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Possibly dumb question? New Retina display and dead pixels

B

Branskins

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 8, 2008
1,235
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I have always been a freak about dead pixels, but with people saying that you cannot see individual pixels on the screen of the new phone, what does this mean for dead pixels?

If one of those pixels has a dead/stuck pixel, will it be unnoticeable? I know that a cluster of dead/stuck pixels would be noticeable, but what about just one?

I think this is pretty exciting if this will make it difficult to notice a dead pixel :). I would love for it to be something I don't have to worry about anymore! :D
 
You probably wouldn't be able to notice them, dead pixles are something that bug me too, but I didn't even notice that I had a dead pixel on my 3G for months after I bought it. So I would say on the retina display it's highly unlikely that you will be able to notice dead pixles.
 
Well this is highly reassuring! I think this is always my #1 worry when I purchase something with an LCD screen. I have tried to get over it, but my eye is always drawn to any stuck or dead pixel. I had a red stuck pixel on my new MPB once. I tried to live with it but I couldn't, so I took it to Apple within my 13-14 day window and the girl said she could see it before I even put it directly in front of her. I was so worried that they wouldn't take it back!, but they replaced it with a brand new one!

I would love for this to be something I didn't have to worry about, and so far it sounds like I won't!
 
It all depends on how close you get to the display.

At about a foot away, you're past the retinal boundary for this display and a stuck red pixel next to a white pixel would merge into a pink you probably wouldn't notice.

Get much closer and you're under the boundary where someone with good eyes will be able to make out dots that shouldn't be there.

The display, while very nice at 326ppi, isn't magic. There's a reason why laser printers have gone from 300dpi to 1200dpi and beyond.
 
It's an interesting question. It may actually be a problem. Considering that the screen has 4x pixels (compared to 3GS) the probability to get one grows significantly. I have no idea whether being so small one will be able to see them but I afraid that more likely than not you will be able to see them. With pixel size being so small it's probably impossible to say whether, say, red box is 3x3 or 4x4 pixels. On the other hand, if you have one dead (black) pixel in the sea of light pixels you'll probably notice it. The size does not matter but the sudden change in color does - just like the stars in the sky. Can you see them? And they are probably smaller (angle wise) than the pixel.
 
Iv'e been so lucky as to never having a stuck pixel on any of my screens.

When I am on a public computer, or at a friends house and I see them. Suddenly I cant focus, and I get distracted. It' so annoying.
 
kdarling said:
It all depends on how close you get to the display.

At about a foot away, you're past the retinal boundary for this display and a stuck red pixel next to a white pixel would merge into a pink you probably wouldn't notice.

Get much closer and you're under the boundary where someone with good eyes will be able to make out dots that shouldn't be there.

The display, while very nice at 326ppi, isn't magic. There's a reason why laser printers have gone from 300dpi to 1200dpi and beyond.
Click to expand...

Get the iPhone screen closer than a foot away and you will be crossing your eyes... just sayin.
 
kdarling said:
It all depends on how close you get to the display.

At about a foot away, you're past the retinal boundary for this display and a stuck red pixel next to a white pixel would merge into a pink you probably wouldn't notice.

Get much closer and you're under the boundary where someone with good eyes will be able to make out dots that shouldn't be there.

The display, while very nice at 326ppi, isn't magic. There's a reason why laser printers have gone from 300dpi to 1200dpi and beyond.
Click to expand...

I am not sure it's a valid comparison. I think some printers use 3 dots to form one pixel (one color). I think iPhone 4's resolution is overkill and it was chosen not because it made sense from the picture quality stand point but because Apple did not have a choice. Thy wanted the resolution that would provide for easy path to backward compatibility for old Apps. It's the weird rigid nature of iPhone OS GUI/API that forced Apple's hand.
 
kdarling said:
Ha! Could happen.

I'm extremely nearsighted, so I often flip my glasses up and hold the screen just inches away. I can almost see the individual RGB subpixels :)
Click to expand...

Actually I just measured how far away a foot actually is, and its much further than I expected, I probably typically hold mine 8 inches from my face.
 
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