Can you tell what it is yet? (It's a poll!)

[andrewducker]

Assuming a group of touchscreen devices, each of which is capable of making phone calls, surfing the web, etc., of the following sizes, how would you describe them?

Poll

Comments

[theweaselking]

It makes phone calls and runs a phone OS? It's a fucking phone.

The polycom in the conference room with the crazy extendable microphones and stuff is huge, but it's a phone. A SPEAKERPHONE, but a phone.

(My phone is also a computer that fits in my pocket - but it's a phone.)

[andrewducker]

My inner pedant would like you to define "phone OS".

Because if it's "it runs on a phone" then we have a nicely circular definition :->

[strawberryfrog]

Android's kernel is a fork of Linux, so maybe Linux is a phone OS.

[anton_p_nym]

I have a 7" tablet that can accept a SIM card. I would never call it a phone as I'd never hold it up to my head... if you use this thing to make calls you're assumed to be using Bluetooth or the speakerphone settings.

I could've ordered the 5" version, but I wanted the bigger screen because I wanted to run Windows 7, and (other than Windows Phone) Windows gets a bit squinty on a 5" screen. (Truly, I wonder at how folks coped with the old OQO.) I'd still call that version a tablet, though, even though it's not much bigger than the larger smartphones.

-- Steve's not certain how to draw the line by screen-size alone; one way he differentiates is whether the processor has x86 pedigree or a cell pedigree, but that's not a particularly good sort either.

[naath]

If it makes phone calls using the phone network then it is a phone; I don't care what size/shape it is (but if it's inconvenient for me to use to make phone calls on I won't buy it). If however it only has data connections it is not a phone (even if you can skype/similar on it).

Inches confuse me slightly more than centimetres do

[ice_hesitant]

Phones:
6 cm
9 cm
11 cm
12 cm
13 cm

Tablets:
18 cm
20 cm
26 cm

[johncoxon]

Below 3.5" - iPod
3.5" - iPhone
10" - iPad
everything else - Android bullshit



I should probably make it clear that I am in fact trolling and am completely uninterested in having a painful fanboy argument over the above statements XD

[andrewducker]

Oh yes. I took it as 'funny'. If I didn't know you I might wonder if it was a case of Poe's law, but thankfully I do :->

[johncoxon]

I don't know about Poe's law, what's that?

My friend has a shiny new Android phone made by Samsung. It's too big for him to be able to reach the whole screen with one hand, and certainly way too big for his girlfriend. So whilst the above is trolling, I genuinely would lean towards the opinion that 4.3" < x < 7" is a category I'd label "stuff that is the wrong size and should be sorted out". And even, possibly, 4.3" is too large. I have trouble reaching the upper-left corner on my iPhone and I have pretty big hands, I can't imagine a bigger phone being nice to use for this very reason!

7" ≤ x ≤ 10" seems to be a good place for a tablet to sit - personally I think 7" is a bit small but it's perfect for devices like the Kindle Fire which are very much designed to be interacted with less than a general purpose tablet such as the iPad.

[andrewducker]

I don't tend to use my phone one-handed, except when I've got an article that I'm scrolling down using my thumb. And it's 3.7". I've used an iPhone, and it never occurred to me to just use one hand on that either.

4.3" I'm slightly nervous of, because I'm not convinced it will fit in my pockets easily. I'll have to wear my tight jeans and then go try some out in shops!

10" is perfect for my tablet needs, if my tablet needs are "read comics". Which is the big thing I want one for. I don't really have a need for a 7" tablet.