3w ago

What happened to small android phones?

I'm using a Sharp Aquos Wish from 2022, because it's 5.8 inches tall. It just barely fits in my pocket, but honestly is a bit uncomfortable. I wish I had a phone about 5.5 inches tall. Ideally with the latest android OS, a good battery, and wireless charging.

NOTHING like that exists! The closest is maybe the Unihertz Jelly Max, which is Android 14 instead of 15, and doesn't support wireless charging. It's also made in China, and comes preinstalled with spyware.

I could use GrapheneOS if I got a Google Pixel, but Google doesn't have a line of small phones. They even developed foldable phones so they could make a smaller foldable phone if they wanted, but instead they created the abomination that is the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which is a gigantic 6 inch phone when folded, and unfolds into a tablet-sized device. For the love of god, WHY!???

The whole point of foldables was to make phones smaller, not make them twice as big! Who was responsible for this?

I don't know what to do. At this point I think I may never upgrade my phone. I'll be using my Sharp Aquos Wish 10 years from now, and then abandon phones entirely when the network stops servicing Android 11.

42 comments

I've spent hours using the phone finder at gsmarena and not being happy with the less than 20 results I get.
Closest is maybe the Samsung S25 but it's still too big. Also I don't want to drop $500 on a phone. Anything over $200 is too much.
This is just miserable.
- Wanting it for under 200 is part of why they don't make them...
  
  Yeah, I wish it wasn't true. I miss my smaller phone. The one I have now is too big to be comfortable. Unless there's significant money in it, manufacturers can't justify the expense of making a smaller phone.
  That said, it's a chicken-and-egg problem. A lot of people want a smaller phone. However, they can't even buy one. And the manufacturers can't tell that people want a smaller one because it's not possible to buy one. It might remain that way until one manufacturer takes a leap, makes a small phone, and it goes well.
- Yeah... Phone manufacturers have decided that we all want giant phones. How dare you use your free will to desire otherwise?
  
  It's what the public wants. If small phones would sell better, they would make them.
  
  Not just manufacturers, my friend. People use their phones for media, which is always better on a bigger screen.
- Asus zenfone 10 is 2 years old but the last compact phone with premium specs, and really good looking. Then Asus abandoned this product as the zenfone 11 ultra is a massive ugly phone. You may have a look at Sony's lineup too although their long ass ratio is not for everyone
The truth is people who want small phones also want them for the price of a clamshell feature phone with no 4G support. I've heard these complaints many times from older acquaintances, they want their old Nokia that can also run Viber and do videocalls, and they are not paying iPhone SE price, so there's practically no market for small but high-spec phones, outside of luxury brands where you are buying an ancient chip with a leather back cover.
First and foremost: nobody buys them. Manufacturers would build smaller versions of their flagships, but many would be severely limited or use lower-spec parts compared to said flagships. Or, the models that were high-spec like their larger siblings would cost almost as much, and so the average person will just get the bigger one because to most people, bigger = better.
It may not make sense to those of us more familiar with tech, but that's not the point.
Also - nobody has heard of Sharp Aquos phones. I've got one of their TVs (from 2007 lol), but even I didn't know they made phones until this post.
- I wouldn't say nobody, they are familiar to people living in Japan or SEA. If you've visited one of the countries they are sold in, you might have come across them (I saw them in a Tokyo department store).
- It may not make sense to those of us more familiar with tech, but that's not the point.
  I mean, a bigger screen is objectively better for consuming content, plus the speakers are often more powerful. As a person with bigger hands I much prefer larger phones. I have the S21 Ultra and I really like the size.
  They also typically have a larger battery and are able to fit in more features (like the S pen which I love, but they had to remove in this generation)
I upvoted this on my Pixel 9 Pro Fold while unfolded.
Oh shit... I'm part of the problem! I just wanted the new shiny thing!
I switched from a Pixel 4a to a Moto Razr when the 4a lost support, because I wasn't going to go any bigger than the 4a. Wish it had a custom ROM like Graphene though.
I've actually been really happy with the Razr for size and screen protection when folded. Haven't broken it yet and that's a record for me.
I agree.
My current samsung s10e phone (comparatively small by today's standards) is too big. My last phone was actually a decent size, but had some hardware issues which is why I upgraded. It was a sony xperia xz1 compact. Before that I had a moto g, and before that a Motorola razr. All better sizes than my current model.
My next phone will likely either be a linux phone, or if those are still not ready then I may forgo convention/convenience and go for some kind of downgraded phone or no phone if I could swing it somehow...
https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2022&fDisplayInchesMin=5.2&fDisplayInchesMax=5.8
Plenty of people say they want a smaller phone, but then when it comes to it they also want the bigger battery and performance plus screen a bigger phone can give them. A small phone just isn't gonna give you a great battery life +wireless charging as their really isn't enough space for both unless it is chunky af
- I don't mind if the phone is a bit thick. Current phones are too tall to fit in my pocket.
and comes preinstalled with spyware.
What is the spyware?
- Nearly every phone made in China comes with backdoors. They've also been found to actively send data back to servers in China. I wouldn't want my devices made in China you have no idea what chips they are attaching to the board.
  
  Nearly every phone made in China comes with backdoors.
  Such as?
- for fucks sake. this isn't a fucking search engine.
  educate yourself.
Porn, porn made phones bigger
I swear to god most people are NPC's and they spawn into reality with a phone in their hand. These 6.5" and 7" phones don't fit in pants pockets. Yet I don't see any guys out there wearing fanny packs or carrying purses around with them like women. Where do they stick them? Are they all sticking their phones up their butts?
No. They have to not be real. I am surrounded by millions of NPC's. There can't be that many people sticking their phones up their butts.
You can downvote me, NPC's. But I know what you are. You don't exist in reality when I can't see you. Like Agent Smith computer programs, you only exist in cyberspace when I'm not immediately nearby.
- These 6.5" and 7" phones don't fit in pants pockets. Yet I don't see any guys out there wearing fanny packs or carrying purses around with them like women. Where do they stick them? Are they all sticking their phones up their butts?
  Let's play "where's the Pixel 9 Pro XL in a case with a magsafe wallet attached":
  
  Is that a Pixel 9 Pro XL in a case with a magsafe wallet attached, or are you just happy to see me?
  
  There’s something hard to the left. It must be the phone sticking out the front
  
  Milwaukee fastback?
- Wear cargo pants or a jacket, solipsist.
  
  I have to wear slacks and a button-up shirt to work.
- I have a 6.8" Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (overdue for an update), and it comfortably fits in my pants' pockets. I don't know what kind of tight pants or minuscule size you wear, but for most of us it's a non-issue.
  
  Yeah, unless you have women's pockets I've never had an issue with them not fitting in my pants.
How did Google make the Pixel 8a larger than the Pixel 8? The whole reason of the "a" series is for it to be smaller! Did Google outsource the design of the 8a to Somalia, or is this just how incompetent their engineering team is?
- Size was never the point of the Pixel A-series. The point was "less features for less money". Sometimes it happened to come in a smaller device.
- No need for racism here...

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