But in bounding after large screens, phone makers seemed to ignore the usability issues that accompany them. Small studies have shown before that 4.3 inches is about as big as a phone can get before people start struggling to use it. The time to operate the phone slows down significantly because one-hand use is awkward – and that’s for average men’s hands. Assuming a normal distribution, for half of men and most women, a phone bigger than 4.3 inches – like the current smallest iPhone – is too big.
The increasing size of smartphones is one of the big mysteries of the technology world. The mystery lies not in phones getting larger – a lot of people prefer it – but in smaller phones, which a lot of people also prefer, disappearing, or being treated as second-class citizens.
Such an odd development.
5 years ago I had a 3.5 inch android phone
115 x 62.5 x 12.5 mm, 135g
Now if I can buy something like Samsung Alpha with 4.7 inch screen (and it’s not the smallest phone nowadays):
132.4 x 65.5 x 6.7 mm, 115g
Don’t see a problem.
The Samsung Alpha’s hardware is two generations old. Only the Xperia Compact series is kept current. It would be nice if there would be at least one other model to choose from!
Alpha has a 20 nm processor and will get Android 6.0 by the way, not that bad.
Not to mention there are still companies happy to sell you a small phone if that is what you want.
Check out BLU phones, they have everything from 4in to Phablet sized, from $60 USD to over $350, so you can just buy what fits YOU as opposed to those companies that put out one or two designs and if that don’t fit you? You’re out of luck.
For me personally? 4.5in seems to be just the right size, fits easily in my pants or shirt and the BLU I got has a screen (210ppi) great for watching YouTube and is easy for me to work one handed. Oh and a quad core with a Gb of RAM for $99 running vanilla Android was nice too.
If you don’t want a big phone? Don’t buy one, other companies will be happy for your business.
I’m becoming more and more interested in BLU phones.
May I ask which model you got? Do they use 100% vanilla Android?
Also, do you know of a place I can easily get a good overview of their phone models? Their website is terrible! There doesn’t appear to be a way to filter any of their scores of phone models by feature.
I got the BLU Studio Mini LTE, but I’ve got friends that have bought several other models and frankly the quality of the builds? DAMN good.
In fact I have a friend that works for the city who is absolutely hellish on his phones, had done killed a Samsung and HTC, so I told him to give BLU a try. He dropped his out of the bucket lift about 12 feet off the ground and other than a scratched case? Its perfectly fine. Needless to say I was impressed but not surprised as mine has really taken a beating.
And yes its 100% vanilla android, they don’t have any stupid skinning or extra apps, its just plain jane vanilla Android. Took me all of 30 seconds to root it as well, easy peasy. As far as a good overview? Just go to the Amazon BLU page, they seem to have all the latest models, just look at the phones you are interested in and they have all the specs.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_3562888011&no…
I’d personally just look at the ones in your price range, like I said they have ’em from $60 USD all the way to over $350 USD for the octocore monster, so I’m sure you’ll find something in your price range.
Oh and for the record not in any way affiliated with the company, just got turned onto their phones by a friend and now love mine, whereas I always felt like I was fighting with my samsung and LG with the BLU I just get what I wanted, plain android at a good price with good build quality.
The only downside is if you are one of those that love to constantly swap ROMs there aren’t as many out there, but frankly I’ve found with just plain unadulterated Android? Really have no need to swap, it just works great OOTB.
Oh and I forgot to give you a link to my particular phone, my bad, sorry about that…
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P06A2SY?ref_=sr_1_1&srs=3562888…
It came with JellyBean but had KitKat update ready to go OOTB, haven’t checked on Lollipop as frankly I tried it on my wife’s phone and just didn’t like it very much. For me KitKat “just works” but if you want Lollipop they have models with it installed OOTB. Like I said there may be an update ready or in the pipe, just haven’t bothered to check as i don’t want it, I’m happy with KitKat.
