The Big Phone Problem 

@Jaquan Kelsor hahaha losers, it has been discontinued 😊

Same I went from the galaxy s10 5g to the 13 mini and it’s great

I also switched from the pro max to the mini

It’s 100% a more practical size. I don’t want to watch video on my phone anyways. I have a laptop, desktop and Tv for that and my phone is just worse than all of those. Plus it even fits comfortably into the tiny pockets you get with some women’s clothing. Basically I want it for music and texting big screens are just dumb for me to have and waste battery life.

@@nadaso8819 but small phones typically have worse battery life because they have less spaces for batteries?

Bro 💀 a couple years ago my dad bought a 11 pro max and I legit said “just buy an iPad mini”

@@enhidri160 maybe we don't want to pay an extra $500?

@@hazyproduct1692 uhh.. youre saving like $600 with the iPad mini

@@enhidri160 14 pro and ipad mini is 1600, 14 pro max is 1100.

@@hazyproduct1692 oh i wasnt specifying the pro model too

After upgrading to a iPhone 12 mini from a 5s, it still feels massive due to the small bezels.

Exactly. Honestly, just using the device made me think that iOS 14 must be have been designed for this phone. Everything scales perfectly, with content being the focus but reaching all four corners still being possible, and the device is so easy to use single-handed.

@@ponraul1221 massive but fairly reachable. the SE is even bigger than the mini. I’m still using a 6s since 4 years ago (minus last year when i bought an 11 pro and sold it for being broke) and it’s actually refreshing to be comfortable using it one-handed. i might consider a 13 mini next year.

I have that model too, and I definitely prefer it over larger phones. My first iPhone was the SE, which is very similar in size.

My thoughts exactly. I upgraded from my 6s to the 12 mini and it was fantastic. My phone is just a camera, communication device, music player, and GPS. Those are all tasks that should be one-handable. If I need a larger screen I’d buy an iPad or a foldable.

I’m a girl and I feel called out by the last part.

Idk, I use a 13 mini and battery life has been great - I thought it wouldn't be that good - but according to tests it actually performs just as good or better than most phones (except of course huge dum a flagship phones) - but honestly the ability that this is ACTUALLY a pocket computer & I can finally use it with one hand battery becomes such a small disadvantage.

Pixel 7 is a nice design. I have big hands and have been rocking pros....the standard 7 is perfect. And has great abttery

Honestly the problem with typing is more of a touch thing than a size thing. I had a Nokia like millennia ago that had a QWERTY keyboard with very tiny keys and I never typed so fast with one hand. It provided a level of precision of input that touch screens simply can't reproduce.

Maybe making a phone thicker could be a solution, but many people don't like thick phones (and I honestly don't know why). For me, the ideal phone would be something with a screen size of iPhone 5 and a battery with at least 4AH

@@akeem2983 big bulge in pockets in a day and age where tight clothes are popular plus other things

That's the point. Big phones are as meaningless as tablets. Any thin x86 flagship laptop destroys top end smartphones in any sense. There are even those with decent cameras, such as the surface go.

So… you text with only one hand?

@@Rudrugo yes

@@Rudrugo Ever heard of swiping? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uAzl34epmhc.html

@@Rudrugo i love the swipe keyboard. replying this content with it

I use Windows Phone in 2015, and it was my first "big" phone with 5 inches screen, where before that I use phone with screen below 4 inches. I remember how big it feels the first time I use it. But fortunately browser in Windows Phone 8 and Windows 10 Mobile has its toolbar on the bottom including the address bar. And it also have one handed mode, where the UI would pull down to the bottom half so it's more reachable.

i stick to Firefox on my s20 and it works fantastic with the bottom search bar

Chrome used to have this and then Google cut it 🙄

Another big one for me are very very tiny Like buttons. Sometimes on Twitter I will miss the heart and mistakenly open up the tweet in a new window like 3 times in a row. And full screen and video controls being both too small to use precisely. And not sticking to one side of the screen so when you slide the play indicator you cover up the content with your hand.

