Live data from Hacker News

I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

smallandroidphone.com

481–490 of 1001 posts

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#481
post #32

Shameless plug for the Jelly 2. https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-2 It's not a "flagship" but it is fully featured - nothing spared - and half the size of my palm. The screen is just small enough to be too annoying to do anything really distracting on. I have gotten NOTHING but compliments on it since I started using it a month ago (on a reco I picked up here).

I love my Jelly 2. The only thing that it skimped on was the camera. The primary camera is worse than my Moto G5 was. It's adequate for my primary usage of "taking pictures of things I need to remember (serial numbers, receipts &c)" but nearly useless as a general purpose photography tool.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#482
post #49

Without a 3.5mm headphone jack, I would have to carry wireless earbuds, which would defeat the purpose.

The thing I never understood about the headphone jack and its disappearance: it doesn't need to be a jack. It need only be three contact points. You could have it on the outside rim of a phone and have a magnetic sheath hold the headphone pin to it. But I suppose it's not just about getting rid of the jack itself but also any DAC component? (But, isn't it doing that anyway for the speaker?)

The amplifier used for headphones is very different than what is used to drive a speaker. It's a totally different component. Also, remember, it's doing much more than just pumping audio out. Modern 3.5mm jacks on phones are 4 pin, generally, and you have to do the following (or, at least most of it):

* Detect if something is plugged in

* Detect if the thing plugged in is a 3 pin (stereo speakers), or 4 pin (stereo speakers, plus microphone)

* Detect what type of 4 pin configuration is connected (there are 2 standards, CTIA and OMTP)

* Detect button presses from attached headphones (volume up/down, pause/play)

* Detect the type of headphones connected (do I want to use the high impedance driver, or the low impedance driver)

And obviously: play stereo audio and record mono audio.

There's also some lesser used features that are sometimes supported over 3.5mm:

* Video output (!!)

* Antenna input, for use for FM radio

* Stereo audio input

* Optical out (not through 3.5mm TRRS, but it is at the end of the 3.5mm jack... Apple used to use these in their macbook pros)

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#483
post #32

Shameless plug for the Jelly 2. https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-2 It's not a "flagship" but it is fully featured - nothing spared - and half the size of my palm. The screen is just small enough to be too annoying to do anything really distracting on. I have gotten NOTHING but compliments on it since I started using it a month ago (on a reco I picked up here).

+1 for the jelly 2. It works perfectly for everything I "need" a smart phone for.

Just be aware the the Wifi often drops and battery life is 1.5 days at best. But again, makes it really easy to not do anything distracting on it lol

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about notch/hole-punch displays. As somebody who never ever uses front-facing camera, can I have a phone/display without such defects, please?

If you sum together the stuff people in this thread has suggested, you have the Homers Car of phones on your hands

It's this or a Youtube clip that's maybe monetized by Disney at best... https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Homer

The Homer was a car that Home Simpson built to exactly what they wanted without any tradeoffs for off the shelf components, trends, or sensibility of what currently was common.

It's also somewhat design by committee, with features like a more luxurious bubble for the adults, and a micro-bubble for the kids; presumably so you can ignore anything but the screams or silence.

I also suspect this fictional car might have been an ingredient in the market shifting from minivans to SUVs. Those don't have such great audio isolation but were even taller than the minivans (which were taller than station wagons). Or it could be the 'backup camera' finally reaching a tolerable price level.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#485
post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, no kidding. How much of the small phone demo overlaps with the selfie demo? I could go without a front camera.

"selfie"? Video-calls are especially normalized now, since the pandemic. My family and friends use video-calls more often than voice-only calls now.

Front cameras are also useful for other stuff e.g. taking angled pictures with little visibility is much easier with the front facing camera because you can see what you're aiming at.

It can even take pictures in the dark because the display will be used as a floodlight, though in that case aiming doesn't really work unless the software brightening is sufficient to at least gain an idea.

