Your opinion on big phones?

[divinebovine]

While I want a big display and such, the reality is that I do not want a huge slab holstered to my belt, I want a little bitty thing that slips easily into my pocket and doesn't get crushed around my thigh when I move my leg and my pants leg squeezes my pocket. Hence I would like to see development of Android flip phones, as described in this thread:
http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/746550-android-flip-phones.html#post6032723

The way things are going now it looks like next year's new model will look like this:

...just a little less thick and with a big screen taking up most of the real estate.

 

[Stuntman]

My previous phone had a 3.7" screen. When I got a new phone last year, I didn't want a big screen. I ended up getting a Galaxy S3 with a 4.8" screen because the smaller One S which I liked more did not offer enough on board storage and had no expandable storage option. At first I didn't like the big screen as it was difficult to use one-handed. After a couple of months, I ended up getting used to the size and have no problems using it one handed. In hindsight, I am actually glad I got the larger phone.

 

[nickdalzell]

Darn someone else has already thought up the DynaTAC. I am expecting at least a case or Bluetooth handset to pair with a Note. The case would use the Note for its keypad. My S3 is already too big but I live with it. As for throwbacks to the 80s the stylus has also made a comeback. Next up? Floppy disks with the capacity of SD cards for those nostalgic Zack Morris kids.

 

[chanchan05]

Darn someone else has already thought up the DynaTAC. I am expecting at least a case or Bluetooth handset to pair with a Note. The case would use the Note for its keypad. My S3 is already too big but I live with it. As for throwbacks to the 80s the stylus has also made a comeback. Next up? Floppy disks with the capacity of SD cards for those nostalgic Zack Morris kids.

For the record, styli never left. Even when the mainstream wasn't using them anymore, digital artists still used them a lot. They are still more accurate and actually less tiring to use than fingers. They are way better than fingers if your intention is to draw stuff or highlight a lot of passages on a book you are reading for school or work. Before styli were used to get around the limitation of small screens. Today they are here to take advantage of the big screens.

 

[nickdalzell]

They were also popular due to the horrid response to fingers accuracy of resistive touchscreens. Every time I see someone using a stylus on a Note, I get images of people using PalmPilots again. The only exception was when the iPhone was just released and folks hadn't adapted yet to finger tapping, and bought the first capacitive stylii that ended up in stores.

Three things are at play with the 80s throwbacks:

1. CGA-era UI (oversized icons, high contrast themes aka WP and so far, Google Play)

2. Brick-sized phones (in any decade, a huge phone to your ear looks goofy. The DynaTAC looked goofy even when it was new)

3. Stylii. The dated and often misplaced accessory which used to be the lifeblood of accuracy with older touchscreens, often substituted with a real pen if lost

 

[mikedt]

They were also popular due to the horrid response to fingers accuracy of resistive touchscreens. Every time I see someone using a stylus on a Note, I get images of people using PalmPilots again. The only exception was when the iPhone was just released and folks hadn't adapted yet to finger tapping, and bought the first capacitive stylii that ended up in stores.

An ex-girlfriend of mine had to buy one of those for her iPhone, because she had very long fingernails and couldn't really use a capacitive screen properly, not with the fronts of her fingers rather than fingertips, too inaccurate on the keyboard. Those capacitive stylii were designed as a substitute for fingertips, like a big soft tipped marker pen. Yeh tapping a capacitive screen with long fingernails doesn't work.

Three things are at play with the 80s throwbacks:

1. CGA-era UI (oversized icons, high contrast themes aka WP and so far, Google Play)

2. Brick-sized phones (in any decade, a huge phone to your ear looks goofy. The DynaTAC looked goofy even when it was new)

I've seen people using 7inch phone enabled tablets, putting them to their ears like regular phones. IMO it does look goofy, I wouldn't do it myself. I also think holding up a 10inch iPad and taking photographs with it looks rather goofy as well. And it's not even a particularly good camera. But that's what some people seem to do now.

3. Stylii. The dated and often misplaced accessory which used to be the lifeblood of accuracy with older touchscreens, often substituted with a real pen if lost

I've sometimes seen that here. LOL People using a ball-point pen(with the point retracted obviously), because they've lost the stylus for their resistive screened cheapos and flip-phones.

