I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall

[venta]

So, that time has come. The time when you accept that your mobile phone is not long for this world, and you need to sort out a replacement.

Unfortunately, the phone I want does not exist.

My existing phone is a Sony Xperia X8, a phone which was slightly out of date when I bought it two and a half years ago. It has tiny on-board storage, and is stuck on an old version of Android (Eclair) which doesn't let you move apps to the SD card. It came pre-installed with so much cruft (all installed as "system" apps, so they couldn't be removed) that it rapidly ran out of space and became unusable.

So eventually I gave in, rooted it, and ripped out all the crap I didn't want. I intended to put a custom ROM on it, but Sony Ericsson make that terribly difficult. The standard procedure didn't work, and the extra steps to unlock the bootloader were only provided by people who write in hysterical red comic sans on the internet. Also, the instructions were very conflicting - with, of course, a bricked phone at the end if it goes wrong. I gave up on the idea of a custom ROM, and stuck with the stock one.

Anyway, once again my phone is refusing to receive text messages at intervals, complaining that there is no free space. I'm pretty sure there is. It's also developed various other idiosyncrasies which vary from mildly irritating to rendering it borderline unusable. It's time for a new phone.

Now... I use Android a lot at work. We have various "nice" phones about the office, so I'm used to using them. I'd like a reasonably high-end phone. However! I keep my phone in the front pocket of my jeans, so it needs to be reasonably compact to fit in. A compact high-end phone?

Forget it.

Oh yes, say the mobile phone salespersons: You want an S4 Mini, the compact version of the mega-selling S4. And indeed, it looks like a nice phone. I'd happily own one. It's even ready to cope with 4G when that comes along. What they don't mention is that an S4 Mini is only "mini" when put next to an S4 (a phone which is famously chuffin' enormous). The S4 Mini is not, in any other sense, mini. It is bigger than an iPhone 5, and protrudes in a very "steal me, steal me" kind of way from my pocket.

Instead they pointed me at various phones: the Galaxy Ace, the Galaxy Fame, the Galaxy Y (all from Samsung), the LG Optimus 3II, the HTC Desire C... they all have one thing in common. They are slow, and clunky. They have physically bigger screens than my existing phone, but are the same resolution, meaning the text looks poor and fuzzy on them. Basically, except for not being out of space and not crashing repeatedly, they seem like a downgrade from my existing phone.

After a lot of trawling around, the HTC Desire X, the Galaxy Ace 2 or the LG Optimus 5 II look like my best bets. They are all a bit too big or a bit too slow, but they're the closest I can manage. But they're all notionally in the "budget" range, and thus not really the market I intended to shop in. I want a shiny new toy, dammit.

Sadly, my options seem to be: buy a crappy phone that fits in my jeans pocket, or accept that I need to start carrying a handbag (or wear combats all the time). Out of interest, are there any other pocket-carriers out there, and how do you manage? Front pocket, back pocket? I suspect being a girl might be part of the issue, as girls' jeans seem invariably to have quite shallow pockets. (Yes, I have considered altering the pocket lining to make the pocket deeper; it may yet come to that.)


Current working plan is to backup all the data from my existing phone, do a factory reset, and hope that'll clear it up enough to let me squeeze a few more months' use out of it while I try to make a decision, and hope some new phones come out.

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

My HTC Wildfire fitted into all my pockets, front and back; my newer HTC One fits into most front pockets apart from one particular pair of jeans. It fits into my back pocket in most pairs although I'm careful when I sit to make sure it stays in, with the shallower pockets, as it sometimes feels like it might fall out (but hasn't so far). I think the Wildfire is the same size as the Desire; the One is less wide but taller.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, Wildfire would fit for me, but a One is too big. Maybe you do a better job of having deep pockets than I do!

I keep things like train tickets/bus pass in my back pocket, but am very aware of them being prone to falling out (and, on at least one occasion, falling down the toilet). So I suspect I'm not together enough to manage back-pocket phone carriage myself.

[metame.livejournal.com]

A motorola razr i was my compromise, and was a decent step up for me when I upgraded to it some months back.
Does have the minor oddity that the "i" is for intel and so the thing has no flash, but very rarely a problem (apps for eg. youtube, and listening to bbc radio) although iplayer is still not usable.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Mm, I did look at a razr yesterday - but it was one of those annoying ones which only has a picture of a screen, not an actual "on" screen, so it was not very playable with. I did take a vow some years ago of never having another Motorola, but I hear they are almost usable these days :)

Hanging on the telephone

[uitlander]

Sadly I cannot offer advice on Android phones. My iPhone 5 fits in my front pocket, just. I suspect that info is no use to you at all.

[venta.livejournal.com]

You may have a kudo, for your song-spotting abilities rather than your capacious pockets.

My boyfriend's iPhone 5 does just fit not-particularly-comfortably in my front pocket. I suspect that a few millimetres do actually make a noticeable difference.

[shrydar.livejournal.com]

I'm not looking forward to upgrading my iPhone 4 to a 5, the 4 barely fits in my front pocket as it is.

[mister-jack.livejournal.com]

I'm somewhat confused. You reject the S4 mini on the basis of size but then list three phones that within 5mm of being the same size as possible alternatives. I can't imagine those 5mm will make much difference, will they?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Comparisons in shops yesterday made them look more smallerer than that - but you may well be correct. If you stare at enough phones for long enough, your size perception goes weird. I think they're more pocketable - they certainly seemed it on trial. I suspect half a centimetre does make a difference (at least for the specific pocket I was wearing yesterday).

