I only upgraded for the nicer camera. I have so many pictures that are blurry that I think springing for a little nicer camera is worth it. But yeah, the tech is pretty stagnant.
For me, it’s just the fact that phones… are phones. They all look the same, function the same, there’s just nothing new happening with them.
Sure, chips get better and faster, they’ll add another camera to it and fiddle with the dimensions a bit, but that’s not innovation. All phones look like boring rectangular slabs.
Back in the late 90’s, phones had way more variety and personality. Candybar, flip, even the sidetalkin’ taco that was the Nokia N-Gage. A Motorola Razr looked nothing like say, a Nokia or Sony Ericsson. And those were distinctly different from your Samsung or Mitsubishi phones (Yes, Mitsubishi made phones!).
I’d love it if we went back to more phone variety, but I fear the smartphone has effectively killed every other style. Most people wouldn’t ditch their big screen smartphone to go back to a small flip phone.
It really was the thing everyone latched on to with the N-Gage. I actually still own a first gen model that I bought on release. It was actually pretty decent, both as a phone and the games it played. Of course, it never really took off, but I enjoyed using it.
As for the sidetalking… I bought a headset for it to avoid that :D
I’ve never had a Droid, but loved every other Motorola that I’ve owned. Including the original StarTac and Razr. They made some really nice phones over the years.
It seems like each new version of Android locks down the file system in some new way that breaks a core part of something I do, so I actively don’t want to upgrade.
I can’t root my phone because I need my banking apps readily avaliable right now.
This is why I’ve ended up keeping my Pixel 4 on Android 10. I’ve made backups and flashed the latest versions, only to come back because every time they’ve broken something I need the phone to do.
It makes me glad that this is a secondary phone because I can happily keep it on this ancient version of Android and not give a shit about the security.
I’m still bitter about USB mass storage being removed for only MTP. MTP sucks, any time I use it for more than a few small files it always ends up dying partway through.
I upgrade less than I used to, and I only do mid-range devices now, like the Pixel A series or Motorola G series. That kind of bracket. I’m just going to install Lineage OS on it anyway and it works fine so why pay more when I don’t need that.
I actually think the opposite is true as well. Phones these days mostly exist between 6.2 and 6.8". We don’t actually have any huge phones as like the Galaxy Mega 6.3 (which with modern 19:9 aspect ratio screens and smaller bezels would be more like 7.5") don’t exist either
I used to like small phones. I thought the form factor of my erstwhile iPhone 5 was perfect.
But then I got older, and my eyesight got worse. Reading small fonts on small screens is becoming increasingly difficult, but I’m not yet at the point where I have to wear glasses or contacts all the time. I also don’t like just increasing font sizes, as I lose screen realestate. So I’m kinda starting to see why some people like phones with bigger screens.
It started as a hardware problem and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. LTE needed more and larger antennae for lower frequencies than older tech. Four cellular antennae are now pretty standard. Then you have wifi, Bluetooth (which can share if they can TDM), wireless charging, NFC, ultra wideband, GNSS. Then the chips are so powerful they need heat dissipation systems installed (or just lame thermal throttling like what Apple does.)
The modems require more power, (especially at the beginning of LTE) which means bigger batteries. LTE and NR have reduced range compared to the older narrowband technologies, so the phone needs to use more power to transmit, especially when carriers like Verizon didn’t backfill cell sites to compensate for the reduced coverage.
Then, cameras, one wasn’t enough, 4 or 5 are very common now (usually 3 primary and depth or low res sensors for aiming.)
When tablets became popular, many people decided to just have a large phone screen rather than a tablet, further entrenching the size.
The tech is more mature now, a 2-antenna MIMO antenna for cellular would suffice, albeit at the expense of network performance. Likewise one camera with a depth sensor would work, although mobile photography would be more limited. Dropping some limited-use items like wireless charging and ultra wideband could further shrink space.
So it would be possible now, but as others here have mentioned, the supply side focuses on larger hardware.
Ironically, at this point I’d almost prefer a smart watch with LTE and stop carrying a phone altogether. However, the aforementioned antenna issue makes it so watches generally have poor to unusable signal, poor battery life in cellular mode, no camera, and the 5G NR low power spec/chips aren’t fully done yet, so it’s LTE only on them, which, with carriers transitioning to 5G will make it so watches can only access a handful of congested bands.
Also, that device manufacturers tend to design smart watches to be companion devices to a smartphone rather than primary makes that concept’s execution problematic.
Another idea I had that was anti small phone but huge battery boost was to just bring a backpack or a satchel or whatever. Carry a full sized tablet around, and use a Bluetooth headset for calls. However, tablets are also often crippled by carriers/manufacturers so they can’t do common things like SMS or voice calls, and Apple has basically monopolized that market.
