I was pleased to find out the Moto Razr (2024) was available, and I’ve since purchased it for a review. But only because I want to use it 90% of the time folded in. I hate big phones!
And yes, I’ve been in tech long enough that anything over 5.5″ feels too big. Need I remind everyone that the iPhone line came with a 4.7″ screen for 6 years (iPhone 6 – 9 and SE) and we all got along just fine with it. Why on earth do we now all want a minimum 6.5″ screen on something we have to try and hold comfortably in one hand?!
Samsung still produces something approaching hold-able with their Galaxy S line, and basically only that line. But really it doesn’t feel like this is going to last much longer with them. In my mind, not counting random imported phones from something like Ali Express, there are basically a few remaining options: Motorola, Nokia, and Unihertz who sell phones more or less directly to US consumers. I’d have included Blu in this list, but haven’t heard much about them recently.
Unihertz also still actually makes small phones, but their Achilles heel is always delivering updates – length of time, and both when and if they deliver them. Looking at my Jelly Star phone from Unihertz, which is just a more tiny version of the Nothing phone than their giant Jelly Luna, it’s running the June 2023 security release. A bit old, yes, and in fact I’m not aware of it ever having gotten an update. And such a shame, given that Unihertz is one of the few companies trying to do something different with phones.
My Nokia C100, the last (IMO) reasonably-sized phone from a known mid-tier brand in the US, is already a month or so behind, running a May 2024 update. But at the end of the day, I don’t blame consumers for not wanting to buy phones when they tend to fall a month or more behind on security. I’ll write up some thoughts on this separately.
Motorola is also famous (at least according to complaints on their subreddit) for being somewhat of a laggard on delivering OS updates, particularly major ones. And like Samsung, the vast majority of their phones now sport gigantic six and a half (often larger) screens. Taking a look at my Moto Edge 30 Fusion, which I’d consider to be a flagship phone, it’s also sitting on the May 2024 security patch, so not too much different from the Nokia, albeit a much more expensive (and capable) phone. The Thinkphone is a also lovely device, and all but guaranteed to get OS and security updates, but again just too big to handle.
I do still have hope that folks will start buying more reasonably sized phones again, but in the meantime I’ll keep hoping Unihertz decided that it’s worth supporting their devices, and not just considering them one-and-done products. And I’ll keep hoping we’ll be able to get back to the Moto X sized phones again someday.