Technosteve
Banned
I want a thinner phone
WSJ: Apple to increase iPhone screen size to 'at least' 4-inches
- Thread starter Good Job Bob
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Marty Chinn
Member
I must be one of the few in here who isn't feeling any need to upgrade even though my contract is almost up. It's come to a point where the capabilities of the phone is by far outpacing the need of the apps. Nothing right now makes me feel like my phone is slowing down or in need of a performance boost. It seems like some feel like they have to upgrade once their contract is up.
As far as removing the bezel, seems like a terrible idea for accidental touching. Am I the only one who accidentally hits the back button in the browser with the palm of his left hand when reaching across to hit the last post button on a thread while browsing mobile GAF? Happens all the time.
As far as removing the bezel, seems like a terrible idea for accidental touching. Am I the only one who accidentally hits the back button in the browser with the palm of his left hand when reaching across to hit the last post button on a thread while browsing mobile GAF? Happens all the time.
I fucking agree. I would add, everytime I see people fighting abut cell phones I want to punch them in the fucking neck. Worse than arguing about game consoles.
I think the figure that I keep seeing rumored is in the 7 mm range, so you may get that wish.
I think the what Apple will harp on as an excuse to being able to go from 3.5" to 4" is some new tech or industrial method that allows them to minimize the bezel surrounding the screen a lot more, making it almost seem like it takes up the entire width. Being able to do that allows for the physical device width to be as minimal as possible for that screen size. Ergonomically I think increasing the width a bit while becoming thinner, makes sense.
Maybe they're having Nyx make the phone instead of Foxconn
http://www.androidcentral.com/nyx-mobile-fun-lyuba-max-hands
Mr. Wonderful
Member
Tell me more about how you work at Apple and know such things.
Right now, the iPhone suffers too much from being heavy and having poor ergonomics compared to traditional cell-phones, in my opinion. I can only imagine that increasing the screen-size, and thus the overall size of the phone, would only exaggerate those problems. If I was going to upgrade my iPhone, I would only do so if the upgrade was lighter. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Eh my 4" Samsung Focus is lighter than both my GF's Inspire 4g that's 4.3" as well as my Mom's iPhone 4 which is 3.5" inches. I say this because I'm not sure screen size is the real issue in terms of weight here.
The whole point of a longer screen is more vertical screen real estate. They aren't just make things larger to take up space. That would mak no sense at all. It's just common sense.
Mr. Wonderful
Member
Actually, fitting more on the screen at a time is only one direction they could go. They could also use it to make things larger. Text, so that you don't have to zoom as much, or the keyboard, for example.
Also, they most likely wouldn't change the aspect ratio.
The most magical thing happened to me today!!
I was in an elevator, with a couple other people, you know, avoiding eye-contact and tapping away on my phone. I also realized that the other two people were doing exactly the same thing, tapping away on their iPhones. To my surprise I realized that both of them were holding their 3.5" phone in the same distance I was holding my 4.65" phone, and using it comfortably, i.e. like normal people hold phones. Then I started noticing people around me. No one held their phone closer to their face because it's got a smaller/larger screen, only if they've got bad eyes. Is my observation correct?
I was in an elevator, with a couple other people, you know, avoiding eye-contact and tapping away on my phone. I also realized that the other two people were doing exactly the same thing, tapping away on their iPhones. To my surprise I realized that both of them were holding their 3.5" phone in the same distance I was holding my 4.65" phone, and using it comfortably, i.e. like normal people hold phones. Then I started noticing people around me. No one held their phone closer to their face because it's got a smaller/larger screen, only if they've got bad eyes. Is my observation correct?
Edge-to-edge screen (like in the mockup you posted on the previous page) is bad for usability reasons. Apple won't do that. It should have less bezel than the 4, but not much less. No aspect ratio change, no resolution change. Book it.
Also, still amazed at how many people are flipping out over .5" and thinking the phone just won't fit in their pockets comfortably anymore. You'd be amazed at what a bit of extra thinness will do to pocket-feel. My Galaxy Nexus at 4.65" feels better in my pocket than my old 3.7" HTC Incredible.
D.Lo
Member
Disagree, it's beautifully weighted, almost perfectly symmetrical in both portrait and landscape and the width is great for using it as a camera.
Thinner/bigger phone, worse camera. And camera is a big part of the iphone these days.
