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The iPhone “Icon Ceiling” has been broken: is this the beginning of the end?
- JangoSteve 14y agoWhen I started reading the article, I thought 21 icons meant they overflowed the first screen, and that the phone shipped with one icon on the second screen. That seemed very un-Apple-like and interesting. As soon as I realized that number includes the four in the dock, and that there are still three spaces left on the first homescreen, suddenly it seems like a non-event.
- dhyasama 14y agoThe iphone 7 prototype looks like a good start but they can take it much, much farther. A quick calculation: my arm is roughly 34 inches long and an icon row is about 1/2 inch. Factoring in for hardware chrome they could squeeze in maybe 64 rows for a whopping 256 apps on the home screen! There is TONS of room to grow here.
- cincinnatus 14y agoMy first thought when I saw it; I used to have a receiver with a remote of those dimensions. Of course now I have one with a touchscreen remote...
- Tichy 14y agoThey could add rails for the arm, like for the guns in Taxi Driver, except you could slide the iPhone up and done your arm. That way you could still reach everything with your thumb.
- jerf 14y agoThis suggests an augmented reality approach where the icons are arrayed on a curved 2D surface in front of you, with your iPhone being just a window onto it. Or, heck, why a surface when you could have the whole sphere surrounding you? I'm pretty sure we could pack thousands of icons onto that, and just think of the awe-inspiring demos.
- abengoam 14y agoThe manipulation present on that "projections" graph alone is nauseating.
- tlrobinson 14y agoYou know it's a joke, right? ...it is a joke, isn't it? Oh god I hope so.
- abengoam 14y agoExactly.
- kolinko 14y agoThe only reason iPhone 7 mockup looks weird is because our laptops' screens are not tall enough. I predict Macbooks Airs in 2014 will be 28 inches tall and will display the new iPhone 7 photos flawlessly.
- ConstantineXVI 14y agoYou jest, but I'm afraid we're going in the other direction. 4:3 laptops are all but dead, and spotted an extra-wide (~21:9?) laptop at Best Buy the other day.
- FrankBooth 14y agoPersonally, I'm looking forward to CinemaScope (2.66:1) A/R displays.
- CountHackulus 14y agoI for one would rather see a 4:1 display so that I could watch Napoléon (1927) in its original format.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- xutopia 14y agoThis is extrapolation like the ones with Glenn Beck at the blackboard.
- rWolfcastle 14y agoTHAT'S THE JOKE.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Jtsummers 14y agoGiven the estimates of the iPhone growth rate later in the article, I'm 99% certain the hyperbolic statements about the demise of Apple are satire.
- cincinnatus 14y agoThe author also completely ignores the possibility of a double-sided phone. They've already shown you can have glass on both sides. Now just put another screen under one. ;-)
- Tipzntrix 14y agoIf you read the whole thing, this seems like some very clever satire.
- ezolotko 14y agoI would say, it's not only icons count, but the screen aspect ratio also. Now it is more to a stripe than to a square. Having an unpleasant feelings about this, and the future of Apple.
- incision 14y agoAnyone can make a larger smartphone display. But if you go large for large’s sake, you end up with a phone that feels oversize, awkward, and hard to use. iPhone 7 features a 7-inch display designed the right way: it’s bigger, but it’s the same width as iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 6, 6G and 6GS.
- twmb 14y agoI don't know why everybody claims that the iPhone has the "perfect" screen size[1]. I have never had a problem with any android phone size... they are larger, but nobody ever considers they aren't just larger for larger's sake. I appreciate the larger screen, not only for the extra space on the keyboard but because I like the extra display. My pockets aren't miniature. They can fit a slightly larger phone. Sitting down with any phone in my pocket is uncomfortable, so I always take my phone out of my pocket. Screen size for pocket size is not an issue. My thumb is not tiny, and can reach across an extra inch. I don't know how far away the guy in the linked article holds his thumb, but I have always been able to reach across every android I have come across, without a problem. The -times I notice that I cannot reach across don't matter because most apps that are designed well don't put tiny buttons on the side of the screen. I would enjoy a larger android with the iPhone retina resolution more than an iPhone with the retina resolution. [1]http://www.iphonehacks.com/2011/10/iphone-4s-no-4-inch-screen.html http://www.iphonehacks.com/2011/10/iphone-4s-no-4-inch-scree...
