I remember when the Samsung Galaxy 3 came out with its massive 4.8" screen and I thought it was too big, and was one of the people who said a 4.3" screen was the sweetspot as my samsung (original) focus had a 4" screen. So when I finally held the Lumia 900 came out w/its 4.3" I thought it was the perfect screen size and wondered how could anyone hold a 4.8" screen?
Fast forward today, and I think differently. I now realize that the overall footprint (physical size) of the phone is a better indicator of what screen size is right. For example, look at the sizes of three phones listed below
Nokia 900
4.3" screen
128 ? 69 ? 12 mm
(5.03" ? 2.7" ? 0.45")
Samsung Galaxy III
4.8" screen
136.6 ? 70.6 ? 8.6 mm
(5.38" ? 2.78" ? 0.34")
HTC Titan II
4.7" screen
132 x 71 x 9.9 mm
(5.18" x 2.78" 0.39")
Can I realisticly now say that a 4.8 screen is too big and a 4.3 lumia is just right? Nope, they have the same footprint! A mere 6mm in height and I shout 4.8 screen is too big? I sound foolish
I understand now, that OEMs vary the bezel size ( material surrounding the screen ) and that plays a big role in how large a phone feels in your hand.
Maybe one day when edge-to-edge screens are normal I could do fair apples to apples comparison w/screen sizes, as of right now the overall physical phone size is far more important
Here are the raw screen dimension of several popular screen sizes. Assuming a 16:9 screen rations with square pixels
4.0"
88.6mm by 49.8mm
(3.49" x 1.96")
4.3"
95.2mm by 53.6mm
(3.75" x 2.11")
4.5"
99.6mm by 55.9mm
(3.92" x 2.2")
4.8"
106.2mm by 59.7mm
(4.18" x 2.35")
Fast forward today, and I think differently. I now realize that the overall footprint (physical size) of the phone is a better indicator of what screen size is right. For example, look at the sizes of three phones listed below
Nokia 900
4.3" screen
128 ? 69 ? 12 mm
(5.03" ? 2.7" ? 0.45")
Samsung Galaxy III
4.8" screen
136.6 ? 70.6 ? 8.6 mm
(5.38" ? 2.78" ? 0.34")
HTC Titan II
4.7" screen
132 x 71 x 9.9 mm
(5.18" x 2.78" 0.39")
Can I realisticly now say that a 4.8 screen is too big and a 4.3 lumia is just right? Nope, they have the same footprint! A mere 6mm in height and I shout 4.8 screen is too big? I sound foolish
I understand now, that OEMs vary the bezel size ( material surrounding the screen ) and that plays a big role in how large a phone feels in your hand.
Maybe one day when edge-to-edge screens are normal I could do fair apples to apples comparison w/screen sizes, as of right now the overall physical phone size is far more important
Here are the raw screen dimension of several popular screen sizes. Assuming a 16:9 screen rations with square pixels
4.0"
88.6mm by 49.8mm
(3.49" x 1.96")
4.3"
95.2mm by 53.6mm
(3.75" x 2.11")
4.5"
99.6mm by 55.9mm
(3.92" x 2.2")
4.8"
106.2mm by 59.7mm
(4.18" x 2.35")
Last edited: