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Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

unihertz.com

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Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#31

Post by beart »

I had one of their earlier models. It wasn't a great phone and the software had some issues. But I suppose it was plenty small. I think I stopped using it because the carrier I switched to didn't support it.

I wanted to keep it as a backup phone for emergencies but the battery didn't last long enough to be relied upon.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#32

Post by alphager »

lotophage wrote: post #21

I'm curious if people actually use the IR in place of their TV remote as in the promo. For me personally, I think the friction of having to fire up an app first would preclude me from ever using it in earnest.

On their own TV at home: probably not.

In airports, bars, waiting rooms: absolutely.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#34

Post by beart »

lotophage wrote: post #21

I'm curious if people actually use the IR in place of their TV remote as in the promo. For me personally, I think the friction of having to fire up an app first would preclude me from ever using it in earnest.

It's a great option when the kids lose the remote somewhere

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#36

Post by mainframed »

montroser wrote: post #24

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.

As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy S22, which is not small but seemed to me like the only sane size - feature - price balance on the Android market back then: maybe the reason is battery life?

I'm really underwhelmed by the one of the S22. I barely get a day out of it. When I'm travelling with Google Maps, I have to carry a power bank.

Maybe current android phones are just optimized so bad in comparison to iPhones? And increasing device size allows for a proportionally larger battery size.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#38

Post by jsheard »

montroser wrote: post #24

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.

Even on the Apple side there doesn't seem to be that much demand, as demonstrated by the fact that the SEs are just iterations on old iPhone tooling (currently the iPhone 8) rather than brand new compact designs, and the size of the SE has crept upwards as they moved it to newer tooling. I think the motive behind the SE has more to do with cost optimization than size, it just happens that the cheapest way to make an iPhone is to refresh one of the older iPhones, which incidentally were smaller, as was the style at the time.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#39

Post by keyringlight »

hagbard_c wrote: post #12
wkat4242 wrote: post #6

Part of the problem with this brand is that this "Android 13 Smartphone" will probably stay that forever. Updates are very very minimal. I have their first jelly and it didn't even get the upgrade they promised. Other than that, it's not so bad. Swype-typing makes a small keyboard still useful. But the updates really are the achilles heel here.

This is not as big a problem as you make it out to be due to the availability of alternative Android distributions. A quick search shows that LineageOS 20 already runs well on this device which means it should be possible to keep it up to date for a long time. I'm using a Samsung SIIIneo from 2014 with LineageOS 18.1 (Android 11) for which LineageOS 20 is available as well while Samsung dropped support at Android 4.4…

I find it hard to universally recommend LineageOS because it can be a true 'your mileage may vary' situation depending what you use it for, which is fair enough for the fruits of a volunteer project. It's great if your aim is to get an old phone on a more recent release, but as they're not pretending that they're official firmware some apps won't work with that if they want the integrity check. Those apps can be broadly useful, and the whole reason you're updating in the first place.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#40

Post by BenjiWiebe »

mainframed wrote: post #36
montroser wrote: post #24

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.

As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy S22, which is not small but seemed to me like the only sane size - feature - price balance on the Android market back then: maybe the reason is battery life? I'm really underwhelmed by the one of the S22. I barely get a day out of it. When I'm travelling with Google Maps, I have to carry a power bank. Maybe current android phones are just optimized so bad in comparison to iPhones? And…

Surely with modern processor efficiency, they could get similar or better battery life as small phones of the 2010s? Thinking lovingly of the form factor of the 2013 Moto X.
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