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Septembersrain

Cancelled
Dec 14, 2013
4,347
5,451
I stare at my note 3 screen every morning and it still amazes me. Cannot wait to get a note 4.


I've got the 3 myself but the 4 felt more incremental so I'm waiting until the 5. Then I'll reconsider. My 3 is still flawless and I'm content with the way I've got it modded.
 

Atomic Walrus

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2012
878
434
There's a positive thing about 4K that I meant to point out, but forgot about.

Basically once the pixel density gets high enough on a screen that display becomes "resolution agnostic," which is a UI design term I'm stealing. If you have a 4K display @ 5.7" you have such high pixel density that any actual rendered resolution (say 1920x1080) basically looks just as good on it as it would on a display with that native resolution.

When you render at anything other than the physical display res you have to rescale, usually bilinear interpolation. On a low density display this looks terrible (try running your 1080P monitor at another res), but when the pixel density is well above the limits of vision then the aliasing effect you get from rescaling basically disappears.

In other words, once your pixel density gets insanely high you can render at any resolution and it will look great (or as good as a screen of that res). I think the mistake would be actually rendering content at 4K (unless this is VR content). Running the UI at QHD, for example, on a 4K screen would look excellent (even if that's a pentile screen).
 

Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Jun 10, 2006
7,267
1,965
I stare at my note 3 screen every morning and it still amazes me. Cannot wait to get a note 4.

Note 4 is worth it, I personally found the diamond sub pixels on the Note 3 to be inferior to the RGB of the Note II, however the Note 4 is so hires that diamond sub pixels no longer bother me. It's nice!

On a side note, I would be surprised if Samsung went back to RGB. Their tablets and phones for awhile now have all been diamond. They are hoping that making them really hires will eliminate the drawbacks of diamond, and they're mostly right. I would prefer RGB though.
 

Twixt

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2012
471
11
Resolution is perfect on Note 4 (probably bit overkill), whereas battery life is good but not breath taking knowing available room in such a large device.
Screen is 90% of the time the biggest power consumer (I cant say 99% cause I did not charge it 100 times yet...).
Before thinking about pixel density, Samsung better increases display size : half a centimeter of diagonal seems doable with same form factor AND increase battery to circa 4000mAh.
If I may ask for 128 GB embedded, dual SIM and edge screens on right and left sides, it would lead to a no brainer buy for me...
 

Fireblade

macrumors 65816
Jan 25, 2011
1,101
321
Italy
Resolution is perfect on Note 4 (probably bit overkill), whereas battery life is good but not breath taking knowing available room in such a large device.
Screen is 90% of the time the biggest power consumer (I cant say 99% cause I did not charge it 100 times yet...).
Before thinking about pixel density, Samsung better increases display size : half a centimeter of diagonal seems doable with same form factor AND increase battery to circa 4000mAh.
If I may ask for 128 GB embedded, dual SIM and edge screens on right and left sides, it would lead to a no brainer buy for me...

You are describing the perfect phone sir, except the edge screens...
 

SomeGuyDude

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2011
730
2
NEPA
As a G3 owner (530+ ppi), I can say with complete and utter honesty that I cannot see the extra density next to the iPhone 6 Plus, and that's what, 401? There is absolutely no need for a phone with the same resolution as a desktop monitor. It adds NOTHING useful.

I've tried watching 2K videos on my G3 and man I can't even tell them from 720p when the damn thing is five inches across. It's pointless.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
As a G3 owner (530+ ppi), I can say with complete and utter honesty that I cannot see the extra density next to the iPhone 6 Plus, and that's what, 401? There is absolutely no need for a phone with the same resolution as a desktop monitor. It adds NOTHING useful.

I've tried watching 2K videos on my G3 and man I can't even tell them from 720p when the damn thing is five inches across. It's pointless.

Have you tried apps which fit more information in the same size screen? GPS apps are a perfect example, the increased resolution lets you fit more of the map. Other apps take advantage of this as well. I LOVE my gps/waze app on my note 4, fits more map but the UI elements are still a touchable size.
 

samiznaetekto

macrumors 65816
Dec 26, 2009
1,016
24
Super high resolution can be beneficial for VR, where a small portion of the screen is magnified by lenses to fill your field of view. Essentially, you're looking at pixels under a microscope [albeit a weak one].
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
Super high resolution can be beneficial for VR, where a small portion of the screen is magnified by lenses to fill your field of view. Essentially, you're looking at pixels under a microscope [albeit a weak one].

I can't wait to buy my Gear VR!!!
 

SomeGuyDude

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2011
730
2
NEPA
Have you tried apps which fit more information in the same size screen? GPS apps are a perfect example, the increased resolution lets you fit more of the map. Other apps take advantage of this as well. I LOVE my gps/waze app on my note 4, fits more map but the UI elements are still a touchable size.

