WSJ: Apple to increase iPhone screen size to 'at least' 4-inches

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Basically looks exactly the same size as my Droid X, which is longer instead of wider. My Droid is perfect in the hand and easy to operate with one hand.

Not worried about this. :P
 
SO sexy. That black one is mine day 1.

I'm hoping they open up pre-orders for more countries this time (they had Australia but not New Zealand for the 4S, so I had to call in favours from friends in Australia).
 
It looks a bit odd to me, not sure if I like the 16:9 aspect ratio...will reserve judgement until after i've tried it out.
Trust me, 16:9 is perfect for a phone.

You'll get used to it quicker than you think. 2 days tops and even that time is just to unlearn your muscle memory for certain actions.
 
Trust me, 16:9 is perfect for a phone.

You'll get used to it quicker than you think. 2 days tops and even that time is just to unlearn your muscle memory for certain actions.

I really hope I like it, because as much as I like the one-handed operation on my iPhone, it is a bit cramped. I just hope that the new one won't feel unwieldily like the giant Android phones. I also worry that I won't be able to comfortably tap everywhere on the screen with one hand.
 
Since they're are already leaked pictures, why the fuck haven't they officially announced this motherfucker?

September 12th. Apple never wants to see large groups of old Chinese ladies in line in front of the Apple Store in NYC ever again. No hoarding, no scalping for Asia. They want plenty of stock on hand for a release, and thus plan it out better then they have with the iPhone 4 and iPad 2. The 4S and the New iPad had more stock then demand on opening weekend.

Black looks better than previous ones, I had told myself I was getting white, but that black looks great.

I "upgraded" from a black 4 to a white 4S. I regret it, the white is just average, it looks like a toy, the black is classic, add to the fact the band is black on this new phone and you have me sold, I love the monolith look.
 
I "upgraded" from a black 4 to a white 4S. I regret it, the white is just average, it looks like a toy, the black is classic, add to the fact the band is black on this new phone and you have me sold, I love the monolith look.

I have a white 4S as well and regret it, the black camera and proximity/ambient light sensors that poke out the front completely kills the clean look on the phone. Black is a lock for me.

Actually, now that I think about it...where's the black proximity/ambient thing on the white iPhone 5? Were they able to hide it somehow?
 
"Here's something you can't buy for another month!"

What is with this forum and such an importance on early announcements? Do you know the point of them?
steve-jobs-white-iphone.jpg
 
Also, just looking for a female perspective here. Is a 4" phone still comfortable or is it in the realm of too big?

I think for small to medium hands, it will be difficult for one-handed operation. Otherwise it should be alright. The width is the same as the iPhone 4/4S, so it shouldn't feel any different to grip the device. Just reaching the top and bottom of the screen with your thumb might be more difficult.
 
Also, just looking for a female perspective here. Is a 4" phone still comfortable or is it in the realm of too big?

If it was wider, I'd be worried, but they maintained the same exact width. It's also thinner. The extra screen size is all length. It should hopefully be very comfortable.
 
I have a white 4S as well and regret it, the black camera and proximity/ambient light sensors that poke out the front completely kills the clean look on the phone. Black is a lock for me.

Actually, now that I think about it...where's the black proximity/ambient thing on the white iPhone 5? Were they able to hide it somehow?

Swapped positions with the camera pretty much, off to the side of the earpiece - it is much smaller, it looks like, but you can still see it on the white. Another mock up - some have it on the left, others on the right of the earpiece, some have it bigger as well, looks like we'll have to wait and see:

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17qkct50qq7fmjpg/original.jpg
 
If it was wider, I'd be worried, but they maintained the same exact width. It's also thinner. The extra screen size is all length. It should hopefully be very comfortable.

More length, but not more girth? I dunno, sounds like something a lot of girls won't be happy with.
 
That phone looks a lot better with the size increase. Wish I had small hands like a bunch of you seem to have so I could understand the "4" is too big" complaints... If anything the current iPhone is too small for me to use comfortably :(
 
You know the black iPhone 5 really is like:

2001.jpg


Damn sexy. It's a shame they couldn't make the entire back out of aluminium, I'm still not fond of the glass top and bottom.
 
Why don't people believe that they could make the display fit across the whole existing surface without increasing the size of the phone itself? There is plenty of unused space on my 3GS.
 
Why don't people believe that they could make the display fit across the whole existing surface without increasing the size of the phone itself? There is plenty of unused space on my 3GS.

They'd have to reduce the size of the home button to do so, which they won't. Or they could reduce the size at the top where the earpiece is, but that would throw off the symmetry between the top strip and the bottom, it would look visually ugly. This is the best you can get, they did lop off a bit from the top and bottom though in comparison to the iPhone 4/4S design.
 
Why don't people believe that they could make the display fit across the whole existing surface without increasing the size of the phone itself? There is plenty of unused space on my 3GS.
I would guess that cramming LTE into the 4S body without a hit in battery life would be very difficult. It might be possible, but given Apple's trajectory with its phones, they probably sacrificed a smaller footprint for even more thinness.

The elongated screen might just be a consequence of the need for more surface area.
 
I'm surprised so many people have never dealt with a 4 inch phone before. I don't think I can ever go back to a smartphone smaller than 4 inches so I'm glad Apple is finally joining in.
 
