just make normal sized cellphones again, please!
Agreed. I went from pixel 3a to 6a and thought okay this is definitely as big as I’m willing to use but prefer the smaller 3a size.
20 years ago these were great. Now? Ye gods I’m too old for that tiny stuff.
A friend of mine was all in on the palm pre. And extolled the small form factor and how much better it was than the incoming 4G Android phones…
Now he buys the largest iphone possible every year
I used an overlooked palm pre for internet access before I got my first smart phone and while it was neat at the time it really wasn’t going to be good for say, browsing on jerboa with that screen size. The keyboard wasn’t good either.
At least here, I am apparently in the minority. I have an S22 Ultra, and I would legitimately take a much larger phone. I estimate I could use up to a 8.5" screen version of the S22U, but that would be the absolute max size I would use.
I do think if someone made a proper small high end phone they could sell them like hotcakes. Maybe make it just thick enough to accommodate a large enough battery.
I love larger displays. Easy on the eyes, better gaming and video experience. Still, on many newer phones aspect ratio is a problem for me. If the phone’s screen is something like 21:9 then it’s only really big on paper, since videos won’t fit perfectly, and the text and UI elements of games I play would still be pretty small, since they scale with the screen’s height in landscape mode.
I could not agree more about the allergy ratio. The only justification I can give is the navigation buttons are gone, so that makes up for then being on screen.
I remember when wider aspect ratios were being pushed, before bezel-less displays, and Samsung had a very large radius for their curved screens, and the phones felt very stretched out. Honestly I would be happy with 16:9 to 19:9 and zero curve, but I am a sucker for the best cameras and most usable zoom.
This is something I don’t really understand. People will always talk about how smaller phones don’t sell well, but there are a lot of products that are aimed at much smaller niches and do very well, but barely any company creates phones for that niche.
The only one I know is cubot, a chinese brand who makes the cubot pocket, the king kong mini, and the cubot j10. I hope they succeed and consolidate the small smartphone niche.
I have very small hands. Like smaller than children’s sized. I though the same until my boyfriend got me an s29 ultra and at first I thought it was ridiculously large but I’ve had it since launch and anything smaller now feels cramped. I tried using his pixel once and it felt barely usable to me. I mean I’ve user the iPhone 4s and a honor 6x and at the time I thought they were fine but just the extra height on my current phone leaves me with a whole phone worth of space when typing. I used to hate how much screen real estate the keyboard took up. It’s definitely useful to have smaller phones for a more utilitarian perspective. I’m that case though I’d rather have a bar or flip phone with a very long battery life and at most a black lcd screen or something. Sometimes I think id rather have my phone separate from my portable internet device.
So your boyfriend travelled to the future and got you an S29? 😛
Either and s29 or an s) whichever key is closest on the keyboard.
I have a Pixel 5 now and I love it! It’s way smaller than the Nexus 6P and Pixel 2, but it doesn’t feel like it at all. For reference it’s a bit larger than an iPhone SE 2020.
Being able to one hand a phone is awesome. I hope there’s another small flagship when this phone dies.
Uh, the pixel 5 is much larger than the pixel 2.
They can’t even fit in a headphone jack in the large phones. A small phone would require a SIM adapter and external battery if they ever make one.
They don’t want to fit a headphone jack. See the Asus ZenFone it’s smaller than usual yet still has a headphone jack and expandable storage
I’m generalising here and obviously it won’t apply to everyone, but I tend to think most people with small phones look at huge phones and say “whoa, too big” and thus never bother to give it a go. People with large phones either love them already, or they love the idea of a small phone — so they go get one, and in most cases, immediately miss their large phone.
Of course, some people have experienced both formats enough to know that they definitely prefer small phones — but, unfortunately, they appear to be a minority. Small phones don’t sell well, or else there’d be more of them. And so, these people fall into that all-too-common market category ‘You’re Not Significant Enough’.
All that said, it absolutely depends on what you want from your phone. I use my S23 Ultra to edit photos and videos, play a few games, get some work done — and all of those things benefit from a big display. Hell, even typing is easier for me on a big screen, thanks to my sausage thumbs. 😂
Of course, some people have experienced both formats enough to know that they definitely prefer small phones — but, unfortunately, they appear to be a minority. Small phones don’t sell well, or else there’d be more of them.
