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My first and only smartphone (a hand down from my Wife) is an ancient Samsung A3. It does what I want it to do, which is make calls, pick up my emails and the odd bit of web browsing. It's nice and compact and happily fits in my trouser pocket when I cycle and am at work. If it wasn't for the fact that the battery's dying and that, despite removing most apps, I'm regularly being told that I'm dangerously low on space (I can't seem to get apps to run of the SD card) I probably wouldn't be looking at replacing it.
I'd quite like something similarly compact, but phones these days (even current budget Samsungs) seem huge. The Google Pixel 4a looks nice but is discontinued. There are plenty of refurbs. around the £150 mark but it's hard to judge condition and battery life (or even whether they've been nicked and factory reset) plus there's ongoing support concerns with discontinued models. I have seen a new Pixel 4a for £250 but I'm struggling to justify that when a Pixel 6 in £299 at Carphone Warehouse (yes I know they're huge).
Are there any decent compact smartphones still around or am I going to end up with a whopper?
if you can get a Sony Xperia Compact, that would be a solid buy. (think mine was a Z5C, till i wrecked it)
They are several/many years old now but are still recognised as up to snuff, and excellent phones.
My OH has had hers (from new) for years and years.
I dont know if they still do them though, but i think they are one of the few manafacturers that recognised that some people want a full fat, full power phone in a <5" size.
The pixel 6a is more compact and lighter than the 6.
If you trade in your A3 at John Lewis then the Pixel 6a will cost you a net £194 including the official pixel 6a case.
I think phones are mostly all huge these days, yeah.
Do they still make dinky little iPhones? My GF has a compact sized one which I think is fairly new.
I will also say I used to prefer a moderate sized smartphone, but I bloody love my new Pixel 6. And it fits in most of my pockets.
My wife has iPhone SE - that is compact and lasting well.
if you can get a Sony Xperia Compact,
Happily sell you an Xperia XZ1 (NOT the compact, that was a tad too small for me!) I have for £30 - it works well, but has some scratches on the back (cannot be seen with case on, which I can send with it). Battery lasts a full day. Charger etc with it.
Pixel 6a as above. I have used compact and flagship phones over the years including the Sony compact range. I now have a 6a and can't fault it at the trade in price.
iPhone Mini - anything else I've seen is huge by comparison.
iPhone SE is still pretty compact and a very capable phone.
I bought a CUBOT Pocket about four months ago, a mainly because I resented having something big and sweaty in my pocket (fnarr, fnarr). Cost £100 including case and screen protector. 4" screen, just like in the olden days! Honestly, it's lovely not to have a big flat lump of plastic in your pocket when you're out doing things. It has a bigger memory and faster processor than my previous big phone, and battery life is comparable.
I like it lots. It's OK for phone, text, emails, Spotify, all the Google apps, and decent enough for the OS Maps app I've subscribed to. I guess it would be bad for scrolling through endless TikToks and Instagrams, and frustrating to watch a film on, but that suits me fine.
Edit because I remembered the negatives: there's no headphone socket (so you need to use the USB C output, or Bluetooth which works fine) and there's no fingerprint recognition for (e.g.) unlocking, banking apps etc. I can live with these for the joy of having a decent sized phone.
Another happy 6a user here. Not too much bigger than my old Sony Z3C. Although my daughter went to the dark side and got an iPhone 12 mini, which is about the same size as the Z3C.
Pixel 4a have been good here, mrsmidlife and 3 kids have them, the one we've had longest has suffered a swollen battery over Christmas, that's going to cost £35ish to sort. Bring back small phones!
iphone 13 mini
iphone (the normal one)
Samsung s22
pixel 6a
You can compare them here..
https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Google-Pixel-6a,Apple-iPhone-13,Apple-iPhone-13-mini/phones/11859,11634,11637
Samsung S8? I have one that is still going strong, I use it mostly for listening to music, but it's also my emergency phone for big days out in the hills.
An iPhone 12 mini can be had from ebay for about £330 and from Apple directly for £500.
Thanks all, there's quite a lot of choice. There Pixel 6a looks a lot of phone for the money but it's still a fair bit larger than the 4.5" screen on my current phone. I'll keep an eye out for 4a deals too.
I'm similarly after a smaller phone, and got recommended an Asus Zenfone 9 which ticks all my boxes (small, waterproof, good camera, headphone jack, big storage, light), bar the price!!!
I was using, until last year the original iPhone SE. It's tiny compared to modern phones.
It is the 16gb version, if it had more ram I'd still be using it. With a fresh battery it works like new (apart from the discoloration of the screen where I got water in it).
Received a 12mini for Christmas which is still a fair chunk smaller than the Moto Pro I've been using.
I probably look like a Fat Handed **** using a Small smart phone, but I hate massive phones.
Samsung s10e is quite small and could be a decent refurb option
If all you use it for is phone, email, occasional web browsing then maybe a supermarket special which is neither Apple nor Android might suit?
I have an iPhone SE currently for work. It's good at some things like email and photos but terrible at other things, especially navigation (booth Google and Apple maps just don't seem to work in cities). Plus battery life is less than a day.I wouldn't spend my own money on it.
My own phone is a Sony Xperia 10 vi. It's also compact and has a battery life of 4-5 days. The camera is fiddly. I'm thinking of going back to Moto like an edge 30 neo which is still small but I prefer the interface
6a is bareley any bigger than 4a, I compared my 4a to my friends 6a. Once its in a case, the type of case will make more difference.
The screen is bigger on the 6a but it has thinner bezzels, the actual phone chassis sizes:
Dimensions:
5.67 x 2.73 x 0.32 inches (144 x 69.4 x 8.2 mm)
5.99 x 2.83 x 0.35 inches (152.2 x 71.8 x 8.9mm)
I’m thinking of going back to Moto like an edge 30 neo which is still small but I prefer the interface
I've got a work Moto G62 which replaced a pro, which I used for a bit as a personal phone.
The 2nd Moto was to replace the first as the Bluetooth was crap. It's crap in exactly the same way on the 2nd one.
It'll work fine for a while then refuse to connect to any audio device unless you re-boot the phone.
Dunno if it's an Android One thing or they're terrible phones but I'd not pay for one.
The G7 power was however great.