The 80s called. They want their mobile phones back.

Size, it seems, matters.

At the end of last week Samsung announced the latest in their range of amusingly large mobile handsets – The 6.3 inch Galaxy Mega. 6.3 inches…so finally we’ve returned to the era in technology when phones are larger than Smurfs. Oh, the humanity…or smurfanity.

I’ve seen the Samsung Note 2 out in the wild a few times and have always thought that its 5.5 inch screen looked pretty ridiculous. Now it has a bigger brother. Where will it end? Are we only a flexible glass display away from a 21st Century version of the Nintendo Power Glove?

The future…breath it in.

 

Now of course I realise that a screen that size can be very useful for watching videos, typing long words, and converting into a makeshift Bivouac should you find yourself lost in the forest as the darkness closes in. As a mobile device that you hold up to your face in public and make phone calls with it seems less than optimum.

There’s the fact that at the end of your two year contract you’ll resemble one of the creatures from the last levels of Resident Evil. One arm will be enormous and muscled due to the repeated task of lifting an electronic surfboard up to your face for extended periods of time, while the other apendage will seem listless and withered in comparison.

You may find yourself worshipped by easily impressed people who see a halo-like ethereal light around your face thanks to your wide girthed phone of choice. Of course some would say this could be a plus.

Probably the most serious problem though is that you’ll just look very, very silly talking into a glowing cereal box while walking down the street.

It’s a strange thing that as we increase the size of devices that are meant to, theoretically, fit in our pockets we’re actually shrinking the dimensions of devices that we do some proper work on. The iPad has started a trend towards tablets as many people’s computer of choice, and now offers a smaller version which is selling rather well. Microsoft seem to view the future in terms of PC/tablet hybrids, with its Surface division deciding that the 10-inch mark is enough for most people to be productive. Of course if you’re older like me, and find your eyes a little less eagle-like than they used to be, then you’re going to be doing a lot of squinting in the technological years ahead.

 

It does feel curious that when the mobile phone first appeared it was a huge device that looked, well, stupid, and was a bugger to put in your pocket. Now, a few decades later we’re in need of spacious trousers if we want to keep up with the times.

Of course I’m somewhat biased as I have an iPhone 4S which is fast becoming the Smart Car of mobile phones. Frankly its a wonder that I haven’t lost it under a speck of dust or had it slip through the stitching in my pocket. The thing is it’s actually a very nice size. I can operate it with one hand – which is something I do a lot with a phone as I’m usually moving around while using it – and it reaches from my ear to my mouth, so phone calls are quite achievable. Granted, after using a HTC One X for a while recently I could see how Youtube was much better on the larger screen, but other than that I’m lost for why we need something as big as the Samsung Mega.

Time will tell if the age of gargantuphones will be a long one, or whether we’ll be talking to our watches and glasses in the next few years. Either way I think I’ll stick with something small, as I’m already struggling enough to fit into my trousers these days.

What do you think? Am I missing the point? Is a huge phone actually really useful? I’m genuinely intrigued and open to persuasion, as I just don’t get this whole trend. Let me know your experiences and how these devices can be a good or bad thing in the comments below. 

Living with the…Google Nexus 7

I adopted the tablet revolution quite early on. In the build up to the release of Apple’s iPad I was critical of how useful something like Steve Jobs’ latest magical creation could be. In fact the first time I encountered an iPad it left me unimpressed. I played with a few apps, discovered that well lit rooms were no friend of the tablet then decided that laptops were for me, not these expensive toys. I can’t remember when I changed my mind, but somehow – via a generous birthday present – I had the chance to really explore this new computer format…and from then on I was hooked.

Now the iPad is easily my most used piece of hardware. Internet browsing is strangely serene on it, podcasts play loud enough that I can use the device as a mobile speaker unit in the house, reading is great at night, I’ve rediscovered an old love of comic books thanks to excellent apps like Comix, and when teamed up with my Apple TV the iPad brings the endless time-wasting joy of Youtube directly to my TV. I’ve even been known to do the odd bit of writing on my beloved machine, including this blog post.

