4 ms·

As long as the new iPhone will have a pretty tiny screen as the leaks say, the large screen Android phones will keep outselling it even more.

CamperBob2 14y ago
Agreed. It's occurred to me that the only way that Apple will retain me as an iPhone user is if they copy Samsung this time around. iOS offers a great UX, as far as the system software is concerned, but I honestly think the iPhone 4/4s has the worst physical ergonomics of any phone I've owned. Everything they could have done wrong, they did wrong... and I won't lie: the fact that nobody but me ever says anything like that makes me wonder what's wrong with my judgment. If the new iPhone actually turns out to be a taller (?!) version of the same package and sales don't drop off a cliff as a result, I'm in for some serious cognitive dissonance.
- katabatic 14y ago
  I'm having some serious cognitive dissonance over your comment. You're saying that if apple does not change the form factor of the best selling phone on the planet, sales will "drop off a cliff"? Solely on the basis of your personal screen size preference?
  - CamperBob2 14y ago
    Yes. I am fairly sure that most people do not want a taller iPhone. They want a wider one, as evidenced by the success of the S3 and other larger smartphones... to say nothing of design principles based on aesthetic proportions that go all the way back to the ancient Greeks. I have no idea what I would do with a taller iPhone 4S, other than complain about how I still have to spin it around to orient it properly 75% of the time when I pull it out of my pocket, and about how its display is still too narrow to be used safely for navigation and music playback in my car. If I'm wrong, and there is a huge unmet market demand for an iPhone that is taller than a 4/4S but no wider, it will mean that I have no insight or understanding of the smartphone market as a whole, no product-design sensibility to speak of, and that I need to STFU and stop complaining. Nobody likes to be confronted with their own poor judgment, right?
    - jsz0 14y ago
      I would like a taller iPhone because my only compliant about the size is how cramped the screen gets when I have the keyboard open or use apps that happen to have both a toolbar and a nav bar. Otherwise I think the physical size of the device is about perfect. I disagree about the width/height. 640 on the iPhone vs. 720 on many newer Android phones. Not a huge difference there. Enough to notice certainly but it's the height that is far more dramatic. 960 on the iPhone vs. 1280 on many newer Android phones.
      - CamperBob2 14y ago
        It's not the pixel resolution I'm complaining about, but the physical screen size. The Retina display has a much higher dot pitch than it really needs IMHO. Back off on the dot pitch, keep the resolution the same, and give me a bigger screen.
    - prebrov 14y ago
      I'm not too excited over perspective of getting a murse to carry a phone. Taller iPhone still complies with a requirement for a phone to fit in the jeans pockets safely. And that seems to be a more thoughtful reasoning behind product design rather than "bigger = wider". Funny enough it does seem as if Galaxy S3 is more popular with women here in Singapore. Might that be because they keep their gadgets in purses or I'm just wrong with my observation?
    - tripzilch 14y ago
      Interesting points. However I can see music playback work nicely: a music player in extra-wide landscape orientation would actually be quite similar to the backlit LCD screen of a classic car radio. You just need to way to firmly fix it somewhere in that orientation. I agree that wouldn't really work for navigation, but for music it'd be kinda cool. (note: I'm not actually thinking of buying an iPhone, going to get an Android, though probably not the latest model)
jamesaguilar 14y ago
I feel the exact opposite. I had a Galaxy Nexus for a few months earlier this year. One of the reasons I switched back to my iPhone is that the screen is insanely too large for me.
astrodust 14y ago
The giant-sized phones have some appeal to some of the market, it's true, but for most buyers bigger is not better. We're not talking about a wall-mounted display here. We're talking about something you hold in your hand, carry with you all the time, and hold to your face to talk. Bigger can be an issue for those one-hand-thumbing the device as well where they simply can't reach.

CamperBob2 14y ago

Agreed. It's occurred to me that the only way that Apple will retain me as an iPhone user is if they copy Samsung this time around. iOS offers a great UX, as far as the system software is concerned, but I honestly think the iPhone 4/4s has the worst physical ergonomics of any phone I've owned. Everything they could have done wrong, they did wrong... and I won't lie: the fact that nobody but me ever says anything like that makes me wonder what's wrong with my judgment. If the new iPhone actually turns out to be a taller (?!) version of the same package and sales don't drop off a cliff as a result, I'm in for some serious cognitive dissonance.

katabatic 14y ago
I'm having some serious cognitive dissonance over your comment. You're saying that if apple does not change the form factor of the best selling phone on the planet, sales will "drop off a cliff"? Solely on the basis of your personal screen size preference?
- CamperBob2 14y ago
  Yes. I am fairly sure that most people do not want a taller iPhone. They want a wider one, as evidenced by the success of the S3 and other larger smartphones... to say nothing of design principles based on aesthetic proportions that go all the way back to the ancient Greeks. I have no idea what I would do with a taller iPhone 4S, other than complain about how I still have to spin it around to orient it properly 75% of the time when I pull it out of my pocket, and about how its display is still too narrow to be used safely for navigation and music playback in my car. If I'm wrong, and there is a huge unmet market demand for an iPhone that is taller than a 4/4S but no wider, it will mean that I have no insight or understanding of the smartphone market as a whole, no product-design sensibility to speak of, and that I need to STFU and stop complaining. Nobody likes to be confronted with their own poor judgment, right?
  - jsz0 14y ago
    I would like a taller iPhone because my only compliant about the size is how cramped the screen gets when I have the keyboard open or use apps that happen to have both a toolbar and a nav bar. Otherwise I think the physical size of the device is about perfect. I disagree about the width/height. 640 on the iPhone vs. 720 on many newer Android phones. Not a huge difference there. Enough to notice certainly but it's the height that is far more dramatic. 960 on the iPhone vs. 1280 on many newer Android phones.
    - CamperBob2 14y ago
      It's not the pixel resolution I'm complaining about, but the physical screen size. The Retina display has a much higher dot pitch than it really needs IMHO. Back off on the dot pitch, keep the resolution the same, and give me a bigger screen.
  - prebrov 14y ago
    I'm not too excited over perspective of getting a murse to carry a phone. Taller iPhone still complies with a requirement for a phone to fit in the jeans pockets safely. And that seems to be a more thoughtful reasoning behind product design rather than "bigger = wider". Funny enough it does seem as if Galaxy S3 is more popular with women here in Singapore. Might that be because they keep their gadgets in purses or I'm just wrong with my observation?
  - tripzilch 14y ago
    Interesting points. However I can see music playback work nicely: a music player in extra-wide landscape orientation would actually be quite similar to the backlit LCD screen of a classic car radio. You just need to way to firmly fix it somewhere in that orientation. I agree that wouldn't really work for navigation, but for music it'd be kinda cool. (note: I'm not actually thinking of buying an iPhone, going to get an Android, though probably not the latest model)

jamesaguilar 14y ago

I feel the exact opposite. I had a Galaxy Nexus for a few months earlier this year. One of the reasons I switched back to my iPhone is that the screen is insanely too large for me.

astrodust 14y ago

The giant-sized phones have some appeal to some of the market, it's true, but for most buyers bigger is not better. We're not talking about a wall-mounted display here. We're talking about something you hold in your hand, carry with you all the time, and hold to your face to talk. Bigger can be an issue for those one-hand-thumbing the device as well where they simply can't reach.