The Phone DPI race is making me angry.

[MongGrel]

I'll get blasted, but I still do not carry a phone.

Sorry just thought I'd mention it, leave mine on the kitchen counter when I go to work.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I hate the fact there's more advance on screen resolution on PHONES than monitors. Why are typical monitors still stuck at 1080p? I'd love to see quadruple that, so I can have the equivalent of 4 monitors in 1. Pixels matter more on computers than phones, because they increase work area which in the end can increase productivity. On a phone it matters less.

 

[sweenish]

I hate the fact there's more advance on screen resolution on PHONES than monitors. Why are typical monitors still stuck at 1080p? I'd love to see quadruple that, so I can have the equivalent of 4 monitors in 1. Pixels matter more on computers than phones, because they increase work area which in the end can increase productivity. On a phone it matters less.

Like...4K?

I'll get blasted, but I still do not carry a phone.

Sorry just thought I'd mention it, leave mine on the kitchen counter when I go to work.

I think you'd only get blasted for a completely pointless post. It literally contributes nothing.

 

[soccerballtux]

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

720p is too low for me, but 1080p is all I want.

man. I keep seeing more reasons to get the LG G2 for the future

 

[soccerballtux]

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

they'll call it quits at 8k. if we're lucky, 4.

 

[soccerballtux]

I hate the fact there's more advance on screen resolution on PHONES than monitors. Why are typical monitors still stuck at 1080p? I'd love to see quadruple that, so I can have the equivalent of 4 monitors in 1. Pixels matter more on computers than phones, because they increase work area which in the end can increase productivity. On a phone it matters less.

they increase productivity and then website decide to make everything larger, like Reddit.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Like...4K?

Yeah, except it's barely available. If you want it you pay through the nose because it's some niche thing and not considered standard. Mind you it seems they are slowly coming down in price so that's a good sign.

 

[Yuriman]

I have absolutely no issue with 720P on a 4.5"-4.7" phone, which is all I'm interested in. If I did get a 5-5.5", 1080P seems to make some sense, but 1440+? I'd rather have the battery life. Why is it that many 2014 and 2015 phones have worse battery life than than 2013 phones? (Note excluded)

 

[tsupersonic]

1080p was fine on my M7, but I'm on the iPhone 6 now. It's come to a point where resolution doesn't really matter (since flagship phones are 1080+). Just give me a better quality screen at that point! 1080p seems optimal for battery life, and performance.

 

[JAG87]

It's amazing how less than 10 years ago it was perfectly normal to look at pixelated crap, and now 300 dpi is not enough. 1080p or bust.

I'm willing to bet that most people could not tell the difference between a 720p and a 1080p 5" display unless your nose is 3" away from it. And that's assuming you have perfect vision, no cataracts, astigmatism, or anything else.

We're focusing on the wrong spec, it would be much better to focus on color accuracy, reflectiveness, and power efficiency.

 

[oobydoobydoo]

How is it that there is still not a single flagship Android phone smaller than the iphone 6?


Really shows you how bloated even the smallest "slim bezel" android phones are today.

 

[Roland00Address]

(I am the original poster)

I may tire of the resolution increases for no reason not because better resolution is bad, but because it kills the battery.

Yet I very much want screen improvements, the improvements I want are in the color space getting a much finer gradient of colors, higher brightness in case you are in the sun and you need to see the screen, and a higher energy efficiency for the screen.

I just do not care anymore about the resolution game.

 

[dawheat]

How is it that there is still not a single flagship Android phone smaller than the iphone 6?


Really shows you how bloated even the smallest "slim bezel" android phones are today.

Z3 Compact is a hilarious 11mm shorter than the iphone 6 with a similar screen . Certainly counts as a flagship in my book.

 

[sweenish]

Yeah, except it's barely available. If you want it you pay through the nose because it's some niche thing and not considered standard. Mind you it seems they are slowly coming down in price so that's a good sign.

