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Don't Super-Size My Smartphone!
New submitter Steve Max writes "Editor Paul Ockenden wonders, 'Has anyone else noticed what's been happening to top-end smartphones recently? They've started to get big – really big. But do people really want that at the expense of carrying around such a huge, heavy lump of tech in their pocket?' The trend for bigger and bigger screens is clear, but is it what consumers want? Is it what you want?"
I carried a Palm III and then a Handspring Visor for decade. I thought the size was the biggest negative. Now phones are even larger in height and width but a little thinner in most cases. Good grief. Which is why I looked around and got a tiny import Android phone with a puny 2.3" screen, just to carry something small for a change.
If I wanted to carry a tablet around I'd buy a frickin tablet. And that might be an option to consider if a tablet could replace both my laptop and phone but they currently can't. Even if you buy a tablet with a cell link they never seem to allow them to make a call or send a SMS text, but with a BT earpiece or a good speakerphone implementation a tablet could serve as a phone, it is just an arbitrary 'product differentiation' decision that disallows the option. Meanwhile tablets with keyboards are getting close to the lower bound of laptop territory. So someday I might be able to replace two devices with one... but not today.
Democrat delenda est
...they wouldn't buy them.
My wife got an HP Veer specifically because it's smaller than a credit card. Most of her clothing doesn't have pockets big enough to fit an iPhone, so she got a dead-end phone with an antiquated OS because she's not going to carry a giant phone around. Her friends all think it's fantastic.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
The convergence of tablet and smartphone: Just put a mic and a speaker in the right places on a tablet with a cell modem.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
Yes, I have noticed. No, it is not what I want.
The 5" Dell Streak was probably the best hardware piece I wished to own. Sadly, the software part was disastrous. I still think a 5" screen smartphone-tablet bridge device would be perfect in terms of covering both smartphone and tablet functions. Pair a Bluetooth headset with the device and all of a sudden size is no longer that important.
What I mean is I would pick a 5" screen device any day instead of carrying both a smartphone AND a tablet.
So yeah, supersized smartphones are bad if they are only considered smartphones. A small tablet with phone functions would be preferable.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
It's not about consumer habits. It's just that all the people who designed "bigger and better" SUVs for the auto industry got fired during the recession, so now they've started new careers making gadgets.
Everything is better with chainsaws.
And huge living rooms. For the Kinect
I have an iPhone 4. The screen is almost perfect on size: I can reach the whole screen with my thumb, most of it comfortably, while holding it in my palm. But it's a little too thin: it tends to get gripped too loosely because there's no depth to fill the hollow behind it. But the trend is larger screens and thinner devices. Hopefully not everyone will jump on that trend.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
I would carry around a cinder-block if it had everything I want in a smart phone.
I personally like the larger screen devices that are going on the market. Being a male of above average height and hand size, these kinds of phones are just as easy for me to carry, and offer a better visual experience (after all why have such a powerful smartphone if you are limited to 3.5" of screen space). Surely the larger phones aren't for everyone, and to that end there are still smaller screened phones you can buy, no one is making you buy a large screen phone. Choice is good!
I got the LG Optimus Slider (3.2" screen) because it has the largest physical (sliderout) keyboard possible while still fitting comfortably in my pocket along with my keys and other stuff I carry all the time. I wouldn't mind a slightly taller phone (I have deep pockets), but I wouldn't want it to be any wider and certainly no thicker. My primary reason for a smartphone was email and some very light web browsing/GPS. Angry Birds works ok on it, but I'd be just as happy playing Tetris on my old Tracfone to pass the time. If I want to watch Netflix or use most apps, I'd be much more comfortable with my Nook Color (which still fits in my pocket, but only if you remove the cover and don't put anything else in the pocket).
This seems like it'd be better suited as a poll with options. That being said:
I like the size of the iPhone because it's just the right size. Regardless of whether Jobs would bless my holding-technique, it fits right in there, and my average-sized mitts can reach the whole screen without needing two hands. On the rare occasion I find my phone accidentally being held Landscape, I'm often initially awkward in putting two hands on the device. Just doesn't feel right.
I had a brief fling with a Droid X last year. The nice thing was the screen the size of a toaster. The problem was... the screen the size of a toaster. There were times I'd reach for an icon and... can't quite get there, damnit, ok, shift the phone a little in my hand, retry, nnngghh ok got it. Frustrating.
There's a spot in User Info for World of Warcraft account names? Really?
The bigger size was too big for my taste. I'm glad that there are choices. Yes. The top phones will be the big ones, but smaller ones will most likely always exist side by side.
Just look at the sales numbers for things like Galaxy Note, Galaxy S3, and HTC One X.
Huge screens = huge sales.
Personally, I'm salivating over the Gaaxy Note 2, which should have an even bigger screen than the original.
Maybe they are being made for the same people as the original Xbox controllers?
I loved my Xbox controllers. The "S" controllers for Japanese children with vestigial right-palm-fingers were ridiculous.
They are small computers with phones built in. Anymore, people use Bluetooth headsets to talk, so hold a big thing up isn't a big deal. And when they text, which people do far more than talk anymore, on average, people want big screens and keyboards. Same goes for web browsing, pictures, etc. So, the trend is to provide a smaller portable computer and communication (and tracking, depending on who you listen to) device.
The focus has shifted.
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
i own a galaxy note - and yes, its on the big side. but when anyone asks - i always say that the thing i now do LEAST on my phone, is phone! so for people who spend more time on the web, streaming films, playing games etc. then i think a big screen is perfect - and i agree with another poster - people vote with their wallets - and larger screen phones are being purchased in huge numbers. i personally think if apple brought out a phone with a large ( over 4 inch ) screen with a great battery they'd be onto a winner! FYI - i'm on a phone contract in the UK, that gives truly unlimited data ( no fair usage caps ) - so a large screen, plus netflix = great!
I wouldn't want anything bigger than my Droid X. It's big enough to use the screen for maps and browsing but small enough to hold for phone purposes.
If I had anything significantly bigger, I'd likely have to rely on a Bluetooth accessories all the time.
I don't want a bigger screen, I want a good phone with a solid hardware keyboard. As of right now there is virtually no alternatives to BlackBerry Bold 9900 or maybe Droid Pro (slide out keyboards don't count, they're barely better than on-screen ones and make the device size balloon even worse than large screens)... I'm sure majority of consumers want to watch videos and play videogames on their mobile devices - I want to keep using mine for communicating and a hardware keyboard just cannot be beat.
Bow before me, for I am root.
I bought a Galaxy Note, and I love it. I'm not going to put anything else in the same pocket with it anyway, so why not fully utilize that space? The screen size makes it so much more generally useful than phones I've had in the past.
\\'
I'm fine with a slightly larger phone as long as it's comfortable in my jeans pocket. The iphone screen is too small IMHO and I don't like typing on it. I like a big more screen real easte.
Last night was the first time I was able to demo a Galaxy 3. I held it next to my Galaxy S2 (Sprint epic touch version) The G3 is a hair longer because it has rounded edges. The screen is .5 inches longer and it's mostly accomplished by having less bezel area. I'm fine with that kind of change.
