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Why can't we go back to small phones?
Submitted 4 weeks ago by corbin@infosec.pub to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.spacebar.news/cant-go-back-to-small-phones/
Comments
Tronn4@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
catHerder93@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Even for the government you need apps nowadays. Yes you can try doing things in person but wait times aren’t reasonable. I’ve been trying to get a dumb phone for myself but still find I need a smartphone for specific apps a couple of times a month…
AA5B@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
What happens if 2fa is phased out, and more sites require either an Authenticator app or passkey?
catHerder93@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Exactly my dilemma
rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
I was small phone enjoyer until my Sony Z3 Compact. I really liked it, but after it died, I tried bigger phones and I couldn’t go back.
ICastFist@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
I miss the times when I found 5" phones big. Now they just seem small because everything else is pushing 7"
kamen@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
You have to also consider that when 5" was big, bezels were big too. With today’s thin bezels the same physical size that used to hold 5" could probably hold 5.5".
moonbunny@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
It also used to be commonplace to have a physical home button below the screen on a number of flagship devices, along with the camera being positioned separate from the screen.
I feel like that could bring us closer to a modern equivalent of 6” screens in the same body
twocupsofsugar@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
people like larger phones because they like social media. For people in developing countries a cell phone is their only personal computer so for them having larger screen more preferable. People just like larger phones. I loath them because I don’t have pockets. I could probably live with a dumb phone, but mobile banking, and maps are too useful of a feature for me to live without out. tbh unless your a power user or gamer there really isn’t much of a reason to upgrade your cellphone anyway
tal@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
I loath them because I don’t have pockets
This is especially an issue for women, who often have more form-fitting clothing that either doesn’t have pockets or have very small ones that don’t work for phones.
I think that the usual solution for “women carrying things” is that many are gonna carry a purse – if someone’s pre-menopause, they’re gonna need pads or tampons anyway, so can put it in there. Problem is that the phone breaks this. Even if women have a purse, women don’t always carry their purse all around the office or house or whatever, but don’t want to miss calls.
My mother got a fanny pack just for her phone (which isn’t even all that large).
pieceworkmagazine.com/a-brief-history-of-the-pock…
At one point in the past, it used to be common for women to wear a bag on a belt accessible through a slit in their dress.
The first examples of pockets began to be inserted into men’s clothing at the end of the 1600s. Before this construction development, illustrations show that men used small pouches, which hung from a belt around the waist. These separate pouches could be concealed inside of a coat or tunic. The words pouch and pocket are related, through the Middle English/Northern French word pouche, originally describing a small bag.
For women, pockets remained an accessory that tied around the waist and was accessed through an opening in a skirt’s seam. The full skirts of the 1700s allowed these pockets to be easily hidden.
I think that the solution is gonna be some women’s clothier figuring out how to make an appealing way of carrying a phone.
Lara Croft runs around with thigh holsters. That doesn’t mess with the body silhouette, which I assume is why women don’t want male-style large pocket, non-form-fitting clothing. So maybe something like that would work. Dunno how much of a chafing issue that is.
IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
For people in developing countries
Oh its not just developing countries. My parents in the USA have their phone as their only device
Buffalox@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I’m guessing it’s because most women carry their phone in a bag, so the bigger phone isn’t inconvenient and has the advantage of the bigger screen.
And I suppose most men prefer the bigger screen size, and they are convenient enough in the available sizes. I use a 6.7 inch, and it fits fine in a pocket for me.
Also note that although we have way bigger screens on modern phones, the bezels are way smaller, on the first smartphones the screen was only about 50% of the front face. So a 10 year old 4 inch phone can be about as big as a new 6 inch.EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 4 weeks ago
First - you wouldn’t want to carry a purse everywhere, especially if you did go through the effort of expanding your pockets (which, since a lot of women’s clothing doesn’t have big pockets, is 100% worth doing). Second - it isn’t about carrying, it is about using. I have average hands, yet struggle a bit to reach my Pixel’s upper corner already when using one-handed. It’s just sad they forgot half the humanity has smol hands!
randon31415@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Put it on a badge and make it so when you push on it, you say who you want call and it calls them.
Also make the badge the starfleet logo.
madis@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
So, a smartwatch? Pretty sure someone has made “badge” holders for them by now, just like you can get a brand new iPod.
Crashumbc@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Because most people want big screens?
I mean, it is simple.
DaddleDew@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
One thing that annoys me on the market at the moment is that the majority of folding phones available are like small crappy tablets that fold into a large, impractical to carry phones, and not large, very usable phones that fold into something much more compact that is easier to carry…
misterharbies@lemmy.nz 4 weeks ago
Smaller phones do have a place though. I’ve got a 7-year old son with Type 1 diabetes. We wears a Glucose Monitor that requires a Bluetooth connection to get a reading. He needs to carry a mobile phone for this reason, and because of his size, and the fact that he needs to carry it basically all the time, a smaller phone is best. He does not need a camera, or to browse social media.
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Probably for similar reasons we can’t go back to small cars: People are getting older and can’t handle them.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Derek Zoolander has entered the chat.
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I just want Star Wars style comlink. Wearable on my belt or neck, with a strap in case of dropping it.
Will have to be a bit bigger, to have enough keys. And some display, preferably monochrome text-only.
But in general it should be a device not emitting horrible blue light all the time.
About form - I think something round with keys on the sides is still a good idea.
Shardikprime@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
You want a pager or beeper
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I’d like it to run something Unix functionality-wise and be usable for voice calls.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I mean, we are the customers, we choose, personally I went with the iphone 15 pro, because the max is just ridiculous even though I am close to 2 meters tall and have big hands.
If people bought the smaller versions when they are available I am sure phone makers would react
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
I’m also close to 2m tall and have large-ish hands, but I still prefer smaller phones. They just… don’t really exist.
saltesc@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
There are small phones. There’s more small phones than big phones. And I have big thumbs so stop whinging about the minority.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
We can, there’s just less demand for them. Sony was among the last holdouts for small phones with their compact series, but they stopped because they were their worst selling models.
Even Apple stopped selling their small SE model (that was basically iPhone 5 sized) despite it being the cheapest iPhone to get your hands on, because it sold terribly.
Small phones is something the tech community says it cares about, but the market has proven that the average person doesn’t care. Same as the headphone jack and microSD slot.
I don’t like it either, but phone companies aren’t deliberately leaving money on the table. If they thought small phones would sell gangbusters, they’d bring them back.
knighthawk0811@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
we can’t have small phones because the os design can only be so flexible before it starts either being crap at every size or having so many edge cases that internally it’s stupid complex.
having limited sizes means the sizes they do have can be well covered
ShepherdPie@midwest.social 4 weeks ago
What edge cases are you referring to? Screen size doesn’t matter if the resolution is the same.
knighthawk0811@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
it does if you want your buttons to be anything close to the size of your finger, or if you want the text to be readable (which is adjustable, but most people do not)
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
They suck and also the higher capacity batteries take up too much space now.
nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
this is definitely a trade off. batteries are either small, tall, or thick. my phone with a 3" screen is quite bulbous.
I prefer that to it being thin and having like 3 hours of use time though
__nobodynowhere@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
“thick” phones of the past fit in my pocket just fine.