I think that a lot of people forget that on iPhone there’s an accessibility option to pull down on the home bar and it will pull the entire screen down to where the top section of an app easily reachable at the middle of the screen. I don’t use it but the option has been there for years. Edit: if you want to enable the option I’m talking about go to settings >accessibility >touch >reachability >on

This is exactly how I feel, my hands fit the "too large" phones perfectly. honestly a lot of the smaller phones feel too small but thats probably just because I'm used to mine.

To me it seems like companies think they know what we want

Cause nobody buys them especially mini iphones. Bigger phone equals more space for better things. The 13mini is cool but theres things the mini cant do than the normal 13 can

It’s especially frustrating as someone with smaller hands. I’m essentially stuck with Apple, and, now that the 6s is no longer supported or repaired, that means I’m stuck with the idiocy that is no headphone jack, because none of the phones with a headphone jack will fit in my hand! Honestly, back when I had the 2016 SE, which was I think the same size as all the 5s, that was the perfect size for a phone.

@@libbybollinger5901 Amen!

I think it wasn't a big money maker.

There should be an option in the market to buy smaller phones... I mean androids.

Who really cares about how thin phones are outside the Apple media ecosystem? I couldn't give less of a shit if you made me.

@@sexyscientist true. but even on android, the selection isn't that wide :(

@@kouhaiii3182 There is no selection right now. There are no sub 6" androids releasing any more.

The problem with ergonomics go deeper than phone sizes. There must be a better shape than a rectangle to fit in hand, the phones could be much bigger than what they are and still a pleasure to use. But there is no experimentation in the industry because you need your own OS to fit a non-standard screen and all the companies known for their gimmicks and innovation died out because nothing can compete with Android. Yes, there is also iOS, but when did Apple try to do something new that might be a new trend or might be a complete flop? They always just took what someone else was doing and popularized it.

My 5s was my favourite. I have a 7 now and hate the extra length + lack of headphone jack.

Seeing how bad the sales of the 14 plus are, I think they'll bring the mini back in the future. I have some experience with the 13 mini and it's really nice to use but I just can't get away from my note 10 plus. It's just so good for reading and media consumption. And android's or I guess one ui's gesture system is so much better than on the iphones. Like it was usable on the mini but I don't see how the same could be said for the bigger sizes. Opening up the control panel is definitely a nightmare on those while with my note 10 plus, I can swipe down anywhere and the top panel comes down.

I'm not sure if "copied" is the right word. They probably forgot Microsoft did it before them.

I definitely can’t use it with one hand all the time, I hand small hands

The thing with that is they have pretty good accessibility options for making the icons and text larger, along with a host of others (e.g reading text, filters for high contrast or to assist the colourblind). Making the entire phone larger might open up more real estate so you can have more icons/text on the screen even when they're enlarged, but if those icons are out of reach and inconvenient to use it doesn't make it any more net accessible.

Depends, my mom is in her 60s and still prefers to use my old iPhone 5s. She just sets the text to the largest option to see

Only some disabilities. Movement related ones are disadvantaged

Overall the range of size thats accesible in the market should be wider. People have different wants and need, the scaling should account for both ends.

I also got the 12 mini solely because of the form factor. The battery didn't bother me that much, but that's because my previous phone was a much older device so I'm used to it. A big phone would be a more significant dealbreaker to me because I wouldn't even be able to hold it comfortably. They could've fixed the battery problem by making the phone thicker. I don't get why manufacturers are crazy about thin phones. They're more difficult to pick up if you're not using a phone case.

The battery life issue probably comes from using your phone too much. Maybe take a break once in a while.

@@Gamefreak924 you never learned the life lesson about unsolicited advice and everyone around you knows it, gamerboy

He shows this at 1:22 😅

This is the point he's making: these solutions are great, but they are only necessary because phones are so big these days.

