An internal Motorola presentation leak appears to confirm a GrapheneOS partnership for non-Pixel hardware, with an official announcement likely at MWC 2026.
This is especially good news since Motorola makes some of the few phones with a headphone jack. I just hope that whatever phone they make isn’t some nearly 7" behemoth like their current line.
At this point you HAVE to make it a 7" behemoth to get sales, but a lower-volume model with a smaller screen would be a great addition to the lineup. But I can’t imagine too many people buy them because Apple stopped making the Minis and they don’t usually stop making things that make them money. I actually loved my 13 mini. If this Motorola-GrapheneOS partnership ends up spawning a phone of that size (I do think a lot of privacy enthusiasts may also be smaller phone enthusiasts), I may finally go back to Android.
Xperia is massively overpriced, full of bloatware, trash software, 2 years of software updates, and they’re absolutely massive. And not just massive but like, insanely tall. Hard to believe they’re still around while LG has called it quits.
Man I remember when they made some of the best phones. Granted this was like a decade, decade and a half ago. My first Android phone was an Xperia that was still Sony Ericsson rather than Sony, and the only really noticeable things it added to AOSP were the launcher (not nearly as bad as TouchWiz at the time) and the display and sound were pretty good for a midrange phone made in the very early 2010s.
About the bloatware; rooted, removed, soon LineageOS on this one too. Same advice for phones as for PC: reinstall on a new device, factory OS is bloated with malware.
Most people I’ve talked to in real life have complained about how large phones are and wish there were still smaller phones available. Maybe I’m just some gravitational nexus of small phone likers, but I think there is some other factor at play other than consumer preference.
Perhaps the issue is that they sell too well and canibalize the larger phone market, which probably has higher margins, sales people at stores often also get payed a commission so they probably have an incentive to nudge people towards larger phones.
Well, I’m not even asking for a true “mini” phone at this point, because we both know that would be asking too much. I just would just be happy with something like a 5.5-5.7" phone with a resolution that isn’t insulting (looking at you Librem 5) and some halfway decent storage. If the Moto collab phone doesn’t end up being viable for me due to size or other factors, I’ll live. My current Pixel should be supported on GrapheneOS for a good while, so I can hold out. I’ve already moved to using a DAP for listening to music because I couldn’t get a decent phone with a headphone jack anymore. Maybe one of the linux phones will be viable as a daily driver by then.
To be fair, the bezels were huge by today’s standards, and one of the main (non-Apple) competitors had a hardware keyboard below the screen. Just think how much more usable these old smaller phones would be, if we had the screen to body ratio of the Pixel 9a.
I actually don’t mind the bezel so much. If someone put out a Nexus One clone with modern hardware and an unlocked bootloader, I’d be first in line. That programmable trackball that was also an LED indicator was so cool.
Give me a Nexus S or Moto X 2013, but I’d probably be happier with a Nexus 5 for the extra screen size. But man, the Nexus S and Moto X (also the Palm Pre) were just so nice in the hand.
I bought my current phone, a Motorola Moto G Stylus (2025), because I of its hardware support. It has E-SIM plus a physical SIM slot, SD card support, and a headphone jack. The one downside is not having any custom firmware builds available. I’m hoping that changes in the near future.
One of my children has a similar model, and I’m not a big fan, but it does still have a headphone jack which is nice. I don’t think Motorola has any plans to unlock any of the current models, but if they change their tune that would be great.
My large hands would probably be fine with a ‘nearly 7" behemoth’ if phones would just go back to a 9:16 aspect ratio. I may even be able to appreciate a more ereader-like aspect ratio like 2:3, 3:4, or 4:5. I have just been fed up by the unnecessarily tall phones of the past decade.
This is especially good news since Motorola makes some of the few phones with a headphone jack. I just hope that whatever phone they make isn’t some nearly 7" behemoth like their current line.
