Crowd-funded Smartphone PC: Symetium

Then get the regular Z5. That one has a 5" screen.

5.2" actually. Same size screen as the LG G2 but substantially taller, a little wider and heavier (though a bit thinner).

I reckon it would be easily possible to design a phone with a 5" screen which was in the region of 135mm tall. Obviously not what the manufacturers are looking to produce at the moment. I think this is led by the Chinese love of phones with screens of 5.5"+!

Note, this isn't a specific criticism of the Z5 which I expect will be a very good phone, but I use a Huawei P8 at the moment and this is a little smaller in every dimension than the Z5 with a similar 5.2" screen and OIS support on the camera. I'd still say that this phone is a bit too tall - difficult to get out of your pocket sometimes, though not overly unwieldy. I think that, to some degree, thickness and weight as probably as important as the outright dimensions of phones these days. A thinnish phone around 150g can easily be carried in a trouser pocket and I sometimes have to check to see if I remembered to take it with me when I head out the house!
 
So what you actually want is something with the body of the Honor 6 with stereo speakers and a Snapdragon 808?
 
Well, I don't want anything as I've got the P8! Decent phone (though EMUI is a bit hit and miss as an interface).

I'm just noting that none of the major manufacturers have tried to produce an extremely compact 5" phone, other than the Sharp Aquos phones in Japan, of course. A little thick for a modern day phone, perhaps, but to cram in a 5" screen into those dimensions is remarkable:

http://www.gsmarena.com/sharp_aquos_crystal-6590.php

The newest high-end phone is even more remarkable:

http://www.gsmarena.com/sharp_aquos_xx-7252.php

A 5.7" screen in a device with the same height as the Z5! Wider, obviously, of course.
 
Looks great, now if only more companies would work such a design into a 5-5.2" phone. I understand why it's harder and that it would likely sacrifice battery, but in 2013 it wasn't an issue for LG and Samsung so why now?

Honest question did those really have as large batteries? There are in fact =/>5" smartphones available from chinese manufacturers with 4000mAH batteries but they usually carry mainstream to low end SoCs at less than half the price of the Lenovo Vibe. I just gave you an example of a high quality alternative; the S801 might not be the newest kid in town as a SoC but it doesn't throttle either.

A 6" screen doesn't allow the most compact of phones! ;)

They call em phablets for a reason. After surfing 5 minutes with one, a 5 incher in direct comparison seemed like a dwarf :p
 
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We just need to wait until (seamless) foldable screens are available. Folded down, use as a phone, open one fold, it's a phablet, open two folds and it's a tablet etc etc.

Science fiction rather than fact, but I'm hoping some boffins somewhere are thinking the same way. ;)
 
Honest question did those really have as large batteries? There are in fact =/>5" smartphones available from chinese manufacturers with 4000mAH batteries but they usually carry mainstream to low end SoCs at less than half the price of the Lenovo Vibe. I just gave you an example of a high quality alternative; the S801 might not be the newest kid in town as a SoC but it doesn't throttle either.

The LG G2 had a 3000mAh battery, plenty for me. Make it a little thinner and reduce it to 2800-2600mAh, that's still enough for me as long as the SoC, display and software are decently efficient.

I actually have an S5, so I don't need a new phone now. That's part of the reason I got so excited about this unlikely crowdfunded phone in the first place... I'll be looking to buy in about a years time. My S5 is a little too big for me - however that is largely made up for by the grippy back. I've never dropped it but often find it awkward to use one handed. I mainly use my phone on lunch breaks while eating and putting it down on a table isn't possible. Most other use cases I still don't need a bigger screen as I have other devices I'd prefer to use around. I want my phone to be comfortably portable and easy to hold.

The problem for me is the trend towards phablets is leaving me with less and less options. I feel that I need something slightly smaller than my S5 while still having a 5-5.2" screen. I also think on screen buttons are ideal as they allow for a bigger screen when you need it but centralise the buttons for better balance and reach when you don't. This isn't too much to ask as the LG G2 was exactly what I am asking for, just obviously too old now. I want ~5.2" device that is around 140x70x7-8mm. Definitely no wider than 71mm and no taller than 145mm although I really would prefer it not to be that tall. Thicker is fine as long as it is curved to a thinner edge on the sides and bottom. A somewhat grippy back would also be ideal unless the dimensions are well below my desired limits ie iPhone 6 size or smaller.
 
As for compact phones, more new ones from Sharp (Japan only, of course):

http://www.gsmarena.com/docomos_sharp_aquos_compact_aquos_zeta_have_razorsharp_bezels-news-14257.php

Just a pity they don't seem to sell them outside of Japan!

