Mobile Phones @ CES2015 pissed me off !!! (and Why Big Phones are Stupid)

You know what pisses me off? This craze with large phones. I understand people from Eastern Europe and some Muricans can handle it well but seriously DO NORMAL INDIAN GUYS/GIRLS REALLY ENJOY USING PHABLETS?
CES 2015 was overrun with phablets... Not even 5" big phones, but big a$$ 5.5" to 6" phones. This trend needs to stop.

Large screens give the advantage of more viewing space. But it also needs a higher resolution display, to make it tolerable, that leads to requiring more powerful SoC which leads to requiring bigger battery. This endless self-generating needs is POISON. It is killing technological progress. Companies simply roll out a new model Version#2 with increase in NUMBERS(screen size, processor speed,Ram ), instead of increase the QUALITY, and we consumers simply go along with this manipulative charade.

Actually,big screen does not give us more viewing space, technically speaking. Its the resolution that increases the viewing space.

My Question for the day is:- why do people feel they are MOVING UP in their technological life by CREATING NEW COMPROMISES. My friend had to start wearing those shitty cargos just because his expensive Note 3 doesnt fit in his jeans. I MEAN WAT DA FRAK that is SOOOOO RETARDED. Worst of all, none of these Phablet sheep-heads dont realise their stupidity.

Oh so you like watching videos on your phone. What happened to your TV? or your Laptop/computer? Did you pawn it to buy your phone?
Oh so you like surfing on the web on a bigger screen. Tell me how NICELY mobile phones simulate web surfing experience on your cellphone... Youtube Web version on Chrome is barely functional, and the mobile site, no please thats crap. The moment you switch Tabs it GONE! Youtube App? PHULEZZZZ Dont mention that abomination.

You think you have no problems with your large phone. Sit back, chill, sip some coffee, and reflect back on your present lifestyle. Start recalling the times you had to wrestle with your body and use all Yoga positions to take out the phone from your pocket. Or how you cant put it in your boxer shorts back pocket and listen to music while pooping...or you have to use 2 hands to do anything usefull on your phone when few years back the you and the whole world could get by with JUST ONE HAND..

Ok enough rage for now.. Will continue if this topic gets you all interested

R

you think trend of 5.5 inch screen phones is stupid ..?

wait for MWC 2015 ..

to witness

trend of 2k resolution on phones !!! :duh2:

C

If you don't like big phones then don't buy them

not everybody has to buy a flagship. You should buy phones according to your needs. Some good small screen phones are moto g 1st gen z3 compact, z1 compact, iphone 5s

rish1 said:
you think trend of 5.5 inch screen phones is stupid ..?

wait for MWC 2015 ..

to witness

trend of 2k resolution on phones !!!

If they came equip with SD 810 it is meant to be 2k since they can support 2k as a native display.

R

$hadow said:
If they came equip with SD 810 it is meant to be 2k since they can support 2k as a native display.

it's not about whether a chip can support it or not .. it's about whether it has any practical use or not .. there is absolutely 0 practical benefit of having QHD display on phones.. and on the other hand it's full of cons.. and manufacturers will mindlessly put these in flagships just to be a part of PPI race ..

Oppo find7 and G3 , note 4 are already using it .. expect galaxy S6 , xiaomi mi5 , sony z4 to follow this trend as well..

next year it will be 4k resolution on phones .. and 700+ ppi

C

Well the good thing is that when flagships use 2k the mid range will use 1080p that will be a huge benefit

I don't see what more you can innovate with phones? You will only see bigger, better components and software.

Or you want a time machine or a nuke in your phone? is that innovation you seek?

1. big resolution on small phones is important because you look at them more closely. you can put a relatively low res image on a billboard, and still be effective, because you are going to look at it from that far away, not from 8 inches away.
2. big screens however, are a compromise from the time when manufacturers could not afford to make high resolution smaller screens! It's basically a cheat to force you to look at the phone from further away instead of making a high resolution screen. the fact that even these manufacturers had to follow suit, and these large screen phones are still being made, is just telling on the topsy turvy way decisions are made
3. it's unfair to comment on someone else's use and say no one should be using a phone to do this or that. Like playing games on phone is timepass, or watching movies is a waste. Yes, it's liesure, but it can be high quality pass time, and anyone should be free to use devices how they want without attracting comments from others. Mostly, Im thinking those who make such comments can't have had very good phones.

so conclusion is small screens with high resolution are good

rish1 said:
it's not about whether a chip can support it or not .. it's about whether it has any practical use or not .. there is absolutely 0 practical benefit of having QHD display on phones.. and on the other hand it's full of cons.. and manufacturers will mindlessly put these in flagships just to be a part of PPI race ..

Oppo find7 and G3 , note 4 are already using it .. expect galaxy S6 , xiaomi mi5 , sony z4 to follow this trend as well..

next year it will be 4k resolution on phones .. and 700+ ppi

Well I can't complain I am someone who loves pixel count. And phablets do look more crispier when you have 2k display can't say about smaller screens.

They need to make smaller compact phones with almost the similar specs as the flagships kinda like what sony does with Z series phones.