All in all I couldn’t be happier, got a quad core with a Gb of RAM for $99 running stock Android. The screen is great for YouTube watching, is decently loud and sounds good on headphones for playing music, I don’t play heavy games on my phone so I can’t comment on that but it gets really good battery life and for me 4.5 in seems to be just the perfect fit for my hand, I’m quite happy and could see myself keeping this phone for several years.
I carry an old feature phone for talking (an old Nokia with days of standby time) and a midrange tablet for other stuff.
Even on the tablet typing anything beyone a brief sentence is a chore and I’m not going to hold that great thing to me ear and look any more of a dork than I am.
And I don’t like walking around with a cockroach stuffed in my ear.
When Google Glass and its ilk gets good enough that will be the way to go.
Mac
Ah, but I don’t want to look like a dork with great bulky glasses.
Wait, people who want to talk to their phones actually exist? I thought you were one of those groups thought up by overly optimistic marketing people.
Edited 2016-02-10 15:48 UTC
I wouldn’t say that it is surprising at all. I wonder if the same studies showed that people mostly look at the screens and do not interact with that, or if they interact they do very simple things and/or interact with the bottom part of the screen.
1. People watch movies on phones, the bigger the better, no need to interact.
2. People read long texts on phone, the bigger the better, interaction at the bottom, and you do not need the whole screen to scroll or turn a page.
3. People type on the phone, but the keyboard does not need to take up the whole width.
4. Answering the phone also happens in the bottom section.
5. People who text a lot, use 2 thumbs anyway because it is faster.
Still for many it is still comfortable to hold a smaller model, I understand that(actually I wonder if it could help rest my thumb more), however I would argue that anything smaller than the iPhone sized device is very uncomfortable to type on. Basically the letters are so tiny, that it is very difficult to hit anything. My fingers might be bigger than normal and I use a large screen phone, but If I did not have swype, I would die for physical keys(and physical keys are still better than swype).
So I think the 4inch bottom line remains, but below that… I think there are very few customers whom are looking for such small models.
For me, the biggest problem I have with whale-sized phones is that they’re not very pocket-friendly. Now, I know at least one person is going to respond to this and say ‘I have a Note 4/5 and wear skinny jeans, and it’s not a problem.’ That being the case, I want to see video evidence of you putting a big-ass phone like that in a skinny jeans pocket and sitting down with it comfortably.
I saw one girl the other day who had skinny jeans with a phone in her front pocket, and about 1/3 of it was sticking out of the top. Absolutely ridiculous.
Edited 2016-02-08 23:22 UTC
I feel the same way. If I need a holster for my phone then the phone is too damn big.
My hands are in the 95% percentile. I can easily hold a 7″ tablet with one hand. A 4″ phone is far too small to be comfortable.
Does anyone still use a phone with one hand? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone doing that since the feature phone era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2s7-hTubUU
Remember this commercial? This is me with the OnePlus 2. I think it’s a good size. I cannot type on small touchscreen phones. It’s probably why I was all-in on phones with physical keyboards for such a long time. I had no problem using the original BlackBerry Passport one-handed.
I cannot type on a phone with a small screen without rotating to landscape. That’s pointless because then you can’t see what you type.
Choice is a good thing. The “second-class citizen” thing for smaller phones probably has to do with heat and battery life. That’s the price we pay for wanting thin phones.
I’ve found 4.7 to 5.0 inches to be the sweet spot for my fairly large hands. I’m 6’4″ (that’s 193cm in sensible units) and normally proportioned, so I’m a bit larger than the average male. Still, at 5.2 inches the Blu Life One X (2016 LTE version, and a kick ass phone for the price) was stretching the bounds of comfort for me and I’ve gone back to my iPhone 6 as a daily driver.
I had tried a Note 2 in the past and at 5.5 inches I got tired of holding it. It was too small to feel like a tablet, too large to use as a phone comfortably. Nowadays I see short folks with tiny hands carrying the iPhone 6+ or Note 4 and it blows my mind. I’d never be able to comfortably use one of those beasts.
Lots of people that I see still use one hand, myself included. I’m still clinging onto my battered N9, and it’s still the ideal size for me at 4 inches. Having a look at the phones available in the average phone shop, there are other ~4 inch phones available, but they generally tend to be the bottom of the range, cheap models for people who don’t want a smartphone anyway. There don’t seem to be any high-end phones that size, and many feel like a step backwards from the N9.
