Obsession with mobile phone screens

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Soldato
Joined
29 Jun 2004
Posts
12,957
I'm not suggestions phone screens should be rubbish, but why are phone screens such an important factor? They're too tiny to watch movies on - and if you wanted to watch a HD movie you'd watch it on a nice large, HD television in the comfort of your living room right?

I understand the need for rich, and bright colours for photos and games. However I think the obsession for a small handheld mobile phone to have the highest number of pixels is just daft.

I totally understand the concept of having a great screen on a larger tablet or laptop.

I think mobile phone screens should be more focused around lowering power consumption (which I know the latest mobile phone screens are already starting to do).
 
obviously there becomes a point of diminishing returns.
Personally anything up to 4" and 720P with a very accurate touch-screen matrix is what I would consider right.
 
Well, it's just a case of wanting the best looking screen. I think all of the top end phones pretty much have acceptable screens if you aren't fussy.

If you think phones are bad, you should see me trying to buy a TV. :p
 
I used to think like that, why would you need 1080p on a 4.5 inch screen when that's classed as HD on a 42" TV.

The reason is viewing distance. a 42" TV looks great in HD because you are sat relatively far away from it. Go and stick your face a foot away from the screen though and you'll seen notice it's pixelated.

A phone is being used very close to the user eyes hence why the seemingly overkill resolution comes in handy.

But I do think we're nearing the point where the human eye becomes the bottleneck. It will be more about colours and power than PPI in the next few years I reckon.
 
Anything over 400ppi is pretty much pointless now and imo 5" is the stopping point for phone screen size. Next big thing is the foldable/bendable screen tech.

Colours/viewing angles etc. are already superb and have hit a stop point i.e. iphone 5, one, only thing really left to improve on LCD screens are the blacks

SAMOLED is superb as well and the only areas for this particular screen tech. that can be improved upon are whites and brightness.

Main thing now is as you said, power efficiency.
 
I never understood the desire to have a huge screen on my phone. The last thing I want to do with my phone is watch a movie on it and for youtube videos my iphone is perfect. I seriously don't know quite what people get up to on their phones to want a 5" screen.

It always confuses me when the adverts for any phones with large screen make a big deal out of the fact you can draw big pictures on it or do 10 other things that literally no one does with their phones.

I don't know; I just don't subscribe to the view that doing something better than badly is something to get excited about. Well done, you can edit photos on your phone really badly. I use my phone as a utility and for games when I am travelling for a few minutes its not really an entertainment centre.
 
At the distance I tend to look at my phone from it's exactly the same size as my 42" TV appears to be from my usual seat, have you ever owned a small phone with a carp screen? If so surely you see the need for good screens on phones with a decent PPI.
 
How would I get a large HDTV (and power it) onto a train on my way home from work? :confused:.

Higher res also means that it can display more information (accurately, that's the important part) than lower res, meaning web browsing and the like is much more comfortable.

A phone at normal viewing distance probably looks just as big as a TV would at normal viewing distance too.
 
To be honest, I can't imagine I'd ever need anything higher resolution/bigger on my phone. Hell, I'm more than happy with the Surface RT screen for anything I'll be doing on it. I don't game, but I find the resolution on the One S perfect for IM/Texts/Emails etc. Web browsing on a small device is always going to be poor compared to a decent size screen so I tend to do that on the tablet/PC.

In fact I'd rather the screen was poor so I stopped looking at the thing and got on with something else!
 
They aren't to small to watch stuff on, not ideal, but outdoors will never be an ideal place. And I can't lug a hd TV around when out and about. However it still has to function as a phone. S until we get these folding screen I think 4.3" is the best compromise.

Dpi is fine these days as is size. So bring on folding screens and somehow reduce glare. Optically bonded is meant to help that. But there must be something they can do.
 
For me, it's about the colourspace / vividness of colours. Anything close to a Dell Ultrasharp 2410 or 2412 is fine. Samsung Galaxy SII's screen fares pretty well in that respect. When side-to-side with an iPhone 4 / 4S, I find that the Samsung is more vivid. Being partially sighted, I prefer the larger screens that Samsung offers over iPhone as well but I don't think I would be that bothered about 720p or 1080p.

Let's see what becomes of the Galaxy SIV, but the Wikipedia article seemed to have disappeared now. When typing in Samsung Galaxy SIV or S4, it redirects you to the Galaxy series of phones, and the SIV/S4 section of the table chart on that page has disappeared too. Legal issues?
 
Have to say the viewing angle is the strangest 'plus' I've seen, if you are doing or watching anything on your phone it's irrelevant as you aren't holding in some retarded way and the only people it seemingly benefits are nosey people sitting next to you :p
 
When I'm at work I often have my phone on my desk while I watch something so that I'm looking at it from a 45 degree angle, cba holding it when I have wet hands and need to keep geting up and doing stuff :o.
 
Rich_L said:
Have to say the viewing angle is the strangest 'plus' I've seen, if you are doing or watching anything on your phone it's irrelevant as you aren't holding in some retarded way and the only people it seemingly benefits are nosey people sitting next to you :p
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I've always thought this about PC monitors when reviews criticise viewing angles. Unless the viewing angle is so stupidly small that you can't tilt your head without the screen washing out what does it matter? Generally when I'm using my computer I'm sat in front of it looking in its general direction :p
 
Rich_L said:
Have to say the viewing angle is the strangest 'plus' I've seen, if you are doing or watching anything on your phone it's irrelevant as you aren't holding in some retarded way and the only people it seemingly benefits are nosey people sitting next to you :p
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d_brennen said:
I've always thought this about PC monitors when reviews criticise viewing angles. Unless the viewing angle is so stupidly small that you can't tilt your head without the screen washing out what does it matter? Generally when I'm using my computer I'm sat in front of it looking in its general direction :p
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You've beat me to it. I was just about to say that about PC monitors
 
With crap viewing angles on PC monitor (usually "gaming" TN panel screens) it becomes a problem when you're seated laying down attempting to watch a TV show or movie, even playing a game with a controller while slouched or when you have dual screens because you will be angled around at least one display.

With phone screens the difference is even bigger because I, like many other, quickly use my phone while it's laying flat on a table or on a dock or stand. In these circumstances the viewing angles are important otherwise things just look poor and the experience isn't as pleasing to the eye.

The other night I was in another room ironing some clothes with the Note II playing this week's Drive episode on Youtube. Watching it was no problem on a kickstand from a distance, everything was perfectly clear and sharp from the off angle. This would not have been the same experience on the Xperia Z (example).

Not forgetting when showing a video around a group of friends, why should the person at the end get a washed out video whilst the person closest to you sees it better?!

So yes, viewing angles and screen quality are very important to a lot of people because these devices are being used while doing things which means the screen is no always directly in front of the eyes.
 
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Some folk have friends and or family and like to have the ability to show them stuff while retaining the driving seat on the screen, so to speak, I can understand why this would be hard to comprehend for loners or folk trying to defend the purchase of an inferior screen:)
 
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