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Comment by makeitdouble

9 months ago

Parent's take is not whether bigger phones shouldn't exist, it's why smaller phones stopped being produced, which is a fairly different angle.

> women

To note, the initial smartphones were already too big for he taste of many: a clamshell feature phone was almost a third of the size of the original iPhone. From that POV, going to a phone that is twice as big is less of a barrier, as they had to keep it in a bag/purse in the first place.

The return of foldables is also pretty well received in that regard.

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makeitdouble

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ChrisMarshallNY  9 months ago

Just tonight, I saw a friend of mine, pull a new foldable Razr from her purse.

They are cool phones, but I do iOS. I still use a 13 Mini, and will continue to do so, for quite some time.

As to the point of this article, I seem to recall a couple of very small Android phones, some years ago (about credit-card sized). I guess they didn’t sell well.

  • makeitdouble  9 months ago

    > very small Android phones

    IMHO this is just not viable in the current world.

    I agree with line the article sets (5"4 for 1080p, almost the size of the Pixel 4a), as mainstream apps will properly work at that size. I still have a working 4a, and some banking apps are getting pretty cramped for instance. And many websites already need furious panning and zooming.

    A credit card size phone would only work for people who basically hate their phones I think.

    • happymellon  9 months ago

      > banking apps are getting pretty cramped

      Completely agree. Although not even on "small phones", my S23 isn't small but the design of these apps has regressed so much that I barely see any useful information.

      On my old WAP phone I could see bank balance and maybe the last transaction or two. Now half the screens taken up with upselling account levels, invest in shares, buy crypto, you've been pre-approved!

      1 reply →

    • ghaff  9 months ago

      >A credit card size phone would only work for people who basically hate their phones I think.

      Probably. It's people who know they have to own a smartphone for so many things like park their car but don't really want one.

      This was a number of years back but I know a then tech executive who got a phone (I think it may have been a feature phone at the time) only because their nanny absolutely insisted.