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benefits of a taller phone?

P

PAC88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
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I've been thinking about this but can't come up with any real, functional reasons.. I hear people saying it's better for gaming but I don't play games so... other than safari in landscape.. IOS6 does not do much to take advantage of the larger size. what are some other reasons a taller screen is better.

I'm starting to think it's going to double as a remote for the upcoming apple tv? lol

The design hasn't grown on me yet and actually keeps looking more strange by the day.. It would be different if apps and ios took advantage of the screen but they really don't (atleast yet).. pictures can't even fill the screen.. seems like a weird design choice or maybe ios6 is just starting to show its age.
 
-Reading more emails, tweets or posts
-An entire extra row of icons for quicker app access
-16:9 display so videos no longer have letter-boxing
-More to view on Safari in portrait or landscape
-Gaming in true widescreen (I know, it doesn't apply to you)
 
PAC88 said:
I've been thinking about this but can't come up with any real, functional reasons.. I hear people saying it's better for gaming but I don't play games so... other than safari in landscape.. IOS6 does not do much to take advantage of the larger size. what are some other reasons a taller screen is better.

I'm starting to think it's going to double as a remote for the upcoming apple tv? lol

The design hasn't grown on me yet and actually keeps looking more strange by the day.. It would be different if apps and ios took advantage of the screen but they really don't (atleast yet).. pictures can't even fill the screen.. seems like a weird design choice or maybe ios6 is just starting to show its age.
Click to expand...

I can't get used to it either.
 
HazyCloud said:
-Reading more emails, tweets or posts
-An entire extra row of icons for quicker app access
-16:9 display so videos no longer have letter-boxing
-More to view on Safari in portrait or landscape
-Gaming in true widescreen (I know, it doesn't apply to you)
Click to expand...

More to see and read in portrait mode... Do you know how awkward it feels to use my iPhone 5 looking at that extra bit of pixels at the BOTTOM of the device? Because that's where they end up. People hold their phone a certain way with their eyes focused around the top 3 rows. What happens is the eyes strain as they have to look all the way down at the bottom portion of the phone where the extra pixels are. And even if you adjust your view, it's still awkward and somewhat straining on the eyes to look all the way down at the bottom row of pixels.

I seriously question the value of just making the phone taller because of this. Widescreen videos are one thing. But people use their phones in portrait mode all the time. It's the major use case.

What would make it more comfortable on the eyes is a wider screen as well as it's more proportionate. An extra column of icons. Then the screen is more balanced and UIs can change to take advantage of the larger area.

But I also realize it would be harder to hold and use with 1 hand this way. So why change it at all? That's kinda the sad reality. They maybe shouldn't have changed it. Time will tell. It might grow on me. We'll see.
 
Just more screen estate to see. It isn't a huge jump and feels normal to me now. When I go back to use my 4S it seemed squatty and not right.
 
HazyCloud said:
-Reading more emails, tweets or posts
-An entire extra row of icons for quicker app access
-16:9 display so videos no longer have letter-boxing
-More to view on Safari in portrait or landscape
-Gaming in true widescreen (I know, it doesn't apply to you)
Click to expand...

I didn't realise how much of a big deal this would be till I had my iPhone 5, on such a small screen every bit of black banding they get rid of matters, and it really shows.
 
darngooddesign said:
Its better for reading in portrait as you see more of the page, but worse for reading in landscape as you see less of the page.
Click to expand...

You see less of the page as compared to what? Its has the exact same vertical space in landscape as every iphone before it so I dont see how that makes for "worse" for reading in landscape. Unless you were comparing it to something other than an iPhone
 
Landscape...and Netflix. You really do see the difference between the 3.5" and 4" screen. Its a lot better!
 
Didn't you see the commercial? It is because your )and everyone else too) thumbs can use that much space.
 
newone757 said:
You see less of the page as compared to what? Its has the exact same vertical space in landscape as every iphone before it so I dont see how that makes for "worse" for reading in landscape. Unless you were comparing it to something other than an iPhone
Click to expand...

I'm comparing it to the previous iPhone 4S.

In landscape, because it scales up to fit a wider screen, the top and bottom content is cut off. Had the aspect ratio stayed the same then you would see the same amount of content as you do on the 4S. Admitedly, full screen Safari helps but other apps like mail are worse in landscape than if the 5 had a larger 4:3 screen.

I made this for a discussion of a 16:9 iPad, but its the same idea. The page fits the width of the screen and the red box is 16:9 compared to the rest of the image which is 4:3.

attachment.php
 
so, there are some benefits but they come at the expense of making the phone look weird.. lol still a lot of negatives too though. I'm trying hard to like it and even ordered one but it doesn't ship till the 25th..

It feels like I get stuck with the bad model of whatever phone is out.. I only upgrade every 2-3 years so.. My current phone stopped ringing and I ordered the ip5 without seeing it in person.. It honestly doesn't look that great in reviews/pics but maybe I should take a trip to the apple store and see it there..
 
PAC88 said:
I've been thinking about this but can't come up with any real, functional reasons.. I hear people saying it's better for gaming but I don't play games so... other than safari in landscape.. IOS6 does not do much to take advantage of the larger size. what are some other reasons a taller screen is better.
Click to expand...
If were talking Made up justifications then there's a ton of reasons, but if you're talking about REAL reasons then there really isn't much.

Im not saying i dislike a taller screen, but what makes me laugh are the way people list these excuses as if they were "missing" on previous iPhones. An extra line of email, another twitter post, movies etc ate nice but c'mon, if you're talking about watchig a full length feature film on an iPhone then the biggest problem crippling the experience isn't the aspect ratio.

Personally I do like the screen but I just wish it was also slightly wider because that brings real world benefits like a larger keyboard, less compromise when reading and an overall bigger screen. But whatever, there's always the iPhone 6....
 
And don't forget that while this is Apple's first 16:9 phone, a large majority of modern Android phones are 16:9 as well.
 
The only real benefit I've seen so far are movies and videos. I'll wait until apps are updated to see any additional benefits.
 
It provides case makers more income generating opportunities.

Benefit of my iPhone 5? Negligible.

Not a criticism, just a fact.

It cannot be best for everyone.
 
Wirelessly posted

I don't get why the benefits of a taller phone are so hard to understand. Really, I'm baffled.

1. More vertical resolution in portrait mode.
2. Better video experience (among other things) in landscape mode.

The benefits are huge.

My only concern is the increased size, but this concern is true about most modern smartphones.
 
Meh

In landscape it displays less content like the poster a few posts above me pointed out

In portrait it displays slightly more content at the bottom. Great - but the thing is I like to read in the upper portion of the screen so I'll still be scrolling it up.

It seems like the major benefit is that it displays videos in full screen because of the 16:9 aspect ratio. But I cannot stand watching movies on such a small device. Maybe on my iPad. I do watch a lot of YouTube though so I guess that's one benefit.
 
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