Re: Where's Apple in the UMPC field?

In article <tomstiller-1C7DBD.14534331052008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Tom Stiller <tomstiller@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <g1s2u6$fh3$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, MSH <msh@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Oh, yeah! What fun it must be for, say, a journalist to compose an
article on an iPhone or, even better, for a businessman to recheck
everything leading to his balance ***! Easy! The iPhone makes
absolutely everything easy. A 3.5"... diagonal(1) screen is all you need.

(1) Funny how they seldom give the width of the screen. One fine day,
they'll provide a 1/8" x 3.5" screen and still call it a 3.5" /diagonal/
screen.

Giving screen dimension on the diagonal dates from the transition from
round CRTs, where the only measurement was the diameter, to rectangular
tubes. The diagonal measurement was an attempt to facilitate an apples
to apples comparison. It has persisted because a display specified by
its width would be perceived as smaller than the same display specified
by its diagonal.

IIRC this particular convention was brought over from the TV-types as
computers transitioned to consumer electronic. The TV mfrs played all
sorts of games with measurements until the gov't stepped in and made
them standardize it.
.

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