new phone time, am I screwed for wanting something small?

[ambuletz]

tl;dr: i'm trying to find an upgrade to the sony XA1 I currently own that isn't any bigger in size but can't find much out there.


My smarphone history in the last decade is as follows

Samsung S2
HTC One Mini
Sony XA1 (bought dec-2017).


I need a new phone as the selfie cam doesnt work, and the screen has many deadspots. At the time of buying an XA1 I reallly wanted a sony XZ1/XZ2 compact, but dismissed due to price. Now in 2021 I'm dismissing it because of how old these phones now are. In a perfect world if they made an XZ3 compact I'd be all over it

Putting my phones dimensions into GSMarena (rounding it up a little to 150mm x 70mm) doesn't yield much choice.


I initially thought perhaps the PIXEL 4a and 5 would be good options...but after hearing they don't have an SD card was turned off.

What I'd like
- similar dimensions (screen size irrelevant)
- SD card
- headphone jack
- something that's not entry level.
- ideally want to buy this outright. (so £500 or under)
- No apple/iphones. I hate them. android all the way
- no weird brands. would prefer well known brands (samsung, sony, htc, google)

So for someone who doesn't want a phone much bigger than what i have now am I screwed?

I do not want apple/iphone

Edited by ambuletz on Monday 5th April 09:44

Edited by ambuletz on Monday 5th April 09:46

Edited by ambuletz on Monday 5th April 10:27

[page3]

It looks like your history is Android, however if Apple works in your ecosystem then the 12 mini is worth considering.

Like it or not, headphone jacks and sd cards are becoming less common.

Edited by page3 on Monday 5th April 09:13

[ACCYSTAN]

Is an iPhone se too big?
iPhone se 2 is bigger than the original se but better tech

[ambuletz]

apple/iphones are out of the question, I've no intention of ever wanting one. sticking to android.

[RizzoTheRat]

S10e is a few years old but that means it's now sub £500 and one of the few phones I could find in a sensible size when I got one a year or so back

[dontfollowme]

Pixel 3A had a headphone port. No SD card though if that is the deal breaker.

[craigjm]

Have a look at the Nokia range. The 5.4 is about the size you are looking for. Vanilla android with no add ons

[Mr Pointy]

It would help if you said what the maximum physical size you would accept is rather than expecting posters to research the size of your existing phone.

[ThunderSpook]

Hate seems a strong word. Did Steve Jobs touch you when you were young? Did someone assault you with an iPhone?

Or are you just being sensationalist?

[ambuletz]

Mr Pointy said:

It would help if you said what the maximum physical size you would accept is rather than expecting posters to research the size of your existing phone.

it's 145mm x 67mm, however the search I did was based on rounding it up to 150mm x 70mm. (size is also in the hyperlink)

[stevoknevo]

ambuletz said:

Mr Pointy said:

It would help if you said what the maximum physical size you would accept is rather than expecting posters to research the size of your existing phone.

it's 145mm x 67mm, however the search I did was based on rounding it up to 150mm x 70mm. (size is also in the hyperlink)

Google stopped supporting micro SD a long time ago and you won't find it any of their phones, the Pixel 5 is almost identical in size to your current XA1 - 3mm wider is the only difference in size, screen is 1" bigger, 4x onboard storage but no SD expansion (Samsung are going this route too now) I know we all have different needs and expectations but cloud storage is cheap and local backup is speedy compared to what it used to be. And if photography is important to you, then you'll be getting a fine stills camera to boot - I've been on Android since day dot and the Pixel user experience on my ageing 2xl has been by far the best to date, if you're prepared to put your life data in Google's hands...(I restrict a lot of it and use open source apps where possible

I reckon a rash of smaller phones will come to market this year based on Apple's success with the SE2?

[cuprabob]

I went through a similar exercise when looking to replace my Sony Z3 Compact and ended up with a Sony Xperia 10, which is a nice size.

[vaud]

ambuletz said:

apple/iphones are out of the question, I've no intention of ever wanting one. sticking to android.

Shame, the iPhone SE is a very nice little phone.

[stevoknevo]

ThunderSpook said:

Hate seems a strong word. Did Steve Jobs touch you when you were young? Did someone assault you with an iPhone?

Or are you just being sensationalist?

Seems you're being sensationalist here with your diatribe, but I do agree that hate is a strong word to use against a piece of technology - however if you've been a long term Android user, iPhones are frustratingly inflexible in what you can do with them to suit the needs and preferences of the end user, and dislike would be a more appropriate terminology.

[niva441]

I was recently looking for something similar sized for my father as his previous larger phone fell out of his top pocket into the local tip. I ended up getting him a Cubot Note 7, as I recall it is only slightly larger than your requirement. Runs on the lighter Android 10 Go, not fully featured android, but only seems to be missing unnecessary stuff.

[7n8n]

I too was trying to find a phone that wasn't huge to replace my worn out Samsung Galaxy S8. In the end I gave up and got a cheap Xiaomi brick. Yes, it's very heavy but the battery life is brilliant which is compensation. And I've got used to the size now.

[paulrockliffe]

None of these options are genuinely small, but I had a look over the weekend and there doesn't appear to be much out there that fits the bill.

I have a Note 9 that I needed to replace as I smashed the screen and it's great but, exacerbated over the last year, I realised I was using it a lot around the house where I'd be better off using a tablet. So much so that I decided to use my upgrade budget to buy a Tab S7, which is so good that I don't need to pick up my phone at all in the house, the only conflict I have is WhatsApp's stubborn refusal to run on two devices.

Anyway, not needing the massive screen when I'm out and about as, I can take my tablet with me if needed. I looked for something iPhone 5 whatever the small one was size. I'd like Android 10 or 11, NFC for paying for stuff as my watch doesn't have it and a good camera, everything else I'd happily trade away for a small form-factor.

I didn't find much really, I'd probably have bought one of these:

https://www.unihertz.com/jelly-2.html

For the novelty factor as much as anything, but it looks like the camera isn't up to snuff. I'm not really in a rush to change as I can work with the cracked screen, so hopefully someone has something small and decent in the pipeline, but I'm not really sure the market is there.

[anonymous-user]

stevoknevo said:

Seems you're being sensationalist here with your diatribe, but I do agree that hate is a strong word to use against a piece of technology - however if you've been a long term Android user, iPhones are frustratingly inflexible in what you can do with them to suit the needs and preferences of the end user, and dislike would be a more appropriate terminology.

I’m really interested in this as I often hear it, and genuinely don’t know what it means.

I have only ever used Apple smartphones, never used anything else.

I have never once felt restricted by an iPhone. What I mean by that is every app I have ever wanted has been available and I have never found an iPhone to be ‘inflexible’.

I would say I was a fairly heavy user of a smartphone. I use it for Outlook email, Office, PDF’s, photos, web browsing, WhatsApp, Google maps and navigation, music, games, and loads of other stuff.

If someone would care to explain to me what they mean when they say iPhones are ‘inflexible’’ I would be grateful. Genuinely interested.

[vaud]

I have only had Apple phones since the 3rd gen.

The only minor annoyance is the lack of an SD card for an archive of films, etc but it's never annoyed me to the point of changing ecosystem.

[anonymous-user]

vaud said:

I have only had Apple phones since the 3rd gen.

The only minor annoyance is the lack of an SD card for an archive of films, etc but it's never annoyed me to the point of changing ecosystem.

I can see how the lack of SD card would have been annoying years ago, but with everything streamed and on iCloud these days, I don’t ever find myself running out of space even with my lowest spec 64gb model.