4 ms·

Looks cool, but I wish some phone maker could come up with a phone that's actually ergonomic. Remember how well old Nokias used to fit the hand? Now it seems li

Looks cool, but I wish some phone maker could come up with a phone that's actually ergonomic. Remember how well old Nokias used to fit the hand? Now it seems like every phone on the market is a slippery glass rectangle.

WalterSear 8y ago
The technical term is fondle-slab.
always_good 8y ago
Remember how beat up they eventually looked? You couldn't do anything about that. By detaching the case from modern phones, consumers could then swap the cases out. I think it was a move in the right direction. However ergonomic a Nokia was doesn't really matter to me when its functionality was vastly limited. I'll take a massive screen that supports many more applications over a text/call machine that has a better grip. Can you provide a phone that combines the two? At least here in Mexico you can still buy cheap brick phones if that's your preference.
- whitepoplar 8y ago
  iPhone 3G/3GS was ergonomic. It fit the hand really well.
- icebraining 8y ago
  Remember how beat up they eventually looked? You couldn't do anything about that. The old Nokias (since the 5110) were actually designed to always be used in a case (which would characteristically snap off when it hit the ground, reducing the impact). Don't you remember all the custom 3310 cases?
joelrunyon 8y ago
They're coming back... https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/nokia-8110-4g-banana-phone-on-sale-price-specifications-1862890 https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/nokia-8110-4g-banana-p...
taneq 8y ago
> Now it seems like every phone on the market is a slippery glass rectangle. I've just broken my Galaxy S7 for this very reason. It looks nice, and it feels slick, but it's heavy and it's slippery as hell. 99% of the time you catch it, but when you pick your phone up 100 times a week... I'm back on my Nexus 5X in the meantime and the combination of matte finish and light weight makes it so much easier to use, not to mention it lasts much longer on a smaller battery.
r00fus 8y ago
Any modern smartphone is ergonomic. Use a decent pair of BT or wired headset/buds/speaker, and you're no longer putting a (potentially hot-running) cell radio up to your head and regain use of both your hands. Much safer for driving too.
- dingaling 8y ago
  Making and receiving calls is a minor use-case for smartphones. The majority of use is text and gesture input.
- FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
  > Any modern smartphone is ergonomic. Any phone bigger than an iPhone SE is completely unusable for me, as it requires two hands to control the whole screen. The screen of the SE allow me to reach everything with just my thumb, which is awesome.
  - Synaesthesia 8y ago
    The SE is a great phone. Good performance and excellent battery life.
- annabellish 8y ago
  >Much safer for driving too. No form of talking on the phone is safe, do not do it.
lsc 8y ago
I loved the old nokias as much as anyone (I had 3 different nokia communicators, even the doomed e90, along with a handful of their more typical offerings) Personally I've yet to see a phone that fits my hand better than the iphone5. The chamfered edges are about perfect for holding without a case. I think it was the last iphone designed for using without a case, too; my current iphone7, aside from just not quite fitting in the hand that way, kept getting taken off of silent mode because the silent switch would catch on something in my pocket. Clearly, it was made to be kept in a case. I mean, hands are different.
- rockostrich 8y ago
  It's a shame that Apple decided to change the iPhone 5 design when they made the iPhone 6. I had an iPhone SE for a couple of years and, while the size was perfect, the straight edges weren't the best.
  - lsc 8y ago
    eh, my personal opinion is that the straight edges made it much easier to grip. I would trade in my iphone 7 for something similarly sized that had the hard edges. but I'm pretty sure it's just a personal taste thing.

WalterSear 8y ago

The technical term is fondle-slab.

always_good 8y ago

Remember how beat up they eventually looked? You couldn't do anything about that. By detaching the case from modern phones, consumers could then swap the cases out. I think it was a move in the right direction. However ergonomic a Nokia was doesn't really matter to me when its functionality was vastly limited. I'll take a massive screen that supports many more applications over a text/call machine that has a better grip. Can you provide a phone that combines the two? At least here in Mexico you can still buy cheap brick phones if that's your preference.

whitepoplar 8y ago
iPhone 3G/3GS was ergonomic. It fit the hand really well.
icebraining 8y ago
Remember how beat up they eventually looked? You couldn't do anything about that. The old Nokias (since the 5110) were actually designed to always be used in a case (which would characteristically snap off when it hit the ground, reducing the impact). Don't you remember all the custom 3310 cases?

joelrunyon 8y ago

They're coming back... https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/nokia-8110-4g-banana-phone-on-sale-price-specifications-1862890 https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/nokia-8110-4g-banana-p...

taneq 8y ago

> Now it seems like every phone on the market is a slippery glass rectangle. I've just broken my Galaxy S7 for this very reason. It looks nice, and it feels slick, but it's heavy and it's slippery as hell. 99% of the time you catch it, but when you pick your phone up 100 times a week... I'm back on my Nexus 5X in the meantime and the combination of matte finish and light weight makes it so much easier to use, not to mention it lasts much longer on a smaller battery.

r00fus 8y ago

Any modern smartphone is ergonomic. Use a decent pair of BT or wired headset/buds/speaker, and you're no longer putting a (potentially hot-running) cell radio up to your head and regain use of both your hands. Much safer for driving too.

dingaling 8y ago
Making and receiving calls is a minor use-case for smartphones. The majority of use is text and gesture input.
FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
> Any modern smartphone is ergonomic. Any phone bigger than an iPhone SE is completely unusable for me, as it requires two hands to control the whole screen. The screen of the SE allow me to reach everything with just my thumb, which is awesome.
- Synaesthesia 8y ago
  The SE is a great phone. Good performance and excellent battery life.
annabellish 8y ago
>Much safer for driving too. No form of talking on the phone is safe, do not do it.

lsc 8y ago

I loved the old nokias as much as anyone (I had 3 different nokia communicators, even the doomed e90, along with a handful of their more typical offerings) Personally I've yet to see a phone that fits my hand better than the iphone5. The chamfered edges are about perfect for holding without a case. I think it was the last iphone designed for using without a case, too; my current iphone7, aside from just not quite fitting in the hand that way, kept getting taken off of silent mode because the silent switch would catch on something in my pocket. Clearly, it was made to be kept in a case. I mean, hands are different.

rockostrich 8y ago
It's a shame that Apple decided to change the iPhone 5 design when they made the iPhone 6. I had an iPhone SE for a couple of years and, while the size was perfect, the straight edges weren't the best.
- lsc 8y ago
  eh, my personal opinion is that the straight edges made it much easier to grip. I would trade in my iphone 7 for something similarly sized that had the hard edges. but I'm pretty sure it's just a personal taste thing.