

Ask HN: 5" phones - why this trend? - znowi

Note: At this point this is Android specific. Current flagships from Apple and Blackberry are 4" and 4.2" respectively.<p>I'm a person who dislikes carrying a <i>shovel</i> of 5" in his pocket for a phone. Sadly, this is becoming a standard for top of the line devices. There's even a new term now - phablets - for phones over 5".<p>This trend puts people like me in a difficult situation. There's simply no compact alternative of similar capabilities. They're cut down in functionality, downgraded versions in the mid to low market. If you want a modern phone of 4" with LCD high-res display, 8MP camera, 4 cores, NFC, etc - it is virtually non-existent.<p>My question is why companies push for ever larger displays on smartphones? And what can we, compact phones aficionados, do about it?<p>Is this where we're going? :) http://i.imgur.com/SZ31YuL.jpg
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george88b
A lot of people use their phones far more for browsing, reading, playing
games, etc. rather than actually making calls and a bigger screen makes these
activities easier. However, I think that the popularity of full size tablets
has caused phone manufacturers to go overboard with increased screen size.

I think 5" is on the verge of excessive and unwieldy but I'm sure many would
disagree.

