Best small screen phone Sept 2019

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timmmay

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#257358 27-Sep-2019 21:13

Can anyone recommend a budget to midrange Android phone that's small, for my wife? Her Moto G5 is failing as it's had a few knocks. She finds it too big, the current model Moto G7 is even bigger, thought the budget G7 play is only a little bigger than current. She liked the G1, but I just can't find any decent phones that are compact. I've looked at Sony, Samsung, and Apple. The Apple SE at 124mm would be good, but it's too old now.

130mm tall or less would be about right, even 120mm. The G7 is 157mm and the G7 play 147mm, with the current G5 144mm.

Any ideas?

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#2326215 27-Sep-2019 21:58

Good luck! Went through a similar exercise a little while back. All the "small screen" phones available locally were junk own-branded stuff that I suspect needed winding up to make go. An Xperia compact (I've forgotten the exact model number) reviewed well, but I couldn't find it locally and wasn't willing to take a punt on importing it. I gave up and just got a bigger Xperia eventually. Dr Google shows this Xperia is just under 130mm tall and ships, but no idea about bands etc.

mattwnz

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#2326228 28-Sep-2019 00:37

The SE is still a fast phone, and it has the latest ios13.1, which has given it haptic touch features. So it should get ios support for the next year, so it depends on how long you expect it to last for. 1-2 years for a cheap phone is pretty good. Even after that , most apps tend to support older ios versions for a few years after that. Plus you can pickup second hand versions in good condition for about $150 which is very cheap for something like an iphone. I got a 32GB one for$150 in excellent condition off trademe, and in some ways I prefer it to my galaxy note due to it's small form factor. If you are buying an android, you tend to be lucky if you get much in the way of major updates beyond 1-2 years anyway. The next SE maybe coming out next year, but will possibly just be a more modern iphone 8, which isn't a bad form factor, but a lot of bezel, and the glass back can be a liability if it breaks. .

turb

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#2326236 28-Sep-2019 06:46

https://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=103

Pricespy is excellent for entering the specifications you want.

I too like small phones, because I use my iPad for most stuff. I've got a Samsung galaxy A3 2017 at the moment, but it's just starting to feel a bit slow. Not looking forward to finding my next waterproof phone.

There must be enough of us out there for someone to make us something decent!

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Batman

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#2326253 28-Sep-2019 08:14

Galaxy s10.

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

dafman

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#2326283 28-Sep-2019 10:28

Batman: Galaxy s10.

I also don't like large phones. Galaxy S10e is one of the smallest android handsets available locally, and it's not that small at 142mm tall.

My S10e will be good for a couple more years, but the way phone trends are going it's going to be difficult to keep replacing with a small phone. Even Samsung and Sony have dropped their compact phone options from new releases. So fingers crossed that one or two smaller options will be available in future.

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#2326292 28-Sep-2019 11:00

S10 is just about as small as s10e imo. On sale at pbtech

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timmmay

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#2326327 28-Sep-2019 15:45

Thanks all. Doesn't look like there are any phones that could be called small at all any more. Moto G1 was 130mm high, iPhone SE 124mm high. Galaxy S10E is 142mm, which is about 5mm smaller than the G7 play and 15mm smaller than the standard G7. I'm not sure a difference of 10 - 15mm makes much difference. She won't get a used phone.

I think my wife is starting to accept that phones don't come in the size she wants any more and get the Moto G7.

The G7, a budget phone at NZ$220 or so imported, is almost as fast as the P9 which was a flagship a couple of years back. That's good progress. If it had a couple of extra small things like a pedometer (that's an odd word) I might get one myself. If it's nice enough, at that price I might get one anyway, given the P9 battery is going and hasn't gotten updates for ages.

Shoes2468

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#2326331 28-Sep-2019 16:09

You mention the iPhone se is too old. Perhaps consider the standard older style iPhone such as iPhone 7 or 8. They don’t quite meet your height restriction but it is smaller in every way compared to the g5 and still nice and quick. Pricier though.
iPhone 8 for example is 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm

timmmay

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#2326332 28-Sep-2019 16:10

Thanks but my wife has said Android only.

nelsonmcewan

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#2371445 10-Dec-2019 05:50

Perhaps Xperia Z Compact range will suit.

I see the Z5 Compact is 128mm long.

timmmay

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#2371468 10-Dec-2019 08:02

nelsonmcewan: Perhaps Xperia Z Compact range will suit.

I see the Z5 Compact is 128mm long.

Yeah I looked at that thanks, but it looks like it's discontinued, and benchmarks are a bit slow.

dafman

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#2371471 10-Dec-2019 08:15

Sadly, the early indications are that the successor to my Galaxy S10e (currently the smallest Android flagship) will be a 6" behemoth.

So, I'll almost certainly be leaving Android for iPhone for my next phone, simply just to keep a smaller handset.

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#2371473 10-Dec-2019 08:18

hence i'm holding out for a foldable phone when 5g network deployment forces me to upgrade.

whatever you do don't buy an old phone - my iphone SE gets very poor coverage (no internet when my wife has full bars 4g) which forced me to upgrade. i was shocked.

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timmmay

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#2371474 10-Dec-2019 08:19

Looking at the Nokia 6.2 from Dick Smith - thread here. It's not small, but you just can't get small phones any more.

turb

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#2371491 10-Dec-2019 09:07

timmmay:

Looking at the Nokia 6.2 from Dick Smith - thread here. It's not small, but you just can't get small phones any more.

I can understand why a small manufacturer might have to go with the herd, but Samsung surely would want to fill all the space under the demand curve.

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