Are small phones gone forever?

Martynt74

Martynt74

Martynt74

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Joined
20 Feb 2004
Posts
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Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
I'm still using my Iphone SE from 2020 which is starting to get a little slow and i could do with more than 64gb of storage. I've been looking around for something which doesn't resemble a small tablet and it seems there is nothing out there at all.

My current plan was to get an Iphone Mini 13 but that's already around 4 years old now and not going to be *that* much faster than my iphone se and i'll likely be in a similar position in another couple of years.

That leaves something like a flip phone which feels like my only remaining option. Probably need to have a look at them in person.

Whilst i've been an iphone user for >15 years, i'd happily take a swap to another option if it gave me a smaller form factor if someone knows of anything. I've had a look on Aliexpress but the only options seems to be really tiny mini phones with rubbish specs.

Main criteria would be up to date performance, wireless charging. Not too bothered about brilliant screen quality/camera.
 
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S25 standard?

It's only about 3- 5mm bigger in either dimension.
Don't forget that newer phones have smaller bezels, so looking at just the screen size is misleading.
 
leezer3 said:
S25 standard?

It's only about 3- 5mm bigger in either dimension.
Don't forget that newer phones have smaller bezels, so looking at just the screen size is misleading.
Click to expand...

Am i missing something? From the specs i saw the S25 is around 1.5cm longer than an iphone mini and ~1cm bigger than the Iphone SE, and then area wise is around 10-15% bigger. I'm not too bothered about depth as that's pretty negligible.
.Iphone SEIphone Mini 13S25
Length 13.8 13.2 14.7
Width 6.7 6.4 7.1
Area 92.5 84.4 104.4



On paper 10mm doesn't seem much, but in the hand just feels uncomfortable and bulky in pockets. My wifes Iphone Mini feels much nicer than my Iphone SE and as you say has a bigger screen due to smaller bezel. Think my current hope is to go with an Iphone 13 and just hope the trend changes in a couple years when it needs replacing, although based on the Iphone mini being canned after 2 years i'm not holding out much hope.
 
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They are gone for the foreseeable. S25 plenty dinky for me. I can used phones big or small pretty quickly, as can most. Just needs time.
 
I have an S25 and a 13 mini, the S25 is bigger but it's not 'omg this is a brick' in comparison, it feels marginally bigger. There's enough difference to know which one I've picked up without looking but neither feel big.
 
radderfire said:
Time for a man bag?
Click to expand...

Possibly!

I think in normal use it wouldn't bother me as much, i just don't like having things in my pockets most of the time anyway, and when out on the bike/walking it just feels bulky in shorts/cycling stuff. I'm 6'3! It does make me wonder how people with smaller hands manage. Might as well carry my old Ipad mini around with me!
 
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Martynt74 said:
Possibly!

I think in normal use it wouldn't bother me as much, i just don't like having things in my pockets most of the time anyway, and when out on the bike/walking it just feels bulky in shorts/cycling stuff. I'm 6'3! It does make me wonder how people with smaller hands manage. Might as well carry my old Ipad mini around with me!
Click to expand...

Ditch the lycra and get real mens clothes!! :D
 
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keeping my Samsung S4 Mini alive as emergency phone
every time I upgrade my main, amazed by the size difference

I would love an S4 mini with modern electronics and an OLED screen. Won't be popular, since so much content and apps expect the larger screens. But its just big enough you could get away with

And compared to modern stuff it would be a fashion statement. Miniature, cute, functional.
 
Just gives me fond memories of Samsung S10e, even had SD slot and 3.5mm jack. Almost perfect phone bar battery life on Exynos.
 
I just got an iPhone 13 mini a few months back. Great phone without being too big.

Not sure what I will do when it stops getting updates as I don’t want to carry around a phablet either.

Maybe the smaller phones might make a comeback again.
 
AndyCr15 said:
I was thinking about going to the smallest, half decent phone I could find and apparently the Zenfone 10 is the one to go for.


.Iphone SEIphone Mini 13Zenphone
Length13.813.214.6
Width6.76.46.8
Area92.584.4

**EDIT** You can use Phone Finder on GSMArena and put in the dimensions.
Click to expand...

It would have been a decent contender if they didn't butcher the update schedule.

Came on android 13 and only gets updated to 15. So 2 years of updates for flagship money was absolutely mad for the money.
 
Philtor said:
I just got an iPhone 13 mini a few months back. Great phone without being too big.

Not sure what I will do when it stops getting updates as I don’t want to carry around a phablet either.

Maybe the smaller phones might make a comeback again.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my wife has a 12 mini, and i think i might just buy 2 refurbed 13 minis for us both and then cling on as long as we can!
 
I have just set up my daughters old Pixel 4 for my Nan to use because her phone broke. Compared to my Pixel 8 Pro it is feels tiny, but soooo nice. I had forgot how much nicer a small phone is to hold as use.
This has got me thinking now :D
 
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