Wait.. what? You can't live without a non-functional useless app? Hilarious. What did you do before this useless app existed? Has it changed your life?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Sick and tired of the 4-inch screen
- Thread starter raptorstv
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Wait.. what? You can't live without a non-functional useless app? Hilarious. What did you do before this useless app existed? Has it changed your life?
Thats funny coz i thought anything thats larger than 4" isnt pocketable 
----------
It hasnt changed my life, but it definitely makes my life easier. I also like the layout, its pretty cool!
----------
It hasnt changed my life, but it definitely makes my life easier. I also like the layout, its pretty cool!
Thank you for proving the point to all users claiming android phones are to big and anything bigger than an iPhone 5 is a brick in their pocket.
You're welcome. Incase you're being sarcastic, if you look back, you'll see that's the exact point I was making.
You're welcome. Incase you're being sarcastic, if you look back, you'll see that's the exact point I was making.
Agreed! I've had a Note 2, GS3, and iPhone 4s in the same pocket. It's heavy, but it isn't like the all didn't fit.
Now what I want in the next two years (my next eligible upgrade) is this right here. That along with a more streamlined iOS 7 or 8.
Didn't read the whole thread (yet - I may go back and do that). From reading several posts, though, it seems like a lot of people were bashing the OP. I suppose his negative comments about Android were the reason for that, but seeing as this is an Apple-focused website, I can appreciate that he thought it was probably safe to do that here. Guess not. In any case, I can very much relate to his dilemma. I'll say that while I used to think negatively about Android, I don't think that's a factor for me anymore. I'm open to trying out the Android or Windows Phone OS, but I still feel like I'm sort of "trapped" with iOS for the following reasons:
1) I'm perfectly content with how it works. I don't feel like I'm missing much from an OS/app perspective. The only exception that comes to mind is that I don't like that the transcription function has to make a call over the intertubes vs being done entirely within the device itself.
2) I, and my family, are increasingly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. I have a MacBook Air that I love. We have several Apple TV devices which, admittedly, we don't use for *that* much, but we do use them for Netflix on occasion, renting a movie or TV show (that our DVR missed) on occasion, and very frequently for me to push my Pandora audio to my living room speakers during dinner. I don't want to lose that interconnectivity.
3) Along the lines of #2, my wife and daughter both have iPhones and they like them. I haven't bought a ton of apps, but I like that I can buy it once and we can all download/use the app without rebuying it. I know that my wife or daughter can pick up my iPhone, when necessary, and do whatever they might need without asking me how to use it. If I switch to Android or Windows Phone, my wife in particular will probably be a bit frustrated in those situations.
4) In that same vein...I like that we all can share accessories. And I like that there exist a zillion accessories out there thanks to Apple keeping the sync/charging port the same for so long. Obviously, this advantage is slightly diminished now that Apple has changed to the Lightning port, but even there I can get a dongle to hook a newer iOS device into older accessories.
5) Dumb question: I use the Apple Podcast app a lot and I believe these podcasts are all stored on Apple's servers (or maybe they just use Apple's servers for storing the index to the podcasts?). Do the Android / Windows Phone podcast apps pull streams from Apple's podcast library or do they require that the podcast creator host them elsewhere?
I'm probably missing some points. Bottom line, though, is that like the OP, I'm perfectly content with everything about my iPhone *except* for the fact that the screen is still smaller than I want it to be. I've been thinking for a while about switching to an Android or Windows Phone device *exclusively* because of the larger screen, but I know that I'll be losing out on the advantages I identified above, so I've held off on doing it. What I really want is for Apple to release a big-screen iPhone. It would be so simple for them. Just take the iPhone 5 (or 4S) and make a larger version of it. Sell it alongside the current models. Call it the iPhone XL or whatever.
1) I'm perfectly content with how it works. I don't feel like I'm missing much from an OS/app perspective. The only exception that comes to mind is that I don't like that the transcription function has to make a call over the intertubes vs being done entirely within the device itself.
2) I, and my family, are increasingly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. I have a MacBook Air that I love. We have several Apple TV devices which, admittedly, we don't use for *that* much, but we do use them for Netflix on occasion, renting a movie or TV show (that our DVR missed) on occasion, and very frequently for me to push my Pandora audio to my living room speakers during dinner. I don't want to lose that interconnectivity.
3) Along the lines of #2, my wife and daughter both have iPhones and they like them. I haven't bought a ton of apps, but I like that I can buy it once and we can all download/use the app without rebuying it. I know that my wife or daughter can pick up my iPhone, when necessary, and do whatever they might need without asking me how to use it. If I switch to Android or Windows Phone, my wife in particular will probably be a bit frustrated in those situations.
4) In that same vein...I like that we all can share accessories. And I like that there exist a zillion accessories out there thanks to Apple keeping the sync/charging port the same for so long. Obviously, this advantage is slightly diminished now that Apple has changed to the Lightning port, but even there I can get a dongle to hook a newer iOS device into older accessories.