@@BambiTrout His point wasn't that phones are too big these days lol wut? His point was that these features are bandaids for a bigger issue. Phone UX is trash and these companies can't seem to come up with better solutions to fix the issue. I posted this elsewhere in the comments but... I run a Galaxy S21 Ultra for my daily driver and I have an iPhone SE that was issued to me by my job for my work cell. The iPhone feels so cumbersome and unwieldy (despite having a markedly smaller screen) because I can't make changes to the UI to accommodate my single handed, right hand dominant use of the phone. There are two HUGE issues that I have ran into with the design on the iPhone from a one handed operation standpoint. 1) Why is the back button for every application in the absolute worst place imaginable. They don't just place it at the top of the phone, but the TOP LEFT. The vast majority of users are right handed and putting anything requiring frequent interaction at the top of the phone is already just bad design, but the top LEFT? Literally unforgivable in my opinion. The devs responsible should be canned. 2) The inability to place icons where you want them on the home screen without filling the screen with useless stuff since apps MUST populate from the, again, TOP LEFT and then build rows from left to right top to bottom. There are solutions for this if you Jailbreak the iPhone, but being company property that isn't happening for me. However, on my android phone I use nova launcher. This launcher lets me place icons wherever I want them and so I have my 1st page with 1 single icon for my phone, and my 2nd page with 2 columns of icons starting at the bottom right and stacking 5 rows tall. These icons are mostly folders which are organized by application type (Video, Social, Music, Games, Images, Messaging) as well as 2 individual apps (Iceraven Web Browser and the Camera). I can easily select any one of these apps/folders and their contents with my thumb without stretching or reaching to get to them. Nova also lets you customize your gestures while on a home screen so I have mine set that swiping down ANYWHERE on the home screen opens my notification shade, and swiping up opens my app drawer. Also NONE of this requires any kind of root/jailbreak and the installation of a new launcher is natively supported on every Android. In the app drawer unlike iOS and its garbage automatic sorting, I am able to manually sort everything into different pages, and folders within those pages if I so wish. For mine I have chosen to create 4 pages (Media/Messages, Productivity, Lifestyle, and Phone Management). Media and messaging has the things you would expect Apps related to either entertainment, or communication. Productivity is apps like my office applications, calculator, maps, etc. Lifestyle are things like food apps, finance apps, shopping apps, my car insurance, etc. And finally, phone management is basically where I keep all of my settings applications, file explorer, automation tools, customization tools etc. Another nice feature is while I am inside my app drawer if I swipe down (again from anywhere on the screen) it opens up a search and automatically places the cursor in that search with my keyboard opened up. So I can quickly find ANYTHING I am looking for including hidden apps. (Did I mention you can also straight up hide apps if you don't want to see them or interact with them infrequently another SUPER BASIC feature that is missing from iOS) All of this has helped quite a bit but it only scratches the surface of how much better things are on my android for one handed operation. Enter "One Hand Operation +". This app lets you set up zones on either side of your phone where you can bind gestures for navigation. On my phone I have it set up so that swiping back anywhere on the right hand edge of the screen sends the back command, swiping back and up, then holding for a second triggers the recent apps popup, and the same gesture but down triggers the home command. For the bottom 10% of the screen edge I have it set so that swiping back still triggers the back command, but swiping back and up/down triggers my google assistant. With One Hand Operation + and Nova Launcher I am able to operate about 97% of my phones features with one hand VERY comfortably and the only times I ever have to reach any more are when a specific application has opted to design a part of its interface to be crap. I also switched to Iceraven (a Firefox offshoot) a while back for 2 reasons. 1) Support for extensions such as uBlock on a mobile browser, and 2) the search bar and all of its important user interface controls are AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PHONE. Phones do not need to get smaller, and we don't need to waste half the screen with title cards. Phone manufacturers and software developers just need to build better controls as defaults and realize that thumbs are not a foot long. Nothing important should be out of reach, but that doesn't mean everything needs to be shoved to the bottom of the screen either. I would also venture that most people using their phones in a cradle hold are not doing so because it is how they WANT to use their phone, but it is because phone design has been so bad so long that they have just gotten used to doing it that way. No one responsible for out of the box experiences has stepped back since the first iPhone and asked, "Is this really the best way to design our UX?" The Play store is full of launchers that have tried to tackle these issues and apps to make navigation easier. But they are all 3rd party software which require user installation. It's time that these mega corporations realize that their UI's are poorly designed bunk and whoever is responsible for them staying stagnant for the last decade and a half needs to be canned.

He glaze over it as a button but I thought to mention my S9 has the fingerprint reader on the back and you can set it to open the top menu by swiping with you non thumb finger

@@TheOldSchoolCrisis bruh

Which one is the most ergonomic, Scotty?

