Do people actually care about high screen-to-body ratio phones?

[YummyPotatoFace]

Recently, manufacturers have been racing to reach a 100% screen-to-body ratio phones. We have seen phones with bezel-less designs, notches, sliding cameras, and now a hole-punch camera in efforts to increase screen space. My question is, do you really care screen space at all? For me, I think it is cool, but there are a lot of features that I would prioritize over this such as responsiveness, battery capacity, fingerprint sensor, and front-facing speakers.

Because of this huge emphasis on screen space, there has been a lack of budget phones with front-facing speakers. Have there been any phones with front-facing speakers released in the last 2 years that are sub $300? The only ones I know of are $550+ like the Pixel 2/3, Asus Rog, and Razer.

[corrado33]

No. It's a false marketing technique to get people to "want" new phones.

 

I'd be perfectly happy with an iPhone 5s/5c/6 with updated hardware

[Slottr]

I'm blind as shit so having a bigger phone with more screen is easier to scale without losing too too much

[Enderman]

Front facing speakers are only used while listening to music or videos without headphones, and few people actually do that, especially in public.

 

Front facing display is used pretty much all the time the phone is in use, and is used by 100% of people, so it makes more sense to have more usable display area and better aesthetics than marginally louder audio.

 

If you want loud or good audio you shouldn't be using the phone speakers anyway, even if they are front facing.

 

So basically you could make an identical topic asking "do people really care about front facing speakers".

And the answer to that is no.

[Max_Settings]

Actually yes because it means more screen in smaller body which is nice. But I do with there was a better workaround for the notch and punchhole. In the next 2-3 years once they figure out how to put the sensors and camera under the screen we will all love full screen to body phones.

[corrado33]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

Front facing speakers are only used while listening to music or videos without headphones, and few people actually do that.

 

Front facing display is used pretty much all the time the phone is in use, and is used by 100% of people, so it makes more sense to have more usable display area and better aesthetics than marginally louder audio.

 

If you want loud or good audio you shouldn't be using the phone speakers anyway, even if they are front facing.

 

So basically you could make an identical topic asking "do people really care about front facing speakers".

And the answer to that is no.

Disagree. I personally find it hard to hold "high screen to body ratio" phones without accidentally hitting the touch screen with my fingers/thumb over the edge of the phone. I literally WANT bezels. 

[TheBean]

i prefer as much as possible without notch/interference. 

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Disagree. I personally find it hard to hold "high screen to body ratio" phones without accidentally hitting the touch screen with my fingers/thumb over the edge of the phone. I literally WANT bezels. 

Maybe you just don't know how to hold a phone properly? Ever consider that?

[bleedblue]

Personally, no, I don't. As long as it calls and texts properly.

[Cereal5]

3 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

Disagree. I personally find it hard to hold "high screen to body ratio" phones without accidentally hitting the touch screen with my fingers/thumb over the edge of the phone. I literally WANT bezels. 

Buy an iPhone XR

 

I would say my vote lies somewhere around the "I care more than I don't, but it won't make or break a phone for me" area.

[corrado33]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

Maybe you just don't know how to hold a phone properly? Ever consider that?

I've been holding things for a long time, pretty sure I know how to hold things.

[MandoPanda]

I need bezels to put on my case anyway.

 

 

 

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, corrado33 said:

I've been holding things for a long time, pretty sure I know how to hold things.

Well you must be special because none of my friends or myself have any issue holding our thin bezeled phones.

[WereCatf]

6 minutes ago, Enderman said:

If you want loud or good audio you shouldn't be using the phone speakers anyway, even if they are front facing.

 

So basically you could make an identical topic asking "do people really care about front facing speakers".

And the answer to that is no.

I think I disagree. I'm often in a situation where I have to just sit and wait and so I often spend that time watching Youtube and even a small improvement in audio would be welcome; two front-facing speakers would certainly be better than the one, tinny, side-facing one I currently have, and would let me hear what people are saying much more clearly. (Before someone asks: no, I don't watch music-videos or listen to music on my phone. I want better clarity of speech.)

[Semper]

You ask a hundred different people, you're likely to get a hundred different answers on this subject.

I don't personally care about min-maxing screen/body ratio.
I do, however, care about the trend becoming phablets. I don't like the trend of larger phones that we've been seeing. There's a reason that it took me a little over six years to ditch my 4s. It was a great fit for size and portability. Fit in my pocket just fine, I didn't have issue with the "small screen", and it didn't get in my way. It Also lended itself to single handed use a lot more readily than most phones today do.

