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When does a phone become too big?

C

cannon11

Well-Known Member
I'm getting my first smartphone. Most of the higher end phones tend to have bigger screens. I have somewhat small hands, And I'm wondering if some phones would seem to big for my hands.

I'm definetly not going to get a 5 inch note or anything, seems way to big for me. I don't even want to get as big as the S3 or the galaxy nexus.

For a person with small hands, when do you think a phone screen would be too big? I can't just go around and start trying different phones, can put my hands on the demo unit at a store, but thats just a plastic shell and I can't really use it so I can't really tell for sure.
Sometimes there are some s2's on craigslist, And I'm tempted to get one, but i'm not sure if it will be to big. The att s2 is 4.3 inches.
I originally didn't want to go over 4 inches. Do you think a 4.3 inch screen would be to big for small hands? Because I'm kind of wary to go higher than 4 inch. I could get a older nexus s, or even a motorola atrix 4g, which both have 4 inch screens, I don't mind them being older phones, But does that extra .3 inches make much of a difference? I originally was wary of even going to 4 inches, as being used to 3.5 inches, And now i'm considering going even as high as 4.3 inches.
But generally, What do you think a good comfortable cut-off would be for a person with smaller hands?
thank you.
 
Originally when I had a 3.2 inch phone screen on my Nokia, I couldn't imagine going much higher. Even the iPhone screen looked huge. But when I went 4inch with a Galaxy S, I saw how very useable it was for a touch screen, and now after playing around with my friend's SIII, I am wanting a bigger phone. To be honest, a phone starts getting too big when it can't fit your pocket and your thumb can't comfortably reach the middle of the screen when holding it in landscape mode IMO.
 
Tablet size ...

tablet-as-phone.jpeg
 
For me, my clothes were the deciding factor. I have to wear scrubs to school every day and I needed a phone that would fit in the shirt pocket. That excluded the galaxy note, but a galaxy nexus worked just fine.

If I had small/petite hands, I would still go for a 4.3" screen. There's a lot of variation in phone available in that size. Something like the HTC One S would be great for somebody with small hands. Thin, light quick and still plenty of screen.
 
s3 will be my limit i think, my upgrade is due next year so will see what the next nexus will be like! will they ever have an sd slot??
 
Nexus phones I think will never have SD card slots. Google already mentioned the reasoning for this in one of their blogs I remember reading.
 
For me the extra screen size makes the difference being able to read the phone without reading glasses. I have a Samsung Admire at the moment and it is boarderline. I was given a Galaxy III to program and had no problem reading it.
 
I always said 4" was the prefect screen size (said that for years). Now after owning an S3 I couldn't think of going to anything smaller. It's really that you just get use to it and in the end you will most likely end up really enjoying the extra real-estate.
 
I think screen size will keep on increasing up until 6" or 7".

But why not have a tablet with a bluetooth headset?
Combine both devices into one.
 
A phone becomes too big if I cannot operate it with only one hand. The Apple Thumb commercial has a very good point. On my old HTC Desire Z, the screen is 3.7" which is perfect for using it one handed. I can reach any point on the screen comfortably with my thumb when holding it with one hand. My SGS3 has a screen that is just too big for using one handed. Ideally, something 4" would be the size that I would want. If the landscape keyboard slider version becomes available to my carrier, I may consider switching to it because of the smaller screen and physical keyboard.
 
Stuntman said:
A phone becomes too big if I cannot operate it with only one hand. The Apple Thumb commercial has a very good point. On my old HTC Desire Z, the screen is 3.7" which is perfect for using it one handed. I can reach any point on the screen comfortably with my thumb when holding it with one hand. My SGS3 has a screen that is just too big for using one handed. Ideally, something 4" would be the size that I would want. If the landscape keyboard slider version becomes available to my carrier, I may consider switching to it because of the smaller screen and physical keyboard.
Click to expand...

