I don't want a 4.5" or 5" iPhone, although if that's all that's on offer I guess I'd suck it up, since I don't have much interest in Android or WP at the moment (juries still out on WP). Big screen is great for some stuff, but carrying it around with me at all times isn't one of them. I have to shake my head at the 'droidheads sagely informing me of how a 5" phone fits nicely into their "jacket pocket" as if I'm going to be wearing a jacket at all times. I keep my iPhone on my person like a set of keys, and I typically barely know it's there. I like that, I guess because I'm a mindless fanboy.
Disappointed with S4, I settled with Galaxy Nexus instead. Nexus has got 4.65inch with 316ppi and comes with ICS. This is not bulky at all comparing with Iphone 4s with a case. It fits nicely in my pocket and 'I barely know it's there' as well.
Am I happy with my Nexus? Initialy no as I was only camparing with my wife's Galaxy Note (5.3inch). I was disappointed with Nexus due to smaller size, but then I have gradually liked Nexus more because of ICS. Yes I am happy with Nexus.
Talking 3.5inch for future smartphones is a joke to me.
I'm sure this has been discussed, but much over 4" and (for my hand at least) the screen gets hard to operated one-handed. Arc of the thumb sweep and all.
I have 4.65inch phone my wife has got 5.3inch. We both operate one hand when calling and reading emails, but use both hands when texting, playing games, viewing phtos, playing video clips and etc. Are you doing differently with your 3.5 inch phone?
I think it takes more than a cursory look on the exterior to make a qualified opinion on that. There is no wasted space inside the device. Just take one apart for yourself to see, I've done that myself four times. It's not just the speaker. The vibration motor, speaker, front & rear cameras, headphone jack, a button, a switch, theIR head detection and circuit board with connectors are all in that "wasted" space.
But there's also a lot more down there than just the home button. It's a very tightly packed device. Extending the screen like that while constraining the overall size means maybe losing as much as a cubic centimeter in total volume, because the display has thickness.
Yes, the interior of the phone will have to be re-engineered, but I think you are overestimating the thickness of the display. At worst, it would entail a 1-2mm increase in the device thickness, and Apple has shown that they are willing to sacrifice thinness for a better display in the iPad3.
Secondly, as tech progresses, components are shrink and/or get consolidated into the SoC; effectively increases the internal room Apple has to work with. How Apple chooses to utilize this effective increase in space, be it more powerful components, increased battery capacity, or, dare I say it, a bigger display, is of course, up to them.
Disappointed with S4, I settled with Galaxy Nexus instead. Nexus has got 4.65inch with 316ppi and comes with ICS. This is not bulky at all comparing with Iphone 4s with a case. It fits nicely in my pocket and 'I barely know it's there' as well.
Although I think 3.5" is just too small for a modern smartphone, I would choose my iPhone-4 over galaxy's shovelness and la-a-ags anyday.
Have you considered what a new aspect ratio would do to apps, devs and consumers?
Have you considered what a Home Button closer to the bottom edge would do to the usability when trying to be used by the thumb when placed in the hand?
Have you noticed how the iPod Nanos became harder to navigate with one hand as they continually moved the scroll wheel farther down to accommodate a larger display?
Can you see in this mockup how this would make for a worse user experience, not a better one to have the scroll wheel at the very bottom?
Here is an example of a quality mockup.
While probably not technically achievable at this time and possibly hurts certain aesthetics Apple likes it does address many of the issues being overlooked in this thread. Most notable are, it's still a 3:@ aspect ratio, it's achieving a 4" display while not making the size larger, it's elongated the Home Button and tapered which is better for various sized hands, and it moves the display up so that the Home Button doesn't have to be pushed to the bottom edge.
If you are going to make a case for a 16:9 iPhone you have to address the current aspect ratio, the SDK and app store, the transition for devs and consumers to the new aspect ratio, and the resolution and PPI. Without even trying to figure out how the logistics will work shows you aren't doing your due diligence... and certainly not creating a winning argument.
First of all, please realize that I'm responding to posts that claim a 16:9 display is bad for phones purely because it is 16:9 and for no other reason. I'm pointing out that 16:9 displays works in phones because phones are physically close to that aspect ratio themselves.
