I know I have small hands but c’mon. Flagship phones these days are strait up small tablets, not even what we’d have called on phablets 15 years ago.
I know it’s what people buy, but I’m still sad that if I want a phone that small then I have to deal with camera and display a couple gens old
every time i “upgrade” my phone it gets bigger, i hate it. the perfect size was what whatever iPhone 5 was doing, i want to go back to that
Wider, longer, flatter, thinner, and harder to hold without touching shit at the edge of the screen. I miss being able to grip a phone by its buttons.
I loved my iPhone 5 more than any other device I’ve owned. Perfect size.
iPhone 5 / original SE was a good design, and a good size, but it was also the first iPhone I had to buy a case for because it was so damn light and thin it was hard to handle compared to the thicker, glass-plated 4.
iPhone 4S is still the most perfect form for a smartphone I’ve ever owned
13 mini is pretty comparable
It’s one of the best ones to come out recently, but it’s still significantly taller than the pre-iPhone 6 models
iPhone 12 or 13 mini is similar to that size
i don’t use iPhones anymore, that was the one time i tried them and aside from the size and some features i much prefer the openess of android
I’ve never owned an iPhone, and wouldn’t normally recommend them at all, but looks to me like its one of the only recent smartphones that is small 😞
Actually looking into it a bit more: there’s some smallish ones such as the Asus Zenphone 10 and foldables such as the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra.
https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-small-phones
https://m.gsmarena.com/best_compact_phones_buyers_guide-review-2029.php
But yeah they’re still not as small as the iPhone 5
Oof this is the reason why I went with Fold. Basically when folded it takes almost the same area as an iPhone 5 albeit quite thicker. But my hand adjusted to the thickness quite nicely.
Having basically a small tablet when you unfold the phone for actual two handed use is good too.
I miss phones that experimented.
I had the Motorola backflip (that was a fun one) and had one of the first phones with a fingerprint sensor that everyone said was a gimmick, had the one with the “indestructible screen” (Motorola Z2 force iirc) that I had a lot of fun throwing around till I broke it (But not the screen! I’ll give them that lmao), had every Nexus device until the bitter end (I cursed Google for a long time when they decided Pixels was the way forward, I didn’t pick up a pixel again until the Pixel Fold 0G) and so so many others over the years.
Until one day they just stopped being cool for years, hell the Foldy phone has been the coolest innovation they’ve put out in years and we’re already back to nothing but iterations again
You would really enjoy the When Phones Were Fun series on YouTube if you haven’t seen them
The box for HTC HD2 had
<---- BIG ---->as dimensions of the phone. It had a 4.3" screen that actually was huge at the time (2009), but it’s hilarious from today’s perspective.
When phones were still fun
Well, it may only have had a 4 inch screen, but it also had huge bezels. It’s less tall than modern flagships, but almost the same width, making it similar for one handed use.
https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/HTC-HD2,Google-Pixel-9-Pro/phones/3887,12285
Notice that the dimensions in the picture are marked only for the screen proper, not including bezels.
16:9 + huge bezels. A Huawei Mate 8 (6.0") which would be tiny today is still more of a brick than a S25 Ultra with 6.8".
Notice that the dimensions in the picture are marked only for the screen proper, not including bezels.
Those were the days
I literally gasped. iPAQ510, my beloved
I would vomit if I had to look at the Windows logo every time I pulled out my phone. Google is not perfect and they’ve made mistakes with Android, but at least it’s Open Source. Microsoft has a much worse record of opposing Open Source initiatives…
This was nearly 20 years ago, Microsoft was annoying but fairly benign at the time. This phone with Windows Mobile 6 was released alongside the first release of android and the first iPhone
You’re right, they haven’t been this overt since the 2000’s. But their flagship OS is still closed-source and forces ads and unpopular privacy violating features like Recall to this day…
Windows phone had a lot of potential
Skill issue
How did you get a picture of me?
Companies trying to make foldable phones happen are going the wrong way.
They are making giant phones that unfold into tablets when really they should be making small phones that unfold into something just large enough you can watch Netflix on.
You mean like this? https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-z-flip6/
I think Motorola makes a much better flip phone in terms of experience overall. I also really like their software, however their track record on updates is less than stellar.
I believe foldable phone is “invented” by idiots who don’t know design and good products. Literally “if we put in advanced tech, people will buy it”, lol.
You mean like the latest Razr’s? https://www.motorola.com/us/en/family/razr.html
I think what I would like is a bigass flip phone that unfolds into a tablet but instead of being thick as hell because the tablet is some OLED bullshit, I just want like, a e-reader. So I can have an easy way to read a book in my pocket.
I miss when flagship phone were affordable and worth the cost
This is the real problem.
