Phones Getting too Damn Big!

[Jeff in Denver]

I have a Cat S31, and I was thinking about upgrading. I looked that the Samsung Xcover Pro and it is 6.3" tall. I decided against it. My next choice was the Cat S41, but it's a four-year-old phone.

All the other tough phones are too big, so I will keep my S31.

Is anyone else annoyed by the growing sizes of newer phones?

 

[ocnbrze]

Nope, I love my z fold 3...... thank you very much fur asking

 

[Hadron]

Yes. The purpose of a phone is portability, and if I can't use it on the go - which means one-handed - I've no use for it. That does however mean that width matters more to me than height.

One positive is that the Galaxy s22 was actually smaller than the s21 (146x70.6mm vs 151.7x71.2mm). A shame that my Pixel 2 died a few months before the s22 was released, but at least the s21 is just about manageable, though I'd prefer < 70mm wide. I did come close to buying an iPhone 13 Mini just to get away from oversized handsets, but it seems that Apple aren't committed to that size which makes the pain of switching platforms not worth it.

If you want a rugged phone the situation will be worse, because those are unavoidably larger for a given screen size.

 

[campingfool]

I feel my S22 Ultra is the perfect size for me. At 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm it is large but still for me, still usable one-handed by me. Another point, not as top heavy as the S21 ultra I had for a few days. However, it can get a bit taller, but anything wider will require some longer fingers/larger hand.
Still fits in my back pocket which is another need for me.

But there are smaller alternatives such as the S22+ / S22 and I believe Pixels and sure there are many more.

However, as long as they sell, they will continue to make the larger phone and who knows how large they will eventually get before they start shrinking.

 

[Sunny Rio]

How can 6.3" tall be too big? My Samsung Galaxy A10 is 6" tall and is perfect. Maybe you need jeans with deeper pockets?

I love the longer screen, there's more space to do things.

 

[radzey]

Perhaps there are "mini" class phones that are the same size as flagships in the mid-2010s (~5").

 

[Jeff in Denver]

Part of the problem that my phone is a very small part of my life. Any phone over 6" just feels too large and awkward. When I need a bigger screen I use my Lenovo notebook or my Windows PC. I only use my phone for the basics. Just personal preference - a little crazy, I know.

 

[Sunny Rio]

I hardly think the difference between a 5" and a 6" phone is even noticeable. There are other things where an extra inch makes all the difference, but not phones.

Now if the WIDTH of the phone increased so it didn't go in a jeans pocket, then it would be annoying.

If a phone is a small part of your life, why get a smartphone? Just get a traditional one that's half the size.

 

[mikedt]

Stop wearing girly, skinny jeans?

 

[Sunny Rio]

I wear shorts because only girls need to keep their legs warm.

 

[Hadron]

I hardly think the difference between a 5" and a 6" phone is even noticeable. There are other things where an extra inch makes all the difference, but not phones.

Now if the WIDTH of the phone increased so it didn't go in a jeans pocket, then it would be annoying.

I find that reaching the top of the phone with my thumb is impossible with almost any phone of the last 7 years, but then I've never been one for filling desktops with icons so that's not such an issue. But if I can't press an icon on the far side of the screen at the bottom without risking dropping the phone that's unacceptable. Which is why nothing will ever make me buy a 7.5cm wide phone, because nothing will make my hands larger.

 

[nickdalzell]

Why do you think I love my HTC Thunderbolt so much? It's not just the UI, it's the size and a few other things. I know there's 'one handed mode' but it doesn't work for me that well (One time on a S20 FE I triggered it by accident and couldn't get it back to normal mode).

Does anyone else cringe when they see someone with their huge phone sticking about halfway out their back pockets? I see it everywhere. I once had an old Pocket PC with Cellular compactFlash card years ago (~2004) that I paid a good amount for just to be all techno geeky, but I put it in my back pocket and sat on a park bench. Soon as I heard that crunch I knew what I had done. Ever since then I have always kept my smartphones in my left front pocket (my right front has always been the spot for coins/keys). Thankfully the Thunderbolt is small enough to fit into any front pocket, and not feel awkward/about to bend when I squat.

I don't get the huge size phones either. No one was clamoring for them, and even Apple wasn't losing any sales since folks tend to line up at the Apple store no matter what bad decision they make, so obviously zero demand. Now you can't get a single modern phone that isn't meant for a basketball player or giant. I see that huge tablet against someone's face and instantly see Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell with his iconic Motorola DynaTAC.

I don't use smartphones much either. I'll mainly text my girlfriend, or take a note, or play some music via Bluetooth, but most other times it spends doing nothing in my pocket. I use smaller tablets for the heavy lifting and actual laptops for anything bigger than that. In fact, my RCA Voyager tablet is what I use Walmart Pay on.