“in smaller phones, which a lot of people also prefer”
Is that anectodal, or do you have actual data backing up this claim?
Smartphone makers are in the business to make money. If there were any money to be made from high-end small-screen phones we would see more of them.
Same holds for other fringe groups like people who want physical keyboards.
Screen size significantly alters the physical dimensions of the device. Bigger screens mean more room for bigger batteries. It also means higher power use, but generally not to the same degree. I.e. larger screens lead to better battery life. A bigger screen also means more area to dissipate power – a bigger screen means you can run at a higher clock speed for longer (or have more cores). And, of course, they are easier to read, cheaper to produce at high resolutions, and are easier to type on (with 2 hands anyway).
You can try and engineer against it, but physics always wins… In general a bigger screen will naturally result in a device that can be easily engineered to perform better, because it will probably need more power and thus more battery.
The reason there are few high-end small screen devices isn’t because there is no market for them, it is because they are significantly harder to engineer, which would make them cost more.
Its not that no one wants a high end small screen device – its that no one wants to pay more for a high end device with a smaller screen…
So you are right – if there were any money to be made from high-end small-screen phones we would see more of them. But its not because there is no market for them, it is because the path of least resistance is for the high end to get bigger screens.
Its just easier to put the slower components (which use less power) into the phones with the smaller screens (which have smaller batteries).
Point is the market naturally segments like this – trying to fight against this natural segmentation is an uphill battle. Not impossible, but difficult. So few bother trying.
If a person chooses a bigger phone, only because the batterylife is the only thing that matters, then if that person chooses an android, he or she must be… Well… A sucker. A smaller Lumia 630 can hold battery for two days, doing 10 calls (10/15 min. a piece) and texting somewere between 20 text’s a day. Checking mail 5 times an hour. This is the max, that I have gotten from a Lumia 630. As I said. This is only if a phone is choosen for the battery life, and all other features and stuff are irellevant. I only wanted to point out that a bigger battery is not allways the sollution to the batterylife issue. Other things go into play, on this issue.
Or a Xperia Z5 Compact also does a fairly comfortable 2 days
I think we were explicitly talking about high end devices… A lumia 630 is about as far from high end as you can get.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good device, but based on hardware specs it is in about the same class as a Moto G, another low end Snapdragon 400 device which is about the same size, but has a much better screen, double the ram, and about the same battery life and price tag off contract.
So yes, you can find lots of smaller phones with great battery life. The problem is finding one with a high end processor/GPU, lots of RAM and storage, a high DPI screen, and excellent build quality and battery life. There are a handful, but almost all of them cut a corner here or there.
How about engineering it thicker then? What’s wrong with having a 10mm thick phone, other than going against fashion? I’d gladly add 1-2mm to the thickness of a phone if it doubled the battery life. Problem solved.
And they wouldn’t given that there is no reason for it to be! The screen would be less expensive, the battery would be less expensive (making thinner high-capacity Li-ion cells aren’t cheap!) etc.
Hi did refer to a study. It’s paywalled but you can read the abstract.
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-39215-3_43
The paper mostly talks about one-hand usability and operating time/errors.
The consumer preference is almost an afterthought in this study, which is what would matter to the smartphone companies. Quoting from the article:
A user who needs to use both hands to operate a large-screen smartphone could still prefer it to a small-screen one for other reasons (like better reading of websites etc.)
I like smaller phones. I’m looking forward to the rumored new smaller iPhone. I upgraded begrudgingly to the 6S from my 4S.
I don’t hate the phone, but I’m not in total love with it. It’s simply too big. It’s too wide to be comfortable in my hand, and, though thin, it’s too big in my jeans pocket.
I have no problem watching videos or reading on my 4S, or my 2g iPod Touch.
Now, just maybe, when I try out the new phone, I’ll miss the real estate. But I’m not confident of that. We’ll have to wait and see.
