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Comment by wmf | Hacker News Reader

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.

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?

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

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