1080P: how much difference does it make?

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Strategist

Senior Member
Dec 2, 2011
177
80
I don't think computer monitors are a good reference point since they are so much bigger than phones. Of course 1080p is going to be a lot better than 720p on them.

On a phone 1080p will look a bit better but perhaps not by much. The transition from say 150ppi to 300ppi is huge and immediately noticeable but from 300ppi to 450ppi I suspect you enter the zone of diminishing returns while you still get a hit in term of battery life and performance.
 

cdmoore74

Senior Member
Aug 5, 2008
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round lake
I don't think computer monitors are a good reference point since they are so much bigger than phones. Of course 1080p is going to be a lot better than 720p on them.

On a phone 1080p will look a bit better but perhaps not by much. The transition from say 150ppi to 300ppi is huge and immediately noticeable but from 300ppi to 450ppi I suspect you enter the zone of diminishing returns while you still get a hit in term of battery life and performance.


Your right about the computer monitors. I would never go from 1080p down to 720p on a 20 inch monitor. But on smaller devices like the DNA vs my Nexus I did not see a huge difference in text, the home screen or the youtube app from "normal" viewing arm length. The difference is there but your not going to see pixels even on the 720p Nexus from normal distance. Even after playing with the Note 2 I don't see pixels at normal viewing distance. I'm all for this new 1080p tech in mobile devices but it will only benefit larger phones, like the Note 2.
 

HeavenlyWinds

Senior Member
Oct 23, 2011
266
94
Montreal
I got a chance to use this phone a while back. And when any phone goes over 300ppi, you barely (i mean, like really barely) notice a difference. Dont get me wrong, the screen is absolutely amazing, but if you are going to buy the phone just because of the screen, you are going to have a bad time.

Just my 2c
 

boodies

Senior Member
Mar 3, 2010
1,801
348
Im sure it makes a difference. Duh.... if it didn't why would they use it. We'll soon have 4k and higher displays on our phones and 1080p is just part a of that progression. The more pixels the closer it gets to real life.
 

Dri94

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2011
2,058
645
Florida
I think with everything shifting to HD that's where the difference comes in, with streaming content. And if the phines are pushed to full hd, more content will be pushed to hd and better compression codecs will appear as they strive to make it even better

Sent from my Droid using xda app-developers app
 

kejar31

Inactive Recognized Developer
May 24, 2010
1,961
2,442
Don't have anything other than a Gnex on hand to compare it to, but the screen on the DNA blows it out of the water!..

Its not even close and yes its noticable!! When looking at icons in the app drawer its noticable at a standard 2 to 3 feet and i don't have 20/20 vision.

I sold my SGS3 to help pay for this phone so I cant compare them atm.. but I dont really rember the screen looking all that much better on the SGS3 when compared to the Nexus (other than the SG3 had better color calibration)

Monday I will be at work with my Co-worker who has a Lumia and will be able to compair them then..

As of no I would say the res def makes a difference at least when you compair it to the 720P pentile setup Samsung uses on thier phones.
 
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luke1333

Senior Member
Aug 24, 2010
1,474
85
Cincinnati Ohio
Depends on eye sight. I have 20/15 vision so the original razr drives me nuts with the pentile screen. The razr hd is much better due to the higher resolution, but still noticeable. I prefer my non pentile tbolt screen. But my wife with 20/25 vision prefers the razr because there is better color production and she doesn't she the dots.

Also, some might not like the higher resolution because the text is smaller, requiring them to zoom more often.

This. I am also a 20/15 & my thunderbolt and rezound screen blows the razr or note and even s3 out of the water. Can't wait until i get my hands on a dna and take a look at its screen!!

Not an iPhone.....
 

