Its not the size of the boat, its the ~motion~ in the ocean.
And by that I mean, having played my usual iphone 4s and also an ipad, i find that there is a slight edge in long distance shooting with the ipad.
But I feel faster at switching flight control inputs with my smaller iphone. And this is critical in the medium to short range game.
I play with sensitivity maxed out, which is partly why I love my bomb in a long range head to head engagement. Thanks to realism in the game, the stick inputs are much more responsive when the aircraft is light. With my bomb on, I can make the minute adjustments needed for a long shot.
Also: I believe my ihpone 4s has more pixels than my old 32" flatscreen. More than enough, though I find myself too close to my phone. It makes my eyes hurt after playing a long sesh.
Good topic!!