iPhone 4's "Retina Display" Claims Challenged

adeelarshad82 writes "Of the many things that buyers might need to know about the new iPhone, Raymond Soneira — president of DisplayMate Technolgies — added one more to the list. Soneira challenged Apple's claims that Apple's new iPhone contains a so-called 'retina display.' According to Soneira, the resolution of the retina is in angular measure, 50 cycles per degree, where a cycle is a line pair, which is two pixels, so the angular resolution of the eye is 0.6 arc minutes per pixel. So, if you hold an iPhone at the typical 12 inches from your eyes, that works out to 477 pixels per inch. At 8 inches it's 716 ppi. You have to hold iPhone 4 out about 18 inches before it falls to 318 ppi. So the iPhone has significantly lower resolution than the retina."

Comments

bad vision

[goodmorningsunshine]

If you're holding you're phone, or any display for that matter, 12 inches or closer to your face, you're going to notice a lot more than pixilation - you'll notice your vision fading fast.

It's recommended that you look at your display or phone from around an arms length away or risk damaging your vision in the long term.

Re:bad vision

[joe_bruin]

Seriously, who holds their phone 12 inches (30 cm) away from their face? I just measured my typical use: about 24 inches if I'm sitting and 36 if I'm standing. I guess by that standard, I should be pretty happy with this display.

Re:Slight Misfire above....

[icebike]

Exactly my thoughts.

The idea that fewer pixels is better seems bass-akwards.

The statement:
[QUOTE]
"You have to hold iPhone 4 out about 18 inches before it falls to 318 ppi. So the iPhone has significantly lower resolution than the retina."
{/QUOTE]

Had me thinking I was missing some big ticket item in the story.

Higher is better. If you can't discern a pixel thats great. That they have twice the resolution at which you start to see pixels is just gravy.