» NewsDoes The Size Of Your Smartphone Matter?
Size. Does it matter? When it comes to smartphones, it certainly does matter. The average size of smartphones has increased over the years but the average human hand size has not. So why have smartphones gotten larger over the years?
Mobile phones have evolved a lot since they were first invented. The earliest mobile phones were heavy and large, that’s why they were called brick phones. Other than voice calls and text messaging, there was not much else you could do with a mobile phone back then. As technology evolved, mobile phones got smaller and better. It started to include built-in cameras, color screens and features like mobile games, alarm clock, calculator, and calendar. In the early 2000s, when smartphones became available to the consumer market, they were built with a physical keyboard which took up almost half the space of the phone, leaving not much room for a larger screen. Stylus based touchscreen at the time was still limited to mobile devices like PDAs.
The true smartphone revolution didn’t start until Apple revealed the first iPhone in January 2007. With no physical keyboard but a large and sleek touchscreen with direct finger touch and multi-touch input, the user experience of navigating the screen and browsing through a website on the iPhone was like nothing anyone had ever experienced before. It was truly revolutionary, and it forever changed the way smartphones were designed and used. Soon, other smartphone manufacturers began to emulate Apple, and the trend towards large screen smartphones began.
Unless your hands are big, a big smartphone can feel clumsy in your hands. For people who do have big hands, choosing a bigger sized smartphone is a no brainer because the phone just fits comfortably in their hands, it’s easy to navigate, and it feels great. Still, there are many people with average sized hands who prefer bigger smartphones over smaller ones. Why is that?
Well, smartphones have become an indispensable part of our lives now. Almost everything can be done through a smartphone. You can do your shopping, banking, work, order food, make payments, make reservations, book a ride, buy or even borrow an ebook and read it on your phone, surf the internet, watch entertainment, hold a video conference call while commuting, complete an online course, etc, the list is almost endless. Smartphones may even replace our wallets one day as our IDs, driver license, money, and credit cards go digital. When we use our smartphones for so many things in our daily lives, a small screen just won’t do. And over the years, consumers have made it clear that bigger is better.
A bigger screen provides better visual sensory immersion. It is easier to read with. You see more contents at a time, thus you scroll less and scroll slowly. Studies have been done by researchers that show that people absorb and understand information better with a bigger screen because contents in a bigger screen demands less cognitive effort compared to the same contents in a smaller screen. And for people who are in their mid-40s and above, when presbyopia is gradually progressing, a bigger screen means bigger texts and images, increased readability, less eye strain, and less struggle to interact with screen contents.
However there are a few people who still prefer smaller smartphones, no matter what. They want a phone where they can navigate the screen with just one hand, a phone that is easy to carry around, fits comfortably inside their jeans pocket and without any sacrifice in performance. If you are one of them, your options are quite limited as the market now is dominated by big smartphones.
But no matter what your preferences in smartphone size are, if you are looking for a new smartphone to replace your current one, you should consider one that is unlocked and eSIM capable. An eSIM is an embedded chip inside a phone that serves the same function as a physical SIM. It allows you to install and activate an eSIM mobile plan or data package with a QR code. You can purchase these online and you can install multiple plans or packages into your eSIM phone. It is very convenient if you are a frequent traveler, being able to purchase a local eSIM data package online, install and activate it into your device on the go. You will have data access as soon as you land at your destination. It saves you time and hassle of looking for a local store to buy a physical SIM and it also saves you money from expensive roaming fees!