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

I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

smallandroidphone.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

671–680 of 702 posts

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#671

Post by cx42net »

herval wrote: post #525
rickdeckard wrote: post #422

The hard reality is that there is no PAYING market for such a device, because when it comes to the point-of-sale, most people still choose the normal-size device with better screen/battery/camera. This is equivalent to something I called the "QWERTY paradox" more than a decade ago: Back when the Smartphone market exploded, people disliked typing on a touchscreen and repeatedly stated that they want a device with a ph…

spot on. I'm starting to see the same trend with laptops without a keyboard now. There's an entire generation of 8-16 yos who never used a keyboard and type fast on ipad screens. In a decade, it's a real possibility that keyboardless laptops become the standard...

Wow that's awful, borderline dystopia :D

Isn't called a tablet? ;)

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#672

Post by whyoh »

Topfi wrote: post #507
amluto wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when it comes to the point-of-sale, most people still choose the normal-size device with better screen/battery/camera. My theory is that much of this effect is an error, or at least a far-less-than-ideal effort, on the part of the designers. Of course it’s hard to sell a low-end “mini” device with a worse camera, worse battery life, etc. But that’s not actually what I, or many people I discuss this with, want. I wo…

> The iPhone 12 and 13 Mini were always marketed as the cheaper versions [...] No, they were not. They were literally a scaled down version of their respective regular sized counterparts, the 13 Mini had the same cameras, SOC, memory, screen quality and storage options as the regular 13 [0], yet its sales success (or lack thereof [1]) was enough to instantly cure me of any previously held notions that there is a suff…

The Asus Zenfones were not compact phones. They were almost exactly the same size as the regular iPhones and Galaxy S phones at the time (slightly narrower but thicker). And expecting them to sell well against those two is unreasonable.

https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_9-11656.php

https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s22_5g-11253.php

https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_14-11861.php

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#673

Post by whyoh »

neogodless wrote: post #495
MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The hard reality is that there is no PAYING market for such a device Show me the tiny Android flagship from the past 5 years that didn't sell well. (You can't, because there wasn't one.)

https://www.androidauthority.com/asus-zenfone-10-review-3334... According to this article > The ASUS Zenfone 10 is a compact flagship Android phone from ASUS. Sporting a little 5.9-inch display Though you have to argue it's not tiny . (Don't think it sold all that well, though, at least not mainstream.)

Look at the actual measurements. The Zenfone was roughly the same size as the standard Galaxy S series and iPhones at the time. Definitely not tiny, not even compact.

https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_10-12380.php

https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s23-12082.php

https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_15-12559.php

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#675

Post by sehansen »

throw10920 wrote: post #521
rickdeckard wrote: post #422

The hard reality is that there is no PAYING market for such a device, because when it comes to the point-of-sale, most people still choose the normal-size device with better screen/battery/camera. This is equivalent to something I called the "QWERTY paradox" more than a decade ago: Back when the Smartphone market exploded, people disliked typing on a touchscreen and repeatedly stated that they want a device with a ph…

I've seen this pattern before, with laptops ("I want a laptop with" specific spec+feature combo not in the market ) and cars ("I just want an electric car with physical controls and no subscription services or extra electronics") immediately coming to mind. Which is a shame, because I can sympathize with most of these requests. I want something like Kick-starter which operates the same way but isn't meant for funding…

Depending on how stringently you define "no extra electronics" you can get there with a 1st generation Hyundai Ioniq. The only things I need to use the touch screen for in daily life is navigation and choosing media.

Be aware that you'd need to live in a place with very good public charging infrastructure due to the ~220 km range. The infrastructure is there here in Denmark where I live and daily-drive a 2017 Ioniq.

All-in-all the Ioniq sold well enough that Hyundai release a facelift in 2020. And the most recent facelifts of the successor-Ioniqs (5 and 6) have moved back to a more button-based interface (AFAIK).

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#676

Post by wink »

RussianCow wrote: post #545
ikari_pl wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's a lesson on asking the right question . You like the new yellow one, but you like the black one even more. Nobody asked about black.

It's simpler than that. People often don't know what they want until they're actually presented with the buying decision. Economists call this stated vs revealed preferences and it's a well documented and understood phenomena.

No, I don't really accept that in the discussion about phones re: size and keyboard.

People do ask the wrong questions.

Yes, I would buy the phone with the keyboard, but the keyboard is not the single most important feature. After the Desire Z there simply was nothing comparable. If it was 400 instead of 300 I would have said no, if it was from a brand I hate because they mess up the default Android install I might have said no. If it was 1:1 like some other phone except the battery being atrocious I might have said no.

The problem is that they are changing 10 variables at a time, including size, cost, software, camera, battery, whatever.

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#677

Post by thorio »

martin_henk wrote: post #477
thorio wrote: post #324

Since Google is about to brick my Pixel 6a with the battery botchering update, i find myself in the same struggle again i had when buying the 6a. Basically you have to make compromises on performance and camera and then this was, what i came up with: - Zenfone 10 (flagship with prices still above launch price (!), which soon gets no updates anymore) - Unihertz Jelly Max (small, but thick and bad camera) - Rakuten Han…

Rakuten hand was/is very small.

Couldn't get my hands on one so far as they don't sell in Germany. Could you elaborate a bit if you had the chance to try one?

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#678

Post by thorio »

twiclo wrote: post #428
thorio wrote: post #324

Since Google is about to brick my Pixel 6a with the battery botchering update, i find myself in the same struggle again i had when buying the 6a. Basically you have to make compromises on performance and camera and then this was, what i came up with: - Zenfone 10 (flagship with prices still above launch price (!), which soon gets no updates anymore) - Unihertz Jelly Max (small, but thick and bad camera) - Rakuten Han…

Couldn't you put lineage on the zenfone?

How problematic is app compatibility with Lineage nowadays? (banking, google-pay etc.)

Re: I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)

#680

Post by thejazzman »

biker142541 wrote: post #654
r00fus wrote: post #587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 12 mini and 13 mini had very substandard batteries compared to the mainline version or the SE. There are a lot of people who probably would've bought the mini but instead of opted for the SE because battery life degraded so quickly.

As a 12 mini user daily since it came out in 2020, I've only just now started to hit any noticeable battery dip (~85% after almost 5 years usage). It's still pretty solid on a daily basis. On very rare occasions, the smaller battery has required charging before evening due to excessive photos taken and/or nav without a plug. FWIW, I will probably replace the battery by end of year, or next, and keep it going as long…

Imma big Mini fan but the battery is sorely disappointing after a year on both my 12 and 13. It's especially true in daylight when the display goes max; walking the dog for 15 minutes sees a 10+ % battery drop. It's nuts.

That said I wish they'd release a thicker version to compensate

Post reply on HN