Ask HN: Will you buy a 7 inch smartphone? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Will you buy a 7 inch smartphone?

14 pointsbaybal232 comments

Question mainly for Americans and Europeans, will you buy it?

Not much a question for Asian countries... It already seems to be the new trend here :\

No, I have an iPhone SE. I’ll just buy a used phone or one the same size. If I can’t wrap my fingers around my phone or forget it’s in my pocket, no bueno.

At what point does a phone become a tablet? I have a Samsung Note 9 at 6.4" and it is plenty big but if they make the bezel smaller and the screen bigger for the next generation I wouldn't complain.

> At what point does a phone become a tablet?

When it doesn't have a dialer app.

Phablet

Until a couple years ago, 6 inch phones were called phablets and 7 inch were definitely tablets, and all flagships were sub 6 inches. But then bezelless became a thing and the lines got very blurry.

I had a 6" and didn't particularly like it, mostly because it didn't fit nicely in my pocket. I now have a 5" and I like it much more. There's no way I'm going to 7".

I need to be able to use it one handed, Samsung has gestures to enable this which is helpful but feels like a hack - I really dont need a longer phone. I feel the Nexus 5 was the perfect size for a phone - with pixel densities now I will be very happy keeping it at 1080p - no need for 4k in a phone!

I might have in the past; all I want now is a smallish phone that can dock as a machine (Librem 5) or slide into a laptop enclosure and "be the guts of it". Maybe, the enclosure is like 80% batteries; idk.

My wet dreams are about standardised convergence where any phone can connect to any dumb laptop via a standard connection (like a USB type C port) and "be the guts of it". Sliding in sounds ideal but phone sizes vary widely.

As much as I'd love for this to be true (I've wanted a 7" low bezel phone since I got a Note 2) 4 phones in the last year match the criteria you define as a "trend" https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?fDisplayInchesMin=6.9&...

6.4" remains the popular choice for new high end phones but these phones remain the same physical size as the 5.4" screen phones of older generations due to decreases in bezel size.

Nope.

I went from my old phone to the new S10e and the smaller size is much appreciated.

I suspect that in 3 years or so, I might buy a folding phone that goes from say 5.5" to 9", so I can use it as a full tablet.

I still want something to replace my 7" Nexus tablet.

Don't care if it's called a phone or tablet provided the specs are similar, it gets updates for a few years, and isn't too expensive.

Xiaomi Mi Pad 4

Specs look good. But sounds like no official Google Play Store and not likely to get any updates.

The firmware installed by seller usually is an ugly hack, so first thing you need to do is to install official Chinese ROM (English language is included), then - if you wish - Google services and store.

It is missing Widevine L1 certification, which means you won't be able to stream Netflix or Prime video in HD. Unfortunately, the same applies to Mi Max 3.

Good choice : you can communicate directly with Google servers AND the chinese government.

You need to take Aspect Ratio into account. Is it a 7" 16: 9, 21:9 or 22:9 Phone, or would it be 7" 5:3 ?

On iPhone, I wouldn't mind a 6.9" iPhone XR Max. It will only be slightly wider and taller than iPhone XS Max.

But then the question is, what do we need it bigger? Apart from Playing Games where the screen is too small for control AND display, I would actually prefer the phone to be smaller most of the time. Social Media, and other consumption type of activity don't need such a big screen.

Nope. I have an iPhone 5se. When it dies (hopefully not soon!), I'll be on the market for a similar sized phone. Don't want bigger.

I want the largest phone that can fit in my pocket.

Not really, mainly because I like to fit my phone AND my wallet in any pocket, and because I fear I am more likely to drop a bigger phone because you cant wrap your hands around a bigger object as effectively. If I want to watch a film I prefer using a laptop or TV. If I want to read a small screen size is OK especially with iPhone reader mode or outline.com.

Absolutely not. I have large-ish hands (can play chords on a bass guitar) and find the iPhone 7+ chassis to be too big. I wish they had kept the SE size and split the difference between the two bigger sizes they introduced, like a 5.1” instead of a 4.7” and 5.5”.

I would definitely say no. But then again I once thought the 5+" was ridiculously large for a phone, and yet here I sit with 5+" phone which I'm quite happy with, so I wouldn't listen to me.

After 4.5 years of ownership, I have just today cracked the screen of my iPhone 5s (by carrying it in my back pocket) I bet that with a larger screen it wouldn’t take nearly as long.

I'd buy one that unfolded to that size or more as long as I could continue to keep the keyboard in the bottom left corner for one handed swipe texting and folded up it fit easily in my pocket.

6 inches seems ther limit for me. I can see even at this size that my pants get stretched because it's larger than the area that the curve of my thigh can get depressed.

No. I want 4.5-5.5 inch phones in 16:10ish ratio. Give me that screen size with good battery life. User replaceable battery. All I need.

I like small phones. Wife has a 6" screen and would probably go bigger though. She didn't think a 5.5 was big enough.

> She didn't think a 5.5 was big enough.

I have bad news for you fam.

Only if it folds into a 3.5” smartphone.

yes. because I mostly use it for reading and music. I do not mind the size, I carry it outside of pant pockets.

And it fits into my coat, or back pack (if in summer).

I am not waiting, I have already switched to an IPad Pro

Reply on news.ycombinator.com