- nuclear_eclipse 14y agoAs a counter-point, I bought a Nexus S (4.3") when they were first available, I loved it and appreciated the screen size bump from my older Nexus One. But when my employer gave me a Galaxy Nexus (4.7"), I thought the screen was too large. I can still use the phone, but a lot of one-handed uses feel awkward or strained because my thumb can't reach the top of the phone without having to first reposition the phone in my hand. When I go back to my Nexus S, I miss the size and clarity of the larger screen, but I love having the smaller and lighter device in my hand, and it's so much easier to use. While I still prefer the Android OS, I think Apple has struck a good balance in the iPhone 5 by making the screen larger and a proper widescreen resolution (I love being able to watch Netflix fullscreen on my GNex), and the hardware design looks amazingly good. I just wish I could run Android on it instead of iOS.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- mtgx 14y agoThere's also the iPhone 10, the tallest iPhone yet! http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iPhone-10.jpeg http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iPhone-10.jpe... And iPhone 20: http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iphone-20.jpg http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/iphone-20.jpg Thumb actions might be a little hard there.
- stcredzero 14y agoBoth of those have potential as interfaces for music. http://www.stick.com/instruments/ http://www.stick.com/instruments/ After looking a bit at the above site, I'm also thinking that they have potential as interfaces for teledildonics. (This is both serious and a joke at the same time. This goes for the whole field.)
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agore: teledildonics, the vibration function on the iPhone would become more popular, and I'm not even joking.
- jamie_ca 14y agoSpeaking of music, that'd be a reasonable approximation of an http://www.eigenlabs.com/ http://www.eigenlabs.com/ - and it wouldn't need a separate laptop to act as speakers :P
- stcredzero 14y agoWow, that's cool. It's an instrument from a 1980's sci-fi novel!
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- freehunter 14y agoThis article isn't kind of a joke. This article is exactly a joke. It's making fun of Apple rumors and complaints after new product announcements.
- ionforce 14y agoThe site isn't loading. Does anyone have a summary?
- klrr 14y agoBroken link?
- swalsh 14y agoIf Steve Jobs was still around, i'd predict that Apple would wait a few years after Google Goggles. They'd work to get it right, and the future smart phone wouldn't have a screen at all. In post-jobs world though, its going to be a me-too game.
- Zikes 14y agoI think you mean Google Glass. Goggles is their app for scanning photos and identifying things.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agoGoogle Goggles used to be site previews, IIRC.
- Zikes 14y agoI think those are called Instant Previews.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agoNow, maybe, but back then...
- Zikes 14y agoAhh, gotcha. Yeah, I had no idea they'd called it Goggles, but that wouldn't surprise me.
- mmackh 14y agoBlog seems to be down: http://thequeue.org/cr?id=http://justinhileman.info/article/the-iphone-icon-ceiling/ http://thequeue.org/cr?id=http://justinhileman.info/article/...
- bobthecow 14y agoBack now.
- evoxed 14y agoOn that note, why can't we change the icon size already? I think I've clicked enough 1 hour ago | flag | 23 comments links by now to handle at least twice as many icons on screen...
- nostromo 14y agoI feel like yesterday's announcement has left a news vacuum that is trying to be filled. The announcement was not so amazing that the cheers are deafening; nor was it so disappointing or controversial that the opposite occurred. So, instead we're giggling at Jimmy Kimmel videos and long iPhone photoshops. Perhaps this is why Apple hasn't announced the iPad mini yet -- to make sure the iPhone 5 gets a bit of time in the limelight. If it was announced yesterday, few people would be talking about the new iPhone today.
