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No it's not. The HN crowd has a vocal group of people who advocate for phones like the iPhone SE. The main complaint of this group is that other phones are too

No it's not. The HN crowd has a vocal group of people who advocate for phones like the iPhone SE. The main complaint of this group is that other phones are too big. So a new release of the SE brings a lot of hope for extending that experience. The fact that this phone is bigger doesn't sit well with this vocal minority, because they want a small smartphone and now see that medium is the only available in stock. Expectation, expectation, expectation. It's being shattered, that leads to emotions and that leads to comments. I'm also not too happy about the new SE, if you search my comment history I don't think you see me talking about it, but I'm in the same camp. I think other phones are preposterously big, and the SE is the only normal one. Alas, the new SE is not normal for me. Going back to a dumber phone is now something I have to consider more seriously. I don't want my pockets to bulge out and I want to handle my phone with one hand without straining it. The old iPhone SE was perfect for that. I have pretty tall hands but with the iPhone 8, it didn't strain but felt clumsy (and I use the device quite often in order to help my grandparents with their iPhone 8). I hope I gave you some insight into the marketing persona of people who want the old iPhone SE to come back and how that persona is well represented on HN. See also: Search on HN Algolia for iPhone SE to see these sentiments repeated. Example: the top comment in the this thread [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22878515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22878515

Daneel_ 7y ago
This comment is really the perfect summation of the issue. For what it's worth, I'm also a firm believer of "it should be useable with one hand without akwardness". 4.5" would be my perfect size; just slightly smaller than the current small offerings on the market. I currently have an iphone X and really dislike the form factor - it's just too large, and the rounded corners lend themselves to slipping out of the hand. The square edge design really was the easiest the grip - I hope it makes a return on the next iphone pro. The ipad pro has gone back to the square edge design already, so there's some small hope in this regard.
- dangus 7y ago
  Get a popsocket, give it a chance for a week. All this time you’ve been spending with phones slipping out of hands has been wasted.
  - sverhagen 7y ago
    OnePlus 7 Pro here. Just too big for one thumb to get to all the corners it needs to go to. Not a deal breaker for me, but slightly smaller would be great. Not sure how the pop socket would fix that.
    - dangus 7y ago
      It alleviates that problem because your hand doesn’t have to grip the corners of the phone to be able to hold the phone with one hand anymore. You can pivot the phone from the center without dropping it or having to shift your grip. If you can’t imagine it, seriously, it’s a $10 thing. Just try it. Give it a week for you to get used to it. If you hate it you’re not out a lot of time, money, or effort.
      - arejaytee 7y ago
        Have to agree here, after putting one of my OnePlus the comfortability and ease of holding the phone is so much nicer. I can also almost move my thumb to all four corners (top right is a little off)
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    I think they’re an ugly hack :(
    - dangus 7y ago
      Function over form in this case. You can also get them in colors that closely match your phone so they’re less conspicuous. The black aluminum one goes very well with the space grey iPhone. Mine is custom and has a picture of my cat on it.
roenxi 7y ago
A solid summary, and here is one other point that helps explain the passion: 2006: Smartphones were boring. 2007-2010: Smartphones become magical. The pinnacle, or close to, of the 3.5 inch phone is developed in the iPhone 4. 2010+: Phones smaller than 4.5 inches disappear; by the same magic that they used to appear. For the people who want a 3.5 to 4 inch phone, such as myself, paradise was basically snatched away. I know they can make them, I know they run every app I care about, and they are no longer available for purchase. I want an iPhone 4. I'd settle for an iPhone 5 or similar form factor. Instead they've disappeared and best-case is maybe there is some Android phone that has the right dimensions and is probably poorly fabricated because it is targeting people on a budget. The issue isn't even entitlement, it that the form factor situation is backsliding from where it was when I was happiest. It is infuriating.
- rekoil 7y ago
  100% agree. I had hopes for the 5.4" iPhone 12 changing this trend by being a high end device with a close to OG iPhone SE size. But it now looks like it will not be given the "Pro" title after all, and will instead be the budget option. I hate that "small" has become synonymous with "budget" in the eyes of the manufacturers.
  - mikestew 7y ago
    Ah, for a return to the (early?) 90s when the smallest phones were the "pro" models, and priced accordingly. And people would be amazed: "it's so tiny! Don't want to ask what it must have cost, though."
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- dirktheman 7y ago
  Yes! To me, the iPhone 4 was the pinnacle of phone design and useability. I'd love to have a modern phone with a decent camera in this form factor. AR, NFC, wireless charging are cool, but I don't really NEED them. A decent camera, a small form factor so it fits in my front pocket and battery life are much more important to me. I own a iPhone 8 plus now, thinking I could get used to the size. I can't, even after almost 2 years it's still annoying. I love the screen, I love the screen size for viewing videos and playing games, but I loathe the size of the thing itself. I wouldn't mind giving up screen real estate for a smaller form factor phone.
paul7986 7y ago
Talked about how much I hated my iPhone XS since sept 2018. I hated it so much I returned it the next day ..too big and no Touch ID. My comments were downvoted a lot then... yet glad to see there's demand for iPhone 8 size(my current device since 2017) iPhones. It Looks like potentially many others weren't upgrading either.
mettamage 7y ago
Sorry, I meant to link this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20880686 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20880686 (I can't edit the post anymore)
satyenr 7y ago
You might want to look at Palm Phone — https://palm.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwhOD0BRAQEiwAK7JHmGrU18EVG1haENdel2IjO-G1N2QPYc6YpU0AljbsQD_ErSmileYsFhoCVA0QAvD_BwE https://palm.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwhOD0BRAQEiwAK7JHmGrU18EVG1ha...
- hultner 7y ago
  Wow didn’t know palm still made smartphones, I just think about early 00s PDA. But that phone looks amazing, I hope they bring it to the EU market as well. I’d prefer an iPhone but I’d consider to switch for that formfactor. Honestly though, I’m fine with 4” but the iPhone XS I have today is so clumsy, very hard to use with one hand.
Spooky23 7y ago
Phones like the SE are mostly about corporate customers and people who don't want to pay a premium. Nobody gives a hoot about the small phone crowd, as shrink introduces other design issues. The SE is a replacement for the iPhone 7/8, which is a huge seller as it's near zero cost for big corporate accounts. It's also cheap enough to undermine the resale market for many customers. Apple will setup a production line somewhere and churn these things out for years at low cost -- I wouldn't be surprised if this is also tied to a factory-in-a-can model where production can be ramped up in places like India.

