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You’re way too cynical and have let your cynicism cloud history. The first phablets were probably the Galaxy Note line starting in 2011 which was met with some

You’re way too cynical and have let your cynicism cloud history. The first phablets were probably the Galaxy Note line starting in 2011 which was met with some skepticism due to the size of them. These were well before the edge to edge screen days. So you had 5.7 inch screens with a bezel. They were huge but I would routinely see small women pull these things out of their hand bags and press a device that obscured almost their whole face and start chatting. Things steadily got bigger from there. The general population WANTED this.

makeitdouble 1y ago
Parent's take is not whether bigger phones shouldn't exist, it's why smaller phones stopped being produced, which is a fairly different angle. > women To note, the initial smartphones were already too big for he taste of many: a clamshell feature phone was almost a third of the size of the original iPhone. From that POV, going to a phone that is twice as big is less of a barrier, as they had to keep it in a bag/purse in the first place. The return of foldables is also pretty well received in that regard.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  Just tonight, I saw a friend of mine, pull a new foldable Razr from her purse. They are cool phones, but I do iOS. I still use a 13 Mini, and will continue to do so, for quite some time. As to the point of this article, I seem to recall a couple of very small Android phones, some years ago (about credit-card sized). I guess they didn’t sell well.
  - makeitdouble 1y ago
    > very small Android phones IMHO this is just not viable in the current world. I agree with line the article sets (5"4 for 1080p, almost the size of the Pixel 4a), as mainstream apps will properly work at that size. I still have a working 4a, and some banking apps are getting pretty cramped for instance. And many websites already need furious panning and zooming. A credit card size phone would only work for people who basically hate their phones I think.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
      I agree. I think the article about them was on Ars Technica, but I don’t really feel like looking for it. They seemed underwhelmed at the phones. [EDITED TO ADD] Found ‘em: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/palm-rises-from-the-dead-as-a-zombie-brand-launches-tiny-smartphone/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/palm-rises-from-the-... Also, these: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/11/meet-this-unique-compact-android-phone-from-a-japanese-toaster-company/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/11/meet-this-unique-com...
      - deleted 1y ago
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      - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
        And this was their review of it: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/12/palm-phone-review-fun-endearing-and-bad-at-everything/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/12/palm-phone-review-fu...
    - happymellon 1y ago
      > banking apps are getting pretty cramped Completely agree. Although not even on "small phones", my S23 isn't small but the design of these apps has regressed so much that I barely see any useful information. On my old WAP phone I could see bank balance and maybe the last transaction or two. Now half the screens taken up with upselling account levels, invest in shares, buy crypto, you've been pre-approved!
      - zo1 1y ago
        It's the padding! And the UX teams that add them into the designs! My cynical take is that an unholy pact was formed between FE devs and UX designers: By adding in "design" and "user experience" you essentially reduce features, complexity and general "dev time" of every single user-screen or page or component. They're no longer cram-packed with oodles of features, toggles, buttons, menus, etc. Most pages are glorified lists of things, with maybe a menu on each item if you are lucky. Devs dev less, have less bugs, just use FE-library of the day and go home happy because they made a CRUD screen essentially. Meanwhile, UX designers get to play around and constantly fiddle with design because let's all be honest, nothing will ever be truly good and in a perfect "user experience" space because complexity and functionality are never what the user is happy about having, until they need it.
