Weekly poll: What is the best screen aspect ratio?

12 November 2017
16:9 ruled supreme but smartphone makers want to go wider. Do you want to follow them?

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What ever the poll result, the manufacturer doesn't care and they will do as they please and not us. The OEM will determine what the best for their phone and not us as the end user. The OEM only care for our money and not our desire.

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    • AnonD-696542
    • rJR
    • 13 Nov 2017

    Well the truth is I just care about thin bezels, we are paying premium so we want the best looking devices. Samsung did great job with S8 by reducing the top and bottom bezels and finishing the side bezels with curved display resulting in a very beautiful premium device which makes it apart from the mid range phones, iPhone X wight its very odd swipe interface still delivered a very nice looking device by reducing the bezels. The 18:5:9, 18:9 or whatever these phones have didn't affect the content viewing much. With S8 you can upscale any content to fit the screen without losing content and iPhone also allows zooming tho it results in loss of content but doesn't affect much of the viewing. So whatever the resolution is the phone must be beautiful, capable and premium. For me the best approach rankings are as follows -
    1) S8/S8+/Note 8
    2) iPhone X
    3) some Chinese mi mix 2
    4) lg v30/g6

      18:9 is just a trick to fool idiots into believing that their new phone displays are now magically so much bigger so they're willing to pay higher prices.

      And it's working.

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        • Alien
        • ndn
        • 13 Nov 2017

        I don't care as long as I drop the phone and it doesn't brake into a million pieces cough cough S8 cough..
        Give me all the bezels you got if the phone has SD card slot, 3.5mm jack amd waterproofing running on the latest snapdragon chipset. Also it can be 15mm thick if it has a bigger battery. I don't care.
        I choose functionality over looks. I see there are a lot of people wanting a bezeless phone just to pickup chicks. Hahaha! Pathetic!
        I just have to look at them..

          Anonymous, 13 Nov 2017The phones should NOT be thin. Phones should have 10 000mAh... moreOr anyone could potentially invest into research and development to give us another battery technology that has better endurance and longevity while being smaller or of the same size as our current battery technologies.

          You wouldn't like to hold a 10,000mAh battery phone, I'm serious. I'm currently rocking an Asus Zenfone Max with a massive 5KmAh battery and while battery life is epic, damn this thing is too bulky and heavy af.
          At 202g, I always worry about dropping it. The heavy weight increases the risk of shattering the screen glass or damaging any internal/external hardware.
          At 10.6mm thickness, it is almost as thick as an iPhone X with 2 thin rubber cases covering it.


          Don't tell me about the Nokia 3310. It is thick, but it is small/compact, so handling isn't a problem on it. Smartphones beyond 4" screen size are going to be immanageable when they go beyond 15mm thickness.

          1" camera sensor is a dream, but it is as large as 4 1/2" sensors, so it's like having 4 Motion Eye™ cameras, given a single one of it is already quite large. It is very good in quality, but will be annoying as part of the phone afterwards. Look at the Lumia 1020 and its camera bump that's as thick as the iPhone X.

            Anonymous, 13 Nov 201718:9 is completely useless. It never should be a standard. ... moreWell, that, to me, sounds sort of a precious hatred against the concept. You know what, 16:9 is pointless when you have on-screen keys. To remove them, you have to put the keys out of the screen, which increases the size of the bezel, and I don't think people want that.
            18:9 doesn't really sound like a bad idea to solve the issue. If there's no disadvantage with it (given that there has been an effective and efficient use for the unused screen), why not?

            And this ratio is just not for large screen phones. Anyone could make a 18:9 version of the XZ1 Compact or the iPhone 8 or iPhone SE and it would be epic.
            I tell you what, you would eventually accept this ratio as a norm in the near future when manufacturers have finally found some great and useful features/things to implement and make use of the unfilled screen estate.

