Preferred smartphone screen size?
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Phones getting too big .. (Score:4, Informative)
for my girly little hands apparently.
I liked the size of the iPhone 5/5s. It was an ideal size (for me). This iPhone 6 feels a little big. Can't even imagine what the 6 Plus would feel like :\
Re:Phones getting too big .. (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem isn't the size as much as the shape.
The best phone I have ever owned was the Nokia 8110 [wordpress.com], because it wasn't too wide to be held, but was long enough that the mic was in front of my lips, and not resting against my side beard.
If I could get a smartphone with that design, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, at twice the price.
Today's phones are good for everything - except phone calls.
Re:Phones getting too big .. (Score:5, Funny)
While my friends boast about their new iphone7, I pull out my nokia 100 and tell them about the 30 day battery life while shining the built-in torch into their eyes.
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2. You can get a bazillion different kinds of headsets... why on earth would you hold your phone to your ear like a caveman? (unless maybe very temporary circumstances)
Because when you receive an urgent call is not the time to fiddle with a headset.
Cavemen were lucky - their women and other bosses did not call them.
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Probably need to flip around two. Instead of the small blue-tooth thing slaving off the big cell-phone thing, have a big non-cell tablet that slaves off a small cell-connected handset. The handset is thus free to be as optimised as you want. A cross between a Pebble and an old-style dumb phone. e-Paper display and simple low-power processor for long battery life, small keypad, flip or slider for length when talking, etc. While still being, like Pebble, able to have 3rd party apps. The tablet can then be as
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If I could get a bluetooth handset that worked great as a one-handed receiver, with no more than an on/off-hook button, and big enough to reach both my ear and my mouth, I would keep my smartphone in my pocket and use the handset.
Thing is, no such device exists. There are headsets and bluetooth earsets, but both require excessive fiddling, and the earsets don't even work if you have a bushy beard and a deep voice. I *miss* being able to just pick up the receiver and talk, without having to yell because pe
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Merry Christmas [ebay.com]
Re: Phones getting too big .. (Score:2)
Awesome. You just made my day.
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Read the conclusion on the link you posted;
Results
The array design based on the computational model was evaluated with measurements which showed excellent conformity. The results revealed that compared to the standard free-field array, the headset array yielded better low-frequency performance. This is because of the near-field (proximity) effect. At higher frequencies, the headset arrayâ(TM)s performance level was below that of the free-field array.
Oh, and they also assume that your head is a solid sphere. Yours might be; mine is not.
When you have a beard, it gets even worse. Little or no sound goes through both your cheek and beard, except the bass that gets cut by the high-pass filter. To get heard, I have to hold my other hand in front of my mouth so the sound can reflect back to the mic. No matter what modern cell phone I use, people tell me to speak up. Something that never happens with headsets or r
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why on earth would you hold your phone to your ear like a caveman?
Um, because it's a ... phone?
It seems to me that we need two different categories of devices, because people have two completely different mindsets about these smartphones. One type of device should be rock solid at making phone calls. Never drops a call, never reboots in the middle of the call, comfortable fits the ear and reaches the mouth for optimum call quality. And it can also be used for applications.
The other type of device is optimally configured for letting you run apps and play games, monitor
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More like this [katteway.com], but preferably slider (like the Nokia 8110) or flip, so it can easily fit in a shirt or jacket pocket.
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I disagree. Old analog phones had amazing call quality.
I can't be the only one old enough to remember numbers that were playing music non-stop, and telephones with a line out that you plugged into your stereo rack's preamplifier. Worked great for a party if you wanted other songs than those you had records for.
Re:Phones getting too big .. (Score:4, Interesting)
for my girly little hands apparently.
