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Motorola 'Droid X' to Challenge iPhone 4's Retina Display? [Updated]

MacRumors said:
One of Apple's claimed breakthrough features for iPhone 4 is its "Retina display" running at 960 x 640 pixels at 326 pixels-per-inch, offering improved viewing by making individual pixels undistinguishable at typical viewing distances.
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It's mostly a breakthrough in marketing, since that resolution was done before. (Note that other features, such as IPS or glass-bonding have no effect on resolution.)

Individual pixels are not seen on most WVGA+ phone displays at "typical viewing distances".

For instance, the so-called "retina distance" for the iPhone 4 is about 11". The distance for a Nexus-1 is about 14". No doubt we'll soon see one that works at 9", but it won't make the iPhone or others suddenly obsolete.

Btw, the retinal distance for an iPad is about 27", and people like its display just fine.
 
D3lta said:
What's with phone's having HDMI outputs now-a-days? Seems like such a useless feature to me.
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How about so you can display HDCP-protected content on your TV? The iPad (and apparently the iPhone 4 as well) can do VGA-out connection, but they can't display protected iTunes movies downloads over that connection.
 
badpinoy said:
why would you need a 720p screen? you can't tell the difference anything below 32 inches. its just like the all the hype with megapixels!!
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That's only if you're sitting at coach distance. You can easily see the pixels on the 3GS and it's pixel density is in the neighborhood of 120ppi. The point of high density screen is that you can't see the pixels even when it's in your hand.
 
D3lta said:
What's with phone's having HDMI outputs now-a-days? Seems like such a useless feature to me.
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With phones having HD movie recording abilities, it would be nice to easily connect your phone to a TV to watch them. I imagine that, much like multitasking, copy/paste and MMS, HDMI will be something Apple is 2 years behind everyone else with.
 
miles01110 said:
Sorry, but hardware specs are what people latch onto. It's hard to condense "the experience" into quantifiable figures people can compare to other brands. Most people don't even know what a 720p screen is, anyway- it just sounds impressive.
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The average person could careless about the specs.
 
badpinoy said:
why would you need a 720p screen? you can't tell the difference anything below 32 inches. its just like the all the hype with megapixels!!
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Distance is also a factor with what you can resolve.

You're not using the phone at 8 foot distance, you're using it at 18 inches distance. Hence you need a higher DPI.

Between 300 and 400 dpi seems to be the next generation of mobile devices. Hopefully it will drive higher DPIs on desktops, moving from ~120dpi today to ~240dpi in five years time (as viewing distance is often two or even three foot here). I.e., 3840x2160 in a 22" display.

Hopefully Apple will be the ones driving this change. Us computer users deserve "retina displays" as well!
 
I call bull*****.
The Android blogs have been calling the specs at 800x480, same as the HTC EVO. I guess we'll just have to wait to find out.
 
Consultant said:
Yup, when you buy Android, you are buying soon-obsolete phones. =p

LOL just realized the smalldog ad on the bottom sort of look like ped0bear.




Microsoft just adopted the iPhone 4 facetime standard.

That means you can use iPhone video chat to call xBox, Windows messenger, etc. Apple should probably add it to iChat soon.

http://obamapacman.com/2010/06/microsoft-adopts-apple-iphone-4-facetime-video-chat-open-standard/
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Ok that sounds good, but again most people are on the go and the fact that video chat cant be used over 3g is pathetic, regardless what carrier it is on it can be on all the carriers but if you cant video chat over your service what is even the point of having it as it a feature when you wont use it 85% of the time

seems like all this cell phone makers are WAYYYYY ahead of every single wireless carrier
 
badpinoy said:
thats what they are missing. its not about the features. the phone just works. its that simple. look all the features that the first iphone didn't have. but the phone worked and worked well.
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Not based on the endless AT&T drop calls I get and the daily failed to send emails even with FULL signal. :)
 
yg17 said:
With phones having HD movie recording abilities, it would be nice to easily connect your phone to a TV to watch them. I imagine that, much like multitasking, copy/paste and MMS, HDMI will be something Apple is 2 years behind everyone else with.
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And drain your battery. See no point to this feature and it's still a cell phone. Cell phones need to last at lease a whole day.
 
