It seems crazy when a list of the 12 best “small.” phones have an average screen size above 6 inches.
Phone
Screen Size (in)
Galaxy S24
6.2
Xiaomi 14
6.36
Google Pixel 8
6.2
Google Pixel 7a
6.1
Asus Zenfone 10
5.9
Motorola Edge 30 Neo
6.28
Apple iPhone 13 mini
5.4
Apple iPhone 15
6.1
Apple iPhone SE 3
4.7
Sony Xperia 5 V
6.1
Motorola Moto Razr 40 Ultra
6.9
Oppo Find N2 Flip
6.8
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
6.7
Average
6.13
The iPhone 13 mini has also been discontinued, and the reviewer discourages the iPhone SE 3, describing it the “smartphone equivalent of herpes”. So that removes 2 of the smallest of the “small” phones which makes the situation even worse.
Stop comparing it by screen size. Bezels are waaay smaller now than they used to be.
I see a lot of people saying “small?! How could this be small, the screen is X inches! My phone from 2014 was only Y inches!” while completely ignoring that slim bezels mean the phone is about the same size.
Comparing the S24 to the S5 from a decade ago, the S24 has a frontal area of 10,437mm², and the S5 is 10,366mm². The newer one is marginally smaller.
You wouldn’t think that comparing screen sizes, though. You’d look at the screen size and say “Omg it’s over an inch larger, this phone must be MASSIVE!”
Granted, if you go back to like the iPhone 4 era and earlier, phones genuinely were smaller. But phone sizes haven’t really changed much at all in the past decade, yet people act like they get larger every generation.
The small phone debate is not just about the overall physical size, it’s also about how reachable UI elements are when using a phone with one hand.
For one handed operation, screen size does matter regardless of bezel size. The larger the screen becomes, the harder it is for the thumb to reach the top of the screen because the top gets ever further away from the thumb.
I never thought flip phones to count as mini phones. Does people who want small phones actually buy them? I always thought people who want small phones do so because they prefer small screens that can be easily operated with one hand while still maintaining practicality. A flip phone’s external screen is too small to be practical as primary screen, and the main screen is even larger than most phones screen.
I think it’s more correct to say that non-flagship phones are cheaper. all modern spec small/compact phones in my recent memory have had a comparable price to their non-small counterparts ( e.g. Xperia compacts, Zenfone, whatever that small iPhone was called). the price of a device isn’t linearly proportional to its mass.
I haven’t owned a small phone in like 10 years, my last one was a Xperia Z3 Compact but I remember it being considerably cheaper than the flagship model, especially considering the hardware was inferior.
yeah, I liked the z3c so much, I must’ve gone through like 4 copies of them, until a newly purchased one had the screen let go within a month of me opening up the box. I’ve been chasing for a modern version of that phone ever since, and the razr+ is the closest I’ve come
flip phone owner here! I love my razr+/40 ultra. the small screen is entirely reachable by my thumb, and is plenty big enough to read emails, messages, etc. i even use it to play passtime games, like into the breach, or attach it to an 8bitdo zero with a 3d printed case to use as a Gameboy.
This phone seems to have the biggest external display compared to other flip phones. So it’s completely usable with just the external display? No issue with apps when used from the external display (other than being small)? Can you type and reply to messages and place calls from the external display?
yeah, you can use any app, and they work fine… with, as you might expect some warts due to apps not being designed for that screen size. a common issue is with apps that have ridiculous fixed headers and footers, leaving you a teeny tiny sliver of space for content. there’s an option to make the viewport slightly bigger, since the screen extends down and around the outer cameras, and that helps sometimes, but then obviously the cameras might prevent you from hitting some buttons on that footer. this is not a very common situation though, and maybe almost desirable? I can use the outer screen to do quick phone interactions and put it back in my pocket without being too sucked in. if I want to doom scroll/get otherwise immersed, I’ll open the fold. i like that this needs to be an intentional action.
you can respond to messages and type on the outer screen, yes, using any keyboard as long as it’s Gboard.
There’s two main reasons to want a smaller phone. A smaller overall physical size so it fits better in a pocket, or a smaller screen so it’s more reachable when used with one hand.
I suppose the new flip foldable phones might satisfy the first but not the second.
