4 ms·

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.

mainframed 2y ago
As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy S22, which is not small but seemed to me like the only sane size - feature - price balance on the Android market back then: maybe the reason is battery life? I'm really underwhelmed by the one of the S22. I barely get a day out of it. When I'm travelling with Google Maps, I have to carry a power bank. Maybe current android phones are just optimized so bad in comparison to iPhones? And increasing device size allows for a proportionally larger battery size.
- BenjiWiebe 2y ago
  Surely with modern processor efficiency, they could get similar or better battery life as small phones of the 2010s? Thinking lovingly of the form factor of the 2013 Moto X.
  - montroser 2y ago
    Yes! That first generation Moto X was the premature peak of the small Android phone. After that everything just got bigger and increasingly less beautiful.
  - microtonal 2y ago
    The Moto X 2013 was awesome. It already had some modern smartphone features (AMOLED, always listen phrase) And it was so comfortable in-hand. The Moto X 2014 was already a pretty big regression in that regard (then Lenovo bought Motorola from Google and updates went down the drain as well).
- mixermachine 2y ago
  Most likely you have the Exynos CPU? I upgraded from a S21 Ultra (Exynos) to a S23 Ultra (Snapdragon). Battery life is so much better. I use the 80% battery protection option and nearly always make it through the day. Only if I constantly watch videos the battery is flat in the evening. With power saving and 100% battery I can reach 2 1/2 to 3 days. Loving it.
  - microtonal 2y ago
    Doesn't have to be Exynos. The US version has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which had heating and battery drain issues. The Gen 2 solved these issues.
    - cubefox 2y ago
      The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 solved it by switching to a better TSMC node. The Gen 2 increased performance (on the same node) and got again somewhat less efficient.
- dsr_ 2y ago
  The Asus Zenphone 9 is basically the same size, and two years into it I still average 25-45% battery usage from rising to sleeping for the night. GSam says average per complete battery charge is 2d 16.2h, and Screen On is 11h 58m with an observed maximum of 8 hours 30m. So battery life and a smallish phone are completely compatible with each other.
- whyoh 2y ago
  The S22 is notorious for the poor battery life. The S23, for example, is pretty much the same size, faster, and the battery lasts significantly longer.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
jsheard 2y ago
Even on the Apple side there doesn't seem to be that much demand, as demonstrated by the fact that the SEs are just iterations on old iPhone tooling (currently the iPhone 8) rather than brand new compact designs, and the size of the SE has crept upwards as they moved it to newer tooling. I think the motive behind the SE has more to do with cost optimization than size, it just happens that the cheapest way to make an iPhone is to refresh one of the older iPhones, which incidentally were smaller, as was the style at the time.
- f_allwein 2y ago
  Also, the iPhone minis did not really fly, apparently.
  - ryandrake 2y ago
    God, I wish "not being wanted by at least 100M people" didn't disqualify products from existing.
    - jwagenet 2y ago
      I mean, it disqualifies products from existing at reasonable price points.
      - sulandor 2y ago
        because we made the rules as such, not because of a universal/natural law
cosama2 2y ago
Comment further down the thread mentioned the upcoming Jelly Star Max. Looks like it is exactly what you look for. https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Unihertz&utm_campaign=jelly%20max%20sign%20up https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_me...
- crossroadsguy 2y ago
  Another comment said they are shoddy at best at updates as in they just don't. You might not want an Android phone for daily usage i.e. your main phone i.e for banking apps etc which is not regularly updates and upgraded.
- montroser 2y ago
  Well hey, that does look interesting! I wonder what the screen resolution will be, and whether it will actually make it to market. But either way, nice that there might be something in the works.
- whyoh 2y ago
  It's going to have a 5" screen, but quite thick at 15mm. A similar (but thinner) size phone is the Qin 3 Ultra.
m463 2y ago
It's hard to rail against market forces, where bigger seems to mean prosperity. The same model of SUV is always bigger as time goes on, and there seems to be no small pickups anymore. I've always wondered if modest people buy used devices and cars, and don't have a say in what new ones are like.
- Loughla 2y ago