@@sexyscientist ergonomics wise, S22. But the other factors outweigh this ergonomics advantage of the S22.

I would say the iPhone SE is even better than all of those options for ergonomics.

@@ForzaMonkey agree with you, Monkey.

I have to applaud Samsung for doing their best with large screens, making as much as possible usable within reach. Still should make it smaller though

the galaxy flip has something like this and it works amazingly well

Kinda sounds like the old blackberry touch or scroll balls, those were amazing and I miss them. Way less thumb strain!

UGHH yes as a woman i unfortunately have the smallest pockets ever!!! bUT with this phone i can actually fit my phone in my pocket and it is such a good feeling knowing it's secure and safe there. also zflip3 just feels much more fall-sturdy if you have made the habit of closing your phone when you're done with it! (i never leave it in the open state lol the anxiety)

WP was so ahead of his time, if only app devs supported it better...

Not to mention how tiny the pockets are on women's clothing! If I don't have a bag with me I usually end up carrying my phone in my hand, because there's no way it'll ever fit in the front pocket of my pants.

@@zk5228 OMG YES. And if it’s in a back pocket you gotta be sooo careful or it’s going in the toilet 😞

Then get a diamond studded pop socket

@@awfully.average Anyone who uses a pop socket is guaranteed lame

Was not available in my country, so when Google launched Pixel 4a with 5.8 inch screen. I jumped on it.

Same, I'll be sad when my s10e stops working because I doubt new smaller phones are going to be availble

@@PARADOXsquared Even I get panicked thinking about the day, my pixel would stop working. I don't have that much money to spent ridiculous amount on a phone that is just the right size for a regular sized palm. It should be the norm and not a novelty that they are making off of small phones

went from 3 to 6a and its so big lmao.

Good news my friend as an android user you have a TON of 3rd party options for fixing these issues. I have posted this a few times but here is my copy pasted rant with some cool features you might benefit from. I run a Galaxy S21 Ultra for my daily driver and I have an iPhone SE that was issued to me by my job for my work cell. The iPhone feels so cumbersome and unwieldy (despite having a markedly smaller screen) because I can't make changes to the UI to accommodate my single handed, right hand dominant use of the phone. There are two HUGE issues that I have ran into with the design on the iPhone from a one handed operation standpoint. 1) Why is the back button for every application in the absolute worst place imaginable. They don't just place it at the top of the phone, but the TOP LEFT. The vast majority of users are right handed and putting anything requiring frequent interaction at the top of the phone is already just bad design, but the top LEFT? Literally unforgivable in my opinion. The devs responsible should be canned. 2) The inability to place icons where you want them on the home screen without filling the screen with useless stuff since apps MUST populate from the, again, TOP LEFT and then build rows from left to right top to bottom. There are solutions for this if you Jailbreak the iPhone, but being company property that isn't happening for me. However, on my android phone I use nova launcher. This launcher lets me place icons wherever I want them and so I have my 1st page with 1 single icon for my phone, and my 2nd page with 2 columns of icons starting at the bottom right and stacking 5 rows tall. These icons are mostly folders which are organized by application type (Video, Social, Music, Games, Images, Messaging) as well as 2 individual apps (Iceraven Web Browser and the Camera). I can easily select any one of these apps/folders and their contents with my thumb