Doctor says Apple exaggerated claims on its "Retina Display"

The display on the new iPhone 4 shatters the record resolution seen on some of the newer Android models. While the Motorola DROID has a resolution of 480 x 854, Apple's redesigned touchscreen device flaunts a display of 640 x 960. Because the latter handset has a 3.5 inch screen vs. 3.7 inches for the former, the number of pixels per inch (PPI) is 326, a number that the manufacturer claims surpasses the 300 PPI that the human eye can distinguish. However, an expert on screens, Dr Raymond Soneira, says that Apple has exaggerated the claims about its' self-named "Retina Display". Dr. Soneira runs DisplayMate Technologies, a company that makes software to test displays. In an e-mail he sent to PC World, the Doctor said that while the display on the iPhone may be the best in current production on a cellphone, it does not show more pixels than the human eye can process. The Doctor wrote, "Steve Jobs claimed that the iPhone 4 has a resolution higher than the retina - that's not right: The resolution of the retina is in angular measure - it's 50 Cycles Per Degree. A cycle is a line pair, which is two pixels, so the angular resolution of the eye is 0.6 arc minutes per pixel; So if you hold an iPhone at the typical 12 inches from your eyes, that works out to 477 pixels per inch. At 8 inches it's 716 ppi. You have to hold it out 18 inches before it falls to 318 ppi."

So according to Doctor Soneira, you would have to hold your iPhone 4 about 1 1/2 feet in front of you before Apple's claim is true. And even then, for the iPhone to deliver an image that appears perfect to the eye, it would have to have a resolution greatly higher than the retina and that is not the case. The Doc says that the iPhone's resolution is "significantly lower" than the retina. He adds, "It's a great display, most likely the best mobile display in production (and I can't wait to test it) but this is another example of spec exaggeration." As we reported yesterday, Samsung claims that the Super AMOLED display on its Galaxy S handset is superior to the display on the iPhone 4. A verdict will have to wait for a side by side demonstration.

Apple iPhone 4 Specifications
Samsung Galaxy S Specifications | Hands-on

source: PCWorld