Today, bluetooth works quite well for me (I love not having cables... but it sucks that performance with a microphone is trashfire). 3.5mm adapters are cheap and easy when needed (rarely. I also have a $10 bluetooth->3.5mm in my travel kit that does get used once a year!). And with usb-c providing fast charging, I rarely feel like I'd benefit from battery swaps. I can give myself 50%+ in 30 minutes, with a portable battery that will power not just my phone, but any other device I run into. With Qi 2.2 releasing with 25W wireless charging, and magnetic coupling being standard now, you don't even need wires anymore. Carrying a bespoke phone-only battery seems like a massive downgrade today. (It also felt like a massive fire hazard!) Time to update your expectations!
Worth mentioning that battery swaps make water-resistance much much trickier to pull off. There' a real cost to battery-swappability.
I do wish we saw something like Ara, some phone modularity & extensibility. Fairphone has some modular parts, but it doesn't feel like an open ecosystem, and the parts dont seem super designed for expansion but more just replacement. I guess maybe Framework is doing the best work, albeit in a bigger form factor space, with their Expansion Cards, which are basically just a card form factor USB-C. Licensed CC-BY-4. https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionCards
I have it since more than a year. I had the first one two weeks because I lost it as it fall through a hole in my pocket. So fix your pockets and buy this phone. I'm really happy with it :) And didn't found bugs since I have it.
I used the Palm Phone (PVG100) (3.3" screen) (basically the size of a credit card) [ https://www.ricklohre.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/dsc_097... ] as long as I could until it became too slow to use as software got slower and increasingly battery-hungry and I had to give it up last year.
Right now I have a Soyes S10Max, which has a 3.5" screen (same screen size as the original iPhone), but it's kinda chunky. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRZ47T53?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...
The specs are more than strong enough to handle whatever I need on a daily basis. But I miss the slimmer size of the Palm Phone.
Right now I've pre-ordered this phone https://aiphor.com/products/bluefox-nx1-4-0-android-smartpho... with the 8gigram+128gig storage capacity. Has an even stronger cpu than the Soyes, but I am slightly worried about the resolution of 540x1168px because some elements may end up overlapping.
Even though it's 4", it has a tiny bezel so it's only slightly bigger than the Palm Phone, although a bit thicker cuz of a bigger battery. But still relatively slim, especially compared to the Soyes.
Front comparison: https://preview.redd.it/dtwnubx05scf1.png?width=3840&format=...
https://preview.redd.it/s2391amd7hbf1.png?width=320&crop=sma...
Will see!
https://9to5mac.com/2025/04/28/iphone-18-fold-details-launch...
I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone - >>31411191 - May 2022 (1053 comments)
I was convinced you were wrong but that's correct. The Mini is much smaller and the Zenfone is about the same size as the regular iPhone.
https://blog.bschwind.com/2025/01/11/the-original-iphone-se-...
I recommend the pixel 4a 5g with LineageOS installed, or the Q9 mini.
https://www.gizchina.com/2013/11/07/jiayu-g5-unboxing-hands-...
https://www.gizchina.com/2013/09/18/exclusive-hands-video-st...
https://www.gizmochina.com/2013/09/22/teardown-picture-jiayu...
That was the "peak smartphone" era for me; lots of companies making slightly different variations on Androids, at relatively low prices, but almost all of them with the same basic set of practical features which are nearly extinct today. Now it seems all we get are faster CPUs and RAM, more (non-removable) storage and battery capacity, no headphone jacks, a very limited choice of screen sizes, and far too many cameras along with the obligatory unremovable spyware and locked-down OS.
I beg to differ. How much marketing money did Apple spend on the mini line, in comparison to the "standard" size ?
> And when launched - no one buys it.
Pixel 3 and 4a are still the most sold phones in the Pixel line.
The news when Pixel7 was launched:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/this-is-the...
There are some decent small Android phones, if you're willing to buy non-mainstream brands. Take a look at:
They seemed underwhelmed at the phones.
[EDITED TO ADD]
Found ‘em: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/palm-rises-from-the-...
Also, these: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/11/meet-this-unique-com...
the article's "small phone" benchmark with a 5.4" screen is almost the same size in every dimension as your benchmark of the HTC 8x
https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/HTC-8XT,Apple-iPhone-...
An even slightly more mid-range spin on this would be very very viable.
I get the "just works" with decent privacy aspect of the smaller iPhone, health benefits from Apple Watch and for anything requiring longer screen time, termux, shelter cloned apps etc. I use the bigger android (Infact I'm typing this on the excellent HN client Hacki from android).
Earlier I used to use Apple Watch with android using a tool I built[1] which now serves notifications from android to my iPhone.
I'm glad Eric is going ahead with the small phone.
[1] https://github.com/abishekmuthian/apple-watch-with-android
https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-s26-screen-s...