without stretching or reaching to get to them. Nova also lets you customize your gestures while on a home screen so I have mine set that swiping down ANYWHERE on the home screen opens my notification shade, and swiping up opens my app drawer. Also NONE of this requires any kind of root/jailbreak and the installation of a new launcher is natively supported on every Android. In the app drawer unlike iOS and its garbage automatic sorting, I am able to manually sort everything into different pages, and folders within those pages if I so wish. For mine I have chosen to create 4 pages (Media/Messages, Productivity, Lifestyle, and Phone Management). Media and messaging has the things you would expect Apps related to either entertainment, or communication. Productivity is apps like my office applications, calculator, maps, etc. Lifestyle are things like food apps, finance apps, shopping apps, my car insurance, etc. And finally, phone management is basically where I keep all of my settings applications, file explorer, automation tools, customization tools etc. Another nice feature is while I am inside my app drawer if I swipe down (again from anywhere on the screen) it opens up a search and automatically places the cursor in that search with my keyboard opened up. So I can quickly find ANYTHING I am looking for including hidden apps. (Did I mention you can also straight up hide apps if you don't want to see them or interact with them infrequently another SUPER BASIC feature that is missing from iOS) All of this has helped quite a bit but it only scratches the surface of how much better things are on my android for one handed operation. Enter "One Hand Operation +". This app lets you set up zones on either side of your phone where you can bind gestures for navigation. On my phone I have it set up so that swiping back anywhere on the right hand edge of the screen sends the back command, swiping back and up, then holding for a second triggers the recent apps popup, and the same gesture but down triggers the home command. For the bottom 10% of the screen edge I have it set so that swiping back still triggers the back command, but swiping back and up/down triggers my google assistant. With One Hand Operation + and Nova Launcher I am able to operate about 97% of my phones features with one hand VERY comfortably and the only times I ever have to reach any more are when a specific application has opted to design a part of its interface to be crap. I also switched to Iceraven (a Firefox offshoot) a while back for 2 reasons. 1) Support for extensions such as uBlock on a mobile browser, and 2) the search bar and all of its important user interface controls are AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PHONE. Phones do not need to get smaller, and we don't need to waste half the screen with title cards. Phone manufacturers and software developers just need to build better controls as defaults and realize that thumbs are not a foot long. Nothing important should be out of reach, but that doesn't mean everything needs to be shoved to the bottom of the screen either. I would also venture that most people using their phones in a cradle hold are not doing so because it is how they WANT to use their phone, but it is because phone design has been so bad so long that they have just gotten used to doing it that way. No one responsible for out of the box experiences has stepped back since the first iPhone and asked, "Is this really the best way to design our UX?" The Play store is full of launchers that have tried to tackle these issues and apps to make navigation easier. But they are all 3rd party software which require user installation. It's time that these mega corporations realize that their UI's are poorly designed bunk and whoever is responsible for them staying stagnant for the last decade and a half needs to be canned.

