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Question of the Day: How do you normally pay for purchases in stores?
iPhone 5s officially unveiled
cerebus
Honorary Master
He has small hands,very small
I just want to be able to use a phone with one hand without shifting it around constantly to get to the various controls on the entire screen, and have it fit in and out of a pocket easily, or get out of the way when I'm in the gym doing weights or on the running machine. With all of the other paraphernalia in my life the preferable direction is towards smallness, so I consider a phone to fit into the same category.
![[)roi(]](/forum/data/avatars/m/8/8711.jpg?1563828683){kind=avatar}
I'm with you on this one; yet somehow I still find the current iPhones a little unwieldy.
For this to be perfect (for me) -- I'd love them to fractionally reduce the overall size (by keeping the same screen size, but shaving off more of the edges), reduce the weight (it's still far too heavy for me) and substantially improve the battery life.
What many don't seem to acknowledge is that making something bigger is a simple thing.
Android top end devices have no choice but to be big IMO; Android by design, Java oriented VM (re garbage collection) and UI prioritization, require more memory / CPU power to deliver an equivalent iOS performance (which in turn put more strain on battery life)
One need only look back a few years to acknowledge that the direction change was related to a set of Android devices that were both sluggish and provided short use times.
To fix this the Android manufacturers started making phablets; not because there was a driving market need, but because they technically had no choice. Fortunately for them it was a compromise many would come to prefer.
cerebus
Honorary Master
It's a simple thing for Android to go bigger. It's not all that simple for iOS. For them to start supporting multiple dimensions and resolutions they'll need to make iOS far more flexible and adaptive than it has been.
Maverick Jester
The Special One
[)roi(];11194176 said:
Agreed, but I feel that this is too altruistic a reason, if looked at in isolation.
Their consumer demographic is a lot different to the Android one, and would be more akin to buying multiple devices to stay within the Apple ecosystem. Apple have not really been the all-in-one device specialists, and that (along with other factors, of course) is what allows the company to market themselves as a premium vendor.
As you said- Apple are not interested in market share dominance at the expense of profitability. Controlling their ecosystem in this manner ensures the latter (again, other factors contributing).
Just my opinion, of course.
That would be a mess (as it is for Android re development related inconsistency).
iOS is fixed size by choice of design; once you've gone retina density what is the real incentive for bigger other than to try to capture a small (although very vocal) and picky market segment.
DrJohnZoidberg
Honorary Master
Here's my opinion:
The original design for the iPhone centered only on the phone aspects (Google provides much to support this); even Apple initially did not completely comprehend the full potential of this new form factor (e.g. Original device did not accommodate for 3rd party apps or an app store) .
So with the platform now being expected to support a more adaptable consumption of the mobile web, video, apps and games; so too the device had to be adapted to meet this need.
This adaption initially centered on increased CPU, GPU and RAM specifications, followed then by retina pixels for increased clarity. Yet one thing was still an issue; lack of vertical UI points (title and tab bar consumed too much valuable real estate) -- hence a further adjustment was required.
Keep in mind, what was needed was not an increase in the physical dimension of the iPhone but rather an increase in the available vertical points (fyi points do not equate to pixels) -- consider that they were satisfied with the width, the easiest way to accommodate this was to increase only the vertical length.
The original iPhone dimensions were: 4.53 x 2.40 x 0.46. The latest iPhone 5s dimensions in contrast are: 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.30
So it should be fairly clear that Apple wanted it to have a smaller width + be thinner. The only increase is in the length i.e. more points.
With Android the picture isn't anywhere as clear.
Velenoso
Expert Member
Not worth the upgrade once again... Maybe iPhone 6.
From the 5 probably not but from the 4? I'd say it's a decent upgrade.
Velenoso
Expert Member
Sure, from the 4 absolutely.
But isn't that anyway the natural contractually linked 2 year upgrade cycle.
Those with 4S will upgrade to 5S, and those with 5 will wait for 6.
cerebus
Honorary Master
Actually even from the 5 the 5s is a pretty big improvement. At least in my view.
falcon786
Honorary Master
It's undeniably an improvement in many ways but maybe not enough for the average owner to justify buying it halfway though a 24 month contract?
falcon786
Honorary Master
Exactly, any reasonable person with an iphone 5 wouldn't really bother but from a 4s or less its a worthy upgrade.
sand_man
Honorary Master
Yep, blinkers can make you see things that way....
Why though?
For the usual incremental inter model upgrade it is significant. More significant than say 4 to 4s was. M7, A7, fingerprint sensor, 64 bit architecture and enhanced camera optics.
sand_man
Honorary Master
Agree on that but it's obvious that the motivation to upgrade is directly proportional and motivated by the time since the last upgrade.
I do think this is quite a significant upgrade though in terms of the internals etc
falcon786
Honorary Master
I agree its fine for an incremental update like what the 4s was to the 4 hence...