  - dontlaugh 1y ago
    I do wish Apple would make one. The Samsung Z Flip almost follows the Apple design language, if only it ran iOS.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 1y ago
      Are the screens reliable now?
      - dontlaugh 1y ago
        I wouldn’t know. I assume they must be reliable by know, they’ve been making foldable screens for years.
      - jlokier 1y ago
        I don't think so. Yesterday I was browsing phones and there was a Google Pixel 9 Fold on dislpay, closed and showing something. That has a display on the outside and a foldable display on the inside. I opened it, and most of the screen looked like a big, roundish black blob of ink, centred on the fold, on top of the Android animations working perfectly underneath, but only visible at the edges. I was impressed that the rest of the screen around worked perfectly, but it was unusuable due to the size of the black blob. Something had broken at or near the fold while it was on display. All other devices were in great condition; it was a well-maintained store.
wyre 1y ago
The general population wants larger phones because they are addicted to their screens.
- jittery41 1y ago
  For most people the phone is their only computer. Who bring laptop to a friend group hangout anymore ? Only the techies.
  - jchw 1y ago
    Well, do you think this is a good state of affairs? On one hand, phones are pretty accessible devices, on the other hand there are many aspects of phones that are objectively pretty terrible for consumers (talking about cost and difficulty of repair, walled garden ecosystems, and generally being geared towards consuming things and a lot less effective at producing them than laptops and desktops.) (Tangential: of course I don't blame anyone for bringing their phone with them everywhere but if you're going to go to a friend group hangout, consider how annoying it is when you're trying to talk to someone and they're clearly checked out browsing some slop on Twitter or talking to someone else entirely. Take a damn break from the phone!)
  - bigstrat2003 1y ago
    Who ever brought a laptop to a friend group hangout? I never have seen that happen myself.
    - taraindara 1y ago
      Depends on you and your friends. My group does this regularly.
    - volemo 1y ago
      I’m not sure if your comment is sarcastic, but in case it isn’t: my friend group had a get-together two days ago, three out of six had a laptop with them, and it even came in handy when I started talking about the problem I’m working on, somebody got interested and I was able to show the plots and calculations. Also we have PowerPoint Parties somewhat regularly, where most of us bring their computers to make last minute changes or simply have a known environment.
zanecodes 1y ago
The Dell Streak (shoutout to the other 3 people who bought one) had a 5 inch screen in 2010, a notable jump from contemporary phones like the iPhone 4 which was still 3.5", and other Android devices like the HTC Droid series which were around 3.7" and slowly starting to creep upwards to differentiate themselves from the iPhone. I think the largest Android devices you could get at the time were still smaller than 4".
- al_borland 1y ago
  I remember Dell showing this off at the All Thing D conference and Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal asked the Dell spokesperson to put it up to his head, and told him it looked like a waffle. To this days it’s all I think of when I see someone holding a massive phone up to the side of their head. That thing could really stand out in a crowd. I was at a baseball stadium for a concert that year, and spotted someone with a Dell Streak as I was heading down to the field. In a sea of people that was the one phone I spotted. I stopped to ask the guy about it briefly.
  - overfeed 1y ago
    I remember Steve Jobs berating phablets as "the Hummer of phones" and dissing 7-inch Android tablets as too small, and disparagingly saying users would need to "file down their fingers" to use them - without considering how much smaller Apple users' fingers would need to be to use 3.5-inch iPhones. I also remember the viral, doctored image showing the reachability of phone screens which "proved" that 3.5 inches was the "ideal" phone size.
thekevan 1y ago
The Samsung Galaxy Note (the first one) had a screen size of 5.3 inches. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 had a screen size of 5.5 inches. I had one and regularly had strangers ask me if that was really a phone. I had friends say, "Give me a call on your tablet" as a joke. I loved it. Now my 6.1 inch iPhone feels on the small side.