            YouTube videos or any other 16:9 contents don't have to be converted into 18:9. Smartphone manufacturers themselves have started this, so they should be the one responsible for adjusting to the change. The more things are displayed on the screen, the less you feel that the screen you're seeing is 18:9.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • tj8
              • 13 Nov 2017

              Anonymous, 13 Nov 2017It is clear from the poll results that a lot more people pr... morea lot more people from where? india? i see most of the participants are from Mumbai india

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                • Anonymous
                • 0BG
                • 13 Nov 2017

                Anonymous, 13 Nov 2017It is clear from the poll results that a lot more people pr... moreYea 16:9 phones usually have a lot of space wasted. Doesn't mean the scren should be stretched. They can just minimize bezels and make the phone smaller, retaining the 16:9 ratio. Just like Mate 10, which is small for a 6 inch phone. And it even has a fingerprint sensor on the front. Without it the phone can be even smaller (I personally would prefer it to not be removed, i don't care about size, but practicality).

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                  • Anonymous
                  • IW@
                  • 13 Nov 2017

                  It is clear from the poll results that a lot more people prefer 16:9. The ratio in favor of 16:9 vs 18:9 would have been larger if not for the 'I only care about thin bezels' choice which frankly, should not have been included as it does not achieve any purpose as it is not a bezel survey. The point is, practically nobody likes reading webpages like they're reading from a shampoo bottle (try reading from a curved screen S8, S8+ or Note 8) ; you'll feel the 'shampoo bottle effect'. Sure you can read but it is nowhere near optimal. In fact, 4:3 and 3:2 would have been better for reading. 16:9 is a good compromise if you want wider for movies but 18:9 and wider is just insane.

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                    • AnonD-657874
                    • snT
                    • 13 Nov 2017

                    Anonymous, 13 Nov 201716:16 is the best. no need to rotate it. lollmao

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                      • AnonD-441601
                      • SH3
                      • 13 Nov 2017

                      As long as it not a curved screen any is good.
                      Curved screen is useless slippery ugly and waste of money.
                      Also no screen protector holds on curved screens and when you fit one accidentaly any case will push it out.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • JG0
                        • 13 Nov 2017

                        The phones should NOT be thin. Phones should have 10 000mAh removable battery (like ZeroLemon battery for LG V20), and 1" large camera sensor with OIS. This is how phones should be. This would be the perfect phone.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • JG0
                          • 13 Nov 2017

                          Just Honest, 13 Nov 201718:9 is by no means useless, but it has a long way to go be... more18:9 is completely useless. It never should be a standard.

                          What LG nailed for that purpose was the second screen on the V10 and V20.

                            • x
                            • xvi
                            • K6q
                            • 13 Nov 2017

                            I have an essential phone and like the aspect ratio, but wouldn't want anything taller (just like I thought and why I bought it). So I think 17:9 and slightly taller is ok, anything else only good if you always want to use the phone two handed only. I think Xiaomi got it right with the MiMix 1...

                              Anonymous, 13 Nov 2017In fact, 4:3 is the best screen aspect ratio, because it's ... more18:9 is by no means useless, but it has a long way to go before being a standard. 'Til then, our current 18:9 screen smartphones have no perfect use for it. LG actually nailed it in the camera app, where the whole screen is filled with controls, messaging app that can show all messages and the selected message in landscape mode, but more things like these should be implemented to all contents that won't consume the whole 18:9 screen.

                                Anonymous, 13 Nov 2017I don't care about screen and bezels. I want near perfect s... moreAnd a headphone jack

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • JG0
                                  • 13 Nov 2017

                                  In fact, 4:3 is the best screen aspect ratio, because it's the closest to the human eye.

                                  16:9 is obviously better than 18:9.

                                  18:9 is totally pointless and useless. The only purpose of 18:9 is to create a "new feature" feeling of people and to make people feel 16:9 obsolete so they can justify to sell new phones (and later TVs). It's a fake change. It's a planned obsolescence strategy.

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 6XU
                                    • 13 Nov 2017

                                    I don't care about screen and bezels. I want near perfect smooth software.

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • n3X
                                      • 13 Nov 2017

                                      Imperator Neubaticus, 13 Nov 2017When the film industry catches up with the new aspect ratio... moreWon't change my mind. Smartphones are mostly used.for browsing and texting and portrait mode matters.

                                        Anonymous, 13 Nov 201716:16 is the best. no need to rotate it. lolYou mean 1:1