I liked the size of the iPhone 5/5s. It was an ideal size (for me). This iPhone 6 feels a little big. Can't even imagine what the 6 Plus would feel like :\
Depends on what you want from a phone, if you only want a phone and e-mail/SMS terminal with emergency browsing capability and a nav app with a tiny map display then something the size of an iPhone 5/5s is fine. If, however, you want to do more like read e-books, edit documents, play games, etc... then a device the size of the iPhone 6 is at the lower end of the usable but a bit beyond the upper end of how big a phone should be. So the choice you have is a device that's the right size for a phone but a crappy size for a tablet or do you want a device that is a usable tablet but too big for a phone. The perfect mobile device has, what? something equivalent to a 15 inch or bigger display but is still physically no larger than a match box and those are irreconcilable demands until we are able to project holographic displays like they do in scifi movies. The Google glass is another take on this but I would prefer the holo displays. I suppose you could also go for the Borg solution and splice the device output through a wireless link directly into the optical nerve but I'm not that obsessed with the mobile lifestyle so I draw the line at surgery. Eventually this issue will be solved and probably with a technology none of us can currently conceive of at this moment.
Re:Phones getting too big .. (Score:5, Interesting)
There are very few situations I can think of that I could bring a 6 inch phone with me, but that I could not bring a 7 inch (or even 10 inch) tablet and a 4 inch phone. However, there are many situations in my life where I really don't want to have to bring a 6 inch phone, yet still want to have a phone on me. For the price of a 6 inch phone that still doesn't quite cut it as far as tasks like document editing goes, you can get a 4 inch phone which does everything you need in a phone, and a 10 inch tablet that will wipe the floor in productivity related tasks with any smaller device.
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The obvious solution is to just get 2 devices. Get a 7 or 10 inch tablet for doing document editing, playing games, reading books, and get a 4 inch (or even smaller) phone for quick glances at email, actual phone calls, etc.
There are very few situations I can think of that I could bring a 6 inch phone with me, but that I could not bring a 7 inch (or even 10 inch) tablet and a 4 inch phone. However, there are many situations in my life where I really don't want to have to bring a 6 inch phone, yet still want to have a phone on me. For the price of a 6 inch phone that still doesn't quite cut it as far as tasks like document editing goes, you can get a 4 inch phone which does everything you need in a phone, and a 10 inch tablet that will wipe the floor in productivity related tasks with any smaller device.
That's what I did, I got a 10 inch tablet but dragging the damn thing around with me all the time got tiring. So I got a bag for it only to discover that my 13 inch MacBook fit into the same bag and was only marginally heavier so why bother with a 10 inch tablet? And besides having a 4-5 inch phone, a 10 inch tablet and a laptop is expensive. A 10 inch tablet won't fit into any pocket while the iPad Mini, for example is on the verge of being to large for stuffing into all but the largest pockets and it can'
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Get bigger pockets?
Re:Phones getting too big .. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Phones getting too big .. (Score:2)
Otterbox will solve that problem.
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The obvious solution is to just get 2 devices
Which brings up the obvious: Why carry two devices? The Phablet market is the "in between" that works for a lot of people.
Re:Phones getting too big .. (Score:5, Insightful)
As someone with great big manly hands, I still want my phone small, for the simple purpose of using it as a phone. Holding a 6.5x3in wall up to the side of my head works great for blocking the sun, not so great for trying to talk to someone.
I have a tablet. When I want to do some serious web browsing on-the-road, I can use that *juuuust* fine (and as a perk, it doesn't die within two hours of heavy use, unlike my phone). I have a phone because I occasionally need to make or take calls, not because I need yet another, even smaller, web browser.
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Obviously your hands are not big and manly enough [youtube.com].
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Agree over here. I'm not a particularly big guy. An iPhone 5/5S is fairly comfortable for me. The 6 just feels big and the 6+ is ridiculous.
I am interested in going with a stock Android phone, but it looks like Google stopped making the small size Nexus (the 5?).
Any thoughts of where to go for a powerful phone which runs stock Android?
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In the future, your phone will be a big screen and keyboard held in front of you with straps and rigging. It will have a third forward facing camera, so you can see where you are going. Since you are texting and talking while driving, the camera interfaces with the Google control module to get you where you are going safely. On your legs, your phone takes over and alerts you to oncoming collisions and hazards. It will have a bluetooth headset with it. Behind the screen it even has an airbag to protect you f
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That's what everybody says, until they actually try it. I'm sure there will be naysayers, but most everyone who's used my Note 3 has told me "gosh, it's not as difficult to use as I'd imagined". Once they try out the big screen, they're hooked.
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Whoosh.
