effective screen size?

[StuartV]

We all know the GN screen is spec'ed at 4.65", right? What I would like to know is, what is the size of the part of the screen that is not covered by the button bar across the bottom?

I read something in the RAZR forum that implies that, when the GN is showing the button bar at the bottom, the size of the rest of the screen is somewhere around 4.3" - which means it doesn't really have very much of an advantage (in screen size) over current phones like the Thunderbolt or Rezound.

It would really only have an advantage in specific applications that don't need to have that button bar across the bottom.

Anybody know what that part of the GN screen measures?

 

[StuartV]

This also seems like it's going to make some dev's work more complicated.

Imagine if you're writing a game for pre-ICS Android. It seems like all the phones and/or tablets have the same resolution (and dedicated buttons). So, you write your game to fill the screen of the phone (or tablet - whatever you're targeting) and it works fine and looks right on all the different devices.

Now, with ICS, if you develop your game to run on, say, the Rezound after it gets ICS, then it's screen size is going to be one thing. But, if you also want it to run on the GN (and it doesn't need the button bar), what do you do with the extra screen real estate? Leave the button bar displayed (even though it's not used)? Put black bars on the sides of the app to fill that space? Stretch your screen to fill the available space, even though it might result in things looking distorted?

In other words, what I'm really saying is that, pre-ICS, any given device only had one resolution. Now, with the GN, the screen can have 2 different resolutions, depending on whether the button bar is displayed or not.

</rambling>

 

[botero]

Yup. When the on screen buttons are showing, it is roughly 4.3" of screen real estate. The real benefit is when you flip it on its side to watch something on youtube/netflix/hulu etc... Also, if it is anything like honeycomb, apps like Kindle will black out the buttons (they will probably be represented by faded dots) so as not to detract from the reading experience.

Basically, big when it needs to be, smaller (yet still big) when it doesn't.

 

[nemov]

There's a thread for that.

 

[Rennat]

That advantage comes when you are watching videos and looking at pictures. This is were the extra .4 in will actually matter. As far as browsing goes, I'm turning on advanced controls and full screen mode to maximize on the screen.

 

[botero]

This also seems like it's going to make some dev's work more complicated.

Imagine if you're writing a game for pre-ICS Android. It seems like all the phones and/or tablets have the same resolution (and dedicated buttons). So, you write your game to fill the screen of the phone (or tablet - whatever you're targeting) and it works fine and looks right on all the different devices.

It becomes kind of like the situation in Windows where apps are not written for a particular resolution or screen size. Even pre-ICS, developers had to deal with a wide variety of resolutions and aspect ratios. This doesn't change that game at all. It gives developers the option to take that screen real estate if they want it though. If they don't then the buttons will still stay.

 

[hyperdude]

It becomes kind of like the situation in Windows where apps are not written for a particular resolution or screen size. Even pre-ICS, developers had to deal with a wide variety of resolutions and aspect ratios. This doesn't change that game at all. It gives developers the option to take that screen real estate if they want it though. If they don't then the buttons will still stay.

^ This. App developers who code their apps/games for a single screen size or resolution should be shot learn to do it the right way - being able to handle all the common resolutions (which as of Honeycomb and now ICS, includes 1280x(720/800))

 

[goldkear]

doesn't ICS (honeycomb? even earlier?) automagically scale apps to fit the screen? i'm pretty sure it does, so it really won't be an issue as long as they code it to run on ICS normally.

 

[hyperdude]

doesn't ICS (honeycomb? even earlier?) automagically scale apps to fit the screen? i'm pretty sure it does, so it really won't be an issue as long as they code it to run on ICS normally.

Yes. Unless the developer has hardcoded their app to only show up as a specific screen resolution (the SpeedTest app on my Xoom comes to mind), there shouldn't be any real problems.

 

[Nakrohtap]

I read something in the RAZR forum that implies that, when the GN is showing the button bar at the bottom, the size of the rest of the screen is somewhere around 4.3" - which means it doesn't really have very much of an advantage (in screen size) over current phones like the Thunderbolt or Rezound.

It would really only have an advantage in specific applications that don't need to have that button bar across the bottom.

Hmmm. I'd love to see the looks on their collective faces when they finally have that DOH! moment when they realize that when the RAZR finally gets ICS, that their effective screen size will be under 4 inches.

Talk about being short sighted.

 

[botero]

Hmmm. I'd love to see the looks on their collective faces when they finally have that DOH! moment when they realize that when the RAZR finally gets ICS, that their effective screen size will be under 4 inches.

Talk about being short sighted.

Their effective screen size will still be the same 4.3". Those phones have buttons, so the ICS software buttons won't appear. ICS is hardware button optional, so only phones without hardware buttons will show the onscreen ones.

 

[CynicX]

Screen is 4.3ish during normal usage. During videos the buttons turn to translucent dots but are still there.

The on screen buttons are a function of the os just like apps for previous version can't disable say the back button.. You won't find many (if any at all) apps that can remove the buttons that aren't native and/or written by Google.

The menu button will come and go but that's just cause the app is written to activate the menu button so instead of it not doing anything its just not displayed.

There really isn't a huge advantage to on screen button aside from movie watching (Google videos only ttbomk) . It does add benefits for future development though. Also looks much better esp. when the screen is off.