iPhone 4 pixel density examined (video)
By Ross Miller 
posted June 7th 2010 5:16PM
posted June 7th 2010 5:16PM
posted June 7th 2010 5:16PM
Apple iPhone 4
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@Qian
It's LCD, full RGB pixels.
will all those pixel's make the calls stay connected? I think....not. a $325 penalty to get one and find out how bad ATT is. No unlimited data.. a tiny 3g network. I love my macbook and apple tv (yes I AM lazy). I hated my iphool 3g, not so much because the device sucked, but because in CA, IL, TX, AR, NJ, and NY it was a paperweight. I used to say, "when it goes to Verizon", but after a month with the Incredible I will probably never own another Iphone. Android will do EVERYTHING my iphone would + mobile me for free. Free apps, more customizable and most IMPORTANT...if Apple is the gold standard, Google is the Platinum standard. If $$ talks get a droid on Verizon and forget about all this garbage. I do like apple thought....really
@sigINT
Eh, I agree with you about the calls, AT&T is horrible (in my area). So I probably will wait until this fall or next spring for a Verizon iPhone 4 (I have the 3GS which is still a good phone so there's no urgency). But I disagree that Android is all that awesome. I've been playing with my friend's new Droid and it's an absolutely horrid experience. Sure, it works, but it's very unintuitive and very obvious that open-ness is a big double-edged sword. With more customization and more options comes more complexity and (IMO) less usability when you want to just get basic things done. I mean compared to some Treo or Blackberry of 5 years ago, it's amazing, but the usability of Android isn't up to iPhone standards yet, for me.
The only thing this shows it how bad the iPhone 3GS resolution was.
If high pixel density was so important, why didn't Apple give the iPad a higher density?
@durangojim I dunno, I'm just guessing that they couldn't get their LCD manufacturer to ramp up production for screens of that size and quality in time for their launch window. They made a calculated compromise. Happens all the time in the industry.
So the new iPhone's screen has the same possibly even higher pixel density than a printed magazine? I remember reading somewhere that 300 ppi is comparable to a magazine. On apple's site, this screen is 326ppi. How can they possibly measure that? You can't even see the pixels!
@weinerschnitzelboy The files used for color photos are commonly 300dpi, but the imagesetter producing the film/plates for the magazine are outputting more in the 2400-4800dpi range. The higher resolution is needed for text and creating halftone (dot pattern) images of the photos.
Can Steve just give people a standard ratio for the display. Thats the one thing that hold me back from buying one. Movies look half assed when in full screen.16x9 or any wide screen format so I can see the video without squinting.
@gener1c 16:9 on a phone is too bad for EVERYTHING else though so what is more important movies or basically everything else on a phone? That extra screen realestate you get is very important.
And so you know MOVIES ARE NOT SHOT IN 16:9 its a FACT! So you would still get black bars anyway so why switch the ration?
I can't wait to see this new phone in person also. But still happy with Verizon.
I don't know, I just watched this on my Nexus One and didn't see an improvement. ;-)
I've had high ppi for the last 7 months on my Droid.
Yawn.
@Shooter McGavin Well, if you consider 265 PPI high enough, I guess so. But it's still a far cry from the 300 PPI threshold.
@PacoBell
265 is more than enough, 300+ is completely pointless.
Retina Display? Marketing anyone? This is nothing innovative nor new.
Not interested in the iPhone, but I AM waiting for the new iPod touch with the same screen and similar industrial design, which I happen to like.
@LANInTheAir
Yea ipad touches are cool, my entire family have those. My sister is actually waited on a ipod touch with a front facing camera.
Awesome device for storing music and video.
900+ pixels on such a small screen. Yup Apple.
@Trickymaster More like 614,400. You're off by a few orders of magnitude ;)
Excuse me!!! Can we get videos in HTML5??? I can't see anything on my iPad!!!
This is it! A milestone in computing. A print-quality display - Beginning of the paperless era.
@kjmathew FYI, the beginning happened a year ago: http://bit.ly/bSGw8Q
@PacoBell An 800x480 AMOLED display is in reality more like around 392x653. Look up these links:
http://androidcommunity.com/nexus-one-display-not-true-wvga-20100325/
http://www.samsungsmd.com/eng/text/AMOLED/ET-1-1-2.jsp
http://www.nouvoyance.com/technology.html
www.oled-display.net/samsung-acquires-clairvoyante-s-pentile-technology
I'll wait for the next iPod Touch. Can't stomach AT&T's data plan prices.
Well, I'm posting from my iPhone, and I can't see the video for a comparison because that requires Flash. Shoot.
resolution is even higher than EVO 4G !
@rushyang It is a lot higher if you take the screen size into consideration too so those pixels are a lot bigger on EVO I wonder how these two phones look side by side.
@kyphem yet nobody will be able to tell the difference unless they use their phone 1" away from their face
@professio Actually, it's more along the lines of 10-12 inches away.
@PacoBell I strongly doubt you'll notice the 20-40 extra pixels in an inch without getting your eye right up there. Just check the pixel densities of most of HTC's touch series phones. An inch x inch square is a large area, where 20-30 pixels more will not be that noticeable.
AMOLED still kicks ass.
@Fictionise "Super AMOLED still kicks ass."
There, fixed that for you.
If this is the definition of print quality, we've had print quality displays since 2007-2008. (Sony X1 anyone?)
This is a marketing gimmick, just as MP have become for cameras, along with HD video in phones. Come on now, the videos are going to suck. Apple is going apart from what they do best: focus on a couple of things and do them well. It seems as if this phone, they are trying so hard to please everyone that in the end, each new gimmick won't live up to its original promise.
How does this "Retina" screen compare to Samsung's Super AMOLED ?
@b3n It doesn't. Super AMOLED OWNS! http://bit.ly/aPehC7
@PacoBell There is one aspect of Samsung's Super AMOLED implementation that I found distasteful, however: They use the Pentile pixel configuration, meaning that the pixels are not "true" RGB, but are interpolated. This doesn't affect video quality all that much, but tends to exhibit color fringing on text. Take that as you may. http://bit.ly/dcEWto
I'm not a fan of the iphone or att in general, but I am very fond of this new screen. I sure hope it makes its way to other phones quickly, or that they at least get something comparable.
@jonyah there are already a lot of phones which are very comparable. For a screen size so small, getting 20-30 extra pixels per inch will be completely unnoticeable to the naked human eye, and thus useless. HTC makes a number of phones with 280+ ppi. Hell, Sony even had a phone 2+ years old with a ppi of 300+. This is simply a marketing gimmick of Apple's. If you get enough people to speak on it, give it a name (Retina Display), the media will eventually catch on and feed it to the public like its a revolutionary step.
Umm, narrow depth of field is pretty and all, but how can you have a comparison shot of two screens where only part of the image is in focus?
It's obviously a noticeable improvement over the classic iPhone screen, but that screen doesn't look particularly impressive these days. I'm very curious to see one up close alongside current hi-res screens like the Desire. The iPhone 4's resolution pixel density is definitely higher, but I'm curious about whether it's discernibly better (to me).
Amazing, of course, as for the rest of the phone.......I live it too!!!!!