4 inches • Hacker News Board

Re: 4 inches

#51

Post by esolyt » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:12 PM UTC

majormajor wrote: post #25

So a while back the benefits didn't outweigh the "huge downside" that he found the screen size of the Galaxy SII, but now that Apple increases their screen size "the software benefits that come from that extra half an inch hugely improve the experience of using the phone." The continually disappointing thing about the iPhone coverage has been people who dismiss things as not needed until Apple gets around to implemen…

I almost never use my 4-inch phone with single hand, except when I am texting while driving, which I shouldn't be doing anyway.

In fact, larger phones make it much more difficult to text while driving and that might be a good thing.

Re: 4 inches

#52

Post by esolyt » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:13 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #41

majormajor wrote: post #25

So a while back the benefits didn't outweigh the "huge downside" that he found the screen size of the Galaxy SII, but now that Apple increases their screen size "the software benefits that come from that extra half an inch hugely improve the experience of using the phone." The continually disappointing thing about the iPhone coverage has been people who dismiss things as not needed until Apple gets around to implemen…

Did you read the post? He says it's only "barely acceptable" at 4 inches - hardly glowing praise, and the S3 has a 4.8 inch screen.

He says:

"Every area of the screen is reachable, after all (unlike many Android phones with 4-inch+ screens)"

Re: 4 inches

#53

Post by baddox » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:13 PM UTC

gfodor wrote: post #3

The elephant in the room is that unlike on android phones, there is no hardware 'back' button on iPhone. Where is it instead (by convention)? The top left corner of the screen, ie, the most unreachable place on the new iPhone. I'm still amazed this thing was produced by Apple given that oversight.

I think it's pretty clear that the iPhone screen was increased in size to help them compete against Android for "feature shoppers" (people who just look at numerical stats of phones, rather than try them and judge which they like better). This is probably the majority of smartphone shoppers, although Apple has traditionally primarily targeted the "experience shoppers" (people who actually know that they prefer Apple products rather than just chasing the newest/lightest/fastest/thinnest phone).

Re: 4 inches

#54

Post by MatthewPhillips » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:15 PM UTC

saurik wrote: post #18

bicknergseng wrote: post #8

I would just like to point out that this is a highly subjective argument. The iPhone 5 might be too large for Dustin's hand, but I'm quite comfortable using a 4.3 or even 4.5 inch phone. I naturally hold phones with the bottom right corner in pushing the bottom of my hand like the second image on the page, and my hand quite naturally wraps a phone up to ~4.5". For me, emphasis me, any phone over 4.5 becomes a problem…

Exactly: an iPhone 4 is to my girlfriend's hand nearly exactly as a Galaxy Note is to mine. The idea that people make these reachability arguments as if hand size is universal down to silly half-inch increments is downright insane.

I have normal man sized hands and I can't reach the corner of a 3.5 inch phone without straining my thumb a little.

Re: 4 inches

#55

Post by esolyt » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:15 PM UTC

zbowling wrote: post #15

gfodor wrote: post #3

The elephant in the room is that unlike on android phones, there is no hardware 'back' button on iPhone. Where is it instead (by convention)? The top left corner of the screen, ie, the most unreachable place on the new iPhone. I'm still amazed this thing was produced by Apple given that oversight.

There is no more hardware back button on any recent android phone either and every time you rotate the screen it's in a different locations (and a different location if it's on landscape vs portrait on tablets vs phones.) It's widely inconstant on Android too. And what happens when you press also is not very consistant when what you are working isn't inherently stack based. Also having different UI contentions doesn'…

The point is, you almost never have to reach the top left on Android, but you often do on iOS.

Re: 4 inches

#56

Post by ceejayoz » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:17 PM UTC

esolyt wrote: post #52

ceejayoz wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the post? He says it's only "barely acceptable" at 4 inches - hardly glowing praise, and the S3 has a 4.8 inch screen.

He says: "Every area of the screen is reachable, after all (unlike many Android phones with 4-inch+ screens)"

And?

He said "many", not "all", and "4-inch+", not "4-inch".