The Samsung Note is another story. That phone is huge. I don't want a phone the size of a Kindle fire.
Most of her clothing doesn't have pockets big enough to fit an iPhone, so she got a dead-end phone with an antiquated OS because she's not going to carry a giant phone around. Her friends all think it's fantastic.
That's because her friends don't have to actually use it. The size might actually be fantastic but that doesn't mean the phone is. I used to have a Nokia E70 "smartphone" with a fold out keyboard. It looked cool and everyone would say so but the screen was too small for practical use and the software interface sucked hard. It was easier to carry but it was a crappy phone. As you say, her phone is antiquated and there is a price to pay for that. My wire carries her phone in a belt holder for the same reason (small or nonexistent pockets). That works too and her phone is the same as mine.
Some of the android phones I've seen are starting to border on tablet size and I'm not sure they'd fit comfortably in a pocket. While I like a big screen as much as anyone, this seems like an attempt to differentiate more than filling any actual need for me at least. As long as I can fit it in my pocket and view the screen comfortably, I'm not too fussy about the exact size. Could be a bit bigger or smaller and I wouldn't care much.
I do want a bigger phone. I currently use an iPhone 4 and would love to have a 4.3 (or whatever the new defacto larger standard is) inch screen, but then again, I'm a big guy 6'4" so all things being relative, the iPhone is currently damn near tiny as far as I'm concerned.
I want the biggest screen that fits comfortable in my pocket. Thin and light would be good, too.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Sure, this guy may not want to supersize his smartphone, but he doesn't speak for me or other people who may want the functionality of a smartphone with the usability of a tablet. Either the author doesn't realize different devices fit different needs, or the author wasn't able to think of a more interesting or pressing issue to write about.
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Somewhere a 3rd grade teacher is telling me to write "I like a bit more screen real estate" on a chalk board 300 times.
Can we have an edit button like everyone else please?
It's that easy. Why do people keep making prescriptions that would affect absolutely everyone, just because they personally don't like something?
If you want a small phone, buy one, period.
Anything else is just saying that your taste and your desires are more important than anybody else's. That's just not true and sure sign of pure arrogance.
Actually I've got an HP Veer which I really love. It is the perfect size (not for general surfing the web, but for checking email, the all important google to name an actor, and for just carrying around in my pocket).
I really like the Web OS also, and it really sucks that HP released the phone and then killed it 2 months later (I did buy a 2nd one because there's nothing else being sold right now that compares!)
Now if I was carrying the phone in a bag of some sort, a bigger phone probably wouldn't be an issue. However even a 4 inch screen really isn't big enough for comfortable web browsing, I think you need a 7" tablet for that.
I had an Android phone, and now I have an iPhone - but if the rumored 7.85" iPad comes out, I'm seriously thinking about carrying that and a small dumb phone instead.
I've seen the big phones, and their screens seem like the worst of both worlds... still too small to really be useful, but big enough where the size starts to be something you have to think about. Given that I hardly ever make phone calls, I think what I'd really like is a smallish tablet that happens to have phone hardware built-in - but it would have to have the ability to vibrate/ring/alarm to really replace a phone for me. Such a device would fit in the cargo pants I usually wear or in the coat pocket I've got handy 9 months out of the year.
#DeleteChrome
As somebody that sold the Motorola "book" cell phones back in the early 90's, I find it funny calling these tiny things "huge and heavy".
In the other side of the spectrum, tablets are getting smaller. So next article would be "Don't undersize my tablet"?
I just bought a Galaxy S3 two days ago. It's huge and I absolutely love it. As long as it fits in my pocket, the bigger the better.
I have an IPhone 4S, and it's about the right size for me. Most days, I wear jeans to work, and anything bigger than the IPhone would be uncomfortable to carry around in my front pocket (not to mention cumbersome to take out when I need to answer it). I can see the benefits to having a larger screen with a higher resolution, but the bottom line is you have to drag it around with you.
There's always the option of using a belt clip, which would make it easier to carry around a phone with a larger form factor, but I just don't like that from an aesthetic perspective. To me, it's a compromise between screen size/resolution and convenience, and I'm perfectly happy with the 3.5" screen.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
When technology writers happen upon a slow news day, it seems the first thing that comes to mind is to cry about something meaningless. Often times, it's a trend driven by consumer demand that they don't particularly like, that they're not at all obligated to take part in. Seriously, what's next, somebody crying that that the packaging for some tablet device isn't aesthetically pleasing enough?
Similes are like metaphors
You are going to stick your proboscis in it?
There Can Be Only One...
Your mobile iPhone 5 will shortly look like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct1_r_61sk8
Bert
I returned my brand new Galaxy SII due to the horrid battery life. The large screen sucked the battery life down to about 6 hours with all widgets removed and an all black background, WIFI and bluetooth turned off! Since I need to carry a phone for work it just didn't cut it. My first smart phone lasted about 5 days of use before needing a recharge (Chinese iPhone clone). My next (Nokia N900) lasted about two days between charges and that is with many widgets, active backgrounds, WIFI, and bluetooth all enabled! Now I've gone back to another Nokia N900 since my first one had an unfortunate hot-tub incident. Plus having a real keyboard is so much nicer to use than the on-screen ones. Plus I have a full development environment on my N900! Can't do that on either iPhone or Android no matter how big the screen is.
If you're interested mostly in calling/texting/emailing then a small screen is fine. But web browsing/book reading/video chat/movie watching are *much* better on a larger screen. Some people prefer to split these activities between a smallish (smart)phone and a tablet, but others (including myself) who only want one device prefer a largish smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S3 in my case, with a 4.8" 720p screen).
It's all just a question of which trade-offs are best for you - why complain that other people have different preferences?
I need a phone that fits in my shirt pocket. Some of my shirts have pretty small pockets. Big screens are nice, but useless if I can't easily carry them with me. There's a reason I don't carry an iPad with me.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Just think of the out of context replies with an edit button! The edit button on facebook just makes for good trolling
There Can Be Only One...
I like big, I mean I've been begging for bigger smartphones ever since I had that Samsung Epix (Windows Mobile 6.5) phone. To me, anywhere from 4" to 4.5" is perfect. Anything bigger than that should just be a tablet. There needs to be a clear distinction. Maybe one day, with advanced knowledge of energy and matter, etc., we can invent a device that you can grow or shrink on demand to fit a particular need.
IME, more often than not, with typical attire, men with large smartphones carry them on belt clips, and women carry them in purses (many of which have dedicated compartments for them.) That's actually not that uncommon even with smaller phones.
Wherefore art thou, Zoolander phone?
It bucks the trend of {bigger,faster}=better. Its 3.7" screen with a single core processor is typical of phones two generations old spec wise. OTOH it is the right size, it has amazing battery life (48 hours or more between charging typical for me) and does not get uncomfortably warm when in use. OTOOH, the stock firmware is really bad but that can be fixed.
