What is a power user of a mobile phone, and what makes a 3.5" screen unacceptable?
edit: Ah, I see. Reading a lot. I actually read all of Guns, Germs, and Steel on my iPhone 4S earlier this year, and probably do an hour or two of reading on it a day in total.
It's not necessarily an ideal experience, but it certainly isn't terrible. I'm looking forward to the rumored 4" screen on the upcoming The New iPhone, but I think that 4.5" and 5" are both way too big.
The impression I get is that most larger screens out there today don't pack in larger pixels, but instead just use bigger pixels. Ultimately, I'm more interested in the quality of the text than I am the total number of lines I can see at one time. For instance, before I got the retina screen-equipped iPad this year, I actually preferred reading on the iPhone to the iPad by a wide margin.
A power user is a user who regularly browses the web. Browsing the web on a 4.65-inch 1280x720 screen is significantly better than browsing the web on a 3.5-inch 960x640 screen.
Reply to your edit: The fact that Android phones have low pixel density is absolutely wrong. That used to be the case. But now they have both larger screens and more pixels. Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, HTC One X, Xperia S all have 1280x720 screens and are all 300+ ppi.
That all depends on what's running on the screen. I find browsing on my iPhone much faster and more responsive on my iPhone vs my friends Android devices.
I browse the web on my phone constantly. I still wouldn't rather a bigger screen at the expense of all the other benefits of a compact phone like one handed usage.
I resent the implication that I'm not a power user or I don't really browse the web just because I prefer a smaller screen on my phone.
If you had the option of buying an iPhone with a 4.65 inch, high resolution screen that still managed to be comfortable to use with 1 hand, would you still prefer the smaller version?
If so, your choice would be a personal preference that has nothing to do with functionality, unless for some reasons your hands are too small to use a larger device with ease. From an objective standpoint, a phone with a larger screen is easier to type on, better suited to displaying videos, and more capable of displaying a variety of text-based documents (powerpoint, technical manuals, web pages.) The only drawbacks of having a larger phone are that: A) some users have smaller hands than others, and B) it takes up more space.
> If you had the option of buying an iPhone with a 4.65 inch, high resolution screen that still managed to be comfortable to use with 1 hand, would you still prefer the smaller version?
> If so, your choice would be a personal preference that has nothing to do with functionality...
Really? Would you say the same thing to someone buying a small car over an SUV? That the SUV is always a better ride, the only reason you would ever want something smaller is "personal preference"?
I doubt it. We can all see the benefits in a small sleek car over a clunky SUV but even though the benefits of a smaller phone are basically the same, they're lost on us. More efficient on fuel, more compact and easy to wield, speedier, sportier, overall a much nicer product.
Bigger wheels and a bigger car don't make a better drive. Likewise a bigger frame and bigger screen don't necessarily make for a better phone experience, unless that's what you're looking for.
The comparison between a smartphone and an automobile doesn't make much sense. On one hand you compare a smaller car with an SUV. Large vehicles are were developed to fill a very specific need, and were never intended to eliminate the need for a normal sized car. To the majority of the population, which doesn't often need to haul around large amounts of stuff, trucks and SUV's don't enhance functionality in a significant way, yet they are often far more expensive to operate and maintain.
Large smartphones provide numerous enhancements in certain use cases, which can't really be debated. All else being equal, a large screen is better at displaying videos, documents, photos, books, and websites. Provided the phone remains reasonably small (the Galaxy Note is pushing it, but it's an extreme example), most people won't experience any significant drawbacks to having a larger phone. Most of the large screen phones are about an inch and a quarter larger than the iPhone's at most, so it's not like we are talking about a jump from a 5 ounce device to one that weighs two pounds. As I stated before, the only reason other than personal preference that one might have to stick with a smaller screen, would be if that particular user's hands were too small to use the phone comfortably.
No, I definitely wasn't trying to imply anything like that about any iPhone user. I'm sure you are a power user and you regularly browse the web with your iPhone. But this doesn't mean you wouldn't have a better browsing experience with a 1280x720 resolution and a larger screen.
I don't want this to turn into a typical iPhone vs Android forum dicussion, so I'm not really going to say anything else. But browsing on a high-end Android phone (like Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, One X, Xperia S) will be significantly faster than iPhone 4S. Your friend's Android device was probably pre-ICS and/or a low-end device.
From what I understand, most iPhone users here have not tried the recent high-end Android phones and are still thinking about the old days of Android, when it had choppy scrolling and a UI which kept stuttering.
> I don't want this to turn into a typical iPhone vs Android forum dicussion, so I'm not really going to say anything else.
I agree, but I can't let this stand as implied fact.
> But browsing on a high-end Android phone (like Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, One X, Xperia S) will be significantly faster than iPhone 4S.
My comparison was to a Galaxy Nexus running Chrome. Is it fast? Yes. I personally don't find it as fast and responsive as a 4S though. Just throwing power at Android doesn't solve the responsiveness issues it still has in ICS.
jellybean solved those problems. latency was definitely one area where iOS was ahead. if you look at general features, you'll find iOS has been playing catchup for about a year.
Audio latency is better but still not very good, compared to iOS/CoreAudio. I suspect it will never catch up simply because of the underlying design, Google simply does not have the knowledge necessary to implement low-latency audio.
I agree with this and don't think Google has the desire/skill to do anything about it. This is the biggest issue for Android from day one because the portable device is now considered a musical instrument and Android can't compete. Things are going to get shaken up again once Windows 8 tablets start running Ableton Live/Cubase so at this point Google should just wait and see what happens.
The 3.5" screen is better for me because it easily fits in any pocket, so I always have it with me, and the battery easily lasts all day even with heavy web browsing.
I am yet to see a male claiming Galaxy Note (5.3-inch screen) does not fit in his pocket. By the way, I am assuming you're a man because women don't carry their phones in their pocket.
Definitely, everyone who has bothered to say this to me about their Android phone actually does little to nothing with the phone. Certainly nothing that takes advantage of the screen.
I do constantly see people using those Galaxy Notes with the S Pen and two hands at all times. Seems like a big step backwards to me. Not only can I do everything a phone with a bigger screen can do, but I can do it with one hand.
The Galaxy Note is a great device, but I admit it's not for everyone. It's supposed to be a hybrid between a tablet and a phone, like the Dell Streak or the Nokia N900.
I'll admit I have slightly large hands, but I can use a Galaxy Nexus just fine 1-handed.
edit: Ah, I see. Reading a lot. I actually read all of Guns, Germs, and Steel on my iPhone 4S earlier this year, and probably do an hour or two of reading on it a day in total.
It's not necessarily an ideal experience, but it certainly isn't terrible. I'm looking forward to the rumored 4" screen on the upcoming The New iPhone, but I think that 4.5" and 5" are both way too big.
The impression I get is that most larger screens out there today don't pack in larger pixels, but instead just use bigger pixels. Ultimately, I'm more interested in the quality of the text than I am the total number of lines I can see at one time. For instance, before I got the retina screen-equipped iPad this year, I actually preferred reading on the iPhone to the iPad by a wide margin.