Yeah, this feels like a huge shame. Android doesn't really offer anything comparable either. I realize the market for smaller devices is a minority one, but it is really so small that no-one will cater to it?
You'll have to remove my SE from my cold, dead hands. It's not just one handed operation, it's simply a much better size and I'm yet to see any reason I'd want a bigger one.
Yeah, not sure what is going on with there being no truly hand-sized phone available except the SE. You could fit a much bigger screen in that form factor, it would have a huge (pun intended) impact. Instead you see a bunch of bezel-less phones hanging precariously out of pockets.
I very recently started using a phone which is too large to be used with one hand. Not because I wanted to, but because my old phone was aging, I needed a new one and nowadays there aren't any recent and decent phones anymore which are small enough to allow one-handed usage.
And so far it's been mostly annoying. Sure, the larger display is great, but the lost ability to operate the phone with single handed is a real bummer.
I wonder why the smartphone manufacturers don't at least offer a single device small enough to allow one-hand usage. There just has to be a market for that, given how many people complain about large phones.
It sounds like there aren't any small Android phones either, at least not high quality ones.
I sympathize: I actually prefer the original 3.5" screen iPhone. Even the 4" screen seemed a bit too tall for comfort. I finally decided if I was going to need two hands periodically anyway, I might as well bite the bullet and go with a large phone.
I really, really wish someone would make a smaller Android device. I was hoping the Nokia 3 would be it, but alas.
Surely I'm not alone and there is a market out there? The iPhone SE sells well, and will be my next phone after I lost my trust in Sony's compact Android devices.
Yeah the lack of options for small devices is really frustrating. I really don't want to switch to iOS but the iPhone Mini is the only serious contender...
I got curious about how tiny the SE is (I never had an iPhone) so I compared it [1] to my beloved Lumia 620 (RIP power button) and my current Moto Z2 Play. And wow, I totally get the feeling.
For me it's not even about one-handed use, I can reach the opposite corner just fine with one hand, but the bulge in my jeans' pocket is really uncomfortable, the corner of the phone pinches my leg and you have to rearrange the brick inside the pocket quite often or it hurts when walking.
Yeah me too. I have small hands and want to be able to use my phone with one hand but there haven't really been any phones like that in the last five years. Sony's Xperia U was pretty nice but too low on ram.
I don't buy that it's automatically inferior if you can't operate it with one hand. Larger carries trade-offs, smaller carries different trade-offs, and those trade-offs are different for everyone. You can't hit 90% with one size. I'd buy that you can make 90% happy, but not if the people you're marketing to have used decent smartphones in the form factor that hits the "sweet spot" for them.
And it's been a long time since any available phone could be operated one handed by most users. An iPhone Mini isn't really one-handable either.
I am the small-phone-lover this article is addressing, and I did sign up to their list - I have an Xperia XZ1 Compact and no plans to upgrade because there's nothing to upgrade it to - but my biggest complaint about the Compact is that it's too big already. I'm a not-quite-six-foot man and I can't reach to buttons in the corners one handed. So why bother? It seems that my preference is not entirely rational after all.
Every year I wait on bated breath at the release of a similarly compact phone to the SE. I even recently bought a new one right before they removed them from the store, so I have 2 year apple care+ for it to tide me over.
Ordinarily I would vote with my wallet, but there are no compact Android phones either.
Ironically I still own a Oneplus One which is quite old by todays standards; and I distinctly remember it being called a "Phablet" due to it's obtuse stature in comparison to its contemporaries. However it would not look out of place today, in fact in comparison to my friends iPhone Xs (not max) it hardly seems at all larger!
I would merrily slam down 1K+ EUR for a real flagship phone at a size I can actually use.
(also, I wonder how women get on, since generally they have smaller hands than men.)
Aw, it's 6" screen and 160.5mm tall ... so too big for one-handed operation. I hope they'll eventually make either a 4" 125mm size or a flip phone, because that would be exactly what I would want to use. It's for the same reason that I'm also holding on to my old iPhone SE because the new SE is too large.
Like this, it's sadly more like "Linux that almost would have fit into your pocket".
Yes, I'm as frustrated as you are. I want a no-compromise 4" Android phone, comfortably usable with one hand. For me, the phone is a communication device for the outside, that's it. I hardly use it at home except for calls. My primary device is my laptop. I have exactly zero use cases that would benefit from a large screen, yet all of my use cases would benefit from being able to fully use it one-handed. I don't watch any kind of video on my phone because it's a torture either way, and I'm okay with smaller fonts to make more things fit on a smaller screen.
It's gotten so bad I contemplated porting Android to the iPhone SE. Not the complete OS, just the userspace, enough to run SystemUI and apps.
Except: a headphone jack is a hard requirement. If a phone has no headphone jack, it could as well not exist for me.
I've been waiting 20 years for a small phone with AR glasses and virtual keyboard and touchpad. What I don't want is a bloody folding phone, which is still too ridiculously small to actually work on. Damn.
You'll have to remove my SE from my cold, dead hands. It's not just one handed operation, it's simply a much better size and I'm yet to see any reason I'd want a bigger one.
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