CES 2013 expected to showcase 'embarrassingly large' smartphones - Page 3

 

Wait, are you talking build quality? Sorry, I meant UX (quality of experience). Should have just said that. 

My god... you're right.

3.5" 4" is the only size for a smartphone.

Apple should never change anything, right?

I bought a couple of days ago an HTC One X with a 4.7 inch screen for someone else. I had to learn how to use it and configure it, so I use it a couple of days. In a word the Android OS sucks! I don't like it. It's ugly, I can not find apps that I need. Google Play store is a mess, full of crappy apps. The OS is confusing, but at least it's functional. But the screen man, THE SCREEN! The screen is BIG, it's HUGE, it's AMAZING! I put side by side my iPhone 4 and this HTC and the useful area of the screen is almost double! Unbelievable! I'm in love with this phone! Now, I just can not stand my tiny iPhone 4. And I'm thinking, why oh why doesn't Apple make an iPhone with a big screen??? I want an iPhone with a big screen! WHY doesn't Apple want to take my MONEY!?! What's wrong with Apple??? Are they stupid, or what???

There was nothing wrong with the size/format of the original iPhone. It was a good balance between functionality and portability - it still works and you can put it in your pocket. It's ridiculous that the whole market has been hijacked by some pubescent fad that says a stoopidly large 'mobile' phone is cool.
It's just not good design and as such Apple should not go there.

Dear Apple!

 

1. Please do not increase the case size again (iPhone-5 is already too big as it does not fit a shirt pocket!)

2. Get rid of the Home button finally (replace with gesture control, maybe utilizing the back side) 

4. Above would be sufficient to make the screen as 5" in diagonal, 1920x1080 (as usual, center the legacy apps in the middle until they adapt)

 

I think you're right. I can't even remember the last time I held a phone to my ear. My usage pattern is 90% headset, 10% speakerphone.

 

Unfortunately not everyone with whom I have to communicate has that capability. My dad, government agencies, retail stores...

LTE iMac! 27 inches of phone, at your fingertips.

 

Maybe nobody knew about them. I didn't know Dell even made a phone at all. Based on the discussion around here, I don't think a lot of others did either.

Actually I think Apple should make 2 new models of iPhone:

 

The first one should be a 4.5" screen the same resolution as the iPhone 5.  This will make the images on the screen a bit larger for people who have trouble seeing the tiny tiny text on the current models.  This can be done without significantly increasing the overall size of the device (smaller bezels).

 

The second should be a 3" screen with the same resolution as the 1st couple of generations of iPhone.  This would allow for a smaller phone when everyone else is going bigger, and the resolution would be ideal for the physical size.  Call it an iPhone mini.

 

In all, Apple would then have a broad range of choices for customers: 3", 3.5", 4", and 4.5".  Multiple colors, aluminum construction like iPad mini.

 

No, that's not what I said.  Try reading it again.  I guess you missed the irony of people who complained about iPhone size buying Android phones 1" or larger than the original iPhone.

 

1" can mean the difference between a lot of things. Particularly in tech. My point stands: a line must be drawn.

Odd that the fashionable trend 10 years ago was to make phones smaller and thinner. The assumption at the time was that the most desirable phones would eventually be as tiny as the one used by Derek Zoolander in the 2001 movie of the same title. Strange that now people claim making phones into tablets is so hot. I guess it's some kind of geek pride.

 

You're thinking is very PC centric where screen resolution and size have pretty little impact on functionality.  Because of the touch input the size of the UI got a lot to do with the usability, you can't just take an iPad apps and running it on a 4 or 5 in screen without pencil sharpen your finger and the opposite of taking an apps made for a 3.5 in screen and put it on a bigger screen doesn't add much to usability and add to the ugliness of overblown UI.

 

Beside I never understand the usefulness of 1080p resolution beside viewing video, on desktop computer I much prefer 16:10 or even 4:3 ratio than 16:9 

Funny, I did. They ran TV ads continuously for that tablet-phone for a while. The one where the guy and the girl are using the GPS and maps to locate each other. I guess everyone thought the product was a tablet and not a phone.