The phones are getting bigger, because customers seem to be attracted to bigger screens. But once the screens become too big, the devices also get too big, at which point people start to want smaller phones again. After all, the main reason to carry it with you is because it's a portable communications device; all that computing power is great, but only if the devices remain small.
Therefore, the only solution is to not have such big screens on the phones and instead use external display devices. The possibility of using e.g mini HDMI connectors to couple them to larger monitors is one solution, but I think a much better one would be to connect them to head-mounted displays (HMDs). Then it would once again not be a problem for the phones themselves to have smaller displays, allowing them to be used primarily as input devices.
"The trend for bigger and bigger screens is clear, but is it what consumers want? Is it what you want?"
Yes. I can't stand small phones on which it's hard to type. Even a large phone such as the Galaxy S3 has a smaller footprint than an average wallet so carring it in a pocket isn't an issue.
Bigger is better. Here's my reasoning:
No touchscreen is so 90's. Gotta be able to use apps with simple gestures. On the other hand, no physical keyboard means the screen is covered with smudgy dots (ew), and typing on a touchscreen requires direct attention (NTSB stats show that even dialling on an ifruit while driving is profoundly poor judgement). Gotta have both.... So since I have to have both keyboard and touchscreen, I run things I'd characterize as "applications" on the device. Browsing slashdot? Editing a long email? Yeah. Much more screen real estate than a weather widget or disgruntled birds "app".... So now I'm looking at 800x480 or even 1280x600 screen in my hand, and the browser renders pixels 1:1, so the damn thing had better be at least 4.5-5in across. (Think of it this way: the "retina" display is marketing nonsense, but it's a good marker of the point beyond which increased DPI has no purpose, because humans can't discern the difference.)
Oh, and when I put my phone in my jeans pocket, it falls over sideways and wedges over my thigh when I sit or kneel. A slightly bigger screen will stay vertical in my pocket -- the 5in tablet style phones are just about right.
That or narrower pockets in my Levis...
0.o
I think not...(*poof*)
Instead of bigger, what phones should allow are expanded screen options.
Video cards allow going over multiple screens.
So have phones with fold-out screens. either a 1x2 or 2x2 option.
So like:
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or
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Where the screens will 'flip out' from the phone.
This will give people who want those 'bigger screens' what they want, and allow those who want the phone to remain 'small' what they want as well.
The only cost will be a thicker phone for the foldout screen.
Another option of course, being a 'snapon' screen you could add on (which honestly would probably be not only safer, but leave you a more physically stable phone).
We're still developing the technology necessary for the mobile communications device that will please everyone. What we need is a device that, when used as a phone, is something the size of the old Sanyo SCP-6000 (http://www.digitaltrends.com/images/firstlook/sanyo/scp6000.JPG), and has a fold- or roll-out screen when used for camputing. Flexible screen technology is coming along slowly, but it will get here.
Judging by sales? No. The 3.7" iPhone is outselling every device on the planet.
That said, among non iDevices, the larger models seem to be selling much better, so if Apple ever offers a larger size, who knows.
Of course, this is all pointless conjecture regarding a purely subjective preference. How this makes "news for nerds" is truly confounding.
I actually like the bigger phones. I currently have a Droid Charge and one of the reasons I bought a case for it is because I thought it was felt too small. Next time I buy a phone, I am going to look for a bigger one.
I'd be satisfied with a phone that doesn't drop calls.
1. Bigger screen
2. Bigger keyboard
The former can be solved with a micro projector installed in the phone, to project a larger display on a blank surface, such as a neutral colored wall.
I don't know if there are any currently existing technological ways to solve the latter problem practically, however. Maybe someday.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It has been interesting to watch, throughout the former half of the 2000's, when popular cellphones became smaller and smaller with each generation. Then smartphones game to prominence and during the last five years, they have become larger and larger.
iPhones catch criticism for being so small or having such tiny screens, but quite frankly they fit my pocket very well and suit my needs perfectly. I'd be unhappy if I had to lug around a panel.
/* No Comment */
The screen on my Galaxy Nexus is the perfect size for me. Still fits in my pocket, and my thumb can reach the entire screen while the phone is held comfortably in my hand. It's a bit of a stretch to reach the pull-down notification bar, but it's still within reach. I think any larger screen would be too big to use one handed.
My girlfriend, on the other hand, can't use my Nexus one handed, her thumb is not long enough to reach the top of the screen, and it's even a bit of a stretch to reach over to the left-side of the screen. So she's much happier with the 3.1" screen on her phone.
My Nexus is still large enough for us to both comfortably watch a movie on an airplane. A bigger screen might be nice for that, but not if I need to carry it in my pocket or use it one handed while standing in the bus.
I am all for the bigger screen. In fact I wish the upcoming iPhone would boast a wider screen (as viewed when held in portrait orientation) as well as taller. Why? Because I read eBooks on my phone - in PDF format. I convert everything to PDF since it is more portable than proprietary formats, allowing me to read on my notebook (regardless of the OS I boot), my iPhone, and even my now-ancient PocketPC.
The slightly larger form factor doesn't bother me. If I wanted a smaller phone and didn't care about screen size, I'd get a feature phone. Having the choice of a larger screen is a good thing because then it is actually available if I want it.
Why doesn't it bother me? I still remember my first cellphone, which was analog; a big chunky NEC (and I paid about $1.10 per minute for local minutes once I went over my 20 minute per month plan's allocation). Friends who were earlier adopters who got cellphones when they were still in high school had "bag phones" which was carried - yep, you guessed it - in a bag, where the handset was larger than a desktop phone "receiver"/handset and the transceiver/phone itself was about the size of a 15" desktop replacement laptop (and local minutes averaged $1.50/minute and at the time I don't think any "free" minutes were included).
ALL of today's cellphones are pretty darn small - and I look at my iPhone more as a pocket-sized Internet-enabled unix box that just happens to provide telephone functionality. It is something that only sci-fi writers could dream of even up through the '90s.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
have the phone whatever size but
1 have a standard keyboard connector (so you can install whatever PCD keyboard you want
2 have a standard (hdmi-ish?) projector connector
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
In my mind I think the perfect screen size would be in the 4.5-4.7 inch range. Here is the kicker though let's up the resolution on these things. The Note is interesting not only because of the size but it has decent resolution (1280X800) and the iPhone 4s (960X640). I'm not generally an Apple fan but man they nailed it when they upped the resolution. I think the next phone/phablet that gets me to 1900X1080 resolution gets my dollars. If that's a 5 incher so be it.
The web is still designed for desktops and are hard to use on the small screens.
I have bluetooth and pockets to solve the size/weight issue. My blackberry seems to be getting smaller and I don't have a good solution for old eyes and fat fingers.
I would like to carry a decent 4" phone for handheld use, in the car, etc. And a 7" tablet that I could tether to the phone. But...
> The carriers are hell-bent on billing me a data service for both devices. I'm only going to use one at a time, and the total data cap I have is enough no matter how I use the devices.