Now what's truly unusual are the folks who react "you keep your music on your PHONE?" or "Who doesn't use Pandora these days?" or even "You still BUY music?"

I sometimes feel I'm not of this planet. Everything that makes sense to me is nonsensical to everyone else. Maybe I'm just getting old? I love my HTC Thunderbolt and ain't nobody gonna make me 'upgrade' to a phone with less features and a screen too impractically large.

 

[Sunny Rio]

I find that reaching the top of the phone with my thumb is impossible with almost any phone of the last 7 years, but then I've never been one for filling desktops with icons so that's not such an issue. But if I can't press an icon on the far side of the screen at the bottom without risking dropping the phone that's unacceptable. Which is why nothing will ever make me buy a 7.5cm wide phone, because nothing will make my hands larger.

Thumb? What? I hold the phone with one hand and use my forefinger to press things. Are you one handed? I also place the phone on my lap/table/whatever and use it.

 

[Sunny Rio]

Why do you think I love my HTC Thunderbolt so much? It's not just the UI, it's the size and a few other things. I know there's 'one handed mode' but it doesn't work for me that well (One time on a S20 FE I triggered it by accident and couldn't get it back to normal mode).

Does anyone else cringe when they see someone with their huge phone sticking about halfway out their back pockets? I see it everywhere. I once had an old Pocket PC with Cellular compactFlash card years ago (~2004) that I paid a good amount for just to be all techno geeky, but I put it in my back pocket and sat on a park bench. Soon as I heard that crunch I knew what I had done. Ever since then I have always kept my smartphones in my left front pocket (my right front has always been the spot for coins/keys). Thankfully the Thunderbolt is small enough to fit into any front pocket, and not feel awkward/about to bend when I squat.

I don't get the huge size phones either. No one was clamoring for them, and even Apple wasn't losing any sales since folks tend to line up at the Apple store no matter what bad decision they make, so obviously zero demand. Now you can't get a single modern phone that isn't meant for a basketball player or giant. I see that huge tablet against someone's face and instantly see Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell with his iconic Motorola DynaTAC.

I don't use smartphones much either. I'll mainly text my girlfriend, or take a note, or play some music via Bluetooth, but most other times it spends doing nothing in my pocket. I use smaller tablets for the heavy lifting and actual laptops for anything bigger than that. In fact, my RCA Voyager tablet is what I use Walmart Pay on.

Now what's truly unusual are the folks who react "you keep your music on your PHONE?" or "Who doesn't use Pandora these days?" or even "You still BUY music?"

I sometimes feel I'm not of this planet. Everything that makes sense to me is nonsensical to everyone else. Maybe I'm just getting old? I love my HTC Thunderbolt and ain't nobody gonna make me 'upgrade' to a phone with less features and a screen too impractically large.

I would never put anything fragile in a back pocket, that would be stupid, any size of phone is at risk of breaking, here this will make you laugh, Li Ion batteries don't like being snapped:

I like people like you, I just got a phone at 1/5 of it's retail price because the screen has an unimportant crack.

I love large phones, because I want to be able to see what I'm reading and have lots of room to read a lot at once and use a webpage properly. Lots of people read ebooks on phones, try that on a tiny screen, then go get your eyes fixed because you've strained them.

You take a tablet to use Walmart Pay? You carry that huge thing to Walmart? Isn't that going against your whole point?

Not sure which way you're leaning with:
"Now what's truly unusual are the folks who react "you keep your music on your PHONE?" or "Who doesn't use Pandora these days?" or even "You still BUY music?""
Are you saying you do keep music on your phone or don't?

 

[mikedt]

You take a tablet to use Walmart Pay? You carry that huge thing to Walmart? Isn't that going against your whole point?

When I go shopping at the supermarket I usually have a least one bag with me.

But I'm thinking, isn't the RCA Voyager a WiFi only device, and doesn't have cellular data? So the store has to have WiFi one can connect to, in order to make the payments with the tablet?

 

[Sunny Rio]

I don't take any bags. I walk into the shop grabbing the nearest trolley, fill that with food, then take that to the car. I have only what's in my pockets to pay, and I use that wonderful thing called a debit/credit card, smaller than the smallest phone, accepted anywhere, and designed for paying for things. I use a phone for phonecalls, a card for paying, a calculator to do sums, and a camera to take photos.

Argh, connecting wo Wifi, what's the password, no signal, incompatible device, no way I'd try that. Hard enough getting your own Wifi to work, nevermind someone else's.

 

[Hadron]

Thumb? What? I hold the phone with one hand and use my forefinger to press things. Are you one handed? I also place the phone on my lap/table/whatever and use it.

Isn't placing a phone on a table to use it just more awkward?