But since you brought up those points, lets go through them:
1) The home button: The current iphone's home button is 11.2mm in diameter with the center located 10.4mm from the bottom of the device. If we assume a 16:9 screen with equal spacing from the top and bottom, that leaves us with just over 13mm on both sides. In this case, a 11.2mm diameter home button located directly below the screen will have its center located 7.4mm from the bottom of the device, a shift downwards of 3mm.
How much is 3mm? well, if the current home button's diameter is 11.2mm, can you comfortably reach the bottom half the button? If so, you should be able to operate the new home button without issue.
This is assuming the screen is located dead center of the device. As your second mockup shows, we can shift the screen upwards. If we do so by at least 3mm; thus leaving 10mm of space on the top and 16mm of space on the bottom, we can keep the home button as the exact same size, in the exact same shape, in the exact same location as the current device.
2) I've been using the example where the screen is the exact same width as the current 3:2 screen, but taller such that it is in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The current screen has a resolution of 960*640. If we expand the height of the screen to 16:9 while keeping the same width, we'll have a resolution of 1138x640.
In terms of apps, the easiest thing to do would be to run them in a 960x640 container while devs transition to the new resolution.
It seems that you, and a few other posters in this thread are against 16:9 screens on phones, claiming that its a 'ridiculous' resolution, 'only good for media.' I'm trying to show that just because a screen is in a 16:9 ratio doesn't automatically make it bad, or useless for anything other than watching videos.
edit, to drive the point home:
Here is a picture of the iphone 4 next to a droid 2 with the ridiculous 16:9 screen:
You're trying to tell me that the slight differences between those two screens makes the droid 2 useless for anything but videos. Sorry, but I don't buy that.
It seems that you, and a few other posters in this thread are against 16:9 screens on phones, claiming that its a 'ridiculous' resolution...
II'd love to know where I stated or eluded to such a thing. The only thing I recall stating as de facto is that you need a Home Button that gives you visceral feedback. I even made the same argument as to how a larger display could be used with 960x640 app being centered within them providing that the PPI was at or near the same as the new display.
II'd love to know where I stated or eluded to such a thing. The only thing I recall stating as de facto is that you need a Home Button that gives you visceral feedback. I even made the same argument as to how a larger display could be used with 960x640 app being centered within them providing that the PPI was at or near the same as the new display.
I apologize. On first read, I got the impression that you were among those opposed to 16:9. Upon further review, I sense that that is not the case, I retract my statement grouping you with those people.
My whole discussion into 16:9 screens was spawned by these posts:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody
Never happen.
The problem with this idea is that Apple would have to change the aspect ratio for it to work. This would be great for watching movies but not for anything else and people use iOS devices for watching movies but it isn't the dominant or even primary use.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Ah, apologies; I read that wrong.
Okay, what purpose does 16:9 serve in a phone? That's even worse than 4:3.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
No, we don't like 16:9 because it's a size designed around media alone. 16:10 will always feel better to me, and that's just for computers, even.
Get over your Android lust already and buy a Samsung if you want an oversized geek phone.
I have one already but I didn't buy it, I got it from work and with over 2 million sold so far it's far from just a geek toy. It makes one heck of a business phone though.
I don't want a huge phone, same dimensions as the current iPhone but with a 4" screen.
I think Apple will increase the screen size for the following reasons:
Larger design means more space for larger battery which will be a must for LTE.
Going to an HD class retina display would make everything tiny on a 3.5" screen.
Since Apple does a refresh every other year, that 3.5" screen would be the standard until 2014.
Even a mild increase to a 3.9" screen would be work people into a frenzy and move a few million iPhones even faster. It would decimate android sales, and probably force one android device maker out the market.
LTE is not widespread enough on all carriers to convince people that it is a priority.
CPU and GPU alone refreshes will hit a point of diminishing returns, and become increasingly less appealing with every generation.
That is a lot of votes for a larger iPhone. I hope Apple is listening. Whatever they produce will sell very well, but when only 13% are happy with 3.5" it might be time to go larger.
46,000 votes total out of more than 70 million existing iPhone owners? Uh...... no.
46,000 votes total out of more than 70 million existing iPhone owners? Uh...... no.
The way to discredit the poll is to mention the flawed sampling. Properly sampled, 46k votes would be plenty more than enough to get a good confidence. One major problem is that the audience is self-selected, as such, not properly sampled.
The way to discredit the poll is to mention the flawed sampling. Properly sampled, 46k votes would be plenty more than enough to get a good confidence. One major problem is that the audience is self-selected, as such, not properly sampled.
