their functionality is in the official rom so you can copy and paste binaries and hack your build to use those anywhere it needs to. And as far as AI goes, I would be kind of shocked if you could even have an AI walk you through the process of setting up a build environment and compiling a generic Android image, let alone making meaningful changes to the code.
People often fail to mention the Sony Xperia phones when talking about the small models. I really like my 5 iv, which replaced a 1 ii (their model naming is dumb). Not only is it small, but it has a decent camera, decent display, headphone jack, MicroSD, and (the holy grail) a notification LED! It's not cheap though, and it could be smaller. Sadly I think Sony may gave killed their Xperia line though - historically they would have announced a successor by now. Also, the more recent models don't have updated Wikipedia pages, which I'd imagine is due to them slashing their marketing ahead of killing the line. If this phone dies I'll probably go Unihertz.
The Sony smartphone page for Sweden is showing me a reveal date for May 13th. You got me worried as it's been my phone of choice for two personal iterations.
Oh that's great news! Thanks for the info 😊
Sadly, Sony fled from Brazil (where I live) a few years ago. Also, never been a fan of their Android flavor.
I used a Zenfone 10 for a decent amount of time entirely because it was small. It also still had a headphone jack. Great phone. Basically everything you could want in today's world on a small phone. Then the next year they made a normal sized phone.
I think flip phones are the future for small phones. Sadly we are stuck on making tablet sized foldables. I rocked the Samsung Flip 3 for a decent amount of time and loved that tiny brick. The only reason I dropped it is because Samsung software/bloatware is still trash. I really hope more companies make flip phones, but it's the same problem as small phones, not enough people buy them.
My current phone is a zenfone 10 and I still consider it a big phone. It's too big for me to use one-handed, which is generally my criteria for "too big", but it was the smallest decently-powerful option I could find.
I do have a Jelly 2 that feels great for making calls, but being just a bit too small for messaging and the aggressive power-saving killing apps I only briefly navigated away from made it impractical to keep using as my main phone.
Fair enough. I can use a Google Pixel 9 Pro one handed and found using the Zenfone 10 easy to use one handed so I probably just have bigger hands than most people.
I'm a fairly average-sized woman, if that helps give context.
I have an SE2 with the fingerprint reader and it’s great. The camera is out of date but otherwise solid phone with no performance issues.
Core Device, the company founded by the Pebble (and Beeper) founder were looking at making a small phone. They did some interest check two years ago. Now they're focused on resurrecting Pebble and the phone is on the backburner.
Yeah, I guess that small phone project is gone now that the new Pebble is a thing :/