Jules
Distinguished Member
That is the question.
I've become a fan of larger screen phones since my iPhone 4/5 days. I reckon anything above 5 inches is easy enough for me to read messages without squinting... but I always imagined larger would be better, either by presenting larger print or more of the same at once.
However, in my opinion there is much more to screen size or resolution on a mobile phone, and sometimes a larger screen brings almost no benefit.
Take my Oneplus 3 for example. It has a 5.5inch display and is actually pretty great.
But, I still wanted something a little bigger.... so I purchased a Sony Xperia XA Ultra (with a 6 inch display). The lack of side bezels on the Xperia XA Ultra is impressive. Its genuinely hardly any wider than my Oneplus 3. It is a lot taller though.
Anyway... here's the thing. The 6inch screen isn't giving me anything more. Let me explain:-
- The Oneplus 3 has capacitive buttons and a physical home button below the screen. So when you take the space required for the onscreen equivalents on the Xperia, you are left with the same screen height on each device.
- The scaling of items on each phone is also different and the same web page will render differently on each device. I actually find the smaller Oneplus3 shows more content per screen than the Xperia with equivalent text sizes. The Xperia seams to just spread things further apart.
For me, the ideal is a device thats no bigger than a OnePlus3, but with tiny top/bottom bezels like on an S8 or LG G6, and the almost bezel-less sides of the Xperia XA in a 16:9 ratio.
But I'm realising its much more than that. I'd also like full control of both system text size and object scaling. The Oneplus 3 gives me both these controls, while the Xperia only allows system text size adjustments.
I think what I'm saying is don't always assume a larger screen phone will give you what you're looking for. Sure, videos and photos that fill the screen will be bigger, but for every day tasks that bigger screen may not actually be any more useful or easier to see.
I've become a fan of larger screen phones since my iPhone 4/5 days. I reckon anything above 5 inches is easy enough for me to read messages without squinting... but I always imagined larger would be better, either by presenting larger print or more of the same at once.
However, in my opinion there is much more to screen size or resolution on a mobile phone, and sometimes a larger screen brings almost no benefit.
Take my Oneplus 3 for example. It has a 5.5inch display and is actually pretty great.
But, I still wanted something a little bigger.... so I purchased a Sony Xperia XA Ultra (with a 6 inch display). The lack of side bezels on the Xperia XA Ultra is impressive. Its genuinely hardly any wider than my Oneplus 3. It is a lot taller though.
Anyway... here's the thing. The 6inch screen isn't giving me anything more. Let me explain:-
- The Oneplus 3 has capacitive buttons and a physical home button below the screen. So when you take the space required for the onscreen equivalents on the Xperia, you are left with the same screen height on each device.
- The scaling of items on each phone is also different and the same web page will render differently on each device. I actually find the smaller Oneplus3 shows more content per screen than the Xperia with equivalent text sizes. The Xperia seams to just spread things further apart.
For me, the ideal is a device thats no bigger than a OnePlus3, but with tiny top/bottom bezels like on an S8 or LG G6, and the almost bezel-less sides of the Xperia XA in a 16:9 ratio.
But I'm realising its much more than that. I'd also like full control of both system text size and object scaling. The Oneplus 3 gives me both these controls, while the Xperia only allows system text size adjustments.
I think what I'm saying is don't always assume a larger screen phone will give you what you're looking for. Sure, videos and photos that fill the screen will be bigger, but for every day tasks that bigger screen may not actually be any more useful or easier to see.
