So Long, Small Phones | Hacker News Reader

So Long, Small Phones

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59 pointsthunderbong37 comments

I would even say the iPhone Mini isn't small enough. It should have been 5.2" Screen which would make it nearly if not the same size as iPhone 5.

But the biggest problem with Mini was the battery. And I dont see how we could solve that without some battery breakthrough. Which isn't going to happen any time soon.

The 2016 iPhone SE shared the same chassis and IMO was the pinnacle of smartphones, big enough screen to have great functionality and small enough that you wouldn't glue yourself to it.

My second-favorite phone so far, after the Samsung Galaxy S3 for size, moddability, and the open-able back panel.

You know the LG G5 H850?

  - LineageOS Support
  - Small-ish
  - Up to 2TB microSD space
  - Exchangeable Battery
  - Audio-Jack
  - Extension-Modules supported
  - Decent size

My current favorite is the Pixel 4a with Audio Jack with GrapheneOS, but I won't buy it, because of the work that is required to change the battery - and there are not many used / affordable ones with reliably decent battery life.

I'll wait until the EU forces the manufacturers to support USB-C and exchangeable batteries again :p

iPhone 12 mini had poor battery life, but Apple fixed it with the iPhone 13 mini - plenty of capacity to go all day.

I think the battery is fine in my 13mini! There's maybe a natural tradeoff where most of the reasons you'd need more battery also benefit from the bigger viewing area of a larger phone. And also, maybe there are fewer pixels to render on a smaller screen?

I'm still holding out hope for a tick-tick-tock cycle yielding a 16mini. I suspect the same demographics that want smaller phones also often aren't rapid upgraders. However, there's probably, hopefully, still enough accumulating demand for an every three generations mini upgrade.

Apple is trying to launch the Vision Pro presently also, and so might be tactically benefiting from having no mini iPhone to worry about for a couple years.

Also, allow me to gush that the iPhone 13 mini fits in the front pocket of women's jeans, in a pinch!!

I wouldn't say iPhone 13 Mini fixed the battery life problem. It was just iPhone 12 mini was so bad. Especially with 5G. I use it a lot for work ( email and whatsapp ) and 13 Mini just dont quite make it.

Technically they could have made an iPhone SE as Mini size, with single camera, down clocked A18 ( on N3E ), more internal space for battery due to one less camera lens, tune the OLED panel for energy efficiency rather than brightness and quality.

But modern Apple is all about operational efficiency. I doubt they will do any of that.

I upgraded from an iPhone 8 to an iPhone SE 3 but would have loved to have had a Mini as an option. The SE 3 is still small enough for me to use one handed but I know that isn't the case for a lot of people.

A quote that was a bit surprising:

> “The problem is Apple has exclusive rights to [the iPhone Mini’s] display — so, even with the line being discontinued, [Samsung Display] isn’t going to give us access,” he told supporters last month.

Apple reserving the latest generation of processors or manufacturing availability is famous. Locking whole screen categories is another thing altogether (later in the article it seems there could be a way though)

Apple didn't lock up an category. Apple locked up their specific panels, which happen to be the only panels in a category. Any other major manufacturer is free to order similarly sized and specs panels - they'll just need to be ready to pay for it.

I do wonder how much of this is driven by high performance requirements. If you go non high dpi, and 60Hz, do your options open up?

>I do wonder how much of this is driven by high performance requirements. If you go non high dpi, and 60Hz, do your options open up?

Except you cant. It is just standard manufacturing problem.

If you want the display to be cut in specific size, you either have other industry players with large enough volume, and you buy the same size with different variation on panels. i.e You pick up the scraps of other players. And you are piggy back on their orders.

Or you could ask the Display Panel manufacture to custom made for you, which without volume you wont be able to afford.

Since Apple isn't ordering those smaller specific size panel any more. Samsung aren't making those. So there are no lower quality grades to pick up. And you cant ask Samsung to give what Apple were using ( since they were the ONLY player in the industry to use that specific size screen ). And they have an exclusive arrangement. Apple also uses slightly different sub pixel alignment. So the moment you use it they will know.

Right, but I'm wondering what happens when you expand out to non-tier 1 suppliers . There's still a giant market of sub 5" trash tier touchscreen LCDs (with like 800x600ish and lower). I wonder if some compromise (say ~5" at around 1280x720) would be sufficiently available.

