Apple to make transition to 4-inch display as easy as possible

At this point it seems pretty certain that Apple will indeed bump up the iPhone’s display size to at least four inches. As great as this is, there are potential problems with the new screen size because of the resolution of App Store applications. However, if the past is any indication of Apple’s future plans, the change in size will not be an issue.

Continuing with the “it just works” mantra, Apple will surely make the new screen resolution compatible with the overwhelming number of existing App Store apps. I had not given this issue much thought, but I can understand why some developers might be worried – it would definitely be annoying to change every aspect of an old application to make it fit a new screen resolution. But it looks like developers are just as trusting of Apple as I am.

Erica Ogg over at GigaOm conducted a study to see how developers were feeling about the possible transition to a 4-inch device. The results: they’re not very worried. Lenny Rachitsky, CEO of Localmind said he’s confident that Apple won’t “pull an Android and fragment the device market unnecessarily.” I’m inclined to agree. Android’s fragmentation is an issue that Apple has actually commented on directly, so it wouldn’t make much sense to split the App Store in a similar fashion.

What’s more, this rumored screen change is not the first one in the iPhone’s history. Similar resolution problems could have arisen when Apple debuted the Retina display, but the company made sure that every new aspect was compatible with applications developed for the older screen. In fact, Apple even put in some extra work to make all the text in apps Retina-ready and provided developers with super easy tools to transition the rest of an application’s elements over to Retina quality.

All in all, it looks like the move to a 4-inch screen will be a good thing for developers and consumers alike. Is there anything about a new screen size that is still troubling you or are you just as excited as I am to test out an iPhone rockin’ a 4-inch Retina display?

 

Via: AppleInsider

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TheOneandOnlyAnonymouse 36 pts

HA HA HA HA HA HA iOS 6 announced and no hint at bigger screens. Heck, iOS 6 isnt even enough of a change to warrant being called a new version entirely. Should be like iOS 5.5. HAHAHA. 

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RaduTanasescu 32 pts

You should already guess what the next step is. It seams pretty obvious yet no one is connecting the dots:

 

- the only way  that the screen size can increase without loosing retina properties is for the resolution to increase

- the only way Apple increases the resolution is by including 4 times the number of actual pixels, iphone 3gs had 480x320 thus the iphone 4 had 960x640

- the a5x processor is capable of performing well on the huge new ipad display resolution of 2048x1566

 

So Apple has the technology and it has done it before, the new iphone display will be bigger and will have 4 times iphone 4s's resolution: 1920x1280

 

Sure that sounds like a very high resolution for a 4 or 4.5 inch display, it would be far beyond retina, far more than necessary but the only way that Apple can continue to do things the way they did in the past.

 

It's crazy, and that's exactly why they're going to do it.

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Soni 5 pts

They won't be changing the aspect ratio, you can bet on that. 

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DarrenButz 15 pts

The old apps not made for a 4-inch screen can just use up as much of the screen as the normally would, leaving black space on the sides/ top and bottom, if they change the aspect ratio.

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connerp32 5 pts

I still find it hard to believe that there's no default calculator or alarm on my iPad.

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TheOneandOnlyAnonymouse 36 pts

I find it funny how people are trying to shrug off pending issues. When in fact, apple has a poor track record of screen changes. The original ipad, or example, did not have all basic apps up to par and loaded on the ipad. Like a calculator or other very basic apps. Why? because, apparently. steve jobs did not like the "stetched" look of them and chose not to install them on the device. ...did he work to fix the look before release? no. he just omitted them. 

 

How many iphone apps work with ipad? 100%?

How many apps are retina display? 100?

How many developers still support their app and will spend time to update? 100%?

 

The answer to all three questions is no. In order for this to be seamless we would have to say yes to all of those. 

We also forget the loss of the retina display because of increase in size. Issues with the aspect ratio and larger cropping.etc. 

 

Apple can plop a 4 incher on the device. The software is another issue. 

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RaduTanasescu 32 pts

 TheOneandOnlyAnonymouse Apple always pushes things forward, and at every push there's an adjusting period.

 

I think the next iPhone will have an 1920x1280 display, four times the actual retina display resolution, and many apps will have a hard time catching up to that but it will happen. Many developers will actually not upgrade their apps because I suspect apps at 960x640 will look just fine on the new display.

 

But the new apps will take advantage of that and in time it will become the new standard.

 

Plus, once they make this leap, they can increase the screen size all they want in the future, it'll still be well in retina parameters, even on a 5 inch display. This will practically be the last resolution change for IOS phones.

 

And dude, it may not be seamless, but there's no other mobile ecosystem that does it closer to seamless. And I don't think there will ever be.

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TheOneandOnlyAnonymouse 36 pts

 RaduTanasescu HA HA HA HA HA HA iOS 6 announced and no hint at bigger screens. Heck, iOS 6 isnt even enough of a change to warrant being called a new version entirely. Should be like iOS 5.5. HAHAHA. 

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RaduTanasescu 32 pts

 TheOneandOnlyAnonymouse You waited long for that didn't you? Get a life dude, I don't really care if IOS 6 doesn't make a hint about a large display, or if you consider that not too many new features were added.And an OS update really tells little about the next hardware version, especially when the update is tailor made for the current hardware. And especially since Apple hinted Siri in IOS 5 by mistake and are not prepared to do the same mistake again.Plus, I like my iPhone, and you can "hahaha" all you like, all you manage to do is look like a fool, why do you even care which phone I use? Will it change your life if I buy an Android phone?Though so... 

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