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I want to moderate you as insightful, but this... so much this. On the 5 I could reach the entire screen with one thumb. On the 6 (not even the plus) I find that I often have to move to using it two handed. I guess I have little hands as well, but for me the 5 was really the perfect size for a phone.
Are you using the double tap to drop the screen down? Very good for one-handed phone use.
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My experience has been that nine inches is ideal.
...diagonal?
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I agree - if it won't fit without complications in my breast pocket of my shirt it's not of interest.
Trouser pockets - well, if the phone was max 100mm thick and made in hard rubber (bendable) it would be good.
try real measurements (Score:3, Funny)
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Inches? How archaic.
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Yeah, in that listing where everything was length and we weren't dealing with water at room temperature by the sea, those Imperial units sure were confusing!
Re:try real measurements (Score:4, Insightful)
Now some American is no doubt going to jump in by saying the inch was at one point in history defined as the average width of a male thumb (before they changed it back to 3 grains of barley) and this is therefore obviously the best measure for touchscreens...
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A British pint is 577.6 mL
An Imperial pint is 568.3 mL
A US Customary pint is 473.2 mL
US Customary units can not be Imperial units because they actually predate Imperial units. US Customary units date back to colonial times and are based on the British units that were used at the time. However, the British system was overhauled in 1824 to create the Imperial units system, nearly a half century after US
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Where is the "Apple iPhone sized"? (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, isn't that the gold standard to indicate the best phone size?
Until the iPhone 5 came out, under 4 inches was the most that was comfortable to operate one handed
After the 5 came out, 4 was OK, but anything bigger than that was a phablet.
Now, of course, 4.7 inches is just right, but if you want a REALLY HUGE phone, then try out 5.5 inches.
Full disclaimer : I use an iPhone 6+
Whatever size gives the best battery life. (Score:2)
... which is a function of size, but also of the technology the screen's using.
I just want a smartphone that I can just sit on standby for 3+ days. Maybe 2 days if I send a few texts or play an hour of games while waiting somewhere.
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Missing option (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't use a smart phone you insensitive clod.
And actually I don't .. I use an original RAZR .. which does all that I want a phone to do - make phone calls. And I only need to charge it twice a week.
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V3i here, too. Best phone I've ever had. I would not swap it for an iphone if you paid me. Nine days standby against nine hours?? Fuck off.
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Better stock up on batteries. I'm not sure how long you plan to live but the batteries will go bad within 3-5 years. I doubt they will still be selling batteries for this device in 5 years.
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but what if it is -GASP- a smartphone? [sonimtech.ca]
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Yep. Who needs a digital leash? I get tracked enough on my home PC without everyone being able to track my location away from home.
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The original RAZR was the best PHONE ever. I really miss it. I now have the RAZR M which is a fully functional smart phone that fits nicely in my pocket without looking like I'm smuggling contraband.
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I don't use a smart phone you insensitive clod.
And actually I don't .. I use an original RAZR .. which does all that I want a phone to do - make phone calls. And I only need to charge it twice a week.
I'm jealous. My original RAZR died years ago. Best phone I ever had though.
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As my alarm clock. That "Hello Moto" ring tone on max volume can awaken the dead.
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Not a missing option. The poll was about preferred smart phone size. You may chance are asking for a DIFFRENT POLL, not an additional option.
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I feel like smartphones have replaced TVs as the consumer electronics device to be smug about not owning. With apologies to the Onion:
CHAPEL HILL, NC–Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a smartphone, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers–as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building.
"I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than play with my smartphone," Green told a random woman Monday at the Suds 'N' Duds Laundromat, noticing the other customers' gigantic phablets. "I don't even own one."
According to Melinda Elkins, a coworker of Green's at The Frame Job, a Chapel Hill picture-frame shop, Green steers the conversation toward smartphones whenever possible, just so he can mention not owning one.
Elkins said Green always makes sure to read technology news sites like Slashdot and Hacker News, "just so he can point out all the devices and apps he's never heard of."
"Last week, on some website, there was an article about Instagram," Elkins said, "and Jonathan announced, 'I have absolutely no idea what this app is. Insta-what? Am I supposed to have heard of this? I'm sorry, but I haven't.'"
Tony Gerela, who lives in the apartment directly below Green's and occasionally chats with the 37-year-old by the mailboxes, is well aware of his neighbor's disdain for smartphones.
