The iPhone 4 is packed with a bunch of new impressive features and is surely bound to be a game changer in the era of smartphones. Amongst all the goodies that iPhone 4 offers, I personally think that its gorgeous ‘Retina Display’ stands out. I’ve to admit that I’ve never seen another handset with a beautiful [...]
The iPhone 4 is packed with a bunch of new impressive features and is surely bound to be a game changer in the era of smartphones. Amongst all the goodies that iPhone 4 offers, I personally think that its gorgeous ‘Retina Display’ stands out. I’ve to admit that I’ve never seen another handset with a beautiful display having such immaculate precision that you can actually see individual pixels on the screen. Well done, Steve & Company – you never cease to surprise us!
So, what is the Retina Display all about? How good is it really? Let’s find out.
Why the name ‘Retina Display? 640 pixels on a 3.5 inch diagonal screen translates to 326 ppi (pixels per inch). The human eye (precisely the retina) is capable of distinguishing around 300 ppi and hence the choice of naming.
First things first, there’s no other handset which offers a high resolution of 960�640. For several years, desktop computers worked on a resolution of 840�640 and it’s amazing that mobile displays are catching up fast with computers. Just in case you didn’t know, the iPhone 4 quadruples the number of pixels when compared to the iPhone 3GS. If that isn’t enough, the iPhone 4 offers a contrast ratio of 800:1. Talk about competition and the closest ones are two Android phones – Droid (265 ppi) and Nexus One (245 ppi). Not quiet close enough, I’d say. AMOLED or any other display – no other handset matches the picture quality of iPhone 4.
This lethal combination of high resolution and stark contrast ratio ensures that graphics and text look smooth with no visible pixelation, no matter what size they are. To help developers, Apple has introduced the ‘Retina Display’ capability in iOS SDK 4 simulator as well. The new simulator can render images and text at the resolution of both the existing iPhone/iPod touch (320�480) and the new iPhone 4 (640�960). Talk about being developer-friendly and Apple beats every other company hands down.
Wanna know the insider details of how Apple built the Retina Display? Check out these two pictures (Top: iPhone 3GS Bottom: iPhone 4).
You should be able to tell the difference. Not enough? You can further watch the video.
Whoever said that “A picture is worth a thousand words” was surely viewing the picture on the iPhone 4 Retina Display!
[Images and videos via Scobleizer]
Summer Glau
Diane Kruger
Jamie Chung
No comments:
Post a Comment