News - Sony’s 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra costs €719 SIM free

[Biscuit]

Far too big for me, i know some people like these phablets but i personally still think a phone should be able to fit in a pocket

Sony are nailing the aesthetics of their smartphone (and related) range at the moment IMO. I have a low-end Sony smartphone (Xperia U) and it looks great. Works well, too.

I Finally gave up on my HTC One X before i went away a few weeks ago and i picked up an Xperia U to keep me going, personally i find it extremely frustrating to use due to the lack of RAM. Its seems anything less than 512MB in android is simply not enough for a pleasant experience.

How are you managing to use it effectively, have you put custom ROMs on there?

I have an Xperia SP on the way but they are taking ages to deliver it so i might cancel the order.

[Smudger]

How cool would I look walking around talking into my watch?!?

This cool?

[Biscuit]

sold

[cheesyboy]

I Finally gave up on my HTC One X before i went away a few weeks ago and i picked up an Xperia U to keep me going, personally i find it extremely frustrating to use due to the lack of RAM. Its seems anything less than 512MB in android is simply not enough for a pleasant experience.

How are you managing to use it effectively, have you put custom ROMs on there?

I have an Xperia SP on the way but they are taking ages to deliver it so i might cancel the order.

I suspect my standards are set a little lower than yours. This is my first Smartphone, having moved from an awful Samsung Tocco Lite, so the sluggish transitions between apps doesn't seem so frustrating!

[Funkstar]

Huge phone in your bag, that you will need to haul with you everywhere you go. What's the plan at a party? leave it somewhere safe and try not to walk too far away from it to stay in Bluetooth's range? Look like a dork hauling your bag everywhere you move, including the dance floor where there's a chance to smash it against somebody else? (remember the bigger the screen and the thinner the "phone", the more fragile it is.)

Well all I'm saying is it would probably work for me. I pretty much always have a bag with me when I'm out and about (change of nappy/clothes for the wee man) or when I'm at work. So it would work for me. Not saying it would work for everyone, and if they don't sell enough of these, we won't see any similar products in the future.

[Biscuit]

One of the things i have wondered is if there is actually a market for smaller phones?

Samsung seem to have lead the way with the 'phablet' concept and people are buying it up, hell even the phones that would be regarded as a regular phones like the S4 and the One are massive now. I actually struggled with the screen on my One X and now with the Xperia SP its only marginally better, so for me, i would like to see fairly high end gear in a smaller package. It seems like the industry is ignoring people like me, so am i now a minority? Is it perhaps just easier to design and build the bigger devices (perhaps a lot easier for QC aswell resulting in less wastage?) and seeing as they sell, they see more benefit on focusing on it?

[TooNice]

I've come to the following conclusion. Either:

A. A phone is small enough to be used on one hand (my hand, at that - and I have a smaller than average hand).

B. If it is going to be too big for safe/comfortable single handed use, then it might as well be as big as it can be while fitting my pocket.. without getting in the way when I am running up stairs.

In order to fulfil A, I don't think that a phone can be much bigger than an iPhone. In fact, I am not even sure if the iPhone 5 is small enough.

If I was to give up the idea of single hand use, then I guess that phablets are fine. My S3 even with an extended battery still leave plenty of room in my pocket (note I do not wear tight trousers).

Incidentally, my S3 became most frequently dropped gadget ever. Those large phones better be as/more resilient (S3 has proven admirably resilient as all the drops only left superficial marks on the case).

[crossy]

One of the things i have wondered is if there is actually a market for smaller phones? Samsung seem to have lead the way with the 'phablet' concept and people are buying it up, hell even the phones that would be regarded as a regular phones like the S4 and the One are massive now. I actually struggled with the screen on my One X and now with the Xperia SP its only marginally better, so for me, i would like to see fairly high end gear in a smaller package. It seems like the industry is ignoring people like me, so am i now a minority? Is it perhaps just easier to design and build the bigger devices (perhaps a lot easier for QC aswell resulting in less wastage?) and seeing as they sell, they see more benefit on focusing on it?

First off - I looked seriously at a Galaxy Note, and came to the conclusion that while I liked the extra functionality given by the large screen and the S-Pen, I couldn't live with the compromises of having to find large pockets, unwieldiness while phoning etc. So my Galaxy S3 is about as large as I'd want to go.

Secondly, we (my missus and I) were looking at the weekend (more sort of browsing - much to the disgust of the phone shop folks) at a possible replacement phone for her. iPhone5 was acceptable in size, but she preferred the size of the 4S. An S4 was definitely a "slab" (her words), but they had an S3 Mini in Phones4U and that was judged to be of an acceptable size.

Wouldn't Samsung's higher end "Mini" phones fit into your "fairly high end gear in a smaller package", although even at that there is worrying "inflation" - the S3 Mini is a "mere" 4 inch screen, whereas the next gen S4 Mini is a (porky?) 4.3 inches.

So, yes, I'd agree with you that we should be seeing smaller, more highly spec'd phones. Although perhaps there's an argument that a high spec device needs a larger battery to power it, which means a longer/wider enclosure to contain it (because you can't have a "thick" phone these days apparently).