Compact Phones

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Phones are too big. We've come to accept that 6" phones are normal, and we're mis-sized. But just a few years ago, people hated big phones. We complained that they were uncomfortable to hold, didn't fit in our pockets, and that these phones were "clumsily oversized." Now big phones are all you can buy. Why? Did everyone's hands and pockets get magically bigger? Are phones big because manufacturers want us to drop them?

Whatever the reason, we know what we want: We want small phones!

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publicació creuada des de: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/14108486

Go and check the link, but essentially:

  • small
  • 2023 release (Android 13)
  • HEADPHONE JACK (I was almost sold here)
  • NFC
  • 8GB RAM (that is powerful)
  • 256 GB internal storage
  • Dual SIM or SIM+MicroSD
  • IR BLASTER (whatttttttt)
  • LED indicators (front AND BACK)
  • fingerprint scanner
  • face ID
  • FM Radio
  • PROGRAMMABLE BUTTON (ok I'm in love already STOPPP)

I mean... this list is mindblowing. So...

What's the downside?

Honestly, you can go and check all reviews... but this phone is virtually perfect for the size, the only issue I have is that the screen is a bit too tiny, 3 inches, and 480p, and I think this will make many people run away.

It should make me look elsewhere also... but where? Any other small phone with a bigger screen is pretty bad, old, etc... and I really needed a new phone, so I realised this was an opportunity to commit to the cause, and buy and hopefully push this form factor from Unihertz to mainstream brands.

Hopefully one day we can get one with a slightly bigger screen, I believe 4 inches and 1080p would be brutal. But for now... I think I've found my new phone. In fact, I bought it 3 hours after knowing its existance.

If you are not sold yet...

Go check reviews on YouTube (example). Honestly, you'll see every reviewer falls in love with the device, even non-small phone lovers. It looks like it performs pretty well, it's decently fast, battery is solid, screen is bright and colorful, the LEDs are really useful, even Face ID (which I'll probably disable) is quick, it does not heat up at all, and even photos are pretty decent...

And it's something like 200 $. Come on. What a deal.

Will report back.

So, what do you think?

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I like it so far, although it does have some quirks. I find that I tend to ignore the bottom half and just hold the top bit like I would hold a normal phone. Not super fast, but it goes easily in my pocket, and now I have the nickname "Flip phone".

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The Doogee Smini is about the size of an iPhone 13 mini, however, it has an IP69K rating, an info display on the back and a customizable button on the side.

Already up on Aliexpress!

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Good compact phones died with the iPhone Mini.

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Here are some resources for finding compact phones w/ custom ROMs:

Inspired by this post: https://lemmy.world/post/6597113

At this point I'm not even picky about which custom ROM I run.
What I'm looking for is a phone that has a very small form factor and there's any custom ROM that officially supports it.

Ideally, with a 3-4" screen
Must be <5"
Must be officially supported. (for unsupported builds, I know of a few options already)

Are there any? Thanks for any suggestions or help!

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They're not actually "compact" but they're the closest thing we have in Android world.

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WHY WHY WHY f*c#o&! I hate this

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So frustrating! The Zenfone was the closest thing we had to a compact phone. Why does this keep happening????

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Outside of the Apple iPhone Mini, I only know of 2 compact phone projects:

  1. Small Android Phone Project From the team behind Pebble, Beeper, and Beepy

  2. OneDevice From Pierre Boyer, a designer behind cool projects like this PC desk build.

Does anyone know of any other compact phone projects out there?