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For Normals, Jobs' "Retina Display" Claim May Be Fair After All

Posted by timothy on from the sharp-dealing dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "AT WWDC, Steve Jobs claimed that the iPhone 4's display has about the same resolution as the human eye — held at one foot away, the iPhone 4's pixels are too small to see. After reading an earlier Slashdot post about an expert disputing Jobs' claim, I decided to run the numbers myself. I found that Jobs is correct for people with normal vision, and the expert was using numbers for theoretically perfect vision. So to most people, the iPhone 4 display will look unpixellated."

5 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. So It's catching my droid then? by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    i'm holding my droid at 1 foot distance and I can't distinguish any single pixel. I have to get it to about 3-4 inches to do so convincingly.

    Granted, anti-aliased fonts help a ton.

  2. Anti-Aliasing by TheKidWho · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One must not forget about Anti aliasing or the fact that each pixel contains 3 RGB sub pixels. This increases the effect PPI significantly.

  3. Re:Wrong or right by NekSnappa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think you're taking it too far with this statement.

    The big benefit of "being able to run the software you want rather than what Steve Jobs says you can run" seems to speak to people

    I'd say it's more of case of letting people know that Android phones do apps too. Joe or Jane Average could care less that the apps aren't "curated" in the "walled garden." They just want to know if the phone does apps, and how easy is it to get them.

    --
    I want to shoot the messenger!
  4. Re:Wrong or right by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The only reason my friends have cited for eschewing iPhone and going Android when it came out is "It's not AT&T". They think of Android phones as iPhones that work on other networks.

  5. Re:Wrong or right by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is called marketing.
    Tell you what. Show me where their is a turbine on an Intel I7 and how it speeds up the CPU when you use Intel's Turbo Boost technology and I will all bent out of shape over Apple's Retina display.
    It is market speak and it is everywhere. It usually only bugs you if you don't like the product, the company, or know how stuff really works.
    Frankly I just tune it all out and don't let it bother me anymore.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.