Eh? So you use a car too right? Howe else do you get a week or two's shopping home?
-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Phones Getting too Damn Big!
- Thread starter Jeff in Denver
- Start date
Eh? So you use a car too right? Howe else do you get a week or two's shopping home?
View attachment 162814
So there's no problems with pickpockets where you are then? I've never been pickpocketed myself, but on the other hand I've lost things from trousers back pockets before now, like keys and money. So I wouldn't want to chance losing a $1000+ phone from a back pocket.
You paid WHAT for your phone?! I paid $40 for mine. 8 core processor, Samsung A10. So er.... what can I not do with it? You actually paid more for your phone than I paid for my car. Wow, they really saw you coming.
Some people must have no nerve endings, if someone puts things into or out of my pocket, I know about it immediately and grab their wrist. I also have pockets deeper than the things I put into them, get better clothes.
So "girly" is a derogative term? Having small hands makes you inferior? What is this, a 1970s playground?
Anyway your reply would be OK were it not for the fact that there are almost no small or even smallish phones available. Which was (if anyone can remember) the original poster's complaint.
Ah well, some of us can multitask
Anyway my point was that using a phone lying on a table is more awkward than just holding it - at least that's what I find. Hence for anything more involved that "what was that ping?" I'll pick the thing up anyway.
Who said anything about "all over the screen"? I've already said that not reaching the top isn't the issue (though placing controls at the bottom is a sensible feature in a mobile browser), and I design my homescreens so that everything important is at the bottom.
But when I am on the move I may be reading or replying to a message, selecting music, buying a train ticket or checking the departure board, pulling up my boarding pass, using the phone for navigation, checking the beam status at CERN, even (and I know this is a bit retro) phoning someone. It's a multi-purpose tool and I use it for multiple purposes.
They're not available because nobody wants them. If you like something 2% of the population wants, you won't get it. Companies can only cater for the masses that pay the money.
Except.... they are available. My mother has a tiny phone. It's not a smart phone though. Did the OP actually want a small smartphone?
Have you ever used that weird function where someone calls you while you're on another call then you start talking to both people? How is that even possible? Doesn't the one on hold get pissed off?Ah well, some of us can multitask
I disagree. If it's on the table that's half as many things I have to do to use it. My phone at the moment is on charge on the table. If the phone rings I just answer on speaker and talk without touching it again. If someone sends me a text, I just reply using two forefingers without picking up the phone. I in fact never pick up the phone unless I need to move around to get something.
My phone is 6.5" tall and I have no problem moving my thumb that distance. Do you have arthritis?
I don't have to do things like that.
Where I am, I've never had the need to own car. But I could always rent a car if ever the need was to arise.
What sort of car does equivalent of $1000 buy you in the UK these days? Back in the 80s and 90s, I was buying cheap bangers and driving them into the ground.
The Samsung A10 isn't available here and also a phone with only 32GB storage would be rather useless to me.
Last edited:
You don't know what you're missing, driving is fun, especially when you break the law.I don't have to do things like that.
Where I am, I've never had the need to own car. But I could always rent a car if ever the need was to arise.
I bought a $700 Renault Scenic 5 years ago and it's still running. At the time it was 45000 miles and 15 years old. It's now 90000 miles and 20 years old. It just passed the MOT (annual safety check bullshit) with nothing needing done to it!
I see no need for more than 32GB. And everything is available on Ebay.
Would you still be able to do that if someone were to bump into you hard, maybe almost knocking you over? And that did happen to friend of mine, someone bumped into his shoulder seemingly by accident, they were very apologetic of course, but next thing he knew his wallet had gone.
Pickpockets often work in pairs and gangs, one to distract the mark, and the other to do the steal.
I do know some of the hideous traffic jams in the cities I'm missing, and finding a parking space can horrible as well. And also for long distances, driving is definitely not worth it here. for the cost and time. Like I can be in Beijing by high speed 300km/h bullet train in 2 hours. To drive the same distance can take 10 hours or more on a good day, and then there's highway tolls and costs of gas.
I actually ride an electric scooter for getting around locally, as do most people here. And also Didi ride hailing(similar to Uber or Lyft) is readily available.
On my visits to the US, I've always had to hire a car just to get anywhere. And in the UK I've borrowed my dad's car if needed.
For you, but not for me. And most vendors on Ebay won't ship to China.
Last edited:
Milo Williamson
Extreme Android User
You never see a hand before?
That is my hand.