> I have Sensation 4G, and I was planning on avoiding rooting it and living in the stock ROM world for once. Well, TMO took back tethering form the ICS ROM, so I avoided that. I know, if I do root it and install tethering, I'm violating their TOS, so heck.
>If my wife could get an iPhone from TMO, I would be happy with a shared plan, though I bet they don't let me share data with 2 phones and a tab. I get unlimited minutes, text, and 2G data for $25 less/mo than my wife gets 700 mins, unlim text, and 2G data from AT&T. That's the iPhone tax, worth about $600 more than my Sensation over a 2yr contract. We may see iPhones with TMO next year, but I'm not expecting it. More likely, my wife will give in and go Android.
So my solution is to tether a tab for when I want it, and carry a decent-sized phone when I don't. Both are useful in different ways.
If I have to, I might buy a supersized phone. Maybe.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
My biggest complaint about most cell phones and some of the older smart phones is that they are so small that they are extremely easy to lose. The new, larger smartphones fit very snugly in my pocket in a way that makes it difficult for them to fall out. In general, it is also harder to lose something that is bigger. I think as long as it can fit in your pocket comfortably, it isn't a problem.
If people are building and selling big phones it is because the consumers are saying yes to this question with their wallets.
I have a 5" Galaxy S, I would never go back to smaller. Here is why: - Battery life is better because it can hold a battery nearly twice the size (in mAH), with only a bit more consumption. - Games, movies, any kind of media, freakin awesome on 5" - Reading a book for hours possible on the 5" without killing your eyes. - Still slips into my jean or khaki pocket - Works as a turn by turn GPS on the dash...and its readable... If you have not spent a week with a larger device, you are really missing out. Picking up an iPhone (which is where I came from) feels tiny and insignificant and browsing the web is kind of annoying on it. I think the author here has just never used a large device for very long.
neorush
I like big phones
...and I can not lie,
You other brothers can't deny,
When Tim Cook walks in with a white plastic case,
And puts a round corner in your face --
You get sprung!
It has been shown repeatedly that 3.5" is the ideal size for a touchscreen phone. The majority of the population can hold the phone in one hand and reach every corner with their thumb. Phones that are 4, 4.3, or 5" are just stupid.
Unless Apple makes one that size. Then it'll be awesome. ;-)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
My Phone is a Phone! Still hanging on to my old flip phone that fits in the bottom of my shirt pocket sideways, it is used to make phone calls, I also have a Bluetooth headset for driving on long trips! If I want to haul around something that doesn't fit in my pocket, I have a netbook for that! eReader fits in either rear pocket in Jeans or inside jacket pocket and the charge lasts over a week of intense reading, so don't need to read on a phone that is going to go dead before the day is over! I don't text, so no keyboard needed either! So no use for a tablet, If I am at home, there is a computer that does all that, If I am out and about, I don't carry a briefcase, messenger bag, purse or anything else a tablet would fit in, unless I am on a trip then the afore mentioned netbook goes with me, and since I have that, why would I need a tablet or a humongous phone!
Here is an EE Times article on the same subject. The article and commenters agree people using mass transit (mostly outside the US) want to minimize carried weight and prefer a single device with a large screen instead of two devices (pad and phone). If you are already carrying a day pack, the size is less of a problem than weight from two batteries.
If I were to get a smartphone, I'd prefer a high resolution display of at least 5". And I wouldn't worry about how thin it was, either, if that meant better battery life. This would be comparable in size (but probably a bit heavier, with lots of battery) to my wife's GPS, which with a good belt holster I don't believe would be any trouble to carry around.
Then again, I'm 6'5" and don't mind looking nerdly (which I am, after all).
Yes, it's what I want. Big as you can go as long as it still fits in my pocket. If the demand for smaller screens is sufficient, someone will fill in that niche market for them. Stop whining.
When I bought the HTC Evo 4 on launch day, more than one person commented it was too heavy for them. I made a proposition. Suppose there is a second model that is exactly the same in every way except for two main differences: 1) it ways half as much and 2) it costs $30 more. How would you justify spending +$30? What could you do in the real world with the second model that you couldn't do with the first, even after hours of continuous use? Was the extra weight of the first/cheaper model enough to cause plausible physical discomfort?
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins
Absolutely - I want a 7" smartphone, and I'm not going to carry one until they come out.
I bought a Samsung Galaxy Note because I wanted the screen size. Then I bought an extended battery because wow, does that gorgeous screen soak up power!
Compared to most smartphones, it's HUGE. But you know what? Compared to most of the "dumb" cellphones being sold in the early to mid 90s it's smaller, lighter, and does considerably more. Some people won't want it, and if it were the only kind of phone available that would suck, but there are plenty of size choices and what others consider over-the-top is perfect for me. ... actually, I wouldn't mind if it was a little larger...
Eviscerati.Org: All Hail the Eviscerati
We want these if they can be made touch-sensitive
Technoli
(emphasis mine) If I may paraphrase the question: "Has anyone noticed that if you select among the most expensive phones which have the most expensive components, probably because they have the largest screens, that this tiny subset of the market happens to have the largest screens?"
Yes and no. Some people do, some people don't.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Some of us have big hands and appreciate the extra real estate when typing on the phone. Bigs hands are great for many things and I love mine. However, I still miss my original large Xbox controller.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
qHD... you mean.. SD?
c++;
I don't understand why the need to put one's smartphone into their pants pocket. That just seems like a dangerous place to keep something as expensive and valuable as a smartphone. I prefer a 4.3"+ screen for viewing websites, e-mails, or watching Netflix but I carry the device on my belt. It's easily accessible and protected from being cracked or pocket-dialed.
Is it just an aesthetic thing? Are phones on a belt clip/pouch just uncool these days?
Thank you! As I was scrolling down I had that tune in my head.
Waiting for an amusing sig.
I have a Droid X. At the time of it's release, I believe it was the biggest touch screen phone on the market. My daughter recently acquired a Bionic, which is slightly larger. A friend now carries one 'a' those giant phones by Samsung.
I got the Droid X because I planned to use Logmein Ignition to do remote administration, so I didn't have to carry a laptop when I was on-call. (It works really well after some training.) Daughter got the Bionic because it had features she liked and she didn't mind carrying a large phone. Friend got the giant phone because he owns and manages several websites and could do maintenance on the fly, and customer demos, directly from his phone.
It all depends on what you're doing. If you get a big smartphone because "of course bigger is better", you're an idiot. But if you have a specific purpose in mind, for instance, one where a larger screen means you don't have to carry a second device, then a bigger phone might be a good idea.
Just because there's big phones out there doesn't mean you have to own one. Unless, you know, you're a sheep.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Thickness matters. And yes I am still talking about phones.
People who claim that iPhones are the perfect size have never used bigger phones. And iPhones are thicker than current state of the art phones. . Plus, iPhones are super expensive and scratch prone, so most people stick a cover on them. A thinner wider longer phone slides easily into most pockets. And considering the things I (and most slashdot users I would think) use our phones - reading, browsing, maps, text input, you want the biggest screen you can live with. Not the other way around. It is no longer about which phone is the least noticeable in your pocket. Most people want the largest screen that they can live with without it being too inconvenient. The minor inconvenience most people decide to live with, because you really can't go back once you've used a big screen phone.
