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I think he means normal sized phones, instead of the ‘phablets’ we are surrounded by now. I still think the ~6.1 inch screen is the perfect size.
6 in phones are in no danger of disappearing though.
6.1” is too big. I miss the 4.7-5.1” range that they had on the iPhone Mini for example.
For me, it’s about width, not screen size.
My current phone is 6.1", but it’s only 68mm wide, so it’s easy to hold one-handed and slips in & out of my pocket easily. (It’s a Sony Xperia 10 V).
I love everything about this phone except that there’s no NA version, so my phone is missing a couple of the cell bands from my service provider. In particular, the wide band, so I don’t get great reception in the middle of large buildings.
Other than that, it’s great. Lots of RAM so app swapping is quick, and the battery life is so good I have it set to only ever charge to 80% and I’ve only dipped down to 20% on very high usage days. My usual usage is 80-50% daily.
HTC One dimensions: 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm
S23 dimensions: 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6 mm
You don’t account for the MUCH smaller bezels and the different aspect ratio. The phone size is very similar
👶
Thats a small phone and I agree they are good too. But 6 is a good size imo, plenty of real estate and cant still be used with one hand.
If you have big hands.
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.
Lol, I call BS.
You clearly don’t have “average size hands” unless you’re excluding women from that calculus.
Even then, an average man probably can’t use a 6" screen one handed. Why else do they ship with “one handed mode” on devices?
Yeah average male hand sorry. Female hands is another reason we need small phones, that and the illegally small pocket sizes they have to put up with!
I can use it one handed, its not the most comfortable thing for every task, but doable. I would not want a phone any larger though.
Pockets at least you can expand, I do it on all my clothing.
I can only reach about 5" with the thumb, while holding the phone. But not the opposite edge. Average male hand.
Yeah if you keep the same grip, if I change grip I can reach everywhere, though smaller would definitely be easier and more comfortable.
I can’t use a 6" screen one handed, I doubt most women (who are half the population) can either.
@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.
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.
MKBHD’s video titles are so click baity now
It’s annoying but I get it. If you want to make it or stay big on YT you gotta play the game, and the majority of people eat up click-baity titles and obnoxious thumbnails.
I don’t disagree but it’s still a shame to see a well established channel needing to go to such lows.
ALL HAIL THE ALGORITHM
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S line:
Seriously, the Zenfone 10 and S24 have the same size in practice. I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.
did you watch the video, basically the next Zenfone is a ROG phone lite.
and i say this as a ZF9 user.
Yes, but we still have the S line. So I don’t know about this whole “small flagship is dead” thing.
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
The baseline S series is not the best. It is also not the most important, because it sells considerably less than the Ultra.
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.
it’s more or less the idea that companies are starting to ditch the idea. Apple introduced the mini with 12, and 13, and ditched it for the plus models after 2 generations. Asus had it for the 9 and 10, and 11 (so far) is only launching with an Ultra, ditching it after 2 generations. Samsung just has the unique position that its catalog is large enough that itll have some reasonable in terms of SOC, but not technically flagship as it lacks the camera functionality of the top model.
I guess I’m having a little trouble about the “flagship” definition then. I always assumed that the S line was the best Samsung has to offer, the Pro line was the best from Apple, and so it goes. So the S24 and the 15 Pro are flagships, and those have the same size of the Zenfone 10.
But if “flagship” is only the most expensive phone from a company, I’d argue that the ROG phones are flagships from ASUS, not the Zenfone ones. IDK.
The S24 Ultra is the flagship, as it has the 200 MP camera that the normal S24 does not have: https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=12773&idPhone2=12771
“We”
I used an iPod touch 4G thru 7G as my ‘phone’. WiFi was available enough where I live that it was all I needed. And if I was off in the woods somewhere, I was ok not having service, and the intarwebs instantly answering my every curiosity. I tried to keep it small.
Praying the Xperia 5 VI is a bit more compact that the previous iteration. That and Sony actually start supporting their services for at least 5 years -_-
It probably is if the rumour about them switching to a 19.5:9 resolution is true. It’ll still be larger than the S24 and Pixel 8 because of the top and bottom bezel but height should decrease by a couple of mm.
Yeah, the lack of software support made me disregard the Xperia completely (well and its price), which is sad because it is otherwise a great phone with actual useful features that other manufacturers have removed.
Me too. I don’t mind the 21:9 cause to me, at least it has some use (cinema scope) but buying an 800$ phone to get 2 software updates? Nope
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.