Most of the high-end Android phones on the market are larger than 4 inches (in many cases, significantly so), and he says the iPhone 5 - at 4.0 - is barely acceptable.

Re: 4 inches

#57

Post by gfodor » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:18 PM UTC

zbowling wrote: post #15

gfodor wrote: post #3

The elephant in the room is that unlike on android phones, there is no hardware 'back' button on iPhone. Where is it instead (by convention)? The top left corner of the screen, ie, the most unreachable place on the new iPhone. I'm still amazed this thing was produced by Apple given that oversight.

There is no more hardware back button on any recent android phone either and every time you rotate the screen it's in a different locations (and a different location if it's on landscape vs portrait on tablets vs phones.) It's widely inconstant on Android too. And what happens when you press also is not very consistant when what you are working isn't inherently stack based. Also having different UI contentions doesn'…

My post had nothing to do with Android. I personally like iOS and am sad that I won't be buying iPhone 5. My point was just that iOS's back button convention is completely at odds with the new screen size.

Re: 4 inches

#58

Post by niggler » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:18 PM UTC

JimmaDaRustla wrote: post #50

Is it me, or are people just dancing to Apple's fiddle? I've seen this same type of post several times, but it doesn't apply to me...or most people I know most likely. I hold a phone across my fingers, tucked nicely under the top of my palm. I can reach across a 4" screen without a problem. Also, when I'm holding a phone vertically, I don't typically only use my thumb - I use my other, more dexterous, and more "free"…

One-handed use is important for circumstances where you are carrying a bag with the other hand (like when you have to deal with luggage at the airport).

After seeing some of my friends struggle with the 5, I'm not going to upgrade (my 4S works just fine :)

Re: 4 inches

#59

Post by dpark » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:19 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #41

majormajor wrote: post #25

So a while back the benefits didn't outweigh the "huge downside" that he found the screen size of the Galaxy SII, but now that Apple increases their screen size "the software benefits that come from that extra half an inch hugely improve the experience of using the phone." The continually disappointing thing about the iPhone coverage has been people who dismiss things as not needed until Apple gets around to implemen…

Did you read the post? He says it's only "barely acceptable" at 4 inches - hardly glowing praise, and the S3 has a 4.8 inch screen.

Did you? He also said "the software benefits that come from that extra half an inch hugely improve the experience of using the phone." That's certainly praise, possibly even glowing.

The criticism here seems reasonable. He went from discussing a "huge downside of larger screens" to saying that a bigger screen "hugely" improves the experience. Oh, and previously the smaller screen was "one of the things that makes Apple products Apple products." Manufacturers with larger screens were "doing it wrong."

The entire post is just Dustin Curtis trying to rationalize his jump from claiming that bigger screens are too big to claiming that they are a huge improvement (now that Apple does them).

Re: 4 inches

#60

Post by dasil003 » Wed, Oct 03, 2012, 8:19 PM UTC

zbowling wrote: post #15

gfodor wrote: post #3

The elephant in the room is that unlike on android phones, there is no hardware 'back' button on iPhone. Where is it instead (by convention)? The top left corner of the screen, ie, the most unreachable place on the new iPhone. I'm still amazed this thing was produced by Apple given that oversight.

There is no more hardware back button on any recent android phone either and every time you rotate the screen it's in a different locations (and a different location if it's on landscape vs portrait on tablets vs phones.) It's widely inconstant on Android too. And what happens when you press also is not very consistant when what you are working isn't inherently stack based. Also having different UI contentions doesn'…

On my Galaxy Nexus the back button is always in the exact same physical position, which is nice because you can reflexively hit it like a hard button and you won't get caught out in cases where it's transitioning from portrait to landscape or vice versa.

Also, since Jelly Bean I can't say I've ever had an unexpected result by pressing the back button. As far as I can tell it always does The Right Thing since they got their guidelines formalized, at least with the couple dozen apps I regularly use. I have to say on balance I've been more annoyed with iPhone apps lacking necessary navigation buttons on some screens more than Android back button inconsistency.