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Apple Could Achieve a 4-Inch iPhone Display by Increasing Height Only

chipchen said:
Doubtful. It would fragment iOS like Android, into multiple aspect ratios and screen resolutions... causing huge headaches for developers.
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Those headaches would only exist for crappy developers. Making objects scalable isn't as big of a hurdle as you or other iOS fanboys make it out to be.

Your comment though suggests that there are many lazy/incompetent developers within the iOS realm.
 
lol this makes the grid view look like crap. Keep the rows we already have and add some weather widget or sth
 
Gasu E. said:
I don't think so. Developers could choose to support only the old aspect ratio-- there would just be unused screen at the top/bottom for such applications. Apple would have to support this deployment model, of course, but that's something Apple would be likely to do.
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Well, it's a possibility, but that would look like ass IMO. No self-respecting developer is going to allow their app to be cropped/letterboxed, but for small developers that could mean a lot more time put into creating and sorting customized artwork, depending on the type of app. Extra time that developers don't really have. Not to mention more coding headaches (if <this resolution> do this, if <this other resolution> do something else, etc.) and more storage requirements. Remember that every app gets bundled with ALL assets for every device it runs on, whether it uses them or not.
 
RoboCop001 said:
I highly doubt this. It'll be too tall vs the width.
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thats what she said

iPhoneMBAUser said:
The point is not to make a bigger iphone, but to have a bigger battery that will be enough for 4G LTE, unfortunately, that means increasing the dimensions of the phone.
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This. 4G comes at a price. Juice.

Gasu E. said:
I don't think so. Developers could choose to support only the old aspect ratio-- there would just be unused screen at the top/bottom for such applications. Apple would have to support this deployment model, of course, but that's something Apple would be likely to do.
Click to expand...
The unused space will undoubtedly be filled. With iAds!!!!!!
 
That's a great concept/idea. I'm concerned that some of the devs will not update for 4", but instead add the lousy ad banner on top/bottom to fill in that empty space. :\
 
Or apple could switch to an apx. 4-inch 16:10 Display, 1280 by 800 @ 324ppi, if I understand the Maths?
It would be big enough in every direction to accommodate current apps, written for 960 by 640, should apple decide to let them run.
16:10, or 10:16(?) would allow for enough height to comfortably display tall wepbages and additional lines of data such as social networking entries - but not having quite such a survere impact on the pillarboxing of old 4:3 and 5:4 video. It would also be less jarring than a 16:9 display, which when viewed portrait looks shockingly disproportionate.

A larger screen would also be a good opportunity to make minor modifications to the face of iPhone, such as repositioning the home button lower down then raising the speaker above the FaceTime camera in order to accommodate for the vertical space lost to the screen like so:

jfkl54.jpg
 
I'd prefer they just make the screen bigger, keep aspect ratio and resolution. It's still up around 280 ppi at 4" with 960x640, which won't be discernible from 330 ppi for a lot of people.
 
wikus said:
Those headaches would only exist for crappy developers. Making objects scalable isn't as big of a hurdle as you or other iOS fanboys make it out to be.

Your comment though suggests that there are many lazy/incompetent developers within the iOS realm.
Click to expand...

I am a developer, are you? Yes, it IS a pain (as I said earlier, depending on the type and style of app). If you haven't developed an app, you don't know what's involved, it's quite a lot more difficult than saying "scale artwork to this size", that's a very naive viewpoint.
 
wikus said:
I thought iOS users hated anything and everything Android?
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i dont, i love my iPhone (im on my 4th generation) but im getting TIRED of looking at those damn same grid view. Its so 2007


Joe HS said:
Or apple could switch to an apx. 4-inch 16:10 Display, 1280 by 800 @ 324ppi, if I understand the Maths?
It would be big enough in every direction to accommodate current apps, written for 960 by 640, should apple decide to let them run.
16:10, or 10:16(?) would allow for enough height to comfortably display tall wepbages and additional lines of data such as social networking entries - but not having quite such a survere impact on the pillarboxing of old 4:3 and 5:4 video. It would also be less jarring than a 16:9 display, which when viewed portrait looks shockingly disproportionate.