"You have ... people who want them to fit in your hand"
Are incorrect. The number of people who will actually buy small devices is ... small. The number of people who are so interested in small devices they'll overlook things like a lower battery life and whatever other compromises are needed to achieve the smaller size, likely even fewer.
It's not like it hasn't been tried in the past, people in this thread talk about iPhone minis disappearing - Apple couldn't make them a success. Sony couldn't make them a success either and stopped making them AFAICT. As a market segment you're too small to warrant the investment in designing a small flagship. And if nobody's investing in a small flagship, small midmarket isn't going to happen either.
There do appear to be niche manufacturers in this segment (take a look at https://www.reddit.com/r/smallphones/). If the untapped demand is so huge, I would expect to see them become much more mainstream over time.
Most women carry their phone in a hand bag anyway as the pockets on most pants for women are way to small either way [1].
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/style/pockets-womens-clot...
While it did get a tiny bit bigger I wouldn’t have noticed this u less you would look up the spec, especially as it got lighter from 204g [1] to 199g [2] at the same time.
[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/111871 [2] https://www.apple.com/iphone-16-pro/specs/
It is only going to get worse. Most of us who were young adults when the iPhone was announced are in our 40s now, and presbyopia is a real thing. In a few years my daily QOL will be better served by a bigger phone and I suspect many people around my age are feeling the same thing. The "small electronic accessory I bring around" niche will be filled by smartwatches.
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/dijok5/is_there_a_... (how quaint the prices look, a mere 6 years on)
It doesn't have the Google Play Store but one can sideload Android apps onto it
This phone looks like it might be good replacement but it could also be a bit dodgy. I'm going to wait a bit for reviews before considering buying it https://aiphor.com/products/bluefox-nx1-4-0-android-smartpho...
And the Light Phone 3: https://www.thelightphone.com/lightiii
Quick search for just display size found these 10 phones released after 2023: https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2023&fDisplay...
Huh, for some reason, this page loads properly and I can see it for 1-2 seconds, but it seems like as soon as it's done loading, it redirects me to google.com. Based in Spain, so guessing it's their way of turning away EU or European customers I guess?
With 3rd party batteries it can't do this, so it doesn't (I think, will admit I'm not entirely sure exactly how iOS deals with 3rd party batteries it can't determine the status of), and if you replaced it with an official part then it would have been in good condition, so regardless which road you took, it's possible that you went from a state where the OS was clocking down, to one where it wasn't anymore.
https://www.theverge.com/2012/3/28/2909815/dell-retires-venu...
> 192.78 g
Kind of funny, I would've thought it was heavier, but that is less than an S25 Ultra in weight... I think that also speaks to how large screens have gotten!
See here for dimensions and mockups: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/rumoured-iphone-fold-si...
Correct. To back this up a little bit with numbers, the iPhone 13 Mini all by itself sold about the half of the rate of the entire Google Pixel lineup. I bet lots of phone manufacturers would love to have half the sales of Google's premier Android phone. I also switched from Android to iPhone solely because of the 13 Mini form factor (I prefer Android, but I prefer a human-hand-sized phone even more).
Source:
Google shipped about 10 million Pixel phones in a year https://9to5google.com/2024/02/22/pixel-2023/
iPhone Mini accounted for about 3% of iPhone sales https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/21/cirp-iphone-13-best-selling-l...
iPhones sell about 200 million units per year https://www.demandsage.com/iphone-user-statistics/
200 million * 0.03 = 6 million iPhone Minis per year
* A phone, not a watch
* Android 14 or later OS
* Thickness: 9mm max
* Height: 150mm max
* Width: 71mm max
and three of them are the overpriced Samsung Galaxy S phones. Only 7 released since 2020:
https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3?nYearMin=2020&nHeightMa...
and they are Samsung Galaxy S's, a couple of Asus ZenFone's, and Google Pixel 5.
If you're willing to add another 5mm, there are also a couple of Sony Xperia's and Sharp Aquous, and Google Pixel 8. And if you want to cap the height at 145 mm - it's just Google Pixel 5.
Globally, Apple has what 20% market share? And besides Qualcomm chips, Apple has a complete separate parts supply chain than Android.
Besides, Samsung could definitely create its own small phone and would if there were a market.
According to this article
> The ASUS Zenfone 10 is a compact flagship Android phone from ASUS. Sporting a little 5.9-inch display
Though you have to argue it's not tiny. (Don't think it sold all that well, though, at least not mainstream.)
AFAIK, these are similar to the iPhone SE? The SE form factor was great in terms of size and thickness. Easy to use with one hand. I miss that.
No, they were not. They were literally a scaled down version of their respective regular sized counterparts, the 13 Mini had the same cameras, SOC, memory, screen quality and storage options as the regular 13 [0], yet its sales success (or lack thereof [1]) was enough to instantly cure me of any previously held notions that there is a sufficiently large group of buyers for these devices out there.