- _trampeltier 1y ago
  This. I'm also had several Note's. I even would like now also to have a bigger phone again. But it seems nobody does 8" or 9" phones.
  - prmoustache 1y ago
    > But it seems nobody does 8" or 9" phones. They are called tablets, some come with a sim slot so they are essentially the same.
darkwater 1y ago
Yeah and I also remember how Apple fans said "this is ridiculous, nobody needs a screen that big that doesn't fit in your pocket easily", and here we are 15 years later mourning the iPhone Mini/SE.
- pyman 1y ago
  10 years ago, if your phone was bigger than 5 inches, it looked ridiculous. You'd pull it out and people would look at you like you'd just escaped from a nut house
- ghaff 1y ago
  The Pro (non-Max) feels like my sweet spot. Fits in most pockets pretty easily but Max is just too big for me.
  - jml78 1y ago
    I am 6ft tall and feel like my hands are above average in size. I have a regular iPhone 16 pro. I still don’t understand how people use bigger devices. Do they like using two hands? I can’t single hand a phone any larger without having to shift it in my hand. I don’t want to use two hands on my phone outside of typing.
    - fkyoureadthedoc 1y ago
      People type a lot though. It's also better for video, games, reading, general browsing. If you value one handed operation above all that though, then obviously smaller is better.
Marazan 1y ago
It's amusing how people try an memory hole their negative reaction and pieces written about the Note. People's mocking web pages have disappeared. Arguments based on the size of the human hand completely forgotten. The very notion that a 5.7 inch screen is big an unwieldly is now met with disdain.
- Nursie 1y ago
  When I first saw the ad on tv, my reaction was "Holy moley, wow, who's going to buy that monstrosity?" And then a few weeks later I bought one. All the guys in my office laughed and said "Wow, look at that huge thing, it's ridiculous". I chuckled and agreed, though I was quietly enjoying the larger screen. And now everyone's using them.
stavros 1y ago
I just refuse to accept that the first phablet I ever saw, the Galaxy Note, which covered the person's face and looked absolutely comical in their hands, was smaller than my current, very regular-sized phone.
- sockbot 1y ago
  That's because it's not smaller, it has a larger front face area and volume.
  - stavros 1y ago
    It doesn't, my phone is a full cm longer.
- 2muchcoffeeman 1y ago
  How big is your phone? If it want for edge to edge screens, I’d have stuck with my iPhone SE longer.
  - stavros 1y ago
    It's a Nothing 2, fairly typical in size. I think the Pro Max is larger.
gsich 1y ago
>Things steadily got bigger from there. The general population WANTED this. Easy to say if the only devices are big phones. There is no choice.
okanat 1y ago
Smaller phones has always been limited in performance, batter life, the app support and the camera quality. Camera is the most important factor and battery is the second. General population doesn't buy phones every year and they don't want a nerfed phone when they have to pay 500-1000 $/€s. So they gravitate towards higher end ones. Companies including Apple has always treated the small size as an entry to mid segment phone. The only exception I know is Sony z3 and z5 compact which suffered heat and battery swelling issues due to Qualcomm messing 810 series SoCs up. Companies also want you to buy the most expensive phone. So they market the premium models and train their store personnel to sell more of the premium line. If they stop intentionally nerfing the smaller phones, I think there is a market there. However, it will still be smaller.
- ChrisRR 1y ago
  At least the smaller battery is offset by the smaller screen
  - MengerSponge 1y ago
    It helps, but less than you'd think. The main board's power doesn't dramatically change, and because the full space under the screen isn't battery, reducing the screen size by 40% might cause the battery size to be reduced by 60%
- ghaff 1y ago
  I used to lug a dedicated camera around all the time. Except for special purposes I just bring a phone these days. And I'm not the only one. I do know people who do a lot of nature photography but I also know people who always had a camera with them who now reserve them for "serious" portraiture and things like that.
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makeitdouble 1y ago