The way to discredit the poll as biased in favor of SMALL screen is to note that it does not even have an option where iPhone has the same size, but the screen is 4"+ which is geometrically feasible up to 4.6".
These polls have been done quite a few times but the problem is there's never enough people that take them. I wish Apple would send out questioners, that is the only way we are going to find out for sure. When CNET did theirs back in January, 61% wanted a 4" or larger screen though. I think you'll find this to be true with every poll. The market it so flooded with large screen phones I'm sure your average iPhone user has size envy. We will just have to wait to see what Apple has for us but I would bet money that the next iPhone will be larger if not an additional model.
These polls have been done quite a few times but the problem is there's never enough people that take them. I wish Apple would send out questioners, that is the only way we are going to find out for sure. When CNET did theirs back in January, 61% wanted a 4" or larger screen though. I think you'll find this to be true with every poll. The market it so flooded with large screen phones I'm sure your average iPhone user has size envy. We will just have to wait to see what Apple has for us but I would bet money that the next iPhone will be larger if not an additional model.
As JeffDM succinctly points out a self-selected poll is inherently untrustworthy.
The way to discredit the poll as biased in favor of SMALL screen is to note that it does not even have an option where iPhone has the same size, but the screen is 4"+ which is geometrically feasible up to 4.6".
I don't think that's a big deal. You may consider that option feasible, but I don't think it's a realistic option.
Maybe it's also worth pointing out that the people claiming a mania for big screens seem to be talking about Android type 4.5" and up, handset size be damned. Whereas that poll shows the vast majority of respondents, insofar as they might like a bigger screen, want it within the current iPhone,s envelope or "slightly larger."
Which comports with what most of the "small screen" folks are saying-- that they have nothing against more screen real estate, but not at the expense of jumbo sized handsets.
Still hope that Apple will come up with some magic as they did with every prior release.
Otherwise what would be the "magic" feature of the next iPhone? I do not think LTE alone can be considered as one nowadays.
We'll see. I liked some of the "iPhone 5" concepts. I think somewhere up to 4" screen and slightly increased length and width is reasonable, beyond that, people increasingly lose out on other human factors considerations, notably, single handed operation and pocketability.
Comments
I don't want a 4.5" or 5" iPhone, although if that's all that's on offer I guess I'd suck it up, since I don't have much interest in Android or WP at the moment (juries still out on WP). Big screen is great for some stuff, but carrying it around with me at all times isn't one of them. I have to shake my head at the 'droidheads sagely informing me of how a 5" phone fits nicely into their "jacket pocket" as if I'm going to be wearing a jacket at all times. I keep my iPhone on my person like a set of keys, and I typically barely know it's there. I like that, I guess because I'm a mindless fanboy.
Disappointed with S4, I settled with Galaxy Nexus instead. Nexus has got 4.65inch with 316ppi and comes with ICS. This is not bulky at all comparing with Iphone 4s with a case. It fits nicely in my pocket and 'I barely know it's there' as well.
Am I happy with my Nexus? Initialy no as I was only camparing with my wife's Galaxy Note (5.3inch). I was disappointed with Nexus due to smaller size, but then I have gradually liked Nexus more because of ICS. Yes I am happy with Nexus.
Talking 3.5inch for future smartphones is a joke to me.
I'm sure this has been discussed, but much over 4" and (for my hand at least) the screen gets hard to operated one-handed. Arc of the thumb sweep and all.
I have 4.65inch phone my wife has got 5.3inch. We both operate one hand when calling and reading emails, but use both hands when texting, playing games, viewing phtos, playing video clips and etc. Are you doing differently with your 3.5 inch phone?
I think it takes more than a cursory look on the exterior to make a qualified opinion on that. There is no wasted space inside the device. Just take one apart for yourself to see, I've done that myself four times. It's not just the speaker. The vibration motor, speaker, front & rear cameras, headphone jack, a button, a switch, theIR head detection and circuit board with connectors are all in that "wasted" space.
But there's also a lot more down there than just the home button. It's a very tightly packed device. Extending the screen like that while constraining the overall size means maybe losing as much as a cubic centimeter in total volume, because the display has thickness.
