NEWS – Vote on an online petition if you want phone manufacturers to offer smaller phones again.
Not every phone user needs a glass surfboard in their pocket. Some smartphone users wish the ‘phablet’ phase would be over. The founder of The Pebble Watch is in that camp and is championing an effort to turn manufacturers’ heads.
Eric Migicovsky, the founder of Pebble Watch, “the most-funded Kickstarter project in history” (Wikipedia), is a big dude but favors small phones for the list of reasons you can guess; One-handed ease, lighter weight devices, less chance of pocket escape and drop, etc.
Eric set up a manifesto and petition you can sign if you agree. There are various levels of ‘vote’ you can choose. I ticked ‘Yes, but the price is too high.’ The manifesto calls for a $700-800 price point and that won’t motivate me to buy if that’s the way it goes. But I support the concept and would like to see phone makers get back to at least iPhone Mini-sized devices as a choice for those who want them.
The list of specs in the manifesto are debatable but it gives a starting point for thought and discussion. I could get by with less than the proposed 8GB RAM, the specific processor recommended, and other points. But I am now counted as a supporter of the idea, and hope phone manufacturers will take notice and act.
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Almost everyone I take to wishes there was a smaller phone option, at least shorter anyway. Count me in!
I totally agree. Modern smartphones are so huge, they don’t really fit in you pants’ pockets anymore. The iPhone SE or Mini has a nice size, but I would prefer a phone with Android and a lower price level.
I held on to my original iPhone SE until the iPhone Mini came out. I upgraded immediately and I love it. I’ve read rumors that the Mini is not meeting Apple’s projections and may be discontinued. If so, this will be my last phone. I will never go Android.
That’s why the only phones I’ve ever had have been the Xperia Mini lines.
(Well, aside, of course, from all my non-OS phones, which, from 1997 to 2014 or so, had only been Nokias, starting with my 1997 Chameleon that took Europe by storm and that has been my preferred size of phone since then :).
Best form factor I have enjoyed was the Nexus S by Samsung some 10 years ago. Ironically if it had thin bezels it could display the same screen size as my current Pixel 3, which I find perfectly adequate. Need more battery; phones don’t need to be wafer thin. Never needed a protective case on my Nexus S either. It had a nice little ridge on the back at the bottom that saved it from slipping from a relaxed grip.
I think the thing that keeps people from buying the mini version of the iPhone is the fact that they dumb it down so much. Put a more powerful processor in it along with the same amount of memory as the regular iPhone pro. I realize the camera can’t be the same due to the space limitations, but don’t make it a weak phone just because it has a smaller screen size.