- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
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Why is the article using diagonal screen size as their measurement for phone size? In that case you could have a phone the exact same size get “bigger” just because bezel sizes have shrunk over the years.
They specifically call out the iPhone SE as a “small phone” that they seem to want. But the newest iPhone, the iPhone 16 is only 6% bigger in width and height. Fractions of an inch larger. I can totally understand why somebody would want a phone with smaller overall dimensions, but why on earth would your metric for an ideal phone be a smaller screen?
I bought a pixel fold because the screen on the front is small and it opens in a wide format when I need to look at tables
I don’t know how you youngsters do it.
One hand eternally glued to this big phone and now they need the other for a soup thermos they suddenly feel the need to drag with them everywhere.I like big phones (and I can not lie)
My brother despises big phones and cannot tell the truth…
Didn’t Apple just come out with one or am I mistaken?
I have an iPhone 15 Pro and a recent Pixel (just because I’m a dev and want to know both ecosystems). I use the iPhone as my daily driver, though, not because it’s necessarily better but because I cannot help myself when it comes to tinkering with Android devices. I have semi-bricked several over the years and then had to install Windows in a VM to run some sketchy-looking factory reset program.
Basically, it’s not an Android problem. It’s a me problem. I’m the one who needs a walled garden so I don’t do science experiments.
I can’t imagine using a phone that I can’t even use adless Youtube on :/
Safari + AdBlock + Vinegar makes for a great YouTube experience.
That said, Freetube on my Pixel is wonderful.
Yeah, fair. I picked this as an example, but overall I’d consider a phone unusable if you can be denied apps. Especially when it comes to important things like censorship evasion tools, which are very likely to be deleted from App Store on request.
Good to know that about one’s self.
If they make the phones smaller they’ll have to make the ads smaller too. Can’t have that.
people like larger phones because they like social media. For people in developing countries a cell phone is their only personal computer so for them having larger screen more preferable. People just like larger phones. I loath them because I don’t have pockets. I could probably live with a dumb phone, but mobile banking, and maps are too useful of a feature for me to live without out. tbh unless your a power user or gamer there really isn’t much of a reason to upgrade your cellphone anyway
For people in developing countries
Oh its not just developing countries. My parents in the USA have their phone as their only device
I loath them because I don’t have pockets
This is especially an issue for women, who often have more form-fitting clothing that either doesn’t have pockets or have very small ones that don’t work for phones.
I think that the usual solution for “women carrying things” is that many are gonna carry a purse – if someone’s pre-menopause, they’re gonna need pads or tampons anyway, so can put it in there. Problem is that the phone breaks this. Even if women have a purse, women don’t always carry their purse all around the office or house or whatever, but don’t want to miss calls.
My mother got a fanny pack just for her phone (which isn’t even all that large).
At one point in the past, it used to be common for women to wear a bag on a belt accessible through a slit in their skirt.
https://pieceworkmagazine.com/a-brief-history-of-the-pocket-in-womens-fashion/
The first examples of pockets began to be inserted into men’s clothing at the end of the 1600s. Before this construction development, illustrations show that men used small pouches, which hung from a belt around the waist. These separate pouches could be concealed inside of a coat or tunic. The words pouch and pocket are related, through the Middle English/Northern French word pouche, originally describing a small bag.
For women, pockets remained an accessory that tied around the waist and was accessed through an opening in a skirt’s seam. The full skirts of the 1700s allowed these pockets to be easily hidden.
The shift by women to pants kinda killed that option.
I think that the solution is gonna be some women’s clothier figuring out how to make an appealing way of carrying a phone.
Lara Croft runs around with thigh holsters. That way, the carrying system is clearly distinct from the body, doesn’t mess with the body silhouette, which I assume is why women don’t want male-style large pocket, non-form-fitting clothing. So maybe something like that would work. Dunno how much of a chafing issue that is.
