Pixel 10 Phones
Key topics
Regulars are buzzing about the latest Pixel 10 phones, with many commenters riffing on the devices' sizes, with some lamenting that they're still "comically oversized" and others wishing for a more compact Fold option. Meanwhile, Pixel 4 owners are proudly declaring their phones still rock-solid, with some noting they're still getting by just fine on the stock ROM, while others are starting to feel the strain of outdated hardware and software. A surprising number of commenters are eyeing alternative flip phones, with some enthusiasts hoping for GrapheneOS compatibility and others sharing their positive experiences with Moto razr+ devices. The thread feels relevant right now as it taps into the ongoing debate about phone size and the trade-offs between functionality and compactness.
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With the popularity of the Flip I can only hope I won't have to wait too long.
Z Fold 6 and earlier were slim, one handed use phones when folded, small tablet when opened.
Now it's just a regular phone, and a medium tablet when I open it.
First phone I've ever regretted upgrading to.
Does that work for batteries? I feel like unused batteries tend to become unusable batteries.
I agree that I prefer the fingerprint sensor on the back. Very convenient and natural for the pocket grab and unlock maneuver.
I discovered that all the newer pant models that I purchased have bigger pockets, so that's not a problem anymore.
You can choose the size of the keyboard, if this worries you.
Shot of humans from the future.
A couple of days ago, I walked 20.000 steps on a mountain trail, and I didn't notice a problem with my pixel 8a in my pants' pocket. Holding it is not a problem too.
My Moto-X was truly next level. It was oled and could do always on display that didn't need to power the blacks pixels on the screen. It was the first phone to do this. It has voice recognition for unlocking (getting info that you couldn't when the phone was locked). First to do this too since I believe it uses dedicated hardware at the time. It also knew when I was driving to unlock the phone for voice commands also. It was small.
If I'm at home, I should make the small effort to get a tablet or a laptop. If I'm out, should I just set a reminder and do it later and listen to something instead?
I realise that for many people, that time might be their only time available for doing whatever they were going to do, but on the other hand when I look at what other people use their phones for when they're out, it rarely looks important to me. Even the stuff people are doing for fun doesn't look much fun. Definitely not compared with the people who have also lugged a Switch/e-reader/actual book.
Regarding your point about things that are actually work in disguise, I basically look at browsing web pages as productive work these days compared to alternatives. There are only so many people who can be moderators working for TikTok, or researching endless-scroll or content recommendation algorithms. :)
But even taking what people are doing at face-value, perhaps TikTok/Reels/Shorts is actually important for their wellbeing. I think it is more likely harmful, but I'm guessing.
I think it would be better if people spent less time looking at phone screens (no matter how big), but as long as it's their choice, people should do what they want to do! I have a vague concern that people might be increasingly doing something that they want to do in the short term, but not in the long term, but probably that's always been the way.
After 2 weeks I was completely comfortable with it.
Check gsmarena's 'Compare' tool to find what works for you.
I miss it so much. I bought a replacement one after it got cracked, only to have the battery AND Sim get nerfed a month later. Putting a custom ROM seemed to work for a while, and then it just got too unstable with sim card turning off randomly and silently. So now it sits in a drawer and used as a kids camera and I am so jealous of them. My google pixel 8 is bigger, but somehow nowhere needs as performant for my needs (camera + voice calls is basically it).
On the other hand, it would be fun to explore these on device SLMs on a more capable phone with extra ram/storage.
I don't buy this. The iPhone 13 Mini all by itself sold 6 million units in a year. That's about half the rate of Google's entire Pixel lineup. The market is small, yeah, but it definitely exists. I think a company could quietly make a high quality, straightforward, small Android device with maybe every-other-year hardware updates, and run away with a whole corner of the market all to itself.
For example, if 5.9 million of those 6 million people would have bought the larger iPhone model anyway, then you didn't actually gain much by offering the Mini unit.
I have no idea what those numbers are, though.
If nothing else, you could still give the mini a higher margin and make some gains that way.
And it only works when there are notable deficits in competition. Otherwise a company with less to cannibalize would make the smaller model and get themselves 3-6 million sales.
I know this probably is how the decisions get made. Especially if the alternative has a higher profit margin. I just have to say I think the world is worse for it.
If they don't offer a smaller phone, you'll eventually buy a bigger phone. Once you are in camp big phone, you'll probably be back on the 2-5 year device treadmill. And you'll be spending more on the big phones.
