this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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[–] Tronn4@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Porn. Next question

[–] humourme@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 hours ago

people spend more time on their phones than ever before. its substituted sitting in front of a tv, so i guess people want bigger screens the same way they want bigger tvs.

[–] heliophane@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 hours ago

I'm not gonna lie, as a 6'4" guy, I can't stand small phones. I understand that I'm an outlier though, and wish there were more options to cater to more people.

[–] brownirish@lemm.ee 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

i have a 6a and i think its about the optimal size. not too small, not too big.

by the way, my first post on here... how is this different to reddit?

[–] piratekaiser@lemm.ee 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The instances are structured much like discord, in that you have a separate server for topics/communities. Think of them as servers that can talk to each other. Instead of subreddits you have this.

Regarding Reddit (US company), well, depending on your values and political views, you might see the need and have the desire to not depend on/support the platform.

[–] thatsTheCatch@lemmy.nz 2 points 3 hours ago

There are still subreddits though, they're just called communities

[–] blind3rdeye@lemm.ee 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

I think it's a psychological thing.

Like, while thinking about what kind of phone we want - a small phone sounds pretty good. But when it comes time to buy it, we start comparing phones, and we see some small ones, and some slightly bigger ones, and some really big ones. We tend to go bigger than we'd originally intended because of psychological anchoring effects.

The slightly bigger phone is seen as a slightly better phone. "not too big" we think, as we compare it to some monsters; and the key stats such as screen resolution and battery capacity sound slightly better. So we tend to buy that bigger phone even if it isn't what we actually thought we wanted.

[edit] I should say that I'm saying "we" in a totally generic way. I definitely don't do this myself. I've literally only ever owned smartphone in my life, and it isn't particularly big or flashy. I have an anti-phone attitude.

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 5 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

I'm just waiting for smart watches to get bigger and bigger and eventually lose the strap.

[–] Lesrid@lemm.ee 1 points 4 hours ago

I mean that's kinda what the new razr is. I got one because Asus enbiggened their ZenPhone to normal dimensions. And the razr folds in half but it's still as wide as the phablets we pass off as typical.

The battery is still dense and the outer screen is still glass, so the weight distribution isn't great without the extra length for your fingers to share the load. But it's essentially an overgrown watch when it's closed. I rarely open it, so it's not like the external screen is useless.

[–] diemartin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 hours ago

Haha! I was thinking the same. Saw someone post ads for wireless headphone straps, so it's a matter of time before techbros reinvent phones, but worse.

[–] weew@lemmy.ca 39 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Because every time a manufacturer releases a small phone, nobody buys them.

[–] Jtotheb@lemmy.world 9 points 22 hours ago

Well yeah, the people who want a small reliable phone are unlikely to replace them every year for no discernible reason. Cue more articles and comments about how there’s no sale data to support the idea that people want small phones! The odds are stacked against us.

[–] mvirts@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago

Too small, can't phone

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Because apparently people want big phones.

For the last 10-15 years it's been a boiling frog situation really - .1 or .2" increase every generation until 7" somehow becomes the norm (for a phone, not a tablet, mind you).

I wish there were more small hi-end phones too.

[–] TinyShonk@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Large phones are supposed to be called phablets, but it seems like that distinction was phased out as they got bigger.

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I remember that term. It was short-lived.

[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, because nobody wanted to call a phone a phablet. It's a stupid name.

[–] MadBigote@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Phablets were more like an iPad Mini than an iPhone Pro Max back then. They were huge compared to the biggest phones around. I remember seeing people talking on the street with highe phones pressed to their cheeks.

[–] TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)
[–] TetchyOyvind@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

It's wild how the Samsung Galaxy Note was considered a large phone when you look at today's phone sizes.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago

I don't know how you youngsters do it.
One hand eternally glued to this big phone and now they need the other for a soup thermos they suddenly feel the need to drag with them everywhere.

[–] BlueBaggy@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 day ago (7 children)

"Why can't we go back to small phones"

Company releases small phone

"No one" buys it

Company stops making small phones

People complaining why there are no small phones

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[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 9 points 1 day ago

If they're going to make only bog phones they could at least bring back all the hardware features they've removed over the years.