Yep. Me too.

God, I wish I still had my 5s. It was truly the perfect size compared to 6s/8/SE size I have now. And even still, when I’m looking for phones, that’s apparently considered small?!?!

@@libbybollinger5901 yeah I had to give up my 5s not too long ago. It couldn’t update the OS any more, which meant I couldn’t update apps anymore, thus resulting in many apps saying I couldn’t use them until I updated. Ended up getting an SE2, and yeah it’s just big enough to be annoying at times.

Do you perhaps have large hands? In order to stretch my thumb around the whole screen like you, I have loosen my grip on the phone to the last knuckle, and risk dropping it. When I use a pop socket that risk is mitigated

Because he shows it in the video and calls it out for what it is, a garbage bandaid feature that doesn't address the issue of fixing a UX problem these phones all suffer from. I mentioned this in a few comments elsewhere but it is just much easier to copy paste the rant so here it is... I run a Galaxy S21 Ultra for my daily driver and I have an iPhone SE that was issued to me by my job for my work cell. The iPhone feels so cumbersome and unwieldy (despite having a markedly smaller screen) because I can't make changes to the UI to accommodate my single handed, right hand dominant use of the phone. There are two HUGE issues that I have ran into with the design on the iPhone from a one handed operation standpoint. 1) Why is the back button for every application in the absolute worst place imaginable. They don't just place it at the top of the phone, but the TOP LEFT. The vast majority of users are right handed and putting anything requiring frequent interaction at the top of the phone is already just bad design, but the top LEFT? Literally unforgivable in my opinion. The devs responsible should be canned. 2) The inability to place icons where you want them on the home screen without filling the screen with useless stuff since apps MUST populate from the, again, TOP LEFT and then build rows from left to right top to bottom. There are solutions for this if you Jailbreak the iPhone, but being company property that isn't happening for me. However, on my android phone I use nova launcher. This launcher lets me place icons wherever I want them and so I have my 1st page with 1 single icon for my phone, and my 2nd page with 2 columns of icons starting at the bottom right and stacking 5 rows tall. These icons are mostly folders which are organized by application type (Video, Social, Music, Games, Images, Messaging) as well as 2 individual apps (Iceraven Web Browser and the Camera). I can easily select any one of these apps/folders and their contents with my thumb without stretching or reaching to get to them. Nova also lets you customize your gestures while on a home screen so I have mine set that swiping down ANYWHERE on the home screen opens my notification shade, and swiping up opens my app drawer. Also NONE of this requires any kind of root/jailbreak and the installation of a new launcher is natively supported on every Android. In the app drawer unlike iOS and its garbage automatic sorting, I am able to manually sort everything into different pages, and folders within those pages if I so wish. For mine I have chosen to create 4 pages (Media/Messages, Productivity, Lifestyle, and Phone Management). Media and messaging has the things you would expect Apps related to either entertainment, or communication. Productivity is apps like my office applications, calculator, maps, etc. Lifestyle are things like food apps, finance apps, shopping apps, my car insurance, etc. And finally, phone management is basically where I keep all of my settings applications, file explorer, automation tools, customization tools etc. Another nice feature is while I am inside my app drawer if I swipe down (again from anywhere on the screen) it opens up a search and automatically places the cursor in that search with my keyboard opened up. So I can quickly find ANYTHING I am looking for including hidden apps. (Did I mention you can also straight up hide apps if you don't want to see them or interact with them infrequently another SUPER BASIC feature that is missing from iOS) All of this has helped quite a bit but it only scratches the surface of how much better things are on my android for one handed operation. Enter "One Hand Operation +". This app lets you set up zones on either side of your phone where you can bind gestures for navigation. On my phone I have it set up so that swiping back anywhere on the right hand edge of the screen sends the back command, swiping back and up, then holding for a second triggers the recent apps popup, and the same gesture but down triggers the home command. For the bottom 10% of the screen edge I have it set so that swiping back still triggers the back command, but swiping back and up/down triggers my google assistant. With One Hand Operation + and Nova Launcher I am able to operate about 97% of my phones features with one hand VERY comfortably and the only times I ever have to reach any more are when a specific application has opted to design a part of its interface to be crap. I also switched to Iceraven (a Firefox offshoot) a while back for 2 reasons. 1) Support for extensions such as uBlock on a mobile browser, and 2) the search bar and all of its important user interface controls are AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PHONE. Phones do not need to get smaller, and we don't need to waste half the screen with title cards. Phone manufacturers and software developers just need to build better controls as defaults and realize that thumbs are not a foot long. Nothing important should be out of reach, but that doesn't mean everything needs to be shoved to the bottom of the screen either. I would also venture that most people using their phones in a cradle hold are not doing so because it is how they WANT to use their phone, but it is because phone design has been so bad so long that they have just gotten used to doing it that way. No one responsible for out of the box experiences has stepped back since the first iPhone and asked, "Is this really the best way to design our UX?" The Play store is full of launchers that have tried to tackle these issues and apps to make navigation easier. But they are all 3rd party software which require user installation. It's time that these mega corporations realize that their UI's are poorly designed bunk and whoever is responsible for them staying stagnant for the last decade and a half needs to be canned.

I remember when I purchased the first gen SE when it first came out. By that time, I had upgraded from the 5 to the 6. I used the 6 until it literally started falling apart and upgraded to the SE. by this time, I couldn’t Take the smaller screen on the se, so i upgraded to 6s. Since then, I’ve had the 8 series (regular and plus model), XR, 11 and now the 13 pro max. Funny thing is, about a month ago I purchased an SE for cheap on eBay and I use it as my “disconnect” phone - only close family and friends have the number and it’s a nice change of view from a big screen to small AND I appreciate the comfort of a smaller build now. I say all of this to say, had the SE came out prior to the 6 series, I would’ve definitely stuck with a smaller phone.