Parent's take is not whether bigger phones shouldn't exist, it's why smaller phones stopped being produced, which is a fairly different angle. > women To note, the initial smartphones were already too big for he taste of many: a clamshell feature phone was almost a third of the size of the original iPhone. From that POV, going to a phone that is twice as big is less of a barrier, as they had to keep it in a bag/purse in the first place. The return of foldables is also pretty well received in that regard.

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
Just tonight, I saw a friend of mine, pull a new foldable Razr from her purse. They are cool phones, but I do iOS. I still use a 13 Mini, and will continue to do so, for quite some time. As to the point of this article, I seem to recall a couple of very small Android phones, some years ago (about credit-card sized). I guess they didn’t sell well.
- makeitdouble 1y ago
  > very small Android phones IMHO this is just not viable in the current world. I agree with line the article sets (5"4 for 1080p, almost the size of the Pixel 4a), as mainstream apps will properly work at that size. I still have a working 4a, and some banking apps are getting pretty cramped for instance. And many websites already need furious panning and zooming. A credit card size phone would only work for people who basically hate their phones I think.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
    I agree. I think the article about them was on Ars Technica, but I don’t really feel like looking for it. They seemed underwhelmed at the phones. [EDITED TO ADD] Found ‘em: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/palm-rises-from-the-dead-as-a-zombie-brand-launches-tiny-smartphone/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/palm-rises-from-the-... Also, these: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/11/meet-this-unique-compact-android-phone-from-a-japanese-toaster-company/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/11/meet-this-unique-com...
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
      And this was their review of it: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/12/palm-phone-review-fun-endearing-and-bad-at-everything/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/12/palm-phone-review-fu...
  - happymellon 1y ago
    > banking apps are getting pretty cramped Completely agree. Although not even on "small phones", my S23 isn't small but the design of these apps has regressed so much that I barely see any useful information. On my old WAP phone I could see bank balance and maybe the last transaction or two. Now half the screens taken up with upselling account levels, invest in shares, buy crypto, you've been pre-approved!
    - zo1 1y ago
      It's the padding! And the UX teams that add them into the designs! My cynical take is that an unholy pact was formed between FE devs and UX designers: By adding in "design" and "user experience" you essentially reduce features, complexity and general "dev time" of every single user-screen or page or component. They're no longer cram-packed with oodles of features, toggles, buttons, menus, etc. Most pages are glorified lists of things, with maybe a menu on each item if you are lucky. Devs dev less, have less bugs, just use FE-library of the day and go home happy because they made a CRUD screen essentially. Meanwhile, UX designers get to play around and constantly fiddle with design because let's all be honest, nothing will ever be truly good and in a perfect "user experience" space because complexity and functionality are never what the user is happy about having, until they need it.
- dontlaugh 1y ago
  I do wish Apple would make one. The Samsung Z Flip almost follows the Apple design language, if only it ran iOS.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 1y ago
    Are the screens reliable now?
    - dontlaugh 1y ago
      I wouldn’t know. I assume they must be reliable by know, they’ve been making foldable screens for years.
    - jlokier 1y ago
      I don't think so. Yesterday I was browsing phones and there was a Google Pixel 9 Fold on dislpay, closed and showing something. That has a display on the outside and a foldable display on the inside. I opened it, and most of the screen looked like a big, roundish black blob of ink, centred on the fold, on top of the Android animations working perfectly underneath, but only visible at the edges. I was impressed that the rest of the screen around worked perfectly, but it was unusuable due to the size of the black blob. Something had broken at or near the fold while it was on display. All other devices were in great condition; it was a well-maintained store.

wyre 1y ago

The general population wants larger phones because they are addicted to their screens.

jittery41 1y ago
For most people the phone is their only computer. Who bring laptop to a friend group hangout anymore ? Only the techies.
- jchw 1y ago
  Well, do you think this is a good state of affairs? On one hand, phones are pretty accessible devices, on the other hand there are many aspects of phones that are objectively pretty terrible for consumers (talking about cost and difficulty of repair, walled garden ecosystems, and generally being geared towards consuming things and a lot less effective at producing them than laptops and desktops.) (Tangential: of course I don't blame anyone for bringing their phone with them everywhere but if you're going to go to a friend group hangout, consider how annoying it is when you're trying to talk to someone and they're clearly checked out browsing some slop on Twitter or talking to someone else entirely. Take a damn break from the phone!)
- bigstrat2003 1y ago
  Who ever brought a laptop to a friend group hangout? I never have seen that happen myself.
  - taraindara 1y ago
    Depends on you and your friends. My group does this regularly.
  - volemo 1y ago
    I’m not sure if your comment is sarcastic, but in case it isn’t: my friend group had a get-together two days ago, three out of six had a laptop with them, and it even came in handy when I started talking about the problem I’m working on, somebody got interested and I was able to show the plots and calculations. Also we have PowerPoint Parties somewhat regularly, where most of us bring their computers to make last minute changes or simply have a known environment.

zanecodes 1y ago

The Dell Streak (shoutout to the other 3 people who bought one) had a 5 inch screen in 2010, a notable jump from contemporary phones like the iPhone 4 which was still 3.5", and other Android devices like the HTC Droid series which were around 3.7" and slowly starting to creep upwards to differentiate themselves from the iPhone. I think the largest Android devices you could get at the time were still smaller than 4".

al_borland 1y ago
I remember Dell showing this off at the All Thing D conference and Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal asked the Dell spokesperson to put it up to his head, and told him it looked like a waffle. To this days it’s all I think of when I see someone holding a massive phone up to the side of their head. That thing could really stand out in a crowd. I was at a baseball stadium for a concert that year, and spotted someone with a Dell Streak as I was heading down to the field. In a sea of people that was the one phone I spotted. I stopped to ask the guy about it briefly.
- overfeed 1y ago
  I remember Steve Jobs berating phablets as "the Hummer of phones" and dissing 7-inch Android tablets as too small, and disparagingly saying users would need to "file down their fingers" to use them - without considering how much smaller Apple users' fingers would need to be to use 3.5-inch iPhones. I also remember the viral, doctored image showing the reachability of phone screens which "proved" that 3.5 inches was the "ideal" phone size.

thekevan 1y ago

The Samsung Galaxy Note (the first one) had a screen size of 5.3 inches. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 had a screen size of 5.5 inches. I had one and regularly had strangers ask me if that was really a phone. I had friends say, "Give me a call on your tablet" as a joke. I loved it. Now my 6.1 inch iPhone feels on the small side.

