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Comment by coldpie | Hacker News Reader

My kingdom for a phone with stock Android and a 4.7" display.

That's exactly how I (reluctantly) became an iPhone user. The iPhone SE was the only decent phone with a smaller form factor, so I had to make the switch from Android.

Sadly iPhone SE has been discontinued by Apple and is no longer a decent phone tbh. I can’t recommend it.

There are rumors of a new iPhone SE 2 coming later this year[0]. If true it might be right up the gp's alley.

[0]:https://www.techradar.com/news/iphone-se-2

Macrumors is guessing this 4.7” “iPhone SE 2” might come out in March.

https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/iphone-se/

Get an XZ1 Compact and put a GSI on it. I gave in and got an S10e which is only slightly larger but is all screen.

If memory serves, when the XZ1 Compact came out in the US, it was severely handicapped in some way, although memory escapes me as to why. Something like the fingerprint reader inside the power button was disabled due to a lawsuit, and the camera was awful if you went off the stock OS that Sony shipped.

Real pity. I held the phone in my hands at a Best Buy and got incredibly close to buying it.

My last Sony phone was the Z5 Compact, which was the first and last Sony phone in the US to have a fingerprint sensor until they cleared that legal mess up.

I ditched it for the Pixel 2 (and now 4) eventually; Sony's software got worse and slower with every update, and the phone would heat up for seemingly no reason. The camera was really good, but I couldn't install a custom ROM without crippling it due to DRM junk.

As much as the Pixels aren't perfect, and the physical size of them is not what I'd like (I'd really like something like a 4"-4.2" screen), they've at least been consistent in build and software quality (to the point where I haven't been motivated to flash a custom ROM), and the cameras have been wonderful.

> the camera was awful if you went off the stock OS that Sony shipped

I would have bought that phone if not for this issue. (I can’t remember why the stock OS was unacceptable, even before purchase)

> the camera was awful if you went off the stock OS that Sony shipped.

Thankfully they stopped that bullshit , including on this very model in their Android Pie update.

I look periodically to see if anything has changed.

https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2018&fDisplay...

Nope. Literally seven phones, with the search just limited to sub 5" diagonal, Android 9 or 10, and a release in the last two years.

My phone now is an Xperia X Compact. Based on that list of seven the Xperia XZ2 Compact would be my next choice. Which actually looks like a fine phone, but not much of an upgrade versus what I already have. And it's from 2018 anyway, feels kind of silly to upgrade from a phone from 2017 to a phone from 2018 in 2020.

Librem... if you're listening... I'll pay extra for a phone that's under a 5" diagonal. You can quote me on that and call it a pre-order.

I don't have market research to back it up, but I do hear more and more people basically saying they haven't bought a new phone in years because they're all too big. Do they not include people who wear women's clothing in their market testing?

Don't filter by screen size, filter by physical size instead (phones are getting ever better in screen/size ratio). I also filter by RAM>3GB: https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2018&nHeightM...

Those interested in small phones are usually looking for one-handed operation and zero-width bezels are not the right tool for that.

Your search is broken for some reason. It doesn't find this phone that works on T-Mobile unlocked and is smaller than that https://www.gsmarena.com/palm_palm-9290.php

Wow, those reviews... people really hate that phone. The battery is so tiny. But yeah, my filter excluded it because it's not updatable to Android 9 or higher.

I agree that's not an important filter per se, but it does filter out the stuff that's got sub-par hardware or tons of manufacturer installed apps or vendors that don't provide quick updates. At least somewhat. I'd be nervous getting that phone, though it looks really great other than the battery... and reviews...

I'll just wait until it exists again, it's inevitable. Until then, I hope my phone stays healthy.

I'm in a similar boat. What are your thoughts on the Samsung Z flip?

I like my S10e. I got the 256GB because I have lots of music and video. Works nicely when it is plugged into a monitor.

When my girlfriend's Galaxy S4 Mini finally died, we looked high and low for a good replacement, but didn't find anything good under 5 inches of screen.

In the end, we decided to find a phone that was at least not too wide, so it could still be used one-handed. We ended up buying Motorola One Visions for us both, since my Moto X Play was getting rather long in the tooth.

While it is a 6.3" screen, the bezels are rather small and it has a 21:9 aspect ratio, so it doesn't feel clunky at all, it falls naturally in my average-sized hands.

Overall we are both very pleased. It's afforable, plenty fast (especially now with Android 10) and it's on the Android One program, so you get stock Android with a few Motorola features on top, no bloat and great battery life. It's a damn good midrange phone.

The Droid Mini remains my favorite smart phone I've purchased. Even its current run speed isn't a deal-breaker- it's the lack of battery replacements and security patched android that keeps me from still using it. If a modernized phone came out in the same form factor, I'd buy it day 1.

I've been liking the Nokia 1 I recently bought.

try the nokia android one phones

Those all look huge. The Moto X is the last phone I've owned that I found to be an acceptable size. Compared to that, the Nokia lineup is enormous. https://phonesized.com/compare/#1192,359,1105

Edit: That same site has these tables, which show that there really are zero phones in that form factor on the market https://phonesized.com/charts/

My Pixel 3 is small and I can text and hold it using one hand with no problem.

https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_3_specs

Sadly not actually small. I have a Pixel 3A right now and I hate it, it's way, way too big. What I need is something where I can reach the top of the screen (notifications, Firefox URL bar and tab controls, other controls) while using one hand, without loosening my grip on the phone. This worked fine up to about 4.7" screens. Beyond that and it's just impossible.

Agreed. I happen to have my old Moto X handy; I stuck it to my fridge to access OurGroceries, and it's still working fine at the ripe age of 7.

The 3A is nearly an inch taller than the original Moto X: https://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Motorola-Moto-X,Go...

As you say, that makes it awkward to use the phone one-handed. I'd definitely buy something more the Moto X size if it were otherwise equivalent.

I use the Firefox Preview Nightly that provides the option to have a bottom URL bar.

I wish notifications and controls where down to like they are in my KDE.

I think people just have different standards here, which should be no surprise (different hand sizes!). I found the Pixel 2 (and 4, which is nearly the same physical size despite the larger screen) to be tolerable, but nowhere near ideal. I like to one-hand my phone, often feel like reaching for things with my thumb comes close to a hard drop to the floor.

I think my sweet spot was the old Nexus 4.

Go to GSM Arena and plug in your max dimensions. Leave the screen size alone since modern small bezel phones pack more screen into a smaller package.

I have a Nokia 3.1 with Android One. Screen-rotate broken, or fixed again, on successive system updates. Currently broken. Other than that, the 3.1 has been okay.

iPhone 8 is your best bet.

Recently switched from an iPhone 8 to a 11 Pro, which is smaller than the standard 11, and it`s pretty close size-wise but a bit thicker.

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