Well, it's pretty much a given that the
smaller iphones being announced today will have a 4.7" screen.
I think it's great that iphone users will get the chance of using larger, more comfortable screens that are better suited to the everyday usage of a modern smartphone. Apple is doing the right thing with the updated screens, and slightly "losing face" by following the trend of larger screens from other brands will be a small price to pay for the enhanced user experience of the new models.
But also... sorry, but I think I'm entitled to do this
Here's some treasure from 2 years ago:
The reality is iPhone's screen is in range of a large majority of adult population's thumb.
For >4" phones, for quite a significant share of adult population, it's not the case.
If the "sheep" actively pretend that thumb-gap doesn't exist should Apple release a >4" phone, then you have a case. Else you don't.
FWIW, I think having a screen within thumb range is quite important.
I have a 3.5" touch-screen phone (NO it's not an Apple) and I wouldn't want to have a bigger screen. These new phones like the Galaxy are just ridiculously big. Makes me think of 15" or bigger notebooks... what's the point if you want to carry them around a lot? Just extra baggage... If I want a big screen, I'd get a tablet.
I think the big screens are a great way for Android phone makers to differentiate themselves from the iPhone. Good for then they found something other than price that reasonates with a non-technical public.
I always put my phone in the coin pockets of my jeans. It fits perfectly.
No way a 4 inch screen one will fit in there. (Another example of the attention to detail of prescient design geniuses at Apple, of course.
)
You are basically alienating half your potential customers if you increase the physical size of the iPhone.
Women already find the iPhone 4 on the large side but I am all for a screen that goes out to the rim.
A bigger screen doesn't increase the user experience. It all boils down to the software. 960 x 640 pixels at 4" isn't going to revolutionize the device. You would still be interacting with the device using the exact same gestures and see the same animations, only at a lower PPI.
The
blog entry in question says the following:
Touching the upper right corner of the screen on the Galaxy S II using one hand, with its 4.27-inch screen, while you’re walking down the street looking at Google Maps, is extremely difficult and frustrating. I pulled out my iPhone 4 to do a quick test, and it turns out that when you hold the iPhone in your left hand and articulate your thumb, you can reach almost exactly to the other side of the screen. This means it’s easy to touch any area of the screen while holding the phone in one hand, with your thumb. It is almost impossible to do this on the Galaxy S II.
So I'm fully expecting silent_guy, rpg.314 and Pressure to complain about the new screen sizes. I'm also wondering if they'll keep using an iphone 4S for the rest of their lives, or if they'll eventually upgrade to the new
Samsung Galaxy Young line because it fits their "thumb range" standards.
Or... we could all just agree that this side of the argument from 2 years ago was purely based around apple bias. That apple didn't increase the screen size of their phones purely because they wanted to stick with the title of
trend-setter instead of
trend-follower for as long as they could - and not because of some
engineering genius based around thumb-range that would otherwise "alienate half their potential customers".
It was a reality distortion field that IMO lasted more than it should (almost all my friends who own an iphone complain about the small screen size nowadays), and it's time for
some people to admit just that.