[HN Gopher] I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)
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I want an iPhone Mini-sized Android phone (2022)
Author : asimops
Score : 12 points
Date : 2025-07-16 21:01 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (smallandroidphone.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (smallandroidphone.com)
| hammyhavoc wrote:
| With a battery that can be swapped rapidly without tools. Bonus
| points for pogo pins like a Samsung XCover phone.
|
| Smaller size means smaller battery, but that's mitigated by the
| above. I want utilitarian. I don't want a phablet. I want
| practical and unobtrusive. The smartwatch was meant to replace
| the phone, but doesn't hit the right notes for me.
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| foldables are possibly good for this, I'm considering the fold
| 7 personally
| hammyhavoc wrote:
| I'm definitely open to the idea of foldables or even flip
| phones (perhaps even enthused!). I'm gutted that the Japanese
| "Galapagos syndrome" keitei are becoming extinct with fewer
| and fewer releases each year. The ones that are newly
| available tend to run Android 10 (yikes). The keitei were
| always very tasteful, ergonomic, and sensible. Sure, not
| always flashy in specs, but they didn't need to be when they
| prioritized the form above everything. Would love for the
| rest of the world to pick up this dropped ball and run with
| it.
| dimitri_deploys wrote:
| I've also been interested in this but a little at sea when
| it comes to navigating the alternate dimension of Japanese
| flip phones. Do you have any recommendations when it comes
| to identifying the last best example of the Japanese flip
| phone?
| jauntywundrkind wrote:
| In past lives, I've clung to 3.5mm jacks and battery swaps (but
| yes I maybe would buy an updated LG v20 if one were released,
| that was an amazing slate of a device with both. Just hot and
| slow, on that Snapdragon 820).
|
| Today, bluetooth works quite well for me (I love not having
| cables... but it sucks that performance with a microphone is
| trashfire). 3.5mm adapters are cheap and easy when needed
| (rarely. I also have a $10 bluetooth->3.5mm in my travel kit
| that does get used once a year!). And with usb-c providing fast
| charging, I rarely feel like I'd benefit from battery swaps. I
| can give myself 50%+ in 30 minutes, with a portable battery
| that will power not just my phone, but any other device I run
| into. With Qi 2.2 releasing with 25W wireless charging, and
| magnetic coupling being standard now, you don't even need wires
| anymore. Carrying a bespoke phone-only battery seems like a
| massive downgrade today. Time to update your expectations!
|
| Worth mentioning that battery swaps make water-resistance much
| much trickier to pull off. There' a real cost to battery-
| swappability.
|
| I do wish we saw something like Ara, some phone modularity &
| extensibility. Fairphone has some modular parts, but it doesn't
| feel like an open ecosystem, and the parts dont seem super
| designed for expansion but more just replacement. I guess maybe
| Framework is doing the best work, albeit in a bigger form
| factor space, with their Expansion Cards, which are basically
| just a card form factor USB-C. Licensed CC-BY-4.
| https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/ExpansionCards
| cypherpunks01 wrote:
| Unfortunately this still hasn't happened yet. There are almost no
| good options for reasonable size Androids anymore. Zenfone 10 is
| pretty good, especially with the headphone jack, but it's already
| out of print and will be obsolete before long. And smaller would
| be nicer.
|
| Any other current gen recommendations?
| wmf wrote:
| Zenfone 10 isn't even small; it's 2.5 mm narrower than an S25.
| pclowes wrote:
| My cynical take is that small phones don't exist because they are
| not the product. Similar to vape pens the product is the
| addictive substance the device loads. In this case its apps and
| ads. A smaller screen probably negatively impacts KPIs on many
| levels, at Google/Apple/Meta/X and on down through the ecosystem.
|
| I understand that Apple did not make enough money to make it
| worth their while to continue the iphone mini line. However, it
| does seem like there is a profitable business for someone there
| given how beloved it was/is.
|
| I only traded out my iphone 12 mini just recently for an iphone
| 16 pro (likely the last apple product I will ever buy but thats
| another story) and aside from the camera it is basically the
| same. Just heavier, awkward to hold and slightly worse designed.
|
| No major player wants a smaller screen because it has downstream
| impacts on the pipeline of addictive material and ad pixels they
| can stuff into ocular nerves.
| abujazar wrote:
| Agreed. I'd prefer a modern iPhone the size of an iPhone 4, it
| was perfegt. I made the same "upgrade" from 12 mini to 16 Pro,
| and the 16 Pro is so large and heavy. Feels like we're moving
| backwards in time.
| robertoandred wrote:
| I want an iPhone mini-sized iPhone again...
| luxuryballs wrote:
| Theory: I prefer the iPhone mini _because_ my hands are bigger. I
| think some people with smaller hands care less because they
| aren't losing as much control as I am when the phone is bigger,
| not as much of a ratio difference.
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