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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

#111

Post by langcss »

haolez wrote: post #105

Some years ago, for a reason I can't remember, I was browsing tiny phones (not smartphones) in a Chinese e-commerce site. I was amazed by the vast range of devices in this category (at the time). After a few Google searches trying to understand why there was demand for such small phones, one article suggested that these phones are perfect for getting smuggled in prisons "you know how". Don't know if this is true, but…

There was a time around 2004ish where fashion was smaller the phone the richer you appear. So a status symbol. As they were usually more expensive to make them small back then.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#112

Post by kelnos »

orson2077 wrote: post #93
RachelF wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iPhone 4 or 12 mini size is probably ideal for me personally. While this is small, it is double the thickness of most modern phones. Still, it is great to see a bit of creativity in the smartphone market. Most phones are pretty much the same these days.

iPhone 4 was the apex of phone design, I will die on this hill!

I don't like iPhones, and have never had one, but I will absolutely agree with you on that. The iPhone 4's industrial design was beautiful.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#113

Post by kelnos »

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…

It's only not a problem if you don't use banking apps, or anything else that cares about SafetyNet. I'm not willing to install something like Lineage and then figure out which brittle, unreliable hack will get SafetyNet to pass. Certainly not for my daily driver.

Sure, some people don't care about things like Google Pay, but many many many of us do. I really miss the days of CyanogenMod, before SafetyNet was a thing, when I never worried about losing access to functionality I care about when installing a third-party Android OS.

Even though the Pixel 8 is larger than I'd like, and the Pixel line has its share of problems, I'm thrilled that my new phone will get 7 years of security updates, and probably -- hopefully, if Google doesn't renege -- OS updates for those 7 years as well. That's incredibly important to me.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#114

Post by frankthepickle »

MBCook wrote: post #33

I would think this would be difficult to use for most apps. It’s not 2009 anymore. App developers just assume a certain minimum screen size. While layouts are flexible they often just don’t work on smaller screens.

I think that's the idea, people buying these are probably hoping to reduce screen time

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#115

Post by kelnos »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #90

My first iPhone (original SE) was a choice 95% because of its size and 5% out of curiosity for iOS. At that time (2016-17) when Androids had already started ballooning up. 12 Mini's new battery was insufficient and that is why I had decided to move to iPhone 14 and not just replace that battery as that would have not been good enough either. Original SE was my favourite, second was mini. If there is going to be a "pr…

And I'm glad for that. I wouldn't trade all the crap on the Play Store (not to mention the ability to easily install from outside Play) for Apple's nanny-state App Store approval policies.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#116

Post by pvorb »

RachelF wrote: post #78
grishka wrote: post #70

It's a bit too small, but I like that it's a thing. However, for my own use, I want something in-between. A 4" phone would be ideal. I'm still confused how there aren't any phones for people who still use a computer as their primary means of accessing the internet . Even for this one, the media review section makes it look like it's "to distract oneself from social media". As if a phone's primary purpose isn't to be…

iPhone 4 or 12 mini size is probably ideal for me personally. While this is small, it is double the thickness of most modern phones. Still, it is great to see a bit of creativity in the smartphone market. Most phones are pretty much the same these days.

Who cares about thickness other than tech enthusiasts? There are phones that are so thin, they feel uncomfortable while in your hand.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#117

Post by nazgulnarsil »

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.

There was the zenphone 9/10 in the same size, which also sold poorly enough that the 11 is a regular huge phone. Other than the same thousands (not even millions) of us complaining online year after year there's just no demand.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#118

Post by mattnewton »

jsheard wrote: post #13

Looks like there might have been some creative recycling of very old tooling to make this, the design language is reminicisient of Android phones from a decade ago. Especially the presence of dedicated navigation buttons, which were phased out starting from Android 4.0.

buttons probably just work better than gestures on such a small screen. Agree with the design language though, very late 90s / early 2000’s

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#119

Post by Fnoord »

orson2077 wrote: post #101
timschmidt wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the Pre 3 [0] and I'll fight you for it. Lol. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Pre_3

Hah! Sliding keyboard, that absolutely rocks!

Former owner of Nokia E71, Nokia N900 (both user replaceable battery), Planet Computers Cosmo Communicator and Astro Slide (like old Psion keyboard): not really. The keys on this smartphone are very small, therefore annoying to use. The larger they are though, the bulkier.

You're also stuck in either portrait or landscapr mode. Whereas a touchscreen smartphone can reuse the touchscreen for say watch a movie or use different input (like say gamepad).

I believe the current innovation trend lies in those small foldables. Of course, small form factor and dual screen has disadvantages for battery, repairability, and ridiculously high price.

Re: Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

#120

Post by MBCook »

SamBam wrote: post #87
MBCook wrote: post #33

I would think this would be difficult to use for most apps. It’s not 2009 anymore. App developers just assume a certain minimum screen size. While layouts are flexible they often just don’t work on smaller screens.

Maybe many people don't need "most apps." I need about 5 apps and a nice camera.

“Most” is a LOT. Including probably the majority of those people would want.
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