SaiyanGoku said:
They need to make smaller compact phones with almost the similar specs as the flagships kinda like what sony does with Z series phones.

But the Z compact series sales doesn't reflect the same.

C

$hadow said:
But the Z compact series sales doesn't reflect the same.

The whole sony brand sales are down. But people will still prefer z3 over z3c

cooldude94 said:
The whole sony brand sales are down. But people will still prefer z3 over z3c

indeed but the 6 month cycle is clearly a rip off for Sony.

$hadow said:
But the Z compact series sales doesn't reflect the same.

Does samdung sales reflect the lack of quality and VFM factor both, they have in their mushroom like Galaxy series of phones?

R

Anorion said:
1. big resolution on small phones is important because you look at them more closely. you can put a relatively low res image on a billboard, and still be effective, because you are going to look at it from that far away, not from 8 inches away.
2. big screens however, are a compromise from the time when manufacturers could not afford to make high resolution smaller screens! It's basically a cheat to force you to look at the phone from further away instead of making a high resolution screen. the fact that even these manufacturers had to follow suit, and these large screen phones are still being made, is just telling on the topsy turvy way decisions are made
3. it's unfair to comment on someone else's use and say no one should be using a phone to do this or that. Like playing games on phone is timepass, or watching movies is a waste. Yes, it's liesure, but it can be high quality pass time, and anyone should be free to use devices how they want without attracting comments from others. Mostly, Im thinking those who make such comments can't have had very good phones.

so conclusion is small screens with high resolution are good

yes you are right , but you are comparing tv's with phones, both are viewed from different distances ..

i am comparing phones with phones so the question is how much big is enough and practicable ?

thing is at around 8 inches of distance .. it gets difficult to spot individual pixels on phones with 20/20 vision when PPI starts going over 400 + .. yes you can still spot it if you really look close from 2-3 inches and compare it side by side.. ? but are consumers going to do that ?

with 1080p on 5-5.5 inches we already have 400 PPI + phones.. check reviews of Lg G3 , most people didn't spot much difference between a regular 5.5 inch 1080p and G3
and we know it is better, but how much better it really is in practical life and is it worth sacrificing other important things like battery life, CPU/GPU for a 10 % better perceivable sharpness ?

that is why as per early rumours even htc is not going to use QHD display in its flagship .. and will launch 1080p flagship

and then it comes at a cost of Battery Life and CPU/GPU power !!

we don't see battery life improving this fast .. nor does the GPU evolve this fast to keep up with resolution .. that's why android gaming progress has been really slow..

so you see a galaxy Note 4 that costs 55,000 rs and we have a mid range phone xperia SP from 2013 that costs 12-13k .. from a pure performance perspective Xperia SP can easily hold up against galaxy Note 4 when it comes to gaming .. sure it gets beaten in every other department .. but still see how much resources does that resolution demands .. and it not only effects a few people but the whole industry .. as developers have to design games in accordance with the flagships processing power..

this was not a big issue when the jump was made from 800x 480 to 720p then to 1080p screens .. because there was a world of difference jumping to that resolution in sharpness in a phone and other things were actually worth giving up for this experience.. but the situation is very different now , its close to reaching a saturation point ..

frankly i think Having More battery life and having a less resource hungry screen is far more important in a phone than hard to detect resolution difference.. and other things like colour , screen tech , contrast ratio makes much more of a difference than resolution in deciding which will give you better viewing experience..

yep agree, it starts making less of a difference after a point. Battery life is at the moment more critical a specification that needs improvement, rather than anything else

C

Well resolution will only increase with coming years pc will be moving to 2k and then 4k samsung showed a 8k tv on ces. The adoption of this is less due to high cost but mobile screens are comparatively cheaper hence changes at fast rate.

the battery thingy explains a bit

Yet what we really use these devices for, according to network operations powerhouse Ericsson, is to move data—increasingly over the 4G wireless tech called LTE. You might think LTE just means a faster Instagram feed. It does. But LTE is also the main reason our smartphones are getting so large. Power-hungry LTE devices want bigger batteries. Bigger batteries mean bigger phones. It’s no coincidence that Apple, Samsung, LG, and Google have all rolled out 6-inch phonelike flagships since the end of 2013.

Never Buy a Phone Again | WIRED

Instead of making bigger batteries for bigger power hungry phones, why not make them more energy efficient instead?

SaiyanGoku said:
Does samdung sales reflect the lack of quality and VFM factor both, they have in their mushroom like Galaxy series of phones?

Samsung has got a phone covered at nearly all the budget level but when it comes to flagship you do not have hundreds of options just two. S series and Note series. Z Compact was meant to be a flagship in a smaller size but reality is people has made a shift to that minimum 5 inch mark.

A

So, reading OP thread I agree with him.. I have nexus 5.. I wanted to buy new nexus but I didn't because of its size.. it's too big..

And others are suggesting almost all Snapdragon 810 mobiles will feature 5.5 to 6 incher phones only???

