just make normal sized cellphones again, please!

  • 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

    • 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.

    • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

      • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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        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
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          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
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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.

  • 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 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

    • V4uban@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

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

  • kometes@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Old people, who have bad eyes and money, buy the bigger phones. Profit margins are bigger with the bigger, more expensive phones. If you want a small phone, get one. Just don’t expect the large phone makers to sell them.

    • Overzeetop@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Small phones have shittier cameras.

      I like the idea of a small phone but, if I’m being honest, I’d probably use an iPad Mini as my phone if it had the ProMax (or better) imaging group on it.

  • waterbogan@lemmy.world
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    1 year 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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      1 year 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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        1 year 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

  • fulano@lemmy.eco.br
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    1 year ago

    This is something I don’t really understand. People will always talk about how smaller phones don’t sell well, but there are a lot of products that are aimed at much smaller niches and do very well, but barely any company creates phones for that niche.

    The only one I know is cubot, a chinese brand who makes the cubot pocket, the king kong mini, and the cubot j10. I hope they succeed and consolidate the small smartphone niche.

  • Mike@lemmy.world
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    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. 😂

    • ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world
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      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.