Milo Williamson
Extreme Android User
Chill the funk out, I do not live in an area of where pickpocketing is a crime!
That sort of thing happening would make me suspicious and I'd immediately check my phone hadn't been taken, fallen out, or damaged.
I couldn't stand using public transport. I want to drive the car myself, because it's fun. I would never live anywhere busy in the first place, I like peace and quiet.
Eh? Most of this stuff COMES from China!
The reason they don't ship to China is the cost. Something which cost 50p to send from China to UK cost £10 to return back! The Chinese government subsidises the export of cheap unreliable tat to other countries.
Doing what? All I see is several frames of you holding a phone slightly differently.
Milo Williamson
Extreme Android User
The screen has black cresents, I did type all the stuff in another thread...
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Yes, I keep all 1,000+ songs (and downloaded videos as well) on my phone. I don't do the whole cloud thing. About 75% of the places I go, including work and anywhere I hike, has no signal or less than 3G. Also using data continuously drains battery and in something as old as the HTC I carry, that's not gonna work. I enjoy music that's DRM free, not tied to any subscription, and not tied to reliable cellular or wifi coverage. I can also use whatever player I want to play it (not relying on YouTube music for Google, or Apple Music for apple, or Pandora for Pandora).
You can't buy small phones. People claim there's 'mini' variants today but they're all bigger than the first Galaxy Note. Calling a phablet a mini is a contradiction in terms. Now, if they made something like the S4 mini size-wise that's fine, but There's more than size to what I want to use. It has to have a skeuomorphic UI, be small, offer expandable storage, have a headphone jack, and removable battery. There ain't a phone made today with all of those marks checked.
As for the back pocket thing, You'll find out the hard way as I did when I crunched that PocketPC. Or fall on your bum. Or have someone pick it out. Or worse, have it fall in the toilet.
You can't buy small phones. People claim there's 'mini' variants today but they're all bigger than the first Galaxy Note. Calling a phablet a mini is a contradiction in terms. Now, if they made something like the S4 mini size-wise that's fine, but There's more than size to what I want to use. It has to have a skeuomorphic UI, be small, offer expandable storage, have a headphone jack, and removable battery. There ain't a phone made today with all of those marks checked.
As for the back pocket thing, You'll find out the hard way as I did when I crunched that PocketPC. Or fall on your bum. Or have someone pick it out. Or worse, have it fall in the toilet.
What? We're talking about this image, I'm supposed to see something on the screen? The phone in that picture is about 30 pixels across and at an angle: https://androidforums.com/attachments/upload_2022-6-2_8-25-37-png.162811/
There's no point to it unless you have multiple devices that need to access the same stuff.
DRM free? WTF is that? Elevator music? Just transfer mp3s from your legally (or not) bought CDs and listen to proper music.
I do use Youtube to listen to music sometimes, if I want to see the video, or try a new artist. But I have a nice ad blocker for that.
If you untick "smartphone" you can get one much smaller. My mother has one about 3.5" tall. It will access the internet (with difficulty) and play music. No touch screen.
It's funny when they catch fire in a back pocket, seen plenty of those on Youtube. Li batteries hate being snapped.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
DRM-free--purchased music that is not tied to a continuing subscription or service. As in you buy it, and it's yours forever.
If you download music with a YouTube Music or Pandora subscription, soon as you stop paying for whatever reason or the service EOLs (dies) the music goes with it or ends up being unplayable. DRM = digital rights management. Unless you cheat by using a downloader extension and convert it to a bad quality MP3 which is a hassle, you're often tied to an internet connection to keep 'verifying' the songs are licensed or something. YouTube Music's app requires an internet connection every 30 days in order for you to keep any downloaded songs you play/download from the service. If Google kills the service like they did Play Music, bye bye access.
Every song I've bought form the early days of Amazon MP3 onward is DRM-free meaning it's the equivalent of buying it on a CD or cassette tape. Even if Amazon goes belly up one day, I can still enjoy the songs I've bought via that service. I don't rent, I own.