I just went phone shopping not too long ago and had the opposite experience. Bigger phones are way harder to find now. Where the hell are the 6 or 7 inchers? 😩
I agree with you except the headphone jack part. My Bluetooth headset is great, but losing the convenience of using a non-battery device and not worrying about the battery life really is a great loss. I’m so glad my steam deck and switch have a headphone jack.
Much as I like Bluetooth, it’s another thing to charge, has lower sound quality than wired unless you can afford LDAC, and other technical and real life reasons it seems your low quality privileged ass can’t comprehend.
Read a book, truly embarrassing to read how you think.
I mean, the loss of the headphone jack was a downgrade for no reason beyond profits. Big screens were a tradeoff made on purpose because customers demanded it.
What are you on about? Just because someone is in a minority doesn’t mean their preferences or desires are invalid. Infeasible maybe, but not invalid. There are all sorts of products made for people in a minority of some kind. I can’t imagine left handed versions of common right handed objects are an extremely lucrative market, but there are products that exist for those minorities.
Plus it’s not like minorities or majorities are ever static, things evolve and change over time. If no one ever voiced an opinion, how would anything ever change?
You can keep crying about people stating a preference, and I’ll be sure to keep reminding you they are as free say what they want as you are.
What are you on about? Just because someone is in a minority doesn’t mean their preferences or desires are invalid. Infeasible maybe, but not invalid. There are all sorts of products made for people in a minority of some kind. I can’t imagine left handed versions of common right handed objects are an extremely lucrative market, but there are products that exist for those minorities.
Plus it’s not like minorities or majorities are ever static, things evolve and change over time. If no one ever voiced an opinion, how would anything ever change?
You can keep crying about people stating a preference, and I’ll be sure to keep reminding you they are as free say what they want as you are.
What are you on about? Just because someone is in a minority doesn’t mean their preferences or desires are invalid. Infeasible maybe, but not invalid. There are all sorts of products made for people in a minority of some kind. I can’t imagine left handed versions of common right handed objects are an extremely lucrative market, but there are products that exist for those minorities.
Plus it’s not like minorities or majorities are ever static, things evolve and change over time. If no one ever voiced an opinion, how would anything ever change?
You can keep crying about people stating a preference, and I’ll be sure to keep reminding you they are as free say what they want as you are.
I don’t get why you’d want a smaller phone unless you’re looking to get one in a flip-phone style form factor. I’d be down for that. I miss being able to accurately text from my pocket.
Never really felt my phone was too big, though there are times where I’ve got a show to go to and wish I had a cheap flip phone to fall back on. The older phones seemed fine at the time until I realized how much better the bigger screens were. I’m not sure I’d want one bigger than the S23 Ultra, unless it folded out to a tablet.
Being able to hold the phone comfortably and securely in your hand is really important for me. I’d love to be able to reach the vast majority of the screen without having to shuffle the phone in my hand or use two hands. I very rarely watch any videos on my phone, or play any games that require a large screen.
One-handed mode exists if you need to reach the whole area of the interface with one hand, albeit it won’t help if grip is an issue. Maybe a pop socket kinda thing for that?
Ok? The issue wasn’t clearly defined. There’s always pop sockets and similar to make it easier to hold. That said, my teenaged kids have 0 be issue holding this phone so idk what OP is on about
Nah, I have average hand size and can use that size phone with one hand easily. Though I do prefer smaller phones in general and would rather see more choice in that space.
I find for me it is half about the usability of thw phone one handed and the other half being pocketability. I don’t want to have to carry a man-purse just to be able to have my phone with me at all times. Front pocket of jeans is where i keep my phone and the pockets are not deep enough to contain the phone without pressing into my hips when i sit. Keeping the phone in the back pocket is just inviting theft.
I just want another Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact with updated specifications.
@BearOfaTime@warm at 6", even smaller hands like mine are able to reach within .5cm of the top of the screen. At that size, the weight distribution of the phone is what makes a difference in terms of manageability. For example, the weight distribution of the Pixel 6a (6.1") makes it a breeze to use with my right hand, but a tad more difficult with my left one. Using it in reverse (had to once) is impossible one-handed.
Yeah, that size is certainly the limit for usability tbh. Its diminishing returns past that, I dont need a wider or longer phone, everything can be displayed perfectly on a 6 inch.
Because there is no demand, display manufacturers don’t produce small phone displays anymore. And because there’s no small display in stock, phone manufacturers have given up on producing small smartphones. Technically, you can contract the display manufacturers to restart production of small phone displays, but no one seems to be interested in taking the upfront risk.
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