Conversely, I guess my question is why the "trash tier" LCD market seemingly hasn't moved in like 5-10 years.

Good point.

On the requirement, I wonder if a sub 6" screen without high dpi would be competitive in the current market.

As Motorola and the Chinese makers are pushing the price down on the lower end phones while keeping somewhat decent specs, having a smaller screen that is also less crisp so text sizes can't be lowered too much could be a pretty strong disadvantage.

Perhaps the expansion of foldable phones could add more options (the external screen tends to be smaller than our current phones).

iPhone 13 mini owner here. I love this phone. I've used large phones in the past, was a happy iPhone 7 Plus owner, and owned and used the 5.8-inch iPhones X and 11 Pro, but I'm just so much happier with a smaller phone that I can more easily hold. Part of this is due to my smaller hands, and a large part is the reduction in weight. I don't even care if I drain the battery scrolling TikTok, because the battery is so small I can fast charge back to 80% in no time.

It's weird. I spent my teenage years and early twenties as a yearly/bi-yearly iPhone upgrader, but it turns out that form factor, more so than display, cameras, or gimmicks is what wins me over today.

I proclaim in my everyday life that the phone that will replace my blue iPhone 1 mini will -- as of right now -- be a used/refurbished green iPhone 13 mini. :)

I agree phones are getting too big but I love my S23's size. It's amazingly powerful.

The Z flip 5 has serious cooling issues, in notebookcheck's test it went over 55 degrees Celsius. The S23 stayed below 30. Apparently this is also why the Flip 5 never got DeX.

I can see why in the teardowns. The SoC in the Flip 5 is sandwiched between two PCBs so there's no way to attach it to the metal frame for cooling through a vapor chamber like the S23 does. Of course the hinge takes up a lot of space.

I have been searching for a new phone for months, looking for something small and with a headphone socket, it's literally impossible.

Typing this on an Asus Zenfone 9. Small, headphone jack, good battery life.

I think there's a Zenfone 10 now?

Asus Zenphone 10. You’re welcome.

As stated in the article, the Zenfone 10 isn't actually small, it's the same size as a standard iPhone or galaxy S23

Typing this on Asus Zenfon 8. The best phone I have had in years, I have it for almost 2 years now. No bloat, small, records voice calls. There's nothing more I want from a phone.

Battery isn't great but afaik it improved in the newer models.

Galaxy J3 2016, tiny phone does all that I could ever need

Still waiting on Asus to turn the bootloader unlock servers back on so I can use my Zenfone 8 with LineageOS :(

I was very against losing headphone socket but just accepted the iPhone SE 2020 and actually using thunderbolt to headphone jack adapter is not that bad. But the ultimate realization is when you finally try Airpods Pro and you are converted.

Unihertz has got you covered: https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-star

Disclaimer: I've never owned any of their phones so I can't speak to their quality.

Thanks, that's a cool device but I think maybe a bit too small to be useable.

I own one of their original Jellys and I still find it amazing. I never used it as my daily driver though since it really is a bit _too_ small.

The quality is ok but their update policy is terrible.

I have a jelly one but it never got the promised upgrade. They were just like 'hey it's very difficult due to the limited storage so we're only going to upgrade the pro version' :(

And later models have been getting 1 upgrade at best too.

Sony Xperia 5v and 10v are two current phones that reasonably sized and still have a headphone jack and memory card slot. Not the flagship Xperia 1v though, I think that one's a bit bigger.

There's the Light Phone if you can live with e-ink. Don't know how capable the music player is though.

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Thanks

i guess flip phones are the new small. once they become more affordable.

my pixel 3 died after 4 years so i upgraded to a used pixel 5 which was the last small-ish pixel.

very surprised with the battery. rarely end the day less than 75% - and it's smaller than the not small (imo) zenfone 10.

Not really, they are still quite heavy and very thick.

Reviews of the OnePlus Open say they're thinner than previous attempts and about the same weight as current iPhones.

Going to assume you mean foldable phones. A lot of people want small phones so they can be used one-handed. One cannot reach every part of a folding screen with one hand.

The OP means flip phones. Foldables are the full size phones that fold out to be mini tablets. Flip phones are like modern moto razers with a small screen on the outside and a larger screen inside.

This makes me sad. I love my iPhone 13 Mini and I have no idea what I'll use when it dies.

Bring back the form factor of the iPhone 5C. Not so wide but still a good size.

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