Although an advanced solution, such as the Samsung S pen, is a far cry from the simple passive stylii of old. And it does so much more than just using your fingers.

 

[nickdalzell]

Yeah, like cost more than $50 to replace.

 

[chanchan05]

Yeah, like cost more than $50 to replace.

At least with the Note 2 onwards, the device alerts you if you forgot the S Pen

 

[nickdalzell]

Oh my that would be annoying as heck. I'm so glad I'm free of that uber annoying signal drop sound from my last phone. Certainly wouldn't want another. I'm so happy I chose an S3 over an S4 or Note.

 

[mikedt]

Yeah, like cost more than $50 to replace.

$15 actually.

Every tried to do technical drawing or good calligraphy or anything else that requiring precision and accuracy, using a laundry marker or whiteboard marker or your finger dipped in ink?

 

[nickdalzell]

Seriously just how many total smartphone sales each quarter for Samsung end up being artists? I'm betting not nearly enough to warrant the stylus (Samsung of course says don't call it a stylus, but if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and quacks like a duck, what is it?) Last I checked, selling to the minority is business mistake #1

 

[jefboyardee]

I got used to an eensy Optimus S, then tried to grow up with a Gnex, but, not being much of a droid browser, I switched back. Now I have an Ascend 2, microscopically larger than the Optimus. I also have a small car and a small house and a... never mind.

 

[mikedt]

Seriously just how many total smartphone sales each quarter for Samsung end up being artists? I'm betting not nearly enough to warrant the stylus (Samsung of course says don't call it a stylus, but if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and quacks like a duck, what is it?)

Just as long as it's Peking duck. :smokingsomb: That's my favourite.

Last I checked, selling to the minority is business mistake #1

They charge enough money for the Notes, they got to make the stylus do something fancy haven't they?

 

[chanchan05]

Seriously just how many total smartphone sales each quarter for Samsung end up being artists? I'm betting not nearly enough to warrant the stylus (Samsung of course says don't call it a stylus, but if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and quacks like a duck, what is it?) Last I checked, selling to the minority is business mistake #1

Works well enough for those who play draw something. Lol.

 

[fdbryant3]

Seriously just how many total smartphone sales each quarter for Samsung end up being artists? I'm betting not nearly enough to warrant the stylus (Samsung of course says don't call it a stylus, but if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and quacks like a duck, what is it?) Last I checked, selling to the minority is business mistake #1

No it isn't. There are plenty of businesses that do quite well by catering to a niche consumer base. The key is providing a product that people want which the Note is proven to be doing.

Personally I'd love to have a stylus for my S3 (and I'm not an artist) but I know I'd lose it without a place to stow it on the phone.

 

[mrex]

Mine is 10.1" and i love it! So shame on your guys, you have tiny ones!

 

[nickdalzell]

10.1"? Tablet with cellular connectivity doesn't count.

 

[DemDog]

Interesting thread. The first smart phone I owned was an HTC Incredible. Thought it was the best thing in the world. In fact my wife still uses it everyday. Of course she is not a big time user of the thing other than to make and receive calls and show pix of our grand daughter to her friends.

I am now on my 4th smartphone having gone to an HTC Rezound which was not a good phone, then a Samsung Galaxy 3 and when that one was stolen my current Note2. I loved the SG3 with its bigger screen as I could show nice sized pix of the grand daughter, could do many other things that are enhanced by the bigger screen. Would not trade the Note 2 for anything out there in the market now though.

Have thought about a 7 inch tablet but I do not watch movies on it or play some of the games that I could on even my Note2 so I see no need for the bigger screen. Also do not do a lot of web surfing on my phone. Just lug my laptop along when I go away over night.

One last thought. The stylus or S-Pen as Samsung calls it has come in handy for me. With kinda chubby fingers I never liked the on screen keyboards that most phone have today. Took too long to type in a word. What I found when I got my Incredible was a program called Graffitti. It allows me to use the same short hand for entering text that I learned when I got my first Palm Pilot. On my other smart phone I just used my finger to do the short hand but with the S-Pen it is just like having the stylus from the Palm Pilot. Who says progress is always better.