Strategist

Senior Member
Dec 2, 2011
177
80
Sounds good. Anyone have a One X to compare it with? I think that is the best comparison because it is generally considered to be the best 720p screen.
 

dontex

Member
Dec 1, 2010
10
1
After finally getting my hands on a DNA at a Verizon store today...I'm left a little disappointed.. the phone itself looks wonderful..one of the best hardware designs out today...that being said...after playing with it for awhile I just can't see a one X+ or and Evo 4G LTE owner being jealous of this phone...the 1080p screen to me is just not that much better to justify jumping ship from At&t or sprint to get this phone as I'd hoped...with the one X+ having a whooping 64 GB of storage now and the Evo 4g LTE having micro SD capabilities the lack of storage on this device really sticks out even more...its suck a tease...Verizon really screwed this phone up...I waited and waited so long for this phone to come out in anticipation debating between this and the note 2 but left with a sense of been there done that compared to other HTC phones...I'll say this...its great phone if your stuck on Verizon and looking for an upgrade if your coming from 2 year old device like the thunderbolt if you can deal with the storage but in my honest opinion this phone is not the world beater...I thought it would be...HTC's own phones stack up just as well if not better in some areas then the DNA...as well as the GS 3 and Note 2...if your looking the best HTC phone on Verizon this is it...but other then that...I'm just not impressed sadly...but if your a DNA owner and it suits your needs it still is a really great phone no doubt.
 
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luke1333

Senior Member
Aug 24, 2010
1,474
85
Cincinnati Ohio
After finally getting my hands on a DNA at a Verizon store today...I'm left a little disappointed.. the phone itself looks wonderful..one of the best hardware designs out today...that being said...after playing with it for awhile I just can't see a one X+ or and Evo 4G LTE owner being jealous of this phone...the 1080p screen to me is just not that much better to justify jumping ship from At&t or sprint to get this phone as I'd hoped...with the one X+ having a whooping 64 GB of storage now and the Evo 4g LTE having micro SD capabilities the lack of storage on this device really sticks out even more...its suck a tease...Verizon really screwed this phone up...I waited and waited so long for this phone to come out in anticipation debating between this and the note 2 but left with a sense of been there done that compared to other HTC phones...I'll say this...its great phone if your stuck on Verizon and looking for an upgrade if your coming from 2 year old device like the thunderbolt if you can deal with the storage but in my honest opinion this phone is not the world beater...I thought it would be...HTC's own phones stack up just as well if not better in some areas then the DNA...as well as the GS 3 and Note 2...if your looking the best HTC phone on Verizon this is it...but other then that...I'm just not impressed sadly...but if your a DNA owner and it suits your needs it still is a really great phone no doubt.

Picking up a dna and going to be weird coming from s3 with 32 gb and 64 gb sdcard! Also might trade s3 for note II and rock a dna and note lol

Not an iPhone.....
 

cowisland

Senior Member
May 2, 2011
255
35
Most people, including myself, cannot see the difference between this and something around 350 ppi. The GPU has to work significantly harder to render all the pixels however. I would take a better battery life over the undetectable high resolution. That is my criticism of the DNA. If the battery life didn't matter I would not care.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2
 
Mar 8, 2011
9
3
Hands On Opinion

I have had the DNA since last Wednesday - I moved to it from a Galaxy Nexus. I also had a Nexus 4 which I had been using for a few days prior to getting the DNA and a few days after. I returned the Nexus 4 yesterday.

The screen on the DNA is great. Truly. It is brighter and much easier on the eyes in real world tests than both the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus. The battery has also been surprisingly good - even with my long screen timeout.

I am having problems with using some buttons in Ingress - due tot he resolution and the app not being updated to handle it two buttons are too close together to hit accurately.

Aside from that minor gripe with Ingress I am very happy with this screen.

If anyone has any questions about the DNA or the DNA in comparison to the GNex or the Nexus 4 let me know and I'll answer to the best of my ability.
 
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drumz0rz

Senior Member
Mar 22, 2011
323
69
I've found a great example of the benefit of the 1080p screen. Someone sent me an image that was a screenshot from their phone. I could read all of the (tiny) text clearly without any distortion without even having to click on the image. On lower resolution screens that wouldn't be possible.
 

BarryH_GEG

Senior Member
Jan 16, 2009
10,197
5,142
Spokane, Washington
"For some people, it is possible to tell the difference if we were to sit down and study a [1080p] display and a [720p] display, side-by-side," he said in a phone interview with Ars. "If you’re really a fanatic and you study images, or you have some professional applications and you’re really into displays, then it may make a visual difference for you."

For most people, though, it won't matter. Photos are inherently fuzzy, so it won’t matter whether they’re viewed on a 1920×1080 or 1280×720 smartphone display; you’ll still see their imperfections. "Even the tiniest image detail in a photograph is always spread over more than one pixel," Dr. Soneira explained in a follow-up e-mail. "The image detail is never perfectly aligned with the pixel structure of the display." Videos are even worse: not only are they fuzzy like photographs, but the pictures are constantly moving. Even if the images were sharp, the human brain couldn’t zero in on content that’s appearing for only a fraction of a second on such a small display. "For ordinary viewing of videos, 1920×1080 is really not going to make a visual difference," adds Dr. Soneira.