Daneel_ 7y ago

This comment is really the perfect summation of the issue. For what it's worth, I'm also a firm believer of "it should be useable with one hand without akwardness". 4.5" would be my perfect size; just slightly smaller than the current small offerings on the market. I currently have an iphone X and really dislike the form factor - it's just too large, and the rounded corners lend themselves to slipping out of the hand. The square edge design really was the easiest the grip - I hope it makes a return on the next iphone pro. The ipad pro has gone back to the square edge design already, so there's some small hope in this regard.

dangus 7y ago
Get a popsocket, give it a chance for a week. All this time you’ve been spending with phones slipping out of hands has been wasted.
- sverhagen 7y ago
  OnePlus 7 Pro here. Just too big for one thumb to get to all the corners it needs to go to. Not a deal breaker for me, but slightly smaller would be great. Not sure how the pop socket would fix that.
  - dangus 7y ago
    It alleviates that problem because your hand doesn’t have to grip the corners of the phone to be able to hold the phone with one hand anymore. You can pivot the phone from the center without dropping it or having to shift your grip. If you can’t imagine it, seriously, it’s a $10 thing. Just try it. Give it a week for you to get used to it. If you hate it you’re not out a lot of time, money, or effort.
    - arejaytee 7y ago
      Have to agree here, after putting one of my OnePlus the comfortability and ease of holding the phone is so much nicer. I can also almost move my thumb to all four corners (top right is a little off)
- saagarjha 7y ago
  I think they’re an ugly hack :(
  - dangus 7y ago
    Function over form in this case. You can also get them in colors that closely match your phone so they’re less conspicuous. The black aluminum one goes very well with the space grey iPhone. Mine is custom and has a picture of my cat on it.