3.5" screen looks soooo small. I just got a Galaxy S3 and I think it really has hit the sweet spot in size, just under 5". Easy to read, but small enough to fit in my hand or my pocket.
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Maybe, but sometimes unrealistic expectations drives innovation -- it used to be considered stupid to expect multimegabit internet access at home, now its considerd a baseline.
It used to be a norm in the automotive industry that luxury and performance were seperate -- you could have a Corvette or a Cadillac. One had a rough ride but was fast and handled well. The other was big and would haul four people in comfort, but handled like a Chris-Craft. Now you can buy a four door luxury sedan that will outperform a '70s Corvette and still haul four people in luxury.
A time will come where some kind of technology enables a smartphone sized device to present a tablet-sized display (well, it's already here if they'd embed a pico projector into a phone, and projection was considered suitable).
http://tiny.cc/vl9qhw
Everyone should think the way I do, and if you don't you're overly influenced by marketing trends. If you would just listen to me, then all the manufacturers would give me exactly what I want. We don't need choice as long as everyone realizes I'm right.
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
The author tells us about his experience with watches and the sizes that they have moved through over the years. This analogy is not very strong. I don't want a big heavy watch either. A phone is in my pocket (and if I'm sitting down, usually in my car console or on a table). Big phones these days aren't even that heavy (the SIII is not heavy at all).
I have a hand me down iPhone (3GS) and a Nexus 7 and I now think the perfect phone for me would be a phablet with a 6" 1920x1200 screen with the tiniest bezel that can be achieved (145x85mm would be nice). This will still fit in front pants pocket (unlike the Nexus 7 which I can cram in a jacket pocket, but not in any of my pants) and have an amazing display for pretty much anything I want to do away from a laptop. Too bad 6" seems to be no mans land right now - I know of Toshiba's prototype (6.06", 2560x1600), I can't wait to see if it will show up in anything, preferably a future Nexus 6 (with phone features).
I have a friend who is 6'5", and he like the bigger phones. It's almost like people are different.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You're missing the real reason: phone companies want as many people as possible forced into buying a monthly data plan (and most won't use much data at all = pure profit). Hence: more and more (and bigger) smart phones, while the feature phones are de-feautred to the point where even senior citizens are turned off by them. I have a mid-level 'multimedia' phone that didn't have a $40 a month data charge (though it still has a $15 one, IIRC). I haven't looked, but I wouldn't be surpised if that range of phones has been phased out for more $mart phones. Real consumer 'choice' is wildly over-estimated.
Last year, I went from an HTC Hero to a Galaxy SII. Just about everything was a great improvement. The only physical problem I had was that it is Too thin. It was not quite enough of a handful. I tried out a protective case but it was a bit of a nuisance and I am not sure how much protection this kind of glass needs anyway.
The cure also solved a standard smartphone problem - battery life. I bought a higher capacity battery - 3500 instead of 1650MAH. Because the battery was thicker, I was supplied with a new back.. It is now about the same thickness as an iPhone and better to hold than it was at its previous thinness. I can now GPS and use apps all day and don't need to charge it until bed time.
I disliked phones getting smaller and smaller. I had phones that if I put them to my ear, they didn't reach my cheekbone. The screens were too small and they looked stupid. I now have something that replaces a jacketful of gadgets and they look more like something a grown up would have.
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
The majority of comments I'm seeing on Slashdot are in stark contrast to the experiences and opinion of the article's author. He says everyone he talked to on Twitter hates the larger phones...That's not what I'm seeing here.
Every manufacturer wouldn't be making bigger and bigger displays if that wasn't what a lot of customers wanted. Even Apple is rumored to be getting in on the game, maybe a little late, but still they want to play. Everyone else... pretty much all premium smartphones other than the iPhone? Big displays. They are selling. So, while [YOU] don't want one, [EVERYONE ELSE] does apparently.
I'd like one that I could strap onto my forearm.
...or an awesome one that knew he didn't mean prefect in that context.
It's that easy. Why do people keep making prescriptions that would affect absolutely everyone, just because they personally don't like something?
If you want a small phone, buy one, period.
Anything else is just saying that your taste and your desires are more important than anybody else's. That's just not true and sure sign of pure arrogance.
Have you tried to buy a small phone? There's not much to work with. Small smart phones don't exist at all (an iPhone is *not* small). Clamshell Android phones appeared briefly and then disappeared. If you want a small dumb phone you will find than even those are bigger than they used to be.
I bought my last dumb phone in large part because the previous phone was too big to comfortably pocket while driving. The last straw was when I left my phone in my car when I left to catch a plane. This would not happen if I didn't feel compelled to remove my phone when I sat down to drive.
Now I have a smart phone and it's even bigger than my old old dumb phone. I leave it out all the time. I am amazed I haven't lost it yet. If I take another lengthy trip, I'm going to have to eBay me a small dumb phone. Walking around third world countries with this expensive monstrosity in my pocket is *not* going to work!
No, an edit button would be horrible. It would allow for seriously worse trolling, and all because you can't proof read your own posts.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
As the owner of a Palm TX, I find that my Galaxy Note (which I acquired two months ago), I find that the Note weighs less, is much thinner (especially without the leather cover just as wide, is a nicer screen, and just a little longer. The Note is faster, does a lot more, and I make sure I carry it everywhere, unlike the Palm. Playing with my daughter's S 2, I can see that it's nice to be able to have better control with only one hand. But that's about it. The keyboard is useful enough in portrait mode (although landscape mode is TOO big. :S ). I also have larger than normal hands (square meaty palms, the fingers are normal enough...).
And considering people are developing for the Note, while I don't think anybody has been developing for the old Palm Pilot series in quite a while, it's definitely an app win.
Just updated to ICS. I'm loving it EXCEPT for the damn WiFI issues. :p Where I used to connect to, now doesn't, and they just get disabled. It even happened to my home network, although rebooting it fixed that problem. So at least my home setup (still?) works.
I didn't want to buy the Note when I did, I wanted to buy it with ICS already installed and have a look at the S 3, but my old phone's battery bricked (six months ago a battery for the thing was $100. And they aren't available anymore.) And I had to have a phone. So I went ahead and bit, although I guess I could have just picked up a cheap Go phone and lived with that for three months.
Now that the hardware war is over and they lost, I still can not stand Apple's Windows software. iTunes, Safari, QuickTime, everything else I've tried, it's junk. Making sure that it looks like Mac OS is just plain stupid, because I'm pretty God damned sure it doesn't work the same anyway. Yes, I want to learn just what the hell the green, yellow and red balls do on the wrong side of the window. That is the height of arrogance.
Bryan
It all depends. I want my phone to be small and have abundant battery life. But if it is a smartphone, then I want it to be big (and still have abundant battery life). If I am going to use the thing to try to view web pages and whatnot, then i need it to have a reasonably sized screen. If I just have a phone that makes calls, then small is fine, but not so small that it can't reach my ear and my mouth (which I don't believe that any phone manufactured in the last 20 years can do).
