Hey guys, we all seem to be getting along great here so I thought I'd try starting up a general discussion or two (or more, depending on how they're received) about Android and phones in general. Hopefully the mods don't mind...
My first smartphone was an HTC Incredible, which I got days after it was released. It was a great starter phone, working great out of the box. And as I started becoming a bit disappointed in its performance I rooted it. But once I rooted it I soon after wanted to put a custom ROM on it. I settled on CM7.
The Incredible worked great, but I was slowly developing a desire for a better phone. Better how? Well, a larger higher resolution screen was my primary goal. And battery life that was not too much worse was desirable as well, but as long as I could reasonably get 16 hours I was good. This is how I settled on the Spectrum and it has worked out well for me.
But it took me awhile to get used to the significantly larger screen. And while I was getting used to it, I kept reading articles about how a certain black mock-turtle neck wearing individual claimed that 3.5" (the Incredible has a 3.7" screen. Close enough) was the perfect screen size. His claim was based on the average person's ability to operate their phone with one hand.
Looking back at my usage over the two plus years I've had a smartphone, the time I've operated my phone with one hand is probably less than 1%. Of that tiny fraction of time, the vast majority of it is while I'm driving. Now, I don't text while I'm driving. But I do occasionally have to answer calls and such. And I noticed that regardless of the placement of the power button, it is very difficult to turn on and unlock the screen with one hand no matter how large or small the phone is.
I've also been paying attention to how I use my phone in other situations. Even when I COULD operate the phone with one hand, I WOULDN'T. Why? I found my accuracy is much higher doing everything with two hands as opposed to two hands.
It also seems to me that as people become more dependent on their phones, and as those phones become more central to daily life, people will mind less and less using two hands while operating their phones. I think that as long as a person's thumbs can overlap a bit in the center of the onscreen keyboard, the screen is not too big.
Personally, the screen of the Spectrum is at or near the upper end of usable screen size for me; I doubt I'll want a phone with a larger screen if it means having a larger phone.
What about you guys? How many of you try to use your phone one-handed? And what are your opinions on this subject overall?
My first smartphone was an HTC Incredible, which I got days after it was released. It was a great starter phone, working great out of the box. And as I started becoming a bit disappointed in its performance I rooted it. But once I rooted it I soon after wanted to put a custom ROM on it. I settled on CM7.
The Incredible worked great, but I was slowly developing a desire for a better phone. Better how? Well, a larger higher resolution screen was my primary goal. And battery life that was not too much worse was desirable as well, but as long as I could reasonably get 16 hours I was good. This is how I settled on the Spectrum and it has worked out well for me.
But it took me awhile to get used to the significantly larger screen. And while I was getting used to it, I kept reading articles about how a certain black mock-turtle neck wearing individual claimed that 3.5" (the Incredible has a 3.7" screen. Close enough) was the perfect screen size. His claim was based on the average person's ability to operate their phone with one hand.
Looking back at my usage over the two plus years I've had a smartphone, the time I've operated my phone with one hand is probably less than 1%. Of that tiny fraction of time, the vast majority of it is while I'm driving. Now, I don't text while I'm driving. But I do occasionally have to answer calls and such. And I noticed that regardless of the placement of the power button, it is very difficult to turn on and unlock the screen with one hand no matter how large or small the phone is.
I've also been paying attention to how I use my phone in other situations. Even when I COULD operate the phone with one hand, I WOULDN'T. Why? I found my accuracy is much higher doing everything with two hands as opposed to two hands.
It also seems to me that as people become more dependent on their phones, and as those phones become more central to daily life, people will mind less and less using two hands while operating their phones. I think that as long as a person's thumbs can overlap a bit in the center of the onscreen keyboard, the screen is not too big.
Personally, the screen of the Spectrum is at or near the upper end of usable screen size for me; I doubt I'll want a phone with a larger screen if it means having a larger phone.
What about you guys? How many of you try to use your phone one-handed? And what are your opinions on this subject overall?