Yes, the interior of the phone will have to be re-engineered, but I think you are overestimating the thickness of the display. At worst, it would entail a 1-2mm increase in the device thickness, and Apple has shown that they are willing to sacrifice thinness for a better display in the iPad3.
Secondly, as tech progresses, components are shrink and/or get consolidated into the SoC; effectively increases the internal room Apple has to work with. How Apple chooses to utilize this effective increase in space, be it more powerful components, increased battery capacity, or, dare I say it, a bigger display, is of course, up to them.
Disappointed with S4, I settled with Galaxy Nexus instead. Nexus has got 4.65inch with 316ppi and comes with ICS. This is not bulky at all comparing with Iphone 4s with a case. It fits nicely in my pocket and 'I barely know it's there' as well.
Although I think 3.5" is just too small for a modern smartphone, I would choose my iPhone-4 over galaxy's shovelness and la-a-ags anyday.
Although I think 3.5" is just too small for a modern smartphone, I would choose my iPhone-4 over galaxy's shovelness and la-a-ags anyday.
Sure Sammy phones may not smooth as Iphones, but much better than boring IOS. Dont get me wrong I like IOS, but just not better than Android to me.
Have you considered what a new aspect ratio would do to apps, devs and consumers?
Have you considered what a Home Button closer to the bottom edge would do to the usability when trying to be used by the thumb when placed in the hand?
Have you noticed how the iPod Nanos became harder to navigate with one hand as they continually moved the scroll wheel farther down to accommodate a larger display?
Can you see in this mockup how this would make for a worse user experience, not a better one to have the scroll wheel at the very bottom? Here is an example of a quality mockup.While probably not technically achievable at this time and possibly hurts certain aesthetics Apple likes it does address many of the issues being overlooked in this thread. Most notable are, it's still a 3:@ aspect ratio, it's achieving a 4" display while not making the size larger, it's elongated the Home Button and tapered which is better for various sized hands, and it moves the display up so that the Home Button doesn't have to be pushed to the bottom edge.
If you are going to make a case for a 16:9 iPhone you have to address the current aspect ratio, the SDK and app store, the transition for devs and consumers to the new aspect ratio, and the resolution and PPI. Without even trying to figure out how the logistics will work shows you aren't doing your due diligence... and certainly not creating a winning argument.
First of all, please realize that I'm responding to posts that claim a 16:9 display is bad for phones purely because it is 16:9 and for no other reason. I'm pointing out that 16:9 displays works in phones because phones are physically close to that aspect ratio themselves.
But since you brought up those points, lets go through them:
1) The home button: The current iphone's home button is 11.2mm in diameter with the center located 10.4mm from the bottom of the device. If we assume a 16:9 screen with equal spacing from the top and bottom, that leaves us with just over 13mm on both sides. In this case, a 11.2mm diameter home button located directly below the screen will have its center located 7.4mm from the bottom of the device, a shift downwards of 3mm.
How much is 3mm? well, if the current home button's diameter is 11.2mm, can you comfortably reach the bottom half the button? If so, you should be able to operate the new home button without issue.
This is assuming the screen is located dead center of the device. As your second mockup shows, we can shift the screen upwards. If we do so by at least 3mm; thus leaving 10mm of space on the top and 16mm of space on the bottom, we can keep the home button as the exact same size, in the exact same shape, in the exact same location as the current device.
2) I've been using the example where the screen is the exact same width as the current 3:2 screen, but taller such that it is in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The current screen has a resolution of 960*640. If we expand the height of the screen to 16:9 while keeping the same width, we'll have a resolution of 1138x640.
In terms of apps, the easiest thing to do would be to run them in a 960x640 container while devs transition to the new resolution.
It seems that you, and a few other posters in this thread are against 16:9 screens on phones, claiming that its a 'ridiculous' resolution, 'only good for media.' I'm trying to show that just because a screen is in a 16:9 ratio doesn't automatically make it bad, or useless for anything other than watching videos.
edit, to drive the point home:
Here is a picture of the iphone 4 next to a droid 2 with the ridiculous 16:9 screen:
You're trying to tell me that the slight differences between those two screens makes the droid 2 useless for anything but videos. Sorry, but I don't buy that.
It seems that you, and a few other posters in this thread are against 16:9 screens on phones, claiming that its a 'ridiculous' resolution...
II'd love to know where I stated or eluded to such a thing. The only thing I recall stating as de facto is that you need a Home Button that gives you visceral feedback. I even made the same argument as to how a larger display could be used with 960x640 app being centered within them providing that the PPI was at or near the same as the new display.
