Ask HN: 5" phones - why this trend?

Note: At this point this is Android specific. Current flagships from Apple and Blackberry are 4" and 4.2" respectively.

I'm a person who dislikes carrying a shovel of 5" in his pocket for a phone. Sadly, this is becoming a standard for top of the line devices. There's even a new term now - phablets - for phones over 5".

This trend puts people like me in a difficult situation. There's simply no compact alternative of similar capabilities. They're cut down in functionality, downgraded versions in the mid to low market. If you want a modern phone of 4" with LCD high-res display, 8MP camera, 4 cores, NFC, etc - it is virtually non-existent.

My question is why companies push for ever larger displays on smartphones? And what can we, compact phones aficionados, do about it?

Is this where we're going? :) http://i.imgur.com/SZ31YuL.jpg