I'm surprised so many people have never dealt with a 4 inch phone before. I don't think I can ever go back to a smartphone smaller than 4 inches so I'm glad Apple is finally joining in.

I have played around with my dad's Nexus S and it's a good size. But that screen isn't 16:9 is it? I don't think I've used a 16:9 4" screen yet. I have also tried very large phones like the Galaxy Nexus, totally don't like them. They are too big, using them one-handed is out of the question. I wish Android OEM's would still make high end phones at 4", it always seems like their shit phones are made at that size now. If I could get a HTC One X at 4" I would seriously consider it, but we get the One S with cheaper parts and a shitty pentile screen.
 
I'm surprised so many people have never dealt with a 4 inch phone before. I don't think I can ever go back to a smartphone smaller than 4 inches so I'm glad Apple is finally joining in.

I'd wager the majority of people will wonder how they ever used the 3.5" screen iPhone after they have a little time with a 4" version. I was the strongly against getting a phone with a larger screen, so much so that I hung onto my old phone for close to an additional year after qualifying for my 2-year discount.

Despite having a considerably larger screen, my new phone actually feels more pocket-able since it is lighter and thinner than my old one. The increased height is virtually meaningless when it comes to putting it in a pocket.
 
No? The #1 top selling smart phone is iPhone 4s, #2 is iPhone 4. #3 is iPhone 3GS. The top 3 selling phones are all 3.5 inches.

Umm... thats because they're all Iphones. no iphones have a screen larger than 3.5 inches.


If you want a proper metric, check the best selling androids, since their screen sizes vary.
(not sure what the best selling androids are so i wouldn't know)
 
Umm... thats because they're all Iphones. no iphones have a screen larger than 3.5 inches.


If you want a proper metric, check the best selling androids, since their screen sizes vary.
(not sure what the best selling androids are so i wouldn't know)

The top selling Androids are top end phones, the shit phones are lower than 4". There's no Samsung S3 or One X class hardware in the 4" or lower class. So the numbers there would be skewed as well.
 
If you want a proper metric, check the best selling androids, since their screen sizes vary.
Woah woah woah. You're telling me that something associated with the android format is not standardized across platforms and thus, incredibly segmented?

What's next, several active versions of Android Operating Systems?

/sarcasm
 
It makes sense that bigger phones are selling. Phones are less about portability and making phone calls and more about internet browsing and multimedia. I'm sure next year Apple will introduce an even bigger sized phone than 4"
 
It makes sense that bigger phones are selling. Phones are less about portability and making phone calls and more about internet browsing and multimedia. I'm sure next year Apple will introduce an even bigger sized phone than 4"

Nope.
 
It makes sense that bigger phones are selling. Phones are less about portability and making phone calls and more about internet browsing and multimedia. I'm sure next year Apple will introduce an even bigger sized phone than 4"
Phones are getting bigger primarily for larger batteries because of LTE. The side benefit is what you listed.
 
Phones are getting bigger primarily for larger batteries because of LTE. The side benefit is what you listed.

Phone screens were getting bigger before LTE came along. The GSM Galaxy Nexus doesn't support LTE, has a relatively small battery and yet has one of the bigger screens. The Galaxy Note, the phone with the biggest screen, had its initial launch in most of the world without LTE. The 5" Dell Streak before it didn't have LTE either. Nor did the first HTC Titan, the WP with the biggest screen, support LTE.
LTE is strictly a NorthAMerica/Korean phenomena. The rest of the world are buying big screen phones without LTE.
 
September 12th. Apple never wants to see large groups of old Chinese ladies in line in front of the Apple Store in NYC ever again. No hoarding, no scalping for Asia. They want plenty of stock on hand for a release, and thus plan it out better then they have with the iPhone 4 and iPad 2. The 4S and the New iPad had more stock then demand on opening weekend.

Hopefully, it will be like the new iPad release, the first time where Apple stuff was released in Hong Kong the same time it was released in the US. Those New York Chinese scalpers are going to lose money if people in Hong Kong (a subway ride away from China) are getting iPhones 12 hours earlier, tax-free, with cheaper transportation costs.
 
if its just longer, then portrait keyboard will be the same size right? I find the keys a little small on the iphone. Do you get a row of numbers added, that'd be really useful as its a pain to type things like postcodes in the UK.

And I guess landscape keyboard doesn't change either - if they made it wider then the keys would be taller too. Good for typing but you wouldn't be able to see any of the screen under it.
 
Phone screens were getting bigger before LTE came along. The GSM Galaxy Nexus doesn't support LTE, has a relatively small battery and yet has one of the bigger screens. The Galaxy Note, the phone with the biggest screen, had its initial launch in most of the world without LTE. The 5" Dell Streak before it didn't have LTE either. Nor did the first HTC Titan, the WP with the biggest screen, support LTE.
LTE is strictly a NorthAMerica/Korean phenomena. The rest of the world are buying big screen phones without LTE.

The rest of the world doesn't have a choice. Where is the smaller screen Galazy S3 (insert Android based LTE phone) for EU with no NFC??
 
I'm sure this has been asked before, but how will the new screen ratio handle legacy apps? Will it stretch them? Or will there be black bars?
 
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