II'd love to know where I stated or eluded to such a thing. The only thing I recall stating as de facto is that you need a Home Button that gives you visceral feedback. I even made the same argument as to how a larger display could be used with 960x640 app being centered within them providing that the PPI was at or near the same as the new display.
I apologize. On first read, I got the impression that you were among those opposed to 16:9. Upon further review, I sense that that is not the case, I retract my statement grouping you with those people.
My whole discussion into 16:9 screens was spawned by these posts:
Never happen.
The problem with this idea is that Apple would have to change the aspect ratio for it to work. This would be great for watching movies but not for anything else and people use iOS devices for watching movies but it isn't the dominant or even primary use.
Ah, apologies; I read that wrong.
Okay, what purpose does 16:9 serve in a phone? That's even worse than 4:3.
No, we don't like 16:9 because it's a size designed around media alone. 16:10 will always feel better to me, and that's just for computers, even.
We have proof positive 3:2 is good for phones.
Get over your Android lust already and buy a Samsung if you want an oversized geek phone.
I have one already but I didn't buy it, I got it from work and with over 2 million sold so far it's far from just a geek toy. It makes one heck of a business phone though.
I don't want a huge phone, same dimensions as the current iPhone but with a 4" screen.
Larger design means more space for larger battery which will be a must for LTE.
Going to an HD class retina display would make everything tiny on a 3.5" screen.
Since Apple does a refresh every other year, that 3.5" screen would be the standard until 2014.
Even a mild increase to a 3.9" screen would be work people into a frenzy and move a few million iPhones even faster. It would decimate android sales, and probably force one android device maker out the market.
LTE is not widespread enough on all carriers to convince people that it is a priority.
CPU and GPU alone refreshes will hit a point of diminishing returns, and become increasingly less appealing with every generation.
That is a lot of votes for a larger iPhone. I hope Apple is listening. Whatever they produce will sell very well, but when only 13% are happy with 3.5" it might be time to go larger.
46,000 votes total out of more than 70 million existing iPhone owners? Uh...... no.
46,000 votes total out of more than 70 million existing iPhone owners? Uh...... no.
The way to discredit the poll is to mention the flawed sampling. Properly sampled, 46k votes would be plenty more than enough to get a good confidence. One major problem is that the audience is self-selected, as such, not properly sampled.
The way to discredit the poll is to mention the flawed sampling. Properly sampled, 46k votes would be plenty more than enough to get a good confidence. One major problem is that the audience is self-selected, as such, not properly sampled.
The way to discredit the poll as biased in favor of SMALL screen is to note that it does not even have an option where iPhone has the same size, but the screen is 4"+ which is geometrically feasible up to 4.6".
These polls have been done quite a few times but the problem is there's never enough people that take them. I wish Apple would send out questioners, that is the only way we are going to find out for sure. When CNET did theirs back in January, 61% wanted a 4" or larger screen though. I think you'll find this to be true with every poll. The market it so flooded with large screen phones I'm sure your average iPhone user has size envy. We will just have to wait to see what Apple has for us but I would bet money that the next iPhone will be larger if not an additional model.
As JeffDM succinctly points out a self-selected poll is inherently untrustworthy.
The way to discredit the poll as biased in favor of SMALL screen is to note that it does not even have an option where iPhone has the same size, but the screen is 4"+ which is geometrically feasible up to 4.6".
I don't think that's a big deal. You may consider that option feasible, but I don't think it's a realistic option.
Which comports with what most of the "small screen" folks are saying-- that they have nothing against more screen real estate, but not at the expense of jumbo sized handsets.
I don't think that's a big deal. You may consider that option feasible, but I don't think it's a realistic option.
Still hope that Apple will come up with some magic as they did with every prior release.
Otherwise what would be the "magic" feature of the next iPhone? I do not think LTE alone can be considered as one nowadays.
Still hope that Apple will come up with some magic as they did with every prior release.
Otherwise what would be the "magic" feature of the next iPhone? I do not think LTE alone can be considered as one nowadays.
We'll see. I liked some of the "iPhone 5" concepts. I think somewhere up to 4" screen and slightly increased length and width is reasonable, beyond that, people increasingly lose out on other human factors considerations, notably, single handed operation and pocketability.