They definitely solve the height problem (and then some) but the width is actually only average. The bezels for the 5.3" version work out to be almost 4mm per side, which is .5mm more than the S6 and almost 1mm more than the G2 per side. If that phone had G2 like side bezels I could definitely get on board even at 5.3" as that would make it slightly narrower than my S5 and much shorter.
 
The problem for me is the trend towards phablets is leaving me with less and less options. I feel that I need something slightly smaller than my S5 while still having a 5-5.2" screen. I also think on screen buttons are ideal as they allow for a bigger screen when you need it but centralise the buttons for better balance and reach when you don't. This isn't too much to ask as the LG G2 was exactly what I am asking for, just obviously too old now. I want ~5.2" device that is around 140x70x7-8mm. Definitely no wider than 71mm and no taller than 145mm although I really would prefer it not to be that tall. Thicker is fine as long as it is curved to a thinner edge on the sides and bottom. A somewhat grippy back would also be ideal unless the dimensions are well below my desired limits ie iPhone 6 size or smaller.

Keep an eye on the chinese branded stuff over time; there are alternatives and yes you might not find all aspects you want at once, but at least most of them. Another interesting puppy I saw the other day is this one: http://www.tinydeal.com/lenovo-vibe...5-octa-core-android-51-4g-phone-p-156373.html
 
No doubt, I'm finding chinese phones more and more interesting. My primary concern for cheaper phones however is nand performance and unless they are reviewed by a site as in depth as anandtech that is rarely explored properly in reviews, nor can it be quantified on a spec sheet. Hopefully more of these phones that interest me end up getting reviewed by reviewers who explore all aspects of performance.
 
Btw, I like my phone with bezel. Even my current phone, if it weren't for the TPU case, I would accidently press the screen when my thumb tried to reach the opposite side on one handed operation. Also I prefer no capacitive button if you want to make the top and bottom as small as possible. The reasoning is the same, to prevent accidental touch.

I need my bezel.
 
Not if you have smart bezel mode.
If you're using it as a phone limit the screen by X amount of pixels, but when used in tablet mode you can usethe full screen for touch controls.

You might see more of this on October 6th at the MS Win10 event.
 
But then you can put something that is touchable at the edge. What I'm thinking is you use some sensor on the edge of the phone where the phone can detect whether the touch is just a continuation from the edge (thus your palm not your finger). The sensor need to detect the touch off the screen so the whole screen itself can be usable.
 
Yes, I know about it, but I'm thinking more about using it for some kind of palm rejection. I don't know how big the detection zone on Z9, but for palm rejection it needs to work at the full screen length.
Edit: for example, if you want to use one handed and you want to press p using your right hand then your palm would move away from the edge thus you can register the touch at the edge of the screen. When you need to reach q, your palm will probably touch the edge and some part of the screen. Because you already touch the edge near the screen, the area of the screen where your palm is pressed to the edge will automatically be ignored of touches.
 
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I completely forgot about the ZL. I guess it was replaced by the Z1 compact in spirit to properly differentiate it from the regular Z's with a different screen size also. I'd rather something like the ZL personally, especially since sony went in very much the opposite direction with the bezels on the Z1. The Z2 and Z3 have been a small step in the right direction, but with the Z5 being exactly the same as the Z3, it does look worrying that their focus is still not on reducing bezel. Hopefully the Z6 has an all new design next year.

As for preferring bezels, I've had hands on with a friends G2 for hours and never had such problems. The gsm arena review above of the ZTE Nubia Z9 with even smaller side bezels also states that the virtual border for ignoring unintended touches tends to work great.

The thing is they don't even need to go to that extreme, the G2 was close enough. Looking at the trend for phones like the G3 vs G4, Lumia 930 vs 950, Nexus 5 vs Nexus 5X, bezels are actually getting slightly larger on the width, and much larger on the height, especially on "smaller" devices where it apparently just doesn't matter any more. If bezels would at least stay the same, that wouldn't be so bad, but the proliferation of phablets has seemingly made it okay to make every device larger as if everyone everywhere is universally okay with huge phones now. For me, there is a line for everyone, depending on your use case and hand size. Every device should try to be as compact as possible to be usable by the largest number of people comfortably. They shouldn't have to move down to a smaller screened device just because the body of phones with mid-sized screens makes it not fit their needs.
 
Ideally the industry as a whole needs to shift towards more compact phones (for the screen size) as well as focusing on 3 different screen sizes for me to be properly happy. I need choice in brands. This is a big part of why I don't get on board with Apple products despite using them fairly often. I hate having a single brand to choose from because of one particular need of mine. Unfortunately when the industry at large moves in what I see as the wrong direction this is what happens. I really hate having to support one brand that makes bad design and functionality decisions just because they are the only one focusing on another design decision that I put more weight behind.
 
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