How Apple can have a 4" retina display in their next iPhone

[MrX8503]

This is just pure speculation, but this is my theory.

All smartphones from now until 2011 will be sporting a 4"+ screen. IMO I think the retina display is very nice, but its still only 3.5". Next to a 4.3" screen phone, the iPhone4 looks very cramped.

I think Apple made a mistake by not creating a 4"+ screen smartphone as they will be forced to create a larger screen phone which in turns means changing their resolution for the 3rd time if they want to keep their retina display.

Apple does not like fragmentation and this is relevant in the fact that they doubled the 3GS's resolution. I'm sure this helps the devs a great deal in transitioning their apps to iPhone4.

So how can Apple have

1. Larger screen
2. Keep retina display
3. Minimal Fragmentation

?

My theory is that if the iPhone5 has a larger screen, it'll be a 1024x768 4" retina display. If I did my math right at this resolution it'll have ~326dpi. On top of this its the same resolution as the iPad, meaning less fragmentation.

Do you guys/gals think they'll stick with 3.5", 4", or 4+ with some arbitrary resolution?

 

[CurseTheSky]

I would prefer to see all smartphones go to a 4-4.3" screen, albeit with almost no bezel - just enough to allow you to grip it comfortably.

I personally think that the screen size of my Droid X is perfect (perhaps even a bit big), but the additional size of the bezel, hardware buttons, etc. makes the overall phone too big. Give us more of what we want (screen real estate) and less of what we don't want ("wasted" space, in the consumer's eyes). Then you get the best of both worlds.

Resolution wise, I'd like to see 1024x768 as well.

 

[MrX8503]

I agree on the no bezel part. I think the EVO came the closest to having the smallest bezel, unfortunately the device is a little thick.

Maybe a 5" phone with no bezel, that would be sick.

 

[vshah]

at least some bezel is required for capacitive touch screens, otherwise gripping it along the edge might register as a touch.

 

[Oyeve]

I am pretty happy with the 4" on my Vibrant. I think any larger kinda pushes it past a useful cell/smartphone and it just becomes big-ass gadget.

 

[MrX8503]

I think a 1024x768 4" retina display is the most likely outcome if Apple decides to increase the screen size.

I hope they reduce that huge bezel for the ear piece as well. I'm not sure how Apple gets away with such a huge bezel.

 

[theeedude]

the Retina resolution is enough for a 4 inch display, just make each pixel bigger.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

they can keep the resolution and just bump the screen size up?

just like Android phones keep their 800x480 resolution of 854x480 in the case of Moto but with a variable screen size from 3.7, 4.0 to 4.3".

Yes Apple will sacrifice dpi, but it's not like it's any worse than an Android device's resolution. Furthermore, you should be aware that the demand of the 4.3" screen doesn't seem that big worldwide. Just like there's a demand for giant SUVs in the US, the rest of the world uses smaller cars. It's just the nature of things. This is why the HD2 was one of its kind at 4.3". The flagship phones are still the 3.7" Desire/Nexus One and the 4" Captivate. Shrug. The more you go around Asia, the more you see that it's all about the small gadgets.

 

[MJinZ]

at least some bezel is required for capacitive touch screens, otherwise gripping it along the edge might register as a touch.

Or... you can innovate. I know, shocking idea.

 

[vshah]

Or... you can innovate. I know, shocking idea.

hey, if someone can figure out a way around it, i'm all for it.

 

[yh125d]

at least some bezel is required for capacitive touch screens, otherwise gripping it along the edge might register as a touch.

There's "enough bezel to keep from accidental presses while maximizing screen real estate" (EVO), and there's "having so damn much useless bezel on the sides it really hurts our using having a much better quality display as a selling point when all our serious competitors have a .2-.8" lead on size" (iphone 4)

 

[TheStu]

There's "enough bezel to keep from accidental presses while maximizing screen real estate" (EVO), and there's "having so damn much useless bezel on the sides it really hurts our using having a much better quality display as a selling point when all our serious competitors have a .2-.8" lead on size" (iphone 4)

The top and bottom bezels are larger on the iPhone, but the sides appear about the same on both. The bottom one can only go so small, because of the home button, and I would imagine that they would want to keep the top and bottom bezels the same size.

 

[gorcorps]

There's "enough bezel to keep from accidental presses while maximizing screen real estate" (EVO), and there's "having so damn much useless bezel on the sides it really hurts our using having a much better quality display as a selling point when all our serious competitors have a .2-.8" lead on size" (iphone 4)

Have you even used an iPhone 4? Doesn't sound like it... Because the side bezels are tiny. The case I'm using is actually thicker than the entire bezel.

 

[yh125d]

Sides in landscape.

The bottom bezel could easily be a few MM less, and the top bezel doesn't need to be half as big. Make it a tad wider, and boom - ~4" screen.

 

[TheStu]

Sides in landscape.

The bottom bezel could easily be a few MM less, and the top bezel doesn't need to be half as big. Make it a tad wider, and boom - ~4" screen.

