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Apple Testing Prototype iPhones With Six-Inch Screens, Not Expected This Year
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Smaller was cool when a cell phone was just a microphone, a speaker, and rudimentary display.
Now smartphones are amazing little machines that do almost everything. Why wouldn't you want an amazing screen?
Hyperbole, right?
I agree that the iPhone needs a bigger screen. The iPhone 5 is damn near useless in apps like messages when in landscape mode. You can only see a small strip of the conversation due to the keyboard and status area occupying the whole screen. Not to mention having to zoom in to read small text. The moto x is a good example of a larger screen size still fitting the compact form factor. I would like to see a 4.8-5" display.
I have lived in and spent a lot of time in Asia, and believe me there is plenty of demand for large screens. Apple can think 4" is "ideal" all they want, but the reality is people like larger screens. Besides all the large samsung phones, you even seen men and women walk around with full size iPads in front of their face daily during the train commute and in public places. I'm not saying that's "cool", I'm just observing the trend.
I have lived in and spent a lot of time in Asia, and believe me there is plenty of demand for large screens. Apple can think 4" is "ideal" all they want, but the reality is people like larger screens. Besides all the large samsung phones, you even seen men and women walk around with full size iPads in front of their face daily during the train commute and in public places. I'm not saying that's "cool", I'm just observing the trend.
I usually hate when people post youtube links but I promise this one is worth your time if you like comedy.
It's a well done parody of the iPhone 5 screen. Hopefully this isn't a preview of the iPhone 6
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBP18nrRdw
It's a well done parody of the iPhone 5 screen. Hopefully this isn't a preview of the iPhone 6
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBP18nrRdw
I really think that Apple needs to, at this point, go the route of having two phones, but making sure that they are "equal" in everything but size. I know plenty of people who don't want a phone bigger then the current iPhone, while the "market" may seem to say otherwise, the iPhone 5 size is keeping many people with the iPhone, Apple shouldn't alienate that market. On the flip side, the market for a larger (personally I think under 5 inch) phone is there, Samsung has proven it. I'd love to see a iPhone at 4 inches and one at 4.7ish. I don't think the market is there for things much bigger though, its a pretty niche market.
You seem to have confused me with someone else.
I'm a developer. No way am I going to do big time coding on touch-only tablets. You'd have to pry my development machines out of my cold dead hands.
Instead, we're talking about day to day usage by normal people for whom pen or brush input is still quite useful.
I usually try to edit "you" out of my comments, because people often take it to mean themselves instead of the global "you".
Again, you're preaching to the choir. However, what you and I need for our professions, doesn't negate the usefulness of a Wacom digitizer on a tablet.
I remember when smaller was also very convenient: a tiny clamshell Verizon cellphone fit into a corner of a handbag, stored calls made, had a contact list and a keypad, what about that device was not to like for just making phone calls?! I could still go for that again.
I'm sticking with my 4S for the time being. It's been trouble-free (well since the replacement of original defective one that just would not connect to anything and did not even know what it was). Also, the 4S is right-sized for me in making calls, reading books, using iTunes for music or video playback. For anything fancier in mobile computing I like the mini iPad that is generally also in my handbag.
I have an iPod touch with same form factor as the iPhone 5 but I don't fancy it. Just something about the length seems silly, possibly because I don't use it for mail or browsing, mostly movies, music, podcasts. But when I think about the supposedly upcoming wider and longer iPhones, I just laugh. All the smartphones in that range, whether actual or forthcoming, sort of remind me of the bigger range of the old Palm devices or the older BlackBerry phones. A sort of clumsy size to work with as a phone, in my admittedly humble opinion.
iPhone looks really ridiculously small in this comparison
Btw; Does anyone else makes a phone with such tiny screen?!
Because my pockets aren't big enough to hold a 6" phone in them. Nor are my hands big enough. Plus, in my opinion there ins't a single game or movie I'd want to watch on a 4" screen, or even an 8" screen.
Christ, Apple should just make the OG iPad a phone and call it good. iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, & iPad Mini are already basically the same damn thing.
It's called the iPhone and not the iPhablet for a reason. The iPhone is a great size now. Sure Apple R&D tests a lot of things that never see the store shelves. And that's a good thing as Apple can learn from all of this.
If anyone sees this as 2014 - year of the iPhablet, then they are very mistaken. I really hope Apple never makes phablets. They are good at nothing. Too big for a phone, too small for a tablet.
If anyone sees this as 2014 - year of the iPhablet, then they are very mistaken. I really hope Apple never makes phablets. They are good at nothing. Too big for a phone, too small for a tablet.
Options are good...but who really likes a phone that large? The Galaxy Note is way too large to use a phone. I just don't understand it.
as an iOS developer that has created both games and apps... i just want to smash my keyboard right now
You're making software. Software for one of the most rapidly evolving segments in the most rapidly evolving field there is. I'm sorry that you can't develop an app once then kick your feet up and let the money role in indefinitely.
You don't have to change anything: you can stay stagnate like a stick in the mud and your app will work just fine letterboxed like the last time they changed the screen size. However, as a consumer, I'm just going to find somebody else's app that does the job better. Like they say in academia, publish or perish. You're not making unique media like books, movies, music, etc...your app is a tool that can easily be replaced. Ford isn't still selling the model T...they're innovated. If you don't like it or don't think it's fair, you're in the wrong line of work.
You should probably check again... You clearly haven't checked for the last decade.
Not true. If they keep the same resolution, the larger the screen size, the worse the image quality. Keeping a retina-like quality with a larger screen size will absolutely require a higher resolution.
People asked the same question about smartphones when they first came out. Who needs anything larger than a clamshell?
For those who like/need to have/carry only a single device instead of both a phone and a tablet, a phablet is a very useful compromise.
As for being too big to use as a phone, some of us started out with devices like these:
Today's phablet is a thin wisp of a device in comparison
Besides, people spend far less time actually talking on phones these days, and more time interacting with what's on the screen.
So if they do go w/ bigger screen next year, this means they have NO idea what's going on at apple. Just last year, they came out saying old form factor is still the greatest and just expanding vertically will allow people to still be able to do one hand operation. Did their thinking change or do they think that people's hand size change over a year? Apple is at disarray. They should came out w/ multiple size last year.
It amazes me how people impose their PERSONAL PREFERENCES upon the rest of the world, as if their preference is the only good one!
If Apple makes a phablet and you don't like them, guess what? DON'T BUY ONE! I, personally, don't like chunky peanut butter, but I don't bandstand against it. I know many people do like it. It's called choice. Having an Apple "phablet" isn't going to affect you having a normal iPhone whatsover, so what are you afraid of?
BS, they can't keep the old 30-pin connector forever. But I would say they kept it longer than necessary to prevent fragmentation until they could no longer keep that big connector around any longer.
Its not old fashioned. It's just clumsy for some situations or more time consuming. I wouldn't expect a pen in anything under 5.7 inches, which is what I was referring to, and I agree that it's feasible for Apple to release something in the 4.5-4.8 inch area.
The problem with old pen implementations is that they were messy. Various things happened in the past like screen scratching, damaged pens and lost pens just to name a few. If Apple released a Phablet (5.7 inches and above) then they could reinvent the pen. I know SJ hated the idea of a stylus because he always said the pointing device is the one we were all given, or born with.
There are 2 things that would make these devices more useful IMO. They are voice interaction and a stylus. We all know that Apple has bee slow with Siri and Google Now is slicker. I'm hoping Siri is used more on the iPhone eventually, then we can say that it's the proper communications device and using your finger is so old