Some people, like myself, prefer small phones because they are easily pocketable. I don’t have any problems operating a larger screen but I don’t like carrying around a larger device all the time, especially since I’ve cut back on usage significantly and it spends a lot more time in my pocket. Flip phones are the modern solution to this problem.
Having trouble finding links to back it up, but I think the Pixel Fold 2 is unfortunately rumored to be quite a bit taller/larger than yours :( I too thought that the smaller outer screen of the first gen was a nice selling point
I know exactly what you are talking about. I’m just hoping they come to their senses and go back to the better form factor of the original one for the 3rd (that will presumably have the completely custom Tensor G5)
Putting the Pixel 7a or 8 side-by-side with a P5 or a P4a really goes to show how big “small” phones have become. I really loved the size of those devices…
The market simply isn’t there to be a viable option to manufacture both size screens. Unfortunately, you’re the minority and your needs aren’t important enough to change their manufacturing process.
It would require a lot to mass manufacture both sizes at the pace these factories pump these things out. It would effect their bottom line and there’s not enough ppl that want small phones to make it worth doing.
I hate that for you and others. But it’s just how it goes.
It costs less than any of Apple or Google’s offerings and they do not make money through software and services unlike Apple or Google. I think it’s unreasonable to expect 7 years or more of OS updates on a phone that costs $300-400. They should do better on their flagship though, it costs double but still has the same support.
It’s still hardware in the trash in 4 years, regardless of cost to the end user. I intend to keep my Pixel 6 until it dies or runs out of security updates in 3 years, whichever comes first.
I don’t know if the hardware will be good enough in 4 years anyways. They’ve cut corners to get to that price point, the chip is similar to the 778G from 3 years back and it’s using UFS 2.2. Honestly the phone feels like it was made for India and the marketing indicates that. They don’t have many options with a clean OS and 3 years of OS updates at that price point there.
It might not be powerful enough to run the software longer and the hardware may show it’s age. Secondly the cost of the phone cannot be ignored either, more software updates means more money spent on software development. Android updates have to be certified by Google. This process costs money. It isn’t feasible to expect a company to provide more than 4-5 years of updates at that price point unless they start charging for updates or make money through services or ads.
I guess that’s fair, it’s wishful thinking on my part that mobile computing could be like laptops or desktops. I still personally wouldn’t get a device without a long update guarantee, you get better bang for your buck even with a pricier device since you’re keeping it longer and it’s better for the environment.
True, although you’d have to pay quite a bit extra to get 7 years of updates as this phone is half the MSRP of a Pixel 8. The 7a is a year old now so it’ll likely only get two more years of OS updates and four years of security patches. Tbf it is good Nothing are providing 3 updates since the phone is $300 in India and €349 in Europe. The Poco X6 Pro matches the update commitment but MIUI had a reputation for being buggy outside China. HyperOS (MIUI’s successor) also has ads in system apps and a lot of pre-loaded bloatware. It does have a faster chip and storage compared to the Phone 2a though so there are pros and cons to both devices.
I’m still using an iPhone 7. I might get an upgrade at some point because multiple things are broken and I don’t really have space on the storage anymore, but I totally agree that you can live many years with the same phone without any problems.
I have pixel 3…works just fine. Except there are no more updates past Android 12 for this phone.
Apps that I need, like okta verify now require Android 14. So I’m forced to upgrade.
Just like others who had older iPads, then they call me asking why Chase app doesn’t work and says they need an upgrade…but old iPads won’t upgrade to the version needed.
Planned obsolescence… I hate tech nowadays. I want 90s back with dial up Internet and home built beige boxes
My last phone upgrade was about four years ago (Nokia 6 to Samsung A31) and that was only to try and get YouTube Music’s shitty app to work properly (spoiler : it didnt). Broke the screen on it dropping it while trying to put a mask on, got that fixed (that was over two years ago). Its still going, and will keep it until it dies
I dont upgrade my phone because I’m interested in upgrading, I upgrade when I have to
We’ll get an AI to caption and then summarise the transcript of the video that’s 8 mins long because the user (understandably) wanted to monetize the video.
An AI that can turn YouTube videos into written articles? Take My Money! I have been wanting this for a long time, I far far prefer stuff in writing to videos, I dont take information from audio/video anything like as well
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