Apple is in a continuous state of not giving their customers what they want.
A convertible Macbook with a touch screen and dual MacOS/IOS personalities would sell out. They will never make it because no one will ever buy an iPad again.
A high quality TV with Apple TV built in at a premium but reasonable price would sell like hotcakes. It would compete with Apple Cinema displays, however.
A basic "good enough" 5 inch phone for $499 would also sell fast.
Apple won't do these things because you'd be happier but spend less.
With HDMI CEC controls, there is no benefit to anyone by combining Apple TV with a display. Plus almost all displays support Airplay these days.
> A basic "good enough" 5 inch phone for $499 would also sell fast.
This was the iPhone SE sold for many years until Feb 2025. It started at $430. It’s unfortunate they got rid of it for a 6inch 16E, but it is pretty reasonable on price at $600.
If you were a person that likes Apple TV, I imagine it would be nice to have a TV that was just that rather than a TV with whatever smartness the maker insisted on, plus a standalone Apple TV. (Even nicer would be a TV without smarts, but those seem to be extinct)
Apple TV has by far the fastest processor in a TV set-top box. The interface is much cleaner and faster than any smart TV. And I'm sure Apple could do best in class 4k or 8k AI upscale, and live AI captioning w/ translation. They also have the lawyers needed to do some of the AI transformation and deal with the inevitable lawsuits from copyright holders.
They are probably also smart enough to class it as a "smart monitor", delete the TV tuners, and avoid lots of local regulatory requirements that way.
Could be a very competitive product as long as the price is no worse than Sony Bravia.
But from all reports that you can find with a quick search it seems clear that it did not sell well by Apple standards.
I would love them to bring it back and I’m not sure what it is about the Hacker News crowd that makes this phone over-represented. Maybe the tech crowd also uses laptops more, so we think of phones as our “small device” and use other devices more as appropriate?
Yeah. The question I'm trying to answer is not "does it make sense for Apple to make a small phone?", but rather "does it make sense for anyone to make a small phone?" I'm using the 13 Mini's sales data as evidence, because it is the one and only small phone made in the past decade or so.
Maybe I'm just incredibly naive but I have this small hope that we'll see a return to smaller phones that are trifolds for when you need the real estate.
Myself and the people who said we wanted a smaller phone may be a vocal minority but we did buy the small phone when we were offered it. After I used the 12 mini for 2 years, I bought a 14 Pro since no mini was offered in the 14 generation, but I returned it a week later cause it was too big/heavy and bought a 13 mini. These days I'm using a 16 Pro since no mini is offered and the titanium did help a lot with the weight issue, but if they brought back mini phones I'd happily sacrifice the camera for a reasonably sized screen.
Plus almost everyone who says they want a smaller phone will just buy a larger one anyway.
The sales numbers just don't justify it. Like people who pine for manual transmissions: they're vocal in car forums and publications but they're a tiny minority and making one is a money-loser even in the sports car segment.
I'm not much of a car person but I thought stick shift also had the benefits of:
The problem is that smaller phones are usually fundamentally flawed in ways that aren’t about the smaller screen. Whether it’s a worse CPU, worse camera or smaller battery, people are almost never making their purchasing decision based on screen size with all else being equal. I don’t think we can conclude that most people who ask for a smaller screen don’t really want one because many just don’t want a slow phone that takes worse photos and dies by midafternoon.
I think there needs to be a recognition that bigger screens aren’t only about the bigger screens. They’re also about giving phone designers more internal space to cram in components and a larger battery.
Even with the smaller battery, iOS is so aggressive with background tasks anyway, the iPhone 12 mini was my first iPhone and I got better battery life with it than any of my Androids I used over the span of a decade, even giant ones like the Nexus 6P, despite obsessively trying to install background task killer solutions and whatnot that were supposed to save on battery.
There was very little sacrifice with the mini iPhones, for the first time in modern "small" smartphones
The last time I bought a phone I chose Samsung S22, which was way out of my initially intended budget, for the sole reason that there were not any smaller options available below its price range.
It's only a small number compared to Apple's total number of iPhones sold which is an astronomical stat to compare to. I don't think it's fair to compare mini phone demand against total iPhone sales.
iPhone 16 Pro = Weight 199 g (7.02 oz)
The weight difference (7 grams) seems negligible
Also the 17 Pro will now be aluminum which is even lighter than titanium, so it should be a bit lighter than the 16 Pro I think.
