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Tim Cook Comments on 5-Inch Phone Market, Reiterates Commitment to Quality Over Size
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Just a matter of time, I suppose.
But if there's still a 4" model if/when a bigger iPhone ships, I'll get the 4" model.
A pocket-sized device should be as small as possible.
iPhone 5 is already at the limit IMHO.
It certainly is. HTC, Samsung, LG and Sony have phones with better screens. Probably some other companies have better screens as well but it's hard to follow all of them.
Tough Call
I like my iPhone 5, but I think it's a load of marketing garbage that its screen is "the perfect size." I prefer iOS and am therefore sticking to it, but I think 4.5-4.7" is the sweet spot for a phone, having tried out some other screen sizes last time I was at Verizon. They felt more comfortable for me, maybe because I have big hands.
However, I do think the 5" screens were going overboard. They just felt uncomfortable.
I like my iPhone 5, but I think it's a load of marketing garbage that its screen is "the perfect size." I prefer iOS and am therefore sticking to it, but I think 4.5-4.7" is the sweet spot for a phone, having tried out some other screen sizes last time I was at Verizon. They felt more comfortable for me, maybe because I have big hands.
However, I do think the 5" screens were going overboard. They just felt uncomfortable.
Hahaha. Nope they don't. Quality wise anyway. The only screen better than the iPhone 5 is the HTC One. Nothing else.
yes. because some ppl like small arsed phones means everyone agrees with this crap.
Light color brightness, white point, calibration, power consumption, and a host of other attributes. Also, consider that Tim isn't comparing the HTC One screen to the older iPhone 5 screen. He is comparing displays that will be available for the next iPhone.
The iPhone 5 has a great display. Apple obviously takes a great deal of care. Sometimes that is lost.
Nonsense. It's panel variance. I've had an iPhone 4 with a yellow tint, whereas my wife's was quite neutral. My iPhone 5 is very "blue". Almost too blue, actually, whereas my wife's is also quite neutral.
PANEL VARIANCE.
The difference between those huge brick phones from 20 to 30 years ago to the brick phones of today was technology. You basically made calls and that was it. You weren't able to watch KnightRider or Wonder Woman on your brick phone.
It's not like Samsung is putting in a 3.5" display into the body of a Note 2. About 95% of the front is all useful display area. And I doubt "smartphones" are going to get small unless it projects 3D holograms that you interact with. And no; none of the original starwars movies could have watched on a brick phone from the 80's.
Yes, the iPhone 5 has a great display. But with the 1080p panels on the htc one/galaxy s4, Apple will need to step up.
The 1080p displays (minus the xperia z) are very,very good looking and better then the iPhone 5. Please make atleast a 720p or even better a 1080p.
And yes, I have a iphone 5.
There's a certain point you reach in terms of screen quality at which you're splitting hairs, and the difference in resolution on a mobile screen between the iPhone and anything with a 720P or 1080P is completely negligible. I'm not saying that it would be impossible to tell the difference, but the literal visual benefit one may gain from having 468 DPI verses 326 DPI on a 4-5 inch screen is just beyond minute, literally, any way you look at it. When you get to the point that these screens are at today, resolution should be the last talking point among those truly concerned about screen quality. If you truly cared about the screen quality and the actual viewing experience, you should be talking about those things that Tim Cook mentioned, not resolution, because on a device small enough to hold in your hand, once you hit about 250 DPI, again, you're splitting hairs.
And to be clear, I'm a videophile if there ever was one. I still have plasma TVs, and they're all professionally calibrated. I've had high-end projectors for years, and still used CRT projectors for ultimate color and black quality until just the last few years. You could spend as much getting those calibrated as you would buying a 64 GB iPhone outright. I've worked in the high-end home theater field a bit in the past as well, and have received some training on calibration myself. When the calibrators come, they don't have to do much.
My point is, I take visuals very seriously, but I find the idea that Apple needs to step-up to match those coming out with 720P or 1080P screens to be ridiculous. 99.9% of the users of either device do not notice or care, for good reason. And, well, I think the .1% that does notice and care probably think they notice and care a lot more than they really would if they weren't so focused on numbers on a spec sheet. As you said, the iPhone 5 has a great screen. I'm not saying you settle always settle, I'm not saying you shouldn't strive to be better, but it'd be fruitless for Apple to jump to a new resolution altogether if all they were to get out of it was a slightly higher DPI number for the spec sheet, and that's about what it'd amount to when it comes to real world benefit.
