Are phones going to top off at 1080p or will they go even higher?

[GTRagnarok]

I always thought the "retina" displays with a DPI of 300-350 were good enough, i.e. I can't really make out the pixels at normal usage distances. But if there was any doubt, the 1080p 440 DPI phones seem to completely remove it. Even though bigger numbers are usually better in the industry, I think we're absolutely at the point where the resolution is "good enough" and we can STOP.

On another note, I think phone makers can also stop trying to make phones thinner. It's like they keep finding ways to keep battery life at bay. Take the iPhone 5 for instance. I would much rather have it be the same thickness as the 4/4S with the extra space filled with a bigger battery.

 

[WelshBloke]

Personally I think 1080p is already overkill on a phone.

But it might be convenient for things to settle on the standard HD resolutions (1080p and 720p) so we have uniformity across platforms.

I agree with you about the thickness, the SGS3 is uncomfortably thin as it is.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

iPhone 5

• Retina display
• 4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
• 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi

 

[Austin8868]

I wouldn't want any higher.

 

[Barpanda]

Resolutions are going to continue to improve in handhelds. It's market evolution.

 

[ChronoReverse]

1080p seems to be a logical place to stop.

Shrink it down to 4.3" and start working on battery life.

 

[pantsaregood]

I can't see pixels on my Lumia 920, and it is 332 pixels/inch. The HTC Droid DNA is 441 pixels/inch, which I'm sure is well beyond the point of diminishing returns.

 

[Axon]

I'll just leave this here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybDKfGEw4aU

 

[Mopetar]

Eventually someone will figure out how to make displays with even better resolutions, but it will probably be a while. The current range of retina displays are good enough for most uses, so there's going to be a lot less demand to improve in those areas. Brightness, color accuracy, and, most importantly, efficiency are probably going to be bigger targets for improvement. What I'd really like to see is a hybrid between an e-ink and a traditional LCD/LED display that would make devices like tablets even better for reading or make it easier to use the display in bright light.

 

[Chiropteran]

Needs to go higher until a single pixel is completely undetectable by a human eye, so that devices with bad pixels won't get returned by picky customers.

 

[phucheneh]

I really don't get it. It just seems like wasted money to me.

HVGA (320x480), on typical 'phone' scale, is pretty damned workable. 'Typical' to me is 3.5" or so. That's something the iPhone got right- they stuck with a size format that is...well, a phone. ~4" is okay if you change the ratio a little (480x800 is a little thinner).

Doubling HVGA (480x960) seems pretty ideal to me. I mean, you're above the resolution we used to encode DVD's at. Semi-widescreen because a square buttonless (or close to it) phone would be kinda weird. But so is a 16x9 phone, IMO.

For reference, 16x9 (so any standard HD resolution)- 1.77:1. 800x480- 1.66:1. 480x320/960x480- 1.5:1.

I'm sure someone is gonna say 'when do we get cinematic widescreen?!'

But yeah, rambling and putting numbers people probably already know out there aside: there is just no reason for bigger than 480x960 in a <4" screen. It's not like how PC monitors were gradually scaled up, giving people bigger displays with more real-estate...no one's gonna release an OS with microscopic icons and text for your 1080p display, so what's the point? Does not having the same pixel density at your 60" TV really both you that much? D:

Also, because I haven't managed to say it already: ugh, people, stop with hybrid tablet/phones (5-6" screens? I'm not sure what they are). It's looks like a 'special person' smartphone when I see you talking on it. Reminds me of those quadruple-sized TV remotes with 1"x1" buttons.

/party pooper

edit: and don't lie, I know some of you guys were running everything in your lives through a Blackberry with a 320x240 screen at some point.

 

[KeithP]

Full 1080P, 3D display (no glasses required) would need 4K right? While that wouldn't happen anytime soon, it is conceivable that it might eventually happen.

Hopefully battery tech will improve by then.

-KeithP

 

[Skurge]

I really don't get it. It just seems like wasted money to me.

HVGA (320x480), on typical 'phone' scale, is pretty damned workable. 'Typical' to me is 3.5" or so. That's something the iPhone got right- they stuck with a size format that is...well, a phone. ~4" is okay if you change the ratio a little (480x800 is a little thinner).

Doubling HVGA (480x960) seems pretty ideal to me. I mean, you're above the resolution we used to encode DVD's at. Semi-widescreen because a square buttonless (or close to it) phone would be kinda weird. But so is a 16x9 phone, IMO.

For reference, 16x9 (so any standard HD resolution)- 1.77:1. 800x480- 1.66:1. 480x320/960x480- 1.5:1.

I'm sure someone is gonna say 'when do we get cinematic widescreen?!'

But yeah, rambling and putting numbers people probably already know out there aside: there is just no reason for bigger than 480x960 in a <4" screen. It's not like how PC monitors were gradually scaled up, giving people bigger displays with more real-estate...no one's gonna release an OS with microscopic icons and text for your 1080p display, so what's the point? Does not having the same pixel density at your 60" TV really both you that much? D:

Also, because I haven't managed to say it already: ugh, people, stop with hybrid tablet/phones (5-6" screens? I'm not sure what they are). It's looks like a 'special person' smartphone when I see you talking on it. Reminds me of those quadruple-sized TV remotes with 1"x1" buttons.

