Interesting, I guess we will have to see how quickly and widely this is enforced. I haven’t used the official YouTube app for a very long time and have relied heavily on third party alternatives (Vanced/ReVanced, NewPipe, LibreTube, Grayjay). There is absolutely no way I am paying $17 a month for YouTube so I think a family plan would probably be the best option, though at this point I think I’d be more likely to just abandon the platform altogether.
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.
My only Motorola phone is a razr 40 which I’ve had for 4 months now, so not a ton of experience but I’ll share it anyway. The quality of the sofrware has been pretty good. It’s close to what reviewers used to call “stock” Android, in that it hasn’t received any significant UI modifications and doesn’t come with many proprietary apps. There are very few bugs or performance issues. You also don’t need a Motorola account to access any important software features.
However the software support is absolutely awful considering the RRP of the phone, its age and the promises made by Motorola. It was supposed to receive at least bi-monthly security updates but by January had already fallen behind that. The most recent update had been the November security patch, so I expected an update in January. Instead I received a February security update towards the end of March - nearly a 5 month update gap on a mid-range phone still less than a year old. Personally I think that is an absolute joke and I’m now considering selling it and either going back to an older phone with LineageOS or buying a Samsung flip since I know that will actually receive updates.
My personal philosophy is to not buy tech products designed and/or owned by Chinese companies. It is very difficult to avoid buying products manufactured in China, but very easy to avoid buying from Chinese companies. All you need to do is pay a bit extra. The problem I have with supporting Chinese tech companies is that they are all essentially owned by the CCP and any technological advances they make can and do directly contribute to the ongoing suppression of the freedom and human rights of minorities in the country. Personally I think it is worth spending a bit more on a non-Chinese product to avoid directly contributing to that problem.
It’s not an all or nothing situation. Like choosing to buy cheap clothing doesn’t mean you can’t practice ethical consumerism elsewhere. There is no contradiction there. Life is all about determining what values are important to you and attempting to uphold them to the best of your ability.
I think these pricier manufacturers are also waking up to the fact that “upgrading” to a newer model every 1 - 3 years is no longer financially viable for a lot of their customers. They’ve started incorporating new revenue streams (subscriptions for additional features and services) while extending software support to ensure people remain loyal to the product or brand. This is also part of the reason why there are fewer aesthetic design differences from generation-to-generation at the moment, since the reason many of those changes are made is to manipulate people into feeling like their phone is “old” and “outdated” to the extent that they buy the newest model instead.
It’s so sad how derivative phone designs are becoming. This looks even more like an iPhone than the redesigned Galaxy S series. The only market with any originality is the folding/flip one and that’s only because Apple have entered it yet.
It’s not over, though. Many mid-range and low-end phones are still being released with headphone jacks. Clearly there is a) still a market to sell this feature to and b) still a way of incorporating a headphone jack into the design of a modern smartphone. We can theorise and speculate over whether this market had crossover with the one that bought high-end phones (before the manufacturers forcibly split them into separate groups by only offering the headphone jack on their cheaper models) or whether a mid-range or low-end phone has the same design limitations as a high-end phone, but I think it’s perfectly valid to continue to question why the headphone jack disappeared on more expensive phones. I don’t think consumers have received an honest or acceptable explanation yet from manufacturers, and for as long as that is the case there will be people who feel like they’ve been fucked over by yet another “courageous” example of planned/forced obsolescence.
That’s half of the question. The other half is whether wired earphones would have died out as quickly as they have appeared to if phone manufacturers had not removed the headphone jack whilst simultaneously pushing their own brand of TWS earphones, often in a bundle with the new phone. Prior to TWS you didn’t see that many Bluetooth earphones. A lot of people still got around with the famous wired iPhone ones, for example.
What makes them a “troll”? Their comment was exactly the same as yours - subjective opinion based on their claimed experiences living there. Neither of you provided any factual evidence. You sound like someone who wants to live in a bubble where anyone who disagrees with their world view is a “troll” and instantly blocked. Ironically, quite a similar outlook to the Chinese government you so despise.
No…? Do you not understand the meaning of “open source” and “independently audited by third parties”? Or maybe you just didn’t actually click through to the link I shared (what a surprise).
Okay but I’d rather hear this from someone who is actually using a 5+ year old phone, not a guy who has a 1 year old work phone that he “plans” to keep for an undefined amount of time. Everyone says this and then they break it and decide the cost of a repair isn’t worth it, or just cave to the first trade in deal they receive in their inbox. There is a lot of virtue signalling about e-waste and the environment from these tech reviewers and influencers on YouTube but very few of them actually follow their own guidelines.