  Old (er) people spend a lot of money. Old(er) people want larger screens and bigger cars because they're easier to overcome physical issues (sight and dexterity). This is my theory.
  - grishka 2y ago
    > Old (er) people spend a lot of money. Still blows my mind that this is like that in countries that didn't go through a 70-year period of socialism. Anyway, old people don't buy smartphones as much, at least from my observations. They still only use a phone for calls, so why bother? There exist dumb phones with large buttons and simple large UIs specifically for older people.
- seabird 2y ago
  It means prosperity in the sense that the manufacturer is taking you to the cleaners by eliminating smaller low-end and mid-range products to funnel you into higher margin "big" things, for both cars and phones. SUVs being pushed so aggressively the US is because the margins are better and the segment is eternally protected by the Chicken Tax. The insane CAFE leniency for lardassed SUVs/"light trucks" is fought for tooth and nail because the margins on SUVs (especially full-size ones) are crazy. Same thing happened with phones. Remember when a thousand dollar phone was stupid? Now that's what shit gets developed on, tested on, etc. It's just normal, and that's great for people who make phones. Not enough modest people exist to really make an impact in sales numbers and even if they did, they don't really drive any more sales. I know multiple people that are very well off, money in the bank, with a nice house, multiple very nice (enthusiast) cars, that just don't give off the same FOMO effect as somebody in a shitload of debt living in a McMansion driving around a shiny new Navigator.
mdasen 2y ago
There isn't that much demand on the Apple side. Apple discontinued the iPhone mini because they weren't selling. The iPhone SE's popularity is driven by price, not the demand for a smaller phone. The iPhone SE is 5% taller and wider than an iPhone mini. People didn't buy the iPhone mini at $100 cheaper than an iPhone. If they were going to settle for a smaller phone, they wanted half-off. It allows Apple to be in the $400 market by putting out a device that won't compete with the regular iPhone. If Apple offers an iPhone SE sized device at $700, people don't want it. iPhone SE buyers mostly want a larger phone - they just don't want to pay for it. I love the iPhone mini, but people didn't want a small phone. They wanted a cheaper phone. I'd love it if this weren't the case. I do want a 5" phone, but when Apple put out a 5" phone, people wouldn't buy it. They'll only buy it if you price it at half-off.
- rtpg 2y ago
  Reading this post... I think that probably the mini's failures are due to it being so much more than the SE, but people wanting smaller screens are also people "OK" with less tech in the phone as well. SE likely canabalized the mini sales way too much. The main hope for the future would be the SE getting the 12 mini form factor... but then Apple probably would be worried about it canabalizing bigger phone!
- pazimzadeh 2y ago
  seems obvious that there is a small group of people who will pay for a premium small iPhone, priced the same as regular sized phone
- sulandor 2y ago
  > The iPhone SE's popularity is driven by price, not the demand for a smaller phone. The iPhone SE is 5% taller and wider than an iPhone mini. seems like you are talking about the "new se" models, not the original one that everyone wants.
- whyoh 2y ago
  >Apple discontinued the iPhone mini because they weren't selling. I've read somewhere that they sold several millions of them in the US alone. Is that not enough to make a profit? But I think they could sell it with a slower CPU (cheaper) and it would still be fine. People who want a smaller phone probably have a computer at home.
nazgulnarsil 2y ago
There was the zenphone 9/10 in the same size, which also sold poorly enough that the 11 is a regular huge phone. Other than the same thousands (not even millions) of us complaining online year after year there's just no demand.
- cesnja 2y ago
  Zenphone 9 was marketed as small, but it's exactly the same size as a normal iPhone 13/14/15.
tomjen3 2y ago
Because those of us who want a small phone likely thinks that is too big. Hell the erstwhile mini was oversized, part of why it didn’t sell so well I suspect. 3.5in and then not nearly as thick as this one, would be ideal for me. Or just keep the device size from the first couple iPhones.

mainframed 2y ago

As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy S22, which is not small but seemed to me like the only sane size - feature - price balance on the Android market back then: maybe the reason is battery life? I'm really underwhelmed by the one of the S22. I barely get a day out of it. When I'm travelling with Google Maps, I have to carry a power bank. Maybe current android phones are just optimized so bad in comparison to iPhones? And increasing device size allows for a proportionally larger battery size.