EDIT: Drop bags are kinda in the neighborhood of what I’m thinking of too, though I’m thinking lower-slung and smaller:
Even for the government you need apps nowadays. Yes you can try doing things in person but wait times aren’t reasonable. I’ve been trying to get a dumb phone for myself but still find I need a smartphone for specific apps a couple of times a month…
Umm, you still can buy them
They cost like 10 dollars each man, it’s not that difficult
people spend a third of their lives on those things. And while cumbersome, a big screen simply is better for media consumption
only way I see smaller phones make a comeback is if we change our habits or if a new technology comes along
new technology comes along
I believe the RAZR foldables allow you to do almost anything on the front screen, and in the latest iterations the front screen is larger than Samsung’s.
I would rather spend this time on a device with a 15’ screen and a comfortable keyboard. A phone is just that - a secondary device. That needs to be comfortable to hold and type on with one hand while the other holds onto the subway railing.
A phone is just that - a secondary device
I don’t know. more than 60% of Internet traffic comes from mobile devices, and it keeps increasing
A bigger screen is better for text consumption, too. Perhaps especially for that. If you don’t know why, just wait ;D
Seriously as a person getting on in years I always bump up the font size. And if you do this on a mini phone, you run out of usable space immediately.
I wish there were small phone options, too, but I can see why big is the default.
I just want Star Wars style comlink. Wearable on my belt or neck, with a strap in case of dropping it.
Will have to be a bit bigger, to have enough keys. And some display, preferably monochrome text-only.
But in general it should be a device not emitting horrible blue light all the time.
About form - I think something round with keys on the sides is still a good idea.
I mean, we are the customers, we choose, personally I went with the iphone 15 pro, because the max is just ridiculous even though I am close to 2 meters tall and have big hands.
If people bought the smaller versions when they are available I am sure phone makers would react
I’m also close to 2m tall and have large-ish hands, but I still prefer smaller phones. They just… don’t really exist.
Why can’t we go back to small phones?
I think this is correlation, not causation, as this was also when touch screens started being made
it’s also when mobile media in general was available on your phone. tv, movies, YouTube, games, everything. not everything is about porn.
not everything is about porn.
You speak only for yourself.
I definitely was looking at porn on my 240x320 Nokia screen.
Sexy sexy nibbles the snake
240x320
One boob takes up 76000 of your 76800 pixels.
You overestimate the resolution of porn back then. 90s kids needed some imagination to fill in the gaps…
Oh, I remember. Full res pic above the collar bone, then that weird speckled rendering for a couple lines and then… grey.
Ummm we did? My pixel 9 pro is noticably smaller than my pixel 6 pro, much to my delight. Maybe stop buying the XL tablet phones and you’ll find they’re actually a reasonable size again. So many people in the comments rallying against an issue that isn’t even there. You’re just being told this is an issue. Do you even check for yourselves?
The “small” P9P is considerably larger than the iPhone 12/13 mini, which is the size OP wants. My mother-in-law has an iPhone 13 mini and it’s very small, but nearly as fully-featured as the standard iPhone 13, which is where other manufacturers keep missing the mark.
this right here is the issue, people don’t even remember the size smartphone used to be. I’ve got a phone that’s one of the smallest available that still have decent hardware. the screen is still 6.1 inch. your example of a reasonable size is 6.3 inches.
what op and I are actually looking for is something around 5 - 5.3 inches instead, like smartphone used to be. For that size, all that is available today is no-name chinese phones with shit hardware and no support. the big brands are busy selling 6.2 inches as “compact” where it used to be considered phablet size
I’m guessing it’s because most women carry their phone in a bag, so the bigger phone isn’t inconvenient and has the advantage of the bigger screen.
And I suppose most men prefer the bigger screen size, and they are convenient enough in the available sizes. I use a 6.7 inch, and it fits fine in a pocket for me.
Also note that although we have way bigger screens on modern phones, the bezels are way smaller, on the first smartphones the screen was only about 50% of the front face. So a 10 year old 4 inch phone can be about as big as a new 6 inch.First - you wouldn’t want to carry a purse everywhere, especially if you did go through the effort of expanding your pockets (which, since a lot of women’s clothing doesn’t have big pockets, is 100% worth doing). Second - it isn’t about carrying, it is about using. I have average hands, yet struggle a bit to reach my Pixel’s upper corner already when using one-handed. It’s just sad they forgot half the humanity has smol hands!