"About a week after I met him, we were talking, and I said something about screen sizes being too big," Gerela said. "He asked me what I was talking about, and when I told him it was about smartphones, he just went off, saying how the last phone he owned was some device from Motorola, and even then, he would only use it to make phone calls."
Added Gerela: "Once, I made the mistake of saying I forgot to charge my battery last night, and he started in with, 'Last night? I don't know about you, but I only charge my battery twice a week!"
"I'm not an elitist," Green said. "It's just that I'd much rather create content on my desktop than stand there passively swiping away at some glass screen."
"If I need a fix of passive content consumption, I'll go watch a movie I downloaded from BitTorrent on my desktop," Green said. "I certainly wouldn't waste my time with so-called social media or, God forbid, any of the inane social apps the new tech startups pump out."
Continued Green: "People don't realize just how much time their smartphone-using habit–or, shall I say, addiction–eats up. An hour of smartphone usage a day, over the course of a month, adds up to 30 hours. That's more than an entire day! Why not spend that time living your own life, instead of broadcasting to your friends every little thing that you do? I can't begin to tell you how happy I am not to own a smartphone."
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I like Japanese flip-up feature phones. They are more stylishly designed and have cuter chimes and ring signals than any Nokia or iPhone.
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What more do you need?
Email, a web browser, and the ability to read pdf and doc files. I never call people.
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My phone bill was around $220 too. I use my phone for email, web access, messaging and as a wifi hotspot so that I can also access the internet from my tablet, as well as as a phone.
Sounds to me like you could be doing rather better with the phone bill. On the flipside, I didn't earn $192k last year.
The question is complicated (Score:3)
At least for me it is.
I was perfectly happy with the old iPhone 3GS screen size (3.5"), for a phone - you can easily reach everything with your thumb, and texting is a breeze. Then, for a tablet, I think the 8" is just about perfect... but that means I have two devices. Most of the time that's not a problem, but an iPad Mini can only fit in some of my cargo pants pockets and not others.
So now I'm wondering - do I want to go to a ginormous phone, and just forgo the tablet altogether? When I've played with friends' big Android phones, they seem too big for a phone while being smaller than optimal for things like web browsing. BUT carrying only one "good enough" device has a definite appeal. So the decision is, is it enough of an advantage for me to willingly compromise on the size equation at both ends of the spectrum?
So it's a complicated question - and a potentially expensive experiment.
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By aiming for the middle ground you just end up with a device that crap at everything. It's unwieldy for phone calls and too small to be useful as a tablet. The nub of the problem is that one form factor is simply not enough, you need both - something small like a 4" and something bigger, say a 7"+. What those exact figures are is very much dependant on the person and their use cases.
I still have a crappy old Sony Ericsson I bought years back since I don't use a phone enough to care, but if I were buying to
Screen? (Score:5, Funny)
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no, it goes beside it, Butters.
Starting Penis Jokes in 3, 2, 1.... (Score:2)
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Diagonal?
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I picked 3.5" because some women like it that wide.
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Evolving values for "large" (Score:2)
I started with the HTC Wildfire (the ARMv6 sans FPU one). I thought that was fitting my hand nicely. A friend had the Samsung Galaxy S (no number suffix) and I thought it was a bit big for my taste. At some point I bought a Samsung Galaxy S from eBay, since my friend was very proud of his (only to tell me that he was experiencing the same 3-4 day crash cycle and other funny stuff that I was just discovering, but failed to mention it when he was bragging about how great the phone was). I got used to it, then
Very small hands :( (Score:2)
4.8" is right on the edge of usability for me. I can literally notice the difference from a 4.8" Galaxy S3 to the 4.9" Galaxy S4.
I can not and will not go larger, I like being able to "1 hand" my phone. :/ it just doesn't suit my needs
It's a shame because most flagship phones are going far larger than 5" now
Give me a beast phone, awesome specs, high res, high quality OLED screen, 4.8" and I'll be happy. In the meantime, sticking with my S3
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I got a Moto X a while back (the first one, not the new one with the same name). 4.7" 1280x720 AMOLED display (316ppi), 2200mAh battery, 2GB RAM, decent processor, very-close-to-stock Android. I'd recommend it to anyone that hates phablets.
