The smartphone surely belongs on the list of truly game-changing innovations, right there with indoor plumbing, penicillin and the thumbs-up. You can have mine when you pry it out of my cold, dead hand.
But what if we got smartphones wrong? Before the iPhone, cellphones had no single shape or size. You could buy phones shaped like candy bars, phones that flipped open, phones with full physical keyboards. Now every phone looks like the iPhone, which looks like every other phone—a dark rectangular slab.
As we invent new things to do with our phones, we need more space to do them. I get the logic—but it has gone too far. Some phones are now so large only NBA players can palm them. Developers have been forced to move important buttons and menus to the bottom of the screen where you can actually reach them. And every day you face a choice: Risk your phone slipping out of your hand and shattering on concrete, or put a case around it and make it even bigger.
As our phones grew in size and power, their purpose shifted. They became objects to look at and get lost in, not tools to be used. Their job is to keep you so busy you never look away. To that end, bigger and brighter far outweighs usable and easy.
I want it back the other way, and I'm not the only one. You know how I know? PopSockets.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-10-a...ones-are-too-big-11550412000?mod=hp_lead_pos5
I remember when I first discovered these, I was shocked they were a thing. But I never went with bigger phones until recently with the XR, before that I had a 6S (non Plus variation).
While I do love the better cameras in bigger phones, I do miss being able to one hand phones comfortably. My hands are big enough to one hand an XR, but it's not as comfy as the 6S. I do hope Apple offers an updated 5S, but I doubt that since they're going after the luxury segment as volume sales are down.
