just make normal sized cellphones again, please!

  • FeebaskMeAnything@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    People asked Apple for this, and when they obliged, it sold so terribly that retailers literally could not give them away. Unfortunately, it seems those who actually want smaller phones are a vocal minority

    • kat@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Apple user here. If they don’t come out with a new generation of iphone mini, I am simply going to never buy another phone again.

    • Kichae@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Capitalism: Providing infinite consumer choice, so long as your choice is to consume what everyone else is consuming.

      • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ve got about a billion issues with capitalism, but I’m not sure how you think something like this should work otherwise? Product design/development/manufacturing takes a bunch of resources, so it doesn’t make sense in any model to make things people generally don’t want.

    • P-Nuts@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I moved from Android phones to Apple specifically for the iPhone mini. Seems when it eventually dies I’ll be out of luck.

  • slinky317@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    Everytime someone says this and manufacturers end up making a smaller phone… no one buys them.

    • d3Xt3r@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      I did. I bought the original Jelly. Now I use the biggest phone of them all, a Fold 4…

      In saying that, I might buy the new Jelly too, it’s IR blaster feature would come in handy as a universal remote, plus, in case I ever decide to take up running, would be easier to carry the Jelly around instead of a Fold.

      • HRDS_654@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        This is the reason I’m so hype for the Pixel Fold. Apparently it’s only a 5in screen when closed . We’ll have to see how the other specs shake out and whether the price is worth it, but it sounds promising.

        • Double_A@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          1 year ago

          As a man they still would need to fit in my jeans pocket though… So we are kinda at a limit now.

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    Large phones are the new normal size now.

    Going back to small phones now feels like trying to type through a postage stamp

    • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, I was thinking who’s to say what “normal” size even is? In hindsight, it was awkward as hell taking calls on my tiny nokia brick. Personally, I think we’ve hit a sweet spot between functionality and size practicality. I’m happy with my 6" screen as long as women’s clothes continue on the trend of indulging us with functional pockets.

    • kofe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m waiting for a free upgrade to switch to a flip phone. I didn’t want one immediately because I was worried about quality, but from what I hear they’re doing well. Decent compromise for me

      • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Ive been using the galaxy fold 3 for 2 years now and i could never go back to one that doesnt fold. The tablet style screen has become my main screen. Its just functionally superior to any normal phone screen and if im only performing simple tasks the smaller outer screen is fine.

        • kofe@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’ve been torn on whether to go with that or the flip. Most of my clothes have smaller pockets so the flip would be great, but then the larger screen with the fold would be handy too!

      • Geek_King@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        I saw a review for a new Motorola Razr, and thought that maybe I’d switch to one of those, but I love a good camera and it’s camera wasn’t good.

        But the siren song of manageably sized phones still calls to me.

        • teamevil@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Motorola of today is unfortunately not the Motorola of yesterday. I loved my Razr and Really really loved my Droid with the side charging port, it docked into the nightstand cradle and the driving cradle perfectly.

  • Corhen@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m a big guy, with big hands.

    Got the s22 ultra, and it feels like it’s finally a me sized phone. I’ve been fighting tiny phones for decades!

    In the end, we need a range from small to large.

  • smik@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    The comments section of a post like this feels like early reddit. Love it!

    I adored my Pixel 3a. The size was perfect in my opinion. Small enough to handle with one hand and to put it in my pockets, big enough to enjoy watching videos on it. The Samsung S10e was lovely too.

    I don’t have sources but I remember them stating that small form factor phones were not selling too well. So I guess we won’t see many flagship or even midrange phones in the near future.

  • aksdb@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Not possible at the moment. Without the large size, you can’t fit an adequate battery to last a day or longer.

    Not to mention that many people want good cameras on their phone, an they need space as well.

    • adidson@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m typing this comment on a Zenfone 9, which is a pretty reasonably sized phone with a decent battery and camera. Charging to 80% usually lasts me over a day of usage. The camera is good enough as well. Phones don’t have to be so massive to have those features

    • kniescherz@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Display needs a lot of battery, less of it and you dont need such a big one. Than make it two millimeters thicker and the problem is solved.

