Super high resolution phone displays – how high is too high? 1920×1080? 2560×1600? 3840×2160 etc?
A growing standard amongst phones of 2012 are the 720p 1280×720 pixel displays or variations close to that. Such devices have screen sizes of around 4.7-5.4″ displays – or thereabouts.
It wasn’t that long ago that it was actually Nokia that was ahead in bringing smartphones with high resolution displays. For some reason, we got left behind. 720p displays aren’t even at the very top end any more. LG already has a 5″ 1920x1080p display in the works!
If you think that’s crazy, sharp has a 6.1″ display at 2560 x 1600, first reported back in October. That’s 498PPI.
In terms of just being really high resolution, Sharp is also said to have a 13.5″ display at 3840 x 2160. Now that’s more reasonable, no? I do remember some years back complaints on 17″ screens with 1080p displays. Now there are potential pocketable devices with that resolution and more. I think it would look pretty sweet on a tablet – something that can really show off your PureView pics, no?
Does it make a difference? Well, I haven’t seen these displays, but TheVerge says they look absolutely stunning up close.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/1/3056490/sharp-caac-igzo-498-ppi-display-prototype
How powerful with the phones have to be to push all of those pixels? Does it make a difference? Is there any point? Will we ever reach a stage when the resolution can’t go any higher?
Category: Nokia
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Mobiles are exceeding their limits which is not good because when you like extreme products you start thinking of getting the best in life which cross the barrier of your mind resulting in violent behaviour, breaking of relationships, alliteration of society.
-Shain tahoo, Psychologist, The Institute of Medical Science, University Of Tokyo.
nHD to 720p would be enough for me on a mobile display. It’s the HDMI / DLNA that will have to take care of the higher resolutions.
yup, sounds good for me too!
I’d rather see improvements in battery technology, and make the smartphone last one whole day with all day gaming, 3g talk/ download and constant heavy usage.
pipe dream , I know.
“https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=451610491516904&set=o.136258693101381&type=1&ref=nf”
This is allegedly from a Nokia 701 Belle FP1.
And yes, I totally agree about improving the battery life.
From a phones point view, this is a waste! High definition visuals have their place, but it’s at the HDMI port, while the phone is connected to a power source. Otherwise it just chews up valuable RAM, processor bandwidth and battery life, and doesn’t provide any extra information to the user.
Games on the PlayStation Vita and ‘HD’ games on iPad are often rendered internally at a lower resolution than that of the screen, and people seem to be oblivious to the difference unless it’s pointed out to them.
This ultra high ppi technology may play an important role in things like eyewear though.
There may be some thruth to that. Some people claim that they don’t see any actual difference between iPad 2 and the new iPad when using a web page with plain text.
On the other hand some people have better vision and the better resolution may matter to them.
I can see the difference between an iPad 2 and new iPad screen easily. I can see the pixel size difference between any iPad and my N8 too. But it doesn’t follow that text I can read at 8 pixels high on an iPad 2 is still comfortably readable at 8 pixels high on a new iPad. That goes for any kind of detail/pattern really. So I don’t think 300ppi serves a practical purpose for something held a few inches away.
we need WIDI or some Nokia equivocation. cables are passe- the future can be a phone that doesnt need connections its all wireless.
720p on a 4.3″ screen should be enough. anything more is a waste in a smartphone.
There should have a scientific study on what is enough in terms of resolution. The result should be where the Nokia should stick to and save and spent to what matters most like battery life as already said.
Well, there are such studies, and the answer is that “it depends”. Some young people can see smaller high contrast details at 200 mm (~ 8″) distance than a 300 PPI display can provide, but not all details are high contrast; in fact few are. Therefore 300 PPI is still a fairly useful “rule of thumb” when designing displays, especially when we consider that many people over 40 usually can’t see the difference between a 200 and 300 PPI display even with eyeglasses.
Ultra high resolution displays do have some advantages for viewing photographs. Less zooming and panning around is required for full resolution (non-scaled) photos and young people can see increased microcontrast (assuming a decent original photo of course) up to 400 PPI and in some cases beyond. How relevant those advantages are for most people is somewhat questionable, though. Probably more useful in tablets than in smartphones. The majority of people are not that interested in resolution as such, though. Accurate color reproduction, good contrast and sunlight visibility are often more important factors.
So will we see even higher resolution displays in mobile devices? Of course, if not anything else than marketing purposes, but my prediction is that higher than about 350 PPI displays will not become common as long as they still command significant price premium.
full HD display >>>> next generation for smart phone display
The more pixels we push to the screen the less content the GPU can process behind each pixel. Above 720p on less than 5″ seems pointless to me.
Should add that all the pixels in the world won’t help none if I can’t see them in daylight.
I dont know if i’m to old (36 years), but i cant see any difference between my N8 display and GSII. I put one side to other reproducing 720p movies and the only thing i can see is the GSII is Bigger :S
In fact, in my 32″LCD cant say if the movie is 720p or 1080p..
In mine 40″ i can see LITTLE difference between HD and Full HD (sitting at my couch).
So.. cant understand why everybody looks happy about 720p – 1080p – 1600p and so on in a 5″ screen..
