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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @07:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the how-clear-can-it-be dept.

Sharp has announced its intention to manufacture the world's sharpest display, a 5.5" IGZO screen with a 4K/UHD 3840x2160 resolution (806 pixels per inch), for some 2016 smartphones. Is 806 PPI too much? Tom's Hardware notes the drawbacks while celebrating the new milestone:

Although devices that are 1440p or even 4K will look even more stunning, there are indeed diminishing returns benefits-wise as the cost, the power consumption, or the GPU resources required to handle such high resolutions are significantly higher than the previous generations.

That's not to say that a 4K display today will necessarily cost more than a 1440p display did last year, but it does cost significantly more than a 1440p display being sold this year. Although the price ratios for components may remain relatively the same for the new technologies inside a new smartphone, if the benefits are increasingly smaller, then there's an opportunity cost, as well.

For instance, the extra cost to get a 4K display over a 1440p display this year could be used instead towards improving the device's camera. (OEMs could use a sharper lens, a larger sensor, improved OIS, and so on.) This sort of balance should always be taken into consideration.

[...] That doesn't mean higher resolution displays in smartphones are not useful. However, they could be even more useful for other applications; for example, 4K displays are ideal for VR. In order to have a VR experience that makes you completely forget you have a screen in front of your eyes, you'll need at least a 4K resolution screen.

Higher-resolution displays will also help lower the cost of lower resolution panels.

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:12PM (#170621)

    I fully expected you to name a 7-inch field display because a $2000 7-inch OLED monitor is basically the same thing as a 20+ inch monitor.

    You're talking about a monitor whose price plummeted not long after the release of the Playstation Vita and a couple of semi-successful Android phones. So... maybe you really are unaware of the curved OLED TVs etc being sold right now? I don't know. I honestly don't get where you're coming from.

    Do people constantly accuse you of moving the goal posts and you can't figure why they make that accusation?

    Monitor resolutions stagnated for a decade and saw a massive boost shortly after cell-phone displays were improved. Your response to that: "You're wrong, here's a piece of data that shows why you're right. " I really don't know what to do with that.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:15PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:15PM (#170622)

    I can not argue with that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:15PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @11:15PM (#170623)
      Have a good day, then.