A larger screen would also be a good opportunity to make minor modifications to the face of iPhone, such as repositioning the home button lower down then raising the speaker above the FaceTime camera in order to accommodate for the vertical space lost to the screen like so:

jfkl54.jpg
Click to expand...

this looks great, now add an LED notification light and it would be perfect ;)
 
NokX said:
Not to say that things could change, but I remember reading in the Steve Jobs book that they chose the size they did because you can reach the entire screen using just one hand.

Just a thought!

Personally, I don't want anything larger. That's what she said.
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In my opinion, the screen should be the same size with the bezel being nonexistent (making the iPhone even a smaller device)

I use a BlackBerry Bold 9700 and it fits my hand like a glove, after using iPhone for a month, I felt it was still a tad too large. I have large piano shaped hands so I don't consider myself to be in the category of small handed people.

While the larger screen of the Galaxy Nexus and HTC One X seem to be an attractive "feature set" nevertheless none of them really are that functional (they look silly trying to place a call)

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bushido said:
i dont, i love my iPhone (im on my 4th generation) but im getting TIRED of looking at those damn same grid view. Its so 2007




this looks great, now add an LED notification light and it would be perfect ;)
Click to expand...

As much as I love the red light on my BlackBerry, I hate it as much as I love it. Weird to have such a relationship to a LED blinking light.
 
Pffft. I don't think they would just make the screen taller. I mean people with fat fingers already have trouble typing, why would we want to make the screen/keyboard even more narrow?

I say go with at least the 5:3 ratio, or the better option 16:9.
 
It's a cool idea, but it won't happen. Changing the screen ratio doesn't really benefit anything but long lists. Videos won't be helped. Video games– maybe, but would be just as well served as an in-proportion increase. Apps? Again, just as well served as in-ratio.

My guess is if they increase the screen size, it will be modest– let's say 4.0 inches– and keep the same ratio. To reduce footprint and help the ergonomics of carrying it around, they will flatten the device.
 
As a developer, different aspect ratios are harder work than different resolutions (but one size only is best ;)), so I wouldn't like it from that aspect. But it would be OK as a customer.

I don't understand the 9:5 ratio, it doesn't quite fit anything. Reduce the height by 14 pixels on the idea for 16:9. Perfect for widescreen video. 1138x640 seems right if they went down this route (THX 1138 reference might be good or bad).
 
Sweetfeld28 said:
Pffft. I don't think they would just make the screen taller. I mean people with fat fingers already have trouble typing, why would we want to make the screen/keyboard even more narrow?

I say go with at least the 5:3 ratio, or the better option 16:9.
Click to expand...

Well, they're not proposing to make it narrower. It's just taller. Same width.

FWIW, I think they will keep the same ratio. It makes transportation of software between iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch easy. Changing the ratio means that all the old products out there would need to have some sort of edits. With an in-ratio change, none of that is required.
 
"This new 4-inch screen with a 9:5 aspect ratio would also perform much better at displaying widescreen 16:9 video content"

OR they could just have a 16:9 screen. :rolleyes: All the other screens on Apple products are 16:9 except for iOS devices so why not?
 
Moonjumper said:
As a developer, different aspect ratios are harder work than different resolutions (but one size only is best ;)), so I wouldn't like it from that aspect. But it would be OK as a customer.

I don't understand the 9:5 ratio, it doesn't quite fit anything. Reduce the height by 14 pixels on the idea for 16:9. Perfect for widescreen video. 1138x640 seems right if they went down this route (THX 1138 reference might be good or bad).
Click to expand...

I wonder if a supplier check would indicate the possible display matrix that Apple has to choose from? Some of the resolutions that people are suggesting are pretty odd.

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Westside guy said:
Different resolutions aren't as big a deal for programers as some people seem to think. Different aspect ratios, on the other hand...
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Exactly. Different ratios are a complete mess to deal with. Different pixel dimensions, assuming identical ratios, is all but transparent at this point on iOS. Higher resolution images are the only major changes developers needed for the retina display.
 
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