Which phones are you buying that have batteries that cost hundreds of dollars? Every battery replacement I’ve ever done cost waaaaaay less than the cost of a replacement phone.
What’s more, I look out at what they’re advertising on phones now and I’m like “don’t need that. Actively don’t want that. Want to not have that. Okay the anti-glare coating would be nice. Don’t need AI. Don’t need titanium. I don’t game on my phone…”
Yeah I know what you mean. Somewhere in that 2017/18/19 period phones suddenly began losing a lot of what I would consider important features like the option for a truly small size, headphone jacks, SD card slots and 16:9, uninterrupted displays and I don’t feel like any of the improvements since have justified that. I think the only thing that may force me to switch permanently to a newer device is if the 3G shutdown in Australia renders my older phones unusable. At the moment I’m using an XZ1 Compact and it’s still enjoyable to use because it nails so many of those features that I just can’t get in a newer device. I bought a secondhand razr 2023 at the start of the year but found I just preferred using older phones.
I feel like relying on custom ROM support is such a gamble with current Xperia devices. They’re so niche and so expensive that there just isn’t the level of community interest required to guarantee that you’ll get support later in its life.
Yes, and they discounted the entire thing a day later after further leaks suggested the 5 VI actually was in development. Smartphone “news” is really bad, so much of it is based on unsubstantiated rumours and leaks that turn out to be wrong.
The baseline S series is not a flagship product. Samsung deliberately cuts features from it to sell their actual flagship, the Ultra series. A definition of flagship:
the best or most important product, idea, building, etc. that an organization owns or produces
Flagship does not mean “it has an 8 series Snapdragon or equivalent inside”. This has never been the definition of flagship. Please stop using the word like this.
Small phone users should also temper their expectation
Every time there is a small phone thread here or on reddit most of the comments are from people complaining that there is no small phone with the equivalent features of their near 7-inch flagship. People do not seem to weigh size in the same way as other features and are not willing to make compromises for it. Small phone fans need to think seriously about how important and practical all their supposedly “essential” high end features actually are versus physical size. There have been plenty of chances to buy and own smaller phones in the past and these people didn’t buy them because they weren’t perfect. This is the result.
Definitely agree with OP. 4K is completely unnecessary on a display this size but moving to one of these weird in-between aspect ratios is a clear downgrade. 16:9 or 21:9 is where it’s at as most video content is displayed in either of those, 21:9 has the added benefit of making larger phones easier to hold and use one-handed.
If they were going to adopt some industry standards, why couldn’t it be longer software support? That’s the one area where their phones are consistently below-par now.
But that potentially implies that the regular Zenfone will no longer be a flagship, in the same way the regular Galaxy or Pixel phones are not the flagships for their respective manufacturers.
Neither of those phones are actually flagships. Like I get that some people just use that word to mean any phone with an 8 series Snapdragon but that’s not actually what it means. The Galaxy Ultra and the Xperia 1 are the flagship phones for those manufacturers.
Sony phones have absolutely dreadful software support for their price. Even the flagships only get security updates for 3 years and they are among the most expensive phones you can buy.
My partner has an Onyx Boox Palma, which is similar in some ways. It’s fast and would be usable as a basic smartphone if it could take a SIM card. Despite the display being one of the best it is ultimately still e-ink and has many downsides if you are trying to use it like you would a normal smartphone. The ideal target market for this kind of device is really people that have already cut down their screen time and can comfortably live without most things, but still want the option to install any application if necessary.
If you want a more conventional smartphone experience, the TCL NXTPAPER devices may be a better alternative, though they obviously have their own downsides as they do not have true e-ink displays.
I’m someone with relatively small hands, plus I want my phone to be on the smaller side since I prefer to use my tablet/computer/tv to watch content. But this trend where many manufacturers tend to keep futures away from smaller phones to drive people to bigger phones is driving me crazy and really makes it hard for me to buy...
Yeah they were probably the last great small Android phones. The “small” phones of today like the Zenfone and base Galaxy S series are noticeably larger.
EDIT: Just want to add that both the XZ1 Compact and the XZ2 Compact are still being maintained. The XZ1 Compact supports both iodéOS and LineageOS for microG, while the XZ2 Compact is an official LineageOS device. Obviously not a perfect solution for everyone but they are still viable if size is a key issue for you.
The future of small phones is the flip format. I know that’s likely not what any of you want to hear, but it’s the truth. Small slates are critically endangered at this point.