You got DRM-free confused with public domain music and those instrumentals you find on YouTube (copyright free music). I do have recordings of old K-mart in-store music I play at work though
I've tried non-smartphones before. There's a few games and apps that I couldn't enjoy because they depended on Android, not whatever proprietary OS the dumb phone ran. I also couldn't get it to pair to my car's bluetooth and play music via the car stereo. I also dealt with some weird bug where it couldn't find the songs on my SD card unless I copied each one, individually (that's 1,000+ songs in individual subfolders) to the root of the SD Card. It was more a hassle than just keeping whatever I'm happy with (an HTC Thunderbolt)
Basically all the good memories I've had since 2010-13 and this includes apps, music, the games of the time, etc are on that phone. Also backed up in many places in case it breaks or dies. I refuse to upgrade as I'm not interested in consumerism and I prefer the way apps and UI design and phone hardware (and tablets) were in 2010-13. While I can theme a modern phone and run my old apps on the newest version of Android, it's not quite the same. Phones are way too big, UI design is still crap since 2014, and when the battery dies, it's buy a new phone. I refuse to be a part of such a society. Nothing new has been done on phones these days and many feel like functional downgrades since the Thunderbolt era. Instead of making amazing phones with many features that make you want to upgrade like they were doing then, today, it's remove features that are still useful and price the phone higher. It all ends in frustration and a device that feels less fun and enjoyable to use and more like work. And, don't get me started on whatever brain dead moron thought the gesture navigation was intuitive.
If you download music with a YouTube Music or Pandora subscription, soon as you stop paying for whatever reason or the service EOLs (dies) the music goes with it or ends up being unplayable. DRM = digital rights management. Unless you cheat by using a downloader extension and convert it to a bad quality MP3 which is a hassle, you're often tied to an internet connection to keep 'verifying' the songs are licensed or something. YouTube Music's app requires an internet connection every 30 days in order for you to keep any downloaded songs you play/download from the service. If Google kills the service like they did Play Music, bye bye access.
Every song I've bought form the early days of Amazon MP3 onward is DRM-free meaning it's the equivalent of buying it on a CD or cassette tape. Even if Amazon goes belly up one day, I can still enjoy the songs I've bought via that service. I don't rent, I own.
You got DRM-free confused with public domain music and those instrumentals you find on YouTube (copyright free music). I do have recordings of old K-mart in-store music I play at work though
I've tried non-smartphones before. There's a few games and apps that I couldn't enjoy because they depended on Android, not whatever proprietary OS the dumb phone ran. I also couldn't get it to pair to my car's bluetooth and play music via the car stereo. I also dealt with some weird bug where it couldn't find the songs on my SD card unless I copied each one, individually (that's 1,000+ songs in individual subfolders) to the root of the SD Card. It was more a hassle than just keeping whatever I'm happy with (an HTC Thunderbolt)
Basically all the good memories I've had since 2010-13 and this includes apps, music, the games of the time, etc are on that phone. Also backed up in many places in case it breaks or dies. I refuse to upgrade as I'm not interested in consumerism and I prefer the way apps and UI design and phone hardware (and tablets) were in 2010-13. While I can theme a modern phone and run my old apps on the newest version of Android, it's not quite the same. Phones are way too big, UI design is still crap since 2014, and when the battery dies, it's buy a new phone. I refuse to be a part of such a society. Nothing new has been done on phones these days and many feel like functional downgrades since the Thunderbolt era. Instead of making amazing phones with many features that make you want to upgrade like they were doing then, today, it's remove features that are still useful and price the phone higher. It all ends in frustration and a device that feels less fun and enjoyable to use and more like work. And, don't get me started on whatever brain dead moron thought the gesture navigation was intuitive.
Last edited:
Oh, I thought that would still be DRM as you're not supposed to copy it to your friend. I know nothing about copyright other than how to get round it, and I really don't care about their silly terms. I used to remove the copyright from VHS tapes for goodness sake.
Er.... I've got perfect quality mp3s from Youtube. Although that's not the easiest way to download free music.
I don't understand the problem here, you're either a person who wants to send texts and phone people only, in which case you get a tiny cheap compact non smart phone. Or you want to use it for more stuff in which case you get a large smartphone. A small smartphone makes no sense, because those extra things need room to use.
When the battery dies in any phone, you buy a new battery, I don't see the problem here. They all use pretty much the same credit card sized flat Li cell at the same voltage. Just buy one that fits and stick it in. You do know what a soldering iron is right?
No high price here. I got a £30 brand new VKWorld, then when that broke, I got a 2nd hand £30 Samsung A10.
Yeah gestures are annoying. So unintuitive. At least my new Samsung told me I had to swipe up to get the other apps, or I would have had no idea how to get to anything other than the few on the main screen.
