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My existing phone is a Sony Xperia X8, a phone which was slightly out of date when I bought it two and a half years ago.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.

[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 :)

[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.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

The one nice thing about needing bigger-than-average jeans is that you get bigger-than-average pockets, I suspect. When I was a size 8 I don't think I could get more than lipstick and a folded fiver in my pockets (but then that's pretty much all I carried back then).

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

The Wildfire is an awful phone, worse than the Desire C etc. in terms of speed. Someone gave me their old Iphone 4, which is now somewhat long in the tooth, but still orders of magnitude better than the Wildfire.

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

I once read a very interesting article about why the old Motos were all so dreadful which basically boiled down to the fact they were reinventing the wheel (and making it square) with each new device firmware, and thus nothing worked and they couldn't direct their very divided resources to fixing any of them. I suspect that moving to Android has helped somewhat.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I thought it was "old" rather than inherently awful - ie it may have been decent when it was cutting edge. Not sure they're even buyable from mainstream phone shops now, though. Certainly didn't meet one while trawling the phone shops of London and Milton Keynes at the weekend!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I took the mickey out of my Dad years ago because he (and his old Motorola dumbphone) couldn't work out how to send text messages. He could reply to an existing message, but couldn't work out how to originate a conversation.

After a rather frustrating half hour with the phone, and eventually with the instruction manual, I stopped mocking. I couldn't do it either :(

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

I used a Motorola Razr for years, and it was a lovely phone for its time, and the software seemed no more appalling than anyone else's. I think it went downhill rapidly from there through.

Have you looked at phones by Huawei. I'm not sure if they have something sufficiently small, but they do seem to be interested in catering to the budget conscious techie market, so might have something that would suit.

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.

[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).

[venta.livejournal.com]

The Huawei phones which I saw in the wild yesterday were all large, certainly. I was hoping rather to get out of the budget market, and into the shiny market, and will only end up there if I'm buying a compromise phone.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 :)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure anyone was suggesting it was any good? The point about it being the same size as the Desire was for pocket-fitting data, not "get a Wildfire instead"... (It's a perfectly reasonable phone for, y'know, phoning people. And texting. And fitting in pockets.)

[eniel]

This. I got a Galaxy Ace 2 back in November, and it mostly fits in my front pocket (although usually sideways rather than straight down). Went shopping with husband for his new phone two months ago, and the S3 mini was of a comparable size to mine... so I'm assuming the S4 is of the same magnitude.

The only downside I'd see to the Ace 2, besides the speed, is that it's stuck (afaik) on Gingerbread... which might not be what you're looking for :) Then again, I'm not sure I'm really helpful... I'm the kind of person who was more interested in the contract & what I'd get from it than the phone itself!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm confused about the Gingerbread issue - various sources say that it is / will be upgradable to Jellybean (in fact, the little card thingy in the shop claimed it was running Jellybean, although it clearly wasn't).

I think the S3 mini is a smidge bigger than the Ace 2, and the S4 mini a smidge bigger again. Sadly, these smidges all add up.

Although at the same time, as Mr. Jack pointed out - it's only 5mm. I'm surprised that it feels like such a difference.

[eniel]

Ah yes, memory failure. Bought it with Gingerbread, but they started rolling out Jellybean back in April, so I suppose I'll be getting the update at some point :) And smidges and smidges make the difference between "it fits in my pocket" and "I'm going to be either losing it or ripping the seams out of my jeans now"... I agree.
Then again, the plan I got it on doesn't exist anymore, so I might choose a different phone now if I was looking for one. Best of luck!

[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?

[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.

[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.