Pinky torture: Why the iPhone SE is a one-handed wonder, and the iPhone 6s is not
I can't really say I've ever been hyper aware of the pinky on my right hand. That is, until Apple decided to start making larger phones, and the smallest digit on the end of my hand began to suffer.
Propping up your iPhone 6s with your pinky is not recommended.
The iPhone 6s is a great phone for a lot of things. The curved edges feel fantastic. The display is gorgeous. It's fast and it shoots great photos. It's a wonderful two-handed phone.
But its luxuriously large 4.7-inch display comes at a cost: It's a terrible phone to use with one hand. Even Apple knows this, which is why it ships with a feature called "Reachability," allowing the top of the screen to be reached by tapping (but not pressing) your thumb against the home button twice.
My hands are decidedly average -- it's not like I have Donald Trump-like digits. And I have used Apple's larger flagship handsets -- the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s -- for about a year and a half, but I found Reachability to be more frustrating than useful. And so I disabled it.
Instead, I developed my own, carpal-tunnel-inducing method of using the 4.7-inch display: My pinky would naturally rest under the phone to help hold it in place.
My hand just isn't big enough to securely squeeze the iPhone 6s and also reach all four corners of it with my thumb. The only way I could possibly reach the upper left corner with my right hand and still securely hold the phone was to have my pinky act as the safety net, ensuring my iPhone remained securely in my grasp.
Though millions of years of human evolution have generally served me pretty well, my pinky was most definitely not designed to do this specific task.
I didn't notice it at first, but over time this habit took its toll on my right pinky. While I never really formed a full-fledged callus on my finger, the weight of the iPhone 6s and the friction of using it (especially with the sharp edges of the speaker grille and Lightning port) took their toll. Pinky fatigue became a real thing.
Though it has its shortcomings, the iPhone SE is much better for one-handed use.
It wasn't an easy decision, but last week I decided I'd had enough. The launch of the iPhone SE, and the ability to grip and use the phone one-handed -- without my pinky prop method -- proved to be too enticing.
To be clear, sacrifices were made. I had to go through a time consuming purge process to clear up enough space to downgrade from a 128-gigabyte iPhone 6s to an 64-gigabyte iPhone SE. And typing on the 4-inch iPhone SE is far more cramped than it is on the 4.7-inch display.
I'm a bleeding edge kind of guy who writes about technology for a living, and so I'll probably need to upgrade to a 4.7-inch "iPhone 7" come September, and once again live with a larger screen. But at least for the next few months, thanks to the iPhone SE, hopefully my poor pinky will have some time to heal.
Propping up your iPhone 6s with your pinky is not recommended.
The iPhone 6s is a great phone for a lot of things. The curved edges feel fantastic. The display is gorgeous. It's fast and it shoots great photos. It's a wonderful two-handed phone.
But its luxuriously large 4.7-inch display comes at a cost: It's a terrible phone to use with one hand. Even Apple knows this, which is why it ships with a feature called "Reachability," allowing the top of the screen to be reached by tapping (but not pressing) your thumb against the home button twice.
My hands are decidedly average -- it's not like I have Donald Trump-like digits. And I have used Apple's larger flagship handsets -- the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s -- for about a year and a half, but I found Reachability to be more frustrating than useful. And so I disabled it.
Instead, I developed my own, carpal-tunnel-inducing method of using the 4.7-inch display: My pinky would naturally rest under the phone to help hold it in place.
My hand just isn't big enough to securely squeeze the iPhone 6s and also reach all four corners of it with my thumb. The only way I could possibly reach the upper left corner with my right hand and still securely hold the phone was to have my pinky act as the safety net, ensuring my iPhone remained securely in my grasp.
Though millions of years of human evolution have generally served me pretty well, my pinky was most definitely not designed to do this specific task.
I didn't notice it at first, but over time this habit took its toll on my right pinky. While I never really formed a full-fledged callus on my finger, the weight of the iPhone 6s and the friction of using it (especially with the sharp edges of the speaker grille and Lightning port) took their toll. Pinky fatigue became a real thing.