I remember the first time I saw a tablet, my neighbour's I was trying to fix. I couldn't find the task manager to close all the apps hogging RAM. I googled how to do it and got stuck again, WTF is a "long press", I had to look that up aswell.
Er.... I've got perfect quality mp3s from Youtube. Although that's not the easiest way to download free music.
I don't understand the problem here, you're either a person who wants to send texts and phone people only, in which case you get a tiny cheap compact non smart phone. Or you want to use it for more stuff in which case you get a large smartphone. A small smartphone makes no sense, because those extra things need room to use.
When the battery dies in any phone, you buy a new battery, I don't see the problem here. They all use pretty much the same credit card sized flat Li cell at the same voltage. Just buy one that fits and stick it in. You do know what a soldering iron is right?
No high price here. I got a £30 brand new VKWorld, then when that broke, I got a 2nd hand £30 Samsung A10.
Yeah gestures are annoying. So unintuitive. At least my new Samsung told me I had to swipe up to get the other apps, or I would have had no idea how to get to anything other than the few on the main screen.
I remember the first time I saw a tablet, my neighbour's I was trying to fix. I couldn't find the task manager to close all the apps hogging RAM. I googled how to do it and got stuck again, WTF is a "long press", I had to look that up aswell.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
For me I'm just an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' kinda guy. My Thunderbolt serves my needs perfectly, and I don't have to buy a new device, thus saving money. I use apps that depend on Android and work fine on smaller displays (Angry Birds, for example to pass the time, or Aldiko for ebooks while my car's being serviced, for two examples-none of which work on a dumb phone). The Thunderbolt's display is 4.3" which is more than good enough for my needs.
Then you must have exceptional eyesight and tiny hands, because playing any game or reading a book on a 4.3" screen is utterly ridiculous.
As for ain't broke, don't fix it, I agree, I just spent all afternoon trying to get my air conditioner to work. The valve is broken to make it run in AC mode, it only heats, so I thought I'd reverse the air hoses to make it heat the outdoors (therefore cooling the house). That would be too easy, now it starts moaning something is overheating because not quite enough air passes over something. So I tell it it's in AC mode when it isn't, which stops it checking for heat where it expects cooling, and it lasts a bit longer, then I get an unknown error code about the "external unit" not working. It's a bloody portable! There is no "external unit"! I'm gonna go back to fans. Why does something as simple as a compressor have to have so much bloody electronics surrounding it? Maybe I could just strip it down and remove all the excess bullshit, leaving a compressor, two coils, two fans, that's all I need.
As for ain't broke, don't fix it, I agree, I just spent all afternoon trying to get my air conditioner to work. The valve is broken to make it run in AC mode, it only heats, so I thought I'd reverse the air hoses to make it heat the outdoors (therefore cooling the house). That would be too easy, now it starts moaning something is overheating because not quite enough air passes over something. So I tell it it's in AC mode when it isn't, which stops it checking for heat where it expects cooling, and it lasts a bit longer, then I get an unknown error code about the "external unit" not working. It's a bloody portable! There is no "external unit"! I'm gonna go back to fans. Why does something as simple as a compressor have to have so much bloody electronics surrounding it? Maybe I could just strip it down and remove all the excess bullshit, leaving a compressor, two coils, two fans, that's all I need.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
I wouldn't know about A/C myself. I maintain my unit and they continue to work. I don't have a heat pump so there's less parts to fail. I also got a cheap little window unit that cools part of the house when it's mild out and it has even less parts.
But yeah, I'm a tiny person. I am only 5' 5", and my hands are really tiny. I have good eyesight though and yea 4.3" is perfect (I was happy with the 3.5" of my 3GS back in 2010). But I don't spend all day looking at my phone screen like it seems everyone around me does, and to me a phone cannot replace a laptop or tablet even with a 6"+ display. Looking at videos on that size of screen for long periods, especially with modern UI design being too blindingly white and flat, is not going to bode well for one's eyesight later on. It's like those fools who bought a Sony WatchMan portable 5" TV and spent hours catching their sports on it on the go and had poor eyesight later on.
Keep in mind that the apps from the era my phone was made are/were designed for the screen size/UI skin. It's a mess to try to use my favorite, familiar versions of apps on a large display and they either scale incorrectly and blur out, or try to fit in such a way that ends up causing them to crash.
I absolutely hate and despise modern UI design and that means any new phone/tablet/laptop will never be something I want. I use old Linux, old Windows, and old Android and am perfectly happy. There's just nothing out there I consider an upgrade that checks all the boxes for me.
