[mxwsn]

"Ok, so let’s try instead to build the device from a tablet perspective. I’m going to make one basic assumption: the tablet screen is primarily for watching TV/film. I’m sure people will find other uses, but in terms of mass appeal, surely that must be its purpose?"

Is it just me or are square-ish resolutions pretty common and popular on tablets? Just look at any iPad, the screen ratio is ~1.3 or 1.4 to 1.

I think the common sense answer here (which is ridiculous since we don't even know what Samsung's real intention is), is a phone that's close to 2:1 and a tablet that's close to 1:1. No big deal.

To speculate more: phones have widened to near 2:1 resolution not primarily because of watching modern TV and film, but because that's the easiest way to expand the screen while ensuring the phone is easy to hold. It also works well with vertical scrolling activity.

[nathcun]

As I mentioned a 1:1 screen (if you want to watch your content in an assumed 18:9 native content) will at most take up half of the tablet screen. Meaning your content will be shown at exactly the same size as the phone screen, just rotated. Under the assumption that the tablet screen is just for media consumption this gives no benefit.

[ghostly_s]

> Under the assumption that the tablet screen is just for media consumption

Why are you making this assumption?