 

[bjacks12]

My first smart-phone was a Samsung Galaxy S Captivate with a 4.0" screen. After playing with an iPod touch for a few months, I resented the 3.5" screen they had. After a year on the 4" screen, I upgraded to my Nexus 4. Don't think I could do a smaller phone again.

It's weird to think that from Dec 2010-March 2011, I was using this:

 

[divinebovine]

One last thought. The stylus or S-Pen as Samsung calls it has come in handy for me. With kinda chubby fingers I never liked the on screen keyboards that most phone have today. Took too long to type in a word. What I found when I got my Incredible was a program called Graffitti. It allows me to use the same short hand for entering text that I learned when I got my first Palm Pilot. On my other smart phone I just used my finger to do the short hand but with the S-Pen it is just like having the stylus from the Palm Pilot. Who says progress is always better.

Cool, I didn't know graffiti was available for smartphones. I can't say I ever loved it on my Palm but it's still interesting.

I sometimes like to use a stylus. My devices don't have a nice integrated one, but I bought a 10-pack of cheapies for like $2.50 shipped and they've treated me well. I especially use them in the winter when I am wearing gloves...they are really useful in that situation.

 

[nickdalzell]

I was using one of these until late 2009, but would drift on and off between it and any fancy phone that would catch my eye, including early iPhones and Android 2.1+ devices (which sucked, trust me). i had that phone since i first had a cell phone, it was one of my first and on Verizon FREE-UP back in the day, but was so super easy to reprogram you could take it to any Verizon MVNO (like Page Plus) and keep using it, despite it not being e911 compliant. the battery and all the dozen spares i had gathered ($1 or less secondhand) were finally unable to hold a decent enough charge by the end of 2009, and my boss was tired of not being able to reach me if he called (after four hours standby, just the ringer alone would shut the phone off after you hear the dreaded BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! Recharge Battery **shutoff** came up). it was just that old. i had to use duct tape or packing scotch tape to keep the battery held to the phone after having dropped it enough over its lifetime. it always had a great signal, was very durable, and could text and even send small emails back and forth. but of course, when you'd use it in 2009 people stared at you as if you'd landed from another planet. of course, i'd do the same stare at anyone who was using a microscopic Bluetooth earpiece and always came off looking like they were talking to themselves.



I had an entire cache of Nokia 5185is as spare parts. some were from my past (one had the antenna bitten off by one of the pet deer, for example, or another had the LCD busted by getting dropped while on my motorcycle) and the best feature was how interchangeable they were. the faceplates always were in endless supply at cheap dollar stores, and the only regret is not ever getting the only deer-themed case they had for it when they were new, was $49 then, or that neat little blinking antenna that would go off when you'd get a call or text, think of it as an early Lightflow LED.

 

[Stannis the Mannis]

Devices like the S4 and the One are the perfect size for me but I wouldn't get anything larger than A Note 2 or G Pro.

 

[breadnatty08]

I recall when the HTC Flyer came out the stylus was something stupid like $75 extra!
I got mine in the Best Buy screwup, so I wasn't going to shell out another $75 when the tablet was $100.
Anywho, the few times I mess with my OG Droid, I can't believe I could deal with how small that screen was now having my S3. I could probably squeeze going a little bigger, but I think 4.7" is nearly my max.

 

[mikedt]

I was looking at one today called the Samsung Mega i9200, this thing is huge for a phone. 6.3 inch*. They're not selling it as a Note or phablet, had no S Pen. We haven't got a forum for the Mega and I believe it's currently only available in Asia. Too big, can't fit it in my pants comfortably and very difficult to use one handed.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_mega_6_3_i9200-5398.php


After using a KIRF Note for a while, I've decided my ideal phone size is around 4.8 inch which is my current one, Samsung Galaxy Win.

* read again 3 years, when this thread is necrobumped again

 

[DragonSlayer95]

I've read about the mega

It's one of the new affordable larger devices yes?

It's huge, but the specs on it absolutely suck lol