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iphone is getting left behind in screen resolution

hefeglass

hefeglass

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 21, 2009
760
423
im happy with the iphone...its great and all that. im not planning on changing up anytime soon. I have been playing with some friends phones though...and its almost sad how pixelated small text looks on the iphone compared to HTC phones or many others out there.
I realize that a change in screen size could make apps not display properly.
And a higher resolution screen would also possibly cause problems.
(although someone had mentioned that apple says to make sure apps are resolution independant..so who knows)
I think the iphone is pretty low resolution for a web surfing capable device. If we ever want to be able to see flash animations on web pages and use the web like it was meant to be, we'll need a higher resolution iphone.
480x320 is not much these days..especially for a 3.5 inch screen.
Several phones have smaller screens with much higher resolution..
in fact..the new LG enV Touch is coming out in a couple days and it has not one but TWO 3 inch 800x480 screens..the outer one is touch capable.

im really hoping that the next (next) iphone (after this one being announced at wwdc)..will finally break into the true HD screen resolutions...
 
im surely not the only one who thinks the iphone is pixelated...or there wouldt be phones coming out with these uber high resolutions..
if you have used one of these phones..youll know what i am talking about.
i was truely amazed at the crispness of the text on my friends HTC touch pro...it really looks like printed text. the iphone starts get blurry at the smallest sizes due to the edge softening effect and the resolution of the screen just doesnt have enough..
this is truly needed when using other chinese fonts...which are very complex and the iphone cant disply them small at ALL...this is where the other screens shine..
once you try something with the super high resolution, youll know what im talking about...it would be great to view an entire web page on the screen without having to zoom or scroll..and it be readable.
 
I wouldn't call the iPhone's screen pixelated, but I would appreciate higher pixel density. Look at the text on the iPod nano's screen, it looks a lot better than on the iPhone's screen.

Tallest Skil said:
Oh, well.

App Store. They can't change the resolution.
Click to expand...
Well, Apple could double the height and width, so instead of 480x320 you'll get 960x640. That way you'll maintain the aspect ratio, and the OS can stretch older Apps gracefully to fit the screen (each pixel will be a square of 4 pixels). I doubt we'll see this in the next iPhone though.
 
i only said its pixelated when the text is tiny...meaning..the pixel density isnt enough to depict the text clearly at that small of a size..
you are basically agreeing with me...but since this is macrumors and everyone fights with everyone, you started it by contradicting what i said..just to later agree with it.
typical
 
The next iPhone screen resolution

I hit 45 and suddenly I can't see the pixels anymore.
I can read the text - but I fear soon my arms will not be long enough to reach the required focal distance.

So for me, and a lot of others, increasing the pixel-count will not improve the iPhone experience much. And presenting text at ever-smaller on-screen sizes would be useless. The Sony P series is particularly useless in this regard.

The problem for Apple is that a lot of applications could break if the screen changed size or aspect ratio. The easiest resolution for Apple step up would be 640x960 (each current pixel becomes 4). Old apps could run unaware of the resized screen.

Not sure we will see this anytime soon.

C.
 
gibbz said:
Apple actually urges developers to make apps that are resolution independent. So a little bump in resolution is not a problem.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that if they do end up bumping the resolution they'd give programmers a easy way to update their software accordingly. And that's assuming that the phone won't have some sort of legacy mode out of the box.
 
Carniphage said:
I hit 45 and suddenly I can't see the pixels anymore.
I can read the text - but I fear soon my arms will not be long enough to reach the required focal distance.

So for me, and a lot of others, increasing the pixel-count will not improve the iPhone experience much. And presenting text at ever-smaller on-screen sizes would be useless. The Sony P series is particularly useless in this regard.

The problem for Apple is that a lot of applications could break if the screen changed size or aspect ratio. The easiest resolution for Apple step up would be 640x960 (each current pixel becomes 4). Old apps could run unaware of the resized screen.

Not sure we will see this anytime soon.

C.
Click to expand...


When you hit 50 the icons dissipate :)
 
I'm 20 years old with perfect vision (no glasses, contacts, etc) and I think the resolution is fine. Seriously, how dense do you want the resolution to be? Most netbooks pump out 1024x800, and you are asking a phone to produce quite close to that? I don't see the reason. Nothing on my iPhone looks a 'bit pixelated', and higher quality screens that pump higher resolutions cost more to make, thus cost us more in the end.

Pointless in my opinion, of all my iPod Touch and iPhone complaints, resolution has never been one.
 
1) One of the main reasons the iPhone succeeded was because it had a higher screen resolution (480x320), that allowed you to see more of a web page at a time.

(Try a nice web browser on older 320x240... it sucks in comparison even with the same zoom features.)