But yeah, I'm a tiny person. I am only 5' 5", and my hands are really tiny. I have good eyesight though and yea 4.3" is perfect (I was happy with the 3.5" of my 3GS back in 2010). But I don't spend all day looking at my phone screen like it seems everyone around me does, and to me a phone cannot replace a laptop or tablet even with a 6"+ display. Looking at videos on that size of screen for long periods, especially with modern UI design being too blindingly white and flat, is not going to bode well for one's eyesight later on. It's like those fools who bought a Sony WatchMan portable 5" TV and spent hours catching their sports on it on the go and had poor eyesight later on.
Keep in mind that the apps from the era my phone was made are/were designed for the screen size/UI skin. It's a mess to try to use my favorite, familiar versions of apps on a large display and they either scale incorrectly and blur out, or try to fit in such a way that ends up causing them to crash.
I absolutely hate and despise modern UI design and that means any new phone/tablet/laptop will never be something I want. I use old Linux, old Windows, and old Android and am perfectly happy. There's just nothing out there I consider an upgrade that checks all the boxes for me.
Maintain? What? You said if it ain't broke don't fix it. I never service my car either. I never serviced my boiler (furnace if you're American) for 20 years. In all that time it broke once - a £7.50 sensor which I fitted myself. Meanwhile my neighbour pays £150 a year for servicing and has replace d his boiler twice in that time at a cost of £1000 each.
Videos are fine on my phone, I watched Youtube for over an hour while waiting for someone to give a lift to. The UI is nothing to do with that obviously since the video plays fullscreen.
Videos are fine on my phone, I watched Youtube for over an hour while waiting for someone to give a lift to. The UI is nothing to do with that obviously since the video plays fullscreen.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Maintain is not the same as fix. Maintaining your stuff ensures it does not get broken. Preventative maintenance.
Having some app developer or the Google Play Store or Android system update decide to rearrange or redesign an app that was not broken at all to change for the sake of change is literally fixing what isn't broken. Moving the cheese to anger the user in order to justify 'progress'. Aka flat design replacing skeuomorphism.
Me buying a new phone I don't even need just for the sake of having something 'new' and then being frustrated at all the changes and downsides where I would rather buy another Thunderbolt is another example of fixing what isn't broken. If the device works, why buy another?
Watching videos on any smartphone whos screen is still too small to replace a tablet or laptop but too impractically large to use as a phone is a dumb idea to me. It's like watching a game on a WatchMan's 5" display back in the 90s. Media consumption is best on a tablet. Squinting at YouTube or TikTok on a 6" phone display vs. a 10" tablet will kill your eyes.
I don't need to impress folks or fit in. So my phone works for me. Yours works for you. Great. But in my view there is nothing I like about a modern phone. I've tried them. They don't work for me. They're too big, and the software is garbage. They feel like downgrades. We had such excellent progress back in the day. The Galaxy SIII had 2GB RAM and a 720p display, the Galaxy S4 had an IR blaster, health platform, even nicer, full HD screen. the Galaxy S5 had a heart rate sensor, waterproofing but keeping a removable battery, fingerprint sensor, ultra power saving mode, and even a wireless charging add-on. That's just on the Samsung side.
Today what do you get? less features, too large a phone for many people, sealed internals that promote disposability, and a half dozen cameras no one asked for. It's not that the market wanted a larger phone. There was no demand for a larger phone. They just one day ended up being the only phone available, and people kept buying. That does not mean the market wanted large phones. The small phones just stopped being made. People have this incessant need to keep buying new things even when they don't have to, and if only one option is available, they will buy. Nobody votes with their wallet anymore. Today's 'upgrade' culture won't allow it.
If only one car were being made, and you needed or wanted another car, say perhaps yours blew up or got wrecked, you'd have to buy the one available. How do you think so many LADAs got into Russia during the Soviet Union?
Having some app developer or the Google Play Store or Android system update decide to rearrange or redesign an app that was not broken at all to change for the sake of change is literally fixing what isn't broken. Moving the cheese to anger the user in order to justify 'progress'. Aka flat design replacing skeuomorphism.
Me buying a new phone I don't even need just for the sake of having something 'new' and then being frustrated at all the changes and downsides where I would rather buy another Thunderbolt is another example of fixing what isn't broken. If the device works, why buy another?