_trampeltier 1y ago
This. I'm also had several Note's. I even would like now also to have a bigger phone again. But it seems nobody does 8" or 9" phones.
- prmoustache 1y ago
  > But it seems nobody does 8" or 9" phones. They are called tablets, some come with a sim slot so they are essentially the same.

darkwater 1y ago

Yeah and I also remember how Apple fans said "this is ridiculous, nobody needs a screen that big that doesn't fit in your pocket easily", and here we are 15 years later mourning the iPhone Mini/SE.

pyman 1y ago
10 years ago, if your phone was bigger than 5 inches, it looked ridiculous. You'd pull it out and people would look at you like you'd just escaped from a nut house
ghaff 1y ago
The Pro (non-Max) feels like my sweet spot. Fits in most pockets pretty easily but Max is just too big for me.
- jml78 1y ago
  I am 6ft tall and feel like my hands are above average in size. I have a regular iPhone 16 pro. I still don’t understand how people use bigger devices. Do they like using two hands? I can’t single hand a phone any larger without having to shift it in my hand. I don’t want to use two hands on my phone outside of typing.
  - fkyoureadthedoc 1y ago
    People type a lot though. It's also better for video, games, reading, general browsing. If you value one handed operation above all that though, then obviously smaller is better.

Marazan 1y ago

It's amusing how people try an memory hole their negative reaction and pieces written about the Note. People's mocking web pages have disappeared. Arguments based on the size of the human hand completely forgotten. The very notion that a 5.7 inch screen is big an unwieldly is now met with disdain.

Nursie 1y ago
When I first saw the ad on tv, my reaction was "Holy moley, wow, who's going to buy that monstrosity?" And then a few weeks later I bought one. All the guys in my office laughed and said "Wow, look at that huge thing, it's ridiculous". I chuckled and agreed, though I was quietly enjoying the larger screen. And now everyone's using them.

stavros 1y ago

I just refuse to accept that the first phablet I ever saw, the Galaxy Note, which covered the person's face and looked absolutely comical in their hands, was smaller than my current, very regular-sized phone.

sockbot 1y ago
That's because it's not smaller, it has a larger front face area and volume.
- stavros 1y ago
  It doesn't, my phone is a full cm longer.
2muchcoffeeman 1y ago
How big is your phone? If it want for edge to edge screens, I’d have stuck with my iPhone SE longer.
- stavros 1y ago
  It's a Nothing 2, fairly typical in size. I think the Pro Max is larger.

gsich 1y ago

>Things steadily got bigger from there. The general population WANTED this. Easy to say if the only devices are big phones. There is no choice.

okanat 1y ago

Smaller phones has always been limited in performance, batter life, the app support and the camera quality. Camera is the most important factor and battery is the second. General population doesn't buy phones every year and they don't want a nerfed phone when they have to pay 500-1000 $/€s. So they gravitate towards higher end ones. Companies including Apple has always treated the small size as an entry to mid segment phone. The only exception I know is Sony z3 and z5 compact which suffered heat and battery swelling issues due to Qualcomm messing 810 series SoCs up. Companies also want you to buy the most expensive phone. So they market the premium models and train their store personnel to sell more of the premium line. If they stop intentionally nerfing the smaller phones, I think there is a market there. However, it will still be smaller.

ChrisRR 1y ago
At least the smaller battery is offset by the smaller screen
- MengerSponge 1y ago
  It helps, but less than you'd think. The main board's power doesn't dramatically change, and because the full space under the screen isn't battery, reducing the screen size by 40% might cause the battery size to be reduced by 60%
ghaff 1y ago
I used to lug a dedicated camera around all the time. Except for special purposes I just bring a phone these days. And I'm not the only one. I do know people who do a lot of nature photography but I also know people who always had a camera with them who now reserve them for "serious" portraiture and things like that.

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