What I do know, is that the phone really hasn’t grown on me. I have not “got used to it”. I cope with it.
I don’t think my hands are small, I wear a Medium glove size, and the spread from thumb to pinky is basically 8.5 inches.
A phone that requires two hands to operate is a badly designed phone.
One could argue that a phone that requires more input than a bakelite landline phone to use is poorly designed. As visible by sales in the early phone market people clearly prefered the dial wheel to the buttons.
Back in the day you just picked up the phone and said “put me through to the bakery”. The operator even kept you up to date with the local gossip.
Texting on the screen of a larger phone is actually significantly better. Yes, you have to use two thumbs, but the accuracy goes way up the larger the screen is.
Maybe two thumb typing is slightly more accurate on a 4.5inch plus phone than smaller
But Swype typing (at least in my experience) is several times faster than thumb or finger typing on touch screens.
I can swype type almost at my touch-typing pace on a traditional keyboard.
and swype type for me is similarly accurate (both 95%-99%) on small (3.5 inch) and large (5 inch) screens.
In fact while my preference is one handed portrait operation, swype typing in Landscape orientation on the small screen I find no problem, but on the large screen the keyboard and letters is too widely spaced and narrow (from top to bottom) to be optimal (the swipe angle become too acute, and/or flat).
I have wide hands with somewhat short fat (calloused) fingers. I have to say for me personally a larger phone is much easier for me to use, especially when texting or doing anything that needs precise input. It’s simply to difficult for me to accurately type on a small screen.
My hands are a little longer than 22cm (from wrist to the tip of the longest finger) and I am 189cm tall… Yes, I do fill out the landscape. Personally I prefer small phones with screens, in the range of 4.3 to 4.5 inch. I hate above and below that, because eighter the screen are too small for the keyboard, or the screen are too large for one hand operations. And yeah… I need to be able to use it 100% with one hand. (feel like a handicapped person when I need to use two hands)
I have a 5,5″ phone (Sony Z5 premium) my wife a 4,6″ one (Z3 compact).
I will never go back to a device with a small screen and everytime I use my wife’s phone I believe it is too small. The reason ? Maybe because I’m getting older and I need a bigger display, maybe because I always liked displays with big resolutions in a small (relative) screen. I don’t know but at the end of the day what matter is what suites you the best.
And the lack of choice is I believe the biggest issue and it shows a lot the past couple of years. Just see how many reviewers and users are praising the Sony Compact series because they give you the best in a small size and yet it took other companies many months to follow up with this trend.
Just listen to your users people, it’s not that complicated!
I prefer phones around 5″, currently I’m on a Lumia 930. Not sure I’d go larger, but I wouldn’t want much smaller either. Average-sized manhands.
– Web browsing or facebook is so much nicer with a larger screen
– ditto looking at the pretty pictures i took
– easier to type
– still fits my pants pockets comfortably
Phone manufacturers are in this business for profit, for that their best interest is to sell expensive phones, with large profit margins. They could hardly justify a “flagship” class price for a small phone, so everything gets bigger even if it hurts users on reliability, battery and price.
Also think about marketing: if not for specs, how could they try to differentiate and promote their wares?
It’s easy – more people prefer bigger phone over one-hand operated phone. The demand for small phone is just too small (there are small new phones out there, just not new iPhone).
Now that phones are affordable at the 6″ size, I’m never going back to anything smaller. I might try slightly bigger, but not 7″.
I’ve personally never understood the use case for tight jeans, so no problem for me to pocket a larger phone. My hands might be above average, but it’s more to do with the amount of surface area I’d like to look at, while still being able to comfortably hold it in one hand.
I am one of the guys who wants a good smaller phone. 3,5 inch would be nice.
Which recent android phone can i choose?
Edited 2016-02-09 13:20 UTC
http://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3
At 3.5″ and Android Lollipop or newer, you have exactly three choices, all of which are about as powerful as a Firefox phone. Bump that up to 4″ however, and you get 18 choices, including a very recent Samsung.
And if you’re a sucker enough to buy a Samsung after the way they’ve behaved, you deserve the pain you’re in for.
