Sunday debate: Classic 16:9 vs. Taller screen ratios

03 June 2018
The tall screens started as a trend, but is there good reason behind it or is everybody just blindly following it?

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  • P
  • Pabliell
  • Tpi
  • 03 Jun 2018

The newer 18:9 ratio looks cooler, but has 1 major issue. The screens are too big. Seriously, can you all suddenly reach the upper bezel using 1 hand on a 6.3" device? You had problems with 5.7" 16:9 and called them too big, now what? I tried a 6" tall screen and I couldn't reach the status bar using just 1 hand. This is inconvenient and unacceptable. That's why I will stick to 16:9 for now. Make me a 5.5" 18:9 flagship and I'll switch.

    • D
    • AnonD-666080
    • IKV
    • 03 Jun 2018

    The XZ2 Premium will be my next phone mainly because of it's 16:9 screen. It seems to be the only new flagship with 16:9.

      • b
      • bobby
      • 0@1
      • 03 Jun 2018

      LLL, 03 Jun 2018I concur. For the same diagonal, we get less screen real es... morePhones used to be full with features.
      Fm radio, Ir blaster, Removable battery, 3.5 headphone jack.
      Now every year we get less and less and they calls it upgrade, and people stupid enough buying this.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • LQX
        • 03 Jun 2018

        Curiosity

        Except XZ2, all S845 devices have 4K 60fps. But none of them has EIS for this option. Why?

        I think.itbis why Sony skipped 4K60, but I dont understand why EIS does not work on other phones.

          • D
          • AnonD-673279
          • phV
          • 03 Jun 2018

          16:9 is objectively superior.

          There isn't even a standard tall aspect ratio with 18:9, samsungs 18.5:9 and all the different aspect ratios notched phones are using.

          The "more content when browsing" argument is false as you need a 5.8" tall screen to fit as much as a 5.5" 16:9 screen, you just get more line breaks on the tall screens.

          Stretching or cropping video content is not a solution for the black bars and there is basically zero 18:9 content.

          Tall phones are not pocketable.

          Tall phones are a dumb, marketing driven trend like 3d TVs. I just hope it doesn't take as long to die...

            • L
            • Lertis
            • Pbs
            • 03 Jun 2018

            When the taller aspect came in, I thought it was for the internals, and I keep thinking the same thing. Makers may want thinner bezzels, but they just can't make smaller the internals, and provide an a complete experience, like big batteries, big sensors, and a lot of stuff, so, they made a tall phone just to justify the size of the phone. I mean... if the reason behind is making the phone less wide, then use a small proportion in the wide, but they keep it, and even, they used even bigger screens, 6.1", 6.3", so... I don't think it was for the scrolling, It was only 'cause they needed the space for making good things, and I kinda like it.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • LQX
              • 03 Jun 2018

              Biz, 03 Jun 2018If you think about Youtube as example, it is up to The cont... moreOnly cellphones can record 18:9, videocameras dont.
              So content 18:9 cant become standard on YTB.

              Nor even on TV because TVs are not going to be 18:9. Many of them have ZERO bezels without new ratio.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • mZ3
                • 03 Jun 2018

                One kind comment for the GSMarena staff:
                Why you don't include a display ratio selector in your phone finder tool?
                Another:
                We consumers have to suffer the stupid inch diagonal measurement, but you, as the best mobile site, could include as well a more precise LONGxWIDTH measurement of the display which would give us a much more precise sense of the dimensions. If it were in planet earth mm units it would be fantastic.
                Just two ideas.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • 01j
                  • 03 Jun 2018

                  16:9 Ideal for most videos and media consumption, better for one handed reachability in sub 5" phones, but phones become very wide for 6" +

                  18:9 + Better for inflating the diagonal screen measurement (aka marketing) while not making the phone too wide to hold onto. Also provides more space for banner ads (yuk) and keyboards without blocking too much content.

                    in my opinion i dont care which screen ratio they use just get rid of those damn rounded corners

                      18:9 or taller display ratio for a more than 6.1inch display won't be my choice because the navigator and notification are too far to reach when I want to press by thumb I have to stretch more and more in daily usage. It think why the Aliens come with longer fingers and thumb, perhaps they are using the taller phone earlier than human.