They do NOTHING to improve or innovate. In fact, we’ve lost most great features over the years. The headphone jack for high quality audio, the micro SD card slot for easy upgrades and migrations, the IR blasters, the replaceable batteries…
It’s a fucking joke. Peak phone tech was the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Sorry, you gotta upgrade everything every 5 years, because otherwise there’s a security vulnerability! Sorry, looks like there will be no new updates on your software, no compatibility! Surely, things have become so much more efficient in the last 5 years as a result of processing gains, and surely that will be passed onto the consumer rather than eaten up in the middle, and surely we need that increased processing power so you can run the increasingly dwindling number of social media sites that are actually relevant!
Sorry, looks like we got rid of the headphone jack because it takes up too much space and it’s too hard to make the phone water resistant! The IR blaster isn’t relevant anymore because everyone has unilaterally switched to wifi operated smart TVs! Surely! Sorry, the micro SD card slot took up too much space, we need to use that space for processing power! Same with irreplaceable batteries! Sorry, the 16:9 aspect ratio we used to have for phones isn’t available in any phone anymore, because we decided to replace the physical buttons and ugly bezels with basically unusable screen space! But we’re still gonna have a hole punched in the screen for the camera!
I dunno. Modern phones are fucking dogshit now, I hate them so much it’s unreal. Even the software is progressively getting worse year over year. Shit used to be so basically functional and it’s become so horrible.
You no longer need to have flagship phone, to have good experience though. I am rocking my Samsung Galaxy A52 and it does everything I want it to. Only current localization and direction seem to behave weirdly and not accurate when navigating using Google Maps (especially when walking) but on other apps it’s perfectly fine, so go figure, lol.
I miss physical keyboards that you were able to flip from the back.
Nothing has come close to the soothing tactile perfection that was the N900.
Its been 15 years. Nothing.
Omg, the N900 was the best phone I ever had.
Linux, physical keebler, keyring/lanyard hole, an active camera cover, a proper camera button, even a little built in stand!
So good.
Plus an FM transmitter!
Lol, omg!
I don’t think smartphone keyboards became usable until Swipe typing became a thing.
I have the opposite viewpoint. I miss big phones that were actually big, and not just really tall.
I miss my Nexus 6.
That is my exact complaint. The phones are too tall! I am ok with it being wider, but the height is insanity. The whole balance of the phone is awkward and I would be ok with more of the weight on the bottom instead of the middle of a tall ass phone.
The problem is any wider makes it so that it requires two hand to use comfortably for a lot of people. My S22 ultra is just barely comfortable in a case because of the rounded edges, I have tried to see what the S24s felt like and just the flat edges make it so that I can not use it one handed at all.
They used to have a whole variety.
Now top-end phones are all almost the same dimensions
I’ll go shittier phone before I’ll go phablet ever again. I bought a motorola razr 2023. I bought a foldable because I want the shit to fit in my pocket. It also is the only flip phone I’ve seen that hasn’t made the imbecilic decision to coat the entire front panel in glass. I don’t need a full miniature phone making my shit more fragile when it’s clamped shut. If they continue to glass panel it up on the outside of newer editions I’ll try to find a case that just covers the entire outside.
But ultimately I’m holding onto this thing as long as I possibly can.
I have no idea why everyone – including the reviewers – think people need a glass panel on the outside of a flip phone with all kinds of smart capabilities. The phone is fucking closed. If I want to use the phone I’ll open it. All I need is maybe the time.
It’s useful to take pictures. I usually turn on the outside screen so the people I’m taking picture of can pose themselves better. My kids love it too.
Sometimes I also use it for maps navigation when walking somewhere new. There’s actually lots of use cases for it, I just get a case with screen protector for it.
I got the plus version of the same phone to get the bigger screen on the back.
It wasn’t worth it, I never use that screen and it just annoys me. I wish my phone was smaller.
We’re the kind of people that are pushing our phones to end of support, it’s not a market that moves product and thus not one the big companies listen to.
I of course don’t miss small flagship phones because my S10e is still perfectly serviceable.
My next phone will be e-ink at any size
S10e
They can pry my 3.5 mm jack from my cold dead hands. Already got the battery replaced once.
I’m gonna miss that swipe pad on the power button when it finally gives up the ghost.
Also still on a S10e, havent found a newer phone that isn’t a downgrade in some aspects.
s9+ here still. I intend to use this phone until it costs more to repair than to get a new one.
I got the Pixel 9P for this reason. It’s actually notably smaller than the previous models.
I love my 9 pro! The size is perfect, and i didn’t have to sacrifice on camera this time.
Oh is it?? I loved my pixel 3 and when it was time for an upgrade the pixel 7 was the flagship and was way too big. I switched over to a Samsung s21 5g and it’s been a decent size, but I’m at a loss for what to do when this one inevitably dies on me. Glad to hear the newer pixels are potentially one-handable for my tiny hands.
Look at all that branding.
I just want a keyboard or a modern take on the Sidekick design.
I remember when I was picked on at work for how big my Note 3 was. They used to call it “my insecurity”. Now it’s basically smaller than the smallest standard size.
The Note 3 did look ridiculously large back then. Kind of insane.