Also don’t forget the aspect ratio – on phones this is almost always 16:9 or 16:10 and yet when we jump to tablets, some manufacturers (I’m looking at you Apple…and the latest Samsung and Nexus tablets) totally bizarrely decide that 4:3 is an acceptable aspect ratio. Jump further to computer monitors, laptop screens and TVs…we’re back to the infinitely superior 16:9 or 16:10 again!
It’s why I refuse to buy 4:3 tablets, especially when the devices are primarily used for entertainment (where widescreen rules for videos/games).
Personally I don’t consider widescreen aspect ratios superior at all for general computing usage. Perhaps 4:3 is a bit too extreme but so is 16:9.
Surface’s 3:2 works quite well and Google Pixel C’s should also be really nice (hadn’t really had a chance to test this one though), being somewhere between 3:2 and 4:3.
The BlackBerry Passport was perfect at 1:1 for mobile work (the Classic and Q10 were good too, but 720×720 was pretty limiting). Too bad the OS is dead now.
I hardly think so. That’s a pretty subjective subject.
sqrt(2), golden ratio or get the fuck out.
A pair of years ago I bought an LG, selecting the model with the smallest size, within the mid-price family.
The experience is fully “laparoscopic”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laparoscopic_surgery
Every new version is designed with the flagship models at hand.
A FireOS of the same screen size doesn’t present this problem. [Its basic functions are accessible with one hand, by the way
]
I totally agree with the author. And it even gets worse if you don’t like the usability of Android and IOS.
Phone calls? What is that. I carry my internet thingy around with me all day. I heard of some new feature named Phone Calls, but it doesn’t sound that interesting to me. Also, why would you hold you internet thingy up to your ear? I don’t really use the speakers, so I can’t imagine walking around with it near my head. Must be one of those internet things like Planking.
I got an iPhone 6 about a year ago after my old 3GS had finally given up after more than five years of service. The 4,7″ screen seemed like it would fit my hand perfectly, but then I have really long fingers. (I’m one of the people who actually found the original Xbox controller comfortable.) I can reach all corners of the screen with my thumb without any major effort. I wouldn’t want to get anything bigger though.
The only time I feel I make full use of the larger screen is when I use the phone as an e-book reader. Having to turn pages less often makes it a lot more relaxing to read. Other than that I think I would be perfectly happy with a 4″ screen.
The major problem I have with the iPhone 6 is the thinness and smoothness. It’s slippery and uncomfortable to hold on to. I’m constantly afraid I’m going to drop it. The Apple silicone cases add just the right amount of thickness and friction though. Anyone here who uses an iPhone 6 without a case?
Got a five inch samsung s4, screensize is fine.
Lots better than a S3 mini (4″) or an iphone 5s (4″) which look pretty small in comparison.
So my NexusOne was great; but I didnt’ do much typing on it – just reading (news, g+, fb) so the size was good.
When I upgraded to my MotoX 2nd Gen I did more typing. Then I had to go back to my NexusOne…and typing was a big issue. When I got the MotoG 3rd gen (same size as the MotoX) I was relieved…
That said, I compared my MotoX 2nd Gen against the larger iPhone6 and Nexus 6 phones…and I will certainly say that those phones are way too large. The MotoX/G are pretty much about the right size. Anything larger and it would be better to have a small phone module that connects via BlueTooth to a Tablet.
I like a bigger screen because it’s easier for me to read, as my eyes are changing.
If they made cars, the steering wheel would be replaced with a large rectangle with long steel spikes covering it and a eletronic electrocution clip that you have to clip onto your tonque will driving sitting in a seat facing the back of the car….
Of course some like a razor thin phone that you can’t hold onto, and when you do the power button or volume buttons get pressed…. etc…
The phones may look “cool”… and that car (above) might look cool too… but hardly practical.
If you are a facebook/twitter/whatsapp/etc/etc addict then your use case is different to others who see a phone as a comunicator and not a messenger.
There is a difference.
