DROID has Retina Display!

[sooper_droid12]

So, with the new iPhone 4 rolling out at WWDC, there has been a lot of talk about this particular device and all of the "features" that it is packing. I just posted a lengthy (Google) Buzz report on the iPhone and what I thought about these so-called features. But what Steve Jobs obviously did was offer a lot of fodder for the Apple fanbois to boast about the next time you're enjoying a cup of coffee at Starbucks with your Apple toting friends. Words like Backside Illuminated sensor, A4 chip (which incidentally has an unknown clock speed; Jobs conveniently left that bit of information out), and of course, "retina display."

Retina display is one of the more obvious marketing terms rolling out of the iPhone unveiling. It was comical that this unveiling had so very little buzz (thanks to Gizmodo and Vietnam) and with all the technical issues, you would think you're watching Google unveil GoogleTV at their I/O event. But it was also comical listening to Jobs explain "Retina Display," for a number of reasons:

1) The 10-12" distance is completely arbitrary. It's obviously the distance that most people hold their phones from their face.
2) The effective resolution of the retina is 250 dpi, depending on day or night conditions, etc.
3) Here are the actual dpi to distance relationships: @24"= ~100dpi, @18" = ~135dpi, @12" = 200dpi, @8" = 300 dpi. Now, if you don't know how far 8" is from your face, it's basically nose to the screen. So effectively, since the retina can only effectively resolve 250dpi natively, the display dpi only needs to be 200dpi for clear, smooth images.
4) Incidentally, dpi (and for that matter, ppi; Jobs uses them interchangeably) are different standards of resolution than screen resolution measure (e.g. 800x480, 960x640, etc.) But dpi and image resolution are not the same thing. A 960x640, 3.5" resolution screen amounts to something like 200K pixels in a square inch. So, technically speaking, you can "output" a 300dpi image on a screen that's "less" resolute.

With that said, the Motorola Droid has an image resolution of 854x480 (as we all well know) and outputs at a pixel density of 267 dpi/ppi. The Droid Incredible has a "perceived" image resolution of 800x480 (although the PenTile pixel structure effectively displays 533 x 480) and outputs at a pixel density of 252 dpi/ppi. Both of which, exceed the 200 dpi at Steve Jobs' arbitrary 10-12" distance, making the DROID (and HTC Android phones with OLED)...

RETINA DISPLAYS!

 

[johnlgalt]

Funny that you made this post - going right along with the same gist is this blog:

Unthinkable - Apple?s iPhone 4 ? ?Rivals may be closer than you think?

Twitter / AskGsm: Apple's iPhone 4 ? ?Rivals ...

 

[3devious]

He wrote those.

 

[mazz0310]

This is an awesome post.

 

[mtbhk44]

This answered my question as to how much better (if at all) the new iPhone display is as compared to what we are sporting now. Good stuff

 

[messenger13]

Apple RULEZ!

 

[rushmore]

I am more concerned that you all fell prey to Apple's BS marketing trying to create a new business lexicon "retina display". Darn socialists- not you guys- Apple.

 

[Eazail70x7]

The iphone 4 resolution is actually 960 x 640, not 960 x 480

But anyhow, how long will be before we start seeing android with 960 x 640 ressolution screens?

 

[sooper_droid12]

The iphone 4 resolution is actually 960 x 640, not 960 x 480

But anyhow, how long will be before we start seeing android with 960 x 640 ressolution screens?

Thanks! Corrected. Just got used to typing 800x480. It was just a slip. Corrected. As for the higher resolution screen, I think these panels are available, but they just weren't necessitated. The new iPhone 4 needed this resolution to: 1) Compete with the resolution of high-end Android devices, and 2) To scale the existing iPhone apps properly.

That being said, invariably, because the market is in spec-shoppers (how else do you explain 8 and 12 MP cameras on smartphones), you will probably see more resolute displays. Don't count out a 720p display before year's end. In fact, count on it.

 

[johnlgalt]

Thanks for the post and the followup.

I did not realize that the blog was yours as well....

 

[sooper_droid12]

Thanks for the post and the followup.

I did not realize that the blog was yours as well....

LOL, that's not my blog. Read the edit comment by the poster. He was just assuming it was. I don't blog. I'm far too cool for blogging. I write all my novels on forums and such. Because this is where all the cool people hang. Am I right or am I right? I'm just sayin'...

 

[johnlgalt]

LMFAO - then it was coincidence that I saw that tweet and then saw your post....

And you're right - I cannot count the number of soliloquies I have written in forums, but I have 4 blog posts on my 2 year old blog....