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
When I had this behemoth I got stares, laughs, and jokes about the sheer size of the thing. Many of my colleagues called it my "Tricorder", others would gawk at it, then pull out a Blackberry of some sort, a Palm Treo or Centro, or an Audiovox PPC 6700/6800/6900.
My current Samsung Galaxy S 4G is pretty close to the size of this thing, though considerably thinner and I've seen some of the latest phones coming out and I think it's ridiculous at how close they're getting to the size of my old monster phone... and many still don't have a physical keyboard which, to me, is something I miss dearly (Samsung's Replenish is a modern dead-ringer for the G1000, and if I were still on Sprint I'd own one now).
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
Give me my modernized Nokia Communicator 9300i! Clamshell with proper keyboard and large resolution screen. Stick in Maemo5 like in N900 and I'm good for another 5 years. My 9300i grew old; the browser can't read modern pages and lack of 3G severely affected SSH latencies. N900 is excellent software, I can trivially tether laptops with it and even run Debian on microsd card.
And if we're writing a wishlist; how about usable opensource drivers for the mobile GPUs..
At work I need to block/filter SMS when I'm not on-call, and I need a hotspot/tether function. The options are down to:
So, what Android phones can run ICS (I like updated software)? It needs ~1GB RAM to run, but suppose I can do with 768 MB. GSMarena tells me I'm pretty much in big-screen land.
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
I buy a smartphone to have what it is: a pocket-sized computer with internet on-the-go. I admit that the phone-app is rarely used, but even when it is I use a headset so I wouldn't expect to have problems with a phone being "too large." So long as it can still fit in my pocket, bigger is better in my opinion. If I spent more time on the phone it might become a factor. I suppose I just didn't realize it was hard to find smaller phones.. I would probably get an old-school cell phone if I was having problems, but I don't mind walking around with 5 gadgets at a time.
for the smaller screen. Definitely not a fan of the larger Android devices. A larger iPhone will make me sad.
I have used my Nokia N900 for over two years. I have used my Galaxy Note for over 9 months. I hope my next phone will have a bigger screen, hardware keyboard, and a linux based OS. Get your Iphone if that's what YOU want, but please, let ME and the rest of us who prefer mobile phoning computers have them, they are great. I would jump any time to a N900 with a 6" screen. That's the beauty of choice.
Maybe, but the bar has been raised in both markets. Today's Corvette will still easily outperform and outhandle even the best Cadillac. No one's invented a suspension yet that can be both soft and firm at the same time (or rather, soft for bumps and firm when cornering). There has been some research into "active suspensions" over the years, but nothing's really made it into production vehicles yet.
I might look a little awkward when on the phone, but 7" phone should be ideal. I try reading books on my 4", but it is a bit smallish. Same goes for browsing the web.
7" still comfortably fits in the pocket. I would be preferred if it lost the wide bezel around the edges mo maximize screen for less pocket space. Another nice feature would be a concave screen, for in-pocket ergonomics reason.
If the battery gets bigger, thus giving it a bigger battery life, sure.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
And guess what, there is plenty of smaller smartphones if this is what you want. Get Xperia Mini, and back off from my Galaxy Note. There are plenty of different devices for everyone. If you don't need bigger screen don't buy it and let the market decide. And it did decide, Galaxy Notes are selling pretty well - see nice progress ion 2, 5, 7 million devices: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/03/galaxy-note-sales-so-far/ http://www.bgr.com/2012/03/28/the-phablet-is-a-hit-samsung-galaxy-note-sales-top-5-million/ http://www.smartcompany.com.au/information-technology/050030-samsung-reveals-galaxy-s-and-galaxy-note-sales-figures.html
You other brother's can't deny.
I wouldn't go for the Galaxy note, that's too large, but I much prefer my Samsung Galaxy 2 Skyrocket (I don't like big phone names) to the iPhone 4 it replaced. I won't consider going back to an iPhone if Apple does not offer a version with a > 4.5" screen.
Amen to that-- no edits without version control.
Well, a smartphone != phone => if you want a phone, buy a phone, and yes for 12 keys and a 2 line display, you don't need 3".
OTOH, for a smartphone, which nowadays come 99% without a hardware keyboard, >4" is a minimum size. With smaller screens, the virtual keyboard hides most of the app plus is not very nice to use => One can live with a slow CPU, tiny RAM, tiny flash, but a 3.5" display is just not very useful for text input.
I have been using 7" original Galaxy Tab running CyanogenMod 6 (then 7) as my phone. It fits just fine in back jeans pocket although seating with it is not very comfortable. I use it less now after I got Galaxy Note (CM9), but it 7' is still the best format for reading books. 10" inch Galaxy Tab just sits in it's cradle, hardly every used.
...the damned things aren't PHONES anymore! I checked my history on Sprint the other day, and, this is really pretty funny... I've got four lines on my account, me wife and two kids... over the last YEAR, our average talk time was... wait for it... 9 minutes a month! I think the peak was like 22 minutes one month.
Texts, the AVERAGE per month was 963.
Total data, monthly average, was 8Gb.
So, two things... first, you can see why I like sticking with Sprint and their unlimited data plans even though they have far from the best overall service... second, these things aren't really phones for us anymore, they're TRULY personal computers... we've effectively redefined what the term PC means. I think at this point, speaking for me, I probably check mail and social sites on my phone 95% of the time. I also browse the web a lot from my phone (the usage pattern I've noticed is that when I'm looking for something specifically I tend to grab my phone, but when I'm just aimlessly browsing I still use my desktop more).
So yeah, the bigger screen sizes for me are necessary. My wife and I recently got the Galaxy S3 and we freakin' totally love them, and the big screen size is one of the main reasons. I've had smartphones with screen sizes from 2.8 inches (HTC Mogul) to the Epic 4G (4 inches) and now the SGS3 (4.8 inches I believe) and I can say without the slightest question that bigger is better here, and the SGS3 I carry in my rear jean pocket without any problem whatsoever.
Now, how much is TOO big? That's really the question. I'm not sure I'd want to go TOO much bigger than the SGS3... I could see 5 inches without a problem, maybe up to 5.5 at the most, but I think anything more than that is probably getting too big.
If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pa
If something is big, making it smaller is a great technological advance.
Digital camera example: Big pixels yield high ISO which is good, but optical format is large which is bad.
So make smaller pixels so we get more megapixels to advertise which is good.
Now quality sucks, so invent technological advance of bigger pixels!
Profit!
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
I love my Galaxy Note. It is an awesome Phonelet. Unlocked international with ICS. Add a headset (it does look a little odd when you talk into it) and you are gold.
