I get that less size means less battery, but 4 hours SOT seems like a really low goal.
this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
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Android
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I despise the fact that most Android phones start with a 6-inch screen. I was resolute to switch to an iPhone mini next time when I'll change phones but then they also killed that product line. π«
I really miss the time I can do everything with one hand using only one thumb.
It doesn't solve the overall size issue but the latest versions of Android have a one handed mode that brings the notification shade and display down to a little less than half the screen.
I'm the complete opposite tbh. I have tiny hands so phones are hard to handle but my ideal size has always been 6.7 inches.I love how can see so much on there and how everything is so much easier to see and how my fingers have tons of room to work with when typing. Anything below 6.3 inches feels really cramped for me.
Not just a small phone, but an ergonomically shaped phone is missing from the market. It would be great to have devices again that you can cradle in your hand and slip into a small pocket. Thin slabs are nice on a display shelf, but they aren't human-centered. Give me a phone with a curved and grippy back and a 5.x inch display.
I actually feel like the current trend to a more flat trim, like the current iPhones, Galaxies and (rumored) the Pixel 8 have is more ergonomic, since you actually have a solid edge to hold on to instead of something rounded that slips from your fingers
This is why I love my Pixel 4a. I think it's like 5.8 inches and it's just the ideal size to use comfortably and fit in my pocket.
I bought my 4A from a refurbisher two years after release, for the original retail price. Which is kind of insane, but there simply was no alternative for a similar sized phone at the time.
I really like it though.
Asus makes the ZenPhone 10. That's 6 inches. I don't know how it stacks up to the other requirements, I've never used one.
I'm a bit confused about what the OP means with "premium", but at least the price band fits.
It has a locked bootloader, i know because i have one...
I'm curious now that we've talked so much about it. Is it any good, locked bootloader aside?
Yeah its ridiculously fast. My main problem is the bootloader and that it only has usb 2.1 If it had an unlocked bootloader and usb 3 and display outup its fast enough i could use it as a laptop. I tried linux in chroot and it runs smooth. It only has 2 years of updates but that wouldnt be a problem if the bootloader would be unlocked... The speakers and battery are good especially for the size. Talking about the size its perfect for my hands, a lot smaller would be too little for me. The headphone jack is nice but no sd card slot(idk why anyone needs that the base model has 256gb of storage and i use about 100gigs). The camera is good. Youre stuck with the stock software but its not half bad. The display is bright enough but it doesnt go dim enough for my night use so i had to use the display dim mode thing but that makes the colours worse(my eyes are extemely sensitive, i can see well in only moonlight i think for most people the brightness goes low enough). The 144hz actually works but it makes the colours strange. If you turn on the display dimmer and 144hz at the same time the colours become comically bad. Also if you need more brightness the 144hz mode is brighter. I dont really play a lot of games but in geometry dash it works really well, the touch is responsive. The boot time is horrible but idk why. Thats it basically, other than the bootloader and usb im happy with it.
I like mine, mainly small gripes for me like I wish the shielding was a bit better on the headphone jack, Meta apps weren't bundled though ofc you can disable/remove them and the screen could be both brighter and get dimmer (to agree with the other review). I'm also a bit disappointed it doesn't support e-sims, though does support dual physical SIMs.
Performance is great as expected, battery is solid and the camera is good whilst not matching Pixels imo. Asus' skin is pretty light with some nice customisation options (like being able to switch between stock android and their version for certain parts of the OS). I also love the fingerprint sensor on the power button, just makes sense for me and reminds me of my old Xperia Compact phones. Whilst retaining the SD card slot would be handy, I went for 512GB so it's not an issue for me
Wait, you get dual physical sims but they don't repurpose one of the slots for an SD card if you don't use it? Why? At that point it's removing a feature just for the sake of it. Well, for the sake of making you overpay for more storage, but still.
It's really not a small phone though.... it's the same size as the non-max iPhone, minus a couple millimeters of width.
They specifically said "sub 6 inch display", this is 5.9 inches. I'm meeting the brief here.
I mean, the other answer to that is that he could go for the vanilla iPhone, but they also said they want an Android phone, so this is the smallest thing with fairly high specs you can find right now and it's stil a couple fractions of an inch smaller than the small iPhone.
I considered the Zenphone 10, but the issue is the price. 830 bucks in Europe compared to 630 in the US.
Woof. Depending on what bucks those bucks are that's... a weirdly large, unjustified difference. I didn't know that was the case. I don't get it, for that money you could just order one from the US and have it shipped. Even with customs fees you'd break even.
Still, that's a lot and the region differences suck, but given the lack of options it's still ticking boxes. Plus flagships are like 1.5k these days, somehow, so... that's midrange pricing? I don't know how we got to that being midrange pricing, but apparently that's where we are.
Euros. The issue with shipping something from the US is that there are chances of the device being provider-locked, and also the tax customs here would add some nasty tax on top of it.
Yeah, and it can get stuck in customs. It's a good thing to do if you're there for a bit, even for a layover, but it's harder to buy. Still, man, for that price gap even if you get taxed you'd probably be at worst flat with the official release. That's a 30% hike, plus 10% you're losing in the currency exchange. It's a lot.