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The specs are ok, they aren't flagship. Also IIRC the screen is kinda crappy?
I still have a flip phone (Score:2)
Missing Option: (Score:5, Interesting)
Whatever size my current phone has.
Really, does it matter that much that we need to break it down in half inch increments?
My current phone has the perfect size screen. If it was bigger, it wouldn't fit on the body of the phone.
End transmission.
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Yes, I want the biggest phone that can fit in my pocket, the Galaxy Note fits that bill nicely. I had my previous smart phone for only a few months, I found the Motorola Defy+'s slightly bigger than iphone-4 screen to be far too small for web pages and texting etc
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Missing option... (Score:5, Funny)
Actually I prefer my phones to have a screen diagonal of 4.95" but I could only choose diagonals <= 4.9 " or diagonals >=5.0" so I chose 5.0"-5.4" so I could post and complain about this outrageous dearth of choices.
Love my 6" Nokia Lumia 1520 (Score:5, Funny)
Great phone, great GPS nav, great camera. So glad I didn't wait for the iPhone 6+
SI Units for nerds, please (Score:3)
Can we have SI Units on slashdot please? Especially as this site if for nerds like me.
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I know not these "inches" of which you speak.
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My Response (Score:2)
No overlap?!? (Score:2)
It only took about 16 years of bitching about overlapping poll options but here finally we have one that is nicely distinct! Who said being bought up by Dice was going to be bad for the site?
Maybe in a sharply curved section of spacetime... (Score:2)
size or dpi? (Score:2)
I want a small phone with a small screen with the maximum number of pixels possible. And a quad core fast cpu. But what they offer is either a small phone with low dpi and slow cpu, or a high dpi fast cpu phone that is huge. Why can't a fast phone be practical, or a practical phone be fast?
4.7" is perfect (Score:3)
Wife changed my mind (Score:2)
In short, bigger is better -
Missing option, dumbphone (Score:2)
Missing option -- dumbphone by choice. I chose the over 6" option since it's almost a laptop, which I do have.
3.5 or 4.0 inches... (Score:2)
... and I hope Apple makes a 5S-sized phone next year with new internals, even if they go with lower-end guts than the flagships. ("Only" an A8 and 240fps video? I could live with that.) If they say "it's all 4.7 and 5.5 inches from here on out", I'll be quite sad. If they don't update the 4-inch model, I'll buy the last 5S they make and get the extended warranty, and maybe in 2018 I'll accept a bigger phone.
A7 (Score:2)
The size and shape of a piece of A7 paper. 74 x 105 mm for a roughly 5" diagonal in a 14:10 aspect ratio. 1280 x 905 pixel resolution would be adequate.
No-one has ever made such a screen...
Re: Missing option: Dumb phone (Score:2)
I pay $8 a month and get a gig of data. I do a lot of browsing on my phone. For example I'm posting this from it while on a bus.
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Your option is not missing, for the question pertained to preferred smart phone size. What you may desire is a different poll all together: preferred dumb phone size.
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There is a pretty decent bell curve at 250 votes. But it is skewed towards the bigger screens. I really thought it would skew even more. I suspect as more people use a Phablet in coming years, this poll will evolve.
It will surely evolve, but who knows in which direction.
I think I'll ultimately end up using a 4.75" phone, a 8" tablet, a 12" tablet with detachable keyboard and a 25"+ multi-screen desktop PC.
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You didn't say so definitively, so I'm just gonna ask:
Would you like us to get off your lawn now? :)
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I live in semi-regional Australia you insensitive clod! You could die of thirst before making it to a payphone in some places over here.
I never turn my phone on, it is literally for emergencies, car break downs - whatever. I don't miss the constant interruptions to my life from the phone.
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Why didn't they keep iphone 6 the same size as 5s as many people do prefer compact phones? They should keep iphone 6+ at 5.5".
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Screw that, it's hot over here! A wide brimmed sun hat with solar panels on top to constantly trickle charge it would be nice though. Put the aerial on top of the hat, yeh, stylish and superb signal reception! ;p Make the hat look like a super glossy versions of Gandalf's and you'd bring all the nerds to the yard.
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