At this point you HAVE to make it a 7" behemoth to get sales, but a lower-volume model with a smaller screen would be a great addition to the lineup. But I can’t imagine too many people buy them because Apple stopped making the Minis and they don’t usually stop making things that make them money. I actually loved my 13 mini. If this Motorola-GrapheneOS partnership ends up spawning a phone of that size (I do think a lot of privacy enthusiasts may also be smaller phone enthusiasts), I may finally go back to Android.
Xperia 5 still sells. Mine is a bit over 5".
Edit: ok, sells not that good. Why? Mine often gets jealous glances in public transport. Fits nicely in hand and pocket.
Xperia is massively overpriced, full of bloatware, trash software, 2 years of software updates, and they’re absolutely massive. And not just massive but like, insanely tall. Hard to believe they’re still around while LG has called it quits.
Man I remember when they made some of the best phones. Granted this was like a decade, decade and a half ago. My first Android phone was an Xperia that was still Sony Ericsson rather than Sony, and the only really noticeable things it added to AOSP were the launcher (not nearly as bad as TouchWiz at the time) and the display and sound were pretty good for a midrange phone made in the very early 2010s.
Oh, it’s only the Xperia 5 line then?
About the bloatware; rooted, removed, soon LineageOS on this one too. Same advice for phones as for PC: reinstall on a new device, factory OS is bloated with malware.
Most people I’ve talked to in real life have complained about how large phones are and wish there were still smaller phones available. Maybe I’m just some gravitational nexus of small phone likers, but I think there is some other factor at play other than consumer preference.
Perhaps the issue is that they sell too well and canibalize the larger phone market, which probably has higher margins, sales people at stores often also get payed a commission so they probably have an incentive to nudge people towards larger phones.
Well, I’m not even asking for a true “mini” phone at this point, because we both know that would be asking too much. I just would just be happy with something like a 5.5-5.7" phone with a resolution that isn’t insulting (looking at you Librem 5) and some halfway decent storage. If the Moto collab phone doesn’t end up being viable for me due to size or other factors, I’ll live. My current Pixel should be supported on GrapheneOS for a good while, so I can hold out. I’ve already moved to using a DAP for listening to music because I couldn’t get a decent phone with a headphone jack anymore. Maybe one of the linux phones will be viable as a daily driver by then.
I mean that IS mini. The iPhone 13 mini, considered a tiny phone by most people, had a 5.4" screen.
I of course remember thinking my 5.0" Moto G (2nd gen) was a huuuge ass slab compared to my previous phone lol
I’ll never forget carrying around my Galaxy Note 2 and this guy asked me if it played DVDs LOL
I got my Nexus One out the other day and it still booted. The screen is 3.7", it’s hilarious that it felt like a large phone at the time.
To be fair, the bezels were huge by today’s standards, and one of the main (non-Apple) competitors had a hardware keyboard below the screen. Just think how much more usable these old smaller phones would be, if we had the screen to body ratio of the Pixel 9a.
I actually don’t mind the bezel so much. If someone put out a Nexus One clone with modern hardware and an unlocked bootloader, I’d be first in line. That programmable trackball that was also an LED indicator was so cool.
Give me a Nexus S or Moto X 2013, but I’d probably be happier with a Nexus 5 for the extra screen size. But man, the Nexus S and Moto X (also the Palm Pre) were just so nice in the hand.
I bought my current phone, a Motorola Moto G Stylus (2025), because I of its hardware support. It has E-SIM plus a physical SIM slot, SD card support, and a headphone jack. The one downside is not having any custom firmware builds available. I’m hoping that changes in the near future.
One of my children has a similar model, and I’m not a big fan, but it does still have a headphone jack which is nice. I don’t think Motorola has any plans to unlock any of the current models, but if they change their tune that would be great.
My large hands would probably be fine with a ‘nearly 7" behemoth’ if phones would just go back to a 9:16 aspect ratio. I may even be able to appreciate a more ereader-like aspect ratio like 2:3, 3:4, or 4:5. I have just been fed up by the unnecessarily tall phones of the past decade.
I’d still not want a 7" device, but I also preferred the less tall/skinny ratios.
That is a hard ask, the reason they are tall is because it makes them easier to hold with a single hand. And it would make them even less pocket-able.
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