Front camera also works as a mirror in a pinch, much easier than trying to aim the back camera then flipping the phone around and finding out how off you were.

Do people taking selfies even use the front camera? I feel like image quality is really rather poor for that use case but it's not my jam.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#486

As an iPhone user, I've wanted to use an iPhone Mini ever since they came out. It was hard to compromise on the camera, coming from a Pro device, but I finally made the switch when the iPhone 13 Mini debuted. Within 24 hours however, I was back at the Apple Store returning it. What was the issue? Nothing wrong with the device at all - it was everything I hoped it would be! Unfortunately, the issue was with the apps i…

Interesting, can you give an example of such apps "not really working" on iP Mini? I'm asking because my wife uses 12 Mini and she never told a word about it. I'm also using it from time to time in few apps and everything looks ok.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about notch/hole-punch displays. As somebody who never ever uses front-facing camera, can I have a phone/display without such defects, please?

If you sum together the stuff people in this thread has suggested, you have the Homers Car of phones on your hands

It's really just the iPhone 3GS.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#488
post #6

“matching size and design of iPhone 13 Mini” So, by all accounts, the iPhone mini has been an extremely slow seller. https://www.macrumors.com/2022/04/21/iphone-13-mini-unpopula... Why would that form factor succeed in the Android space? --- I see these meme on tech sites all the time: “oh phones are too big I just want something simple”. That is a valid sentiment that I think is shared by basically no average consum…

Similarly, the F150 is the best selling vehicle in the US. #2 is the Silverado, and #3 is the Dodge Ram. Clearly, this whole 'sedan' concept is a failed form factor, every manufacturer should only make pickup trucks. Why shoot for less than the #1 market spot?

Funnily, cars suffer from this same exact issue, but worse! Just like expanding phone screen size leads to suboptimal software on small screen sizes that devs don't target any more... expanding car size leads to safety compromises for sedans. If my 2000s Civic gets T-boned by a 2022 F150, I'll probably die, simply because the 2022 F150 will crush my car like a tank rolling over a tin can. When I try to drive around in my sedan at night, I'm constantly blinded because truck manufacturers don't account for low seat heights any more with beam cutoffs.

Who would buy a sedan any more when you're screwed over this way? With phones and vehicles, we're stuck in this prisoner's dilemma situation where larger sizes lead to less desirability of small sizes, and the cycle repeats over and over again.

Same thing happens with public transit/car usage -- as more people use cars, public transit thins out, deals with more traffic on the roads, and becomes scarier because there are fewer "normal" people on public transit to make you feel safe from crime.

Curious if there's an research on how to escape from this kind of death spiral -- my suspicion is that the only real way out is regulation, because otherwise there's no way to overcome the self-reinforcing impact of these decisions.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes websites with big popups fuck with you, but then again we ought to be avoiding those websites anyway. I haven't noticed any issues with apps. Typing is much easier than you would think. With swipe typing it's almost at par.

Cool. What about typing passwords, codes, numbers? I'd wager without social media those would be the most common things I'd type

I have one too, and I was suprised by how "not bad" it is for this. I can reach each key with my thumb, so I get muscle memory for each letter. The only issue I have is hitting W instead of E, as E is super common and it's far from the lower right corner.

I also use bitwarden for passwords, so the main thing I type without swype is the passphrase for bitwarden, and proper names that autocorrect will then proceed to change to the wrong thing afterwards anyways (just like a big android phone).

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#490
post #32

Shameless plug for the Jelly 2. https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-2 It's not a "flagship" but it is fully featured - nothing spared - and half the size of my palm. The screen is just small enough to be too annoying to do anything really distracting on. I have gotten NOTHING but compliments on it since I started using it a month ago (on a reco I picked up here).

Do you have any issues with apps and layouts misbehaving because of the small screen? Being annoying to type on is a feature, but is it basically impossible?

I have one too. The main issue I have is some dialogs will need scrolling to see all options (FairEmail is the worst offender of the apps I use).
Post reply on HN