I get the desire to cram more functionality into smaller form factors, but to cram the same functionality into larger form factors? Why don't these people admit they want a tablet, not a phone?

Yes, they want a tablet.  But they want it cheaper.  Being a phone they can get it cheaper because of the subsidy. If the carriers will subsidize iPad mini or iPad with LTE I bet the sales will exceed iPhone 5.

Edited by tzeshan - 1/4/13 at 12:31pm

All of the dissenting views are interesting. The simple truth is that the form and interface of the iPhone have not changed much since it was introduced. The phone has become the primary portal to the internet for me. My usage pattern is fairly common 80% internet and messaging, 20% phone. Since getting an iPhone I have found that I use text messaging far more than making an actual call.

For this I am intrigued by the larger form factor and the fact that nearly all competitors offer a more customizable experience. This is something that has been lacking for a long time in the iPhone. The fact that i still have to navigate 3 levels deep to turn on/off wifi is the perfect example.

Each of them have their pro's and cons. To say that the form factor is 'embarrassingly large' does nothing more than highlight a narrow minded view.

10 years back phones are predominantly for ... phone calls. Rarely the display was an issue. iphone changed it completely with its display. Now it is not that the phone needs to be bigger but only the display (which makes the phone also bigger). Things might change in the future to have bigger displays but smaller phones (projection/flexible displays/google glass kind/etc).

Actually it is the terminology and definition. iphone is like a mini computer not just a phone. Phone is only a 1/100th of what it can do (web/games/music/video/camera/gps/email/calendar). And what does a tablet mean? minimum 7 inch? May be 5 inch tablet with phone capability (for those rare calls). So no need to carry two devices. You can call GS3 as a 4.8 inch tablet with phone. So the terms are quite changed from the past.

 

Indeed.  But if you look into the sales figures you will find that despite the press they get, phones over 4.5" in size are fairly rare.  The large phones are prominent in advertising and in web discussions among tech geeks, but they aren't actually a large part of sales.  Check it out and you will find that even if you look exclusively at Android phones, the majority are iPhone sized by far, and the larger ones don't sell as much as people assume they do.  

 

*Most* phones (even Android phones) are still 4.5" or less even after several years of the industry pushing this "big ass phone" stuff on us.  It's arguable that large phones are neither super-popular, nor anything more than a fad. I wouldn't say Apple will never make a phone in this size, but it's unlikely to happen soon.  

 

At the very least, you will see phones and tablets from Apple that support styluses before you will see the debut of a "phablet."

Stylus support is the main trigger for more and different iOS device sizes.  Once they have that, you might then see larger and smaller devices than the current three we have now. 

 

Anyone foolish enough to think that Apple is coming out with a phablet this year or even next, is probably foolish enough to believe that rot about Apple making "smart watches" also.  

Neither are going to happen.   

 

I think something like this is likely.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple comes out with a smaller iPhone (3-3.5 inch screen) alongside an iPhone 5S this year, just so that they can have an entry level phone with the lightning connector, and possibly even a lower price.

 

 

 

This is true.

 

The majority of Android sales worldwide are coming from 3 inch phones with specs similar to the iPhone 3G anyway. The most lucrative market (as far as sales) for Apple is the small phone market not the phablet market.

 

Have you considered what Apple would charge for such a phone?

 

The 4 inch iPhone already cost $649 off contract. I don't think Apple would hesitate to charge $849 or even $949 for a "phablet", and who knows if the carriers will be as kind with the subsidies.

 

Apple will probably price themselves out of the market and the sales uptick from the new larger phone would be non-existent.

There are subsidized iPads.

Yes, but not as much as iPhone.

Nice... I hope the clothing industry catch up and make bigger pockets.

The Galaxy Note II is very popular in Hong Kong and I suspect in other Asian countries purely because the stylus facilitates Asian character handwriting input more comfortably and efficient than using a finger. I've seen a lot of people use these during my daily commutes on the MTR. A large screen and stylus is advantageous for this particular scenario.