[–] jaschen@lemm.ee 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (2 children)

You can. Ditch Apple and join us. Plenty of small phone selections here on the other side. Edit: you know what. Android doesn't have that many either.

[–] towelie@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago

I used a Jelly pro for two years as a daily driver. Smaller than a credit card

[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo/OnePlus, and Vivo, the top four Android smartphone manufacturers, have not released a single phone with a display 5.5 inches or smaller in the past three years, according to data from GSMArena.

Seems like they’re going away on the Android side too.

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[–] Cataphract@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Here's my dilemma:

  • Been without cell service since the pandemic (eventually stopped using the smart phone altogether)
  • All my digital needs are satisfied, devices and functionality in every room for every purpose I need
  • Have multiple forms of solid and satisfactory communication channels (don't need a cell number)

I've thought about buying a model I could jailbreak, but again it's just to use a system that's abusive. "Download our app!", "Use our digital coupons!", "Link your phone number!", "Scan our code!", "Let us track your location for your convenience!".

I'm really a niche subgroup though, I already need other devices while at work that a phone wouldn't suffice for. I kinda see more people going this route though. If your transportation has a computer, then what's the endpoint in carrying a phone? If your job requires digital devices, the phone is basically reduced to a large brick of a communication device. I see more and more equipment being specialized and having added communication aspects for more complicated machinery, cell phones are not going to keep up with it in a general sense.

tldr: cell phones are just a fad with an abusive system that will die out one day and be remembered like rotary phones. They're generally subpar for any specific task and are only a place holder till we figure out better systems.

[–] Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 15 hours ago

I think people don't want specialised tools, they want one tool they can always have with them. We can see the decline of computer use (and literacy) as a consequence of this. Many young people don't use computers much, if at all.

[–] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 2 points 22 hours ago

Can we make this its own thread? Cause I'm genuinely interested in this often.

[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Because most people use their phone as their main, if not only, device, so a bigger screen is more desirable to consume content.

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[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Seriously.

I don't want a tablet in my pocket all day.

I bought my current phone because it was small and the options I had when looking for small phones were extremely limited.

I'm not trying to seriously game on a smartphone. I'm not trying to watch full length movies. It's in my pocket 90% of the time. I want it to be small.

[–] User79185@discuss.tchncs.de 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I do, I bought smallest phone available from known company. But most of those companies just decided you need huge phone that can't fit everywhere, removed sdcard slot, removed headphone jack. Last time I remember nobody asked them to remove those features. I think it is the same enshittification like with everything, they no longer make cheap houses, smaller cheaper cars, actual budget gpus etc, etc. Feels like every company targets top 20% and the rest - gtfo and be damned.

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[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Why is the article using diagonal screen size as their measurement for phone size? In that case you could have a phone the exact same size get “bigger” just because bezel sizes have shrunk over the years.

They specifically call out the iPhone SE as a “small phone” that they seem to want. But the newest iPhone, the iPhone 16 is only 6% bigger in width and height. Fractions of an inch larger. I can totally understand why somebody would want a phone with smaller overall dimensions, but why on earth would your metric for an ideal phone be a smaller screen?

[–] olmec@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Because, for a touch screen, the screen itself IS the user interface. Imagine while holding with one hand, you want to reach your thumb to the opposite corner to hit a button. Even if the body of the phone is the same, a larger screen will need a bigger reach for your thumb. That is primary issue.

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[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 189 points 2 days ago (32 children)

I want a repairable phone. A phone where I can replace the battery

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[–] sommerset@thelemmy.club 73 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

I don't want a small phone or a slide out keyboards.

I want :
Replaceable battery.
Non glass back.
3.5 jack.

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I held on to my iPhone 4S as long as I could. Now I have a 12 "mini". I know I'm in the minority, though, because I don't spend all day staring at my phone. I do like having all the features, but I use them only occasionally--say, once a week or less. I prefer my internet use on my gaming computer with a big monitor, and a full-size keyboard.

I expect I'll end up with a huge phone for my next one, that I don't need, just to keep access to the functionality. Like everything else in life, there's always compromises to be made.

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