What you're missing though is you're not even coming close to the limits of that pixel density in terms of how small you can make the elements. The absolute tiniest text can be on a G3 screen is absurdly teeny and while technically it's still legible, it only is so if you're using a magnifying glass. Outside of the VR application, it's completely needless.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
What you're missing though is you're not even coming close to the limits of that pixel density in terms of how small you can make the elements. The absolute tiniest text can be on a G3 screen is absurdly teeny and while technically it's still legible, it only is so if you're using a magnifying glass. Outside of the VR application, it's completely needless.

Why would I want absurdly tiny text on a cell phone screen? If a higher res screen fits more elements but is still usable it's far from "useless", but that's just my opinion.
 

SomeGuyDude

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2011
730
2
NEPA
Why would I want absurdly tiny text on a cell phone screen? If a higher res screen fits more elements but is still usable it's far from "useless", but that's just my opinion.

I don't think you understand how this works at all. It fits more elements by making them smaller. My point was that at the limits of the pixel density, as in making things as crunched together as possible while still possible to differentiate, results in elements so tiny they are not at all readable.

Our phones are ALREADY so pixel dense that there is absolutely no way for the pixels to get in the way of legibility, regardless of how much you zoom out or crunch things together. A 4K screen does nothing to aid in that, zip zero nothin' nada. Even the 2K screens are more than your eye could ever make use of.

The reason to use higher pixel density is to stop the eye from seeing pixels. The idea is that at a high enough resolution everything is seamless. Put the 6 Plus next to the G3. You cannot see a single difference in terms of pixels. Zoom in, zoom out, do everything to your heart's content to try and get to a point where pixel density becomes the limiting factor on either device. You will not be able to do it unless you're using a magnifying glass.

Going up to 4k with 743ppi does nothing except give you bragging rights. Hardware arms races don't help consumers, they help manufacturers by allowing them to charge ridiculous premiums for things that make no difference to the end user.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
I don't think you understand how this works at all. It fits more elements by making them smaller. My point was that at the limits of the pixel density, as in making things as crunched together as possible while still possible to differentiate, results in elements so tiny they are not at all readable.

Our phones are ALREADY so pixel dense that there is absolutely no way for the pixels to get in the way of legibility, regardless of how much you zoom out or crunch things together. A 4K screen does nothing to aid in that, zip zero nothin' nada. Even the 2K screens are more than your eye could ever make use of.

The reason to use higher pixel density is to stop the eye from seeing pixels. The idea is that at a high enough resolution everything is seamless. Put the 6 Plus next to the G3. You cannot see a single difference in terms of pixels. Zoom in, zoom out, do everything to your heart's content to try and get to a point where pixel density becomes the limiting factor on either device. You will not be able to do it unless you're using a magnifying glass.

Going up to 4k with 743ppi does nothing except give you bragging rights. Hardware arms races don't help consumers, they help manufacturers by allowing them to charge ridiculous premiums for things that make no difference to the end user.
No I understand and agree with you that subjectively I can't notice a difference even zooming in, although there are reviewers and others who do say they notice a difference.

My point is fitting more on screen such as more map information. I understand you can fit much more but it will be tiny, but the apps are not programed like this. Within the boundaries set by the apps I get more information on screen with a higher resolution. This is only an advantage because apps and the OS is programmed this way, but it still IS an advantage.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
Here is the difference. I understand the app and/or OS can be programmed to have smaller map elements but it's not, so as an average consumer this is a very nice advantage right out of the box.
The comparison is between a note3 and a note 4 using the waze app. Note not only having more map information but the fonts of the street names are much sharper and smaller so they block the map less.
 

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spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
Here is Google Maps, I manually zoomed them to the same zoom levels. You can see a difference in utility in the Note 4 versus the Note 3. More street names is a huge advantage to me when I'm navigating. There is also a clear difference in the sharpness of the street name text.
 

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Sevanw

Suspended
Sep 13, 2014
1,361
2,086
Here is Google Maps, I manually zoomed them to the same zoom levels. You can see a difference in utility in the Note 4 versus the Note 3. More street names is a huge advantage to me when I'm navigating. There is also a clear difference in the sharpness of the street name text.

Exactly. Not sure how anyone doesn't notice this. I'll never understand why people are so against improving tech. In this case display tech. If these people had their way, we'd still be at sub 720P. I remember how people were saying they can't see pixels at 720P, and for some strange reason, not seeing pixels was their reason for determining the need of higher resolution displays. SMH.
I'll say it again, to those people against higher resolution displays, the tech train is steaming full speed ahead, get on board or get out of the way. Resistance is futile.
 
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