Once upon a time you could get a small android device with good specs.
https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_xz1_compact-8610.php
It’s still my favourite phone, even though it’s been retired and is only used as an MP3 player with AUX in the garage nowadays.
I realize that for most people the phone is now a device to consume media through and that the larger screens are helpful there, but having a smart phone that is fully usable with one hand is still something I miss. Often.
Considering that modern androids have about 85% to 90% of their size as display size then a phone with the size of the xz1 compact should get a screen size of ~5 inches instead of the old 4.6 inches.
With the SoC advancements I don’t even feel that the phone would require a flagship SoC to interest me. Put a Snapdragon 6, as much battery as you can fit and an AUX input in it and I’m game.
What would make you guys interested in a smaller phone today?
https://github.com/evanman83/OURS-project
I know it’s boxy, but it’s totally open source, you could slap a small screen in there and then figure out how to jigsaw the rest of the pieces into a smaller form factor!!
Smaller phones do still exist, such as the Unihertz Jellystar or upcoming Jelly Max.
Definitely smaller, but how’s Unihertz track record regarding security updates? That’s the last part of the puzzle for me, I want a phone that’s safe. Otherwise I could still use my old XZ1 Compact. :)
Not great. You’d probably want to flash lineage os on it for security, which apparently works okay.
Totally. I have one of the newer pixels and it’s on the smaller side relatively, but it’s the biggest phone I can use comfortably.
I wear a size medium glove and it’s insane to me that it’s hard to find a phone I can use comfortably in one hand.
At the same time, I’ve started to realize that I should do less with my phone anyway. So I really don’t need it to do to much besides get a good reception and have a day or so of battery life. The most demanding thing I’ve asked my phone to do recently was to emulate some Nintendo games and run llama3.2:1B. But both things are better done either on a device meant to perform that workload or via a self hosted server where my phone is just a client.
I’m with you on those specs. Maybe the best features of new phones is the water resistance. Idk of its possible to have both water resistance and removable batteries and SD cards, but I miss being able to swap out to a fully charged battery or upgrade the storage at a whim. If I hadn’t choose tho, id stick with the water resistance.
So to add to your specs I’d like:
- water resistance
- 256 SD card minimum
- battery last 24hr minimum
- ability to switch from WiFi to cell mid call
- don’t need more than a 1080p oled display on a phone
- comes without any bloatware preinstalled
- runs linux with ability to sudo
Well the Sony XZ1 Compact got IP68 even with aux input and a microSDXC slot so I don’t think combining the SD Card with water resistance should be a problem. The swappable battery would probably be worse.
Regarding bloatware I’ve gotten used to using adb and the uad to remove it when buying a phone. https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater/tree/main
Potential fragility aside, I think flip smartphones (at least the cheaper ones without a proper outside screen) solved the problem for me since I was never really a one-handed user of my XZ1 Compact. I liked the smaller size because it fit into every pocket safely and the smaller screen was more annoying to use and therefore less addictive. Flips have a similar barrier in terms of having to physically open the device to use it. It’s a shame that even the cheaper models are getting the bigger outside screens now, though. It just makes these devices more addictive and more fragile.
I’d love a foldscreen flip that would open into a Pixel 6 size, but was half that size folded. Most of the time I break my screen is when it falls out of my shirt pocket and being closed would just scuff the outer case, and that’s usually because I can’t do up the button on the pocket because the phone is too damn tall. I like the extra screensize but would prefer a compact phone.
If I put it in pant pocket, it just gets scratched with keys/pocket knife, and I’m fairly active so I’ve broken them in my pant pocket by lifting something that presses against it or folded it jumping in a piece of equipment without adjusting the location. Never had problems with a phone that was 4.5" or less but that’s impossible to find now.
