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Larger screen? Why is it important?

R

ryuok

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 27, 2011
164
158
Hong Kong
Please help me understand why a larger display in the next iPhone is so important to you.

When the iPhone 4 was being designed, Apple doubled the resolution each axis to make it easier for older apps to coexist with the new display. 960 x 640 became the new standard and I think will remain so for a long time to come.

Now do you not think that at one point of designing the iPhone 4, someone had brought in a 4inch+ LED display to the design lab? Do you really think it is harder for Apple to simply put in a 4inch+ display rather than trying to squeeze all those pixels into a 3.5 inch screen? Are you saying that after all the challenges they have overcame with making that incredible retina display, they are going to "upgrade" the screen to 4inch+ which was a lot easier to make in the first place?
 
ryuok said:
Please help me understand why a larger display in the next iPhone is so important to you.

When the iPhone 4 was being designed, Apple doubled the resolution each axis to make it easier for older apps to coexist with the new display. 960 x 640 became the new standard and I think will remain so for a long time to come.

Now do you not think that at one point of designing the iPhone 4, someone had brought in a 4inch+ LED display to the design lab? Do you really think it is harder for Apple to simply put in a 4inch+ display rather than trying to squeeze all those pixels into a 3.5 inch screen? Are you saying that after all the challenges they have overcame with making that incredible retina display, they are going to "upgrade" the screen to 4inch+ which was a lot easier to make in the first place?
Click to expand...

Demand for a 4" screen is higher than it was in 2010.
 
ryuok said:
Please help me understand why a larger display in the next iPhone is so important to you.

When the iPhone 4 was being designed, Apple doubled the resolution each axis to make it easier for older apps to coexist with the new display. 960 x 640 became the new standard and I think will remain so for a long time to come.

Now do you not think that at one point of designing the iPhone 4, someone had brought in a 4inch+ LED display to the design lab? Do you really think it is harder for Apple to simply put in a 4inch+ display rather than trying to squeeze all those pixels into a 3.5 inch screen? Are you saying that after all the challenges they have overcame with making that incredible retina display, they are going to "upgrade" the screen to 4inch+ which was a lot easier to make in the first place?
Click to expand...

People like the larger screens. It makes it easier to see what's being displayed. I don't care if the text on the website is still perfectly clear if it's too small to read.

This is an important juncture for Apple. Android is gaining steam. WP7 may start to pick up users as well. If Apple gets too arrogant, thinking they know what's best even when popular opinion disagrees, they will lose more marketshare.

Steve Jobs said it himself. Apple almost went into bankruptcy in the 90's because they refused to continue to innovate. They had good products, they sat on them, and Windows caught up and overtook them.
 
ryuok said:
Please help me understand why a larger display in the next iPhone is so important to you.

When the iPhone 4 was being designed, Apple doubled the resolution each axis to make it easier for older apps to coexist with the new display. 960 x 640 became the new standard and I think will remain so for a long time to come.

Now do you not think that at one point of designing the iPhone 4, someone had brought in a 4inch+ LED display to the design lab? Do you really think it is harder for Apple to simply put in a 4inch+ display rather than trying to squeeze all those pixels into a 3.5 inch screen? Are you saying that after all the challenges they have overcame with making that incredible retina display, they are going to "upgrade" the screen to 4inch+ which was a lot easier to make in the first place?
Click to expand...

I honestly don't care what went/goes on in Apple's Design labs. I personally wish for a slightly bigger screen. at least. If you don't want a bigger screen, the 4S or whatever will be available for you.
 
Invincibilizer said:
Because people think bigger is better now :confused:
Click to expand...

In my mind it is only better if:

1. The relative size of the unit is not drastically inflated. Some dimension changes may be acceptable. Having a phone that looks like a 7" tablet is not appealing.

2. The quality of the display is at least the same quality of the preceding model. Throwing a crappy display in for the sake of size is not good, and likely not Apple's style.
 
Because after using a phone with a larger screen I realise I prefer it. It makes it easier for me to type and operate in general, plus it's nicer for browsing.
 
