One of the major arguments against large-displaying "phablet" devices, which take the features of a smartphone and combine them with a slate-like form factor, is that they are incredibly hard to function with just one hand. The new Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which packs a mammoth 5.7-inch display, is one such handset, but for those struggling to use their shiny new Note 3 without using both hands or getting some kind of repetitive strain injury on one, Samsung has thrown in a neat little feature that scales down the display.
Designed for those both left and right-handed, the feature scales everything down to a more manageable size, condensing it to one of the corners for easy access. Unfortunately, though, it does leave a rather large amount of real estate unattended, and not only is it an eyesore, but it serves as a constant reminder that, in actual fact, you probably bit off more than you can now chew by going for such a huge smartphone.
Just like the letterboxing that you often find when playing a game or running an app not designed for your device’s aspect ratio, those unsightly patches of nothingness almost make the feature seem not worth having, and if you find yourself using this implementation a lot of the time, it really does defeat the purpose of running a phablet in the first place.
Still, with Android devices continuing to become larger as the years go on, this kind of feature could become widespread as consumers are sucked in by the immensely large and bright displays of the Note 3s and LG G2s of the world.
If you feel as though this hidden new feature could be of some use to you as you become acquainted with your Galaxy Note 3, then you can activate it by navigating through Settings > Controls > One-handed operation on your device.
To be honest, I don’t think I could personally consult a feature like this on a device, because I would just feel defeated by the larger display, but there are no doubt certain folks out there with smaller hands that will see this new addition as something of a reprieve.
What do you think of this feature? Do you think Samsung has realized with the Note 3 that the display size is on the ridiculous side of the fence?
(Source: AndroidCentral)
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