So, this question popped into my head the other day… is 4.5 inches really enough?
Sounds kinda funny, right? But I was serious. It all started when my main phone just decided to die on me. Kaput. Screen black, no response. And money was tight, like, really tight back then. Couldn’t just run out and buy a new fancy one. I dug through my old drawers, you know, the one where electronics go to fade away. Found my ancient little smartphone, the one with the tiny 4.5-inch screen. Hadn’t touched it in years.
Well, beggars can’t be choosers, right? I charged it up. Wiped off the dust. Got my SIM card in there. And then I started actually trying to use it again for daily stuff.
First thing I noticed? Typing. Oh man, typing was a nightmare. My thumbs felt huge on that little keyboard. Constantly hitting the wrong letters. Autocorrect was working overtime, and even then, my messages looked like secret code. Reading websites? Forget about it comfortably. Zooming in constantly, panning left and right like I was reading some ancient scroll. Everything felt so cramped.
I tried watching a video clip someone sent. Held the phone right up to my face. Squinting. It worked, technically, but it wasn’t exactly enjoyable. Apps loaded okay, surprisingly, but anything with lots of pictures or complex layouts just felt… broken. Like trying to fit a whole world into a little box.
My Realization Kicked In
Using that tiny phone dragged on for a few weeks while I figured things out. It was frustrating, sure. But it also reminded me of that whole period. It was a time when I had to cut back on everything, not just phone size. Felt like I was constantly making do, squeezing by. That little screen kind of became a symbol of that feeling, you know? Limited. Restricted.
Could I make calls? Yeah. Send basic texts (if I typed slowly)? Sure. Check the weather? Okay. So, was 4.5 inches technically enough to function? I guess, barely. If you have incredible patience and don’t need to do much.
But for how we use phones now? All the browsing, the media, the apps? For me, absolutely not. It was a real struggle. It made me appreciate the bigger screens we have now, even though sometimes I think they’re ridiculously large. You get used to a certain level of comfort, a certain way of doing things. Going back felt like stepping into the dark ages.
So yeah, my little experiment, forced upon me by a dead phone and an empty wallet, gave me my answer. 4.5 inches? Maybe it was enough back in the day, but for me, now? Nah. Not even close.