I actually see evidence every day that consumers prefer larger devices. Lady came in yesterday, wanting to look at phones for her upgrade, carrying an iPad on which she had saved her notes and questions about the phones she wanted to look at. Me, thinking she would automatically head for the iPhone 4 display, started talking about all the features of the 4. She cut me off once she caught sight of the row of Androids in the store. All of them packing at least a 4" display. She kept going on about how she loved the screen and it was so much easier to see and operate than her current 3GS.

I found it funny because I could have just told her to use her iPad like a lot of people here in the forums do. Anyways I told her to wait and see what the announcement on Tuesday brings, as I had heard rumors of Apple maybe putting a larger screen on the iPhone and my unspoken rule is if they are carrying that many Apple products, then it's probably best if they stick with Apple.

She's not the first customer I've encountered in the last few months looking for a bigger screen on their iPhone either....
 
So I do not have to scroll left and right in order to read every line of text on a website! :mad:

This did not happen on the 4.3" screen of the EVO that I use to own.

I returned the EVO because the lag drove me batty.
 
Clcross18x said:
I actually see evidence every day that consumers prefer larger devices. Lady came in yesterday, wanting to look at phones for her upgrade, carrying an iPad on which she had saved her notes and questions about the phones she wanted to look at. Me, thinking she would automatically head for the iPhone 4 display, started talking about all the features of the 4. She cut me off once she caught sight of the row of Androids in the store. All of them packing at least a 4" display. She kept going on about how she loved the screen and it was so much easier to see and operate than her current 3GS.

I found it funny because I could have just told her to use her iPad like a lot of people here in the forums do. Anyways I told her to wait and see what the announcement on Tuesday brings, as I had heard rumors of Apple maybe putting a larger screen on the iPhone and my unspoken rule is if they are carrying that many Apple products, then it's probably best if they stick with Apple.

She's not the first customer I've encountered in the last few months looking for a bigger screen on their iPhone either....
Click to expand...

Off-topic: thanks for being a good guy and telling her to wait. This kind of honesty doesn't exist much in retail anymore. I understand that salespeople can't turn away customers on rumors alone, but when there is an official iPhone event in the near future, it makes sense to inform folks so they can make the best decision possible.

Keep up the good work!
 
Alchematron said:
So I do not have to scroll left and right in order to read every line of text on a website! :mad:

This did not happen on the 4.3" screen of the EVO that I use to own.

I returned the EVO because the lag drove me batty.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Android wrap text through?
 
Patriot24 said:
Off-topic: thanks for being a good guy and telling her to wait. This kind of honesty doesn't exist much in retail anymore. I understand that salespeople can't turn away customers on rumors alone, but when there is an official iPhone event in the near future, it makes sense to inform folks so they can make the best decision possible.

Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

I turn as many customers away if I believe they may benefit from a newer device. As much as I do that though, more than half of them still decide to go for the current phone and not worry about waiting...just yesterday I did about 3 upgrades for customers to iPhone 4s and none of them cared for Tuesday.

I let everyone know about the event and it's fun when customers even start talking to me about the rumors and we get into a fun conversation about it, but the bulk of people really don't care or don't know that they should care.
 
I'd definitely like a larger screen for a few reasons. One of the top reasons is to make typing a lot easier. I'm a bit clumsy, so the tiny keyboard on the iPhone is hard to get correct spelling on. Also, I'm interested in seeing browsing the internet with a bigger screen. That would be nice.
 
If Apple wants the Chinese market, it better have bigger screen it is extremely hard making out what the Chinese characters are with the existing retina display when reading eBook, for example. You may not have this issue with English text, but in some other languages it is an issue.
 
If they make the screen bigger more people will get it it's that easy and they will also need to upgrade the resolution
 
iphone-5-fake
 
Gathomblipoob said:
Some do, and I'd love to see that feature incorporated into iOS.
Click to expand...

Same, the point I was making though was that that case has nothing to do with the screen size as Android wrapped the text to fit the screen. If the iPhone had a bigger screen it would still not fit a bunch of sites because it doesn't wrap text.
 
DeusInvictus7 said:
I turn as many customers away if I believe they may benefit from a newer device. As much as I do that though, more than half of them still decide to go for the current phone and not worry about waiting...just yesterday I did about 3 upgrades for customers to iPhone 4s and none of them cared for Tuesday.

