Talk:Form factor (mobile phones)

Untitled
SL55... first slider? What about the Nokia 8110?

clamshell, Nokia communicator series and others —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.3.31.37 (talk) 21:46, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Gobbledygook
It's been a long time since I've seen a term as clunky as this. Factor is an abstract term ; a shape is concrete, and with a telephone, you can even hold it in your hand. "Form factor" sounds like the physical effects that shapes have (like the coefficients of drag that spheres, disks, and cylinders have).

I guess the problem is that to electronic engineers, "design" would refer only to the electronic circuitry. Yet the reference below to similar externally designed objects is to Industrial Design. The existing term is mind-numbing. What would a comprehensible, immediately recognizeable term for the shape of a cell phone, insofar as that shape has possilities and limitations for its arrangement of control switches, etc., be? 4.154.254.27 (talk) 00:35, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

First Slate? HTC Trinity P3600
I am not sure if the HTC Trinity P3600 is the first slate phone, but it was announced in September 2006. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.87.199.122 (talk) 08:32, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

HTC Prophet was released in April 2006, and I doubt that even it was the first slate. People got so crazy about iPhone that they write this BS on wikipedia without checking the facts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.246.185.158 (talk) 18:32, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

HTC Magician (Orange SPV M500) was released in June 2005. It was my first touchscreen phone. But the oldest I know of was the HTC Wallaby (the original O2 XDA); it was a dual-band phone based on Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition. The HTC Wallaby was released in April 2002. — Preceding unsigned comment added by X4n63r (talk • contribs) 20:19, 7 July 2012 (UTC)

No such thing as a "Slate Phone". You mean "Touch-Screen Phone"
I read many, many, many phone reviews and Wikipedia is the only place that refers to touch-screen phones as "slate phones". Slates are tablet computers. The only time phones are mentioned in the same sentence as "slates" are when they are large (Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy Note) and resemble slates (crossover size between large touch-screen phone and small slates). So I think the whole section on slates should be renamed to "touch-screen". Because the main differentiating factor between a candybar phone and a "slate" is the large touch-screen and the replacement of most/all physical buttons with on-screen buttons. To try and call a 3.5" screen a "slate" looks very wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by X4n63r (talk • contribs) 20:01, 7 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Can you provide sources to support that assertion? Touch screen refers to functionality & interface. Slate refers to form factor. For now I have reverted your change. --Biker Biker (talk) 20:28, 7 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks Biker Biker. "touchscreen" phones have been in existence for 10 years or more. They have always been labelled as such. Wikipedia shouldn't be offering a new definition of a device format (and nowhere on this page is the term "slate" cited).  Can I cite a google search?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by X4n63r (talk • contribs) 20:42, 7 July 2012 (UTC)

Articles link to "slate phone" (in phrases such as "slate-sized touchscreen phone") and it redirects to this page. There is absolutely no explanation of what that's supposed to mean on the page. This really needs to be resolved one way or another - there's no way to tell why this is being redirected without referring to this discussion on the talk page. The statement "Wikipedia is the only place that refers to touch-screen phones as "slate phones"." is demonstrably false - a google search for, as an example, slate+phone+form+factor will show that. Most uses of the term refer to tablet devices, but links such as this one demonstrate that it is not universal. If there isn't a consensus to go and correct the use of "slate phone" on every other page which uses it, then this page must include an explanation of what the term is being used to mean on Wikipedia. Asterphage (talk) 21:11, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Swivel Phone
Hi all, The Motorola Flipout is a swivel phone but its picture is under the 'Mixed' Category. Should we change this? Cheers, Zalunardo8 (talk) 14:25, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

Line drawing for each form factor
May I suggest that each type of form factor here have a simple line drawing that highlights each major part of the form and (especially) the directions of movement for the phone sections. I think arrows that indicate, for example, how the sliding sections move past each other or arrows that show the angles through which the flipped open sections move would be helpful. Perhaps place the drawing in the same area as the the photos of each form type.

These graphics should not be complicated; just drawings generated in Paint or a similar application. DDenes (talk) 06:30, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Taco
Does the N-Gage having a nickname based on its shape really warrant us declaring that nickname to be its form factor? 69.61.148.242 (talk) 14:20, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

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 * Xiaomi Mi Mix 3.jpg

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 * IPhone 4S unboxing 17-10-11.jpg

Should a Titan be added to keyboard bars?
Given that BlackBerry seems to have completely given up on phones, I would think that probably one of the latest QWERTY phones might be relevant (2021 for the Titan Pocket). 86.127.249.104 (talk) 12:54, 2 April 2022 (UTC)

Clunky wording for first section title
I feel that "With one non-movable section" is odd wording to describe the form factor of the devices shown. It almost implies that, while one section doesn't move, others do, which is not the case. Wouldn't something like, "Without movable sections" contrast better with "With movable sections"? Applesarefum (talk) 05:46, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

Flip camera feature phone
The rTello ML4155X has a flip-up camera. Utilizerbston3i362 (talk) 18:50, 5 April 2024 (UTC)