A 4 inch screen is definitely not the ideal size for a smartphone

[onthecouchagain]

On the apple website, apple specifically says in the video of the iPad mini that the iPad can be picked up and used with one hand. So one handed use with a 7.9" screen from apple? A-okay. One hand use with anything in the 4-5.5" screen from the competition? Impossible to use!

Watch their official video from the website. The one that starts with Ive talking. It's around the 2:10 min mark.

 

[F123D]

Jonathan Ive definitely cleared up this discussion. 7.9" display is the perfect size that you can still pick up and easily use with one hand. Samsungs Note II 5.5" display is looking a little small now.

 

[dmelgar]

On the apple website, apple specifically says in the video of the iPad mini that the iPad can be picked up and used with one hand. So one handed use with a 7.9" screen from apple? A-okay. One hand use with anything in the 4-5.5" screen from the competition? Impossible to use!

Watch their official video from the website. The one that starts with Ive talking. It's around the 2:10 min mark.

iPad can be held with one hand, but you need two hands to touch all parts of the screen.

iPhone 5, you can type on it with one hand and touch anywhere on the display.

I think they made a good distinction.

 

[onthecouchagain]

iPad can be held with one hand, but you need two hands to touch all parts of the screen.

iPhone 5, you can type on it with one hand and touch anywhere on the display.

I think they made a good distinction.

So Apple can pick and choose exactly what "one hand use" means? Don't you still need to touch all parts of the screen of an iPad Mini? It all just sounds a bit disingenuous and manipulative.

Their video specifically says "you can still pick it up and easily use it with one hand." Easily. But according to their iPhone 5 campaign, one of the main talking points is that anything larger than a 4" smartphone is unusable with one hand.

So either the iPad Mini is easy to use one handed and therefore so are other smartphones, or nothing over 4" is easy to use with one hand in which case the video is a lie.

Here's the vid: http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview/#video-ipad-mini-features
At around the 2:10 mark.

 

[F123D]

iPad can be held with one hand, but you need two hands to touch all parts of the screen.

iPhone 5, you can type on it with one hand and touch anywhere on the display.

I think they made a good distinction.

I don't know. Apples video clearly stated and showed one handed use for the iPad mini.

 

[tbayrgs]

iPad can be held with one hand, but you need two hands to touch all parts of the screen.

iPhone 5, you can type on it with one hand and touch anywhere on the display.

I think they made a good distinction.

I don't know. Apples video clearly stated and showed one handed use for the iPad mini.

Yeah, I have to agree--Apple is using both sides of the argument at their own convenience. Jony Ive very clearly states the size of the iPad Mini is ideal for one handed use and the video clearly shows someone using it one handed.

I then went back and watched the same promotional video for the iPhone and there is an emphasis throughout the video that the 4" size is the ideal size for one hand 'comfort and use'. The TV ad is even more blatant, comparing the reach of one's thumb to the distance from one edge of the iPhone's screen to the other, even going so far as to call it a 'dazzling display of common sense.'

Can't have it both ways Apple. If you'd actually added more capability to your device you wouldn't have to resort to 'screen size' as your go to feature.

 

[Jessica Lares]

You're not going to use the iPad Mini with one hand. You're going to hold it with one and use it with the other. Otherwise you'd have to hold it at the base and have a very good chance of dropping it from rotating it around and trying to push stuff.

 

[nizmoz]

Unfortunately iPhone's screen no longer reigns as king as far as color reproduction, sharpness and PPI. I have to agree the SGSIII's screen looks absolutely gorgeous.

It's nice but it doesn't best the retina. I had a sg3 as well.

 

[kdarling]

The TV ad is even more blatant, comparing the reach of one's thumb to the distance from one edge of the iPhone's screen to the other, even going so far as to call it a 'dazzling display of common sense.'

Most viewers never notice that the 'common sense' TV ad doesn't apply to the ~85% of the population who are right-handed. Or that it approves of stretching when needed.

The ad shows a left hand using the iPhone... thus putting the common upper left Back button under the thumb arc that Apple demonstrates (shown in red below).



Watch carefully and you'll see the person have to stretch to reach the upper right corner; that's the situation that normally applies to all the right-handed people hitting the upper left Back button. (Imagine a mirror image.)

So apparently Apple is actually okay with stretching. We already know it's okay with all the people who prefer even larger screens.

 

[daveathall]

TBH, I dont find it that awkward using two hands.

 

[tbayrgs]

You're not going to use the iPad Mini with one hand. You're going to hold it with one and use it with the other. Otherwise you'd have to hold it at the base and have a very good chance of dropping it from rotating it around and trying to push stuff.

I don't disagree but Apple seems to think otherwise. Go to the 2:24 mark of the previously linked video and Jony Ive specifically states 'so you can still pick it up and use it with one hand,' all while they show someone navigating around the screen with the thumb on the same hand holding the iPad.

Of course you'll be able to do some functions one handed (i.e. turning pages in an e reader app) but not most tasks.

 

[j1george]

Most viewers never notice that the 'common sense' TV ad doesn't apply to the ~85% of the population who are right-handed. Or that it approves of stretching when needed.

The ad shows a left hand using the iPhone... thus putting the common upper left Back button under the thumb arc that Apple demonstrates (shown in red below).

View attachment 373193

Watch carefully and you'll see the person have to stretch to reach the upper right corner; that's the situation that normally applies to all the right-handed people hitting the upper left Back button. (Imagine a mirror image.)

So apparently Apple is actually okay with stretching. We already know it's okay with all the people who prefer even larger screens.

There is a lot of extra Room for one handed use with the 4" screen, and one can just shift the phone a little in one's hand while using it, if necessary. Maybe that is true, as well, with the 7.9"? . May be a bit more difficult to bounce the iPad mini around in one hand with the 7.9", and I have not tried it, myself.

 

[kdarling]

There is a lot of extra Room for one handed use with the 4" screen, and one can just shift the phone a little in one's hand while using it, if necessary.

Yep, likewise with a 4.6" screen. Just a little shift is all that's usually needed.

Apple wanted so badly to prove that a smaller (4") screen was better, they switched to using a less common lefty handhold in their ad. It was actually very clever. They counted on viewers not paying detailed attention.

Maybe that is true, as well, with the 7.9"? . May be a bit more difficult to bounce the iPad mini around in one hand with the 7.9", and I have not tried it, myself.

I agree that 7+" would be more difficult. I almost always use two hands with my 7" tablets. Well, unless every choice is easily clickable from one side with my thumb (a lot of news sites with scrollable lists are like that).

 

[rak007]

I disagree. A 4 inch screen is a perfect size. I had the razr maxx, and the phone was too bulky. I looked at a GS3 and Note, and it's like carrying a brick around.

How come when steve jobs was there and he said 3.5" was perfect size and now since the iPhone 5 came out with 4", it has become perfect size?