The Pixel 10 made me fall back in love with small phones

Remember a time when we used to call devices with 7-inch screens tablets? Does your memory go back to the era of phablets — phones with a “large” 5.5-inch display? Screen sizes have gone up so much that almost 7 inches is now considered a standard phone size, while we call 6 inches mini. I fall in the former category: I used the iPhone 16 Pro Max, a massive brick of a phone, for the majority of the last year. And if my wrist had vocal cords, you could hear it scream — though not anymore, as it’s feeling much better with the Pixel 10.

It may give you the image of Voldemort’s creepy little face screaming from the back of Professor Quirinus Quirrell’s head, but I’d say that wouldn’t be too far from reality. I have this wrist condition called cubital tunnel syndrome, affecting the ring and pinky fingers. So not only is resting the phone on the pinky a tough job, the strain phones put on my wrist also gets unbearable sometimes — a counterproductive ailment for someone whose very job is to review phones.

I reviewed the iPhone 16 Pro Max last year and stuck with it for the novelty of it, having known Android inside out for so many years. While I can narrate my love-hate relationship with the iPhone in lengthy, breathless takes, one way it affected me the most was with all of its 227 grams of titanium-laden weight (plus the case’s weight).

The syndrome that sparingly bothered me started spurring up a couple of times a month. Sure, spending hours in my work chair is a reason, but the only major change in this period was the phone I used.

I can’t completely dismiss the perks of using a big phone. The most obvious advantage is the massive display on the front, which saved me from having to carry a separate tablet when I wanted to travel light. All my media consumption could happen on the phone itself. That screen real estate also afforded me more room for text, bigger photos on Instagram, and more immersive video calls.

One-handed use is surely tough, but I find big phones particularly better for two-handed tasks like media consumption and typing. When travelling, I prefer not to carry physical books and rely on the Kindle app alone — and as you’d guess, the Kindle experience is better too. If it were an Android phone, I would’ve brought up multitasking as well, but it’s iOS we’re talking about, which hasn’t tasted true multitasking yet.

Oh, and you must’ve guessed this one already — I just love the extended battery life I get on a big phone. On a regular day, the phone doesn’t die on me before bedtime, unless I push it with gaming, lengthy video calls, or 5G use. This is by far the biggest thing I miss after switching to a small phone. But I am still not coming back.

Have you ever taken a loud sigh of relief? That’s how I felt after picking up the Pixel 10, coming from a stone for a phone. My wrist is happy since it doesn’t have to bear the weight of that stone anymore, my fingers are happy that they don’t need to practice extreme gymnastics to pull down the notification shade, and my jeans pocket is happy that it’ll be bulging a bit less from a smaller phone.

The 6.3 inches is my new perfect screen size. Anything smaller will make the text look like ants, and anything bigger — well, I already told you how grueling that gets. That size feels like a phone is trying to be just a phone, nothing more. It doesn’t want to stretch its arm into tablet territory, nor does it make me squint at messages or constantly zoom into photos for a better look.

Something I didn’t realize earlier is that taking group and solo selfies is now much easier. I can click photos without my fingers looking weirdly crooked in the mirror while maintaining a grip, or my face looking constipated while concentrating too much on somehow hitting the shutter button. And it’s helpful otherwise too — most of the phone fits my above-average-sized palm, so it doesn’t topple easily, or at all.

Given where I’m coming from and the massive difference a smaller phone has brought to my life, I’ve become a fan. I’m going to advocate everyone to stick to this more manageable phone size — unless you need a bigger phone for a particular purpose, like needing to stay away from a wall charger for long, because that one stings, all caps.

The Pixel 10 is a fantastic phone otherwise. It’s quite close to the Pros without the Pro pricing, and I’m glad its camera is finally so flexible thanks to the third lens, even though Google had to cut a few corners. However, all that still can’t save the Pixel 10 from its paltry battery life.

Over the past couple of years, smaller Pro phones have stood neck and neck with their larger siblings — the XLs and Maxes of the world. They don’t get inferior cameras or lower RAM anymore. But the size difference warrants a smaller battery, and without any innovation in packing high-density batteries, they’re always going to suffer with mediocre endurance. Since a battery is something that will deteriorate by some law of physics, if the battery life is worse off from the get-go, it isn’t going to get better over time.

While I’ve become a vocal fan of smaller phones (yeah, I’m using small loosely here), I still have my reservations. A phone that can’t last a while off the charger will push people to go for a bigger one — even if it means dealing with unwieldy, unergonomic design or, as in my case, wrist pain. And when you’re spending top dollar for a phone that’s supposed to be in your life for the next half-decade, it better not give you these troubles.