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Comment by Osiris | Hacker News Reader

Can someone explain to me the obsession with "thinner"? This model is 2mm thinner and it's touted as taking "years of work". Lighter, I understand. Thin is a good goal, but 2mm is pretty pointless when you're just going to put a 5-10mm thick cover/case on it anyway.

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The modern electronic gadget focus on "thinner" is similar in thought to the "longer, lower, wider" focus of cars from the late 40s and 50s. It gives marketers and salespeople something to talk about. Customers want to hear about "What's new" and not about a perfectly serviceable alternative that has been on the market for years.

For six years of my life I owned a Snap-on Tools franchise. Every week people would jump on the truck and ask "what's new?" and then purchase the same sockets that have been made for 90+ years. "Thinner" is just the latest talking point. If it wasn't "thinner" it would be something else. I would see my customers on a weekly schedule, and I was asked "what's new" 100 times a week. If a marketer wanted to give me the words to tell the people who asked that question, then I would gratefully accept as a salesperson, unless I could think of something that would work better.

If you would like a thin case, I am getting this rolling http://sascase.com Apologies for the blatant self promotion.

"Thinner" is also a good sales talking point because unless you know a lot about computer hardware it sounds self-evidently better. Why wouldn't you want something you carry around to be easier to carry? To the average person it's a no-brainer, because they don't connect "thinner" to things like "smaller battery you have to pay $100 to have pried out when it dies."

That's the argument I make when people say my Lumia 920 is too thick and too heavy compared to their iPhone or Galaxy, then proceed to take the case off their phone to show me the difference. The real difference is, my Lumia has been naked since day 1, and dropped many times over. It's a Nokia. Yeah, it's thick and heavy compared to an iPhone, but it also doesn't need a case. An iPhone with a normal case is thicker and heavier.

Nice anecdotal strawman, so here's my contrary experience: I have owned iphones and android devices and never encased them nor broken them.

Anecdotal strawman? It's hardly anecdotal to say that the Lumia, being made of solid polycarbonate plastic, can withstand impacts more than an iPhone made of glass and rigid metal. There are multiple YouTube tests that show how much force a Lumia 920 can withstand without breaking. Your example is an anecdote, since there are many forms of proof that the iPhone is quite fragile as well as, for example, the Nexus 4. (anecdote: I shattered my Nexus 4 dropping it from a window sill onto carpet)

Likewise, how is it a strawman? The original comment was that the person doesn't care about thinner because it becomes thicker when you put a case on it. A phone that doesn't need a case need only be thinner than a comparable phone with a case on it to be thinner in practice. That's a direct response to the original comment, providing a case where the comment is true.

So you don't have a case and you protect your phone quite well. That is a pure anecdote. Just because you want it to be an anecdotal strawman doesn't mean it is one.

The screen of pretty much all smartphones/tables nowadays are made of tempered aluminosilicate glass.

One of the properties of tempered glass is that it can withstand great impact on the front, but can shatter if dropped on the side. If you look closely at those Youtube videos, they will all probably be hitting the glass dead center. If you want to see a smartphone shatter, look for a video where the brunt of the impact is focused on one edge of the glass. Like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Nyr...

You said that people often comment on how your phone is too thick, and then take the case off their phone to compare the size. The story characterizes the owners of those phones as imbeciles. This is the strawman anecdote I was referring to.

You also say that iPhones need cases, which is not true.

The person I responded to said iPhones need cases. I was just agreeing with him.

And the story I told is called "storytelling". It's a way to emphasize a point that's entertaining to read. Point 1: people use cases on their iPhone. Point 2: the Lumia is thinner than an iPhone with an average case. Point 3: The iPhone is thinner without a case. There's your facts, without entertaining storytelling.

I think you just strawmanned his argument...

If only my Motorola Atrix was so strong.... sob weep The glass was in a thousand pieces after hitting tarmac.

same here

The ideal of a self-effacing tool that disappears in every way physically manageable. A weightless window that is, physically, almost not there at all. The antithesis of a heavy brick that never lets you forget its physical dimensions. That is the ideal Apple inches toward.

Many people use these devices without cases, as they were designed to be used. Some don't, for reasons that make sense for them. Many will appreciate the less obtrusive dimensions. Others will never give a crap. Can you explain an obsession with sweets to someone without a sweet tooth? As usual in threads like this, people argue about idiosyncratic tastes.

Totally agree with this. In the keynote they played one of their new ads like they normally do, with the usual monologue from Jony Ive and he said something like "It's difficult to make something smaller AND more powerful at the same time" Well... stop trying to make it smaller then. Would prefer bigger improvements in battery life or performance or some new feature over a 2mm gain of um... space...

Whereas the massive weight reduction is what will enable me to buy an iPad air instead of an iPad mini.

The larger device is far more usable for collaborative work than the mini, and the weight difference makes it far more portable.

My obsession with thin is because of my bike bags. Long time MacBook Pro user (3 diff models), bought a 2013 MacBook Air and now it's nothing to throw it into my bag(s) and schlep it around.

Thin isn't what matters there though - it could be an inch thick and would fit just as well. Weight and overall size (i.e. the diagonal) matter.

>Can someone explain to me the obsession with "thinner"?

To explain this to you one would have to explain the concept of marketing.

Considering the battery they need to power that hardware, while getting that battery life, getting it that thin is a big deal.

The parent commenter isn't arguing the engineering feats required to achieve the extra bit of "thin-ness"; They're asking why that extra 2mm is so desirable in the first place. At the risk of sounding small-minded, I really don't see why today's phones and tablets should need to be much thinner than they already are. Sure, keep miniaturizing the internal components, but use the saved space for extra battery cells or storage. I'm not trying to fit a second phone in my pocket.

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You're talking about weight, which the comment in question acknowledged as desirable.

I don't case my Mini, and the thin-ness versus a regular iPad is a huge difference when using it as a tablet.

I've wondered this for years as well. I would much rather see improvements in other areas then constant boasts about "thinnest" XYZ product.

Exactly. I have a thin Nexus 4, but I have to carry a chunky extra USB battery because a) no replaceable battery and b) thin built in battery doesn't last long enough (yes, this is also Android's fault but that's not my point)

It's not only about being thin, but making it light as well. Making it thicker and same weight and/or heavier is noticeable to more potential customers than even more CPU performance.

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