It's not niche because no one wants it, it's new. An important distinction.

They won't get mainstream until the connector standards catch up. Same for TV's, honestly.

But what's that? Screen resolution on monitors is actually moving faster than the standards groups can keep up.

I'm more mad that monitors moved away from 16:10.

 

[sweenish]

How is it that there is still not a single flagship Android phone smaller than the iphone 6?


Really shows you how bloated even the smallest "slim bezel" android phones are today.

Yet for the same size phone, you get at least a 0.3" larger screen. Bloat has nothing to do with your point.

 

[Zodiark1593]

It's not niche because no one wants it, it's new. An important distinction.

They won't get mainstream until the connector standards catch up. Same for TV's, honestly.

But what's that? Screen resolution on monitors is actually moving faster than the standards groups can keep up.

I'm more mad that monitors moved away from 16:10.

I'd have loved to have a 1920 x 1200 resolution for smartphones too.

 

[WelshBloke]

I have absolutely no issue with 720P on a 4.5"-4.7" phone, which is all I'm interested in. If I did get a 5-5.5", 1080P seems to make some sense, but 1440+? I'd rather have the battery life. Why is it that many 2014 and 2015 phones have worse battery life than than 2013 phones? (Note excluded)

I do a lot of reading on my phone and it looks noticeably nicer on my 1080 one than my 720 one and I have old crappy eyes.

I'd agree that 1080 is enough but I haven't used higher resolution screens on a phone enough to make an informed opinion. What I can say is that every other time I've said that that was enough there's no point in pushing it I was wrong.

I'd way rather limits get pushed rather than going 'Meh, 320x240 is enough. You don't gain any functionality by going higher'.

 

[WelshBloke]

How is it that there is still not a single flagship Android phone smaller than the iphone 6?


Really shows you how bloated even the smallest "slim bezel" android phones are today.

The bezels on the ip6 are probably the best ones on an ip but they are still unnecessarily large.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I doubt any flagship this year would break 1440p. It's already increasingly getting harder to sell premium Android phones, pushing the DPI barrier at the 2010-2013 rate would mean even stiffer trickle-down budget competition in the near future.

 

[oobydoobydoo]

Z3 Compact is a hilarious 11mm shorter than the iphone 6 with a similar screen . Certainly counts as a flagship in my book.

The Z3C is hardly a "Flagship", considering almost every part of it is worse in some way than the bigger Z3. It even has less ram, which means the SoC is probably different in other ways too. On top of that, Sony doesn't really have any presence in the US and I have yet to meet a single person who uses a Sony phone. Can you name a single Android device with flagship specs (same SoC, ram, storage... screen has to be different obviously) that is smaller than the iphone 6? No, because there isn't one. Z3C is not a flagship if you care about Ram or storage.

Yet for the same size phone, you get at least a 0.3" larger screen. Bloat has nothing to do with your point.

But it's not the same size phone. It's always bigger, usually substantially so.


Android is shooting itself in the foot with these stupid phone sizes, there is no reason why 100% of android flagship users should be required to buy a phone with an absurdly large 5"+ screen.

Half of the reason why battery life on android is no longer totally abysmal, is these android OEMs have convinced you that bigger is always better... so they don't even need to engineer a device that is power efficient because your standard 7" android screen gives them a 5000mAh battery! If android were required to run on devices the size of the iphone 6, you'd all get 3 hours of battery life and throttle down to base clocks after seconds.

 

[oobydoobydoo]

The bezels on the ip6 are probably the best ones on an ip but they are still unnecessarily large.

Smaller Bezels: the new frontier of android "innovation".


Bezels are necessary to have a device that is functional and looks right... I'm glad Apple keeps enough of a bezel that when I hold the phone, I'm not constantly touching the touch-screen... which is a big issue on these phones and tablets with tiny Bezels. Symmetry is much more important than slimming a device down as small as possible anyway.

 

[dawheat]

Smaller Bezels: the new frontier of android "innovation".