I got rid on my smartphone and went back to a dumb phone. does everything I need it to. Makes calls and sends/receives Texts.
I have to use a smartphone (oxymoron) for work. They supply me with one. Don’t use any IM software on it. Rarely use it to read emails.
Very useful when travelling on business though.
It was recently upgraded from an iPhone 5 to an iPhone 6. Even with my huge XXL hands it took me a while to get used to the bigger size.
The downside of the bigger size is that I carry it less often on my person. It can be found more and more in a pocket in my laptop bag. I don’t wear skinny jeans. As a former Rugby No 8 I’m hardly the shape for it. The reason it is just takes up too much space in my pockets.
So, my use case is different from most others. One thing you can be sure of and that is, when I leave this job or retire and have to give the phone back, I won’t miss it. But there again, I’m a boring old fart really.
Same here. I don’t get this obsession with smartphones. I do get why a smartphone would be nice to have and nice to play with for someone. I just don’t get why would anyone actually need one.
Like round bagels, smart phones are totally outmoded!
SQUAGELS! (guitar shredding)
As soon as wearables can cram enough radios and UI tools inside there won’t be a need for a pocket computer anymore.
A watch/wearable and a tablet, then an optional workstation (if you really need to do some typing and creating) will be all we need in the near future. We will also have wall-screens like AppleTV/Roku/Chromecast running a family-version of Outlook giving us a basic CRM and calendar for the family.
i just don’t see a future with 6-inch slab computers in everyone’s pockets and purses. I’d be happy without another smart phone in my pocket ever again. It’s been 20 years of that warm thing on my thigh.
Edited 2016-02-10 13:53 UTC
Will you know people in heaven?
https://youtu.be/_ecVERmxa70
and SQUAGELS.
I have relatively large hands and I strongly prefer small phones. Partly because I want my phone to fit comfortably in my pocket, but also because I want to be able to use the device one handed. If it takes two hands for me to type/swipe then using the device just becomes cumbersome.
I have a relatively small Moto G and it’s a good size for my hand. It’s quite lightweight and slides easily into my pocket. My partner has a much larger phone and it doesn’t fit in a pocket… at least not without half the device sticking out the top. It’s relatively heavy and, after using the larger device, going back to my phone feels like a breath of fresh air.
The larger phone offers slightly better performance, but since I use mine almost exclusively for calls/text, it doesn’t need faster/more cores or more memory.
In short, I use what’s comfortable, not what offers the best speed or screen space. If it doesn’t fit in my palm, I’m not buying it.
I sold my 5″ Nexus 5 to buy a 3.5″ iPhone 4S and personally it’s a relief to use a smaller smartphone: fit in the pocket, fit in one hand, solid grasp, one thumb texting …
At 5″ the nexus was too big to fit comfortably and anyway too small for web browsing and/or reading.
Most of the web is still designed for a pc screen, anything below a 10″ tablet will not yield an optimal experience. For reading I have an old 7″ tablet I use at home; all of my other daily activities fit perfectly in the 3.5″ screen of the 4S.
I too am looking forward for the new 4″ iPhone.
It’s about the development; it’s easier to work on a larger phone. You can put better specs and shinier parts into them with less effort.
Small phones are less fun to make and have lower numbers to market. The only people pushing their development are the accountants pointing out the pareto optimal points on the sales graph.
Weird, I have a nexus 6p and it works really well for me.
No, it really does not work well for you. You are less efficient when using it and it is uncomfortable and inconvenient for you to carry around. Plus you look like a dork talking into a Kindle when you make a call on it.
I’m sure that you disagree, but unfortunately for you, anyone who disagrees with me is wrong. Every time.
I have small hands. I use a Nexus 6 which is the largest phablet available. It easily fits in my t-shirt. It easily fits in my rear pockets. It easily fits in my front pockets. It is too small and I want a 7″ or bigger phone.
I want something I can easily read books on. I want to be able to fill out forms. I want to browse with it. I don’t hold it up to my head to talk. I have earbuds for that.
Size matters. We need the maximum sized phone that fits into our pockets. We have a few more inches to go.