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SaiyanGoku said:
Instead of making bigger batteries for bigger power hungry phones, why not make them more energy efficient instead?

^+1 to that

M

SaiyanGoku said:
Instead of making bigger batteries for bigger power hungry phones, why not make them more energy efficient instead?

Yes,Companies like Intel,Nvidia and Qualcomm should do something to increase efficiency instead of pushing clock speed for perfomance that is why new Qualcomm snapdragon 810 has heating issues and qualcomm is delaying it.

A

Minion said:
Yes,Companies like Intel,Nvidia and Qualcomm should do something to increase efficiency instead of pushing clock speed for perfomance that is why new Qualcomm snapdragon 810 has heating issues and qualcomm is delaying it.

I am waiting for SD 820..

$hadow said:
Samsung has got a phone covered at nearly all the budget level but when it comes to flagship you do not have hundreds of options just two. S series and Note series. Z Compact was meant to be a flagship in a smaller size but reality is people has made a shift to that minimum 5 inch mark.

The sales suffered because it was more expensive than Xperia Z . If i am not wrong, it was Rs 35,000 at launch. Now its 24,000.

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Anorion said:
3. it's unfair to comment on someone else's use and say no one should be using a phone to do this or that. Like playing games on phone is timepass, or watching movies is a waste. Yes, it's liesure, but it can be high quality pass time, and anyone should be free to use devices how they want without attracting comments from others. Mostly, Im thinking those who make such comments can't have had very good phones.

Your comment reminds me of my argument with an iFan few days back. All his arguements were-
"So what? i am happy with simplicity...
i have money so i buy, who are you to tell me how to spend money...
Every people have their own taste, there is no right or wrong..."

Dont be in the illusion of "IT WORKS FOR ME" .. No it does not! You are simply blinded, for the most part at least. Consumers have been brainwashed into feeling that Bigger is Better. have u noticed the iFans suddenly going mute about phablets the moment iPhone 6 came out? HUMAN BEING'S IDEOLOGIES, BIASES, DECISION, LIKES/DISLIKES ARE BEING DICTATED BY THESE COMPANIES.

Regarding gaming, a phablet lover may boast on how well he can play games with high display on his latest flagship, while not realizing he can experience the same joy on Xperia SP worth Rs 15000, with the same graphical details and frame rates. Difference is, you can play game longer on the Xperia Sp's awesome battery and you can ACTUALLY FIT IT IN YOUR POCKET...

I never said someone should not DO THIS or THAT, i'm saying people can experience similar things on a smaller display, and the bigger display-small display tradeoff is very marginal in reality.

just today I saw one guy in the bus looking at youtube videos while holding his phone in portrait orientation with the video playing horizontally in less than the top one third of the screen. It was letterboxed as well, this is the kind of situation where really high resolution helps.

Anorion said:
just today I saw one guy in the bus looking at youtube videos while holding his phone in portrait orientation with the video playing horizontally in less than the top one third of the screen. It was letterboxed as well, this is the kind of situation where really high resolution helps.

he will also need aliens eyes too see them high res pixels.

human eyes enough to see the pixels
*i.imgur.com/0fTJ2Jp.jpg
though this is for home theaters, could not find one for mobiles 4K Calculator - Do You Benefit? - Reference Home Theater

Best strategy - Carry 2 phones. One 4 inch for watsapp, messaging, calling etc. And another 5.5 inch or more for videos, gaming

A

srkmish said:
Best strategy - Carry 2 phones. One 4 inch for watsapp, messaging, calling etc. And another 5.5 inch or more for videos, gaming

Transformer like phones we need... Suitable for everyone...

srkmish said:
Best strategy - Carry 2 phones. One 4 inch for watsapp, messaging, calling etc. And another 5.5 inch or more for videos, gaming

Rather carry one tab and phone like me.

R

[MENTION=56202]Anorion[/MENTION] you are right for home theaters .. for tv's 4k is totally worth it..

this is a theoretical estimated viewing distance

Quad HD vs 1080p vs 720p comparison: here's what's the difference

if you are going to use your smartphone from less than 7-8 inches from your eyes , you are more likely to loose 20/20 vision.. i don't know how many people do that..

here is a practical real life comparison by a reviewer between lg g3 ( QHD ) and htc one m8 (1080p)

Quad HD vs. 1080p: A real-world display comparison | Computerworld

for 5.7 inches and above QHD resolution might be worth it .. but for a standard smartphone 5-5.5 inch size i don't think its much useful practicallly

Nice to see some backing for statements. The first article cleared it all up, it has a handy chart as well.

If you design for extremes the middle takes care of itself.
All the articles assume 20/20 vision acuity, but 20/15 is also common. In fact, in children the acuity is often better than 20/15. We should be designing for something like 20/10 vision.

The significance of the 20/20 standard can best be thought of as the lower limit of normal or as a screening cutoff. When used as a screening test, subjects that reach this level need no further investigation, even though the average visual acuity with a healthy visual system is typically better

Visual acuity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeah with 4k TV it is OK but finding true 4k stuff is difficult. Looks like we still need to wait for the porn industry to make the content more main stream