So now it’s pretty fair to say that I’ll always want a tablet in my life. Funny how times change. The problem is that due to the closed nature of the production of tablets there’s no way I can fix one or upgrade it to maintain optimum performance. Slowly, over time, my original iPad has developed…issues. Due to the low 256mb of internal memory apps now crash in a frustratingly regular fashion, and some tasks that were once instant now drag their heels in spectacular fashion. I’m guessing this is the way that Apple and their competitors ensure that we move up to a new device every three years or so, just like we do with phones. But a £500 purchase is something I want to last a bit longer than that, especially when it’s being used for non-intensive tasks. Thus it was with great interest when I saw that Google had released the Nexus 7 – a smaller, lighter, much, much cheaper tablet that had the press in unanimous praise. Could this be the Droid I’m looking for?

Good things come in small packages….sometimes.

There’s no doubt that the Nexus 7 is an attractive device. Everyone that has seen the review unit I’ve been using was impressed by it’s bright, clear screen and diminutive form. Holding it in the hand was a light relief from its chunky inspiration, and the latest Jelly Bean Android software felt quick and stable. Initially it was an instant success and I thought that my bank account could be saved the mauling that Apple had bestowed upon it in previous days. Then the cracks began to appear.

The Nexus is small…but it’s also too big.

Confused? Yes, I’m not surprised. You see swiping and pinch-to-zooming is all well and good, but to navigate the internet, send emails, or interact with social media you’re going to need to enter some text. Typing on the iPad is, well, excellent. In landscape mode I can pretty much type at 80% of my top speeds, with a surprising level of accuracy. Using the Nexus 7 is somewhat confusing. Landscape mode is a bit of a stretch and the onscreen keyboard feels less accurate and sensitive than the Apple one. Turning to portrait mode makes the Nexus seem like an over-large phone, and once again the lower accuracy makes it easier to make mistakes. It’s not terrible by any means, but it’s not the effortless experience that I’ve enjoyed on my iPad.

Of course the Nexus’ size becomes an advantage when using apps like Google Currents and Flipboard, which are both excellent and make catching up on news a very easy and pleasant experience. Amazon’s Kindle app is also a standout. Reading novels on pages that are pretty much the same as an actual book feels right, and the screen definition renders the text in a crisp manner. Social media is a little less splendid. The Facebook and Twitter apps appear to be the mobile versions, offering smaller text size and a compact view that just seems to lessen the experience, especially Facebook with it’s constant flow of pictures. Google+ is decent, but again feels a cheaper alternative to the magnificent iPad offering.

After exploring these sites I noticed another oddity of the device. With the iPad I tend to balance the unit against my legs, lean it on furniture, or prop it up against any random protuberances that offer purchase. It means that my arms don’t tire of holding what is still a quite substantial weight. The Nexus is light and slim, but I found that I had to hold it all the time, which actually ended up causing my hands to ache faster than the iPad did. It’s a small thing, but as I suffer from an old RSI injury, this became a bigger issue rather quickly.

You’ll be needing this…

Ok, so comparing a £200 device to a £400 one seems a little unfair. Of course the iPad should be a more luxurious environment, it damn well better be for double the price. But the reason I’m doing this is that I was serious about converting from an expensive Apple device that I use mainly for media consumption to a cheaper alternative that offered most of the benefits with only a few losses. After a few weeks with the Nexus 7 though I was disappointed to realise that the iPad has pretty much ruined me for anything else. The drop down felt so vast in terms of quality, not of build – the Nexus is very solid – but rather experience. I’ve rarely felt frustrated by the iPad (except now that it crashes more often) but the Nexus became annoying in a fairly short space of time. As an e-reader it’s a very tempting option, offering more functionality than the Kindle Paperwhite for only £50 more, but for more general purpose tablet adventures it seems limited and more akin to a phone.

I dearly wanted to love this device, as did my wallet, and to be fair my children did. I think the issues I had with size were the exact opposite for them. But the compromises seem too big to make this a viable option to those who have grown used to the glorious expanse of Apple’s tablet. Even my mother, who has to be surgically removed from my iPad every time she comes over, but for whom the price tag is prohibitive, couldn’t get on with the Nexus. The text size proving difficult for her older eyes.

The Nexus is a cool little device which some people will undoubtedly love. For me though it looks like another trip to the Apple store looms in March when the new model comes out. Better start saving now then…