This is why I don't get the antipathy to slider keyboards by the OEM's. With a 4 inch touchscreen and a keyboard underneath, you have the best of both worlds: one-handed operation of the touchscreen, and the ability to bang out fairly involved messages in landscape. Yeah, it's still inferior for watching videos, but if you really want to see a video in its full glory, is your mobile phone the right device?
 
If im holding my phone in my left hand (say with the bottom of the phone resting on my pinky) and need to reach the upper right corner of the screen all it takes is a slight reposition of how I'm holding the device.

I don't find it to be too big
 
Anything bigger than 4.8". I'm trying to talk myself out of the S4 already.

I had a Droid Eris with a 3.2" screen and a Droid X with a 4.2" X. The 3.2" was definitely too small. Once I upgraded to the 4.2" screen I was happy for 2 years. That size is perfect for web browsing (selecting links, typing, etc.) While I love my 4.8" S3 screen size, I could still be happy with the 4.2" size. The size difference from 4.2" to 4.8" doesn't make as much of an impact as the difference between the 3.2" and the 4.2" sizes. That's my opinion.
 
Doit2it said:
Anything bigger than 4.8". I'm trying to talk myself out of the S4 already.

I had a Droid Eris with a 3.2" screen and a Droid X with a 4.2" X. The 3.2" was definitely too small. Once I upgraded to the 4.2" screen I was happy for 2 years. That size is perfect for web browsing (selecting links, typing, etc.) While I love my 4.8" S3 screen size, I could still be happy with the 4.2" size. The size difference from 4.2" to 4.8" doesn't make as much of an impact as the difference between the 3.2" and the 4.2" sizes. That's my opinion.
Click to expand...

Imagine when I went from 3.2" to 4.65". The entire Eris could fit IN the screen area. :D
 
I think 5.8 inches w/ on screen buttons is my limit for phone size. If they put onscreen buttons on the Note 2 w/ the same size device but .3 extra inches of screen realestate because of no home button it would be my dream phone.

Sorry for the horribly written sentence. I couldn't figure out how to word it right. :p
 
I believe at some point, the inch size display will hit most user hand size limit. I would think 5 inch is max. Anything bigger I might as well get a tablet isn't it? The whole idea of smart-phone is to fit into a pocket but seems this old concept has been thrown away by manufacturers increasing the display size with newer models every few months.
 
Years ago, tiny phones were the rage. Recall the movie Zoolander with the satirical tiny cell phone. It is the nature of the beast that smartphone displays require a larger device. For me, the 4+ inch screens are too large. I still want the ability to operate (eg. text or dictate) with one hand. Also, if I go running or cycling, I want to be able to carry a phone in my shorts. For browsing and app usage, I prefer to use a mid size tablet.
 
Rxpert83 said:
If im holding my phone in my left hand (say with the bottom of the phone resting on my pinky) and need to reach the upper right corner of the screen all it takes is a slight reposition of how I'm holding the device.

I don't find it to be too big
Click to expand...

Finally! I thought was the only one.
 
Stuntman said:
A phone becomes too big if I cannot operate it with only one hand. The Apple Thumb commercial has a very good point. On my old HTC Desire Z, the screen is 3.7" which is perfect for using it one handed. I can reach any point on the screen comfortably with my thumb when holding it with one hand. My SGS3 has a screen that is just too big for using one handed. Ideally, something 4" would be the size that I would want. If the landscape keyboard slider version becomes available to my carrier, I may consider switching to it because of the smaller screen and physical keyboard.
Click to expand...

How can you do multitouch with one hand? I think Apple is just making excuses for not having a bigger screen.
 
My phone has a 3.7" and I used to be able to read on it without glasses. For the past 3 months I need glasses to read anything on it. I am looking to go up to a 4.3" because it is the biggest that will fit in a breast pocket. How my fingers get around the screen isn't a factor for me.
 
A few years ago, I thought 3.5 inches was ideal. I wouldn't have considered anything larger until I actually tried larger phones. You really need to go to a store and play with the phones. Some of them don't feel as large as they look, and the bezels make a difference too.
 
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