Nexus 5 - Screen Size Too Big?

[Sal Collaziano]

The perfect Nexus 5 to me would be to have LTE, a higher resolution camera and a bigger screen. I like the screen size of the Galaxy S4. Even a little smaller would be okay.

 

[Scott7217]

If you shrink the bezels, you can have a phone with a larger screen without a significant increase in overall size. So I think people would be happy with a bigger screen as long as the phone itself is not that much bigger than the current Nexus 4.

 

[Aquila]

If you shrink the bezels, you can have a phone with a larger screen without a significant increase in overall size. So I think people would be happy with a bigger screen as long as the phone itself is not that much bigger than the current Nexus 4.

I believe 5.8" is the limit on the n4's current form factor based on numbers here: https://plus.google.com/104140791092565961647/posts/1LnhZv3onF3

That's a 1mm bezel around a huge screen with no room for anything else (camera, speaker, etc).

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[TheLibertarian]

Hi all,

I just got a Nexus 4 and am absolutely loving it. Coming from an S4, I am happy to say I experience no lag and my appreciate the responsiveness of my phone. I was reviewing specs for the Nexus 5 today and noticed it was apparently coming out with a 5.2 inch screen.

I am perfectly happy with the 4.7 inch screen I have on my Nexus 4 and while I will be looking at the 5 when it comes out because I am a tech geek and like to have and play with the latest technology I am wondering if some will simply stay with their awesome Nexus 4 phones rather than go to the Nexus 5 with the increase in screen size.

Thoughts? Are you going to go to the Nexus 5 if it is 5.2 or stay with what you have?

No such device named the "Nexus 5" has been announced, and no specifications have been released regarding Google's upcoming Nexus smartphone.

Hey guys, don't get me wrong. I rooted my SGSIII, and it's very fast. That being said, i really want the "pure vanilla" experience of the Nexus.

And this is relevant to the topic how?

 

[Scott7217]

I believe 5.8" is the limit on the n4's current form factor based on numbers here: https://plus.google.com/104140791092565961647/posts/1LnhZv3onF3

That's a 1mm bezel around a huge screen with no room for anything else (camera, speaker, etc).

I wonder if you could put a screen that supports 4K video at that size. Of course, no one NEEDS 4K video on a phone, but it'll probably be nice for bragging rights.

 

[Captainbob767]

I wonder if you could put a screen that supports 4K video at that size. Of course, no one NEEDS 4K video on a phone, but it'll probably be nice for bragging rights.

It will also do a wonderful job of sucking the battery down to zero in no time at all.

 

[Scott7217]

It will also do a wonderful job of sucking the battery down to zero in no time at all.

High-resolution video can drain the battery, but we presume that Google and its Nexus manufacturing partner will take steps (both in the hardware and in the software) to address this issue.

 

[junglejunkie]

I would be ALL OVER a 5"+ Nexus phone as long as the bezel was reasonable. It could have the same(ish) footprint as the N4 if they did it right.

 

[DirkBelig]

The problem of the screen seeming too small on the Nexus 4 is because of the stupid tall soft buttons on the bottom of the screen. The Galaxy S3 has a 4.8" 1280x720 display; the Nexus 4 has a 4.7" 1280x768 display; but the Galaxy gets to use every single pixel to display the programs because the buttons are down below the screen while the Nexus sacrifices 7.5% of its screen area for navigation alone effectively leaving us with a 1184x768 display. This is why when you put your Nexus 4 down next to a GS3, your screen looks puny even though it's actually only a tenth of an inch smaller.

If they won't move the buttons off the screen (i.e. capacitive like the OG EVO or GS2; I hate the big clicky button on the GS3) then they should make it half the height. The notification shade is 48 pixels high and no one has a problem hitting that zone, so WTF does the bottom have to be double the height with all the wasted black space? A: It doesn't. It's sloppy design and drives people to hardware buttons to get their money's worth on the screen size.

