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
I just want a keyboard or a modern take on the Sidekick design.
I wish I could get a flagship phone with a swappable battery, headphone jack, SD slot and allow my apps to interface with each other’s files when I want without having to fuck around with permission bullshit… I don’t care if it’s the size of a dinner plate
Fairphone might be somewhat closer for what you want
FP5 doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack 😔
An external DAC is better anyway, just put that on your headphones.
Yeah, that’s the problem. Why only 1 phone has the options most of us want?
I hate this billionaire-controlled timeline we’re on.
Most people don’t care and if there’s no microSD slot, you can sell more expensive phones via overpriced internal storage. No 3.5mm jack, but we’ve got these wireless buds you could try. Would be stupid for companies to put these things back unfortunately.
Because most people don’t need a 3mm jack anymore, I prefer to use a USB-c dac anyway the sound is better.
And I offload the data to a NAS anyway so the storage is irrelevant anyway.
HMD Skyline and Fusion also
Edit: Skyline doesn’t have headphone jack
No headphone jack on those unless I missed something.
Looks like Skyline doesn’t have one but Fusion does
App restrictions can be disabled in developer options.
I would categorize that as having to fuck around with permission bullshit but thank you for the suggestion.
Also make it durable. Thicker. Heavier. I’m going to slap a case on it otherwise
I don’t know of any with swappable batteries anymore. The HTC U24 and U23 series both have headphone jack and MicroSD slot. There are a few others.
Just get a USB-c dongle and let that sit on your headphones. These days nearly everything has USB-c anyway and the sound is way better. The last phones I had with the USB-c jack (RedMi Note 13 Pro and iPhone 4 before that) all sounded worse than me using a cheap DAC. Getting an expensive DAC will improve the sound even more.
Personally I say that most would need to get a NAS before they need a SD card or you need to get a dedicated Camera or MP4 player if your pictures or music exceed the 500GB max and streaming isn;t an option using a NAS.
The rest of your points are valid.
I have the opposite viewpoint. I miss big phones that were actually big, and not just really tall.
I miss my Nexus 6.
They used to have a whole variety.
Now top-end phones are all almost the same dimensions
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.
I am happy with the size of my iPhone 16 and pretty sure there are other brands that don’t have these massive phones as tablets.
If I didn’t need the flexibility my Android (Lineage) gives me, the iPhone 13 mini is one phone that’s actually a nice size.
And my Samsung S10e - just it’s out of date for firmware updates.
Though I’d actually prefer something smaller and use my phone for less.
The problem is they took it too far.
Plus, the larger phones do actually fit in my hands, so…
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.
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.
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
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.
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 4S is still the most perfect form for a smartphone I’ve ever owned
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 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.
Hey at least it doesn’t have 3566 tonnes displacement
Skill issue
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.
What, Flagship? There’s no small phones anymore.
https://lemmy.world/c/compactphones - the activity here reflects this x_x
iPhone SE is small. I have been buying them when coming out, they have been fantastic. If you want android, not sure what’s out there.
The next one will likely be big. They also discontinued the Mini which was an awesome phone.
Yea unfortunately it could go up in size. We will see shortly
The 3rd gen SE is 4.7 inches, the new one is rumored to be 6.06 and shaped like iPhone 14. MacRumors often gets these things right, too.
That’s too bad. The old se series was great
Yeah. I’d settle for a 17 mini, but I doubt we’re getting one of those either, given that there was no 14, 15 or 16 mini :/
Same here. The Google Pixel, but I think they recently eliminated the small version.
Man I loved the 2016 one. Got the 2020 one when that broke and that was already too big for me. I have chronic tendonitis, stretching like that is painful.
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
People simply did not buy the small phones.
I bought them until they stopped making them… My favorite phone was the Sony Xperia X Compact with a 4.6" screen. It had decent midrange specs and a great camera.
There are some niche small budget phones from China these days which beat your old Xperia. No flagships, but small (and cheap)
Asked ChatGPT for a list and got this: (the “UniHerz Jelly Max” and the “Qin3Ultra” look decent)
• Fonepia Q9 mini – Display: ~4.0 inches (540p) – Release: 2024 – Overview: A very pocketable device from a niche manufacturer, built for minimalists who value size over high‑end specs.
• Cubot KingKong mini 3 – Display: ~4.5 inches (480p) – Release: 2024 – Overview: Engineered for durability and compactness, it fits easily in one hand or a small pocket.
• Doogee S mini – Display: ~4.5 inches (480p) – Release: 2024 – Overview: A rugged mini smartphone that offers the basics in a very small chassis.
• Blackview N6000 – Display: ~4.3 inches (540p) – Release: 2024 – Overview: Known for its tough build, this phone packs essential smartphone functions into a tiny screen.
• 8849 Tank mini – Display: ~4.3 inches (520p) – Release: 2024 – Overview: Combines a robust (if no‑nonsense) design with an ultra‑compact form factor.
• Ulefone Mini 20T Pro – Display: ~4.7 inches (720p, 90Hz) – Release: 2024 – Note: This model offers a slightly larger screen and smoother performance; manufacturers in this segment are known to refresh their lines in early 2025, so a 2025 update is possible.
• Unihertz Jelly Max – Display: ~5.0 inches (720p) – Release: 2024 – Overview: Unihertz specializes in ultra‑compact designs, and while the Jelly Max launched in 2024, expect an updated version in 2025 as the brand continues to cater to fans of credit‑card‑sized smartphones.
• QIN 3 Ultra – Display: ~5.0 inches (720p) – Release: 2024 – Overview: A compact phone with modern features; there are indications that its series may see a refresh or an updated variant in 2025.
• NanoPhone – Display: ~3.5 inches tall – Release: Late 2024 (with promotional pricing and deals extending into early 2025) – Overview: Marketed for minimalists and those wanting to reduce screen time, this ultra‑mini smartphone offers 4G and Wi‑Fi in a device that can literally fit in your wallet.
But do they actually work with US carriers (VoLTE)?
This Uniherz Jelly Max claims to support Verizon and T-Mobile https://www.amazon.com/Unihertz-Jelly-Max-Smallest-Smartphone/dp/B0DFM5B5CQ
I bought one as recently as the iPhone 13 mini, but Apple has also discontinued their normal sized phones :(
I know, I said as much in my post - although rereading it, it’s kinda phrased ambiguously
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