I let everyone know about the event and it's fun when customers even start talking to me about the rumors and we get into a fun conversation about it, but the bulk of people really don't care or don't know that they should care.
Click to expand...

I especially love customers with the off the wall rumors. One suggested to me the other day that she had heard the iPhone 5 would be see through!

I'm actually surprised your still selling 4's at all. They've been at a standstill for our store for a while now. For quite a few months now my commission check has been surviving on the Android phones and the $49 3GS. I don't know if it's because I'm new to AT&T from another carrier that didn't have the iPhone, and I'm used to explaining the benefits of Android or what, But I'm always shocked that I never see them flying off the shelves like the reports on sales numbers suggest. I assume everyone's down at the Apple store and just coming in for us to transfer their contacts lol.
 
ryuok said:
Please help me understand why a larger display in the next iPhone is so important to you.

When the iPhone 4 was being designed, Apple doubled the resolution each axis to make it easier for older apps to coexist with the new display. 960 x 640 became the new standard and I think will remain so for a long time to come.

Now do you not think that at one point of designing the iPhone 4, someone had brought in a 4inch+ LED display to the design lab? Do you really think it is harder for Apple to simply put in a 4inch+ display rather than trying to squeeze all those pixels into a 3.5 inch screen? Are you saying that after all the challenges they have overcame with making that incredible retina display, they are going to "upgrade" the screen to 4inch+ which was a lot easier to make in the first place?
Click to expand...

Let me guess...you stupidly purchased/upgraded to the iPhone 4 in the last few months and you aren't eligible to upgrade to the iPhone 5, right?

Seriously, the iPhone 4 is an amazing piece of hardware and you should just be happy with it.

Meanwhile, if Apple announces the iPhone 5 (with a bigger screen), we should all get used to seeing iPhone 4 owners who aren't eligible to upgrade whining about how they can't get the amazing new iPhone 5. And I'll be sitting here, playing with my shiny new iPhone 5 and laughing the whole time. :D
 
Have you actually tried a smart phone with a 4" screen? It's difficult to go back once your eyes get accustomed to the new found space.
 
Clcross18x said:
I especially love customers with the off the wall rumors. One suggested to me the other day that she had heard the iPhone 5 would be see through!

I'm actually surprised your still selling 4's at all. They've been at a standstill for our store for a while now. For quite a few months now my commission check has been surviving on the Android phones and the $49 3GS. I don't know if it's because I'm new to AT&T from another carrier that didn't have the iPhone, and I'm used to explaining the benefits of Android or what, But I'm always shocked that I never see them flying off the shelves like the reports on sales numbers suggest. I assume everyone's down at the Apple store and just coming in for us to transfer their contacts lol.
Click to expand...

Lol yeah it's weird at my store we are still sold out of black iPhones, have been for the past month almost...and a few days ago we got a massive shipment of white ones so we've been surviving on those. I feel ok turning away customers more so this past month since it was back to school and the back to school rush for internet and cable was amazing so commission will be nice.
 
Patriot24 said:
Off-topic: thanks for being a good guy and telling her to wait. This kind of honesty doesn't exist much in retail anymore. I understand that salespeople can't turn away customers on rumors alone, but when there is an official iPhone event in the near future, it makes sense to inform folks so they can make the best decision possible.

Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

Lol Well it definitely saves me from that uncomfortable confrontation when they want to return the phone because it's not responding to their every whim and I tell them it's a $35 restocking fee that I can't waive since management is on a rampage and denying all overrides.

As for the lady, I'm fairly sure she's going to end up getting an Android just for the screen size though. She knew about the Galaxy S 2, even though I couldn't show her mine just yet. So that was another reason she was waiting since it launches Sunday on AT&T. I just remember the frustration in her voice that she couldn't operate the screen because of the size and it totally that yea.....it is kinda small for the various things Apple wants us to be doing with our phones....

I'm excited though will be my first iPhone if there is a redesign. I've rooted almost every Android phone I have. I need a change, and it will be fun learning how to jailbreak and the in's and out's of iOS. If there isn't....I'll hold off for a month or two....see if AT&T launches any LTE Androids with large screens and then make a decision....
 
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