Samsung, Google to scale back giant screen sizes on new Android phones

[3282868]

Found this news bit, thought it interesting in the midst of some clamoring to increase the iPhone's screen size.

While Apple has been the subject of incessant queries wondering when it will follow Samsung and Google's Motorola subsidiary in making a big screen iPhone, both Android licensees are now planning new phones with screens closer in size to iPhone 5.

Full article here:

Samsung, Google to scale back giant screen sizes on new Android phones

 

[theman510]

I think it's a good idea. Something I wouldn't mind Apple doing. It's nice to have choices. You want the bigger phone, you got it. Want the smaller one? Have that option too

 

[Drunken Master]

Oh no, but what about my "needs"?

 

[onthecouchagain]

Oh no, more [and better] options. What will we ever do!

 

[Internaut]

It makes sense. But at the moment, Samsung struggle. When they produce a device like the S3 Mini, it is generally crippled compared to the balance of size, weight and performance Apple are able to achieve.

 

[thehustleman]

Found this news bit, thought it interesting in the midst of some clamoring to increase the iPhone's screen size.



Full article here:

Samsung, Google to scale back giant screen sizes on new Android phones

It's a great idea, some people have tiny hands and a normal sized phone does not work. My wife for example, I found the droid Razr M for her and that worked great as a small phone for her.

She couldn't handle my Galaxy S III.

She wanted performance of a high end CPU but a big size and Samsung was a HUGE disappointment with the galaxy s III mini.

If Samsung were smart, they would have released the s3 mini with the exact same specs (except for screen size of course) add the regular s3.

If they wouldn't do that, they had no business calling it a galaxy s 3 anyway, should have been the galaxy mini or galaxy micro but it was just a stupid decision.

Then companies are quick to say "well we offered a smaller sized phone and no one bought it, so people don't want small phone sizes" which is totally inaccurate, the reason no one bought them is because they were gimped

 

[Dontazemebro]

I think the S4 mini will sell well. Most of the buying public aren't tech geeks like us and most likely wouldn't know the difference (spec wise) between the regular S4 and mini. Just on name recognition alone, it should be a great device for small handed folks

 

[Tarzanman]

I think the S4 mini will sell well. Most of the buying public aren't tech geeks like us and most likely wouldn't know the difference (spec wise) between the regular S4 and mini. Just on name recognition alone, it should be a great device for small handed folks

The one glaring problem with the S4 mini is the storage. 8GB is ridiculously small. People buying a lower cost smart phone are probably intending to hold on to them for a while. I could fill up 8GB tomorrow with just songs and photos.

 

[thehustleman]

The one glaring problem with the S4 mini is the storage. 8GB is ridiculously small. People buying a lower cost smart phone are probably intending to hold on to them for a while. I could fill up 8GB tomorrow with just songs and photos.

Not to mention the features Samsung advertised are probably missing


Make it the exact same or don't make it at all.

 

[beaniemyman]

i dont believe this rumor, i think most of the android flagship phones this year would be about 5 inch.
i dont want this rumor to come true, cuz i love phablets, i want big screen phones.

 

[otismotive77]

samsung, please dont stop making the phablets!

 

[3282868]

Wow, I'm surprised my post has this many comments, not that I'm complaining

Great points all. It's a tough industry to make everyone happy, it's not generally a "one size fits all". I was surprised to read it based on the larger display size selling point from these manufacturers. It seems display real estate is a major factor for some.

 

[Dontazemebro]

The one glaring problem with the S4 mini is the storage. 8GB is ridiculously small. People buying a lower cost smart phone are probably intending to hold on to them for a while. I could fill up 8GB tomorrow with just songs and photos.

Yea, 8 gigs in this day & age is way too small and we don't even know how much of that is usable. With touchwiz bloat, you might only get 3 gigs but the removable storage option is a plus.

 

[Jibbajabba]

If they wouldn't do that, they had no business calling it a galaxy s 3 anyway, should have been the galaxy mini or galaxy micro but it was just a stupid decision anyway

Looks like they know it as the S4 Mini isn't called S4 Mini (based on the article anyway).

Edit: never mind.they do. Just wrongly quoted in the article.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Meh, people THINK they know what they want. That's the problem with the phone industry right now. I have an Android with a 3.5" screen, running stock ICS (our Jelly Bean ROM is not there yet), and with very low end specs and 2GB internal space. Works fine for me after I fiddled with the CPU a bit. Are there limitations? Sure, the camera sucks, but it doesn't keep me from using all the apps I was using on my higher end S2.

Plus, there was better trade-offs in the end. Like no battery sucking LTE and AMOLED display to deal with. Usually don't charge this phone for over three days with moderate usage either.

I would have to spend about $1,000 on a new set of jeans just to accommodate the Note 2 in my pocket too. And while that size is appealing to me, the issues with LTE and the screen are two factors that prevent me from considering it.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

And I was criticized for saying high-end smartphones have gotten too big. You can brush this off saying more choices, but in reality, it's justification and a lie. Comparing apples to apples, high-end Android smartphones have been getting larger and larger (by physical device volume). Meanwhile, Apple has been getting smaller and smaller (by physical device volume) while simultaneously offering better performance than the very best Android smartphones of its time and bigger/better screens than previous iPhones. iPhone 5 (almost one year later) still can compete (very well too) with some of the just-released Androids. It's not impressive to make something larger and brag about better performance. Especially with silicon. The goal is to make something both smaller AND better performance than previous.

Anyway, I would love to see a 4" or so high-end Android smartphone with vanilla Android. That would be incredible.

 

[2298754]

Lame. 4.5+ inches are the perfect size. Anything smaller feels like a toy.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Screen size is basically reaching it's max of what the general public will accept. So introduce smaller options to keep the momentum going. The pendulum swings back n forth, no big surprise.

