I think I wrote about this subject a long time ago, but it came back to me the other day whilst playing a stupidly long game of Monopoly with my son (one that uses pretend credit cards rather than real Monopoly money). Almost every smartphone screen is smaller than a credit card. I suspect that many of you, like me, spend a great deal of time looking at your smartphone and I cannot quite figure out the logic of doing so.
Obviously a small size means portability, but when you step away it sounds crazy. To spend so long staring at something so small goes against how a human being is designed and we should surely be making things less portable to make them more comfortable. What is even more amazing is the fact that we can do so much in relative comfort in a couple of square inches of space.
I can now play good quality arcade games, view presentations, read books and even navigate in a couple of inches of space. It is remarkable in so many ways, but even more so because despite the absurdity of the whole idea, we embrace it as if it were perfectly natural.
HTC released the HD2 and we all proclaimed how large the phone and the screen were, but it is tiny compared to any other piece of equipment we use every day. Every smartphone has a tiny screen, of that there is no doubt, but there seems to be a point where we feel comfortable. From the iPhone down to a low resolution BlackBerry Curve we are comfortable. Take it to a smaller level and things seem too small to be useful. Maybe it is just what we are used to or maybe there is some scientific fact behind the process. Who knows?
The point of this article? There isn’t one- it is merely an observation.
It is amazing how many of you use screens less than 4 inches. Anything less than 4 inches is a joke.
It’s a challenge – Lol!
I’ve been spending far less time using my iPhone since getting the iPad.
Until now, we haven’t had any really great, big-screen devices that could rival the convenience and portability of a smartphone. However, the iPad definitely changes the equation. I still grab my iPhone for certain things, but having the iPad close to hand means that I turn to it whenever I want something more than a quick factcheck or to jot down more than a couple of sentences. The extended time that I used to spend with my iPhone, is now being spent on the IPad.
@Gavin – sorry, mate. Anything less than 9.7 inches is a joke.
“real Monopoly money” ?
@ lazyboy lol clearly your playing with it (ipad of course) far too much. As you said you can’t leave it alone. Not surprising since 3.2 inches (iPhone) is rather sad
iPhone is 3.5 inches, Gavin, so not quite as sad as you make out… the phone, I mean.
@ lazyboy I always thought it was less. Not too bad as I have found 3.2 in is too small for my eyesight . The new iPhone supposed resolution and size should be even better. What would be amazing if the new iPhone was as thin as the iPod touch 2g.
I use a small screen for convenience when I am out but if there was a practical way to use a device with a larger screen then I would do so. When at home I nearly always use my netbook.