  • i5-2520M@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Unironically if there was enough demand they would be made. Even the iPhone mini failed in market penetration, not to mention things like the Sony compacts and the Zenfones.

    • V4uban@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Sony are quite overpriced, and ZenFones have very limited software support. I hope they improve it for zenfone 10

    • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      A friend of mine was all in on the palm pre. And extolled the small form factor and how much better it was than the incoming 4G Android phones…

      Now he buys the largest iphone possible every year

      • Ataraxia@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I used an overlooked palm pre for internet access before I got my first smart phone and while it was neat at the time it really wasn’t going to be good for say, browsing on jerboa with that screen size. The keyboard wasn’t good either.

  • Mike@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m generalising here and obviously it won’t apply to everyone, but I tend to think most people with small phones look at huge phones and say “whoa, too big” and thus never bother to give it a go. People with large phones either love them already, or they love the idea of a small phone — so they go get one, and in most cases, immediately miss their large phone.

    Of course, some people have experienced both formats enough to know that they definitely prefer small phones — but, unfortunately, they appear to be a minority. Small phones don’t sell well, or else there’d be more of them. And so, these people fall into that all-too-common market category ‘You’re Not Significant Enough’.

    All that said, it absolutely depends on what you want from your phone. I use my S23 Ultra to edit photos and videos, play a few games, get some work done — and all of those things benefit from a big display. Hell, even typing is easier for me on a big screen, thanks to my sausage thumbs. 😂

    • Elle@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Of course, some people have experienced both formats enough to know that they definitely prefer small phones — but, unfortunately, they appear to be a minority. Small phones don’t sell well, or else there’d be more of them.

      The conundrum with sales though is, if almost no major brands are selling them, how would a regular person ever find them? In the Android market, there are few companies making & selling them & they arguably aren’t widely popular for phones (sorry Asus, no surprises Unihertz) , so almost inevitably they won’t sell well.

      In the iOS market, they still have the iPhone SE which I think is the smallest of that lineup, and I don’t think Apple would continue to make those if there wasn’t still a market for them. Also to swing back to the first part of what I’ve quoted here, I guess I’m in that minority.

      I recently got a new phone as I was concerned about the battery of my old one, but it turned out I may have gotten ahead of myself, so I have a very clear point of comparison between the two when it comes to their form factors and uh…Yeah, when you do it’s no contest. The smaller device is way more comfortable to use, as I can reach most of the screen with one hand without feeling like I’m about to fumble it & drop it.

  • gila@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I switched to a Pixel 7 today from a Xiaomi Android phone. I always felt my existing phone was too big, and when looking for a new one the first thing I did was go to gsmarena and search for a phone released relatively recently with a smaller screen. Literally the only result was the Iphone SE.

    The Pixel phone is practically the same size as my existing phone, just a tad smaller and just a tad heavier. But there is a significant difference in the gesture support, which is usually something I don’t bother with. The result is that the basic system navigation and app switching can be done with my right hand only, in its normal holding position. The swipe from the left to go back a screen can be done from the bottom of the screen, so I don’t need to stretch my thumb up and across to do it from the middle of the screen.

    Stretching unnaturally is still required to swipe down from the top of the screen, or I guess if third party app design puts buttons in the top left. But as a software solution to this hardware problem which also preserves the larger screen size for cases where that’s useful or desired, I think it’s pretty good.

    • LordShrek@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      you should be able to install a custom ROM that allows you to have notification bar on bottom so that you can swipe up.

      • gila@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I figured out that the swipe down doesn’t need to begin from the actual notification bar, like it does on my older Android phones. I can just naturally extend my thumb up to halfway up the screen and swipe down from there. Doesn’t work if I have scrollable content already on screen though

      • Derek@fosstodon.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        @LordShrek @gila iphones used to have the control center by swiping up. Took a while to adjust to doing it from the top right. Wish we had the option to add it to the bottom

        • LordShrek@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Wish we had the option to add it to the bottom

          @apple @android feature request here. submitting ticket.