The conundrum with sales though is, if almost no major brands are selling them, how would a regular person ever find them? In the Android market, there are few companies making & selling them & they arguably aren’t widely popular for phones (sorry Asus, no surprises Unihertz) , so almost inevitably they won’t sell well.
In the iOS market, they still have the iPhone SE which I think is the smallest of that lineup, and I don’t think Apple would continue to make those if there wasn’t still a market for them. Also to swing back to the first part of what I’ve quoted here, I guess I’m in that minority.
I recently got a new phone as I was concerned about the battery of my old one, but it turned out I may have gotten ahead of myself, so I have a very clear point of comparison between the two when it comes to their form factors and uh…Yeah, when you do it’s no contest. The smaller device is way more comfortable to use, as I can reach most of the screen with one hand without feeling like I’m about to fumble it & drop it.
Not possible at the moment. Without the large size, you can’t fit an adequate battery to last a day or longer.
Not to mention that many people want good cameras on their phone, an they need space as well.
I’m typing this comment on a Zenfone 9, which is a pretty reasonably sized phone with a decent battery and camera. Charging to 80% usually lasts me over a day of usage. The camera is good enough as well. Phones don’t have to be so massive to have those features
Display needs a lot of battery, less of it and you dont need such a big one. Than make it two millimeters thicker and the problem is solved.
I agree, and I miss my single handed phones. But I think its the same mentality as people who buy
Suburban Assult TanksSUV’s, Bigger is better.Why do people prefer smaller phones? Like I use a realme 7. So not small but I don’t feel like it’s massive. And ths screen is nice if I want to watch a video or play a game. I feel like with more people using their phone as a primary computing device they will be bigger to accommodate that. Genuinely interested in why people prefer smaller phones
Small hands. My Pixel 4a is as big as I’ll go at 5.8", as I can reach the other side of the phone with my thumb to type one-handed.
Because I want to use it with one hand without my wrist hurting. I don’t play games on my phone, it’s just for texting, Snapchat, quick Google searches, navigation, music, and
RedditLemmy.A big screen enhances none of those things for me and makes it uncomfortable to use.
My desktop is my primary computing device, and I still want a large phone. Using small phones is no fun, and I’m actually looking for larger. I prefer the screen width to be at least 7cm, most phones don’t clear that.
I would love a phone around the size of the s8 with a flat screen. I love my s20FE but it can feel a bit big sometimes
Big phones sell though, that’s the issue. Apple sold the mini version of the iphone right alongside the bigger models and it sold like shit. The people who want smaller phones are in a minority.
I switched to a Pixel 7 today from a Xiaomi Android phone. I always felt my existing phone was too big, and when looking for a new one the first thing I did was go to gsmarena and search for a phone released relatively recently with a smaller screen. Literally the only result was the Iphone SE.
The Pixel phone is practically the same size, just a tad smaller and just a tad heavier. But there is a significant difference in the gesture support, which is usually something I don’t bother with. The result is that the basic system navigation and app switching can be done with my right hand only, in its normal holding position. The swipe from the left to go back a screen can be done from the bottom of the screen, so I don’t need to stretch my thumb up and across to do it from the middle of the screen.
Stretching unnaturally is still required to swipe down from the top of the screen, or I guess if third party app design puts buttons in the top left. But as a software solution to this hardware problem which also preserves the larger screen size for cases where that’s useful or desired, I think it’s pretty good.
Everytime someone says this and manufacturers end up making a smaller phone… no one buys them.
I did. I bought the original Jelly. Now I use the biggest phone of them all, a Fold 4…
In saying that, I might buy the new Jelly too, it’s IR blaster feature would come in handy as a universal remote, plus, in case I ever decide to take up running, would be easier to carry the Jelly around instead of a Fold.
Most people prefer big phones.
As a man they still would need to fit in my jeans pocket though… So we are kinda at a limit now.
Agree. Personally I would prefer a smaller phone. But options are very limited.
