I can still remember when Dell had a “tablet” out there in the world with a screen somewhere around five inches. At the time it was mocked and panned because the company dared to use marketing material showing a person holding that device up to the side of their head to make a call. Dared, because at the time it really was ridiculous. But, of course, we all know how a phone with a screen around five inches is considered small by some people these days.
Now, to be fair it wasn’t just the screen size of that device that made the whole thing ridiculous. This was years ago so it was also pretty hefty. Absolutely not thin and light. Not because Dell didn’t try, of course. But, for what the small tablet was, they did what they could. Still, this was before Samsung won everyone over with the phablet craze, pushing its Galaxy Note lineup onto center stage and making the rest of the smartphone world adapt.
So, here we are with smartphones that have 6.7-inch displays and we’re okay with that. I think most of us even know that, at some point, they are probably going to get even bigger. Somehow, someway, we’re probably going to have phones with seven inch screens and we’ll all need to accept that. Because we’re certainly not going the other way with it.
I remember a time when I thought the perfect setup was a phone with a 4.7-inch screen (the HTC Hero, seriously, was fantastic) and a tablet. That was pretty great! And now I see people out here doubling down with the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s 6.7-inch screen and a 12.9-inch iPad Pro. And that’s okay, too! In fact, there are times when I think I might want to do the same thing. The only thing holding me back is my time with the larger iPhones in the past, including the 12 Pro Max, have never gone well. I always end up asking myself, Why?
Why am I putting my daily use in any amount of discomfort just for a bigger screen? Sure, I can watch YouTube videos and watch hockey games on a bigger screen without having to lug an iPad around. That is nice. And while the screen real estate isn’t a huge difference on paper, it’s quite striking in person. Still, I haven’t been able to keep up with the bigger phone, so I think I’ve decided that, for now, my favorite iPhone size is 6.1 inches.
I recently went into an Apple Store to check out the new MacBook Pro. I want it, but have no reason to get it, so I decided to get it out of my system by playing around with it. And yet, I found myself in front of the 16-inch model more. Probably because I knew I wasn’t going to get either one, so why not go for the one IÂ definitely wouldn’t get, maybe. Either way, that’s a nice machine! They both are, but that screen is pretty great to look at. A lot of real estate to work with. I started to daydream how it could help my daily routine and all that, but, ultimately, those machines are absolutely not made for me.
But that big screen! The Apple Store rep told me that one of his coworkers picked up the 16-inch MacBook Pro and when I said that would be a lot to haul around, he told me that he just keeps it at home. It’s his workstation. Which . . . makes sense, because that thing is a beast. But also it’s a laptop and I wanted to shake him and say, “That’s not the point!” But then I realized the screen size and the weight really just doesn’t matter. It might not make sense for me –it definitely doesn’t– but it’s probably the best possible hardware solution for a lot of people out there.
Which got me wondering: do you just prefer going for the devices with the biggest possible screen? If so, what’s the reason? Just more content to display? Do you go with a bigger phone so you can avoid picking up a tablet, too? Or, just for fun, are you someone who prefers the smallest screen, and love your iPhone 13 mini?