This is still an adequate bezel;
Not even considering how they're going to deal with the edges, iPad 3 style aluminum curving around all sides.
iMore's gazillion mockups of the different possibilities:
http://www.imore.com/2012/05/17/4-inch-iphone/
4" at 960x640:
4" with another round of pixel doubling (1920x1280):
4" with maintaining 640 pixel width (1152x640), two possibilities:
4" with increased resolution, same aspect ratio (1092x728):
4" with increased resolution, new 16:9 aspect ratio (1280x720):
http://www.imore.com/2012/05/17/4-inch-iphone/
4" at 960x640:
4" with another round of pixel doubling (1920x1280):
4" with maintaining 640 pixel width (1152x640), two possibilities:
4" with increased resolution, same aspect ratio (1092x728):
4" with increased resolution, new 16:9 aspect ratio (1280x720):
ha ha, I was just gonna post that.
I think the one thing this made clear to me is that an elongated 4” screen that changes the AR to 9:5 to add a new row of apps looks ridiculous to me.
the one on the left (with the same home button) is really awkward
There was a part leak of a new iPhone home button that was the same shape and size as the current one, so we’d be looking a significantly taller device assuming that part leak wasn’t for some cost-optimized 4S model for late 2012.
I think the one thing this made clear to me is that an elongated 4” screen that changes the AR to 9:5 to add a new row of apps looks ridiculous to me.
the one on the left (with the same home button) is really awkward
There was a part leak of a new iPhone home button that was the same shape and size as the current one, so we’d be looking a significantly taller device assuming that part leak wasn’t for some cost-optimized 4S model for late 2012.
SiteSeer
Member
this this this this this this thsi thsis thsi thsit tits shtis shtis sisss /.... *gurgle*
Mammoth Jones
Member
This. I never used my iPhone 4 and said "You know what would make this better....more screen size."
4" with maintaining 640 pixel width (1152x640), two possibilities:
The one on the right. Figure out the home button and that will work.
yup. they pretty much all make navigating with the thumb slightly harder.
the basic question: does apple want to put more stuff on screen or make the current amount of stuff bigger?
I dont have a strong opinion on that matter. At first I was thinking that they would just make stuff bigger and go with the 288 ppi 4 screen.
but... so many hit targets are made for a specific physical size that changing that would be kinda weird. youd have the same amount of space on a webpage, the same number of mail messages shown. its not a clear win - its just a bit bigger.
adding more content at the same size might be preferable. but doing that seems to create more problems for app compatibility across iphones (letter boxing, or multiple app layouts per device, making bigger apps)
I dunno.
Im going on 3 years now with my 3gs and I always think more screen size would be better. 4.3" abs max though.
Those all look so weird :?
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
Good luck reaching top-right icon on that thing one handed, for people who don't have giant hands. I hope they don't do that. It's an unecessary resolution change that somehow visually compromises landscape mode as well. Also doesn't have any thinner bezel than the current model.
Yup, the one on the left just looks awkward.
It's the best option of the ones available. I have no idea what they would do with the icons, I wasnt even looking at that, honestly. Maybe they could use the extra space in a way we're not anticipating.
Gruber agrees with me:
Gruber said:
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
Maybe, but the way that picture shows it, I think the layout there solves no problems that I can think of with current iphone. It seems like solves a problem no one ever complain about, which is adding another row of icons and another list item or two in the apps that have those, or more page length in Safari. However, the UI elements and text will still all be the same size, you won't be able to zoom webpage or photos to make them any bigger. You'll also see much less of webpage in the landscape view, not to mention if keyboard is brought up for landscape email or browser... It also seems uncharacteristic of apple to create such a wide screen device when all their stuff has sreens at least a bit fatter than 16:9.
There not though, different yes but doesn't make the worst. I would be interested to see the 4" iphone screen and how much different it changes the size of the phone.
4" with increased resolution, new 16:9 aspect ratio (1280x720) - I like that one the best out of those mockup's.
In my case, they are objectively worse. Put aside the differences in UI and personal preference. I have many hundreds of dollars invested in content that would be unavailable if I switched phone ecosystems.
A new phone ecosystem would have to be so much better than iOS that I would be ok with forfeiting all that content. This is highly unlikely.