A small phone is useless unless your only goal with it is receiving calls. Even making calls on a small phone is difficult, never mind using the Internet. And losing a larger one still happens, a small one would just disappear like a sock in the dryer.
A small phone is fine to take photo/video, send messages, make calls, view video content, and play games. Any other use case is more appropriate for another device.
With one exception, I’ve only had phone that would be classed as small by today’s standards for the past ten years, the largest being a Pixel 4a and the smallest being a Sony X Compact. I preferred the size of the Sony.
I rarely make voice calls. I use my phone for messaging, light web browsing, notes, reading, watching videos, podcasts, navigation, occasional gaming, and photography when I’ve made the mistake of leaving the house without my real camera. I prefer smaller phones because they’re easier to use one-handed.
That one exception is a Pixel 3a XL with a broken cellular modem I bought at a low price to test ROMs and mount on the handlebars of my bike where the vibration is likely to damage the camera. I do occasionally use it for media (video and books) where the larger screen is an advantage, but I would dislike carrying it in my pocket or using it for most tasks where I would have to use both hands.
Why would any of these things be worse with a 4.5" screen? My eyesight is fine.
Navigation.
Cars have 12" tablets for dashboards now 💀
That’s a different mess, and there’s some serious pushback on that to bring back actual buttons and dials. 🤣
but seriously, I just navigate by sound only
Sure, there are times when having a bigger phone makes sense, but it hurts a whole lot less when I’m in bed watching something and i drop it on my face.
Have you tried not doing that?
To answer your question, no.
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.
Bigger screens make it easier to use as my main computer, thank you.
I couldn’t resist. I’m sorry
BIG
Dom Joly moment
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.
I don’t get why you’d want a smaller phone
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.
My wifes iPhone 12 Mini is a perfect size.
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?
Because I don’t want this giant thing in my pocket that’s also hard to hold, let alone use one handed.
Using one handed isn’t really an issue if you toggle the one-handed mode…
Galaxy S3 was comfortable to chat and surf. One or two words less per line but it fit in your pocket and your hand didn’t get tired from the weight.
I went S2 -> S5 -> S8+ -> Note 10+ -> S23 Ultra
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.
Have you heard of women? Or maybe teenagers with not-so-large hands?
Most larger phones have a single-hand mode that gives you kind of a picture-in-picture of the screen itself.
Are you stupid…? You still have to hold the phone in one hand. One-handed mode doesn’t change the physical width of the phone.
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
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? 😩
That’s what she said… sighs
The death of small phones is why I’m so committed to my flip 4. The space it takes up in my pocket or bag is so much less than any “regular” phone.
Pocket space is only half the problem. The other half is one-handed use and the flip is huge when opened.
Why do people need to use their phone with one hand?
To me that’s the exact and only purpose of a phone: for it to be a handheld portable computer. For that purpose I should be able to use it with one hand
To me that doesn’t really compute. I like to see a lot of information on my screen and my eyes aren’t as young as they were. My hands aren’t small and neither are my pockets, but I use two hands most of the time.
I guess we’re all different and if your phone is too big and it’s getting more difficult to find the small phone you want, then I can certainly understand why it’s a problem for some.
I don’t really like looking at curved screens but I do really like using gestures for navigating. Flat screens aren’t as easy to do that with especially as I like to use a case. Horses for courses, eh?
To me that doesn’t really compute. I like to see a lot of information on my screen and my eyes aren’t as young as they were.
I do too, but glasses help a lot. In my use case 5" is plenty, though not with default settings: global UI size was tweaked so everything is smaller, and more fits on screen.
I don’t really like looking at curved screens
Neither do I, and I’m doing everything I can to avoid those phones. No feature can balance that huge con.
Flat screens aren’t as easy to do that with especially as I like to use a case.
Hmm, interesting. I’m using gestures too, some more than others, and with a flat screen it’s fine for me.
Yes, with reading glasses and everything bigger!
No feature can balance that huge con.
My requirements out way that con by a large degree. It’s not ideal but there’s no perfect phone.
I’m using gestures too
With a case? I have to use a work phone with a flat screen and a case. I set the gestures the same as my own phone for muscle memory and it’s often annoyingly bad.
These things are all subjective, we just have different needs. As I’ve said elsewhere, I asked the question because I did not know what reasons people had for wanting a small phone. I’ve had plenty of good answers now, including yours, and I’m glad I now have a better understanding of the needs for small phones.
True that I don’t use a case. It has fallen apart years ago and didn’t bother to get a new one. I was using gestures while I had the case, too, but I don’t remember how was it it usability.