 

[thehustleman]

And I was criticized for saying high-end smartphones have gotten too big. You can brush this off saying more choices, but in reality, it's justification and a lie. Comparing apples to apples, high-end Android smartphones have been getting larger and larger (by physical device volume). Meanwhile, Apple has been getting smaller and smaller (by physical device volume) while simultaneously offering better performance than the very best Android smartphones of its time and bigger/better screens than previous iPhones. iPhone 5 (almost one year later) still can compete (very well too) with some of the just-released Androids. It's not impressive to make something larger and brag about better performance. Especially with silicon. The goal is to make something both smaller AND better performance than previous.

Anyway, I would love to see a 4" or so high-end Android smartphone with vanilla Android. That would be incredible.

Actually the iphone doesn't compete very well with the s4 or one, but even the s3.

The goal is to get as large a screen as possible with as many features in as small if a package with great features, performance, and battery life. Iphone fails at the largest screen as possible, great features.

Phones as small as the iphone merely feel like a kids toy after holding a galaxy s 4. Just too tiny.

Lame. 4.5+ inches are the perfect size. Anything smaller feels like a toy.

This is true.

 

[Assault]

Found this news bit, thought it interesting in the midst of some clamoring to increase the iPhone's screen size.



Full article here:

Samsung, Google to scale back giant screen sizes on new Android phones

Posting an article by AppleInsider is the equivalent to posting one from a tabloid magazine. Not only is it written with an overly slanted Apple bias, it is a misleading and little more than a "fluff" piece to justify Apple's tiny screen.
A.I. tries to make it seem like Samsung, and to a lesser extent Motorola, are moving to smaller screens for their high end devices. This is not true. It is not even semi-true. The "mini" devices launched are nothing more than low end to middle of the road phones for lower income and unsubsidized markets. And this is nothing new. Samsung has been doing this long before Apple even had a phone.

AppleInsider and its forums are one of the most pathetic places to get any information. If they were just a news aggregate that would be one thing, but they cherry-pick quotes/text, edit and slant articles to push their bias. This is a prime example. I am amazed by the sheer amount of crap that gets published there. It pisses me off, because AI used to be a great site.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Actually the iphone doesn't compete very well with the s4 or one, but even the s3.

The goal is to get as large a screen as possible with as many features in as small if a package with great features, performance, and battery life. Iphone fails at the largest screen as possible, great features.

Phones as small as the iphone merely feel like a kids toy after holding a galaxy s 4. Just too tiny.







This is true.

Even the S3? Are you kidding me? It at the very least, matches S3 if not outright beat the pants off and then some.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6324/the-iphone-5-performance-preview

iPhone 5 has a larger screen than 4/4S. Performance was around 2x better than 4S. Camera was significantly better. Double the RAM in 4S. Let's not forget that it is physically smaller than the 4S yet still has the same (give or take) battery life. No Android device ever can claim it was smaller than before, bigger screen AND 2x or better performance.

 

[Stuntman06]

I find the headline to be very misleading. Samsung has always offered their phones in different sizes. Offering a smaller version of the S4 does not mean they are scaling back on large screens. Samsung is also offering a larger screen version called the Mega.

 

[2298754]

iPhone 5 has a larger screen than 4/4S. Performance was around 2x better than 4S. Camera was significantly better. Double the RAM in 4S. Let's not forget that it is physically smaller than the 4S yet still has the same (give or take) battery life.

You sound like an Apple commercial.

No Android device ever can claim it was smaller than before, bigger screen AND 2x or better performance.

Galaxy S3 to S4. The S4 is thinner, better battery life, larger screen, plus benchmarks put it at about twice as fast. Camera on the S4 is leaps and bounds better than anything Apple has put out. The 4S and 5 basically have identical cameras. Nothing improved.

Geekbench
S3: 1398
S4: 3172

Both US variants with Snapdragons.

 

[Dr McKay]

iPhone 5 has a larger screen than 4/4S. Performance was around 2x better than 4S. Camera was significantly better. Double the RAM in 4S. Let's not forget that it is physically smaller than the 4S yet still has the same (give or take) battery life. No Android device ever can claim it was smaller than before, bigger screen AND 2x or better performance.

S4 has double the RAM of some of the S3 models, it's also thinner than the S3. Also the camera on the 5 is significantly better? It's the same as the 4S camera but with a different lens. I was disappointed with it when I got mine, my pictures looked identical to my photos taken with the 4S.

If you were desperate for a smaller android handset stock jelly bean, the HTC Facebook phone has a 4.3 inch screen, with stock Android. It just takes 1 tick box to disable Facebook home, which is nothing but a launcher bundled with it.

 

[Shadow Puppy]

Posting an article by AppleInsider is the equivalent to posting one from a tabloid magazine. Not only is it written with an overly slanted Apple bias, it is a misleading and little more than a "fluff" piece to justify Apple's tiny screen.
A.I. tries to make it seem like Samsung, and to a lesser extent Motorola, are moving to smaller screens for their high end devices. This is not true. It is not even semi-true. The "mini" devices launched are nothing more than low end to middle of the road phones for lower income and unsubsidized markets. And this is nothing new. Samsung has been doing this long before Apple even had a phone.

AppleInsider and its forums are one of the most pathetic places to get any information. If they were just a news aggregate that would be one thing, but they cherry-pick quotes/text, edit and slant articles to push their bias. This is a prime example. I am amazed by the sheer amount of crap that gets published there. It pisses me off, because AI used to be a great site.

Not to mention, the article has absolutely nothing to do with Google, yet they reference Google in the title. This so-called article is full of reach..