Where a 1080p smartphone display could really make an impact is with computer-generated content—that is, the user interface, buttons, and text. "Only computer-generated images make full use of the pixel resolution of the display," says Dr. Soneira. "For graphics and text, maybe you want that kind of sharpness." Like desktop computers, smartphone displays can also utilize sub-pixel rendering, which helps improve the visual sharpness of computer-generated graphics.

A 1080p display might also be useful for simply viewing 1920×1080 content and not worrying about scaling. "Every time you rescale content that’s scaled for some other resolution, it’s not going to look as good. So there’s an advantage to living with 1920×1080 even if your eye can’t appreciate the fine details, because you don’t have the rescaling artifacts," he says.For most uses, however, the extra sharpness of a 1080p display is wasted.

After about 15 inches, "the much higher 326 ppi is 'wasted' because the eye can't resolve sharpness above 229 ppi." The further away a person gets, the more gradual the reduction in perceived image sharpness.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/10/1080p-on-a-smartphone-screencan-it-possibly-matter/
 

outersquare

Member
Apr 9, 2012
12
3
socal
I have had the DNA since last Wednesday - I moved to it from a Galaxy Nexus. I also had a Nexus 4 which I had been using for a few days prior to getting the DNA and a few days after. I returned the Nexus 4 yesterday.

The screen on the DNA is great. Truly. It is brighter and much easier on the eyes in real world tests than both the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus. The battery has also been surprisingly good - even with my long screen timeout.

I am having problems with using some buttons in Ingress - due tot he resolution and the app not being updated to handle it two buttons are too close together to hit accurately.

Aside from that minor gripe with Ingress I am very happy with this screen.

If anyone has any questions about the DNA or the DNA in comparison to the GNex or the Nexus 4 let me know and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

what provider are you using?
 
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adrynalyne

Inactive Recognized Developer
Dec 13, 2008
10,950
6,471
I have had the DNA since last Wednesday - I moved to it from a Galaxy Nexus. I also had a Nexus 4 which I had been using for a few days prior to getting the DNA and a few days after. I returned the Nexus 4 yesterday.

The screen on the DNA is great. Truly. It is brighter and much easier on the eyes in real world tests than both the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus. The battery has also been surprisingly good - even with my long screen timeout.

I am having problems with using some buttons in Ingress - due tot he resolution and the app not being updated to handle it two buttons are too close together to hit accurately.

Aside from that minor gripe with Ingress I am very happy with this screen.

If anyone has any questions about the DNA or the DNA in comparison to the GNex or the Nexus 4 let me know and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

Compare performance between the N4 and DNA. Not benches, just overall experience.
 

androidxen

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2010
171
48
I've found a great example of the benefit of the 1080p screen. Someone sent me an image that was a screenshot from their phone. I could read all of the (tiny) text clearly without any distortion without even having to click on the image. On lower resolution screens that wouldn't be possible.

Same here. Also was looking at some detailed images (not necessarily large, but high-res and with a lot of detail put into the work) and didn't have to squint to see it.
 

Tomatoes8

Senior Member
Jun 10, 2012
623
121
I haven't seen the DNA screen yet but my Nexus 10 300 PPI screen BLOWS my 342 PPI HTC 8x screen away, so it isn't all about PPI. The extra PPI on the 8x didn't do a thing compared to the One X, in fact, I believe the One X screen still looks better that the 8x screen.

So it has been established that 30 - 42 PPI more doesn't do anything if much at all. Will 100 PPI more make a big difference, possibly, but I doubt it.
 

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  • 5
    There has been a lot of discussion about whether a 1080P screen on a 5 inch device really makes that much of a difference. There will probably be a hit in terms of battery life and responsiveness so is the higher resolution worth it?

    Since some people here have already seen the phone, I wanted their opinion. How much of a difference is there between the screen on the DNA versus say the One X ? In what activities does 1080P make the biggest difference: reading, video, games ?