[YummyPotatoFace]

9 minutes ago, Slottr said:

I'm blind as shit so having a bigger phone with more screen is easier to scale without losing too too much

Hmm this is an interesting point. Let's say you have phone the size of a Galaxy Note 9 (6"4). How much of a difference from going 80% to 87% screen space would actually make though? 80% is achievable without any notches, sliding or hole-punch cameras.

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

I think I disagree. I'm often in a situation where I have to just sit and wait and so I often spend that time watching Youtube and even a small improvement in audio would be welcome; two front-facing speakers would certainly be better than the one, tinny, side-facing one I currently have, and would let me hear what people are saying much more clearly. (Before someone asks: no, I don't watch music-videos or listen to music on my phone. I want better clarity of speech.)

Are you one of those people that listens to videos on their phone on speaker in public?

Or do you just not have a computer at home to watch content on?

[WereCatf]

Just now, Enderman said:

Are you one of those people that listens to videos on their phone on speaker in public?

If there are no other people around who could be disturbed by it, or if I'm e.g. sitting in my car, waiting.

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

Or do you just not have a computer at home to watch content on?

What a stupid hyperbole.

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

If there are no other people around who could be disturbed by it, or if I'm e.g. sitting in my car, waiting.

What a stupid hyperbole.

Well, I don't understand why you would be sitting in your car waiting for something unless you're in a drive though, but whatevs.

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

screen-to-body ratio is a number that can be easily manipulate to show the phone has minimum waste area.

it shouldnt matter much if the look isnt too bad...(unlike great chin on old iphone for many years...) and keep a standard aspect ratio  thoughout the market.

 

 

[Semper]

6 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Well, I don't understand why you would be sitting in your car waiting for something unless you're in a drive though, but whatevs.

In college, one of my semesters had a three hour break between classes. I opted not to leave campus (to get lunch or something) as parking was a nightmare, and heading home would mean that I had about 10 minutes at home before I had to start the trip back.

Some of those days, I hung out in my car as my group of friends were either in class for most of my break, or weren't on campus at the time. If I didn't have homework, i'd squish my phone between the headrest and the top of the front passenger seat seat and throw on some YouTube or Prime Video.

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, Semper said:

In college, I had a three hour break between classes. I opted not to leave campus (to get lunch or something) as parking was a nightmare, and heading home would mean that I had about 10 minutes at home before I had to start the trip back.

Some of those days, I hung out in my car as my group of friends were either in class for most of my break, or weren't on campus at the time. If I didn't have homework, i'd squish my phone between the headrest and the top of the front passenger seat seat and throw on some YouTube or Prime Video.

Well I just use earphones when I'm on a break and want to listen to something.

Easy.

[Semper]

Just now, Enderman said:

Well I just use earphones when I'm on a break and want to listen to something.

Easy.

I was addressing why one might be in their car waiting and not be in a drive through. This semester happened to be a winter semester, so rather than sit out in the cold, i'd throw on the heater for a bit, get the car warm, and watch something.

[YummyPotatoFace]

17 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Front facing speakers are only used while listening to music or videos without headphones, and few people actually do that, especially in public.

 

Front facing display is used pretty much all the time the phone is in use, and is used by 100% of people, so it makes more sense to have more usable display area and better aesthetics than marginally louder audio.

 

If you want loud or good audio you shouldn't be using the phone speakers anyway, even if they are front facing.

 

So basically you could make an identical topic asking "do people really care about front facing speakers".

And the answer to that is no.

I actually do use my speakers a lot which is annoying as I need to cup my hands to hear clearly enough. When I am in public, I am actually not comfortable wearing headphones as I like to hear things around me and stuff gets stolen a lot on the trains and buses I take. My left and right ears are shaped very differently so it is very hard to find any earphones that won't cause pain in my right ear lol.

17 minutes ago, Max_Settings said:

Actually yes because it means more screen in smaller body which is nice. But I do with there was a better workaround for the notch and punchhole. In the next 2-3 years once they figure out how to put the sensors and camera under the screen we will all love full screen to body phones.

This will probably happen. Maybe they'll figure out under the screen front-facing speakers 

[Max_Settings]

Just now, YummyPotatoFace said:

Maybe they'll figure out under the screen front-facing speakers

Nope, that is not how that works.