The Phone DPI race is making me angry.

[Roland00Address]

The Phone DPI race is making me angry. Rumor has it that the LG G4 which will be out in April-ish will have a 2880 x 1620 pixel 3K display. 1440p was not enough, we have to have more pixels that the 13" macbook pro retina (2560x1600) and getting very close to the amount of pixels in the 15" macbook pro retina (2880 x 1800). This means the LG G4 will have 14% more pixels than the 13 inch, and 90% the pixels of the 15"

All so they can say there phone dpi is over 600.

And for what? No one is going to care after 400 dpi, and you are messing with your battery life and hurting your framerate with the same level gpu. We reached this point in 2013 with the Galaxy S4, HTC M8, LGG2, and starting 2014 Apple with the Iphone 6 Plus.

Why do we have to give up our battery LG and other phone makers? Even worse the previous LG G series used ips screens so any resolution boosting means less battery life by design.

Why do I need 4.67 million pixels on my phone when 2.07 million pixels do fine. 2880x1620 means 2.25x the number of pixels.

Look what happens to the battery life on these two Dell laptops both IZGO sharp screens, same processor, and pretty much everything when you go up 2.77x the number of pixels

By keeping the resolution at a decent level you gain 66% more battery life under anandtech's light load, and 48% more battery life under anandtech's heavy load.

Someone take the booze away from the marketing execs, because in the end it is my phone's battery who is crying and sobbing and is wondering why she is the one who gets hurt when these marketing people start drinking and coming up with ideas.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I am still sad the Nexus 6 doesn't have a 1080p screen and a $400 price point.

 

[Roland00Address]

I am still sad the Nexus 6 doesn't have a 1080p screen and a $400 price point.

Sad, Mad, or Both?

 

[Zivic]

expletive deleted it. I am more than happy with my 720 display on my moto X


Please. No profanity in the tech forums.
admin allisolm

 

[Zodiark1593]

My bloody phone has the same number of pixels as my flat screen. I'd rather upgrade my other hardware first.

 

[lopri]

Look what happens to the battery life on these two Dell laptops both IZGO sharp screens, same processor, and pretty much everything when you go up 2.77x the number of pixels

Well, yah. But you won't mistake one for the other, because the 3200x1800 display looks soooooooooo much better than 1080p one.

The counter argument is probably that on a 5" screen the visual difference is much less pronounced than on 13" screen. But then you probably should consider that the loss of battery life is also less pronounced on a smaller screen.

I think there will be plenty of 1080p screens on smartphones this year. And I also think there will be quite a few 1440p screens as well. Someone has to push the technology. I want to see the glimpse of virtual reality before I leave this world. (you know, hologram and stuff)

But more seriously, at what PPI LCD will match printed magazines? Both for text and images. I think it will cool down once the flagships settles at 600 PPI. Then inevitable 4K will come but I do not think you need to worry about that for at least couple more years.

 

[ImDonly1]

Be happy the HTC M9 is rumored to have a 1080p screen then.

 

[JAG87]

But more seriously, at what PPI LCD will match printed magazines?

Pretty much all magazines are printed at 300 dpi.

 

[rcpratt]

I love my QHD, but anything more seems silly...

 

[thilanliyan]

For phones I'm fine with 1080p...my M7 looks pretty good as it is. I'm glad that HTC may be sticking to 1080p instead of joining the PPI race.

 

[blankslate]

It's just the specification version of my member is bigger....

A lot of people don't think about the fact that some phones have a bigger battery and then they put a more battery sucking display on it that negates the advantage of having a higher capacity battery... looking at you Droid Turbo...

IMO, leave it at 1080p because not everyone "needs" or will very much notice QHD on a 4-6 inch screen but people will definitely appreciate better battery life...



...

 

[zerogear]

This is why if HTC One M9 comes with 1080p and better battery life. I will support them for not kowtowing to stupidity.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Sad, Mad, or Both?

Just sad. It made my buy a M8 which I like for the most part.

 

[wilds]

One of the reasons I went with the S5 instead of the G3. Battery life is one of the most important metrics for my usage.

I wouldn't mind going up in resolution as long as I can get an expandable battery and a powerful GPU to handle the high res. Snapdragon 801 can't handle 1440p+ well...

 

[Midwayman]

I'd much rather have the 1080p screen with better battery life and much more gpu power per pixel, that's for sure. On a 5.2" screen I have to try very very hard to see pixels with 'just' 1080p.

 

[wilds]

Anyone hazard a guess how far the DPI race will go before OEMs realize it's a waste of R&D? 4k? 8k?

 

[dawheat]

High dpi is only a problem if you do it wrong. I'm fine with technology progressing in every direction within reason. 2K is certainly within reason IMO, especially for larger screens.

The G3 with a screen with low brightness and high power draw + the S801 = wrong way

Note 4 with a brighter screen and lower power draw than Note 3 + S805 = acceptable.

Assuming the S6 has a 2K screen similar to the Note 4 which draws less power than its 1080p predecessor + Exynos 7420 = pretty good.

I also think there is value to 2K screens over 5.5", especially as phones get close to 6".

I don't see any value in a 3K screen on a sub 6" phone, especially with today's SOC.

 

[Muadib]

Screw you pal!!! I love the screen on my note 4, and the battery life is great. If the Note 5 improves on it, I'll upgrade for sure!

 

[oobydoobydoo]

Switch to iphone, we haven't changed our DPI since 2010

 

[WelshBloke]

1080p is more than enough.

(Then again I said that at 720p and I probably wouldn't go back.)

 

[WelshBloke]

Anyone hazard a guess how far the DPI race will go before OEMs realize it's a waste of R&D? 4k? 8k?

I'm all for the DPI race in one respect. Its going to make 3D visor thingys work really well.

So yeah, for a phone screen its a waste but theres other uses that might turn out to be quite cool.

 

[vi edit]

expletive deleted it. I am more than happy with my 720 display on my moto X


Please. No profanity in the tech forums.
admin allisolm

You know, I said the same thing. Then I went to a Droid turbo which has a silly number of PPI. Now when I go back to the Moto X it looks…bleh.

 

[openwheel]

Let them push the boundary. Competition is good.

 

[zerogear]

You know, I said the same thing. Then I went to a Droid turbo which has a silly number of PPI. Now when I go back to the Moto X it looks…bleh.

That's true of 1080p and 720p. But I used G3 for a week and went back to HTC One M8. I honestly couldn't tell much of a difference (at least not in the same way of 720 v 1080)

 

[poofyhairguy]

I'm all for the DPI race in one respect. Its going to make 3D visor thingys work really well.

So yeah, for a phone screen its a waste but theres other uses that might turn out to be quite cool.

Good point. The Mattel Viewmaster resurrection is awesome.