Mobile By Lee Mathews Sep. 4, 2014 11:29 am
The LG G3 is a seriously nice phone with a seriously high-resolution display. But is a 2560 x 1440 display really necessary on even a 5.5-inch smartphone? Sony doesn’t think so. They opted for a 1080p display on their new flagship: the Xperia Z3. Sony knows a thing or two about building a quality screen and they’ve got 3 very good reasons why they didn’t feel the need to splash for a 2K display.
Their first argument is one that you’ve heard before — that our eyes have a hard time perceiving the difference between 1080p and 2K on smaller screens. There was a point not too long ago where some experts said that 300ppi was about the most our eyes could register, but that’s changed. The HTC One M8 packs 441ppi (1080p on a 5-inch screen), and numerous reviewers have noted how good it looks.
Samsung took a step back with the Galaxy S5. With a 5.1-inch display, its pixel density is actually slightly lower than the Galaxy S4, yet you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks the S5 doesn’t offer better visuals. There’s more to it than just pixel density, and Sony knows that… which brings us to reason number two. According to marketing director Callum MacDougall, it was more important to integrate advances from Sony’s other displays: upping the brightness, widening the color gamut, and reducing noise with the X-Reality processing engine.
At this point, though, every company’s flagship phone is going to offer a stunningly good picture and most consumers will probably only notice that screen images look really good. But Sony’s final reason for sticking with 1080p doesn’t have anything to do with visuals. Skipping a 2K display allowed Sony to squeeze two full days of use out the Xperia Z3.
Sony’s banking on the fact that — as long as the screen looks really good — users will care more about the Z3′s impressive battery life than a competitor’s retina-busting 2K display. I have to think they’re right… but even if they’re wrong, they can always tout the Z3′s ability to play PlayStation 4 games.
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Their first argument is one that you’ve heard before — that our eyes have a hard time perceiving the difference between 1080p and 2K on smaller screens. There was a point not too long ago where some experts said that 300ppi was about the most our eyes could register, but that’s changed. The HTC One M8 packs 441ppi (1080p on a 5-inch screen), and numerous reviewers have noted how good it looks.
Samsung took a step back with the Galaxy S5. With a 5.1-inch display, its pixel density is actually slightly lower than the Galaxy S4, yet you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks the S5 doesn’t offer better visuals. There’s more to it than just pixel density, and Sony knows that… which brings us to reason number two. According to marketing director Callum MacDougall, it was more important to integrate advances from Sony’s other displays: upping the brightness, widening the color gamut, and reducing noise with the X-Reality processing engine.
At this point, though, every company’s flagship phone is going to offer a stunningly good picture and most consumers will probably only notice that screen images look really good. But Sony’s final reason for sticking with 1080p doesn’t have anything to do with visuals. Skipping a 2K display allowed Sony to squeeze two full days of use out the Xperia Z3.
Sony’s banking on the fact that — as long as the screen looks really good — users will care more about the Z3′s impressive battery life than a competitor’s retina-busting 2K display. I have to think they’re right… but even if they’re wrong, they can always tout the Z3′s ability to play PlayStation 4 games.
More...
