Sizing Up Smartphones | DLN Xtend 84

Shows Linux Out Loud
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On this episode of DLN Xtend we discuss what we look for in a smartphone.

Welcome to episode 84 of DLN Xtend. DLN Xtend is a community powered podcast. We take conversations from the DLN Community from places like the DLN Discourse Forums, Telegram group, Discord server and more. We also take topics from other shows around the network to give our takes.

00:00 Introduction
10:08 Topic - Smartphone Chat
34:43 Host Related Interest
39:42 Wrap Up
41:27 Extra

Main Topic Links

Matt

Wendy

Charity Event

Contact info
Matt (Twitter @MattDLN)
Wendy (Mastodon @WendyDLN)
Nate (Website CubicleNate.com)

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Some time back when I had an HTC One I liked to try out various ROMs on my phone. I think this was back when CyanogenMod was a thing. Of course, I also wasn’t married then so I had a bit more free time and less obligation to have a working phone at any given time.

I don’t think I’ve attempted a ROM flash in about 3 or 4 phone iterations now. Currently have an iPhone 12 mini which I bought expressly because of its form factor. I hate huge phones with the burning passion of a thousand suns. My last two phones before this one were a Pixel 2 and a Motorola Droid Mini (which I still have and still love the feel of - despite it using a tragically old and unsafe version of Android).

Nowadays, form factor is probably my biggest concern along with price. I prefer to buy my phones outright rather than subsidize through the carrier. Cameras are neat, but not a deal breaker. I grew up with 320x240 postage stamp VGA cameras so pretty much anything modern is a wonder to me. Storage isn’t a big thing because I stream my music and I upload any pictures I take to a cloud service.

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Phones do cost WAY too much through a carrier (typically). We are the opposite what it comes to phone sizes though. I really do enjoy the large form factor. What is it about the smaller sizes that you like better?

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I also prefer smaller phones. They are just more practical to put away in my pockets and weigh less obviously and more importantly they are usable with one hand only.

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Basically what @vinylninja said - I like minimal stuff in my pockets. I have a tiny Edge wallet in my front left with my keys and my iPhone in the right.

I also don’t use my phone for much other than calls, notes (entered with one hand) and the occasional puzzle app in line. My wife likes big phones but I feel like it’s because her phone is more of a laptop/tablet analog. She does everything on it so the extra real estate helps. Also, she has a purse backpack to carry it.

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I just can’t seem to type on the smaller screens. I really do prefer my keyboard. However, if I do need to write something, the larger the screen the better.