Watching videos on any smartphone whos screen is still too small to replace a tablet or laptop but too impractically large to use as a phone is a dumb idea to me. It's like watching a game on a WatchMan's 5" display back in the 90s. Media consumption is best on a tablet. Squinting at YouTube or TikTok on a 6" phone display vs. a 10" tablet will kill your eyes.
I don't need to impress folks or fit in. So my phone works for me. Yours works for you. Great. But in my view there is nothing I like about a modern phone. I've tried them. They don't work for me. They're too big, and the software is garbage. They feel like downgrades. We had such excellent progress back in the day. The Galaxy SIII had 2GB RAM and a 720p display, the Galaxy S4 had an IR blaster, health platform, even nicer, full HD screen. the Galaxy S5 had a heart rate sensor, waterproofing but keeping a removable battery, fingerprint sensor, ultra power saving mode, and even a wireless charging add-on. That's just on the Samsung side.
Today what do you get? less features, too large a phone for many people, sealed internals that promote disposability, and a half dozen cameras no one asked for. It's not that the market wanted a larger phone. There was no demand for a larger phone. They just one day ended up being the only phone available, and people kept buying. That does not mean the market wanted large phones. The small phones just stopped being made. People have this incessant need to keep buying new things even when they don't have to, and if only one option is available, they will buy. Nobody votes with their wallet anymore. Today's 'upgrade' culture won't allow it.
If only one car were being made, and you needed or wanted another car, say perhaps yours blew up or got wrecked, you'd have to buy the one available. How do you think so many LADAs got into Russia during the Soviet Union?
Last edited:
So you're not an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kinda guy. That would be me. I don't maintain something and waste money on things that are still functioning, I replace the part if and when it fails.
Every company seems to have 50 designers to 1 programmer nowadays. Or they get their programmers off youth training schemes. Why is the (paying) customer a beta tester? All testing should be done before the program is ever handed out. All testing, no bugs left at all. In fact I don't think there are proper programmers any more, they just guess at what might work and try it, hoping the compiler will spot any fsck-ups.
I replace a car when I can't fit everything in it, I replace a hard disk when I can't store everything on it, I replace a phone when everything won't fit on the screen.
I don't understand why you say you can't watch a video on a 6" smartphone, yet you say the opposite and read things in a smaller screen. Anyway, you do realise a 6" smartphone held in your hand is the same size on your retina as a 72" TV 12 feet away?
I can think of no feature that's missing from my latest Samsung phone apart from the fingerprint sensor, but I assume it's because it's the basic model. Strangely the previous very cheap VKWorld phone had one, but lacked a socket for an SD card. And my Samsung (still on sale new that model) has a deep power saving mode. Also an absolute emergency mode where it sends out a regular GPS location to a friend, presumably for sissies who get lost hillwalking or fall off a cliff.
Nothing is sealed, I replace batteries on phones all the time. Apart from Iphones, they brick automatically because you've dared to deprive Apple of a horrendous fee to change the battery.
Not sure what you mean by upgrade culture, there are plenty budget models of everything you can get instead.
Many cars are being made, and many phones too. And I though Ladas were Russian?
Every company seems to have 50 designers to 1 programmer nowadays. Or they get their programmers off youth training schemes. Why is the (paying) customer a beta tester? All testing should be done before the program is ever handed out. All testing, no bugs left at all. In fact I don't think there are proper programmers any more, they just guess at what might work and try it, hoping the compiler will spot any fsck-ups.
I replace a car when I can't fit everything in it, I replace a hard disk when I can't store everything on it, I replace a phone when everything won't fit on the screen.
I don't understand why you say you can't watch a video on a 6" smartphone, yet you say the opposite and read things in a smaller screen. Anyway, you do realise a 6" smartphone held in your hand is the same size on your retina as a 72" TV 12 feet away?
I can think of no feature that's missing from my latest Samsung phone apart from the fingerprint sensor, but I assume it's because it's the basic model. Strangely the previous very cheap VKWorld phone had one, but lacked a socket for an SD card. And my Samsung (still on sale new that model) has a deep power saving mode. Also an absolute emergency mode where it sends out a regular GPS location to a friend, presumably for sissies who get lost hillwalking or fall off a cliff.
Nothing is sealed, I replace batteries on phones all the time. Apart from Iphones, they brick automatically because you've dared to deprive Apple of a horrendous fee to change the battery.
Not sure what you mean by upgrade culture, there are plenty budget models of everything you can get instead.
Many cars are being made, and many phones too. And I though Ladas were Russian?