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
While this post is definitley a bit off topic, I think many of you smartphone owners out there will see the connection immediatley. Many of you, like me, probably used a blackberry as their first "smart" phone. Sure, when the apps ran at all they ran as slow as molasses on a cold winter day, but until that pesky Iphone reared its head, Blackberry was the only game in town, and they had (and still have) one thing locked down tight: THEIR KEYBOARD IS INCREDIBLE, and perfect for actually USING your smartphone to PRODUCE words instead of simply using your smartphone to consume them. Now I must admit that even though at the time I owned an OG droid, when the DX came out I RAN to the store-- I had to have one of these puppies! And indeed, it was excellent-- much faster than the OG and WOW in comparison the display on a DX really leaves the OG wanting. What I did not think about, however, was that I would miss my physhical keyboard because I wasn't too impressed with the keyboard on the OG. What I'd like to see is a ginormous phone, somewhere between 4.3 and 5.3 inches, so still clearly in "phone" territory (though I agree with poster above who states, "Not phones: Small (sic increasingly powerful and ubiquitous) computers." For once, VR (voice recognition) actually seems like it is ready to do a good deal of daily driving in the cell phone world, but there are many an occasion that you don't want someone listening to you dictate your texts, or someone doesn't want to listen to you dictating your texts, etc. I have always thought that the ideal phone would be a phone with a fairly large screen, ANDROID, and an excellent high travel keyboard (this means that when you press a button down you can really feel it, like on a blackberry keyboard). It should have entirely standard ports and connectors and use every applicable line of open source code to make itself better. I don't know the stream phone would in the end be a true android device, however it would in my mind without a doubt be the best selling cell phone ever Bahrain rate improvements in voice recognition happening in the next 3 to 6 months.
The Samsung Replenish has a solid keyboard.
I do agree though. The thing about my Galaxy S that I hate the most is the lack of a hardware keyboard. I loved my LG Lotus to death because of the keyboard on it as well as my ancient Hitachi G1000's keyboard.
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
Has he ever actually held one of these "huge, heavy lumps" in his hand. I have a Galaxy S2 and the screen is one inch larger than an a standard 3.5-inch phone, but the footprint isn't much bigger and the phone is actually lighter than most 3.5-inch phones. And based on the sales numbers of big-screen phones in a market with plenty of medium-sized phones, I would say that there are quite a few people willing to carry these "heavy lumps".
So he tweeted an emotionally charged question and found some people who agree with him. I couldn't think of a worse way to gather information about what people in the market truly want.
The bigger backlight will draw a bit more power. I don't think that the touch area will have any noticeable effect on the battery life. And while he is technically correct that phones with a higher resolution draw more power, the 3.5-inch iPhone has one of the highest resolutions of phones on the market yet few complain about its battery life, so that proves that its not impossible to deliver such a product.
So you're going to dismiss any research that supports a viewpoint different from your own without judging the quality of that data on a case-by-case basis. That seems very objective.
I live in the real world and my GS2 fits easily in the pocket of all of my pants and gets at least two days of moderate usage on a single charge. I think the question that's more important than the one proposed in this article is why this guy cares so much about the existence of phones that obviously aren't marketed toward him.
A modern Corvette is faster than a modern sedan, but only very slightly.
Lap times on the Nürburgring give a stock, modern Corvette only a 20 second advantage (7:35 vs. 7:55), roughly 4 percent over the BMW M5, Mercedes E63 AMG and Porsche Panamera Turbo, which while all fast cars are technically luxury sedans.
Back in 1970 that margin would likely have been 100% or more between a luxury sedan and a sports car.
And even then, the sports cars are much more like luxury cars -- with AC, leather, automatic transmissions, stereos, quiet rides, etc.
Frankly, it was the manufacturers that insisted on making all phone interfaces high-res touch screens. If you're going to do that, the public needs them to be large, in order to actually be able to use the screen and the interface.
---don't make me break out my red pen.
Come on, people over 500 messages and no:
'Is that a Galaxy in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?'
I'm kinda disappointed.
Per http://gigaom.com/2012/07/05/sometimes-a-phone-isnt-a-phone-so-what-is-it/, people spend more time browsing the internet (25 minutes a day), social networking (17 minutes a day), playing games (13 minutes a day) and listening to music (16 minutes a day) than they do making calls (12 minutes).
The reported overall combined usage is 128 minutes per day, so it's being utilized as a phone only 10% of the time. For the other 90%, I'd rather have a screen that doesn't cause eyestrain and that can accomodate my fat fingers without requiring constant zooming.
A BMW M5 and Mercedes E63 AMG may be technically "luxury sedans", but only technically. Compared to an American luxury car, these have rather harsh rides, with their stiff suspensions. Try comparing one to a Lincoln Town Car.
Of course, personally, I don't give a shit about feeling like I'm floating on a cloud or whatever, but over here in America, that's the definition of "luxury car", not something that comes close to rivaling a Corvette on a twisty road course. There's actually another term for cars like that that people in some circles use: "GT cars". Basically, this means a car which has the engine and suspension of a high-performance sports car, but has all the interior appointments and gadgets of a high-end luxury car. So it has a weight penalty compared to a more-pure sports car, but it gets close to the performance, but it also doesn't give you the completely-isolated-from-the-road feeling that a traditional American luxury car gives you (which people over the age of 75 seem to love, judging by sales figures on those vehicles).
There's probably at least two optimum sizes, one for big people (usually men) and small people. As the market matures, there will likely even be more.
#6495ED - cornflower blue
Yes, this is what I want.
I recently upgraded to an Evo LTE with a nearly 5" screen and it's almost big enough.
A device with a 4" - 4.2" display, decent dual/quad core processor running around 1.2 - 1.5 Ghz, and the ability to obtain root on the device if I choose. I have no need to carry around a beast of a deivce with a 5" display or a device that so locked down that I can't unlock features the phone has, but the carrier decided to disable.
I want a decent sized screen, between 4" - 5", I use my phone to read a lot, do Email, and watch video, so having a tiny screen is counter productive for me.
I changed from a Nokia E55 to a Galaxy S1. The Galaxy can do lots of things the Nokia can't but all of those things are not essential and tend to be something I use only once in a blue moon.
The E55 has a very small screen but with Opera Mini I could do things in a push. Email's there, maps are there. All your mobile sites are there. If it could do Spanish and English at the same time I'd go back to one because the screen is higher quality outdoors and the battery lasts a matter of days longer.
I think with a lot of these big screen phones the thinking is 'why not go as big as we can'? They say big, but really it's only the screen size that has increased and not the thickness. That's been the key thing for the phones. The Razor really made the difference by making everything thinner. When that happened I think people realised that it was less about the size and the thickness was more important and so the size was able to increase.
The big screen on my i9000 means I have to carry a spare battery, which makes it really big. Add in a case or a wearable battery jacket to be sure you can get through a day no matter what you do (i.e. Sat Nav) then you got a really big device - too big. With all these things I can't even fit them in the pockets I used to.
I'd love to see a small touchscreen eink phone. The focus is all on multimedia and the web. For people who prefer to get things done we've felt quiet left out these last few years. Not everyone is on their phone all the time. Some of us use them sparingly.
