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Big, Bigger, Biggest: Is There Any To Limit To The-Bigger-The-Better Smartphone Syndrome?
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By Manan Grover:
If someone had asked me a decade earlier to define a mobile phone, I would have said, it’s a portable device which helps us to make/receive phone calls and text messages. If someone asks me now and I reply in the same way, then I’ll surely be termed as ‘living in the stone age’. The change being- a mobile phone is now a smartphone and it’s no more just a device; it has replaced books to occupy man’s best friend position.
We started off with huge phones, realized how much heavy and big they were, spent billions trying to produce small, light ones that easily slid into the pocket. Then once we created tiny phones, we decided that they sucked too. So then we again spent billions trying to increase the size of the screen to suit our eyes, to what we have today – the iPhones, the Samsung Galaxy series, Note series, Nexus, HTC, the list is endless. The trend began with iPhone 4s with a 3.5 inch screen followed by its higher version and the best available in the market till now, iPhone 5, having 4 inches of screen display. If this was the iPhone story how could Samsung be far behind? Samsung Galaxy S2 has 4.8 inch screen, S3 5.4 inches and Note 2 is 5.5 inches. It’s projected that the new Note 3 to be launched in September this year might go up to 5.7 inches.
While every developer and smartphone designer is going on adding to screen size, they are forgetting that it is becoming more and more difficult to hold the phone in the hand and type (unless they want us to hold and type with different hands).What is even worse is, our pockets being of the same size refuse to carry these big monsters. So a major reason why man is addicted to these super efficient smartphones is because it’s difficult to keep them out of sight as there is no place other than your hands to keep them. Also, making a call with these gigantic devices has become hilarious. Keeping such a huge device near to the ear and talking is a funny sight.
While today’s smartphones are making practically everything available at one touch, they are becoming less handy. I feel technology is to reduce space and size and therefore screen sizes should go down, fitting easily into the pocket.
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Baldeep Grewal
Love the humour! And the points you have raised are so true! The irony of the situation is that the smarter and bigger a person’s phone becomes, the dumber and smaller their brain becomes
Mehul Gala
With all due respect, I strongly object your opinion. ‘Bigger the better’ should be the way to go.
If a person only want to make calls and messages through his phone then why is he opting for any smartphone series? He can easily live with any non-smartphone device.
Nothing can beat the fun of watching blue ray quality movie on a 5.5 inch screen smartphone on the super AMOLED display.
Instead of cutting down the size of our phones, may be its time to increase the size of our pant pockets. Believe me that would be worth it.
Saumya Sahni
I completely agree with the points raised here. Technology needs to be accommodating also. We do not use phones for making calls, we use phones for downloading that latest app available at the Play Store and so much more. The arena has expanded tremendously. But all thus becomes mindless when the question arises on the comfort of handling a gadget. I can’t wait to see the size of Samsung Galaxy Note 3!
Aditi Thakker
Why is it such a bad thing is the phone-makers want to give their customers a choice regarding the size of their phone? My mother uses a smart phone, and she hated the small screen phones. Even if you zoom into the text, it is tiring to read on phones with small screens.
@ Baldeep Grewal: to say that “the smarter and bigger a person’s phone becomes, the dumber and smaller their brain becomes”. Would you use this analogy for computer screens too?
Buying a smart phone with a big screen is a matter of choice. I feel technology is all about increasing comfort, big screen or not.
Taru
Actually, to each his own. Smartphones with big screens are seriously not worth for people who don’t make substantial use of those extra-cool features. And yes, it’s a genuine problem to hold and type as these are less handy. Personally, my idea of a mobile phone is that it should be sleek and compact. But then there are people who love big screens and devour its display to the extent that they would be willing to sacrifice the ease of use. It’s wrong to judge people on their personal preferences. They too are justified. But, one good alternative for them could be switching from a smartphone to a phablet (phone+tablet). I guess it should serve their purpose pretty well. As for those of us who love compact ones, I completely agree mobile companies should focus on making small-sized yet fully-featured phones.