By the way, a few years back I had a 720P digital projector made by Samsung, can't remember the model number. It was a high-end projector that got delayed too many times, came out too late (1080Ps were starting to hit the market) and cost too much (I think $12,000 at launch). But it was designed with Joe Kane (the guy who founded ISF) and as far as single-chip DLP digital projectors went, it had an outstanding image. Oh, and it had a lot of reliability problems too. But back to the picture. It wasn't as sharp as the newer 1080P models coming out, but the overall image was still far better than equivalent 1080P projectors at the time. The colors were outstanding, the black levels were great, the image was smooth and bold. And I have a 120" screen! Is the 1080P a little bit sharper? Yes. But I guarantee you, that if I sat you down and asked you to pick which image was better in an A-B test between a good 1080P projector and that 720P at the time, you'd pick the 720P, again and again, no matter what content was displayed. I would put a tremendous amount of money on that if we were betting as well, because despite not being as sharp, it was sharp enough, and it did everything else so much better than the 1080P.
I'm not saying this example applies directly to this situation so much as stressing emphatically that there is so, so, so much more to screen quality than resolution. And if the above projector example is true on a 120" screen, regardless of how viewing distance factors into each situation, it's far, far more true on a 4-5" screen that already consists of nearly imperceptible pixels.
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Every mass-produced flat screen display has bad build quality. Thankfully, these days, bad, even very bad, is still pretty damn good in the grand scheme of things.
After all, people actually buy Dynex and Westinghouse TVs.
So you think Apple is more capable of deciding what size phone is best for you than you are yourself?
1. Resolution: Samsungs and HTCs have much higher resolution. Also 1080p.
2. Color quality, white balance: LG made screen can not be best
3. Reflectivity: What the hell is that?
4. power consumption: for better power consumption get AMOLED
5. Portability: what's the problem? Make two different sizes. You make iMac and then you make Air for "portability".
6. Compatibility of apps: that is the iOS problem. iOS is "pixel perfect" - it does not work with other sizes/resolutions. Android does.
Resolution-dependant iOS is actually the main problem Apple still does not make 5" iPhone. Apple smartphone is actually not that smart to run on different resolutions.
2. Color quality, white balance: LG made screen can not be best
3. Reflectivity: What the hell is that?
4. power consumption: for better power consumption get AMOLED
5. Portability: what's the problem? Make two different sizes. You make iMac and then you make Air for "portability".
6. Compatibility of apps: that is the iOS problem. iOS is "pixel perfect" - it does not work with other sizes/resolutions. Android does.
Resolution-dependant iOS is actually the main problem Apple still does not make 5" iPhone. Apple smartphone is actually not that smart to run on different resolutions.
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I so can't wait until they announce a 5'' phone and you'll be "Oh...I don't know how I dealt with a 4'' phone before!"
I want an iPhone 5 with a 3.5" screen! Stupid Apple, the one size fits all is beginning to get a bit stale with the iPhone, now I have my Nexus 7, the same if I had an iPad Mini, I don't use my phone for as many things but would love the smaller screen.
It is stupid how Apple give in to customer pressure and change to a longer screen, but they refuse to make a phablet, what resolution above 1080p do they need?
I should also add it would be nice if Apple gave the next iPhone a touch screen that actually worked, like the iPhone 4 had! Considering the iPhone 5's system is not half as good.
It is stupid how Apple give in to customer pressure and change to a longer screen, but they refuse to make a phablet, what resolution above 1080p do they need?
I should also add it would be nice if Apple gave the next iPhone a touch screen that actually worked, like the iPhone 4 had! Considering the iPhone 5's system is not half as good.
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Screen size just boils down to personal preference.
The fanboys will always defend the <4 inch size while making up excuses why they can't see how anyone would want a screen over 4 inches, when obviously consumer taste have changed over the past three years.
If
was to make a 5 incher, I bet all the hypocritical fanboys would lap it up in a heartbeat.
The fanboys will always defend the <4 inch size while making up excuses why they can't see how anyone would want a screen over 4 inches, when obviously consumer taste have changed over the past three years.
If
was to make a 5 incher, I bet all the hypocritical fanboys would lap it up in a heartbeat.this year they will release the 5S with the same display plus some other boring stuff then in the summer of 2014 they will release the magical 4.8' iPhone + and claim it's the best display in the market then in the fall they will release the magical iPhone mini with the magical 3.5' display from my iPhone but this time it's not Retina it's something else a new technology...
I expect him to say nothing less.
But I believe it's simply positioning and spin.
Making a blanket statement that other phones have tradeoffs and implying the only one Apple has made is screen size (based on his laundry list) is a bit silly.
Ultimately - every device has positives and negatives. And since everyone's use case is different - it's good that there's a choice in devices - whether you like a larger screen, certain ecosystem, etc...
But I believe it's simply positioning and spin.
Making a blanket statement that other phones have tradeoffs and implying the only one Apple has made is screen size (based on his laundry list) is a bit silly.
Ultimately - every device has positives and negatives. And since everyone's use case is different - it's good that there's a choice in devices - whether you like a larger screen, certain ecosystem, etc...
I so can't wait until they announce a 5'' phone and you'll be "Oh...I don't know how I dealt with a 4'' phone before!"
Or how you'll find someone who didn't actually say they can't deal with 5 inches and pretend they did to further your "apple sheep" thing