On a higher resolution screen, you can actually see and read e.g. 800x480 worth of web page in landscape without scrolling around.

2) iPhone apps are already supposed to be written to scale up.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Oh, well.

App Store. They can't change the resolution.
Click to expand...

Actually Apple made it very clear to all of the developers to make their apps so that they can function on various resolution displays.

can't find the link at the moment...
 
I agree, it's time for 3.8"-4.1" 800x480 screen. I don't really care for 16:9 ratio since I don't watch movies on my iphone alot.:p
 
resolution is perfect

The iPhone resolution is nearly optimal when viewed at typical distances by people with typical eyesight at a typical display brightness (roughly 1/60th of a degree arc line pair resolution).

A lot more pixels would increase battery drain and slow down gaming performance with extremely diminishing returns in usefully visible details.

The 2% who have extremely acute eyesight and can focus on a display a few inches from their nose can just go pay more for some specialty device with a low production volume.

I prefer good battery life and gaming performance instead.

imh
 
^you are missing the point

with upgraded components...the newer cortex based processors and OLED technology....battery life will be unnaffected..

you are basically hoping that there are NO advances in screen/video technology in portables from here on out..thats just stupid.

just because your eyesight isnt as good as it could be doesnt mean others should suffer through a poor quality product.

I work with a ton of iphone developers and we all agree that the iphone doesnt have the resolution that it needs these days.

but seriously...if your eyesight isnt good enough to allow a sharper display...then i dont know what you are going to do in the future...displays WILL get sharper...
i imagine that apple will come out with sharper screens eventually...and they will have an option in the OS for the user to set the dot pitch...so text will not be unreadable for them...like a typical desktop OS will allow.
it just makes sense..

it would be fantastic if they decided to throw on a LG oled screen with 640x960..but id be even happier with 480x800. samsung omnia HD has my dream screen on it...
 
Nobody is forcing you to buy a new iphone...but there are obvious aspects of the current iphone that could use an upgrade.
I never said the iphone was a poor device...but i have stated that it is relatively unimpressive.
I have had the ipod touch since it came out..upgraded to the second gen..then i recently got an iphone.
the iphone is NOT a fast phone...it DOESNT have a great screen...when it came out..it wasnt bad at all..but it is a long time since then, and its time for some upgrades.
 
hefeglass said:
just because your eyesight isnt as good as it could be doesnt mean others should suffer through a poor quality product.
Click to expand...

hefeglass said:
I never said the iphone was a poor device...but i have stated that it is relatively unimpressive.
Click to expand...

Um, I don't see how you can deny that given its a quote from you. But whatever, you keep complaining about quality HERE, instead of telling the folks at Apple who have control over the device.

Thats a big gripe I have. People sit here and complain and complain about feature X Y and Z missing, but they NEVER give Apple that feedback. Never. Not only that, they keep buying the products without the features they want! Well done.
 
hefeglass said:
Nobody is forcing you to buy a new iphone...but there are obvious aspects of the current iphone that could use an upgrade.
Click to expand...

And nobody is forcing you to read all the posts here... if you come to a website called Macrumours you, funnily enough, will generally find people who are fans of iPhones otherwise if they were so bad that even apple fans disliked them they wouldn't be the success they are.

You of course are entitled to your own opinion but don't expect the vast majority of thee people on this website to agree with you.
 
THE SCREEN..is a poor quality product..
guess i need to clarify almost everything...on macarguments.com

as i just pointed out...arguments are abundant on this forum..
thanks for proving my point


this is a discussion forums...in which i decided to make a thread to discuss the screen resolution.

I will be sure to write a letter to Apple, Inc. i could have sworn this was apples tech support forum
 
Whatever.. the iPhone still does have one of the highest ppi screens in the industry! Oh.. it also has one of the largest screens in the industry.. Oh.. every inch of the screen must be covered with a capacitance layer! So I would guess stretching on any one would probably mean more than just cost!

Btw.. I'm enjoying this thread.. do continue LOL!
 
hefeglass said:
Nobody is forcing you to buy a new iphone...but there are obvious aspects of the current iphone that could use an upgrade.
I never said the iphone was a poor device...but i have stated that it is relatively unimpressive.
I have had the ipod touch since it came out..upgraded to the second gen..then i recently got an iphone.
the iphone is NOT a fast phone...it DOESNT have a great screen...when it came out..it wasnt bad at all..but it is a long time since then, and its time for some upgrades.
Click to expand...

It's been almost a year since the iPhone 3G came out. Personally, I don't think the iPhone needs an upgrade, especially this year. There will be very few hardware upgrades this coming season, if any, so the release of the iPhone 3.0 software should be the biggest thing to be expected.
 
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