this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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Smartphone manufacturers, if you're reading this:
I spent 6 hours on google to find a phone with a screen smaller than 6 inch. I did find none (except an old iPhone, but I want android), so I had to buy one 6 inch. It is too unwieldy. I am annoyed.
There is a serious market for people like me. Do not look away. Somebody will buy these phones.
Also, by the way, it's not bad if the phones are a bit thicker.
See, I want a smaller screen on my phone too, my big issue is that when manufacturers go with a small screen, they usually also think "budget phone". No. Fuck you. I want a premium phone, same as any other flagship, but smaller. Sure, you can lose a camera, I don't care as long as the pictures are still decent... You can put in a smaller battery too, there isn't as much space inside so I get it.... But give me all the same of all the other sensors and storage and everything.
They just won't.
Wait I thought the situation was different. The only small phones I see are models of premium flagships while the budget segment has humongous monstrosities because designing a small phone with decent packaging and heat dissaption requires much more R&D
First, it depends on what you consider small. Second, a big problem with the premium phone segment is their obsession with the idea of thin. Like your phone should be a piece of paper in your hand kind of thin. Obviously that's extreme and impractical but it seems like their objective... To reduce the thickness of the device to it's minimum.
I don't really care about how thick my device is, as long as it does the job and isn't unreasonably thick (like, an inch thick), I couldn't really care any less.
Premium "small phones" (examples that come to mind are things like the pixel 8, Samsung S23, and the non max/xl/whatever iPhone, to name a few) are still rather large... Often with screen sizes around or larger than 6". To go smaller, you would need to go for their cut rate phones, like the pixel 7a or iPhone SE. The only standout is the iPhone SE with a 4.7" display, the pixel 7a is 6.1". Samsung is also 6.1". These phones often have concessions that make them unappealing to me. Whether it's a lack of memory or missing sensors, or software cuts.... Whatever it is, it's there. On top of that, you need to also accept the 6"+ screen on these devices which is the main problem. I was happy with the Nexus 5 screen, or the 5X, or even the pixel 1... At 4.95" for the Nexus 5, and 5.2" for the 5X, and 5" for the pixel. To me, this is more optimal. I'm solidly an Android user and I'm pretty firmly in the pixel ecosystem, so I'm forced to accept 6" to 6.2" screens.
I'm currently using a pixel 7, and while I've accepted that this is what I must work with, I'm displeased overall with the screen.
Yes, there are cheap/budget phones that have utterly monstrous screens and phablet designs, usually using last-gen CPUs and the bare minimum of RAM; but I'm not talking about that stuff, the budget segment is wild and completely unpredictable. The cuts to CPU and RAM alone are enough for me to walk away. Unless I want to go for a small manufacturer that may not support me in my region (much, if at all - for which, updates are critically important to me, so I wouldn't), I'm pretty stuck. I went with the pixel because it's not monstrous, and it gets updates before most others, usually all others. The concessions I need to make about the screen are less important to me right now than having all the features and support I desire from my device.
As I see it, my only real option right now is to abandon Android and go with a very recent/modern, iPhone SE or mini. It's the only way I would have a screen that's less than 6". This is not desirable for me because I have usage issues with iPhone. Which isn't to say the iPhone is a bad product, it's just not the product for me.
I don't think the base model iphone, galaxy or pixel are small. What I meant was phones like the iPhone minis, pixel 4a, S10e, etc.
I mostly agree with you but have a small observation. You are using the screen size to argue that the phones are small but you are mistaken. The iphone se has a 4.7" screen as compared to the 6.1" in the iPhone 13 but in terms of phone size, the se(138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm) is only 9 cm shorter than the while being just as wide and thick. The mini is smaller even though it has a bigger screen. There is a similar issue with the nexus phones you give an example of. While the screens were much smaller, the phone dimensions weren't as drastically different to the standard 6.1" premium phones now because the older phones had much bigger bezels.
IMO, it's about being able to one-hand the phone. With the Nexus 5, though the phone wasn't much smaller than something like my pixel 7, the bezel put the screen within reach of my thumb while holding the phone. With the 7, I have to adjust my hand or two hand the phone to reach the furthest parts of my screen.
I don't have small hands.
6.1" is too big for my preferences. Give me a 5.5" or even a 5", and I'll be flying.
Unfortunately this just seems to be not true. Samsung, sony, google, apple all had smaller phones in their lineup at one time but eventually pulled them from the stack because they were not profitable. Don't even get me started on the small phone scene in the budget segment. Absolutely no options exist. The unfortunate reality is that while small phone enthusiasts like us are very vocal, we a vocal minority and not enough of us exist who can make designing a smaller phone viable for companies.
Small phones don't sell, that's just the thing. Asus tried for a few years, it didn't work and now the Zenfone 11 is going to be big again. I'm personally on the other end of it, I'm never going smaller than my current phone (Edge 30 Fusion) because I really like the big screen.
The thing is: Asus phone where never small.
I still use my Nokia N9 from 2012 daily as second phone. It has 117 x 61 x 12 mm. The Asus Zenfone 8 has 148 x 69 x 9 mm. Thats 25% higher (And also 25% heavier)
If you like big screens thats fine. There are plenty of offers for you and the market caters to you. I like small screens and device, because I tend to use complex Apps which require me clicking all over the screen. This is a hassle even with the Pixel 5 which I now got to use apps required (Banking, and so on) I have no options to buy such a device for year. Yes there are very few sometimes popping up like the Unihertz Jelly Star Star, but they all lacked features I consider essential.
(In this case update support, no OLED and Android apps can not deal with the low resolution display) Other features I miss but by now do not even dare to dream of: Real Multitasking, ability to fully customize the lock screen and menus (e.g. to red fonts for stargazing), weeks of standby time in flight mode and a single week in GSM mode, ability to work fine in 2G too because no copious amounts of data are sent in the background without asking you.
So yes there are plenty of options for the standard user, all with minimal differences. But for users like there are many in this thread, there are none.
I thought I liked smaller screens. My first was an iPhone 4s. My last is a Samsung s20 ultra and any other screen now seems so tiny. I have very small hands by the way. Like child sized.
Zenfone. I know this doesn't help you now, but keep that in mind next time you would like to get a new phone.
Zenfones are great. But also bloody expensive. I settled on the Sony X series for a 6.0 incher at 2/3rds the price of a Zenfone.
Fair point. Nice to see youre on a ~~song~~ Sony though.
Unortunately, ASUS doesn't sell them IN may country.
Try AliExpress, they sell everything
Unihertz tank mini might be what you like, I have the tank 2 and it has all the features... Including a projector, headphone jack, camping lights, ir blaster, battery that lasts 3 days with heavy use and red and blue emergency lights.
Thanks, this is perfect! Will remember it for next time.
They also have an audacity to call these 6 inchers "compact".
A regular Google Pixel 8 is 5.9in
That's ultimately what I did. If the Razr improves, I may try that next, because Samsung's Android is mostly bloat.
Still, flip smartphomes satisfied that "pocketable" need.
The unihertz jelly star is the one you are searching for.
actually
Have you tried Sony's Xperia 5 series? They are fairly compact and the 21:9 ratio makes it nice and slim.
Zenfone 9 /zenfone 10 has a small screen size plus a headphone jack