BenjiWiebe 2y ago
Surely with modern processor efficiency, they could get similar or better battery life as small phones of the 2010s? Thinking lovingly of the form factor of the 2013 Moto X.
- montroser 2y ago
  Yes! That first generation Moto X was the premature peak of the small Android phone. After that everything just got bigger and increasingly less beautiful.
- microtonal 2y ago
  The Moto X 2013 was awesome. It already had some modern smartphone features (AMOLED, always listen phrase) And it was so comfortable in-hand. The Moto X 2014 was already a pretty big regression in that regard (then Lenovo bought Motorola from Google and updates went down the drain as well).
mixermachine 2y ago
Most likely you have the Exynos CPU? I upgraded from a S21 Ultra (Exynos) to a S23 Ultra (Snapdragon). Battery life is so much better. I use the 80% battery protection option and nearly always make it through the day. Only if I constantly watch videos the battery is flat in the evening. With power saving and 100% battery I can reach 2 1/2 to 3 days. Loving it.
- microtonal 2y ago
  Doesn't have to be Exynos. The US version has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which had heating and battery drain issues. The Gen 2 solved these issues.
  - cubefox 2y ago
    The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 solved it by switching to a better TSMC node. The Gen 2 increased performance (on the same node) and got again somewhat less efficient.
dsr_ 2y ago
The Asus Zenphone 9 is basically the same size, and two years into it I still average 25-45% battery usage from rising to sleeping for the night. GSam says average per complete battery charge is 2d 16.2h, and Screen On is 11h 58m with an observed maximum of 8 hours 30m. So battery life and a smallish phone are completely compatible with each other.
whyoh 2y ago
The S22 is notorious for the poor battery life. The S23, for example, is pretty much the same size, faster, and the battery lasts significantly longer.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

jsheard 2y ago

Even on the Apple side there doesn't seem to be that much demand, as demonstrated by the fact that the SEs are just iterations on old iPhone tooling (currently the iPhone 8) rather than brand new compact designs, and the size of the SE has crept upwards as they moved it to newer tooling. I think the motive behind the SE has more to do with cost optimization than size, it just happens that the cheapest way to make an iPhone is to refresh one of the older iPhones, which incidentally were smaller, as was the style at the time.

f_allwein 2y ago
Also, the iPhone minis did not really fly, apparently.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  God, I wish "not being wanted by at least 100M people" didn't disqualify products from existing.
  - jwagenet 2y ago
    I mean, it disqualifies products from existing at reasonable price points.
    - sulandor 2y ago
      because we made the rules as such, not because of a universal/natural law

cosama2 2y ago

Comment further down the thread mentioned the upcoming Jelly Star Max. Looks like it is exactly what you look for. https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Unihertz&utm_campaign=jelly%20max%20sign%20up https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_me...

crossroadsguy 2y ago
Another comment said they are shoddy at best at updates as in they just don't. You might not want an Android phone for daily usage i.e. your main phone i.e for banking apps etc which is not regularly updates and upgraded.
montroser 2y ago
Well hey, that does look interesting! I wonder what the screen resolution will be, and whether it will actually make it to market. But either way, nice that there might be something in the works.
whyoh 2y ago
It's going to have a 5" screen, but quite thick at 15mm. A similar (but thinner) size phone is the Qin 3 Ultra.

m463 2y ago

It's hard to rail against market forces, where bigger seems to mean prosperity. The same model of SUV is always bigger as time goes on, and there seems to be no small pickups anymore. I've always wondered if modest people buy used devices and cars, and don't have a say in what new ones are like.

