

HTC and Sharp unveil devices with next-generation screens - antoko
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19989754

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hollerith
So, just to review some previous discussion here when the retina iPad came
out, the retina iPad uses more power than the iPad 2 because its backlight
needs to be brighter to counteract the light-blocking effect of all the extra
transistors and wires in the LCD panel.

According to the OP, Sharp claims to have a retina display that blocks less
light than Apple's retina displays, reducing the power needed by the backlight
(to achieve the same display brightness).

An industry analyst quoted in the OP says that "screens are the biggest power
drain on mobile devices".

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yalogin
So if the naked eye cannot perceive detail greater than the retina display why
is this needed? The article does not talk about the power consumption of the
screen, but outside of that is it worth increasing the resolution?

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evilduck
Yeah, I had that question too. ~300ppi I thought was "retina" for handheld
devices held at normal distances. I could see marginally increasing it above
that threshold so pixels remained indiscernible at almost all distances, but a
440ppi density is surely superfluous.

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snogglethorpe
The term "retina" is just marketing.

I can see the pixels on my ~300ppi phone at "normal" distance... and the very
smallest fonts it uses (in mass dictionary lookups) are so small that there's
still discernible shape distortion in complicated kanji. This only really
affects usability in a few cases—distinguishing between very similar,
extremely complicated, kanji, in an unusually small font used for a
specialized application—but these cases _do_ occur.

There's also some room for improvement in font-rendering of Japanese at the
somewhat larger sizes used for displaying email or such, where they're still
using hand-tuned fonts even on ~300ppi displays.

So at least in Japan, a 440ppi display could be put to good use.

[And really, even once pixels are truly not individually discernible, higher
resolutions can _still_ be useful. For instance, although text printed on a
600dpi laser printer is usually very readable, it doesn't look so good when
compared to something typeset at 1200/2400/etc dpi...]

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fuzzythinker
Much more detailed article, with magnified view:
[http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/17/3515158/htc-shows-off-
stu...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/17/3515158/htc-shows-off-
stunning-5-inch-1080p-j-butterfly-phone-in-japan)

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cwe
I'd rather see these panels in the Oculus Rift than a 'Phablet'. As mentioned
in the article, these screens can be held much closer to the eye, so why not
put them as close as possible?

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StavrosK
I just realized I'm very excited about a cheap VR headset. I don't even care
about gaming, but I imagine it won't be terribly hard to get a window manager
to display on it. I would be able to fill my field of vision with windows,
switch any one by looking at it (while getting some neck exercise), put them
nearer or farther, reducing eyesight strain, and not need a desk at all!

I could just have the keyboard on my lap while on my easy chair and stare at
the ceiling, lie down, whatever. Why is this thing geared towards games? It
sounds like a revolution.

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navs
So bigger screens and higher resolution. That's what the
smartphone/phablet/tablet market is going for?

