So, I remember, back in the days of the iPhone 4s, how I often observed that the usable part of the display was the same size as a credit card, and how I wished for an iPhone that was just that size — edge-to-edge display, at most a quarter inch thick. It would be exactly as usable, but without all the extra bulk.
Instead, of course, phones got bigger, even though the bezels have thankfully long since vanished.
There’s a natural ambivalence with this sort of thing. On the one hand, when you’re using the phone, all else equal, you can’t have too big of a display. (Read into “all else equal,” caveats such as the challenge of holding something the size of the Sunday Times, or interacting with it, especially with one hand.) On the other hand, again, all else equal, when you’re not using the phone, it can’t be too small. Nobody wants the phone to dig into your leg when you sit down, let alone have it be too big to fit into a pocket at all.
My S4 Watch was great at all the stuff the watch was designed for: a read-only PDA (“Personal Digital Assistant,” for those too young to remember the Newton), all the activity stuff (which I can’t overemphasize), and an emergency backup for the phone. You didn’t want to use it as a phone, but it was much better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
But now with the Ultra, I feel like the watch is roughly as usable as the 4s was. Creating calendar events and reminders and even contacts is certainly no worse than it was on the phone; for short-and-simple stuff with Siri, it’s hands-down superior. I don’t want to compose long emails on the watch, but I didn’t want to on the 4s. Sure, the Ultra lacks a Web browser, but the Web wasn’t all that browseable on the 4s, either.
And I’m pretty sure that the speakerphone on the Ultra beats the one on the 4s — and, back in the day, the 4s was a pretty impressive speakerphone. Regardless, I’m quite happy with the Ultra as a speakerphone, such that I’ll use it rather than reach across a table to answer on my iPhone Xs.
I’ve ventured out a couple times without the Xs, and I’m not going to hesitate to do so in the future.
No, the Ultra can’t replace a modern full-featured phone. My Xs still has a damned excellent “vacation snapshot” camera, and the screen is (barely) large enough for ebooks, Web browsing, that sort of thing. I might get an iPhone 15, and almost certainly a 16 if not; when I do, I’ll get the biggest top-of-the-line model.
But, any time I’m reasonably confident that I don’t need a camera, don’t need a large display, etc. …
… well, that’s when my Ultra becomes my long-wished-for micro-mini smartphone.
b&
Instead, of course, phones got bigger, even though the bezels have thankfully long since vanished.
There’s a natural ambivalence with this sort of thing. On the one hand, when you’re using the phone, all else equal, you can’t have too big of a display. (Read into “all else equal,” caveats such as the challenge of holding something the size of the Sunday Times, or interacting with it, especially with one hand.) On the other hand, again, all else equal, when you’re not using the phone, it can’t be too small. Nobody wants the phone to dig into your leg when you sit down, let alone have it be too big to fit into a pocket at all.
My S4 Watch was great at all the stuff the watch was designed for: a read-only PDA (“Personal Digital Assistant,” for those too young to remember the Newton), all the activity stuff (which I can’t overemphasize), and an emergency backup for the phone. You didn’t want to use it as a phone, but it was much better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
But now with the Ultra, I feel like the watch is roughly as usable as the 4s was. Creating calendar events and reminders and even contacts is certainly no worse than it was on the phone; for short-and-simple stuff with Siri, it’s hands-down superior. I don’t want to compose long emails on the watch, but I didn’t want to on the 4s. Sure, the Ultra lacks a Web browser, but the Web wasn’t all that browseable on the 4s, either.
And I’m pretty sure that the speakerphone on the Ultra beats the one on the 4s — and, back in the day, the 4s was a pretty impressive speakerphone. Regardless, I’m quite happy with the Ultra as a speakerphone, such that I’ll use it rather than reach across a table to answer on my iPhone Xs.
I’ve ventured out a couple times without the Xs, and I’m not going to hesitate to do so in the future.
No, the Ultra can’t replace a modern full-featured phone. My Xs still has a damned excellent “vacation snapshot” camera, and the screen is (barely) large enough for ebooks, Web browsing, that sort of thing. I might get an iPhone 15, and almost certainly a 16 if not; when I do, I’ll get the biggest top-of-the-line model.
But, any time I’m reasonably confident that I don’t need a camera, don’t need a large display, etc. …
… well, that’s when my Ultra becomes my long-wished-for micro-mini smartphone.
b&
