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Comment by grishka | Hacker News Reader

This is most evident in the smartphone market. I want a 4" phone with a decent camera and a headphone jack. Because I still primarily use my phone as a limited communication device. I don't watch videos on my phone at all. I do take pictures with it and I do sometimes listen to music on it. My primary device is still my computer and that isn't going to change. The large screen brings me exactly zero benefits for my use cases, and it makes it very awkward to use with one hand.

Yet guess what? Phones these days start at 6". And if you want to spend extra money on something of high quality, it's guaranteed to have a huge screen because you can't not want one.

So much for "voting with your wallet"...

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I've been you, but moved on when I got an iPhone XS from work. PC is still the main device and I don't use the phone for video. Mostly reddit, music, podcast and the occasional picture. Things I do when on the move.

The missing headphone jack turned out be basically a non-issue, even though that kept me back from upgrading - the converter stays on the headphone jack at all times (I think the force to pull it out is higher than standard headphones jacks as well). It's very rare that I'm in a situation where I want to charge the phone while being connected to a headphone jack. Not sure I've experienced it yet.

It sounds like something like the iPhone 12 mini would work for you if you gave it a shot. It's a bit larger (5.4") than something like the iPhone 4 (5") but it doesn't feel like a huge phone. I'm intending to replace my iPhone XS with a device of that size when its time for me to get a new phone.

There are adapters which let you charge and listen to music at the same time, this one[1] for instance is only £1.49 which is low enough that I might give it a go if I need it, sight unseen. But you're right, I've not needed this functionality yet.

[1] https://www.shein.co.uk/2-In-1-Charger-Cable-Adapter-p-21317...

I can't consider an iPhone unless I can run Android on it. The restrictive nature of iOS kills it for me. I'm currently using a Pixel 4a and it's the least shitty phone money can buy.

The iPhone 4 was not 5", it was only 3.5". The iPhone 5 had only a 4" screen, the iPhone 6 was 4.7".

The iPhone 4 had a 3.5" screen but was 5" in physical size. iPhone 12 mini is 5.4" screen with ~5.7" physical size. So a bit larger, but not by that much.

I assumed that the real issue was not the screen size but rather the physical size of the device (which is obviously tied to the screen size).

No, the screen size, regardless of the size of the entire device, is important because that's what its usability depends on. The bigger the screen the more area for you to reach when you use it with one hand. My previous phone was a Pixel 1, it had a 5" screen with large bezels on top and bottom. My current one is a Pixel 4a that has the screen cover as much of the front as technically possible. It's sometimes harder to reach the navigation bar at the bottom and the status bar at the top because they're physically in places where the Pixel 1 had bezels. (the two phones have exactly the same physical dimensions btw)

Yeah, even in the same physical size a larger screen is not strictly better. It's mostly better, but my thumb has not gotten longer just because the screen is bigger and things which I used to be able to reach with it are now out of reach.

Simple thing: phones are getting larger, but people remain the same size.

Some phones come with a "single handed mode" where the entire contents of the screen shrink to a window in the corner. So they are recognizing that large screens are a problem. That's great. Now I wish I could take a saw to this thing and get rid of the dead space around that window.

Sadly, the number of people who want 3.5" screens is very small these days. I suspect the die was cast when Asian women (despite stereotypically having more petite hands) voted with their wallets for large (5", 6"+) phones.

Smaller phones sell less well, this is borne out by sales figures across geographies and brands, to the point where even the iPhone mini is 5.2" -- it would considered humongous back in 2007.

So yes, while I sympathize (and I have small hands myself), I think it's a losing battle, like CD vs MP3. Personally I've just adapted to the iPhone 11 size.

Asian women somehow like huge phones for some reason.. I've seem some that were literally small tablets (think 7-8" without folding) and they were always carried by Asian women when I saw them. Maybe this is coincidence. But I've never actually seen these phone models on the market in Europe so I don't think so.

Personally I don't like phones too small, for me the Samsung S-series (5.8" with bezels e.g. S8, 6.2" without bezels e.g. S21) is perfect for me. I have a OnePlus 8 now which is S8+ sized and that's too big for sure. It's not even the one-handed use, it's just clamping it in my hand, it's just too wide for comfort. Especially with a case on it.

I'm in the same boat. My phone is mainly just lying around on my desk when I'm at home. Why poke around on a tiny screen when I have a triple-screen setup with a proper keyboard?

And since early 2020 I've been at home a LOT. So I get 3-day battery life now because I simply don't use my phone. In these times a 4" phone just for outside would be nice. Once things pick up again though I wouldn't mind the bigger screen to read books on the subway to work.

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