The AnandTech Podcast: Episode 25

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• Peanutsrevenge - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  AMD By chance trying to convince about die size?
  Looking forward to the article later in the week :)

• Sabresiberian - Tuesday, September 24, 2013 - link

  Yeah, really, what does die size have to do with me as an end user? This kind of comment is why I don't expect the new AMD graphics cards to be competitive with a GTX 780 version of GK110. Like. "we're going to have a chip that is 30% smaller but will give more performance per die size". What does that even mean? Don't tell me that. tell me it's going to be "30% faster than a GTX 780", or 10% faster, whatever.
  
  The only reason die size would make a difference to me is if it means lower power and less heat. AMD has traditionally made smaller GPU chips than Nvidia, but they often aren't any better in those terms - they can be just as power-hungry and have even louder cooling solutions.

• speconomist - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  Would be nice if list of topics mentioned in the podcast also included link to the relevant article in the site.

• munim - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  Fast follower or leader; this is what I was thinking before you guys said it and were discussing whether they should move to a release cadence of more than 1/year. I think Apple is neither, they seem to wait for processes to mature to minimize compromises (main compromise usually being battery life and size). We saw it with RF feature adoption (3G, LTE), we're seeing it with screen size now too. Everyone else takes the Chevy approach (more torque, more power, meatier tires, stiffer suspension) resulting in a cascade of compromises. Then there's also the engineering drain of a faster cadence, the lower psychological impact of new features, and the additional economic and engineering pressures on third party accessory makers.

• munim - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  Small tangent, I don't think the casing of the iPhone needs to be made very much larger than what it already is if Apple waits for LCD displays with a more compact periphery. If you look at the current iPhone LCD, there's a millimeter from the outermost pixels to the part where the glossy black starts, which is another 2.5 to 3mm on each side. This is the area I would think Apple would exploit to make a larger screen, they're probably waiting for the tech (on the LCD side) and construction methods (and maybe materials / methodology / experience) to evolve to the point where that is possible, along with the other factors I listed above.

• stringstream - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  I own both an iPhone 5 and an LG G2 and I have to say the thin bezels on the G2 make the iPhone 5 (and by extension the 5S) look dated. If LG figured out how to make the bezels that thin with current tech, then it seems Apple could have figured it out too. Just my own thoughts though.

• Impulses - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  Apple doesn't make or engineer displays from the ground you know... They buy them from the Sharps and LGs of the world. I'm not saying LG would develop something and have thebballs to not sell out to Apple if it'd prove profitable, but like munim said, Apple's probably biding their time and waiting for the economies of scale to tip in their favor.
  
  The software changes inherent to another aspect ratio change are probably more complicated than the display tech issuesanyway. I'm totally intrigued by the G2 tho, and the Moto X... Those are the first two phones with software buttons that finally delivered on the promise of more/equal display space as phones with equal/larger chassis with capacitive buttons. I'm totally on board with on screen buttons now... First and second gen phones with on screen buttons were just as large and just had more empty bezel...

• theCuriousTask - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  I agree, my experience with the general consumer is that bigger phones tend to scare them away. For instance the HTC one is too large in my opinion. Keeping a chassis that is a bit smaller than the moto x I think is the sweet spot. Personally I like the size of the iphone but I would be willing to tradeoff a little in dimensions to go to a 4.3 - 4.5 inch screen. The issue that they have to resolve is how are they going to handle a new resolution for that larger size, would they have to announce the phone earlier so that developers would be able to prep their apps?

• Impulses - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  Sales figures don't seem to back up the theory that big phones scare the general consumer away... As for anecdotal evidence, I actually see way more average joes with Samsung Notes than enthusiasts and geeks, it's kinda bizarre (tho somewhat unscramble when it comes to older people). What you're describing is basically a Moto X which I do find a bit more friendly than my EVO LTE (One/One X size).
  
  Apple would deal with the aspect ratio change just like they did it the last time, duh... A few devs get early access but the vast majority just have to rush to update and users get to deal with black bars in the meantime, nothing new. The whole home screen button/finger scanner taking up a hunk of the bottom bezel probably presents more of a challenge. They could move the sensor elsewhere (behind) but breaking the physical home screen button paradigm would be a huge change.

• Impulses - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

  Blah, tho somewhat understandable, not unscramble