I’m not sure what is going on with our ‘thin’ society – thin is in and fat is out – who started this crazy idea? I guess for people, it was the health agencies and insurance companies preaching about the perils of being fat, or ‘thick,’ as I like to call it. Now we want thin, or ‘fragile,’ as I like to call it. This is especially true in the smartphone (and tablet) world and still I do not understand our notion that “thinner is better.” By demanding thinner devices, we add an extra burden to the designers…especially the folks that design the batteries – we want a super-thin smartphone, but we want it to last a week…see how fickle we are? This just never made sense to me as manufacturers scramble to squeeze more and more into less and less – and doing a damn good job of it.
Some people think that a thinner device is more attractive visually and the device feels better in your hand – not to mention easier to store in your pocket, case or purse. Personally, I like a little girth to my device…no soda crackers for me please – unless they have peanut butter on them. Don’t get me wrong, I do not want to carry a ‘brick’ around in my pocket – let me explain here that I carry my smartphone in my shirt pocket, not my pants pocket – hence its girth will do me no good. I am a ‘thick’ guy with ‘thick’ fingers so I want a little something that I can hold on to, not a ‘fragile’ little dinky device that I always feel I would be fumbling with not to drop.
Our source was nice enough to pick out the top 10, thinnest flagship smartphones to compare – just how thin are they, up to this point. The average thickness of the ten flagships below is a ‘whopping’ 0.35-inches or 8.9 millimeters (mm). The Moto X is nearly twice as thick as the thinnest smartphone, the Gionee Elife S5.5 at a mere 0.22-inches or 5.6mm! The old Apple iPhone 5S is at a very respectable 0.3-inches or 7.6mm.
Let’s take a quick run through the list provided as we go from ‘fat’ to ‘thin.’ We will start with the Moto X – 0.41-inches or 10.4mm – definitely needs to go on a ‘diet.’ Second in line is the Lumia 930 – 0.39-inches or 9.8mm. Third in line is the BlackBerry Z30 – 0.37-inches or 9.7mm. Fourth in line is the HTC One M8 – 0.37-inches or 9.7mm. Next comes the new LG G3, measuring 0.35-inches or 8.9mm. Surprisingly our sixth thinnest smartphone is the venerable Google Nexus 5 at 0.36-inches or 8.6mm. Next is the Sony Xperia Z2 at 0.32-inches or 8.2mm. With all of its criticism, the Samsung Galaxy S5 comes in at a mere 0.32-inches or 8.0mm. Being honest to the list, the Apple iPhone 5S comes in at 0.30-inches or only 7.1mm, compared to the first iPhone in 2007 that was 0.46-inches or 11.6mm. The thinnest flagship smartphone out there is the Gionee Elife S5.5 – it is under 0.22-inches or 5.55mm.
Please hook up with us on our Google+ Page and get in on the debate – is thinner really better and why…as always, we would love to hear from you.