Chinese firms are filling in the gaps with things like dual sim phones and watchphones that go completely against the massive phone thing. Both of course tend to be terrible quality but now bigger firms have got in on the act and it's changed a bit.
A blog I run for the wealth
Hopefully, my two Pebbles will someday exist. One is mostly for development. If you can scorch the firmware, you need two.
I've never really wanted a cell phone, unfortunately my Pebble won't be too useful without one. I share a crap Samsung with my squeeze. I wear it about once a month. We're on the cheapest plan we could find in British Columbia: a moderate chunk of pre-paid minutes that last for a year without expiring. Technically the minutes are billed at something like $0.30/minute, 24x7 but in actual fact we rarely exceed the bundled minutes, so we regard 100% of the fee as a fixed price for maintaining network connectivity. Huge incentive to keep calls short. The one situation that burns my biscuits is the extra phone company golden dulcet help menu that puts your call over a minute before you even reach the place where you can leave your five word "hey, it's me, I called" voice message. The annoying complication is that not all phone systems take the # key as "go straight to message". For some of my dial-dates the # key takes you to the "please enter your password to access your mailbox" voice menu. Then you have to burn another minute knowing better. The phone companies are so not on your side I prefer to keep my exposure to their business practices to a dead minimum. Would it take an act of god to get a phone that only bills when you turn it on? Apparently, yes: an act of god ... or moving down under. (Note to Tel-holes: Bulk minutes with an expiry date don't count, unless the expiry dates use the decade as the baseline pint. If five years corresponds to a half-pint, then a half-pint is a moderately acceptable compromise.)
But anyway, I had reasons for wanting the Pebble, and one can only resist a rising red tide for so long.
I'm OK with a large phone. I made a cut-out from stiff cardboard of a Galaxy Note and left it on my desk for a week. Just a bit too big for regular phone use. I'd certainly have a headset of some kind. Fits just fine in my 36x36 jeans. In fact, I go out of my way to avoid the low-slung overgrown Gandalf-with-a-muffin-top look (but not so high it covers my nipple chain, should I suddenly wish to have one). At the compromise tide line around the top of the pelvic bones, the thing positively vanishes into my giant pockets.
I'm pretty sure I don't want to phone shop again for another three to five years, so it will be at least a dual core A15 with LTE enabled and the latest Android confection. The stylus shovelware will probably leave me cold, but you never know.
Lugging this beast around every day to talk to my amazing Pebble watch, I might even suck it up and activate a data plan. If it weren't for Pebble, I probably would have waited it out another year.
Only two of the models you listed have reasonably fast CPUs, and both those are CDMA phones (useless everywhere except a few major carriers in north america) and are still a bit tall for some of us (the screen alone does not determine the device size). They're also running a 1.5 to 2 year old version of the operating system, which tells me that even those half-assed examples are going to be outdated soon.
A bunch of you have replied already, yet nobody has come close to showing that there's "no shortage of choice at the small end." Most of you are just asserting that you like the phones that are available. That's fine, but lots of us are not like you; we really do want small, modern phones, and there really are very few to be had. I don't understand why so many of you feel driven to argue the point. (I would be delighted to be proven wrong; sadly, I won't be.)
Thing is, asking for the 'best processor/most memory' in a smaller form factor is a bit like asking to put a V-8 diesel into a F-150. Yes, the additional processing capacity enables more tasks, but at this point how many of them are going to be extra painful to try to do on a smaller screen?
I have a motorola Atrix at the moment and I'd LOVE to have a larger screen. I already use a bluetooth headset and voice commands for making calls, so I don't feel the need for a smaller phone that's more convenient to hold to my ear, but I'd love a larger screen when playing games/reading emails and such. Would also like it to be a slider with an actual keyboard, and yes, I'd be willing to deal with the weight.
Right now I think my 'ideal' phone would have a nice large screen, and use the larger form factor to enable things like a larger, longer lasting battery(under heavy use), bigger higher gain antennas(cell, wireless, BT) for more range and better signal in remote areas(that I spend a lot of time in), and more armor(my otterbox tripled the size of my phone) so I don't need a seriously protective case(just something to keep the screen from being scratched).
I don't read AC A human right
I managed to break a GalaxyS(not 2), but I did so by falling with it in my back pocket right onto ice with my butt. Before that, 'tossing' it to the floor by accident was pretty much a daily occurance and no damage was done. I got an otterbox for my next phone(atrix), and managed to break the case after a year. The phone is fine. Did the case do it's job, or is the phone just that tough? I'll have to see.
I don't know the specifics of what happened in your case, but there are reports of phones surviving things like multi-story drops out of helicoptors. A less than 1 story drop is supposed to be well within their design tolerance; even onto concrete.
Given my experience I figure there was some sort of 'aggreviating factor' to the cracking of the screen of your phone - being stepped or fell on, hitting something pointy on the screen, etc...
I don't read AC A human right
I think one of the reasons why Apple has NOT gone to a bigger size screen was the fact they feared that users would not be able to use the iPhone one-handed--note that with the Samsung Galaxy SII and SIII models, it works best in two-handed operation.
This is why if the rumors are true, Apple kept the width of the next-generation iPhone the same, but increased the physical height to accommodate a true 4" (diagonal) display screen. In short, it's been said the new iPhone looks a lot like a "taller" iPhone 4S.
What is wrong with you? Every one of those has a 600 MHz CPU and runs a two-year-old version of Android. There is nothing modern about that. They're not particularly small devices, either, despite the small screen area.
I own a Samsung Galaxy Note and I knew beforehand how large it is. But I didn't buy a mobile phone, I bought a small tablet with mobile Internet connection and that's exactly what I got. Yes, I can also make phone calls with it, but I rarely do. As for carrying it: There are nice belt pouches for it. The solution is simple: If you don't like it, don't buy it. Of course, if somebody can come up with a smartphone that has a >=5" display but is much smaller, that would be nice. Maybe with glasses? That would still leave the problem on how to interact with it (no, speech recognition is not a solution). We'll see.
My thought on docking stations is that it'd probably be better to use some variation of ultra-short range bluetooth and an inductive charger - that way getting the thing precisely onto the dock isn't as important.
I don't read AC A human right
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All of the droids with high end hardware are XBOX HUEG.
I have a droid incredible because that was the smallest they had 2 years ago that had new hardware.
There are no phones with high end hardware this small anymore. The only small droids are the budget ones with single core processors.
Is it really that much to ask for a phone with a sub 4" screen with high end hardware? I don't want an xbox in my pocket.
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For me the tipping point with a phone is the point where I can no longer operate the thing with one hand...well thumb actually. On my old iPhone 3GS I could do exactly that. I could wizz around the screen and reach everything using just one hand. With my new Galaxy S2 it's not quite as easy. It still fits in my pocket and for some things a larger screen is nice but it's starting to feel more tablet-y.
in fact, I want my "phone" to be a tablet with the ability to hook up a bluetooth headset.
A normal phone and data plan.
Now, why doesn't anyone make that?
End of discussion, I mean, really.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Yes i love XBOX fantastic games game