 

[Larkitect]

good post. one of the key selling points for me getting a droid last november was the fantastic (and tough) display.

but just to pick nits, isn't the droid dpi 240 and not 267?

 

[hood420]

I was curious as to what the maximum PPI is for current technology, just to see what we may expect in the future. From what I can tell the highest PPI available is in a .44" LCD made by Kopin Corp at 1080p with 2272 PPI. Essentially I just wanted to see how feasible it would be to surpass the "Retina" display, basically it looks like it should be no sweat to go way beyond Apple's ~300 PPI if there's really a demand to do so.

Also, according to Wikipedia, the Windows Mobile 6.5 Toshiba*Port

 

[nstallion]

I have 20/15 vision (better than 20/20) so if anyone is going to see chunky pixels and dislike it then it would be me. I honestly don't understand the point in making the resolution of such a small display much beyond where it is right now. 720p? 1080p? That seems so ridiculously excessive for a screen only a few inches across.

Packing the power needed animate so many pixels just seems like such a huge waste. I'd much rather they put the effort into more accurate touch screens.

 

[johnlgalt]

you really think you're going to get 1080p on a handheld device like a smart phone?

(Not trying to be a jackass, this is a serious question) - what is your reasoning for being able to get such high quality? I mean, only one company thus far is touting 4G, and 1080p broadcasting is going to require unusually high bandwidth requirements, is it not?

 

[doomedromance]

The retina display is just like the frappacino at Starbucks.
Both made up terms and both crap. Okay the IPS display isn't crap, but starbucks is.

 

[johnlgalt]

Hmm - along those lines, perhaps the iSheep are not gonna like this:

720p Recording for Nexus one - xda-developers

 

[johnlgalt]

Wow. I smell a troll....

 

[sooper_droid12]

Wow. I smell a troll....

You think? His u/n is Kyle on Fire. He's either looking to be flamed, or he's flaming ghey. Either, or, he's not looking to contribute. That being said, I agree with the above, re: 1080p. Honestly, any screen size below 47" will not see the benefit of 1080+ lines of resolution. According to the relationship between distance, resolution and visual acuity, for you to discern the benefits of 1080p (or even 720p) on the size screens we have, you'd literally have to be millimeters from the screen. And sorry, the human eye isn't made for that kind of macro imaging. Try it, put your face even a couple inches from something. You lose focus completely. So, there's really no need to exceed the current display resolutions. Honestly, you could just pack more dpi in the same 800x480 and still get a clear image.

 

[hood420]

Nobody said it has to make since to put a 1080p or 720p screen in a phone, manufacturers will still likely put them in phones and use it as a marketing ploy. Just look at what they've done with cameras, nobody needs a 8mp camera when it has a cheap lens, cheap sensors and no optical zoom, but people are sold by them anyways.

 

[xjestersdeadx]

Here is a pcmag article that proves what the OP is saying. His PPI calculations are different I think based on the angular shape of the eye...or something. AND...at the end of the article the expert says, "the display in the iPhone 4 should prove to be comparable to the "outstanding" display of the Motorola Droid."

Nice work Apple! You've made the latest release of the iphone with a display equal to a phone that launched last November!!!

 

[Bramsy]

Samsung: iPhone 4's retina display is nice, but it's no AMOLED -- Engadget

 

[sooper_droid12]

Here is a pcmag article that proves what the OP is saying. His PPI calculations are different I think based on the angular shape of the eye...or something. AND...at the end of the article the expert says, "the display in the iPhone 4 should prove to be comparable to the "outstanding" display of the Motorola Droid."

Nice work Apple! You've made the latest release of the iphone with a display equal to a phone that launched last November!!!

Here's the interesting bit from the article:

"The resolution of the retina is in angular measure - it's 50 Cycles Per Degree," he wrote in an email. "A cycle is a line pair, which is two pixels, so the angular resolution of the eye is 0.6 arc minutes per pixel."So, if you hold an iPhone at the typical 12 inches from your eyes that works out to 477 pixels per inch," Soneira added.

"At 8 inches it's 716 ppi. You have to hold it out 18 inches before it falls to 318 ppi."So the iPhone has significantly lower resolution than the retina," Soneira wrote. "It actually needs a resolution significantly higher than the retina in order to deliver an image that appears perfect to the retina."

He goes on to say that he thinks the display will be as good as the "outstanding" Motorola Droid. Yay, my device was mentioned!

 

[holyblood]

I dunno if this has been posted yet..but it's also a good read about iphone 4's retina display: iPhone 4's retina display claim put under the math microscope - Engadget