Compared to your ideal specifications, my wishes are: support for microSD card storage; battery that easily and reliably lasts a full day with moderate phone usage; fingerprint sensor, not necessarily on the power button; camera decent, not necessarily great (I don't care that much about low light performance, for example).
I'm tempted to sign up even with the specifications as you list them though. Missing microSD card support could be the major dealbreaker. Or alternatively some other user-friendly reliable method of getting lots of files from my PC to the phone's storage, but so far I haven't found any. Early Android versions supporter USB mass storage and that worked pretty well, but the transfer method implemented on newer versions is very slow and never works reliably for me.
And for the other guy a 3.5mm jack and for a third a physical off switch and look at that we have too many dealbreaker features for the form factor.
Power users tend to have more dealbreakers than the average consumer. Anecdotally, it seems power users prefer smaller phones. This might be what kills the small phone factor.
Why can't we just get an updated version of that?
Those additional requirements further splinter the market.
But what's the point in buying a small phone if it does not meet these standards, which are all about longevity? Then it will just be unusable in ~2 years. Which would make it no better than the otherwise perfect small phone I already have at home, the Veer.
Over time the MotoG phones have been getting larger - to the extent that now the one I have doesn't fit in my sporran, if I go out wearing a kilt.
Women are also overrepresented in the Really Big Phone market, and wield them two-handed.
They also trend heavily iPhone in the US market, but that leaves plenty of alpha for the manufacturer who serves the actual market for small-form-factor Android phones.
IMHO vendors try not to sell small flagship phones so you have to buy a foldable phone, which is way more expensive.
But if you have to keep your phone in a purse anyways, why not just get a big one?
So mostly the people in that market who still care are the ones who can’t or don’t want to carry a purse, which is also a smaller market. (I’m in this market though, so i am sad)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto_G_(1st_generation)
Edit: ah found another source as well about it being on the LTE model https://www.phonearena.com/phones/Motorola-Moto-G-LTE_id8655
They neither say they do nor buy those which are available.
Maybe they'd like a smaller phone for a limited set of situations (though there’s no evidence of that) but they’re not going to buy two phones, so that’s not relevant.
It's like asking a single-issue voter their preference on other subjects.
I’d almost go for a dumb phone, almost... but then I need emails, maps and WhatsApp.
I don’t need 50 filters, 3 cameras, razor-thin (yet somehow enormous) body, more Storage than my laptop, etc etc...
SyncThing, sftp from a termux shell, or primitive ftpd.
Have you tried both connecting your phone to your computer via USB and connecting your phone to a USB stick?
Sounds like you haven't been using ADB. Normally, like you've seen, getting files on or off a modern Android handset is a terrible experience. Considering I only do bulk transfers from my own PC, I just apt install adb, then adb push $files $destination. Highly recommend - it's one of the few ways Android is still dramatically better for techy users.
I don't, to be clear--I'm on your side here. My iPhone 11 is way too big, I just needed a new phone during that spot where the SE was long in the tooth. But people genuinely seem to like dinner plates as phones.
Between the inefficiency of non Apple ARM chipsets and the inefficiency of Android, that’s not likely to happen.
I’m not saying that this is people’s preferred choice, I’m saying it’s a logical decision given the choices available that seems counterintuitive from first principles (and assuming a market with real choices).
I am the small-phone-lover this article is addressing, and I did sign up to their list - I have an Xperia XZ1 Compact and no plans to upgrade because there's nothing to upgrade it to - but my biggest complaint about the Compact is that it's too big already. I'm a not-quite-six-foot man and I can't reach to buttons in the corners one handed. So why bother? It seems that my preference is not entirely rational after all.
> I’d almost go for a dumb phone
But nobody makes a small dumb phone either! I'd be ok with a dumb phone, if it is small.
Have you tried KDE Connect? (Hint: It's not only for KDE desktop users.)
The actual market for a truly one handle-able phone is enormous. It's just not possible to fit modern phone functions into a package that small though.
Who will pay flagship prices for a phone with 3 hours of battery life?
Why not? It has happened before.
My Xperia XZ1 Compact:
- runs Android (I'm on Android 10, but might upgrade)
- measures about 14cm diagonally and 8-9mm thick
- uses around 10-15% charge per day of light use (without Google services)
- has a standard headphone jack
- has stereo speakers
- has decent front and back cameras, with no bump
- has a microSD slot
- has a USB type C port
- has a fingerprint sensor (I disabled mine)
- is water-tight and dust-tight (IP68)
- supports VoLTE
- supports WiFi calling
My previous phone was similar, and a bit slimmer. The one before that didn't get such good battery life, but its physical keyboard, swappable battery, and even smaller size made up for having to charge more often.
Obviously, these devices are not common, but they are made from time to time. I'm looking at hardware right now that proves there is no technical barrier. I don't see any reason to dissuade people from asking for a new model.
https://www.androidheadlines.com/2019/05/sony-mobile-strateg...
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of its mobile phone strategy.
And it last a long time not using any services that make Android what it is to most users (ie using Google service) is not a mass market selling point.
Being a few years old does not make my example less valid. (Arguably the opposite, given that it still works well today.) The point is that it meets GP's needs.
Sony's poor marketing strategy was not caused by one phone model, nor is it a requirement for small phones in general.
You could easily adjust the numbers I quoted to estimate battery life with Google services running. Assume half, or a third, if you like. It would still meet GP's needs.
And if a company can’t sell a phone profitable, it’s not a viable product.
And he admits that he hardly ever uses it.
And that phone will probably not work at all soon in the US if it doesn’t support VoLTE.