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iPhone 6 to Support 'One-Handed Mode' to Address Usability on Larger Screens
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Apple (Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller in particular) have railed against large phones for years. Clearly they believe that to be usable such a mode is required.
They'll also need a marketing message to signal to consumers that moving from 4" to 4.7/5.5 is a reasonable thing to do. This one-handed feature enables that conversation to go the way Apple wants it to (I.E. people buy-in to the idea and purchase one).
I thought maybe the whole screen would be shrunk and positioned in the left or right corner, kind of like letterboxing but on the top and side.
It's not a horrible idea and it's obviously going to be optional - don't like it don't use it - that's a tough concept for some people to grasp though.
Junk like what? Something you haven't even seen or tried yet, may or may not exist, and is likely optional?
One thing is for sure; it's not gonna work like this:
LOL. That's basically admitting that bigger screens aren't useful so here's a compromised mode for when actually need to use your phone when not bragging about how big it is.
LOL. That's basically admitting that bigger screens aren't useful so here's a compromised mode for when actually need to use your phone when not bragging about how big it is.
One-Handed Mode
The one reason to own an iPhone
With the flip of a switch, enter one-handed mode. With one-handed mode, all content previously formatted for 5" gets realigned and repurposed for a virtual 3.5" screen. Also, the phone expands by about 10mm for comfort (lens still protrudes as normal). 4G and 3G bands, in addition, are disabled. Most icons on screen are also replaced with animated gifs of dancing bananas because I said. Some icons are missing altogether, stored in iCloud--restoring these icons requires a special passphrase and an annual subscription to Ping.
The one reason to own an iPhone
With the flip of a switch, enter one-handed mode. With one-handed mode, all content previously formatted for 5" gets realigned and repurposed for a virtual 3.5" screen. Also, the phone expands by about 10mm for comfort (lens still protrudes as normal). 4G and 3G bands, in addition, are disabled. Most icons on screen are also replaced with animated gifs of dancing bananas because I said. Some icons are missing altogether, stored in iCloud--restoring these icons requires a special passphrase and an annual subscription to Ping.
Or is admitting that smaller screens aren't useful so here's a compromised mode for when actually don't need to use your phone for advanced tasks
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I guess I'm really uninformed when it comes to Samsung and Android
At least some of it will be.
As reference, here's a video detailing Samsung's one-handed helpers:
Another possibility is that Apple will enable trackpad mode on the fingerprint sensor, and somehow use that to select far away items.
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LG G3 does this as well shrinks and scales the keyboard as well as centers it. for one handed use. I was wondering if Apple was going to as well! and I should have known better, what can't they do!
iOS 8 beta has been out for months now and not 1 mention of this as a feature or even discovered in code.
I can't think of any way that's not an awkward and terrible idea. Samsung can't either! Special "modes"? Awkward complexity.
I hope this is false, or is something other than it sounds like. Apple can think of things neither Samsung or I can, after all.
I hope this is false, or is something other than it sounds like. Apple can think of things neither Samsung or I can, after all.
I haven't texted in landscape mode in a long time, but I just tried it on my iPhone 5. Boy, it was a lot more difficult than on a 3.5" device. It's so unnatural. The iPad also doesn't quite work. Whatever they're going to do with bigger displays, count me out. The only big screens I'm using are the two on my Mac Pro and the one on my MBP.
That's just one of the options. And you only do it when you want to tap a button at a far corner, then the display can go back full size again.
As for looking silly, don't even get me started on Apple's implementation of iPhone apps on the iPad via pixel doubling.
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Meh. Personally I've never had a need. These things are not as big as you think, and calls and most other common little things are still easy to do.
And if you do get a really big screen, then you're likely to be someone who mostly uses these two handed anyway.
