{"id":1389,"date":"2010-06-25T07:25:11","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T11:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scaredpoet.com\/blog\/?p=1389"},"modified":"2010-06-29T00:07:16","modified_gmt":"2010-06-29T04:07:16","slug":"the-i-of-the-retina-part-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/?p=1389","title":{"rendered":"The i of the retina: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week, I began a little experiment<\/a> to test out the veracity of Apple’s claims about one of the new iPhone 4’s most touted features: the Retina display<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0In particular, the claim is: “the Retina display\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.”<\/p>\n

Well, after subjecting the previous iPhone model, the 3GS, to a little bit of optical testing, we here at the lab have managed to gain access to one of the new specimens and have repeated our tests. \u00c2\u00a0And as promised, here are the results.<\/p>\n

First, a general overview of the iPhone 4 screen:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Obviously the above image is a greatly scaled-down view. \u00c2\u00a0To see the whole thing, you’ll want to click here<\/a> (sorry, slow-internet users). \u00c2\u00a0Right off the bat, you hold this phone in your hand and you see a HUGE improvement over the previous display. \u00c2\u00a0For the most part, the 3GS screen isn’t that bad when you look at it alone. \u00c2\u00a0It does a pretty good job of doing what it has to do to deliver a decent image. \u00c2\u00a0But the iPhone 4… wow. \u00c2\u00a0Just… wow. \u00c2\u00a0It’s incredibly crisp, and puts the previous generation screens to total shame.<\/p>\n

Is it like holding a sheet of paper in your hand, like Apple claims? \u00c2\u00a0No, not exactly<\/em>. \u00c2\u00a0Paper still has a better crispness to it. \u00c2\u00a0But, this screen is still pretty damned clear. \u00c2\u00a0And at least to my eyesight, Apple is right: I couldn’t make out individual pixels.<\/p>\n

But, what about our little friend, with the much bigger eye and the much better eyesight?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, he’s been waiting for this moment. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

The lab was set up as before: the camera fitted with a 60mm macro lens, and mounted at the closest distance it would focus (0.2m). \u00c2\u00a0And here’s what it saw:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Again, this is reduced. \u00c2\u00a0Here’s the full size version<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Long story short: yes, the Canon with the nice macro lens can still see the pixels on the new display. \u00c2\u00a0But, that doesn’t really tell us much. \u00c2\u00a0How does the new display stack up to the old one?<\/p>\n

Let’s compare. \u00c2\u00a0Here’s a reduced-size, side-by-side image of the Calculator app icon on the 3GS (left), and the iPhone 4 retina display (right):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here of course, is the full-size image<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0But even from the reduced image, it’s blatantly evident: there’s a BIG improvement between the old display and the new.<\/p>\n

To drive the point home, here’s a pixel-for-pixel closeup:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Apple’s hard technical figures are spot-on: there’s effectively a 4:1 pixel increase in the new display over the old one, and the resulting improvement is significant. \u00c2\u00a0In fact, it’s actually pretty hard to go back to using the previous-gen display after playing with the new one for a while.<\/p>\n

Realistically and objectively though, is this alone worth the upgrade? \u00c2\u00a0For some people, I would argue yes, particualrly if you use your iPhone a lot. \u00c2\u00a0The new display is easier on the eyes, and has a nice vibrance to it.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, a casual user might get the same wow-factor from looking at the new screen but wouldn’t quite benefit that much. \u00c2\u00a0At the very least, there aren’t any iPhone apps as of this writing that absolutely require the better screen. \u00c2\u00a0Though, that may change in time.<\/p>\n

I certainly would wait until after the current waiting-line hysteria<\/a> has died down. \u00c2\u00a0It should be clear to any reasonable that until the lines start to dwindle as the early adopters finally get their gadgets, the chances of getting one in the immediate future if you haven’t already are slim.<\/p>\n

As with the previous screen test, a gallery of test pics can be viewed after the cut:<\/p>\n

\n<\/pixgallery>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I began a little experiment to test out the veracity of Apple’s claims about one of the new iPhone 4’s most touted features: the Retina display. \u00c2\u00a0In particular, the claim is: “the Retina display\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.” Well, after subjecting the previous iPhone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[39,298,265,40,266,264,175],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gadgets-widgits-and-whatzits","tag-apple","tag-photography","tag-display","tag-iphone","tag-macro","tag-retina","tag-smartphone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1410,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions\/1410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scaredpoet.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}