5) Dumb question: I use the Apple Podcast app a lot and I believe these podcasts are all stored on Apple's servers (or maybe they just use Apple's servers for storing the index to the podcasts?). Do the Android / Windows Phone podcast apps pull streams from Apple's podcast library or do they require that the podcast creator host them elsewhere?
I'm probably missing some points. Bottom line, though, is that like the OP, I'm perfectly content with everything about my iPhone *except* for the fact that the screen is still smaller than I want it to be. I've been thinking for a while about switching to an Android or Windows Phone device *exclusively* because of the larger screen, but I know that I'll be losing out on the advantages I identified above, so I've held off on doing it. What I really want is for Apple to release a big-screen iPhone. It would be so simple for them. Just take the iPhone 5 (or 4S) and make a larger version of it. Sell it alongside the current models. Call it the iPhone XL or whatever.
Terrific post (not quoted just to save space
)It's pretty close to my perspective about our iOS devices and Apple experience in general.
Another point I also bring up is the device features/usage/know-how across family members. When I've had my various Android devices, the wife wasn't as quick to be able to use various features, or ran into "Where is X?", which was sometimes compounded by my ROM-of-the-Week. She's relatively tech savvy too - heck, I've been entrenched in tech for 20+ years, I'm a developer (including mobile platforms), and even I appreciate knowing how to [for example] quickly access the camera on either phone, focus, access pics and share them.
For me, the investment in the Apple eco-universe, has made my life +easier+. I'm not into building PCs anymore, flashing ROM, etc., I want a simple, excellent user experience that _includes_ a great service/support channel.
That being said, I'm kind fine with the 4" display, but would be fine with a 4.X" display, but also sensitive to the development dilemma about dealing with multiple display resolutions (that aren't clean 2X scales).
Thanks. Like you, I'm a developer as well, but a bit more removed from that these days. I haven't gotten into doing iOS development yet, but want to. My wife has a development background as well (mostly COBOL) but isn't "into" technology and has a lower tolerance level when things don't work easily for her.Terrific post (not quoted just to save space
In my case, I'm fine with them leaving the resolution as-is and just making the screen larger. Yes, that means potentially losing the "retina" aspect. My complaint is not that I need more pixels, just that I'd like them to be larger. My main need is when viewing websites that don't have a mobile-friendly version. My iPhone 4S' current screen resolution (640x960 in portrait mode) does a competent job of rendering most desktop-optimized websites OK, and if I had a magnifying glass, I could even make out the tiny text. But I don't have a magnifying glass, so I can't, and end up needing to zoom in and pan around the website. If the screen was physically larger, but the screen resolution was the same, fonts wouldn't look as sharp, but I could at least read them without needing to zoom in.
Also, I would be able to more easily tap on tiny on-screen buttons, since they wouldn't be so tiny anymore.
I'm reading more of this thread and see a lot of people recommending an iPad or iPad Mini. Just to clarify...I love my MacBook Air and use that at home for nearly all of my web browsing needs. I mainly use my iPhone at home as a kitchen timer, checking emails (if my laptop is not nearby), and streaming Pandora to my living room stereo.
But when I leave the house to go out to dinner or run errands, I don't take my MacBook with me, and I'm pretty sure an iPad Mini would still be too big for me to pocket. So that means all I've got is my iPhone. I could pocket a significantly larger phone (even 5.5" screen), but I don't think I can pocket an iPad Mini. So when I'm out and about, I want something I can fit in my pocket and I don't want two devices, but I want the biggest screen device that can still fit in my pocket.
But when I leave the house to go out to dinner or run errands, I don't take my MacBook with me, and I'm pretty sure an iPad Mini would still be too big for me to pocket. So that means all I've got is my iPhone. I could pocket a significantly larger phone (even 5.5" screen), but I don't think I can pocket an iPad Mini. So when I'm out and about, I want something I can fit in my pocket and I don't want two devices, but I want the biggest screen device that can still fit in my pocket.
Passbook Proving Popular for Developers and Retailers
Quote from the article:
Passbook has more active users than Google Wallet. While it might not be perfect, quite a lot of people would disagree with your claim that it's useless.
I totally agree. I can't reach the upper left fuctions without sliding the phone down in my hand. Not a one handed phone for my hands now.
And that's your opinion. My opinion is that the iPhone 5 in itself looks ridiculous. The 16:9 looks weird on a phone, and sucks for web browsing (again, in my opinion). A lot of people use less than 100 min./mth now which means a mini tablet which can also make the ocassional phone call is what a lot of people desire.
What really bothers me about Apple fanboys (not flaming, just here me out) is that they believe that everything should be a one size fits all, and that choice is something we don't need and we should allow Apple to just figure it out for us. I have a brain of my own, and while Apple's simplicity is a wonderful thing, why can't we have more than one screen size to choose from? You want a 4" screen? Great. Have one. I want a 5" screen, why can't we have both?