 

[TheLibertarian]

The problem of the screen seeming too small on the Nexus 4 is because of the stupid tall soft buttons on the bottom of the screen. The Galaxy S3 has a 4.8" 1280x720 display; the Nexus 4 has a 4.7" 1280x768 display; but the Galaxy gets to use every single pixel to display the programs because the buttons are down below the screen while the Nexus sacrifices 7.5% of its screen area for navigation alone effectively leaving us with a 1184x768 display. This is why when you put your Nexus 4 down next to a GS3, your screen looks puny even though it's actually only a tenth of an inch smaller.

If they won't move the buttons off the screen (i.e. capacitive like the OG EVO or GS2; I hate the big clicky button on the GS3) then they should make it half the height. The notification shade is 48 pixels high and no one has a problem hitting that zone, so WTF does the bottom have to be double the height with all the wasted black space? A: It doesn't. It's sloppy design and drives people to hardware buttons to get their money's worth on the screen size.

Huh? Get their monies worth for screen size? When last I looked, every bit of the Nexus 4's screen is usable.

Yes, I'm sure cutting the on screen buttons down in size will make an Earth shattering difference when using the device. /sarcasm

I'd much prefer on screen buttons. Hardware buttons are terrible, and having the buttons on screen allows them to disappear when viewing full screen media, or to rotate when the device is in landscape mode, and adds a menu button down there when needed.

All that said, I do have my buttons hidden (PIE, PACman), which I enjoy immensely. But to suggest a consumer isn't getting their monies worth because of on screen buttons taking up screen real estate is simply ridiculous.

 

[Aquila]

Best thing about on screen buttons is that they can be moved, changed, resized, reshaped, reordered, removed, replaced or hidden.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[DirkBelig]

Huh? Get their monies worth for screen size? When last I looked, every bit of the Nexus 4's screen is usable. Yes, I'm sure cutting the on screen buttons down in size will make an Earth shattering difference when using the device. /sarcasm I'd much prefer on screen buttons. Hardware buttons are terrible, and having the buttons on screen allows them to disappear when viewing full screen media, or to rotate when the device is in landscape mode, and adds a menu button down there when needed. All that said, I do have my buttons hidden (PIE, PACman), which I enjoy immensely. But to suggest a consumer isn't getting their monies worth because of on screen buttons taking up screen real estate is simply ridiculous.

I'm getting so bored with the snotty elitism around here like this. "I've hacked my phone with a different ROM to hide the buttons, so everything's fine." That's nice for you, but misses the point entirely.

Plunk a Nexus 4 down next to a Galaxy S III running the same app and ask a non-nerd which one has the larger screen. I'd guess at least 90% would pick the Galaxy because the active area used to display apps IS larger. In a 1280 pixel vertical display, 48 are lost to the notification bad and 96 to the menu bar for a whopping 11.25% of vertical height. OTOH, only 3.75% of the Galaxy's height is lost to non-app elements (i.e. the notification bar). Galaxy also has an extra advantage in that TouchWiz boots that forced Google Search box from the top of the home screen.

Nowhere am I demanding hardware buttons. The simplest solution would be to halve the height of menu bar. Bonus would be to make Google Search an optional widget like it was on my GS2; I had it on the screen to the left of my home screen, I didn't need it on top of every screen.

The reason people want bigger screened phones is subconsciously driven by waste of space using 7.5% of your screen for three lousy buttons. If people can reasonably be expected to tap the "skinny" notification bar, there's no reason the menu bar needs to be so freaking tall. None.

 

[TheLibertarian]

I'm getting so bored with the snotty elitism around here like this. "I've hacked my phone with a different ROM to hide the buttons, so everything's fine." That's nice for you, but misses the point entirely.

Plunk a Nexus 4 down next to a Galaxy S III running the same app and ask a non-nerd which one has the larger screen. I'd guess at least 90% would pick the Galaxy because the active area used to display apps IS larger. In a 1280 pixel vertical display, 48 are lost to the notification bad and 96 to the menu bar for a whopping 11.25% of vertical height. OTOH, only 3.75% of the Galaxy's height is lost to non-app elements (i.e. the notification bar). Galaxy also has an extra advantage in that TouchWiz boots that forced Google Search box from the top of the home screen.

