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?"

Comments

Bigger != Better

[jmorris42]

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.

Re:Bigger != Better

[dc29A]

I use monthly about 4-5 minutes air time on my phone. Rest of time is maps, browsing, reading and games. Phablets are prefect for me. I keep telling people that I don't have a phone but a small tablet with a phone app.

Re:Bigger != Better

[clarkn0va]

Your post is immediately more interesting than the linked article, because you actually claim experience with a larger device, albeit an archaic one that hardly resembles the smart phones the author is bemoaning.

Ockenden criticizes this 'growing' trend, quotes some twitter users criticizing the trend, and then concludes that the manufacturers of these smart phones don't know anything about their market, because consumers obviously want the old phones; great battery life and diminutive size are obviously all that matter.

This article would have been far more interesting had he actually claimed to have tried one of these newer bigger phones, or at least talked to somebody who has. I carry a Samsung Galaxy Note for work, and the biggest reservation I had coming from the much smaller HTC Desire, was its huge size and potential to eat battery life--the same concerns mentioned by Ockenden. Having read some reviews and seeing that the reviewers quickly overcame the same concerns after very short time with their Notes, I decided to take the plunge. Honesly, it took no time to get used to the size, and whenever I hold a smaller phone I'm amazed that anybody can find them useful for anything, and the battery life is at least as good as the Desire.

Re:Bigger != Better

[dmacleod808]

Perhaps your prefect phone needs a better spell check.

Re:Bigger != Better

[uniquename72]

I like big phones. I buy big phones.

The whole debate is dumb: There's no shortage of choice at the small end; there's just more choice at the bigger end.

How is more choice a bad thing?

Re:Bigger != Better

[bogaboga]

I like big phones. I buy big phones.

You got that from my head! You nailed it! The debate is dumb. Just look at the numbers...Samsung sold millions of the Galaxy Note in a few months.

And guess what: I am waiting for the next version. I spend little of my time making calls. To me, what matters is that big screen and I have come to love it.

Re:Bigger != Better

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are we even complaining about this? You can buy anything from a dumb-phone to a Galaxy Note. Pick what you like and leave people alone.

Re:Bigger != Better

[MBGMorden]

Pretty sure "phablets" was an intentional misspelling to create a portmanteau from the source words phone and tablet.

Re:Bigger != Better

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple only sell one size.

This is their astroturf, like that asinine "Google doesn't get packaging" Slashvertisement earlier.

Re:Bigger != Better

[corbettw]

Pretty sure dmacleod808 was referring to use of the word "prefect" instead of "perfect".

Re:Bigger != Better

[CheShACat]

iPhone 4/S - 326 ppi
HTC Rezound - 342 ppi
HTC One X - 312 ppi
LG Optimus LTE - 329 ppi
LG LU1400 - 333 ppi
Nokia E6 - 328 ppi
Galaxy Nexus - 316 ppi
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 306 ppi
Samsung S8000 Jet - 300ppi
Sony Xperia S - 342 ppi
Sony Xperia ion - 323 ppi
Toshiba Portege G900 - 313 ppi

Re:Bigger != Better

[Joce640k]

Maybe so, but a 'spelling checker' wouldn't have caught it - "prefect" is a real word.

Re:Bigger != Better

[hairyfeet]

What I miss is phones that had actual batteries instead of the whole iSliver crap we have now. i don't know about the rest of you but I'd happily take a phone that's a little fatter that gives me 30% more time. I'd just rather not have the "thin is in" if its gonna make me carry around a damned charger all the time that takes up more space than if they'd just put a decent size battery on the damned phone!

At least we still have plenty of choice in that matter in the laptop/netbook arena but I wonder how long that will be the case, I just don't see what is the point of putting these ever more powerful CPU/GPU combos into phones if you are gonna cripple them with teeny tiny iSliver batteries just to rip off the iPhone look.

Re:Bigger != Better

[teg]

If they came out with a "1/2" SIM card that let me put the same SIM in 2 different devices and if one was powered on while the other was still on I'd get an error message I would be all over that. I know I could buy another account but that'd cost me another $50+ a month.

So people are choosing the worst of both worlds. It's not a phone and it's not a tablet.

Here in Norway you can have twin cards on the same subscription... if you call your numbers, both phones call. SMSes reach both devices - and both devices are attached to the same subscription.

Sometimes there is a fee (I'm paying $3 a month for it), but it is nowhere near the fees for a second subscription.

Re:Bigger != Better

[Compaqt]

Yeah, that's what my first impression was.

When screen sizes were often small, the iPhone's large screen was heralded as a great thing.

But now that somebody else (Samsung) has a best-selling larger screen, iFans say "don't make it bigger".

Re:Bigger != Better

[geminidomino]

How many smartphones with modern features, modern specs, and popular OS can you name that are compact enough to comforably fit in most people's pockets?

I think that part may be overstating things a bit. Admittedly, I'm not a small man, but if I can fit a Nook Color with cover in my pocket, then I can't help but think someone complaining about a 4" phone in their pocket may be playing "princess and the pea" just a little.

