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ConnieR

Newbie
I have been searching for a decent Android smartphone. It needs to be less than 5" total height, Android 4.4, unlocked GSM 4G LTE, with autofocus camera, 1 GB RAM minimum, and at least 8, preferably 16 gbs storage. I thought the Samsung Galaxy s4 Mini fit the bill, but for some reason I can't get the Ibotta app to work properly on it, and that's my most important app. (I have another thread about that, in the App forum, if anyone has any suggestions). I have Straight Talk BYOP, so it needs to be unlocked too. Thanks in advance.
 
Do you really mean < 5" height, or do you mean screen size?

And to be clear, do you mean Android 4.4 or later, or do you really mean Android 4.4 (which is now several years old)?
 
Yes, I mean 5" overall height, not screen height. I like a small phone that can fit in my pocket. Android 4.4 or later. I don't mind how old it is, as long as it fits Ibotta requirements. The Samsung Galaxy s4 mini is perfect, except I can't get it to upload Walmart receipts to Ibotta. The other stores work fine.
 
OK, I asked because usually people know the screen diagonal but much less likely to know the length without going to look it up. 5" is 127mm, so it can't be more than marginally larger than an S4 Mini. I just looked up the size of the Sony Z5 Compact and Z3 Compact, recent small phones, and they are right on 127mm, so they are the absolute upper limit for you, but I think Sony phones are much harder to find in the States.

Do you have a link for the Ibotta app? I tried searching for it in the Play Store to see what it's requirements are but couldn't find an app of that name.
 
Thanks. So there's nothing obvious in the app description to explain why it wouldn't work with the S4 Mini. Have you tried contacting their support email address (bottom of that Play Store page) to see whether they are aware of the problem? If they are not it might be that they can fix it, while if they are then they may at least be able to give some advice which will help identify phones it will work with.
 
I know, it should work great! Right now I'm using a cheap $10 Straight Talk phone (Alcatel A520L) which supposedly isn't even compatible because it doesn't have an autofocus camera, and it works fine! (I had to find the apk online, because Google Play wouldn't let me download it). Yes, I've been in contact with support, and they've been having me try obvious things like uninstalling/ reinstalling the app, and nothing works. One of their employees said he did some checking, and other Ibotta users have the same phone and don't have any problems, so I think I must have a defective device. I'm going to give it one more chance on Monday; I did a factory reset and they said to wait 24 hours before reinstalling the app, but if it doesn't work, I'm going to return it for a refund. I found a Motorola RAZR M on Amazon, I don't know if that will be a good phone or not. Motorolas are usually too clunky for my tastes.
 
Ibotta only works in some countries and the latest version seems not to work on old phones.
 
lvt said:
If you search hard you can find a decent phone with the latest Android for that price.
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Except I can't find any LITTLE latest phones. :) They're making them bigger and bigger nowadays.
Bg260 said:
How about this little guy.

http://m.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e_(2nd_gen)-6986.php

It weighs in at 129.9 cm though.
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That's a wee bit bigger than I wanted, but the price is good on Amazon and it seems like a pretty good phone. I'll check it out. Thank you very much.
 
ConnieR said:
Except I can't find any LITTLE latest phones. :) They're making them bigger and bigger nowadays.

That's a wee bit bigger than I wanted, but the price is good on Amazon and it seems like a pretty good phone. I'll check it out. Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
Not really. The screen diagonal gets bigger but the phone doesn't. My Note 2 had a 5.5 inch screen. The S7 Edge has a similar size screen but is smaller.

Have you checked the GSMArena advanced phone search? Could narrow things down.

http://m.gsmarena.com/search.php3
 
Good call on the advanced search - lets you specify a maximum height, which is the OP's size requirement, as well as OS version. You might want to consider phones with slightly older OS versions too, since I expect that the tool will search on the OS it launched with rather than the latest (you can always check that later if you find some candidates).

But I disagree that phones are not getting bigger. Three years ago 5" was a large screen, these days it's a compact if a manufacturer even makes a phone that small. Shrinking bezels helps a bit, but not enough to make a > 5" phone truly small. And they generally only help with the width, while the OP's requirement is height (and a 5" phone is too tall).

Phones with curved screen edges are also a bit narrower than their "screen size" would suggest because of the curving (they screen diagnonal they quote is for an unfolded screen), but they are no shorter. The S7 Edge is the same height as the Note 2, for example.
 
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