Can someone explain to me why Apple is using these obscure resolutions rather than using standards like Android has been doing?
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Outlining the Case for 1334 x 750 and 2208 x 1242 iPhone 6 Retina Displays
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Thankyou! What about at 2208 x 1242 - Is that res buried in the Xcode beta as well?
Ipad may have the same chip, but it runs quite differently. The thermal envelope of an iPad is much higher than an iPhone, so the iPads can run at full clock speed for much longer. Even in the iPad air vs the iPad mini this effect makes a measurable and meaningful difference (as has been documented).
Man, you guys just can't get enough of this image or the iWatch concept image, eh? Geez.
iPhone started with 320x480, as did many Android phones actually in 2008-2009.
Apple followed a very specific path which really minimized any fragmentation between display resolutions.
iPhone: 320x480
iPhone 3G: 320x480
iPhone 3GS: 320x480
iPhone 4: 640x960 (treated as 320x480 points rendered @2x for retina)
iPhone 4S: 640x960
iPhone 5: 640x1136 (treated as 320x568 points rendered @2x)
iPhone 5s: 640x1136
See the pattern? They've never moved from the original in terms of points on the screen and the physical size of touch targets and UI elements. Gruber makes excellent points related to this.
They're not going to just go start using 1280x720 or 1920x1080 because they're "standard". What are they even standard for? TVs playing video 100% of the time. These are mobile computers doing much more than playing video. They'll focus on the UI, touch targets and physical point size to determine the resolutions they need to use.
It's what makes this year very interesting. It'll be the first time since the original iPhone where the points layout changes significantly (from 320x480 & 320x568). Very likely a nice increase in point layout while maintaining or slightly increasing physical touch targets we will get more screen real estate on the iPhone (not just keep everything the same layout and blow it up to 4.7/5.5).
What kind of internet browsing and productivity apps are you using that don't work on a 4" screen but suddenly work perfectly on a screen that's only 1-1.5" bigger? This argument has never made sense to me.
I myself almost never use my iPhone as a phone, as I mostly use it for stuff like Internet browsing, ebooks, mail/text, maps and music player.
The 3.5" iPhone was perfect for that; that screen size sucks for office apps, but 5" is not much of an improvement for apps that require at least 10" or so.
Phablets are the SUV of smartphones.
You can't use a 2x retina factor with a noticeably higher pixel density as you propose, you'd break usability of every app regarding touch target and size of content.
Anything noticeably higher than 326 ppi would have to be treated with a 3x retina factor, but you then also want a higher (or at least equal) resolution points-wise with a larger screen than on smaller screens.
This doesn't work.
That's an even sillier suggestion than the original one in this thread. 720p on a 5.5" phone? You are not going to get any extra screen estate on the larger phone, which pretty much defeats the purpose of getting one in the first place.
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Google drive app on a smartphone? You have to scroll like crazy on a 4" iPhone. A larger smartphone won't solve the problem, but it would make the user experience a lot more tolerable.
Websites with no mobile web version would be easier to interact with as well. IF you are talking about reading pdfs on a phone, they would also be easier to read on a device with a larger screen.
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Maybe because those standards suck for anything other than watching videos?
Why don't you want to hear from Gruber but you spend time on this site? He is one of the few people I actually care to read what he has to say.
Yes, I think they'll just accept it too- and you're unlikely to notice a 3D game running at lower resolution on a screen with that high of a PPI anyway...
Yes but for that all you would have to do is look at actual performance benchmarks comparing the 5s to the Air and retina mini (as opposed to artificial tests that compare the thermal limits in each form factor). They're in the same ballpark- I wouldn't say anything in the real world actually runs quite differently- and we're also talking about a 5.5" iPhone which is a step closer to the retina mini in size and battery capacity. Add to that fact the A8 will be on a smaller more power efficient manufacturing process... There should be nothing to worry about in actual use.
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I'm sure Apple will take that into consideration. All current plans will be scrapped and "playing their cards right" in your mind will become their #1 directive in their insatiable quest for your satisfaction.
I'm not sure if you're trolling or your ignorance is showing. Either way, you might want to rethink before posting next time.
You mean on the hypothetical devices that haven't been revealed/announced yet?
Have you tried it? I have, and while it was indeed better on a 6"+ Sony Xperia Z (I don't remember the exact name) it was far from getting anywhere close to being really usable. I'm used to a dual monitor setup and working on spreadsheets or presentations on a sub 15" screen is often a frustrating experience.
Same thing with movies. Some people will argue that watching a movie on a phablet is a better experience than on an iPhone, but really it's like saying that having only one leg amputated is better than cutting both. I'd rather read a book than watching movies on such small screens.
I only read ebooks and digital comics which are dynamically resized to fit my screen. Reading them on an iPad (or an Android tablet) does indeed make a big change. However, the difference between reading them on my iPhone 5s and my friend's Galaxy S4 is almost insignificant to the eyes and certainly not worth the increased size and the man purse needed it to carry it.
Sounds like developing 3x assets will be tedious. Apps may look subtly different @2x versus @3x because of course they are not multiples of each other.
"Journalist" connotes a certain level of non-bias. Perhaps "blogger", "writer" or "advocate" would be better descriptors.
No choice anymore. People want choice. Instead of having small phone / big phone camps and only being able to cater to one, now they can cater to both. And a larger phone my simply require a "better" spec to keep screen quality up.
he's an indie blogger, fine analyst, and gets a press pass. what would you call him?
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Yep, and we all see what the 5C got us.......There will be tons of used 4.7's hitting the market when people flock to the 5.5
5c is the second or third best selling handset in the us.
There was a rumor that the bigger iPhone 6 might have a more powerful GPU (not just slightly overclocked). So maybe that one was true...
it doesn't seem silly at all. most normal people don't think about or care about specs, specially resolutions.
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1) read the article you're commenting on. he says it's a guess in plain English.
2) gruber does not get fed with info by apple. he does have a few sources but it's not like the PR yep/nopes from the other guy.
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prepare for a lifetime of disappointment. ain't going back.
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there is no such thing as standard resolutions. each device uses a resolution that makes the most sense to its manufacturers and developers.
No you're wrong. If the new iPhone 5.5 is at 3x retina the actual real screen real estate is 2208/ 3 = 736, 1242/3 = 414 versus the iPads screen real estate of 1024x768.
Once retina comes into play, we have to use the points instead of pixels
To maintain backward compatibility with current apps. In the meantime, app developers can use this time to redesign their apps to take advantage of the higher resolution and larger display (resulting in more useable space if they so desire).
What's going to happen if developers don't update their apps for 1334x750? Are we going to see an ugly black ring around those apps? Won't that be even worse?