Re:Bigger != Better

[icebike]

I believe you've hit the nail on the head. This is an iPhone concentric view point.

There is no shortage of smart phone models to choose from. People can have the size they want from any of 6 more manufacturers, in any platform except IOS. You often see people drawing a line in the sand that suggest 4.3 inch screens are the absolute maximum size they would ever buy, and a year later they post about 4.7. In the mean time they saw 4.6 and fell in love with it.

There is no reason for a blogger to jump into this fray. The market is deciding quite nicely.

(Actually it seems there was no fray until Ockenden decided to create one to garner readership, so I stand corrected, there apparently was a rather self serving reason for him to jump in).

I can't imagine a worse situation than having phone development directed by bloggers.

When large phones go unsold in favor of small ones the market will know exactly what is too big. The "Samsung Note" sells well. But not well enough for many others to enter that niche. The smallest smartphones are selling as well. But again not as well as the flag ship phones from all the big manufacturers.

So Ockenden, please just butt out and vote with your wallet like the rest of us.

Re:Bigger != Better

[Krojack]

If you lost it in a TARDIS then I could understand but loosing it in a phone booth? =)

If consumers didn't want big phones

[pisces22]

...they wouldn't buy them.

Re:If consumers didn't want big phones

[ethanms]

If I buy cable TV and it includes ESPN, does that mean I want ESPN? No.

Consumers want certain features. If those features are only available on a phone with an extra-large screen, they are forced to buy it, or otherwise skip the feature they want.

I own a iPhone, not because I'm in love with Apple or it's feature sets, but because I like the size. I do not want a larger phone.

Re:If consumers didn't want big phones

[LurkerXXX]

Yeah, the HP Veer was just a huge success because people are really clamoring for a smaller phone.

Re:If consumers didn't want big phones

[Applekid]

Why yes I would like an unfolding phone, just make sure it doesn't fold up like a road map because I could never get those folds correct.

Re:If consumers didn't want big phones

[19thNervousBreakdown]

Oh yeah? Well as one of the only people in the world who still has a pair of Jncos in his closet, who's stupid now?

Re:If consumers didn't want big phones

[msobkow]

That's an interesting theory you have there, but I'd like to know what features it is that consumers want that are only available with a large screen. I did a bit of shopping recently, and none of the sales reps or literature mentioned anything that the large-screen phones could do that the small-screen ones couldn't, at least with Android-based models from the same manufacturer.

I know many people who bought large-screen phones because they watch video and view pictures on their phone far, far more than they use it for calls. However, they've pretty much reached the limit of pocket size. Once the phone won't fit in someone's shirt pocket, they're not interested in it as a phone and seem more likely to opt for a full-scale tablet instead.

I know very few people who make heavy use of smart phones as phones. The heavy phone users still seem to prefer older, smaller devices whose screens are completely useless for displaying photos or browsing the 'net, much less watching a video.

I suspect most people who buy smart phones are like my friends: they need/want a portable internet device more than they want to make phone calls. Technically they have to be able to make phone calls, but it's the "extras" that guide their buying choices because every cell phone can make a call, right down to the $30 clamshell phones.

I know lots of people who hate big phones

[smellsofbikes]

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.

Re:I know lots of people who hate big phones

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

I keep an old unlocked Motorola Razr V3 for just that reason. If I am going out in the evening, I slip my SIM into it instead of carrying my smartphone. All I need is to be able to send a quick text, make a restaurant reservation, or call a taxi. If I'm in Europe, I'll stick a local chip in it from TIM or whatever for the same use. It fits nicely into the ticket pocket of my jacket without looking like I'm packing a pistol. I suppose if I felt compelled to log everything to Facebook and Foursquare, I might feel differently, but I don't.

It's not that...

[Antipater]

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.

Yes I do, thanks for asking

[jeffmeden]

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!

Big Phones? No. Small Computers

[toygeek]

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.

Re:Big Phones? No. Small Computers

[eobanb]

I honestly do not know anyone who uses a Bluetooth headset regularly. I only make a handful of calls a day, lasting 3-4 minutes at most, so a Bluetooth headset would just be more trouble than it's worth.

Re:Big Phones? No. Small Computers

[Anonymous Coward]

I honestly do not know anyone who uses a Bluetooth headset regularly. I only make a handful of calls a day, lasting 3-4 minutes at most, so a Bluetooth headset would just be more trouble than it's worth.

But how will other people know you're a successful, important douchebag?!!

Yes.

[MetalliQaZ]

I want the biggest screen that fits comfortable in my pocket. Thin and light would be good, too.

It's all relative

[RollingThunder]

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".

My Dream Phone

[YumYumClownMonkey]

Wherefore art thou, Zoolander phone?

There's only one solution to this...

[FridayBob]

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.

Re:There's only one solution to this...

[jez9999]

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).

But then you'll get accosted and attacked in McDonald's...

Oh-My-Gawd, Becky. Look at her phone. It's so big!

[Guppy]

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!