Mammoth Jones
Member
badcrumble
Member
I hope they're able to pull off something like this;
Not 100% a fan of the lower placement of the Home button but yeah something like this would be perfect. The physical size and dimensions of the iPhone 4 are practically perfect, but I wouldn't say no to a larger screen on the same device. And yeah, the width should stay the same and they should make it taller (fucking lol at the guy who said that would be a "faux 4 inches") - the most commonly-used apps like Twitter, Facebook, and so on would take only very minor tweaks to be able to incorporate a slightly longer display since they're based on feeds.
badcrumble
Member
Better to change the aspect ratio than the pixel density.
I don't know.. they're fucked either way. If they increase the size to only 4", they can't possibly increase PPI, which means that it will end up being less than the 3.5".
Hell, even if they only increase the screen size to 3.75", there'll be a drop in 'retina quality' there, which makes it seem unlikely of happening all-together. 4.3", they could fit in 1920 res..
I have no idea what they're going to end up doing, there's a lot of ways it could go at this point. They might even stick with 3.5". :lol
Hell, even if they only increase the screen size to 3.75", there'll be a drop in 'retina quality' there, which makes it seem unlikely of happening all-together. 4.3", they could fit in 1920 res..
I have no idea what they're going to end up doing, there's a lot of ways it could go at this point. They might even stick with 3.5". :lol
yeah after one look at those mockups I agree it's probably best they stick with 3.5"
MidnightScott
Banned
I was hoping they would go even bigger but I think if they did it would make the phone harder to hold in one hand...
The problem with those mockups is that the frame of the device isn't enlarged, making it look weird. I think. But that isn't even the main issue, ultimately it's retina and how the pixels will become more distinguishable. And i'm telling you all now, if they actually elongate the the screen like in those mockups i'll eat my own shit. It's just not happening. I'm picturing myself single-handedly using that and it's hilariously bad. Just way too long.
I agree. But weren't there patents a while ago that had a stripe on the top of the device used as small notification areas? In the patent it looked like it had 3 little screens above the main screen. Who knows. I can't wait to see what they do.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
Can you imagine how awkward stuff would look on such an elongated screen when used in Landscape mode? Web pages, emails, keyboard, it would all be bad looking and broken compared to what it's like now.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
I really think they just need proportionally bigger screen, resolution change or not. My biggest problem with iphone screen is small UI elements and being able to hit tiny links on the web pages accurately, being able to type more accurately etc. This, I would imagine is an even bigger problem to people with larger hands than mine. Proportionally larger screen solves/alleviates all of this. More elongated screen solves nothing of value really. It would be more of a novelty and would actually hinder UI navigation in at least two ways (landscape mode, and being able to reach top edge icons easily)
If they change it, this is the one as posted above:
I'm holding my 4S now with one hand and can easily reach the top corner of the DEVICE with my thumb, and with this mockup the "back" navigation button in apps would be only a quarter inch higher (assuming the screen is centred and the device stays the same size).
Landscape apps are letterboxed for compatibility (looking identical to how they currently look with 1:1 scaling), and the landscape keyboard is redone to take advantage of the extra real estate.
All other options are far more inelegant or useless.
I'm holding my 4S now with one hand and can easily reach the top corner of the DEVICE with my thumb, and with this mockup the "back" navigation button in apps would be only a quarter inch higher (assuming the screen is centred and the device stays the same size).
Landscape apps are letterboxed for compatibility (looking identical to how they currently look with 1:1 scaling), and the landscape keyboard is redone to take advantage of the extra real estate.
All other options are far more inelegant or useless.
Al-ibn Kermit
Junior Member
The best idea is to go with a new aspect ratio but allow the "extra" space to be filled up with dynamic on-screen buttons similar to Android 4.
Allow app developers to use those buttons however they want. They can be used to navigate within the app or just disappear if you're doing something like web browsing or watching a movie.
Am I the first person to suggest that idea in this thread? It seems really obvious and solves all the huge problems you get as far as porting apps, ergonomics, maintaining retina quality, etc. If a developer doesn't update the app with on-screen buttons for the new display, then just make them default to something or even make them customizable by the user.
This solution let's you just go with a 720p 4" inch display that makes everybody happy.
Allow app developers to use those buttons however they want. They can be used to navigate within the app or just disappear if you're doing something like web browsing or watching a movie.
Am I the first person to suggest that idea in this thread? It seems really obvious and solves all the huge problems you get as far as porting apps, ergonomics, maintaining retina quality, etc. If a developer doesn't update the app with on-screen buttons for the new display, then just make them default to something or even make them customizable by the user.
This solution let's you just go with a 720p 4" inch display that makes everybody happy.
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