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I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

smallandroidphone.com

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Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#471

Post by dont__panic »

achow wrote: post #156
erohead wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I touch on this on the site. 5% of iPhones sold are minis. That's 10m sold per year! That is more than enough demand to cover the NREs and costs of making a phone. * https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/21/cirp-iphone-13-best-selling-l...

Hold on; the math is not that easy. For one - most of the iPhone Mini sale is because of 'Halo effect', die hard fans who anyway would have bought an iPhone, bought the mini version. An Android phone maker will not have that brand pull or halo effect to establish a new category, so it would be no where near that 10M number. Second, iPhone or Mac devices are known for hardware and software integration. That translates…

> most of the iPhone Mini sale is because of 'Halo effect', die hard fans who anyway would have bought an iPhone, bought the mini version.

Citation needed? A lot of people love to jump to the conclusion that nobody wants small phones. My personal experience does not align with that conclusion. I'm happy to accept this conclusion if you have some kind of evidence for it, but the linked article just discusses battery life, which was greatly improved in the iPhone 13 Mini anyway.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#472

Post by dont__panic »

brewdad wrote: post #160
ncallaway wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5% of 100 phones is 5 phones. 5% of 200,000,000 is 10,000,000. 5% can be a huge number, or a tiny number, depending on what it's 5% of . I switched from Android to Apple specifically for the iPhone mini, and if they killed it, I would switch to the smallest phone on the market.

Is there a world where the iPhone mini is necessary or desirable when the iPhone SE also exists? I don't see a need for both, especially when they run the same processor under the hood.

I use an iPhone SE 2016, which uses the same chassis as the iPhone 5/5s.

I tried an iPhone 6S for a year before I got this phone. Couldn't stand the size. The current SE is the same size as the 6S. I'm basically stuck at a dead-end of phone size.

The current SE is not compact by historical standards. I'm not saying all phones need to be smaller, I just want one decent option.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#473

Post by aidenn0 »

ohyoutravel wrote: post #225
dspillett wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love a small primary phone with good battery life for general use (SMS/IM, and (shock!) making/taking calls). Relatively low resolution screen would not be a problem at all. But I, like most people I expect, also use my phone for many other uses some of which make good use of a larger screen at higher resolution: in-car GPS and while running/walking out on the trails, web browsing and social media stuff that woul…

This is where I am. Love the idea of a small phone like the android Palm Phone, and almost bought one. But my iPhone 13 Pro Max is basically so big I use it in place of my laptop for many, many things. So it basically replaces my dslr because of the camera quality and my laptop unless I’m writing software. Though I would love a small phone, I didn’t buy the Palm which would have been perfect for when I’m running or s…

Palm phone was expensive with garbage specs. But I suppose I was never in the market for it; I wanted a phone that was good enough to be my only phone.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#474

Post by brnaftr361 »

nfoz wrote: post #412
brnaftr361 wrote: post #366

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.

You do that on the phone? I'd never.

And nobody I know has changed their communication. Discord, text, call. Everyone in my milieu is painfully average.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#476

Post by balaji1 »

cehrlich wrote: post #290
davee5 wrote: post #270

Hi Eric, I'm a hardware startup guy myself (our paths have crossed) with the distinction that my own "very specific set of skills" has been honed at smartphone megacompanies and smartphone startups. OSOM, Essential, HTC, Samsung, Apple. I've designed and built a lot of phones. I'm building one now. I think this is a noble effort, I personally prefer pocketable phones too, but I think there are nigh-insurmountable hur…

I wonder if there isn't a third factor: 3. Android OEMs can't make a good small phone, even if there was the demand to produce it at scale Because of how efficient Apple's SoCs are compared to Snapdragons, Android phones typically have much larger batteries than iPhones while getting about the same battery life. Big battery requires a big phone. The occasional somewhat small Android phone (for example Galaxy S10e) te…

Not intending to start a storm here.

Why does the author want an Android? The iPhone mini would do the job right? I have a iPhone mini for the same reasons of size, premium feel and price.

It would be cool to hear what the founder of Pebble has to say about "why Android". Has he said it anywhere else?

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#477

Post by dont__panic »

ece wrote: post #441
Dunedan wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would that form factor succeed in the Android space? Because it's not Apple selling them and Android smartphone manufacturers operate with much lower margins. Take Motorola for example, which isn't even one of the 10 largest smartphone manufacturers. They released ~30 different smartphone models in the past year alone, so they apparently make money, even if they don't sell millions of units per model. Yet none…

I think this is the main reason, and why only Apple can afford to make a small slab phone. They can still make some margin with 5% of a massive number, while others can't make any. Foldables seem like a better compromise here, and hopefully more like the zflip/razr get in this $700-800 range with stock android, good cameras, and decent battery life. The zflip 3 has been sold for $800, just give me stock android and I…

Foldables are a crappy solution. I do not want a tablet. I have no desire to watch videos on my phone, and I don't need a huge screen for any of the things I do on my phone regularly -- text, listen to music, occasionally browse HN and reddit, take photos. I understand that they fold up to essentially become weird-aspect ratio very thick phones... but that's not desirable for me either, especially at the foldable price point of ~$1000+.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#479

Post by striking »

balaji1 wrote: post #476
cehrlich wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if there isn't a third factor: 3. Android OEMs can't make a good small phone, even if there was the demand to produce it at scale Because of how efficient Apple's SoCs are compared to Snapdragons, Android phones typically have much larger batteries than iPhones while getting about the same battery life. Big battery requires a big phone. The occasional somewhat small Android phone (for example Galaxy S10e) te…

Not intending to start a storm here. Why does the author want an Android? The iPhone mini would do the job right? I have a iPhone mini for the same reasons of size, premium feel and price. It would be cool to hear what the founder of Pebble has to say about "why Android". Has he said it anywhere else?

Article:

> # Why don’t you just use an iPhone Mini?

> I actually do now! I switched from Android back to iPhone in late 2021 because the Pixel 6 was too ridiculously large. This was my first iPhone since the OG iPhone.

> But only 5% of all iPhones sold are Minis (roughly 10m phones per year). This means that Apple may decide to kill the Mini. For Apple, 10m phones is peanuts. But for an independent company 10m units per year would be spectacular.

> If Apple kills the Mini, those people will need a new home. An Android phone (with Beeper for iMessage) might be an adequate alternative.

[... snip ...]

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone

#480

Post by volleygman180 »

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 instead.

Developers have gotten so used to everyone being on bigger devices. Since the Mini _lowered_ the standard size of a device (and represented such a small audience), I found that most of my apps had various UI bugs as they were written to target a regular iPhone dimension or larger. In some cases, apps were unusable due to the UI bugs.

As an iOS engineer, I can also speak to the development side of things. At the various places that I've worked, I can't say that any testing was ever specifically done on a device smaller than the smallest _regular_ iPhone (like an iPhone XS). Even our team of QAs had all kinds of devices that they'd use and we had automated UI testing, but an iPhone Mini was consistently overlooked.

Maybe the device will be better in the future, but until then, the apps just aren't ready.

Granted this is my experience with iPhones and iOS apps. Android could very well be in a different place. I expect less out of the app development on that platform, however, developers are also more attuned to targeting smaller screen sizes, given how many Android devices exist, so it could indeed be a better experience if you find a device that you like.

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