Loughla 2y ago
Old (er) people spend a lot of money. Old(er) people want larger screens and bigger cars because they're easier to overcome physical issues (sight and dexterity). This is my theory.
- grishka 2y ago
  > Old (er) people spend a lot of money. Still blows my mind that this is like that in countries that didn't go through a 70-year period of socialism. Anyway, old people don't buy smartphones as much, at least from my observations. They still only use a phone for calls, so why bother? There exist dumb phones with large buttons and simple large UIs specifically for older people.
seabird 2y ago
It means prosperity in the sense that the manufacturer is taking you to the cleaners by eliminating smaller low-end and mid-range products to funnel you into higher margin "big" things, for both cars and phones. SUVs being pushed so aggressively the US is because the margins are better and the segment is eternally protected by the Chicken Tax. The insane CAFE leniency for lardassed SUVs/"light trucks" is fought for tooth and nail because the margins on SUVs (especially full-size ones) are crazy. Same thing happened with phones. Remember when a thousand dollar phone was stupid? Now that's what shit gets developed on, tested on, etc. It's just normal, and that's great for people who make phones. Not enough modest people exist to really make an impact in sales numbers and even if they did, they don't really drive any more sales. I know multiple people that are very well off, money in the bank, with a nice house, multiple very nice (enthusiast) cars, that just don't give off the same FOMO effect as somebody in a shitload of debt living in a McMansion driving around a shiny new Navigator.

mdasen 2y ago

There isn't that much demand on the Apple side. Apple discontinued the iPhone mini because they weren't selling. The iPhone SE's popularity is driven by price, not the demand for a smaller phone. The iPhone SE is 5% taller and wider than an iPhone mini. People didn't buy the iPhone mini at $100 cheaper than an iPhone. If they were going to settle for a smaller phone, they wanted half-off. It allows Apple to be in the $400 market by putting out a device that won't compete with the regular iPhone. If Apple offers an iPhone SE sized device at $700, people don't want it. iPhone SE buyers mostly want a larger phone - they just don't want to pay for it. I love the iPhone mini, but people didn't want a small phone. They wanted a cheaper phone. I'd love it if this weren't the case. I do want a 5" phone, but when Apple put out a 5" phone, people wouldn't buy it. They'll only buy it if you price it at half-off.

rtpg 2y ago
Reading this post... I think that probably the mini's failures are due to it being so much more than the SE, but people wanting smaller screens are also people "OK" with less tech in the phone as well. SE likely canabalized the mini sales way too much. The main hope for the future would be the SE getting the 12 mini form factor... but then Apple probably would be worried about it canabalizing bigger phone!
pazimzadeh 2y ago
seems obvious that there is a small group of people who will pay for a premium small iPhone, priced the same as regular sized phone
sulandor 2y ago
> The iPhone SE's popularity is driven by price, not the demand for a smaller phone. The iPhone SE is 5% taller and wider than an iPhone mini. seems like you are talking about the "new se" models, not the original one that everyone wants.
whyoh 2y ago
>Apple discontinued the iPhone mini because they weren't selling. I've read somewhere that they sold several millions of them in the US alone. Is that not enough to make a profit? But I think they could sell it with a slower CPU (cheaper) and it would still be fine. People who want a smaller phone probably have a computer at home.

nazgulnarsil 2y ago

There was the zenphone 9/10 in the same size, which also sold poorly enough that the 11 is a regular huge phone. Other than the same thousands (not even millions) of us complaining online year after year there's just no demand.

cesnja 2y ago
Zenphone 9 was marketed as small, but it's exactly the same size as a normal iPhone 13/14/15.

tomjen3 2y ago

Because those of us who want a small phone likely thinks that is too big. Hell the erstwhile mini was oversized, part of why it didn’t sell so well I suspect. 3.5in and then not nearly as thick as this one, would be ideal for me. Or just keep the device size from the first couple iPhones.