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

If you can't find a phone small enough you could always adopt Martin's approach and carry your S4 around in your hand, putting it down on convenient flat surfaces as required and then accidentally leaving it behind when you depart.

[venta.livejournal.com]

As someone who has occasionally been involved in attempts to reunite Martin with his phone after such events, I can't honestly say I think it's a winning strategy :)

[kauket.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about phones with keyboards? It seems that they are often deeper (because of the keyboard) but smaller in length and width. It may be that that is just as awkward as the depth of them makes it difficult to put into your pocket as well. I don't really like phones with keyboards, but two friends swore by them (Sony xperia mini http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_mini-3947.php - but a bit dated now) until they got new phones recently.If you hate keyboards less than not being able to put your phone in your pocket, similar phones might work?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I've never been particularly pro phones with keyboards, but I'm not terribly anti - I'd certainly look at one. However, none of the phones on offer in major highstreet stores seem to be keyboard phones. I'm sure someone, somewhere, is still making one - but having gone bald-headed for a particular (obscure) phone I wanted in the past, I quite like the idea of having a popular phone these days. The support and so on is way better if you go for something mainstream.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I don't have any advice about phones - mine was out of date ten years ago (although it does fit in a pocket).

I do have pocket envy - most of my work clothes don't have them as, apparently, pockets are not a female thing.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm very glad I work in an office where I don't have to wear "office clothes" - lack of pockets is very frustrating. On the occasions I have to be smartish I always wear a jacket, mostly as a means of adding some pockets to my outfit!

[shermarama]

Ah. I've been putting off looking into a new phone, but it sounds like I'm going to have the same sorts of problems when I do. I've got a Galaxy Ace, which was bought on a budget about a year and a half ago, and while it's generally been a faithful and reliable little thing, I'd now like to get something a bit whizzier and shinier... but I also want to keep it in the front pocket of my trousers. (In the brief period where Top Shop were selling jeans in my size that I wanted to buy, I did extend the pocket linings. It was totally worth it.) I might have to have a look at the S4 Mini in person as a jumping-off point.

[dr-bob.livejournal.com]

My pocket of choice is top (shirt) pocket - I won't get shirts without them now. Since this is not generally a girl thing, it is probably not useful, but keeping a phone in top pockets requires a high-friction case to stop it falling out in the attic and coming to rest on the front door mat as mine did.

[metame.livejournal.com]

Epic Fall!

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Here's the solution to your quandary!

[uitlander]

No. That is just WRONG. OK?

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a sod if you belong to a small pocketed gender, but aren't of the handbagged persuasion. As a big pocketed person (and occasional manbag carrier) I find that the bigger, shallower phones like the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 fit much better in my jeans than something like the iPhone 4 or the succession of Nokias I owned in the past. Carrying around my infinite battery life backup Nokia at Glastonbury felt really weird.

[emarkienna.livejournal.com]

Have you tried the S3 Mini? The height is apparently slightly less than the S4 Mini, though still slightly more than the other 4" phones you list. It seems slightly better spec (RAM and internal storage) than them. Interestingly the S4 Mini is slightly less width than all of these, so I'm guessing it's the height rather than width that's the limiting factor?

I suspect being a girl might be part of the issue, as girls' jeans seem invariably to have quite shallow pockets

This may be it, my 4.65" Galaxy Nexus fits fine in my front pocket.

It is a shame, it seems an obvious gap in the market. Though I'm not sure if I'm talking about small high-end Android phones, or girls' jeans with large pockets...

[venta.livejournal.com]

I did look at the S3 mini - the size is slightly smaller, but also near-as-dammit so I figured I might as well go for the newer, shinier S4 mini if I were going that route.

I think you have neatly identified two gaps in the market.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I would alter the pockets. Slightly painful to do, but must be better than compromising on the phone choice. A phone that's not quite what you wanted it to be will be irritating on a daily basis.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yup, pocket-altering would be a relatively small investment of my time. I'm slightly struggling with but I shouldn't have to... but since I do, I should probably just get on with it.

[octalbunny.livejournal.com]

I suspect the limitation is the battery - my Note II's power consumption seems to be more governed by the CPU than the screen (based on what makes it hot). The battery is roughly half the area of the screen.

This doesn't explain the trend towards thinner devices with thinner batteries though.

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

Have discovered two more advantages of being a wrinkly: I am usually surgically attached to my handbag and I don't need a phone to do more than calls and texts so my geriatric Nokia fits my jeans pocket when necessary.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Of course, I don't need a phone that does more than call and text. I just want a shiny toy, dammit!

[erming.livejournal.com]

HTC posted this today on facebook.


http://www.htc.com/uk/smartphones/htc-one-mini/

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks - looks like it has a 109mm screen, so is probably comparably sized to the S4 mini. But since it looks like I'm going to have to get a bit-too-large phone, it's useful to know there's another on the market!

[pm215]

Ars Technica has slightly belatedly noticed the same thing you have (only with more graphs)...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Graphs make everything more convincing :)

Thanks for that - it's nice to know that someone else has noticed, even if it doesn't seem terribly likely anyone will do something about it any time soon.