just make normal sized cellphones again, please!

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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    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
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      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
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      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

      • Geek_King@lemmy.world
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        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
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          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.

  • slinky317@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

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

    • MSugarhill@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Because it’s mostly small crap phones or small expensive phones. A 4,5 to 5 inch pixel, a 5 to 5,5 inch pixel pro to current prices. I’d buy it instantly.

      • slinky317@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In the beginning days of the Pixel, both sizes were the same specs - just one bigger than the other. The XL outsold the smaller one consistently.

    • d3Xt3r@lemmy.world
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      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
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        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.

  • smik@discuss.tchncs.de
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    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.

  • FeebaskMeAnything@sh.itjust.works
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    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

    • Kichae@kbin.social
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      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
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        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.

    • kat@lemmy.world
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      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.

    • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
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      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
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        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.

  • Corhen@lemmy.world
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    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.

        • HidingCat@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          It is, it has such a perfect balance of features. Now that the A series is losing the headphone jack as well, I’m going to have some serious questions when I’m looking at a replacement phone some time in 2026 or 2027.

  • gila@lemmy.world
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    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, 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
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      11 months 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
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        11 months 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
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        11 months 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
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          11 months ago

          Wish we had the option to add it to the bottom

          @apple @android feature request here. submitting ticket.

  • lka1988@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Big phones sell though, that’s the issue. Apple sold the mini version of the iphone right alongside the bigger models and it sold like shit. The people who want smaller phones are in a minority.

  • waterbogan@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    There’s definitely a market for these - my partner prefers a more compact phone, it has been harder and harder to get a decently spec’d small phone of late. There are certain niche markets for small devices and alwasy will be

    • LordShrek@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 months ago

      but the big phone manufacturers don’t realize there’s a market for this and they completely neglect that. or rather, they know that there’s a market for it but they know it won’t make them enough profit so they stick with the mainstream, which is a huge shame. i’m sure that there are engineers working at google, samsung, etc. who would love to work on smaller phones, phones with other unique hardware such as trackballs, but aren’t able to because of “turn everything into money” mindset.

      • waterbogan@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        It is strange, it may be a small market niche (pun intended) but surely its worthwhile for someone to jump into it, particularly given that it could be satisfied with existing technology, no great advances required

  • i5-2520M@kbin.social
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    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.