Now I mainly use devices with screens of 5.2 – 5.5 inches. Of course, there are happy days when I look at an old Meizu MX2 and my hand itself tries to insert a SIM card there, but then I turn on the device, 'run' through the menu, check the front camera and understand that 'no, can't ', the time is up and today it will not work as a full-fledged smartphone. If only because I'm used to good cameras on the device (both) because of the LG G4 and Meizu MX4 Pro and, mainly, I prefer smartphones on Android 5.x, and the 'oldies' are not updated to this version. But this is not really about that. Having looked again at Meizu MX2, I remembered the super-successful, in my opinion, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact and with annoyance thought that today compact and at the same time really powerful smartphones no longer do. And they make powerful shovels and everything moves towards whether we want it or not, that in a year or two the 5.7 'format will become the main one and move the diagonal to 5.5. Personally, I am very afraid of this, and that's why …
The main reason in my case (and in the case of many other people) is size. The higher the screen diagonal, the larger the dimensions of the device itself, everything is logical here. Of course, a person is such a creature that gets used to everything, it's hard to argue with this: a year and a half ago I could not even imagine that I would willingly use a smartphone with a 5.5 'screen as the main device, and now I use nothing – quite happy . I'm used to it. But if you remember the stages of the growth of screen diagonals, then I do not care, even now I clearly remember the border between a really convenient diagonal and a diagonal that I am used to – this is five inches. Smartphones with a diagonal of more than 5 'today occupy the segment of the most powerful and productive devices, and if you want to have a device with a better camera, better screen and hardware in general, you will have to get used to. Everything that was with screens up to 5 'personally seemed to me convenient, not requiring addiction, but sizes from five inches and above are just addictive.
Xiaomi Mi Note – a bright representative of smartphones-shovels, or 'phablets', as it is now customary to call devices with screens over 5.5' – powerful, fast, clear and simply huge in size!
The second reason is the final loss of some kind of originality in design by the majority of devices. It would seem that with an increase in screen diagonals, new smartphones should be more different from each other in appearance, because large cases leave room for some kind of design around the screen. In fact, the situation is exactly the opposite – in a device with a large diagonal screen, the manufacturer tries to minimize the space around the display (that is, to make the frame and margins at the top and bottom to a minimum thickness), as a result, it turns out that smartphones with diagonals 5.7 – 6 inches are most similar to each other , especially if we are talking about the front panel, most of which is occupied by a huge screen.
Meizu MX5 (5.5”) и Meizu MX4 (5.36”) – привыкнуть можно, особенно к MX5, благодаря меньшей ширине корпуса, но как хочется какой-нибудь MX2 (4.4’’) with top-end hardware
Finally, one more, not the most obvious reason – developers do not have time (or do not want to?) Optimize interfaces at the same rate as the diagonals grow. Think of the first smartphones based on the OS Android – HTC Hero, Nexus and others – a 4×4 or 4×5 grid of icons, application menus and all that stuff. А теперь возьмите какой-нибудь новый Samsung или HTC – что изменилось в интерфейсе и логике меню вместе с ростом диагоналей с 3.2’’ (HTC Hero) до 5.1’’ (Samsung Galaxy S6)? The answer is nothing. Yes, the grid of icons on the main screen in some skins has become 4 × 6 or, for especially generous ones, 5 × 6, but that's all. At the same time, it was convenient to control the smartphone with your fingers on HTC Hero, and the interfaces (and the operating systems themselves, by the way) are developing in all directions except for this – optimization of the workspace and its correspondence to the physical size of the screen. It is strange, but it is a fact, no one thinks that the interface on a device with a 'huge' display should be built and configured somewhat differently than on a 3.5 'screen. In fact, nothing has changed since then, and I'm afraid that with the further increase in the diagonals, this will not change either.
2009-2010, HTC Hero – one of the first smartphones based on OS Android. Neat, beautiful, comfortable and, most importantly, compact.
What do you think about smartphones with large screen diagonals, dear readers? Will this race of diagonals continue, or will manufacturers return to compact models in a short period of time?