- georgemcbay 14y agoIn addition to the announcement not being that amazing in absolulte terms, the leaks this time were pretty much 100% exactly right. Apple's big reveal was that the iPhone 5 was, in fact, pretty much exactly what everyone expected them to announce for the past half year or so. yawn.
- mdonahoe 14y agoI enjoy that the media hypes the iPhone release and then bashes it for not living up to the hype. What is the next thing on the hype horizon? The iPad mini?
- erichocean 14y agoI'm totally stoked for the iPad mini. I've got an iPad 2 and the new iPad, and I bought a Nexus 7 for testing. I'm not crazy about the Nexus 7 software and browser, but I love the weight! The screen size is "good enough" and definitely worth making smaller to get the weight down. Anyway, I agree that's why they did separate the events. The iPad mini is going to sell like crazy.
- ja27 14y agoIf it's essentially the new iPod Touch with a bigger display and $100 bigger price, will they still sell like crazy? The iPod Touch (32GB) starts at $299. I could maybe see a 16GB iPad Mini at $299 but it could be $349 or $399 for the cheapest device. For Joe Consumer, that'll be a tough sell against a $199 Kindle Fire HD.
- antidaily 14y agoIt was already broken with groupings.
- headShrinker 14y agoI started reading this with my usual skepticism. (It isn't hard to believe that some of this could come from the likes of zdnet, or cnet.) I started to crack a smile at the exponential growth graph, then with the picture of iPhone 7, I absolutely lost it! too funny
- kmfrk 14y agoI have a feeling that pg should include an algorithm that penalizes submissions whose titles end in a question mark. (For the articles that aren't sarcastic, at least.)
- kragniz 14y agoOr the more extreme version: Add a single reply, "No.", and close the comments.
- dpeck 14y agoAs usual xkcd provides just as much insight, http://xkcd.com/605/ http://xkcd.com/605/ And for something a bit cruder, but even more phone related http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-day-smartphones-stop-getting-bigger http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-day-smartphones-stop-g...
- gavinlynch 14y agoSums up this article perfectly. Hilarious, thanks for sharing! :)
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- heyitsnick 14y agoVery well written, measured and well-paced satire. I think the picture at the end is unnecessary, but understandable.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- protobluffers 14y agoCheck out the "iPhone backup shootout" under Related Articles. Hilarious!
- tarice 14y agoQuestion: Per this article, what iPhone version will be able to reach to the moon? Assuming: Increase in icons is quadratic over time. Each iPhone version requires an extra 8.6mm in height to hold the extra icons. The distance to the moon is ~240,000 miles. The length of the iPhone 1 is negligible. Step One: Regress the data from the article to get the equation "y = 3.25x^2 - 27.65x + 76.95", where y = # of icons and x = iPhone version number. Step Two: Convert equation to mm. 8.6mm increase for every 5 icon capacity (difference between iPhone 4 and 5) => multiply our equation by 8.6mm/5 icons => new equation is "y = 5.59x^2 - 47.558x + 132.354", where y = mm. Step Three: Solve for x when y = 386,242,560,000mm (240,000 miles in mm). *Answer: The iPhone 262,864 will be able to reach to the moon, opening up a key market for mobile users in the year 330,592 AD. It will debut with a little under 225 billion apps, too.
- joshu 14y agoIBM has a patent on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IBM_SImon_in_charging_station.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IBM_SImon_in_charging_stat...
- snakess 14y agoThe iPhone 5 is ok.Tomorrow i order one and have fun the rest of the Year :)
- noamsml 14y agoThe sky is falling! Quick, run like a chicken with your head cut off!
- endlessvoid94 14y agoAre you f*cking kidding me? This is like tabloid trash.
- gk1 14y agoDid you notice the satire?
- endlessvoid94 14y agoI did not.
- djbender 14y agoIs this a well written satire?
- Tloewald 14y agoI hereby invoke Betteridge's Law.