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Anyone looked at a 3G or 3G S screen after using Retina?

MoodyM

MoodyM

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 14, 2008
778
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I've been using my iPhone 4 exclusively since Thursday morning, but last night used my girlfriend's 3G S. Ouch! I actually found it downright nasty to look at the writing in the App Store for example.
 
I looked at my bf's 3G and told him this must be what it's like for people with poor eyesight. It was so blurry...I don't know how I ever used it before.
 
My friend showed me his iPhone 4G.

Holding it beside my 3Gs sure showed the difference. The Retina display is beautiful. So I put myself on the waiting list.

In the meantime, need to decide iPhone 4G or keep my iPhone 3Gs and purchase an iPad 3G. Decisions...
 
Actually there are some pics I took w/ my 2G iPhone that look horrible on the iP4 b/c they are so low res. So I guess it goes both ways, but yeah, the older iPhone screens make you feel like you are using it via a screen door.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

I've been transferring stuff between the two and DANGIT MAN!



There's a heck of a difference in clarity.
 
My girlfriend has the 3GS, which I was insanely jealous of because I was rockin' the 3G. It was so much faster than mine. And now, I have the 4, and the tables are turned.

The 4's screen is amazingly amazing.
 
Just to drive home the difference:

calc-sidebyside-300x182.jpg


that's a reduced shot. Here's the pixel-for-pixel comparison:

Calc-3GSvs4.jpg


Details on how these images were obtained here and here.
 
Before I got my 4, I remember looking down my 3G and going "Videos downloaded from iTunes look great on here. And the pixels aren't really that noticeable, how big of a deal could those whole 'Retina' thing be? It's probably just a tad sharper and brighter with some more contrast."

... and then I got my 4. My 3G looked like death. Especially my text messages. And then I did a video comparison... the near HD version on the 4 makes the SD version the 3G/3GS look like butt.
 
I could not go back, I am still amazed how clear it is. I keep looking at my 3G wondering how I put up with it
 
I can't look at my 3G anymore. In addition to the resolution it makes a huge difference that the lcd on the iPhone 4 is bonded to the glass. It makes the 3G/S screen look like its in a little box...
 
The apple shop in Cardiff has the new 8GB 3GS displayed right next to the iPhone 4, and the difference in the screens is massive when comparing them side by side. The iPhone 4 just looks so much better and clearer.
 
The difference is huge! I can't bring my self to cover it up with a screen protector this time around. It just degrades the quality too much!
 
Well, there must be something wrong with my eyesight. I see the difference when the pixels are magnified, but when I put my iP4 next to my 3G, in normal magnification, I don't see that big of a difference. The iP4 has more of a yellow tint all over v. my 3G. Not unpleasant; just different.

I do find that some of my YouTube videos look much better on the iP4 but I just don't see it overall.
 
I have an iPod Touch 3G and the thing is unbearable as far as the screen goes now. I use it around the house to go on Ebuddy, facebook, when the iPhone is charging, and even just in Ebuddy, the text on the iP4 is so much better. I might end up selling the iPodd Touch or keep it for my jailbreak experiments, don't know yet
 
Honestly I don't get all the fuss. I compared the two this morning in Tesco; yes, the new display on the 4 is fantastic, but I just don't see it as being a huge leap. Statements such as 'I just can't look at a 3GS after that' etc, I find to be a bit over the top!

In all honesty, I wasn't wowed by the new design, but maybe thats just having hopes that are too high. Also felt a bit brittle compared to previous models.

Still very tempted however... but we all know this time next year a revision will have been released!
 
If you want to check your vision, I can go to the front page of macrumors with iPhone 4 and read all the text without zooming at all. The tabs, under the logo the tag "news and rumors you care about" even the URL on the ads by google at the top, try that on the previous display.
 
I really can't believe this thing. I have home movies I've encoded at 720p for my Apple TV.

The phone took them just fine and I've been watching them all weekend. It's blowing me away. Here's a screen-cap of VIDEO:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1589713/Mobile Photo Jun 28, 2010 10 50 21 AM.jpg

You shrink that down to about 1/3 that size but keep all those pixels and that's how it plays on the phone! Really amazing.
 
Well, there must be something wrong with my eyesight. I see the difference when the pixels are magnified, but when I put my iP4 next to my 3G, in normal magnification, I don't see that big of a difference. The iP4 has more of a yellow tint all over v. my 3G. Not unpleasant; just different.
Click to expand...

Glad I'm not the only one. Yes, I notice a difference but it's not THAT big. Maybe it's because I only used the ip4 for a few minutes (mine's still on reserve) but I wasn't blown away by the difference at all.
 
I didn't have much time to play with the iP4 in the apple store the other day but, I can say for certain that the screen looked amazing and was probably one of the best parts of the new phone. If only I was willing to sign a new contract with AT&T
 
I haven't been able to purchase a 4 yet (believe me, I've tried) so I'm still using the 3G, and the screen still looks sharp to me. Hopefully the 4 will be a pleasant surprise when I can actually find one.
 
Nicklaus said:
If you want to check your vision, I can go to the front page of macrumors with iPhone 4 and read all the text without zooming at all. The tabs, under the logo the tag "news and rumors you care about" even the URL on the ads by google at the top, try that on the previous display.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I can see a difference there when I put one next to the other.
 
Welshman2oo5 said:
I can't bring my self to cover it up with a screen protector this time around. It just degrades the quality too much!
Click to expand...

I found this to be the case with anti-glare (or matte) protectors, but I bought 10 x clear ones from eBay (£3.49 with free postage!) and they're fine - no degradation of screen quality at all.
 
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