                        • D
                        • AnonD-762416
                        • mY{
                        • 03 Jun 2018

                        My vote: None of the above examples.
                        I don't mind taller screens as long as they don't "achieve" it with an ugly notch like the ones in your example.
                        The reason I like the ultrawide format is because most current feature movies are ultrawide. That format fits terribly bad on a 16:9 mobile sized screen.
                        (more edits)
                        Another reason an ultrawide mobile screen is a good thing is because too many websites has started a trend to put fixed headers and footers on their mobile sites, making the browsed are resemble something like a miniature 4:3 screen. The added vertical estate when in portrait mode "fixes" that.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • LY@
                          • 03 Jun 2018

                          I don't care what ratio the screen is as long as it's square.

                            • T
                            • The truth
                            • 4ID
                            • 03 Jun 2018

                            The ONLY reason manufacturers didn't just shrink the bezels on the existing 16:9 phones is because they would have sacrificed internal spcae and battery life would have suffered. They had to make the device taller to fit all of the components of a current smartphone inside. It makes no sense that a device has a screen ratio of 2:1 considering all content it creates and consumes was in the 16:9 format. It was purely a compromise that does not benefit the consumer. For example, as stated most people use their phones in protrait mode now. How does a smaller screen width (taller height) benefit that use? It only makes media viewed in portrait mode even smaller. The world has moved on to the new ratio but don't be fooled that it was anything but a compromise.

                              I prefer 16:9, or 21:9. but I think 21:9 is too wide for a phone.

                                • B
                                • Biz
                                • mr}
                                • 03 Jun 2018

                                Anonymous, 03 Jun 2018Developers nowadays are already supporting 18:9 ratios. Duh?If you think about Youtube as example, it is up to The content creator to use what aspect ratio suits him/her The best. Usually they are going to use 16:9 b/c that is The standard of computer screens. If The content is produced as 16:9, you really can't do anything about it, other than put black bars or stretch (which is bad for image quality).

                                Only thing you can hope is that more content creator are going to start using 18:9 as new standard, but I think that is bit far reach b/c most of the content is still created by computers and I don't see any other standard take over anytime soon in computer screens.

                                There is The other standards for computer screens and one of the recent is 21:9 (ultrawide) but that is way too tall for smartphones.

                                  • H
                                  • H-1
                                  • aXJ
                                  • 03 Jun 2018

                                  I like 16:9 but to be honest, I don't hate 2:1.
                                  I tend to think of it as my screen stretching to fit the surface of my current phone.. not that bad..
                                  Still I wouldn't mind a 16:9 bezel-less phone.

                                  My issue us that gesture hasn't been fully implemented and even so, it can't be modded as much.

                                  I've been using gestures for 3 years now because it's a hassle to reach navbar/buttons, no bezels and no chin mean bad ergonomics to me.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 0TF
                                    • 03 Jun 2018

                                    I'd like to remind something to they who contest this article:
                                    When 16:9 ratios became a trend like what 18:9 or wider are today, phones with these "new" aspect ratios shoot at the older 4:3 aspect ratio while having a wider screen ratio. Saying so, is clear that screen technology evolves faster than camera sensors because these sensors, physically, still today, are rectangles with 4:3 native aspect ratio so implementing 12MP camera sensors that shoot at 19.5:9 aspect ratio (which in my opinion will be the next standard for the next decade; not wider nor narrower) will require new technologies which are impossible right now, or they might crop electronically images of these shooters to match these screens ratios but i guarantee that the product is far from appealing for consumers. Guaranteed is that in the next 2-3 years, image sensors will match the aspect ratio of phone screens.
                                    Also wider aspect rations help phone ergonomics while still having larger diagonals. These phones with wider aspect ratio are much much more beautiful than their narrower and outstandingly uglier full of bezels predecessors.

                                      LLL, 03 Jun 2018I concur. For the same diagonal, we get less screen real es... moreAnd because of these new aspect ratios, it made people more confused than ever; now people think that a 6.0" 18:9 AR smartphone is too big. But when u compare it to a 5.5" 16:9 AR smartphone, the only differences in the size is that the 6.0" 18:9 AR smartphone is a little slimmer on the width, and a little longer on the length, and lesser bezels too, hence I think it is still just right for the size. But not everyone knows how to explain all of these aspect ratios (Inclusive of some goofy ones). So yeah, it can't be helped, unless some brand can shoutout to the world explaining all of these, then maybe people will understand what is going on here...

                                        • e
                                        • ex Note 4 user
                                        • g5E
                                        • 03 Jun 2018

                                        Would you want to read websites from your toothpaste tube? Probably not, that means more scrolling. That's why 16x9 is way better.

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