I type in English myself so my iPhone 4S screen size fits me just great for two thumb typing.

The different methods of input for different cultures is often overlooked.

That doesn't entirely make sense because PDAs -- remember Palm and Palm licensees from the early 2000s -- never went down the path of bigger screens = more fashionable, even though you could say PDAs were all about the display, because back then, they didn't have integrated cell phones before the Handspring Treo. Even Windows Mobile PDAs of the era kept a similar-to-Palm screen size. Why big screens now? Why not then?

"'embarrassingly large' smartphones"??

 

Hell, I'd be embarrassed if I had an Android phone!

 

 

j/k 

Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalclips
I don't see a problem with adding phone capability to iPads as an option.


Imagine holding an ipad to your ear and walking down the street! Lol

Have you heard of BT or earpods? LOL

It was a joke.

 

[right?]  lol

Why do people like this Brian White get any media attention when he obviously knows nothing about Apple. He probably also thought Apple needed to make a Netbook a few years ago as well.

 

Not picking on you in particular but even though it's so frequent, I'm still flummoxed regularly by the number of posters here whose underlying premise is that if a feature or form factor isn't something they want, then no one does (or should) and therefore Apple should never do it.  Geez, guys, take your heads out of your navels (or wherever else they're stuck) and look at the larger pic every now and then.

I'm pretty sure the Galaxy SIII is the second best-selling smartphone yet - compared to any single Apple model.  I've also used one and found it plenty fast and fluid.

 

There's clearly a market and as the thread shows many of us aren't hung up on one-hand use as long as we can do some of the basics near the bottom of the phone.

 

And yes, we have plenty of use cases.  There "are more possibilities than are dreamt of in the philosophies" of all you blindered Horatios out there, and slight differences in screen size and form factor may make a wide variety of variations viable for different classes of users (consumers and professional).  And Apple already has two current models of its much younger product, the iPad.

The 5" and above phablets may indeed be a fad or very "nichey," however the 4.3-4.8" range is already quite mainstream (and pocketable) in Apple's currently most profitable market segment - multi-purpose smart phones.  Also, there's no law that Apple can't be second into variants of successful devices.  They didn't have the first music players or phone cams and many other examples where they did just did it better and/or more appealingly with more polish. 

The iPhone 5 was clearly a wave in this direction in screen size and heft, but incomplete.  When I've held the SIII and 4S side by side, the 4S felt like a sharp-edged lead weight by comparison, and if Apple had had close to the same form factor I'd have bought it that day.

Finally, if they do start offering a larger size contemporaneously with the 5's form factor, it will be interesting to see if the 16:9 decision they made (mostly to keep "ergonomically pure" IMHO) will scale up into something Jonny Ives will feel comfortable raving about in a Keynote video or if they decide it has to be 3:2 to feel right in the hand and carry-around wise.  You'd think that if it's running the Phone OS there'd be weight leaning them toward 16:9 unless it's just too tall that way. 

Ah, the Streak. 220grams of nothingness



Don't understand why it flopped; it was running Android after all. Oh well, at least it came with a standard 30-pin connector¡



Why do people turn WiFi off? Even boarding a plane I turn it on immediately after setting it in Airplane mode. Is it because people think it'll drain the battery? I just can't figure out why. Bluetooth I understand; supposedly that's even a security issue. But WiFi? Maybe from hereon out I'll refer to WiFi as WtF.

Maybe these people mean that it's a uselessly large display if the software hasn't been designed for the larger display. And they'd be right if it's just a blown up version of the same UI design. Similar to a 32" TV and a 60", as stated by Evilution

 

First, I think Evilution's assessment of screen size benefits is... um... well, let's just say "not inclusive of a large segment of the population." (S)he thinks if you want a big TV because you have a big room or bad eyesight you should just sit closer. I don't understand how putting the couch in the middle of the room, or, in the case of a phone, holding it one inch from the end of your nose, is a better solution than just making the screen bigger. I understand the point of pixel density, but whether you zoom in by making the screen bigger or moving closer to a small screen, the result is the same.

