After six years of using the standard sized iPhone, it’s really nice to be back to the one with the bigger screen. Not since my iPhone XS Max got unceremoniously taken away by the Feds for reasons totally not of my fault (no sarcasm) have I bought the larger iPhone. This iPhone 16 Pro Max I got last Friday, sitting at a 6.9 inch (nice) diagonal screen, is just about the biggest I would want a smartphone to be. Anything more and it’s a tablet.
The increased screen real estate is instantly better for typing. I’m noticeably making fewer typos tapping away on the larger keyboard. Another plus is reading books on the Kindle app: more space for text, less page flipping. The experience is so good that I can forgo using the iPad for reading. Content from the web and Youtube fills up the larger canvas beautifully. Why did I go so long in between giant iPhones? Oh right, I didn’t want to pay the $100 price premium. Hashtag broke boy.
Obviously, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is not as pocket-able as the non-Max version. Even as a manly man with manly pockets in his never-skinny manly jeans, the Max iPhone is cumbersome to carry. Before doing any motion that involves bending over or squatting down - like tying my shoes - I must take the phone out. Otherwise I risk it slipping out of the pocket, damaging that pristine titanium frame. The best way to carry the iPhone 16 Pro Max is in the hand, but don’t do that on public transportation, because some thug will for sure snatch it out of your hand and exit swiftly at the stop.
Another con with the Max iPhone is the difficultly of one-handed operation. I have to perform this juggle with the phone in order to position my fingers to reach the stuff at the top half of the display. Apple has a solution for this since the iPhone 6, but for some reason I prefer to do the finger juggle than the simple swiping shortcut.
Smartphones with giant screens: I like it a lot. It’s good to be back using one.
Old Parsh.