I don't think there's a single modern smartphone that I like. My latest favourite smartphone was iPhone 4S. No camera bump. Perfect size, fits well in my hand, operable with one thumb. Perfect display size, enough to present all information I need. Perfectly usable without ugly case.
Why would you buy an ugly case and not a clean and well designed, functional one ?
If you liked the original iPhone design, getting a rounded and hand fitting case would be the go too IMHO (on the size difference, there's no way out at this point)
My previous phone was the iphone 8. It’s trully a world of difference in usability compared to the iPhone 13 I’m using now. I have big hands, so I can ise the latter one-handed, but a lot of people I’ve seen don’t.
My favorite phone of all time (based on hand feel and appearance) was the OnePlus One. It had its software problems, but every phone I've held since then has been a disappointment in the hand.
I don't think there's a single modern smartphone that I like. My latest favourite smartphone was iPhone 4S. No camera bump. Perfect size, fits well in my hand, operable with one thumb. Perfect display size, enough to present all information I need. Perfectly usable without ugly case.