Though it has its shortcomings, the iPhone SE is much better for one-handed use.
It wasn't an easy decision, but last week I decided I'd had enough. The launch of the iPhone SE, and the ability to grip and use the phone one-handed -- without my pinky prop method -- proved to be too enticing.
To be clear, sacrifices were made. I had to go through a time consuming purge process to clear up enough space to downgrade from a 128-gigabyte iPhone 6s to an 64-gigabyte iPhone SE. And typing on the 4-inch iPhone SE is far more cramped than it is on the 4.7-inch display.
I'm a bleeding edge kind of guy who writes about technology for a living, and so I'll probably need to upgrade to a 4.7-inch "iPhone 7" come September, and once again live with a larger screen. But at least for the next few months, thanks to the iPhone SE, hopefully my poor pinky will have some time to heal.
Comments
Actually I would think the pinky would been "more off the phone" for everyone except for people with "Burger King" hands (remember those ads? They were hysterical) because the 4" is so tiny and it hangs below with less real estate, but to each it's own. Still I did try to hold it the bizarre way he was for about 4 minutes. Sorry. My hands aren't big but I t's still just bizarre to hold it that way.
My only complaint with the 6 Plus and 6s Plus was the start button on the right instead of the top. Because now that I'm so used to it... I keep clicking there on ALL my devices only to turn up the volume instead. <Lol>. Who knew I'd grow to like that if all things?
PS: speaking of Burger King... Anyone try those new hot dogs yet?? Grill hot dogs! They are soooooo Good! Even with small hands
yikes realky?? I can think of one other thing off hand that you could do one handed but maybe your pinkie is wrong on that too? <LOL>
But don't expect this article to get much support from the gadget people. Ergonomics and usability research is dismissed by most of these people as elitist BS.
I agree that that typing is much better on the bigger screen, as is the screen itself. I really miss the estate.
But OTOH the ability to comfortably use it with one hand is outweighing the cons for me.
What at might change his is if Apple would consider some changes to hardware and software.
First, make the 4.7 less slippery to hold. When I saw the battery pack by Apple I thought the bump on the back would give the pinky a much more comfortable resting place for holding it. The material of the phone (6 here, I hear the 6s is improved) feels slippery.
On the software side of things what about centering the OS around the bottom right instead of the top left? That would ease things significantly without drawbacks for bigger handed users.
Reachability is a joke.
I agree reed that for longer typing such as this post I always use both hands since it is much more comfortable. However, for shorter messages and some basic interaction such as checking/deleting emails, weather app, selecting music and surfing I prefer much more the one handed use. What I do with my other hand? Right now quite often holding my three months old daughter. Carrying a bag when walking outside, working out in a gym, eg. While she of this can also be done usin Siri, I simply prefer using my hands.
Which I assume his fingers will be abused again. Apple most love people like this that switch to 3 different phones in one years time.
single handed use is for a much more casual use case, but is also useful in many situations. Think about public transit. If you have to stand on the train or bus you will need to grip something with one of your hands. Maybe you have a bag from shopping in one hand? There are any situations where ergonomic single handed use is a necessity.
I haven't seen a better archetypal example of "First World Problems" since I complained about early iPod touches' volume buttons' inaccessibility for left-handed users.
This article was expected from Neil, he never hid the fact he likes the size of the phone which Apple always said was the right size phone for one handed use.
The thing I find interesting is phone size has become a religious of political conversation. Those in one came or the other are bigots or racist if they can not understand why anyone would like one or the other. I feel bad for the fence sitters on this subject.
A made up excuse to try the SE for a few months.
I just picked up one of the 4" iPhones on my desk and realized that I hold that with one with the "pinky shelf" too. It is not just the larger phones.
You really can't do much with any iPhone one-handed.
Seems to me that selecting music on your iPhone is one of the simplest things you can do with one hand.
Made up excuse? Give me a little more credit than that, please.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/27/adapting-to-change-a-review-of-apples-4-inch-iphone-5s-vs-the-larger-47-inch-iphone-6