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Q: How long did it take you to switch to a huge phone? If you did?
So when I first came here I thought that all those huge telephones were ridiculous, as they are basically tablets. Now, I am trying to decide whether to switch to one of those huge Samsung phones, or a Xiaomi phone, because I feel like my iPhone screen isn't big enough...
I want to watch TV on my way to work just like everyone else!!
Did you guys have this switch in attitudes? I think my friends at home wouldn't understand my desire for a phone as big as my face.
I have not done it yet, I still use a little Galaxy Ace. But most Chinese people I know seem to be getting them.
I have to admit though that the big phones are a clever bit of marketing. Big screens for people with bad eyesight. I am convinced a large proportion of Chinese with IPhones can't actually read the screens. Big phone? Problem solved. And fashionable too 
Hotwater:
"I am convinced a large proportion of Chinese with IPhones can't actually read the screens. "
I'm convinced that a large proportion of Chinese with iPhones only buy them for face & don't know how to use them properly.
Example - a few months ago we were invited to dinner in a restaurant in Panyu. I checked google maps first & asked my wife to show me where it was so I could drive there easily. I then put the location she told me into my phone. We drive there and can't find the right place so after a bit of driving round I pulled over. She phoned a friend who was already there (after a weixin conversation). My wife was confused about where the place was so I said "tell her to share her location on weixin so I can look at the map and work out which way to drive". So she's phones said friend who replies "how do I do that?" So after showing on my phone this was relayed to her. She still couldn't do it....seemed she had location settings turned off as she didn't know what it did!
ScotsAlan:
I had the exact same thing Hotwater.
But when I asked my wife to ask her friend (who we were meeting) to send her location, her friend said she could not do that as she only had an IPhone 3S 
.
Scandinavian:
.... here you are mixing technology illiteracy with "giving directions", a thing we no has not yet been mastered in the Middle Kingdom.
ScotsAlan:
Ha ha Scan. I forgot they have not invented maps here yet .
Hotwater:
This is what amazes me about the Chinese claims to the South China Sea. They have absolutely no sense of direction so how come they ever found them in the first place?
Lord_hanson:
I believe they found them while trying to meet someone at a restaurant. They some how managed to end up in the South China sea and found the islands.
Changed mine last December and haven't looked back. Now when I see an iphone, it seems so small and I wondered how on earth did I manage to buy one. I'm using a samsung note 2 now and it's been great.
I also have been using Ss Note II since it came out. I got it for kindle though and have been happy with it. all the other 'smart' phone things it does too is pretty neat, but mostly I wanted that large, hi-res screen for kindle. works like a charm. reading the life and times of Captain James Cook now. Wow! what an amazing man. one of those guys whose real life makes movie characters lives look lame in comparison.
expatlife26:
Yeah you're like me I got a big phone to read books on as well. I like just having one device for music, light web browsing, books video etc.
diverdude1:
ummmm,,, I didn't get it by torrent, even though I'm sure that is a pretty good way to get books. I have mostly used gutenberg and ibooks has free books too. 
http://www.gutenberg.org
Mine is normal - 4.3 '', I like the size that fits in one hand...If I switch, it would be 4.7, nothing bigger....
Maybe it's not an attitude shift or whatever. It's just a lot easier to type on the big phones.
I have a crazy idea. Try watching tv on your TV.
Lord_hanson:
My point is not on the way to work. Is it not something he can just do at home. Are the younger generation so addicted to electronic stimulation that they can't go an hour or so without it?
sm90:
Yeah but my point was about on my way to work, and no, I just want to as it is some of the only 'free time' I have.
I switched to a Nokia 1010 since one year. Playing games, watching videos with that phone is just awesome, it fits everywhere, the battery last for very long, and it's not expensive. Ho, and it would probably resist to a thermonuclear blast.
I prefer bigger android phones to iPhone, but not the really big Note etc. My LG was heavy and I had 3 of them. I have Nexus phone and Nexus tablet -- which I never use. Use what you like, like what you use. Go all out and get full size iPad, maybe it's the excuse you need to get a new purse.
Use a regular phone and buy a tablet for those boring journeys.
Thanks for your comments people who actually answered the question rather than those wo just come here to let out their negative energy!
Will check out the Nokia 1010 and the Samsungs mentioned, not really looking for a tablet just want to get a bigger phone I think, seems cheaper than getting a new phone and a tablet, since phone is dying anyway.
manasyt:
How big? My friend has an HTC Desire 816, its this year's model, 5.5'', double speakers, great camera etc...its less than 2000 kuai. But you'd need a man purse for that. And I think it looks ridiculous when you are making / receiving a call. Unless you wanna keep an old school Nokia just for that 
ScotsAlan:
I have a Nokia Lumia 7010 that as use for internet. The windows phone is pretty slick once you get used to it.
It's important to know though the Bing Translate does not translate into pinguin.
Also, a very important thing to be aware of. Nokia phones come with Nokia radio, which is a pretty good free music streaming service. If you have had a Nokia phone in the past and have a Nokia account, YOU MUST create a brand new Nokia account online before you start to play with your new phone. When I got my 7010 I put my Nokia password in from years ago and the Nokia radio app was locked out... because you are only allowed one Nokia radio license per user account. Somehow my old Nokia password had already had a Nokia music license allocated to it. Once you put your Nokia password into your new phone it's locked in regarding Nokia radio. Even a factory reset will not allow you to put a new Nokia password into Nokia music. I had to contact Nokia and have them reset my Nokia music app to allow a new password to be entered.
So new Nokia.... create a new Nokia account 
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We are stick with Sony Xperia series at home. we own 3 pieces now.
I feel its little bit big, but still ok. I use it mostly for playing game Real Racing 3, that's all what I like. basic things as email, OneDrive and similar are very useful for my work, I can take good photos and upload them, than go later to computer and write email with proper keyboard and attach that photo. Emails i get redirected in case I am busy somewhere, so I can read what I need. wechat is just cheap version of message service, to reduce the cost of monthly bills and to show off what dinner I made tonight for my hungry belly. news feeds from BBC and from my country while I am on transfers.
For all that this 4,7inch screen is ideal. I do not get it with the 6" and bigger phablets, the people looks weird while calling or trying to put that monster in pocket ... Sometimes I am seriously thinking about switching back to "brick Nokia" because of simplicity, battery life and lack of tracking apps....
I love big phones. My current fav is the Sony Xperia Ultra Z. Beautiful Android phone with a great screen.. 6.2" or something. It will probably be my next phone. Now, I'm sporting a 7" Samsung Tab.
expatlife26:
yeah those xperias look nice. You might want to also consider the T2 Ultra...same size but lower specs and a lot cheaper.
I have a flip phone with an inch and a half screen..... at home I have a 32" TV I would love to get a new combination of the above... but just don't see myself walking around town with a 50-60" TV. My dream is for better bandwidth at home so I can run a big TV (50"+/-) over the cloud.... and at some later date increase my phone screen size to about 3", whatever fits in my pocket comfortably
