Why Does the iPhone Have a 3.5 Inch Screen?

[NegativeBeef]

You guys realize that you can make the screen bigger without making the phone bigger right?

If they changed the screen size, EVERY app in the App Store would have to be re-written.

Really? Then how come android apps don't have to be rewritten for difference sized screens then? You've obviously never heard of upscaling.

[ChSchuldiner]

You guys realize that you can make the screen bigger without making the phone bigger right?

Not as easy as it sounds, and if your response is going to be, "just make the screen edge to edge" then you should try that and see if the rest of the hardware will fit. Good luck.

Really? Then how come android apps don't have to be rewritten for difference sized screens then? You've obviously never heard of upscaling.

Uh, because android apps are written with a number of resolutions prebuilt into them. If you haven't noticed all android phones have the same aspect ratio IF the screen sizes are tantamount to that ratio.

[thetoothfairy]

I would have liked to see the 4s or 5 to have a larger screen. I think they are cool! My sister has a phone with a bigger screen and I love it however yes the battery drains fast on her phone.

[crankz1]

Dustin must have a small... uh... hand.

[Raeki]

Lol funny, this was originally on 9to5mac but half the comments were hating on it and saying it was bull.Anyways, while I do like and think the 3.5 inch is perfect, I can easily get my thumb an inch past the iPhone width wise, and I have small hands. And I'm 15. So though this is kinda moot, IMO, I wouldn't want a phone where I have to fully stretch my hand to use it single-handed.

[Anthony Bouchard]

Dustin must have a small... uh... hand.

Well, I believe his hand was used in the picture pinned to the article. In all truth my thumb only extends 1 centimeter longer than the picture and I've been told I have long fingers.

[mmaboi21]

I would have liked to see the 4s or 5 to have a larger screen. I think they are cool! My sister has a phone with a bigger screen and I love it however yes the battery drains fast on her phone.

How much larger? 4.5 or 4'??

[iN2K]

I wanted an iDevice with a bigger screen. So I bought an iPad.

[crankz1]

Well, I believe his hand was used in the picture pinned to the article. In all truth my thumb only extends 1 centimeter longer than the picture and I've been told I have long fingers.

They lied to you, then...
Just kidding...

Personally, I'm 6'3" and the iPhone is small in my hands. I would like a larger screen to make it's way to the iPhone.

[szr]

If they changed the screen size, EVERY app in the App Store would have to be re-written

This is not necessarily true, as it's entirely possible to make a larger screen that runs at the same resolution, just like how computer monitors can have the same native res but vary in physical size.

[Ozzie5374]

No.... This logic would work if you have had your otter hand bitten off by a shark...

Do sharks and otters inhabit the same waters?
I would like bigger screen within same frame.

[Anthony Bouchard]

This is not necessarily true, as it's entirely possible to make a larger screen that runs at the same resolution, just like how computer monitors can have the same native res but vary in physical size.

If the 4 inch screen carried a resolution equal to the iPhone 4's, that would take away from the value of the retina display.

[dangit]

Makes sense but I think people here are just saying that Apple should stick with the 3.5 because they like that's the screens been that size for 4 generations (soon to be 5) now. If the 4s had a bigger screen size, everyone would be jumping up and down for joy praising Apple for their job well done.

[Orby]

If the 4 inch screen carried a resolution equal to the iPhone 4's, that would take away from the value of the retina display.

Listen to this man, for he is correct.

We all know what a pixel is, right? We're all cool on surface area calculations, right? Good.

Total pixel count/total surface area of a display = pixel density. In order to increase the denominator (the physical size of the display) AND keep the same pixel density, the numerator (total pixel count, or resolution) must increase proportionally.

Keeping the same resolution and increasing the screen size drops the density, which rather ruins the whole premise of a "Retina" display. Increasing both screen size and resolution to match requires massive recoding of all apps, or upscaling. Upscaling is NOT a pretty solution--think iPhone app on a stock iPad at 2x. Jagged, oversized pixels kinda defeat a "Retina" screen as well.

This applies for more than just iPhones too... try using a VGA resolution Android app on a qHD or tablet. It's not a pretty picture.

[emerica6708]

If the 4 inch screen carried a resolution equal to the iPhone 4's, that would take away from the value of the retina display.

[s]True, and I believe it wouldn't even be considered "retina" apple defines retina as being above a certain ppi, I'm not gonna do the math but I believe if it went up to 4" or past there wouldn't be enough pixels per inch to be called retina.[/s]

^^ he beat me to it

[TintinS3D]

If they changed the screen size, EVERY app in the App Store would have to be re-written.

I am content with the 3.5 inch screen. It's nice and convenient.

That wouldn't be true if they kept the same resolution but just made the screen a little larger. True, that would make it fewer dpi, but if the resolution stayed the same nothing would have to be re-written

I am fine with the 3.5 screen most of the time though.

[duromega]

A friend of mind the other day got a new android device and I was like dude why you talking on a tablet. It was freakin huge. I mean for real iPhone is practical. Fits nice in pocket, easy to handle and just right to watch an occasional video.

 hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahaha

i wanted an idevice with a bigger screen. So i bought an ipad.

bingo

[szr]

If the 4 inch screen carried a resolution equal to the iPhone 4's, that would take away from the value of the retina display.

Listen to this man, for he is correct.

We all know what a pixel is, right? We're all cool on surface area calculations, right? Good.

Total pixel count/total surface area of a display = pixel density. In order to increase the denominator (the physical size of the display) AND keep the same pixel density, the numerator (total pixel count, or resolution) must increase proportionally.

I agree, a 4 inch screen at the same AR and res would take the pixel density (ppi) down from 329 on the iPhone 4 to about 288, though still quite a bit higher than the 3G[S]'s ~164. So yes, the 3.5 screen makes the better use of that resolution, no doubt.

Keeping the same resolution and increasing the screen size drops the density, which rather ruins the whole premise of a "Retina" display. Increasing both screen size and resolution to match requires massive recoding of all apps, or upscaling. Upscaling is NOT a pretty solution--think iPhone app on a stock iPad at 2x. Jagged, oversized pixels kinda defeat a "Retina" screen as well.

On the subject of scaling, I really don't understand why Apple chose this approach. Scaling applications just seems wrong to me. Scaling is for images and other other similar media. Applications in the desktop world normally just get re-sized. If the text ends up too small, most desktop systems allow one to increase the global font sizes.

The way I see it, iOS applications are like programs running at fullscreen or "maximized", so if the resolution is higher, the "window" should size it self accordingly, much like a window in most modern desktop systems when re-sized. I see no reason why a non-retina application can't look the same (sans embedded static images/media, like in games) on a retina and pre-retina device; on the later, it would just use higher res GUI controls, components, and elements (buttons, text boxes, etc), as well as proper text size. I would have thought this would be much more preferred to to scaling an app as if it were an image, especially when it comes to regular applications that use the standard GUI elements from the SDK (not necessarily games or non-standard GUI apps.) I also believe this applies to the iPad as well when running iPhone apps.

[mikerlx]

Apples never gonna change the screen size it's perfect!

[phoenix904]

What utter bull; 1. This "designer" must have freakishly small appendages. My thumb can reach the entire surface of a GS2 no problem. 2. How many people even use one hand to do smartphoning? Not many and not often. 3. In the end it's about the money. Steve Jobs' wallet > Chinese slave labor Questions?