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Comment by lazyeye | Hacker News Reader

The unihertz Jelly is smaller than these phones

https://www.unihertz.com/collections/jelly-series

Then there are some dumb phones which are even smaller. I think the Nokia 3310 is pretty tiny but the 4G version is only available in China.

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People keep citing that as a small phone, but it's twice as thick as the average phone.

For many people what they want in a "small phone" is being able to reach the whole screen with their thumb without contorting their hand, in that case thickness doesn't matter as much.

I've been using a Unihertz Jelly (2?) for years. Some of the usual apps are a little tricky in such a small screen, where the keyboard takes up a large portion of visible space, but overall it's a great solution for someone who wants a small smartphone.

The battery kept getting worse after recharging, so I eventually replaced it with a new one -- and everything was back to normal.

Biggest issue with Unihertz devices is that manufacturer refuses to release source code, thus violating GPLv2 licence. It would be great to be able to run postmarketOS or Droidian on such small devices.

The Jelly Max is so close to being a perfect phone for me. Unfortunately, a headphone jack is currently a hard requirement for me as I need one for my car audio. And a dongle isn't a viable solution, as they can be lost. So it's a no-go.

If car audio is your usecase, could you not just attach the dongle to the car audio cable? A couple zloties and it will never be lost.

The bigger issue with anything made by Unihertz is the zero updates ever.

I'm sorry, a zlotie?

A couple bucks, a few quid, etc. A small amount of money.

I have no idea how that happened. Autocorrect?

It is meant to be "zip ties"

> a dongle isn't a viable solution, as they can be lost

So can your phone... I don't see how this reasoning can be taken seriously.

How often are you losing dongles that this legitimately concerns you? And even if that were happening, why can't you replace it?

Isn't attaching a Bluetooth receiver to your car easier than rejecting a phone based on no headphone jack? At least my 2010 Toyota Prius still has the equivalent of a cigarette lighter, and I just bought a Bluetooth receiver that plugs into that.

Smartwatches with a SIM are smaller than the unihertz Jelly

Unihertz hardware and software are pretty crap, no warranty, no updates.

Likewise the HMD feature phones, the gimped and locked down s40+ OS is just so bad as to be almost unusable, simple things like in-line conversations for text messages, absolute dogshit UI and sound quality for mp3 playing and even calls.

It’s a shame boot2geko and KaiOS just kind of flopped because a proper open alternative would be cool.

Of course, these phones are never going to replace a conventional smartphone. They are really only where you care about size, you want to be contactable when out running etc.

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