 

Second, you can't draw a direct comparison between TVs and smartphones because the TV UI doesn't require pressing tiny little links on the screen with big fat fumble fingers. A given UI design scaled up for a larger screen does lose pixel density but also increases the size of and spacing between "targets" making them easier to hit. I find the iOS keyboard uncomfortably small at that screen width, often accidentally hit an adjacent link on web pages, and find the text on maps too small for these old eyes to read. Simply scaling up the existing UI would be just fine with me.

Kids don't really think things through though:



Bigger is not universally better and while Apple could accommodate a whole bunch of sizes like 11", 12", 13", 14", 15", 16", 17", 18", 19" laptops, they choose to focus on the sizes that fit the largest audience. That will leave some people frustrated just like a lack of plus-size jeans does but every business decides what is going to work for them. If they made a single model bigger by 1", they can't change the resolution so it ends up that the bigger and more expensive model has a lower pixel density.

You do realise that it's the fastest selling iPhone they've ever sold? I don't think it's far fetched to assume a lot of them were satisfied with it. Also, aren't you proposing a 0.5" increase?

The iPhone 5 is bigger. The HTC is has around 30% more screen area but the iPhone looks like the best compromise IMO:



They can't just make the single model bigger so they have to have two and 5" is way too big so they have to go with a size that isn't different enough to warrant a separate model. The market will decide this in the end. If larger phones start to sell in big numbers, that's when Apple would consider it but not before.

Here we go, the devices with wrong sized screens. I hate the phones with 4.65+ screens it is just bad, of course to make this sure what is the difference between a phablet and a 5.3 inch touch screen smart phone? As I have said a 4.5 phone ok, but a 4.9 will not fit in some pockets.

 

I find the photo of the 2 women degrading and demeaning... and from a moderator, of all things.

Let's assume they did and Apple decided to build one, what size would they go with? I don't see them going to the Galaxy S3 size (4.8"), it just looks too bulky:



You have to imagine that display size with Apple's design around it. They have a certain curvature they use in their products and it won't look right if they shrink the bezels down. If they scaled up the iPhone 5 to the same overall height of the S3, the screen actually wouldn't be that much bigger at all:



That means it needs an entirely new design. Their home button is also quite iconic so it's not likely they'll just throw it away.

Well the big phones are just the newest models . Apple will report the iPhone 5 numbers in a couple of weeks and they'll probably match any of Samsung's best quarters. Samsung also has a habit of reporting shipped units and not sold units. Their tablet sales were actually a very small fraction of what they reported.

But anyway, you could similarly survey S3 buyers and ask if they'd have preferred a smaller phone:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19913940

'"I think from Samsung's point of view its about offering breadth and depth of choice.
There's lots of people out there who think the Galaxy S3 is an amazing phone, but there's a lot who think it's just too big."
He said the impressive early sales of the iPhone 5 will have spurred the need for a smaller competing device.'

Bigger, smaller, it's all subjective. I think the iPhone 5 is just right. It'll never be a perfect size because one size doesn't fit all but as I say I think it's the closest to a single size that works for everyone and still retains a nice iconic design.

Samsung didn't have an iconic design in the Galaxy S series, they made the Galaxy S like the 3G and the S2 like the iPhone 4. The S3 is now their own design finally and that's ok but it wouldn't be ok for Apple to go the same way.

How many people have said this? It's common for people to base these things on their own experience as in "everyone I know..." but it's not really possible to extrapolate that into meaningful stats. Samsung's best-selling phone was recently reported to be the Prevail:

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-Galaxy-Prevail-leads-the-way-for-Samsung-in-the-U.S.-from-June-2010-2012_id33180

This is a 3.2" phone with 320x240 resolution. Its selling point is price and that seems to be the defining benefit of Android phones - you can get one for under $200 paid outright with no contract.