Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

smallandroidphone.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 1001 posts

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#201

Post by amyjess »

This is why I'm not moving on from my Pixel 4a. If it ever dies, I'll go on eBay or wherever and buy a new one. I don't even care if it goes EOL and stops receiving security updates.

TBH if I do end up replacing it with something else, it doesn't have to be stock Android or even a powerful device. I'm okay with replacing my 4a with some cheap ultra-budget shanzhai phone as long as it's small and it works with T-Mobile US's LTE network.

Also the iPhone Mini itself isn't an option—not only do I not want to be part of Apple's ecosystem, but I have sensory issues and can't handle metal phones. I need a plastic phone. And no, a case isn't an option because a case would just make the phone too wide for me to hold.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#202

Post by rtkwe »

jwagenet wrote: post #99
bloqs wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every female member of my family has complained about devices being too big. Its clearly based on anecdotal evidence. People with smaller hands want to be able to operate the phone fully with one hand.

My girlfriend liked the mini, but didn’t get it partially because it doesn’t feature the 3 cameras. As long as the mini is positioned as a down brand phone, even for technical reasons, some of the interested market is excluded

There's just not enough space for all the random features people want in a small form factor phone and keep it thin-ish. The Pro Max camera group alone is 1/5-1/4 of the back real estate on the 12 mini.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#204

Post by qwertfisch »

markdoubleyou wrote: post #34
therealmarv wrote: post #20

Pixel 6a, Xiaomi 12, Sony Xperia 10 IV. Won't get any smaller. https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone2=11285&idPhon...

You can get a little smaller. Asus Zenfone 8 has a 5.9" screen.

Samsung A40 had a nice 5.9 screen with full HD+ resolution. Sold for under 250€. Unfortunately Samsung only releases such a phone once every five years. The successors were bigger, more expensive and less powerful.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#205

Post by achow »

erohead wrote: post #2

I’m a long-time small phone Android user. But after the Pixel 5, I have not been able to find a suitable small Android replacement. The Pixel 6 is gigantic, and the Pixel 7 looks like it is also destined to be huge. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve resorted to using an iPhone Mini, biding my time and hoping desperately that some Android OEM would step up. But it’s increasingly clear that a small premium phone is not on t…

Curious how would you solve the battery issue, since in your spec you mention 4Hrs of Screen On Time (SoT), and it would be a 5G phone (battery drainer)?

iPhone Mini with its H/W & S/W integration barely manages 4Hrs of SoT. An 'Android Mini' phone with its mini batteries, how can it match upto iPhone Mini? And mind you, low sale of iPhone Mini is also due to the 'battery/range anxiety' that its users have.

Upon that any Mini form factor needs to be even less thinner, as visual perception of thickness is inversely proportional to a form's face/back surface area. So for this mini phone to be reasonably attractive (not chunky) it needs to have a very slim profile; which translate to small battery.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#207

Post by littlecranky67 »

danirod wrote: post #9

I miss my old Moto G1. Light and with a small form factor, and at the same time it was one of the first phones that were cheap but not low quality. It made a breakthrough in a market where you either had an expensive Samsung or you dealt with cheap phones with very bad specs. This was ages ago, fortunately today there are more phones that are cheap but with acceptable specs.

Moto G1 had the perfect form factor, plus also the "rubber" like back which I really loved. I have no idea why glas surfaces on the back are a thing, I always have to use a phone cover as else it would slip my hands. The rubber the Moto G1 allowed for a safe and firm grip, that every phone should have on the back.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#208

Post by tom_ »

kuschku wrote: post #144
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Missing microSD card support could be the major dealbreaker 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.

The Moto G (2013) had a microSD slot, a 3.5" port and all of it in a 4.5" form factor. Why can't we just get an updated version of that?

It didn't have an SD card slot of any kind!

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#209

Post by d3nj4l »

kuschku wrote: post #167
masklinn wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two big issues with SFF, really: - people tend to correlate size and price, and by default the correlation is direct (for some things it's inverse), so at similar capabilities (and thus prices) consumers will tend to go with the larger version - for a smartphone specifically, there's a direct relationship between battery size and device size, and battery life is a really valuable convenience The iPhone 13 m…

> The iPhone 13 mini has a 2400 mAh battery, the 13 has 3200. 33% more battery capacity is a lot, and at 2400mAh I don't think the mini doesn't survive an entire day of relatively heavy use without a charge. So make it 3mm thicker?

Every iPhone person I know has complained about the 13 Pro being significantly thicker and heavier than the previous models. Literally, things like "it feels like a brick in my hand." Making phones thicker/heavier is an HN meme that is completely out of touch with what normies want. Consider that for most people, the phone is their primary device, and one they hold in their hand for ~6h a day.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#210

Post by mg »

I maintain this chart of small Android phones:

https://www.productchart.com/smartphones/small_android_phone...

You can filter by specs to see how close you can get to your dream phone. There are quite a few available on the market that match the 5.5" screen size of the iPhone 13 Mini. Even by the big manufacturers like Samsung and Google. Like the Pixel 3. Which was introduced 4 years ago though.

In general, phones have been becoming larger and larger over the years. So this chart has been becoming more and more sparse over time.

But recently, the voices demanding small phones seem to become louder and more frequent.

I am curious to see if it will reverse the trend.

At some point, I will probably make a graph that shows the change in average screensize over time.

Post reply on HN