Bezels are necessary to have a device that is functional and looks right... I'm glad Apple keeps enough of a bezel that when I hold the phone, I'm not constantly touching the touch-screen... which is a big issue on these phones and tablets with tiny Bezels. Symmetry is much more important than slimming a device down as small as possible anyway.

First, I think you pulled this thread off-topic by missposting in what you thought was

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2421769

and we continued it by responding to you.

Second, thanks for turning the thread into the invariable Apple vs. Android pissfest when it didn't have to go there.

How is it that there is still not a single flagship Android phone smaller than the iphone 6?

Really shows you how bloated even the smallest "slim bezel" android phones are today.

Every phone makes trade-offs. Some people think getting a larger screen in a body is worth it while others prefer symmetry. There is no 'right' answer as it comes to personal preference and it's always trying when folks trumpet opinion as fact.

And frankly, we're not at the point of too-small bezels in any mainstream phone - the G2 and G3 have some of the smallest bezels and there are no issues with accidental swipes.

Don't move the goalposts about the Z3 Compact not being a "flagship unless the iPhone 6 is not because it doesn't have OIS, has a lower resolution screen, and has a slightly lower clocked SOC then the 6 Plus. The Z3 Compact has the same SOC, camera, and build as it's big brother. But going with a different size means both companies made reasonable trade-offs while keeping both 'flagships'. And it's easy enough to pick up a Z3 Compact - it sells unlocked on the Sony website and ships anywhere in the US.

Ugh I really should know better by now. The sad thing is I love the iPhone 6 and bought one for my wife. It's a great phone. But like both fan-sides, it's so tiring to treat any phone like a Jesus phone which made all the right decisions and other ways are wrong or dumb. I think the variety of choice is great and both ecosystems - iOS and Android - are far better having each other as competitors. But tradeoff =/ superior.

 

[sweenish]

But it's not the same size phone. It's always bigger, usually substantially so.

So, the N5 isn't the same size and doesn't have 0.3" larger screen? Apparently I was wrong when I compared my friend's iPhone 6 to my N5. My bad.

And we're still ignoring the fact that those larger phones have screens ~1" larger? I'll remember that.

And ignoring the fact that while a bigger battery gets you more life, every Snapdragon generation has also made great strides in power efficiency. And also ignoring the fact that you're not making a valid point at all and instead projecting your tastes onto everyone and moaning about they don't line up.

Also ignoring that we're supposed to talking DPI and not physical size. But I'm just as guilty on this one.

 

[oobydoobydoo]

Ugh I really should know better by now. The sad thing is I love the iPhone 6 and bought one for my wife. It's a great phone. But like both fan-sides, it's so tiring to treat any phone like a Jesus phone which made all the right decisions and other ways are wrong or dumb. I think the variety of choice is great and both ecosystems - iOS and Android - are far better having each other as competitors. But tradeoff =/ superior.

Lol. Don't let it stress you you out too much.




They need to make the phones smaller. The Z3C is a good start, but they keep pushing bigger and bigger every year... now we've got the 6" Nexus 6.

 

[lopri]

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

How is it that there is still not a single flagship Android phone smaller than the iphone 6?

Really shows you how bloated even the smallest "slim bezel" android phones are today.

Smaller Bezels: the new frontier of android "innovation".

Bezels are necessary to have a device that is functional and looks right... I'm glad Apple keeps enough of a bezel that when I hold the phone, I'm not constantly touching the touch-screen... which is a big issue on these phones and tablets with tiny Bezels. Symmetry is much more important than slimming a device down as small as possible anyway.

Let us not feed this troll. I have reported this poster to moderation. Not only on Mobile forum but on CPU forum and on GPU forum, this poster apparently has a nag for hijacking every single thread she/he enters for a solitary purpose which should be obvious to everyone by now.

As seen here clearly, this person has no intention to discuss merits or demerits of increasing DPI on phones, but to promote her/his agenda and to provoke others.