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Official: the Shape of the Smartphone Is Changing Forever

posted by mrpg on Thursday July 19 2018, @11:59AM   
from the ratio dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

El Reg:

The shape of the smartphone is changing as a fad turns into a long-term trend, a business analyst has noted.

Analyst outfit IHS Markit said it expected wide aspect ratios – either 18:9 or 18+:9 – to make up two-thirds of new device sales in Q3 of this year. At the start of 2017, the "traditional" 16:9 ratio display was seen on over 95 per cent of phones sold.

The taller, narrower shape is no longer a flagship feature, the company noted.

"Smartphone makers are now aggressively applying 18:9 aspect ratio of TFT LCD to their 2018 models even for mid-end and entry-level smartphones, instead of using high-priced flexible AMOLED panels," said IHS Markit's Hiroshi Hayase.

Still no slide-out keyboards. Lame.

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Original Submission

• Re:Edges interfere with operation (Score: 3, Informative) by Marand on Thursday July 19 2018, @11:39PM

  by Marand (1081) on Thursday July 19 2018, @11:39PM (#709669) Journal

  The problem right now, as I see it, is the way the touch input extends to the edges of many current phones.

  Specifically, unintended touch input at the edges of the smartphones is far too likely to cause interference with what you want to do.

  It's not perfect, but try replacing the default keyboard with Multiling O Keyboard [google.com]. It's an insanely configurable software keyboard that lets you build arbitrary key layouts (including keys like ctrl and alt if desired), swap between floating and docked, resize on-the-fly, change key sizes, and a bunch more. For a random example, you can even add spacers within a keyboard layout to make a left/right split akin to physical ergonomic keyboards if desired for easier two-thumb typing. I mention it because, in addition to resizing and moving the floats, I believe you can resize the keyboard while "docked" to the bottom both horizontally and vertically, which would give you some fatfinger freedom.

  It's not perfect, like I said, though. Building a custom keymap is a bit clunky, its swipe-based input works but is a bit rudimentary, and if you rely heavily on autocomplete it'll take a while to get it guessing the words you want by manually teaching it priorities. Still, I use it because it doesn't have an insane permissions list and I've found nothing else that's even close to as configurable. Plus it doesn't use internet access, unlike most "smart" keyboards including default ones.

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