HD on a 4" screen?

I agree with other comments that HD on a 4" screen is really just marketing.
The real question is, do you really want to watch a movie on a 4" screen? Is this really the experience that filmmakers put in years and years of work for? So people watch it hunched over their hand-held devices on a 4" screen? In "HD"?
Even browsing the web on this small a screen is borderline convenient. In the end, smart phones are good at running apps, and 480dpi is entirely fine...
 
spice weasel said:
There is a point where a larger screen becomes a burden. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I use my iPhone primarily as a) a phone, b) as an iPod, and c) to check email. I don't need a larger screen if it means having to carry around a larger phone. If it starts to get too big to carry in my pocket comfortably, I may as well get a small, cheap flip-phone and an iPad.
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I agree. Anything larger than the iPhone ain't a phone anymore lol
 
Next thing you know it will even be visible in sunlight, like the iPhone!

There are two things that always have the chance of being better than what Apple offers:

1. What Apple will offer in future

2. What other companies will offer in future

(But without the iPhone’s long battery life, iOS4, the iPhone’s quality app/game library, and a screen useful outdoors, I won’t be jumping on Android. Now, if I had no AT&T coverage, it would be another story! No choice then.)
 
STC1709 said:
seems like its just as useless as a front facing camera on an iphone that you will barely use, and in order to use it you MSUT be on wifi and other person must have an iphone 4. that seems pretty useless given the fact that wifi isn't every place you go and if your home a normal person will just use a computer
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I get it. But your comparison is flawed. The front facing camera has more uses that facetime. Many of the pics taken with a cell phone are self portraits. A front facing camera is a very useful addition for that type of photography. Additionally, Facetime's utility will increase as more iPhone4's are sold (600,000 in one day and counting) and as others adopt the standard (skype is interested.)

Original poster's assertioned seemed to be based on the limited utility at outputting hi-def files when the phone's capacity to hold them isn't that great. I'd question whether the increases in phone capacity will outpace the growth of hi-def file sizes.
 
Nice..but

Im just not a fan of a phone that big. They loved this over on the engadget blog..."iPhone 4 killer Android FTW blah blah blah". 24th just one week away.
 
parapup said:
They fail in your mind - that's a narrow and limited space. There exist millions of other people that think otherwise.
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Don't forget that a HUGE % of those millions are stuck on a carrier (or choose a carrier) that doesn't allow them to get an iphone and to them they "think" that android is just as good or better.

In my experience most android users have never owned an iPhone. I'd love to hear from someone who had both and about which they kept. I would like to estimate that in a true comparison, (1 or 2 months with either phone) - a large percentage would prefer the iphone.
 
STC1709 said:
Ok that sounds good, but again most people are on the go and the fact that video chat cant be used over 3g is pathetic, regardless what carrier it is on it can be on all the carriers but if you cant video chat over your service what is even the point of having it as it a feature when you wont use it 85% of the time

seems like all this cell phone makers are WAYYYYY ahead of every single wireless carrier
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You are not going to be walking around or God help us driving and video chatting.
 
MacAztec said:
This would certainly put a dagger in Steve's statement of the iPhone "Setting the standard for the next few years".

Good job Droid!
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Actually the opposite....

It validates his statement. Apple set the standard. Exactly what he said.
 
spazzcat said:
And drain your battery. See no point to this feature and it's still a cell phone. Cell phones need to last at lease a whole day.
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Same could be said about iMovie on the iPhone. That's going to kill your battery pretty quickly. Plus, if my phone is plugged into a TV, I can also plug it into a charger.

Features should never be left off a phone for the sake of battery life. It should be up to the end user if they want to wear down their battery, everyone's usage scenarios are different.
 
From 'Motorola Droid X Specs Confirmed' post just two days ago:
4.4-inch, FWVGA 854 x 480-resolution screen
 
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