You don't need a smaller phone, these manufacturers need to start designing phone interfaces better. I have posted this a few times now but it is easier to copy paste my wall of text than it is to retype it so here we go... I run a Galaxy S21 Ultra for my daily driver and I have an iPhone SE that was issued to me by my job for my work cell. The iPhone feels so cumbersome and unwieldy (despite having a markedly smaller screen) because I can't make changes to the UI to accommodate my single handed, right hand dominant use of the phone. There are two HUGE issues that I have ran into with the design on the iPhone from a one handed operation standpoint. 1) Why is the back button for every application in the absolute worst place imaginable. They don't just place it at the top of the phone, but the TOP LEFT. The vast majority of users are right handed and putting anything requiring frequent interaction at the top of the phone is already just bad design, but the top LEFT? Literally unforgivable in my opinion. The devs responsible should be canned. 2) The inability to place icons where you want them on the home screen without filling the screen with useless stuff since apps MUST populate from the, again, TOP LEFT and then build rows from left to right top to bottom. There are solutions for this if you Jailbreak the iPhone, but being company property that isn't happening for me. However, on my android phone I use nova launcher. This launcher lets me place icons wherever I want them and so I have my 1st page with 1 single icon for my phone, and my 2nd page with 2 columns of icons starting at the bottom right and stacking 5 rows tall. These icons are mostly folders which are organized by application type (Video, Social, Music, Games, Images, Messaging) as well as 2 individual apps (Iceraven Web Browser and the Camera). I can easily select any one of these apps/folders and their contents with my thumb without stretching or reaching to get to them. Nova also lets you customize your gestures while on a home screen so I have mine set that swiping down ANYWHERE on the home screen opens my notification shade, and swiping up opens my app drawer. Also NONE of this requires any kind of root/jailbreak and the installation of a new launcher is natively supported on every Android. In the app drawer unlike iOS and its garbage automatic sorting, I am able to manually sort everything into different pages, and folders within those pages if I so wish. For mine I have chosen to create 4 pages (Media/Messages, Productivity, Lifestyle, and Phone Management). Media and messaging has the things you would expect Apps related to either entertainment, or communication. Productivity is apps like my office applications, calculator, maps, etc. Lifestyle are things like food apps, finance apps, shopping apps, my car insurance, etc. And finally, phone management is basically where I keep all of my settings applications, file explorer, automation tools, customization tools etc. Another nice feature is while I am inside my app drawer if I swipe down (again from anywhere on the screen) it opens up a search and automatically places the cursor in that search with my keyboard opened up. So I can quickly find ANYTHING I am looking for including hidden apps. (Did I mention you can also straight up hide apps if you don't want to see them or interact with them infrequently another SUPER BASIC feature that is missing from iOS) All of this has helped quite a bit but it only scratches the surface of how much better things are on my android for one handed operation. Enter "One Hand Operation +". This app lets you set up zones on either side of your phone where you can bind gestures for navigation. On my phone I have it set up so that swiping back anywhere on the right hand edge of the screen sends the back command, swiping back and up, then holding for a second triggers the recent apps popup, and the same gesture but down triggers the home command. For the bottom 10% of the screen edge I have it set so that swiping back still triggers the back command, but swiping back and up/down triggers my google assistant. With One Hand Operation + and Nova Launcher I am able to operate about 97% of my phones features with one hand VERY comfortably and the only times I ever have to reach any more are when a specific application has opted to design a part of its interface to be crap. I also switched to Iceraven (a Firefox offshoot) a while back for 2 reasons. 1) Support for extensions such as uBlock on a mobile browser, and 2) the search bar and all of its important user interface controls are AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PHONE. Phones do not need to get smaller, and we don't need to waste half the screen with title cards. Phone manufacturers and software developers just need to build better controls as defaults and realize that thumbs are not a foot long. Nothing important should be out of reach, but that doesn't mean everything needs to be shoved to the bottom of the screen either. I would also venture that most people using their phones in a cradle hold are not doing so because it is how they WANT to use their phone, but it is because phone design has been so bad so long that they have just gotten used to doing it that way. No one responsible for out of the box experiences has stepped back since the first iPhone and asked, "Is this really the best way to design our UX?" The Play store is full of launchers that have tried to tackle these issues and apps to make navigation easier. But they are all 3rd party software which require user installation. It's time that these mega corporations realize that their UI's are poorly designed bunk and whoever is responsible for them staying stagnant for the last decade and a half needs to be canned.

I just watched this video; it was very good and has too little views.