Anyway I use my phone on the move. Putting 2 hands in front of me to use it is more restrictive on movement, and in any case my other hand is often occupied. Why on earth would I want a phone that requires 2 hands to operate it anyway? I can see the point of huge phones for someone who wants to sit on a sofa and watch videos, except that I have a tablet, a laptop, a desktop computer and a TV, all of which do that better than a phone. The one thing the phone does better is portability(*), and hence it makes sense for me to prioritise usage on the go, which means excessive size is a bad thing.

(*) It is also better as a camera than those devices, but it's still only a snapshot camera. Again I have other devices that do a better job of photography, so the phone's main merit is that it's almost certainly in my pocket.

 

[Sunny Rio]

No, there's usually a surface available. If I'm out and about walking around I don't want to be doing anything more intricate than talking anyway, or I'll end up walking into a lamppost!

What is it you're doing with your phone on the move? The only time you need to be pressing things all over the screen is when you're using a webpage etc, which is impossible on a tiny screen anyway.

I'm not a phone obsessed person, so chances are I don't have my phone with me. I take with me only what I know I will need. Long journey, take food and a phone for a car breakdown. I never take warm blankets, that's just girly. If I'm hillwalking I might want a satnav, but I use the cheap shit one from my car, not the phone, since I'd prefer not to damage that if I fall on a hard rock or into some water.

 

[Sunny Rio]

The people with tiny girly hands are always free to buy the small phones.

 

[Milo Williamson]

Speaking of:

 

[mikedt]

I don't take any bags. I walk into the shop grabbing the nearest trolley, fill that with food, then take that to the car. I have only what's in my pockets to pay, and I use that wonderful thing called a debit/credit card, smaller than the smallest phone, accepted anywhere, and designed for paying for things. I use a phone for phonecalls, a card for paying, a calculator to do sums, and a camera to take photos.

Argh, connecting wo Wifi, what's the password, no signal, incompatible device, no way I'd try that. Hard enough getting your own Wifi to work, nevermind someone else's.

I sometimes forget that having a car can be rather essential in the UK. Same in the US.

 

[campingfool]

Sure are a lot of people who believe the way they carry and use their phone is the only way it should be used, as well as all must use the same apps or you are stupid.

First, I will carry my large phone anyone way want, it's mine to do with as I please. So if it is in a back pocket, it will be in a back pocket. And my S22U by all accounts of what I have seen with teardowns and breakage tests is a hell of a lot stronger than my Pixel 4XL and I carried the Pixel for over two years in my back pocket and sat it all the time. And it never cracked, broke or exploded. So I do not consider myself stupid. Besides, if it breaks, it breaks, it's a phone. Buy a new one.

Second, I carry over 4K songs on my phone. I understand many people are still living in mom's basement and can have full time internet and cell signals while watching the View; however, some of us prefer to live where cell service/internet is not available on a phone. Where i live, I have a strong enough signal to use it as a phone; I paid over 6K to get wired internet into my house so I have great internet service IN MY HOUSE.

I can travel my road to the west and my signal gets stronger, to the east it gets weaker and I can only travel so far before I start to climb up mountains.

So, Pandora? Useless to many. So not so stupid to have songs on my phone.

I also use my phone one-handed using my thumb to view the content. Spent a half hour this AM in the optometrist's office reading the news. Not a problem. Better than what they had on the TV for sure.

All people are different, how they use their personal products is their business. If they don't use it the way another person likes...well that is really too bad.

But some people evidently believe that if some use their phone with their thumbs, don't have Pandora and carry a phone in their back pocket, they are stupid.

 

[mikedt]

Sure are a lot of people who believe the way they carry and use their phone is the only way it should be used, as well as all must use the same apps or you are stupid.

First, I will carry my large phone anyone way want, it's mine to do with as I please. So if it is in a back pocket, it will be in a back pocket. And my S22U by all accounts of what I have seen with teardowns and breakage tests is a hell of a lot stronger than my Pixel 4XL and I carried the Pixel for over two years in my back pocket and sat it all the time. And it never cracked, broke or exploded. So I do not consider myself stupid. Besides, if it breaks, it breaks, it's a phone. Buy a new one.

So there's no problems with pickpockets where you are then? I've never been pickpocketed myself, but on the other hand I've lost things from trousers back pockets before now, like keys and money. So I wouldn't want to chance losing a $1000+ phone from a back pocket.

 

[Milo Williamson]

View attachment 162814

So there's no problems with pickpockets where you are then? I've never been pickpocketed myself, but on the other hand I've lost things from trousers back pockets before now, like keys and money. So I wouldn't want to chance losing a $1000+ phone from a back pocket.

When I do go somewhere I usually put my phone on my right pocket, or even in my backpack duration of walking to somewhere like for bowling.

 

[Sunny Rio]

Speaking of:

View attachment 162811

No idea what that over-zoomed-in image is supposed to show.