    I cannot see any pixelation on my OneX and even my 267 ppi Note2 with very small text.
    It is still more like a gimmick than a real deal. I can see many people get crazy about it, but the user experience is not very different from my old OneX, even identical.
    I thinl in terms of smoothness, speed and screen, Android high end phones and iPhones has reached the limit. Now software and battery life are more important.
    . That's why i will keep my Note2 for quite a long time.
    5
    In my opinion ppi is more relevant in rading text than playing games.
    And there is no game support 1920x1080 pixels resolution yet.

    Text Pixelation image coming your way :)

    http://gizmodo.com/5960289/htc-droid-dna-vs-iphone-5-and-everyone-else-whos-got-the-best-display
    3
    No doubt that the DNA has the best screen period. But I've used a Note 2 for one hour total under different lighting conditions and I never thought to myself that it was a pixelated mess. My only knock against the screen is that the brightest was not as "crisp" as what you would see on the iPhone or HTC One X series. But the blacks and the colors really pop at you. The entire point is that just because a 1080p phone came out it does not automatically make the Note's 2 display unusable. Every review I've read never knocked the display for it's dpi. Since it's a big phone your going to naturally hold it further away from your eyes.
    But I will be the first one to admit that I had my heart set on the DNA months ago even before they announced that the Note 2 would come to Verizon. My only let downs are the battery and lack of storage options which is a shame because Samsung is going to murder HTC with their S4 if HTC does not wise up quickly.

    The truth is that once a new feature comes out on a phone, say the 1080p screen, the people getting the phone will brag about it and the people not getting it will justify why its not that great. Does the 1080p screen make THAT big of a difference? No. Will it be really cool to have? Absolutely! Just wait until the S4 comes out with a 1080p screen, all the samsung fans are going to rave about how its the best thing in the world. And they should because while not being totally necessary, its still very cool! Personally, I would never buy an SGS3/4 or Note because of the slippery plastic. I like having a phone with some grip and nice build quality. I will be jelly of the microsd on the SGS4, but I've already come to terms with the 16gb in the DNA, and the battery is of absolutely no concern to me.
    2
    "For some people, it is possible to tell the difference if we were to sit down and study a [1080p] display and a [720p] display, side-by-side," he said in a phone interview with Ars. "If you’re really a fanatic and you study images, or you have some professional applications and you’re really into displays, then it may make a visual difference for you."

    For most people, though, it won't matter. Photos are inherently fuzzy, so it won’t matter whether they’re viewed on a 1920×1080 or 1280×720 smartphone display; you’ll still see their imperfections. "Even the tiniest image detail in a photograph is always spread over more than one pixel," Dr. Soneira explained in a follow-up e-mail. "The image detail is never perfectly aligned with the pixel structure of the display." Videos are even worse: not only are they fuzzy like photographs, but the pictures are constantly moving. Even if the images were sharp, the human brain couldn’t zero in on content that’s appearing for only a fraction of a second on such a small display. "For ordinary viewing of videos, 1920×1080 is really not going to make a visual difference," adds Dr. Soneira.

    Where a 1080p smartphone display could really make an impact is with computer-generated content—that is, the user interface, buttons, and text. "Only computer-generated images make full use of the pixel resolution of the display," says Dr. Soneira. "For graphics and text, maybe you want that kind of sharpness." Like desktop computers, smartphone displays can also utilize sub-pixel rendering, which helps improve the visual sharpness of computer-generated graphics.

    A 1080p display might also be useful for simply viewing 1920×1080 content and not worrying about scaling. "Every time you rescale content that’s scaled for some other resolution, it’s not going to look as good. So there’s an advantage to living with 1920×1080 even if your eye can’t appreciate the fine details, because you don’t have the rescaling artifacts," he says.For most uses, however, the extra sharpness of a 1080p display is wasted.

    After about 15 inches, "the much higher 326 ppi is 'wasted' because the eye can't resolve sharpness above 229 ppi." The further away a person gets, the more gradual the reduction in perceived image sharpness.

    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/10/1080p-on-a-smartphone-screencan-it-possibly-matter/
    2
    In my opinion ppi is more relevant in rading text than playing games.
    And there is no game support 1920x1080 pixels resolution yet.

    And the best part is a game with 1080p graphics will be about 3 or 4 gigs and the device only has about 8 usable so you wont be able to play any games that are made for the resolution anyway, lol.