For instance, would you carry an iPhone the size of a shoebox if the rest of the space was a battery? Would you even be willing to carry one of the 80s phones that had a satchel?
I don’t mind a large phone as long as it fits in my pocket. My first phone was the original Galaxy Note, which people thought was extreme at the time but now looks normal. My current phone is the Pixel Fold, which has smaller dimensions than most of my other phones but is twice as thick due to the folding aspect. Unfolded it’s a small tablet bigger than any phone I’ve had, but folded it’s actually pretty compact if you get over the thickness.
I think 7" phones are already pushing it, large phones are inconvenient for one-handed use. A shoebox-sized iPhone is just an iPad …
Oh, no, I mean full shoebox volume. Like 20lbs of battery with a phone glued to the smallest side.
I think you need only look back at the first mobile phones in the 1980s to find your answer to that.
The first mobile phones and I mean prior to the first Nokias were undesirable at any price level due to consisting of overly heavy nicad batteries. As another mentioned: 1987 Lethal Weapon showed this issue. The only other niche market they could squeeze these stupid huge shoesized battery phones was in cars.
Anything bigger than the current trend of phones is too big and there’s plenty of comedy skits like these demonstrating the ridiculousness of it all.
Happy TV from 2000:
About the size of my current iphone 15.
But it’s less size in pocket vs fit in hand. I also have a pixel 9a which is a bit bigger. I’ll typically carry both when I’m out and about (particularly to work)
I still have a laptop on me most of the time. So… at that point there is no reason for a phone being bigger than may laptop.
How would you feel about a laptop with call and text capability out of the box?
Depends, If you think Zoom calls same as phone - so conference and such is perfectly fine. Texting is just a short email/dm that you can take your time answering.
At that point it is just the matter of urgency.
A 15sec phone call don’t need a laptop.
And before 2000s we were perfectly fine without those 15sec calls.Interesting. I was thinking of having iMessage/Messages, but I forgot most of the world uses Whatsapp to text, anyway, so that function does exist.
As far as calls go, I’m surprised by how unappealing the idea was to me. The amount of spam calls I get would probably kill my relationship with computers, honestly. For normal calls, I’d definitely want a headset of some kind rather than built-in mic and speakers, though I suppose a purpose-built laptop would include better audio equipment.
Just the sake of conversation: Phones and cell phones are really different.
A computer can be used as work phone - during work hours, and for that is perfectly fine. And it would drastically cut back on spam calls.
At home we had landlines and that was enough to call friends to make appointments and engagements. But these were more planning and not urgent things.
If you only look at the phone/digital leash aspect - then those mini phones in the early 2000 would suffice.
If you want the distraction machine aspect, I like to read on my phone and current sizing is fine for it. And for gaming… I think a handheld is better for that.My Thinkpad has a modem built-in, so theoretically it can make phone calls too.
Considering how hard it was for me to find one small enough last time, we’ve already gone past it years ago
I just want a smallish 5-6 inch screen with a 4:3 ratio and a decent camera.
I mean, people carried these by their convenient handle back in the day. The lead-acid battery just built character.
I know people who had them or similar versions. Not a single person carried them around. They took them from their house to their car to their office. Sometimes then never left the car. They didn’t get moved around like a current cellphone.
Really it’s about constraints yeah?
- Needs to fit in pocket
- Needs to be convenient to hold up to your face for phone calls
- Needs to be small enough to be holdable in one hand (highly individual)
- Needs to be big enough that you can use the touchscreen effectively (highly individual)
So really you can just use the size of an average pocket and hand as a guide and go from there. Once it stops fitting in pockets and hands, it has to go in the bag, and typing becomes very difficult as you have to prop up the device, which means people won’t use it as much and get annoyed with it.
If it’s just battery life, you can get bags and such nowadays with convenient rechargable battery packs in them. You don’t need to change the device at all. If you want more screen size as a bigger person, there’s XL versions of phones. Other than that there’s no reason to get a bigger phone
Has to fit in the faraday bag
has to fit in the old prison wallet.
about the size of the one in this music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3_drgbsLRE
My pocket.
It would have to be bigger than the radios carried on backpacks in WW2. Like too big to carry around.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=XNBP18nrRdw
i’d totally carry large phones if they are useful
Adding a single layer of 18680 cells to my phone would increase battery capacity six times at cost of extra 300g in weight and +18mm in thickness, perhaps less if we’re removing regular battery and reorganizing internals. This would allow it to be charged every 10-15 days, perhaps more, and it’s still reasonably sized
Literal brick sized phone would increase battery capacity 30-50x which would be good for charging once per two to three months, that’s probably more than enough, and taking it abroad plane would be prohibited
Shoebox sized battery pack (33x21x13 cm) would fit 378 18680 cells, which at 18.9kg and 1200€ would be 1320Ah, which should be good for two years or more on a single charge, and it stores more electrical energy than 4kg of TNT releases when exploded