Nowhere am I demanding hardware buttons. The simplest solution would be to halve the height of menu bar. Bonus would be to make Google Search an optional widget like it was on my GS2; I had it on the screen to the left of my home screen, I didn't need it on top of every screen.

The reason people want bigger screened phones is subconsciously driven by waste of space using 7.5% of your screen for three lousy buttons. If people can reasonably be expected to tap the "skinny" notification bar, there's no reason the menu bar needs to be so freaking tall. None.

There was clearly no elitism. I made the argument the current arrangement would not be a big difference from marginally smaller buttons.

By the way, if you "plunk down" a GS3 and N4 next to each other, 100% of the people should say the GS3 has the bigger display... Because it does have the bigger display...

I specifically waited until the end of the post to point to my setup, and then concluded with your idea being utterly absurd. I'm not sure where your grabbing this elitist mentality from.

The N4 has a large screen, and every one bit of it is usable. No one is being cheated out of their money, and Google isn't tricking anyone by saying it's a 4.7" display, because that's exactly what it is.

 

[DirkBelig]

By the way, if you "plunk down" a GS3 and N4 next to each other, 100% of the people should say the GS3 has the bigger display... Because it does have the bigger display...

1/10th of an inch is not readily apparent. They will choose based on the lack of the black bar at the bottom and the search box up top. Like this:

Google is wasting usable space. Just because you refuse to acknowledge facts isn't my problem. We don't need a 5" Nexus 5 - we need a slight tweak to the UI of what we've got. Yeah, there are the people who will think a Note 2 is too tiny, but we've hit the point where you can't stretch your thumbs up to the top of the screen for one-handed use.

 

[Chex313]

I wonder if you could put a screen that supports 4K video at that size. Of course, no one NEEDS 4K video on a phone, but it'll probably be nice for bragging rights.

The only reason for 4K support would be for TV output. You could never see 4K on a small screen...

I'll be happy with 1080P and LTE and 32GB. If the Moto X had the 1080P I would probably settle for that.

 

[amcity32]

That nexus render isn't real. It has a weird combination of stock android and Touchwiz.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[TheLibertarian]

1/10th of an inch is not readily apparent. They will choose based on the lack of the black bar at the bottom and the search box up top. Like this:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/05/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-galaxy-nexus-jon.jpg
Google is wasting usable space. Just because you refuse to acknowledge facts isn't my problem. We don't need a 5" Nexus 5 - we need a slight tweak to the UI of what we've got. Yeah, there are the people who will think a Note 2 is too tiny, but we've hit the point where you can't stretch your thumbs up to the top of the screen for one-handed use.

I'm not refuting facts. I'm saying the miniscule amount of screen real estate you're crying foul over is irrelevant.

The 4.7" display is entirely usable, I don't know why you're trying to argued that fact. Not only does it house the navigation buttons, but said buttons disappear when viewing full screen media, further demonstrating how flexible the screen is.

Besides, why are you set in this GS3 vs. N4 screen comparison? The S3 has a lager screen, with both capacitive buttons and a hardware button. The N4 has a smaller display with on screen buttons... The two devices handle their buttons and displays entirely differently and have no business being compared side by side as you continue to attempt to do.

 

[WickedRabbit]

Safe to say that rumor is made up. The render is terrible and the specs are too high end for a nexus smartphone. The price would be too high and nexus are never top of the line like that.

For the sake of cost it's likely at most to include the snap dragon S600 at the most and my guess is they stick with the 720p display but add LTE and a 32gb option.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4

 

[mattopotamus]

I believe it will be called the nexus 4 2 (same as the nexus 7 2). I remember seeing a video last year when the nexus 4 came out and the people from google seemed pretty confident that they had the perfect size smart phone. We are starting to see a trend and maybe a shift back to sub 5" screens.

 

[ultrrairon]

personlly i prefer 4.7 inches for i might go for 5.2 if its nexus but on any other phone 5 is the biggest