We live in a smartphone-dominated world clouded with privacy concerns unlike ever before. With every new smartphone, our privacy is compromised for the sake of safety, and we easily accept it and move on as usual. But do we really have to live with the microphones on the phone listening to us at all times,
No, just convert any laptop into Linux if you want an open-source computer. All these phablets are extremely unfriendly to people with hand pain/injuries. Bigger is not better and I really wish manufacturers knocked this off. Screens also dig into battery life tremendously.
I personally like large screens due to being able to see more (do have to mess with scaling and font sizes to force browsers). Though I do find that I can only do “serious” work with actual PCs (even tablets don’t “feel” right). Some things make more sense as having a mouse and keyboard are easier to just do things. But other times I can only describe trying to use small screens (including my large phones and tablets) as kind of a digital “claustrophobia” of sorts. Though some of that is because of touch interfaces/UX can’t show as many options/menus and the keyboards take up more of the space.
Though I do hate that we don’t see more compact flagship level options for folks that like them or need them. Apple is like the best option as far as losing fewer functions, and Samsung does still make a point of having a non-plus version of their main yearly releases.
As far as the screen size impacting battery. I think that the opposite is seen from the times I have heard it brought up. The larger body allows for more battery space. I believe that when I was looking at smaller phones for a friend that was thinking that a small screen would help reduce his desire to distract himself from being always on his phone. That one thing I saw people/articles mention was how one down-side for smaller phones was literally how they needed to charge more often to make it through the day. I think the resolution and refresh rates make the most impact on battery. As I remember my S8+ could do like 2k resolution, but in the settings it would mention that battery life might be less than if I picked 1080p. Which would still be an issue if I had the non-plus version.
My problem is that phones with any width greater than 71mm feel painful to use after a while. The keyboard feels too stretched out and harder to type on as well.
That is a real problem which is why a smaller (or even a “mini”) version of phones does matter. Keyboards can be adapted to be smaller, which can be helpful (but gets clunky when I have tried using those options from one-hand typing to two-hand adding steps). It does seem like the options for folks like yourself are an afterthought that leads to having to pick between being comfortable or having all the features and uncomfortable. Apple is basically the only OEM that has real options in both smaller and larger sizes without losing as many (if any depending on the year) features.
I have been using Samsung phones since the S3 and while I personally like the larger ones, I do have a friend that has also had their phones about as long as me. And he always gets the non-plus version of whatever the S series is out when he upgrades due to liking the smaller size (similar to your experience). But I know he would love a small version of the Ultra for the extra features, but don’t see Samsung doing that anytime soon. Which sucks given how much they try to be the “Apple” of Android devices.
I do have a Linux laptop and it’s too big to carry around all the time. The comment was half-joking because 6.7 is more a tablet than a phone so using it as a tablet might not be a bad idea (I don’t know it there are any actual Linux tablets out there).
No, just convert any laptop into Linux if you want an open-source computer. All these phablets are extremely unfriendly to people with hand pain/injuries. Bigger is not better and I really wish manufacturers knocked this off. Screens also dig into battery life tremendously.
I personally like large screens due to being able to see more (do have to mess with scaling and font sizes to force browsers). Though I do find that I can only do “serious” work with actual PCs (even tablets don’t “feel” right). Some things make more sense as having a mouse and keyboard are easier to just do things. But other times I can only describe trying to use small screens (including my large phones and tablets) as kind of a digital “claustrophobia” of sorts. Though some of that is because of touch interfaces/UX can’t show as many options/menus and the keyboards take up more of the space.
Though I do hate that we don’t see more compact flagship level options for folks that like them or need them. Apple is like the best option as far as losing fewer functions, and Samsung does still make a point of having a non-plus version of their main yearly releases.
As far as the screen size impacting battery. I think that the opposite is seen from the times I have heard it brought up. The larger body allows for more battery space. I believe that when I was looking at smaller phones for a friend that was thinking that a small screen would help reduce his desire to distract himself from being always on his phone. That one thing I saw people/articles mention was how one down-side for smaller phones was literally how they needed to charge more often to make it through the day. I think the resolution and refresh rates make the most impact on battery. As I remember my S8+ could do like 2k resolution, but in the settings it would mention that battery life might be less than if I picked 1080p. Which would still be an issue if I had the non-plus version.
My problem is that phones with any width greater than 71mm feel painful to use after a while. The keyboard feels too stretched out and harder to type on as well.
That is a real problem which is why a smaller (or even a “mini”) version of phones does matter. Keyboards can be adapted to be smaller, which can be helpful (but gets clunky when I have tried using those options from one-hand typing to two-hand adding steps). It does seem like the options for folks like yourself are an afterthought that leads to having to pick between being comfortable or having all the features and uncomfortable. Apple is basically the only OEM that has real options in both smaller and larger sizes without losing as many (if any depending on the year) features.
I have been using Samsung phones since the S3 and while I personally like the larger ones, I do have a friend that has also had their phones about as long as me. And he always gets the non-plus version of whatever the S series is out when he upgrades due to liking the smaller size (similar to your experience). But I know he would love a small version of the Ultra for the extra features, but don’t see Samsung doing that anytime soon. Which sucks given how much they try to be the “Apple” of Android devices.
I do have a Linux laptop and it’s too big to carry around all the time. The comment was half-joking because 6.7 is more a tablet than a phone so using it as a tablet might not be a bad idea (I don’t know it there are any actual Linux tablets out there).