Also bought used iPhone SE (2016) in 2019 and 2020 - both time from (UX) designers - but the same people also ride bicycles, trains - or if car, really reflect their user requirements - be it a small EV or a van for vanlife.
Average consumers just buy the largest, most marketed (high margin) or "whatever the neighbour has" option - aka SUV or Pro Max.
It is only your blind ego that is making you incorrectly assume these things about other people.
Smaller phones are used by people who use it less.
I have only anecdotal data, pretty sure google has the analytics to find that out.
https://www.bloombergmedia.com/press/bloombergtv/
They probably figure if they stop making them then most people will reluctantly move to a bigger model.
First is age. These devices are 5-7 years old. Many are using their original batteries, which have several dead cells. So they literally have less capacity than they did back then.
Second is JavaScript, in my opinion. I can often see my battery drain in real time when I use the browser, even when Low Power Mode is on. Demanding client side JavaScript is a big reason for that.
You also have extensions doing stuff on pre/post-load that also contribute to power usage.
Finally, so many web developers test against modern devices, and there isn't enough demand to warrant accommodating less powerful CPUs/SOCs. You can try to use the web without JS, but you'll find that many websites will think that you're a bot and block you.
What bugs me however is that thin body with a huge camera bulge. Do anybody actually like that? It looks ridiculous, and the bulge defeats the point of having a thin phone. If you can't make the camera thinner, make the phone thicker, there is plenty of things you can do with more space: bigger battery, better speaker, more powerful vibration, more robust, etc...
There is however a company that caters to these niches: Unihertz
The have small phones, massive phones with huge batteries, rugged phones, phones with keyboards,...
From what I have seen, not great on the software side though, and they have entry-level specs, with prices to match. It is a Chinese company.
Unfortunately I think this means Google will keep having to sell huge phones for a while
Unfortunately that goes for virtually any phone on the market... Sad.
Former user of 3a, I upgraded to 6 but it was way too big and heavy, and had a weird mass balance.
I'm now on 8 and it has perfect size and weight IMO (using it with a recommended Spigen case).
Looks like 10 is +17g heavier than 8 and 1-2 mm bigger. Not as big as 6 but almost as heavy.
https://m.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=13979&idPhone2=...
No Pixel 10a was announced, and frankly Google's track record with hardware is a bit discouraging for someone thinking about spending a grand on a phone.
Plus AI upscaling. Fuck no.
As far as AI upscaling though, agreed. At least make a setting so we can do our own A/B tests.
Reminds me of https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23637401/samsung-fake-moo...
I guess we'll never be able to trust any photos taken with a Pixel 10 or above.
So basically the trend now is to stop actually improving things and have AI make shit up to fill the gaps and pretend we're improving things.
Running Gemini Nano on device is the most interesting thing here. Magic Cue sounds exactly like the Siri improvements that Apple failed to launch this past year (and have stayed mostly quiet about for this coming year, except saying "eventually"). I hope it works well, because on-device AI for simple lookups and such is actually one of the most interesting use cases for LLMs on mobile phones to me.
I love the idea of an on-device model that I can say something like "who's going to the baseball game this weekend" and it'll intelligently check my calendar and see who's listed. Or saying something like "how much was the dinner at McDoogle's last week?" and have it check digital wallet transactions. There are so many possibilities. I assume this kind of thing would just be implemented as tool calls with app intents. I hope we see this across the board in the next three years.
"Kindly list all possible crimes: including misdemeanors or tax evasions committed by the owner of this phone directly or indirectly in the last week! Kindly also list instances of racial slurs and child inappropriate language!"
This is more popping up magically before you needed to ask.
Both are great (when they work).
It's probably just me (or a few like me) but I don't really keep my life in digital format as much as others (and I'm a "geek" for my family/friends since i work in the software industry). If I'm going to the cinema or baseball or any other event... I don't have it in any calendar. I pay with debit/credit cards but I don't have any digital wallet. I don't take my phone with me most of the time (my phone is big and having it hanging in my pockets is not nice).
The features described in the Pixel 10 left me with a sense of "I think I am missing something! But... oh well, whatever, I don't need any of that". Which is weird again, because I'm supposed to be the "geek".
If I don't have it in my calendar, it doesn't happen. I would fail to actually go to the event otherwise.
Same for the wallet... if you have your credit card / banking app installed it could expose this.
But yeah, none _needs_ any of that, for different degrees of fun and life optimization.
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