So... does the "stretched" look still seem odd?

[psylichon]

We're now a month in. For those that have been using an iPhone 5, how does it feel? Stretched? Weird? Odd in any way?

I can't even look at pictures of previous generations without feeling extremely claustrophobic now. It's amazing what half an inch and a change in aspect ratio can do. It's a little tight in landscape, but the full-screen option in Safari (and numerous third party browsers) alleviates that to a useable degree. Videos, of course, are much more enjoyable to watch. And streaming video links load so fast now, I'm not so hesitant to bother clicking them anymore. It's amazing what a difference a couple seconds makes...

Overall, it feels as natural to me as an iPhone has ever felt. I think the platform in general has finally hit its stride. I'm very happy with the screen decision Apple made with this generation.

 

[ITS ME DAVID]

Sucks that a lot of apps still haven't been updated to the new screen size but overall I like the look.

 

[Saverino]

I thought it was a little odd the first day, but it was pretty easy to get used to. What's more odd was using a previous iPhone (especially the 4/4S) even after a few days of having the 5. It felt so incredibly small, blocky, and cramped. I think the added screen dimensions are a huge improvement over the previous iPhones and I could never go back. The extra half inch really made a dramatic difference.

 

[djwindsor]

There's one APP in particular that I really wish they updated. Can anyone guess?

 

[iphonewarrior]

There's one APP in particular that I really wish they updated. Can anyone guess?

chris is going to be working on an update in the next couple of weeks

 

[djwindsor]

chris is going to be working on an update in the next couple of weeks

I KNEW you were aware of what APP I was referring to.

 

[theorioles33]

I was thinking the iPhone 5 was going to be all elongated like all the pictures on the Internet. But to my surprise it didn't look as awkward in real life. Loving it.

 

[Lon]

Is it odd that while movies are taken full-screen, pictures are not?

 

[theorioles33]

Now THAT I did find odd.

 

[Mthoroughbred]

You can't even tell after a while of use. But if you go back to the previous iPhones or iPod touch you can feel the difference in size. And about the pictures not taking advantage of the screen size I think that has to do more with the camera lens then the apps. I also have a Nokia Lumia 900 (4.3" screen) and it does the same thing.


Sent from my white 32gb iPhone 5 using iCafe app

 

[jmp316]

A few days after I got it, I was used to it. My iPhone 4 felt small when I picked it up.

 

[InyigoMontoya]

Yeah, switching from my 5 to my wife's 4S is a dramatic difference. I'm LOVING this phone. The fact that I finally upgraded from my 3GS help its cause dramatically.

 

[L.I. Bruce Fan]

Ditto what inyigo said, I picked up my wife's 4s (formerly my 4s) and thought wow this phone is short and fat!

 

[fury]

Is it odd that while movies are taken full-screen, pictures are not?

Still pictures are 4:3, 3264x2448, while videos are 16:9, 1920x1080. The videos can take up the whole screen without any black bars, but the still pictures either need black bars, or the camera toolbar to take up the extra room.

On the iPhone 4/4S and the iPad, you could double tap the video viewfinder to expand the view out to the full 16:9

 

[jmp316]

Still pictures are 4:3, 3264x2448, while videos are 16:9, 1920x1080. The videos can take up the whole screen without any black bars, but the still pictures either need black bars, or the camera toolbar to take up the extra room.

On the iPhone 4/4S and the iPad, you could double tap the video viewfinder to expand the view out to the full 16:9

What's also interesting is that videos shot on my iPhone 4 are full screen on my 5. They must have been using 16:9 ratio before. Never realized this before I got the 5.

 

[fury]

What's also interesting is that videos shot on my iPhone 4 are full screen on my 5. They must have been using 16:9 ratio before. Never realized this before I got the 5.

They sure are- iPhone 4 does HD 1280x720 video recording. You can double tap while you're playing them on the iPhone 4 to switch between filling the screen and showing the whole 16:9 too.

 

[psylichon]

3:2 is pretty much the standard for photography because it frames well for portrait and landscape. 16:9 is really best for landscape, which makes the smartphone-born plague of portrait videography so annoying. The same problem exists for photos.

Instead of offering a confusing or overlooked aspect ratio toggle, Apple just added the pano mode which gently forces the user to think about proper orientation

 

[John Tierney]

I now refer to my iPhone 4 as "the mini"

 

[FlwrPwer]

So what all of you guys are saying is: "Size really DOES matter?"

 

[Napoleon PhoneApart]

I put my iPhones 4S and 5 side-by-side and watched the same video (scene from a movie). The lack of letterboxing on the iPhone 5 made the screen look considerably larger than its modest 1/2" diagonal increase would suggest. I love it.