The only practical situation for this kind of resolution, is having a 40″ magnifier lens to put on front of the cell and transform it into a BIG full HD Display.. (Like the IPOD in Wally movie)
i agree, even a 720p sky broadcast looks nice on my 46″ so when i put on a blu ray you would expect it to be twice as good but its not! and that’s double resolution on a big screen!
saying that… you do have a phone right up to your face! whereas you sit some distance from your TV! So maybe 720p would be as far as it needs to go!
Did I see a difference between my Lumia 800 and former N8? Not really, but those are different screen sizes and also AFAIK non-pentile (N8) vs. pentile in the 800.
The difference between my 800 and an iPhone 4/4S is very noticeable. The iPhone just seems to be a little sharper and easier on the eye when viewing text. The 800 really suffers from the pentile screen, I’d like to make the comparison with the 900. Eventhough it has a bigger screen the RGB screen layout should give it a better viewing experience.
On topic; 720p is more than enough. I don’t even have a 720p monitor on my PC. But when comparing it to my laptop with a higher resolution screen the difference is easily seen. Higher resolutions rule, but to a certain point!
Technological progress is limited only by our imagination. So will the resolution of displays ever reach a limit? Maybe the day when we stop dreaming.
The eye can’t resolve more than a certain value of PPI at a given distance from the eye. I’m not sure what it is but yes, there is a limit above which adding more pixels per inch wouldn’t help.
human eye cant see beyond 350 or so ppi,especially on a small smartphone screen size like 5 inch full hd willbe useless.
A 4.5-4.7inch hd seems good 4.3 looks small by 2012 standards.
Coming from the school of thought that learned early on the fallability of “640K is enough for everybody” types of statements, I’d say there is no limit where displays can and will eventually go resolution-wise. Bigger and bigger displays are one driver, the quest for more natural image reproduction another – but also the human want of going beyond, improving… and marketing. Resolutions will grow just because they can grow. If at some point it becomes harder or pointless money-making-wise, or a little bit of both, like happened in the processor gigahertz race… Or if something really disruptive happens… We move on to something else, like 3D, holograms or maybe some future screens that have no pixels. But until then, grow the resolutions will, no matter how many will perceive the difference.
Having said that, if the success of Apple has taught us anything, there is and probably always will be a sweet-spot where the technology and liberal arts… sorry, humanity – or most of it – meet. When the first iPhone came along, it did push what the technology of the time could deliver. For example, the battery life was abysmal compared to the then-standard. But it did not push too much compared to what it could deliver in return. Had the iPhone had a battery life of five minutes, it would have been useless. But it had enough. Same with price, it was expensive but not too expensive compared to what it could deliver. Had it cost one million dollars a piece, it would not have been such a success. If the size of the screen (not that the resolution was anything big there) would have meant beautiful static images but crappy performance, it would have lost the charm completely. And so, just growing resolutions on a mobile device for the sake of it would not be wise. You have to make it count as a package.
Where does that sweet-spot lie, then, for a smartphone? I’d say for a 3.5″ device Apple’s iPhone 4/4S Retina (960 x 640, 326 ppi) has the resolution pretty much nailed (otherwise those screens don’t compare all too well to AMOLEDs). Others of course made relevant ppi-to-eye-capability observations above, there is a limit beyond which the returns are diminshed. 300 ppi is quite common in printing too, I take, so perhaps there is some larger truth there. 300 ppi. More importantly, current mobile technology is not very well suited to running content at levels above that. As you take that sweet-spot to a larger frame, larger display, you obviously approach the 720p territory (1280×720), at 4.8″ the Galaxy S III has 306 ppi. Keeping things at the 300 ppi level and letting the rest of the technology catch up might be wise, and then perhaps push towards 400 ppi to loose the final traces of pixels for most people – maybe not beyond that. After that the improved performance could be directed towards improved content as opposed to improved pixel resolution, where it would make more sense.
Finally, the watching distance matters too, as observed in the home theater industry, so this depends on how the display is used.
If it is placed right on the eye, more resolution is needed to reach the same natural-like image reproduction, than if the screen is a few meters away. So, the a lot will also depend on how mobile technology evolves.. Are we going to keep our displays an arms length away or somewhere else… Yet, even though many people do not see the difference between 720p and 1080p, the film and home theater industries are already moving towards 4K. And when 4K finally comes to that sweet-spot of usability and accessibility (including affordability) for your TV or projector, you will want it. You know you do. And when 4K comes to your phone, you will want it. You know you do. 1000 ppi.
And who knows, you might want to look at your images under a microscope or something. Reality does not stop at 1000 ppi.
i thing 3.5 to 4.2″ displays are of enough size display with 720p or nhd for a mobile phone
i dont want full hd display for smartphone ,which can drain your battery with 2x speed !
“For some reason, we got left behind”
you knew the reason – battery life
that’s it
There is a lot of revolutions in mobiles: cpus, gpus, screen resolutions etc, except one: no revolutions on battery side
BTW: Nokia’s Future Disruptions unit was claimed by Elop to working on new power management stuff, amongst other things.
By then symbian would be dead
I think they should stop pushing the phone beyond FHD(1080p). FHD on smart phone of size 4.5-4.9 is more than enough……. After reaching this milestone they should try to improve the battery of phones, because 1080p on smartphones with LTE, would be a big strain on the battery life… And also considering that to power such a high resolution screen, they would also be putting more powerful GPU and CPU in the smartphones, so they should also look to improve the battery life……