It isn't because the specs are inferior, the cameras are changed, the display has a lower pixel density (the Mini actually had slightly higher ppi) or anything else. There simply is no sufficient market, the 13 Mini was the worst selling phone in that generation by a frankly impressive margin. 38% for iPhone 13 vs 3% for iPhone 13 mini, despite them being as close to just being scaled down and otherwise identical as one can make a phone speaks a very clear language that any manufacturer wanting to succeed has hear loud and clear. Most certainly why Asus has seized with their more compact smartphones. The amount of people I know that praised Asus for making a more compact flagship with a very large battery [2] was not in any way proportional to their sales. In this case, the battery life was actually superior to many larger competitors. Same for my Xperia 5 V, the compact phone I bought and used at the time, cause I walk my talk and have been following phone releases to a sufficient degree that I can assure everyone, there have been and are flagship speced, compact phones with good battery life, that no one ever buys. I'd love more options in the market, heck, I use both the Xperia 5 and an iPhone 15 Pro Max in a Clicks case, either for different situations, so am on both sides as a consumer. Simply, the lack of any actual market demand beyond online comments makes that impossible, we need to be honest here.
[0] https://www.apple.com/by/iphone-13/specs/
[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2022/04/21/iphone-13-mini-unpopula...
[2] https://www.asus.com/mobile-handhelds/phones/zenfone/zenfone...
Although, it's not exactly what he wished for in 2022 since it doesn't run standard Android and obviously doesn't have industrial design like the iPhone mini.
https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-z-flip7/buy/ga...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Marshmallow#/media/Fil...
I particularly despise the way Samsung wants to use impose a "bulging squircle" icon shape and I always find a way to override that (Nova Launcher still works well for this use case).
https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_9-11656.php
https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_10-12380.php
Once upon a time, I had a Motorola A920 in the early '00s that came with a dock to put a second battery into to charge it (pre-CGM era of course), but something like that would be lovely when combined with a foldable or flip phone.
After Google pushed a firmware update to my Pixel 6a today, it definitely gives a feeling of vulnerability. https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/16340779?hl=en
Would love to recommend the Fairphone, but not available in every country. One of my cousins wanted one (his dad is diabetic too), but unfortunately not available to buy in Canada.
Hopefully Framework humour the idea of a phone at some point, but it'll be difficult to please everybody, and I'm not sure it's economically viable.
The Samsung XCover are mil-spec with swappable batteries (major selling point on their site) and don't struggle with being waterproof, so it can be done. I don't think it's as niche an idea as people would expect.
I excitedly followed the Ara for years! Was gutted it never amounted to anything.
Then, realistically, you need to make sure that apps you do want to use do still offer functioning Android builds for what's almost certainly going to be an older version of Android running on a keitei. You might really struggle with banking apps due to this (despite plenty of keitei having NFC!), it depends on your bank's policies. You might also struggle with any official government apps if they force a recent version of Android.
If it's Android, you can almost certainly run it in English, but beware any obscure outliers who heavily customize their ROMs and save space by removing other languages (few and far between, but they apparently do exist and can bite you on the ass if you don't read Japanese!).
You'll probably really struggle to make it work for you overall if you don't live in Japan where this kind of phone is still expected to be supported. There's some beautiful phones, absolutely gorgeous designs in fact, but the above are a total pain in the arse and is what's made it non-viable for me (what forced me over to a Pixel 6a on release). The Pixel 6a getting a firmware update today that affected my battery (https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/16340779?hl=en) is why I'm pining after another keitei, but I don't think there's anything that can tick the necessary boxes for me. I'm gutted!
There are some nice ones that have dual-screens, touchscreens, and touch-sensitive capacitive keypads for scrolling or navigation. Some can be folded to be used like a standard touch-only candybar style phone if you don't want to use the keypad. Some allow the display to be rotated, but those are very uncommon these days.
I hear Gen Z loves retro flip phones as they are less intrusive and more sensible with swappable batteries, built-in screen protection et al, so perhaps there's a potential market fit for something in the West that ticks these very specific boxes.
The funny thing is that I look at the average side-opening book-style wallet-esque case for candybar style touch phones in the West and they're basically recreating the beefits of flip phones with the hinged screen cover cases, but without much of the impact protection.
I'm not a luddite by any means, I'm not even nostalgic for flip phones in any way, I just think that I've realized there's pros and cons to both, and the current offerings available in the West don't really suit me.
Most popular phones in Japan these days in terms of units sold? iPhone and Pixel. That's what's killing the "Galapogos syndrome" keitei in terms of new models! A few friends I have in Japan find the candybar form-factor to be novel and cool, and others want larger screens for media, specific iOS-exclusive apps. or just enjoy the Apple ecosystem as they use a Mac for their work and play. They do tend to agree that there's pros and cons to both though! Pixel trails after the iPhone in numbers BTW.