roenxi 7y ago

A solid summary, and here is one other point that helps explain the passion: 2006: Smartphones were boring. 2007-2010: Smartphones become magical. The pinnacle, or close to, of the 3.5 inch phone is developed in the iPhone 4. 2010+: Phones smaller than 4.5 inches disappear; by the same magic that they used to appear. For the people who want a 3.5 to 4 inch phone, such as myself, paradise was basically snatched away. I know they can make them, I know they run every app I care about, and they are no longer available for purchase. I want an iPhone 4. I'd settle for an iPhone 5 or similar form factor. Instead they've disappeared and best-case is maybe there is some Android phone that has the right dimensions and is probably poorly fabricated because it is targeting people on a budget. The issue isn't even entitlement, it that the form factor situation is backsliding from where it was when I was happiest. It is infuriating.

rekoil 7y ago
100% agree. I had hopes for the 5.4" iPhone 12 changing this trend by being a high end device with a close to OG iPhone SE size. But it now looks like it will not be given the "Pro" title after all, and will instead be the budget option. I hate that "small" has become synonymous with "budget" in the eyes of the manufacturers.
- mikestew 7y ago
  Ah, for a return to the (early?) 90s when the smallest phones were the "pro" models, and priced accordingly. And people would be amazed: "it's so tiny! Don't want to ask what it must have cost, though."
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
dirktheman 7y ago
Yes! To me, the iPhone 4 was the pinnacle of phone design and useability. I'd love to have a modern phone with a decent camera in this form factor. AR, NFC, wireless charging are cool, but I don't really NEED them. A decent camera, a small form factor so it fits in my front pocket and battery life are much more important to me. I own a iPhone 8 plus now, thinking I could get used to the size. I can't, even after almost 2 years it's still annoying. I love the screen, I love the screen size for viewing videos and playing games, but I loathe the size of the thing itself. I wouldn't mind giving up screen real estate for a smaller form factor phone.

paul7986 7y ago

Talked about how much I hated my iPhone XS since sept 2018. I hated it so much I returned it the next day ..too big and no Touch ID. My comments were downvoted a lot then... yet glad to see there's demand for iPhone 8 size(my current device since 2017) iPhones. It Looks like potentially many others weren't upgrading either.

mettamage 7y ago

Sorry, I meant to link this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20880686 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20880686 (I can't edit the post anymore)

satyenr 7y ago

You might want to look at Palm Phone — https://palm.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwhOD0BRAQEiwAK7JHmGrU18EVG1haENdel2IjO-G1N2QPYc6YpU0AljbsQD_ErSmileYsFhoCVA0QAvD_BwE https://palm.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwhOD0BRAQEiwAK7JHmGrU18EVG1ha...

hultner 7y ago
Wow didn’t know palm still made smartphones, I just think about early 00s PDA. But that phone looks amazing, I hope they bring it to the EU market as well. I’d prefer an iPhone but I’d consider to switch for that formfactor. Honestly though, I’m fine with 4” but the iPhone XS I have today is so clumsy, very hard to use with one hand.

Spooky23 7y ago

Phones like the SE are mostly about corporate customers and people who don't want to pay a premium. Nobody gives a hoot about the small phone crowd, as shrink introduces other design issues. The SE is a replacement for the iPhone 7/8, which is a huge seller as it's near zero cost for big corporate accounts. It's also cheap enough to undermine the resale market for many customers. Apple will setup a production line somewhere and churn these things out for years at low cost -- I wouldn't be surprised if this is also tied to a factory-in-a-can model where production can be ramped up in places like India.