I have a moto razr 40 at the moment, the crease is pretty good. Depending on the angle it will show with a dark background and when the screen is off. On a lighter/white background the crease is not visible. It’s also less noticeable to the touch than any other flip smartphone. I can’t comment too much on durability since most common issues are going to show up after years, not months, but I think overall the industry is making progress with regards to hinge and display design. The current generation all fold flat now and have a different hinge structure. As I understand it flip smartphones are selling well so hopefully that means they keep working on the technology and improving it.
Reviews won’t give a definitive answer on the durability of the hinge. The average reviewer doesn’t spend anywhere near long enough with a smartphone to have any worthwhile opinion on its durability, and even the people who do these hinge tests on YouTube have no real idea. You cannot accurately predict these things after just a few days of rudimentary testing.
You aren’t paying extra solely for the modular design. I don’t know why tech enthusiasts always hand wave the social and environmental benefits of Fairphone away when they are the key focus of the company.
This post strikes me as a little hyperbolic but I definitely agree that they’ve gone downhill in a lot of ways. I have a 3a and that genuinely feels better made than the more expensive 7a I tested recently. They had a good thing going with the size and feel of their older devices and they totally fucked it.
Yes, pretty much. A web browser is almost always more secure and, at least in the case of my credit union, just as fast with a very usable interface. Whenever I see these people who say “oh I really wanted to use X ROM but it doesn’t work with my banking app” I have to question their commitment to the project and/or level of ignorance. It’s such a minor/non-existent issue to make or break a custom ROM.
YouTube is finally cracking down on third-party apps like ReVanced (www.androidpolice.com)
I’m sure they are working on a youtube messaging app behind the scenes.
Best Mini Phones in 2024 | Top 12 Small-ish Mobiles Reviewed! - list in post (www.youtube.com)
0:00 - Rambly bit...
Motorola releases new 5G mid-range smartphone with 125 W charging and 144 Hz OLED display (www.notebookcheck.net)
Nothing Phone 2a Review: Something Else - MrMobile (www.youtube.com)
OnePlus Nord CE4 unveiled with SD 7 Gen 3 chipset, 5,500mAh battery (www.gsmarena.com)
Red Magic 9 Pro+ Bumblebee Transformers Edition launched with themed accessories & software (www.gizmochina.com)
Huawei P70 Pro: Leaks indicate peculiar design, powerful cameras and imminent launch (www.notebookcheck.net)
Google on why 7 years of Pixel updates and what features it brings to older devices (9to5google.com)
Free VPN apps on Google Play turned Android phones into proxies (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
Why I refuse to upgrade - 8 minutes video explaining why it's not that interesting to upgrade phones nowadays (www.youtube.com)
Sony Xperia 1 VI, Xperia 5 VI and Xperia 10 VI all rumoured to gain improved software support over predecessors (www.notebookcheck.net)
Sony is reportedly discontinuing its Xperia 5 series (www.gizmochina.com)
Small Phones are Dead and We Killed Them (www.youtube.com)
Sony Xperia 1 VI might give up on the 4K display and tall aspect ratio - GSMArena (www.gsmarena.com)
cross-posted from: lemdro.id/post/7048989...
ZenFone 11 ultra megathread
Livestream...
Samsung Galaxy S24 review - The best small Android smartphone gets cheaper but not better (www.notebookcheck.net)
Xiaomi Poco X6 Pro review - One of the best smartphones for less than 400 Euros (www.notebookcheck.net)
Minimal Phone: Low-priced smartphone with E Ink display and complete keyboard (www.notebookcheck.net)
Galaxy S24 sales surpass 1 million mark in South Korea, beating Galaxy S8 (www.sammobile.com)
Nubia Music smartphone promises 600% higher volume and two headphone jacks (www.notebookcheck.net)
I'm tired with all this Big-Phone-Elitism
I’m someone with relatively small hands, plus I want my phone to be on the smaller side since I prefer to use my tablet/computer/tv to watch content. But this trend where many manufacturers tend to keep futures away from smaller phones to drive people to bigger phones is driving me crazy and really makes it hard for me to buy...
ZTE Libero Flip launches as a particularly affordable foldable with a round secondary display and Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 (www.notebookcheck.net)
This Review is Going to Make Me Very Unpopular [Fairphone 5] (www.youtube.com)
Google's inconsistent Pixel experience makes its phones impossible to recommend (www.androidpolice.com)
We typically like Pixel phones a lot, but we have some reservations about Google’s quality control
LineageOS is currently installed on 1.5 million Android devices (9to5google.com)