I'll tell you right now I went through this emotional tug of war dillemma you are describing.
I finally broke down and bought the GS3. It took about two weeks before I was 100% confident fluent, and comfortable with Android.
Yeah the name "Android" alone sounds stupid as hell, But after you get past that you can start enjoying Jelly Bean and learning everything there is to learn.
Many of us iPhone loyalist out there were all expecting something great from the iPhone 5. It's as fail as can be.
If I were you I would take a break from the arguments here and just give something else a try. Nothing is forever. It's only temporary.
I will not go back to iPhone until the goddamn screen is 4.8 inches or bigger. I love the clean professional styling of the iPhone but at the end of the day the 5 is nothing more than 2011 tech with 4G/LTE and a half of inch screen upgrade.
This was a hard conclusion for me to come to but Apple ....ed me out of a real upgrade that I waited 2 years to get.
After 2 loooooooooooong years of enduring, The only upgrades were 4G LTE and half an inch of screen. OH WOW, That ***** SUCKS!
Get something else until Apple can pull it together.
The iPhone 5 is the fastest phone on the market today, while simultaneously being the thinnest smartphone on the market, and having the best LTE battery life of any smartphone on the market.
Clearly not 2011 tech.
In comparison, if you live in the US, the 2011 iPhone 4S processor has about double the graphics capabilities (GPU) as the Samsung S3.
Note: The iPhone 5 was the thinnest smartphone at its debut, not sure if it has been surpassed since then.
Holy cow. None of the propaganda you just wrote is even remotely true. Not when the iPhone 5 was released and not now. You wrote patently false statements that would make even diehard Apple loyalists cringe.
Source? I would love to debate if you're up for it
Here's a link on the iPhone 5, the Apple A6, and it's processor + battery life benchmarks to get you started on some reading:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review
The GS3 is 2011 technology.
From its camera to its SoC to its plastic construction.
The HTC One X and iPhone 4S outperform it CPU and GPU wise, respectively.
From its camera to its SoC to its plastic construction.
The HTC One X and iPhone 4S outperform it CPU and GPU wise, respectively.
Even the S2 beats the S3 in graphics. Funny that Alx9876 calls the most advanced phone on the market "2011 tech", then buys a phone that is a downgrade in GPU from its 2011 predecessor
If you waited two years, you must have been on the iP4 correct? So you're saying that from the iP4 to the iP5, the only difference is LTE and slightly larger screen??
The idiocy astounds me.....
Even compared with the 4S (2011 tech as you say) the 5 is almost 3 times as fast CPU wise, double the GPU power (which was already double your precious GS3), the display is almost pure sRGB whereas the 4S was at maybe 60-70% of the color gamut (can't remember the exact numbers - suffice it to say, the 5's screen is NOTICEABLY better and arguably the best mobile display out there. Not even worth comparing the GS3's fake color reproduction and pentile matrix to it).
Then add similar battery life (with all that added power), LTE, a thinner, lighter and more durable design and a faster port connector.....I honestly don't understand what people like you expect out of yearly refreshes....
Personally, I think you're more butthurt about iOS 6 - which, understandably has gotten a little stale and had its issues.....but to say the iP5's hardware isn't an upgrade from the 4 or even the 4S (and a considerable one at that) is laughable. The iP5 beats every other smartphone in GPU power, display quality, it's up there in battery life, CPU AND its one of the thinnest on the market.....
By the way - screen size IS NOT an upgrade. Something so subjective cannot be construed as keeping a device like the iPhone 5 relegated to "2011 tech". If I took the GS3 and changed ONLY the screen size, that wouldn't be an advancement.....it would simply be a bigger (more cumbersome) phone...
Last edited:
Source? I would love to debate if you're up for it
Here's a link on the iPhone 5, the Apple A6, and it's processor + battery life benchmarks to get you started on some reading:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review
A thin phone and marginally better battery life is not the end all be all of a phone. There are a lot of people out there that don't want a thin/light phone. My Note 2 will run circles around your battery life and is every bit as quick with a giant ass screen and an OS that will also run circles around your phone.
You do realize that with that "giant ass screen" comes a giant ass battery....
The fact that the iP5 - with a much smaller footprint - can keep up CPU wise, way outperform GPU wise and produce the most accurate colors with the same battery life as a phone MUCH larger (with much more internal space) is impressive in my opinion.
No one said the "end all be all of a phone" was a thinner design and marginally better battery life. iP5 CPU = 3x iP4S; iP5 GPU = 2x iP4S.
Even with all that room in the Note 2 footprint, all those cores in the CPU and GPU and all that RAM - the iP5 still holds its own and in some places outperforms the Note 2....
I think each of the flagship lines is pretty great - some a little better than others, but there isn't a phone out there that tops all of them in every category. I can admit the Note 2 does some stuff better than the iP5 - just not stuff I care about or need enough to sacrifice usability (5.3" is too large IMO). Don't you think it's time you realize the iP5 is a great smartphone and just let your hate go?