Begging a million pardons for what must seem to be the stupidest question ever, but what is the smartphone with the smallest overall size, that will work in the U.S. (T-Mobile)?
I use my current phone for calls, texts and some light photo taking, and I also use the browser for occasional checking of Protonmail, NOAA, and Google Maps. Some other light search; very little video, never any streaming. All location functions turned off. I neither currently have, nor intend to download even a single 3rd-party app.
As we can see, I don’t care about a large screen or hi-res; I want the smallest thing that will fit in my pocket.
I checked the list of devices on the main /e/ page, but I had a hard time determining which phones operate here in the U.S.
Any advice and recommendations welcome. Thank you for reading!
[LIST] Features list for devices is a good list for VoLTE support in the US per carrier. I think the smallest listed known to work with T-Mobile among those are
Xperia XZ1 Compact with 4.6" on 129 x 65 x 9.3 mm (5.08 x 2.56 x 0.37 in), weight at 140 g (4.94 oz)
Pixel 4a with 5.8" on 144 x 69.4 x 8.2 mm (5.67 x 2.73 x 0.32 in), weight at 143 g (5.04 oz)
commercially available
Teracube 2e via the eshop is already at 6.1" with (HxWxD) 155.2 × 73.3 × 10.1mm, so I think it doesn’t qualify
That is a great phone, but not officially supported by /e/. The current unofficial build is OK, but depends on the unofficial maintainer (me )continuing to build it.
The other compact Sony devices in that list (Z3 Compact, Z5 Compact) are both around the same size and weight, and officially supported by /e/. Z5 Compact is the newer of the two.
The XZ2 Compact will soon be getting official support, (when the R builds currently being tested are judged ‘good enough’). That’s a similar size, and I would be very surprised if it doesn’t work in the US. Be aware that it doesn’t have a headphone jack socket, so it’s bluetooth headphones and speakers only.
I’m a big fan of the Sony phones. Sony are generally supporters of AOSP and other custom open source ROMs, and there seem to be fewer problems with their phones than with some manufacturers (Samsung?) who seem more hostile.
As I think VoLTE support is key, I didn’t list any small phones outside the country+carrier+volte working confirmations, but one can search for Lineage user confirmations for working ims in xda too - I think the compact Sonys seem to be a good pick. Thanks for offering a community build.
I’ve read in various places that the XZ2c does not have VoLTE with T-mobile US, but I can’t confirm that. Best to do some searching around before buying. T-mobile is shutting down the last of the 3G network on July 1, according to latest info. (AT&T will do so, too, in a couple of days from now.)
All phones now need VoLTE/4G calling to be accepted for activation in the U.S.
AT&T has a strict list of allowed devices, whereas for T-mobile, the phone simply has to pass the IMEI check.
In case of problems with some phones, people (including me, prior to my /e/ install) have also had success by flashing a different regional firmware to get VoLTE working on T-mobile U.S., according to reports on XDA dev forum.
With a T-mobile SIM inserted, the “Enable VoLTE” setting will show up in the menu, if the phone is the right model and has the right firmware. (speaking of non-custom ROMs here)
EDIT: The firmware reflash shouldn’t be needed with an /e/ install, though.
)continuing to build it.