Because it’s something you use a lot for small things throughout the day. When you need to quickly answer a message or look at a map you shouldn’t need to stop and place down everything you’re holding.
I don’t know, those things aren’t a problem for me. I can use maps and type one handed if I need to and I use my phone as much as the next guy. I just don’t find I really need to very often, very rarely in fact.
I know my way of doing things isn’t always standard, are there other reasons people have?
I just don’t find I really need to very often, very rarely in fact.
Yes, use my phone one handed. Was that not clear?
This is probably very subjective. I’d say I use my phone one-handed about 7/10 times and I’d do it more if I could. Actually I do most things one-handed when possible but I have small hands so phones are becoming an issue. There isn’t a specific reason, it’s just more convenient.
Yeah it is subjective but when I see complaints about big phones, or rather the lack of small ones, using it one handed seems to be a regular thing.
I’ve been thinking about this and I used both hands with all my phones back to the old Nokia feature phone days, and the first smart phone I had was less than 3.5 inches.
Despite my fairly large hands that have no problem shifting the phone around in one, I just don’t. And it’s because of accuracy, or lack of it. I can miss my intended target quite easily, even with two hands. The bigger the screen, the less accurate I have to be. That’s a really big thing for me. I even used the Nokias with bigger buttons.
This is starting to make sense! If I had smaller fingers that were also more accurate, I would probably want to use a phone one handed as well.
I think this has explained it for me and I’m glad I asked. Now I can appreciate the perspective of the complaint and that’s something I like, seeing things from a place different to my own.
I know it’s not everyones cup of tea but…
I ended up buying a Pixel Fold for the Fold aspect. There’s an added benefit that it’s really short when folded so I can reach the entire screen one handed. It’s heavier and thicker than a slate phone, but I actually enjoy the folded experience way better than other phones.
This is true, and honestly my biggest gripe with the phone. I don’t wear small mitts, and I can only comfortably reach 3/4 of the way up the phone. This is exacerbated by the fact that phone application design is in a very top-centric stage right now. I wonder if there’s a way I could extend the android nav bar to take up the top 1/4 of the screen…
On Samsung devices there is an accessibility setting that gives a smaller one-hand screen when swiping down from the bottom bar. But that just feels like a waste of space when you could just have a smaller screen.
That’s available on Pixels as well - I use it a lot even on my smaller 4a. Very handy in a pinch!
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.
There is at least the Unihertz Jellystar, which is a fairly nice tiny phone. Personally I’m likely stuck with Pixel phones because I’m a big fan of Graphene OS, otherwise I’d likely pick one up after my Pixel 4a fails, which might be awhile, since it’s still going strong.
Never heard of the Jelly Star! $200 bucks?! I just ordered one.
Fucking awesome phone. Been my daily driver for a week now.
Typing is horrible, tough, and for anything serious (browsing, streaming…) you will want a bigger screen and general more build quality. Camera, sound quality, screen are all screaming low end.
Super fast charging because the battery is tiny, sill good SOT because the screen is tiny too.
Feels damn good to be able to use and hold your phone one handed in almost any orientation you can hold your arm in.
Keyboard: AnySoftKey and a Compact layout (2 keys, 1 button) is very helpful.
I’ve been using mine since Christmas
It’s amazing how capable this thing is with such a tiny screen
Have you heard of thumb-key keyboard? It’s basically a 3x3 grid with swipe gestures for extra characters. I’ve been trying to switch to it for a bit cause I think eventually my typing will be faster and it will be a better one handed typing experience.
Anyway, I think this would work well on a small screen device too, if you can get used to a whole new keyboard paradigm.
It’s on the IzzyOnDroid repo for f-droid.
Hope this is helpful to someone!
Tried ThumbKey and realized, I’m 100 % used to QWERY/QWERTZ keyboard layouts. The ThumbKey keys are not in roughly the same spots as on a regular keyboard and I just couldn’t get used to this. Damn brain. I might give it another try in the future, because the idea is damn great.
Yeah I had the same problem. I just had to commit to being a slow typer for a while, but I inproved quicker than I thought. Still learning tho. I keep a regular keyboard I can switch to with the button on the bottom right of the home buttons for the rare times I need to type something urgently.
Oh, cool! Hope you like it dude :)
Holy shit, That thing is absolutely TINY
Almost too tiny for me…
4.5 - 5.5 would probably be the sweetspot for me.
I hate small phones. I switched back to an iphone SE years ago and realized it was a pita to use anymore. Everything is… too small.