I'd maybe shop around. That can't last forever, and a cursory search right now already shows some offers with 50 euros cut off that sticker price (in Amazon.de, for one). Of course that's also for the worst model, so... you know, modern phone pricing.
Thank fuck. My moto e2 was an amazing size 4.5 in, had excellent battery life and I miss it a lot.
Only recently I started to use Unihertz Jelly Star. I flashed the stock Android 13 with Lineage OS 20.0 and I am very satisfied. Of course, it is the other extreme, as it is really very small but I am able to use it quite well for all I need.
I have no use for this phone but I really want to try it.
There doesn't appear to be any unihertz phone listed on the lineage site - am I misreading this? I have the Jelly Pro with Android 8 so lineage sounds pretty good if it's available!
The LineageOS site only lists official (i.e. stable) releases. Many more phones have unofficial releases.
I'm thinking about getting a base S24 as my next phone, since it's the only "small" phone that has a zoom lens and good cameras. I've been using Pixels since the original, though, so I'm a little worried about switching
I've gone between the two brands. Samsung strikes me as a little visually complicated whereas Pixel is cleaner and the point with its design choices. Connect ADB and you can disable all of the apps that come with the Samsung if you wish. Don't really prefer OneUI, though it felt snappier with the Snapdragon.
With that said, I enjoyed my Samsung overall, and I'm enjoying my Pixel. I don't think you'll be disappointed, but if I were you, I would reflect on how I feel about a little bit more clutter. It's in the details, like having two account sign in areas for both your Samsung and your Google accounts. Two app stores. The price and stress of more choices.
If you intend to own the device for a long time, consider that you have much better aftermarket solutions on Pixel because Google releases more, higher quality code and drivers makes your ROM devs life much easier. Fewer bugs for you in the aftermarket. You can only run GrapheneOS on a Pixel.
What I think just made the decision for me is that Samsung's new AI tools can only be used through the Samsung Gallery app, and I use Google Photos. Guess I'll be sticking with Pixels
My wife is using Galaxy A01 Core. This phone was outdated even before it was released. Nevertheless, there were no other options below 5.7 inches, and it cost around $200.
https://m.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_a01_core-10314.php
And no, she won't pay $700 for a new phone (or allow me to pay for it).
It kind of makes sense to be honest. The pricing of the small phones is very prohibitive.
Sony had a really good one, I liked it. Nowadays you'd probably only be able to charge it using your PS5.
They still have the Xperia I and V series, which is taller but not necessarily much wider. I have one. I like it.
I've had the xperia 5iv for a little over a year now and I'm pretty happy with it. It's still not a small phone, but I think it's among the smaller phones.
I also quite like the expandable storage and headphone jack.
Since it's narrow it gets you most of the way there in terms of grip. You still have to wiggle it and claw your way to the top of the screen, so if you're sensitive to that you may still miss a shorter phone, I suppose.
And yeah, no punchole, expandable storage, front facing speakers, a headphone jack and expandable storage (that you can hot swap, no less). It's an amazing collection of common sense features you can't get in any other flagship. I hope they stick with it for a while.
And it needs a no PWM screen!!! Pulse Width Modulation causes a lot of us to have eye strain. Those are literally the 2 main things I need in a phone - small screen with no PWM.
I do not see any dimensions mentioned on the linked page. Is a google pixel 8 small enough?
5.9 height x 2.8 width x 0.4 depth (in), 150.5 height x 70.8 width x 8.9 depth (mm)
That's larger than the non-max iPhone.
FWIW the Unihertz Jelly Star, Jelly 2, Atom, and Jelly all exist.... they aren't going to meet all those specs though... still I enjoy mine.
Hey! It's Eric Migicovski, the Pebble watch guy! Love my Pebble watches, they're really utilitarian, definitely down for a good small phone.
This, but with an industrial grade SoC covered by 10y of support. Would be ideal as a secondary phone for work, or simply as a spare unit at home.
The problem with "niche" phones like small phones, phones with headphone jacks, phones with keyboards, etc is that most of the people who claim they want one end up not buying one because of such and such feature being missing or so and so phone being better.
Asus and Sony have been making smaller phones for years but they've never achieved any sort of success. Iirc Sony makes a small phone with a headphone jack, which should be flying off shelves if these types of threads are to be believed.
The excuse is always "well Asus and Sony" have relatively little retail presence. Sure, that'd true, but any startup niche phone seller would be doing very well to have an Asus or Sony level distribution and retail network in the first couple of generations. And that's setting aside Apple being omnipresent in retail and yet still failing to sell enough small phones.
Sony prices are very high for what they sell.
Asus had the issues of short software support and locked bootloader.
I see where you come from, but those issues were there
Asus had the issues of short software support and locked bootloader.
This is exactly what I mean. Locked boot loader is an issue for like 0.01% of the phone buying public and yet people who want niche phones will refuse to buy a phone over it.
There's no economic case for catering to the niche phone market because most people in it are just far too picky.