I agree, and I think that in the event that Apple starts to see definitively that larger screens are selling better than smaller ones, then they will invest the R&D into a larger device. I could imagine that if they were to do this, the following might also be true;
1: It could have double the max storage
2: It would have even higher battery life
3: They could use either the iPad's or the iPhone 4's res and not need to have yet another size for devs
4: It will almost certainly cost more

I don't mind the 3.5" size, but haven't really put hands on a larger one. I mean, I got started with handhelds with a first gen original Palm Pilot, then a Visor Edge and my last one was an Axim x3(i) (the one with WiFi and BT). The screens were all roughly the same size or smaller than the iPhone.

 

[MrX8503]

they can keep the resolution and just bump the screen size up?

just like Android phones keep their 800x480 resolution of 854x480 in the case of Moto but with a variable screen size from 3.7, 4.0 to 4.3".

Yes Apple will sacrifice dpi, but it's not like it's any worse than an Android device's resolution. Furthermore, you should be aware that the demand of the 4.3" screen doesn't seem that big worldwide. Just like there's a demand for giant SUVs in the US, the rest of the world uses smaller cars. It's just the nature of things. This is why the HD2 was one of its kind at 4.3". The flagship phones are still the 3.7" Desire/Nexus One and the 4" Captivate. Shrug. The more you go around Asia, the more you see that it's all about the small gadgets.

If they increase the screen size and kept the same resolution, its not going to be sharp as the current iPhone4. I would hate for the next iphone to lose that sharpness.

 

[yh125d]

If they increase the screen size and kept the same resolution, its not going to be sharp as the current iPhone4. I would hate for the next iphone to lose that sharpness.

Even if it stays the same res and goes to 4", it'd still be a lot better DPI than say, an evo, and nobody Was worrying about the DPI on the evo before the new iphone came out with like 50% higher dpi

 

[zerocool84]

Even if it stays the same res and goes to 4", it'd still be a lot better DPI than say, an evo, and nobody Was worrying about the DPI on the evo before the new iphone came out with like 50% higher dpi

Of course people were worrying about the DPI before the iPhone 4 came out. DPI is always of high interest on phones when screen size increases. It's not like when the iPhone 4 came out people all of a sudden thought about DPI.

 

[Throckmorton]

When I was using an iPhone I thought it was big enough. Any bigger and I'd need a purse

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Even if it stays the same res and goes to 4", it'd still be a lot better DPI than say, an evo, and nobody Was worrying about the DPI on the evo before the new iphone came out with like 50% higher dpi

Right, and an EVO is not really that bad at 480x800 on 4.3" Sure it's not great, but the iPhone at 4.3" would still be better. So.... I think you'll be fine.

If you're a photographer that pixel peeps, it might bother you, but other than that I think it'll be fine.

 

[MrX8503]

A 4.3" phone isn't that much bigger than an iphone because of it's smaller bezel. If you're talkin about the streak, now that is a huge phone.

Anyway I don't think I would want to give up a 300dpi resolution. I'm too used to this resolution that when I move to something else it hurts my eyes.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Give me a 5 inch phone with minimized bezels and a resolution of 1920x1280. That resolution is a good match for HDTV (1920x1080) and the PPI would be even greater than the iPhone 4. Such a display might tax a current gen phone uP but the newer ones just around the corner should be just the ticket.

Now, if you have a 5 inch phone with a decent battery of, say, 2500mAHr or more, then the phone is going to be necessarily larger so why not scrap the uSD format and go with the much higher capacity and lower cost SD (SDXC) card with, say, 128GB or more.

I want a phone I can bring up an AutoCAD drawing and pull dimensions from it with just my phone.


Brian

 

[randomlinh]

man, am I the only one who wants to see some high end phones.. but at the 3.5->3.7" range? I love my palm pre's form factor, and if HP ups it to a 3.7" screen or so, I'd be happy.

But after playing with the various samsung galaxies and the EVO... I really don't like the huge screen form factor trend (not for a phone anyway)

 

[yh125d]

Of course people were worrying about the DPI before the iPhone 4 came out. DPI is always of high interest on phones when screen size increases. It's not like when the iPhone 4 came out people all of a sudden thought about DPI.

No, no they weren't. I read tons and tons of reviews, previews, forum threads, discussions, so much information about the evo before I bought mine, and nobody dicussed it at all. Once phones started using 800x480, it became a nonissue because it was plenty enough for everyone and nobody thought twice about it, until Apple announced the 4 and touted its much higher dpi

 

[sjwaste]

I agree on the no bezel part. I think the EVO came the closest to having the smallest bezel, unfortunately the device is a little thick.

Maybe a 5" phone with no bezel, that would be sick.

Yeah, was going to say the same about the Evo. I love it's form factor, though. It's a little thick and a little heavy, but it's never really caused me any actual issue. I don't really mind if a phone has some bezel at the top and bottom, but I like how the Evo's screen goes almost to the edges on the sides.

A 5" phone could probably have very little around it. That's a lot of area to put things under the screen. That might be a little too big for me, just because I have smaller than average hands (I'm 5'8" after all, thats shorter than average).

With Swype, I can "type" with one thumb on the Evo. A 5" screen would probably be juuust too wide for me. And I'd probably buy one anyway because it'd be sweet.