/party pooper

edit: and don't lie, I know some of you guys were running everything in your lives through a Blackberry with a 320x240 screen at some point.

The 250+ppi display on my phone is ok, but 300+ ppi would be ideal. 440ppi would probably be even better. I think it's hard to know how big of a difference it is, until you see it.

 

[phucheneh]

I've seen it. Not for extended periods (as in 'owned'), but toyed with, nonetheless.

Original iPhone/current generic budget phone size of 3.5" HVGA is 168ppi. 960x480 is 326ppi. Yeah, it looks way better. I'd say 250 is the minimum for a 'good' device, 350 is at the 'why bother going any higher than this' end. For reference, the 22-24" 1080p (or 1920x1200) displays that most of us are probably using on our grandpa boxes are around 90-100ppi.

Also, perhaps it is in bad taste to riff on my own comment (HaHa! I am hilarious!)...

...but has anyone seen the new Nexus Ben Hur edition? 2.76:1 or go home. (1080x2980?)

 

[zerocool84]

I can see the pixels on my 318ppi phone. They're not easily noticeable but I can see them. Definitely need 1080 on a 5" screen.

 

[Bateluer]

On another note, I think phone makers can also stop trying to make phones thinner. It's like they keep finding ways to keep battery life at bay. Take the iPhone 5 for instance. I would much rather have it be the same thickness as the 4/4S with the extra space filled with a bigger battery.

It'll happen with the iPhone 5S/6. It'll be thicker than the iPhone 5, people will complain, but then Apple will wow the pundits with their magical 2000mah internal battery and how its superior to every other phone out there. Then you will be reading even more threads here on battery life/size/density needs to be increased. When Apple says somethings a killer feature, it becomes the headline and benchmark that everyone else gets held to. Regardless of whether or not they've already done it. Nothing else will matter.

 

[Zink]

I think 1080p will be the limit. Anything higher wouldn't be particularly marketable and wouldn't bring any real benefit.

 

[phucheneh]

I think 1080p will be the limit. Anything higher wouldn't be particularly marketable and wouldn't bring any real benefit.

Frankly (no offense here, fellas) I can see it going both ways. Basically:

Well, Bluray is 1080p and my TV is 1080p, and I watch movies on my phone (do people really do this? I'm told they do but have never done it nor witnessed it), so of course my phone should be 1080p.

But:

My huge TV is only 1080p, why would I need more resolution on my phone?

So basically; hello 1080p phones, you are destined to become standard and I'm not particularly enthused about it.

Also, how could I not have guessed that zerocool would have a 5" phone. LOL. What, couldn't afford something bigger?

 

[MrX8503]

I think they can stop at 1080p.

 

[Mopetar]

I think 1080p will be the limit. Anything higher wouldn't be particularly marketable and wouldn't bring any real benefit.

Eventually 4K TVs will become common and 1080p will be something that old people used back in the day. Most people don't need more than 2 CPU cores or a few GB of RAM, and 100 GB of disk space, but that hasn't stopped technology from marching forward, even if anything beyond that doesn't bring any real benefit.

 

[Red Storm]

Frankly (no offense here, fellas) I can see it going both ways. Basically:

Well, Bluray is 1080p and my TV is 1080p, and I watch movies on my phone (do people really do this? I'm told they do but have never done it nor witnessed it), so of course my phone should be 1080p.

But:

My huge TV is only 1080p, why would I need more resolution on my phone?

So basically; hello 1080p phones, you are destined to become standard and I'm not particularly enthused about it.

Also, how could I not have guessed that zerocool would have a 5" phone. LOL. What, couldn't afford something bigger?

We get it, you don't like bigger phones. Why don't you just enjoy your smaller phones and let the millions of people who like bigger phones to do the same. I'm happy that sub standard resolutions work for you, but they don't for me or a lot of other people. I always appreciate technology advancing even when it might seem like overkill.

 

[gorcorps]

Frankly (no offense here, fellas) I can see it going both ways. Basically:

Well, Bluray is 1080p and my TV is 1080p, and I watch movies on my phone (do people really do this? I'm told they do but have never done it nor witnessed it), so of course my phone should be 1080p.

But:

My huge TV is only 1080p, why would I need more resolution on my phone?

So basically; hello 1080p phones, you are destined to become standard and I'm not particularly enthused about it.

Also, how could I not have guessed that zerocool would have a 5" phone. LOL. What, couldn't afford something bigger?

I like how you start with "no offense" but then end with a personal insult. It was a nice touch of douchery.

 

[gevorg]

this is getting as ridiculous as the megapixel wars

 

[Raduque]

Also, because I haven't managed to say it already: ugh, people, stop with hybrid tablet/phones (5-6" screens? I'm not sure what they are). It's looks like a 'special person' smartphone when I see you talking on it. Reminds me of those quadruple-sized TV remotes with 1"x1" buttons.

Wow, you're an ass. So because you don't like big phones, I should be forced to squint at a tiny 3.5" box with itty-bitty text and strain my already-bad eyes even more?

 

[phucheneh]

I like how you start with "no offense" but then end with a personal insult. It was a nice touch of douchery.

The 'no offense' is more in regards to resolution.

Size is a different matter. No matter the resolution, you look like an enormous tool holding a tablet up to your ear.

But hey, whatever floats your boat. As long as it's not trolling threads as an elitist moron (i.e. the mentioned poster).