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Hi,
I am considering buying HTC One but there is just one thing that makes me rethink my decision and that is the 4MP Camera. It's a stunning device but I am a bit skeptical considering the low megapixel count of 4 in HTC One. People who have already got the phone and also people who have researched on the imaging quality of "The One", please shed some light on the camera bit.
I know it is good for low light conditions but are the daylight photos good enough if not the best that GS4/ iPhone 5/ HTC One have to offer.
Thanks a lot!
Priyankac said:
Hi,
I am considering buying HTC One but there is just one thing that makes me rethink my decision and that is the 4MP Camera. It's a stunning device but I am a bit skeptical considering the low megapixel count of 4 in HTC One. People who have already got the phone and also people who have researched on the imaging quality of "The One", please shed some light on the camera bit.
I know it is good for low light conditions but are the daylight photos good enough if not the best that GS4/ iPhone 5/ HTC One have to offer.
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Daylight images are good, but maybe not as "good" as the GS4 purely cos of less details from the lower MP sensor. HTC is probably one update away to perfecting their metering and auto-exposure, but it is still very good and don't forget really really fast
Megapixels are not a measure of image quality. Never has been, never will be. Higher MP just means bigger prints.
The size of the sensor determines image quality. The One camera takes better photos than my 8MP Nexus 4.
PcFish said:
Megapixels are not a measure of image quality. Never has been, never will be. Higher MP just means bigger prints.
The size of the sensor determines image quality. The One camera takes better photos than my 8MP Nexus 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's cos the Nexus 4 had a pretty meh sensor I'd say stock S4 camera app is about as good as modified HoX camera For low light, nothing really beats the One though
PcFish said:
Megapixels are not a measure of image quality. Never has been, never will be. Higher MP just means bigger prints.
The size of the sensor determines image quality. The One camera takes better photos than my 8MP Nexus 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, there's been an arms race, so to speak, with manufacturers trying to compete with one another over buzz words, "megapixels" being one of these. The Anandtech HTC One review by Brian Klug covers in excruciating detail the tradeoffs HTC made with the camera hardware vs. marketability
Priyankac said:
Hi,
I am considering buying HTC One but there is just one thing that makes me rethink my decision and that is the 4MP Camera. It's a stunning device but I am a bit skeptical considering the low megapixel count of 4 in HTC One. People who have already got the phone and also people who have researched on the imaging quality of "The One", please shed some light on the camera bit.
I know it is good for low light conditions but are the daylight photos good enough if not the best that GS4/ iPhone 5/ HTC One have to offer.
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair and honest, I find the shutter speed to take long sometimes in natural and incandescent lighting indoors. I could be sitting at the dinner table and be underneath our ceiling fixture and the picture would be a little out of focus or take too long when the lighting is good. I'm assuming this can be fixed with software tweaks. It's almost as if the sensor takes in too much light sometimes, as I find myself having to turn on the flash manually in some indoor shots.
The positive side, the PHONE takes great pictures in outdoor lighting and even indoor with the right lighting or flash. The colors come out more natural and detailed than my wife's S3. Compared to my old Inspire, the One is 100x better.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
I've just been reading a thread on the S4 forum about the lag on the S4 camera. It can take superb landscape pictures in bright light but it struggles with moving images.
The One on the other hand is extremely fast which translates into, for the most part, images with no blurring. And of course low light pictures are far superior which is what everyone raves about.
It really depends what you want from a camera. I, like you, was worried that 4mp would be too much of a downgrade. I then started to think how I actually used my camera. I predominantly take pictures of my family and friends, kids playing in the park etc. I rarely ever view the pictures I've taken on a device that has a better resolution than 1080p and don't crop images often.
A 4mp camera is far higher resolution than 1080p.
As soon as I started snapping my kids, often indoors at dinner times with only fluorescent lighting, I was happy I plumped for the One. It really is astounding how fast it is, and the pictures look lovely on the phones 1080p display.
I would much rather have lower MP. pictures I can use than constantly having to delete blurry higher MP pictures.
Best thing to do? Check out both forums. They are a far more accurate representation of performance than reviews.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Currykiev said:
I've just been reading a thread on the S4 forum about the lag on the S4 camera. It can take superb landscape pictures in bright light but it struggles with moving images.
The One on the other hand is extremely fast which translates into, for the most part, images with no blurring. And of course low light pictures are far superior which is what everyone raves about.
It really depends what you want from a camera. I, like you, was worried that 4mp would be too much of a downgrade. I then started to think how I actually used my camera. I predominantly take pictures of my family and friends, kids playing in the park etc. I rarely ever view the pictures I've taken on a device that has a better resolution than 1080p and don't crop images often.
A 4mp camera is far higher resolution than 1080p.
As soon as I started snapping my kids, often indoors at dinner times with only fluorescent lighting, I was happy I plumped for the One. It really is astounding how fast it is, and the pictures look lovely on the phones 1080p display.
I would much rather have lower MP. pictures I can use than constantly having to delete blurry higher MP pictures.
Best thing to do? Check out both forums. They are a far more accurate representation of performance than reviews.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply
Does cropping render the quality very low?
Something to add, is that if you take low light video (night clubs, bars, dimly lit rooms etc) the video framerate will fluctuate between 17 and 30fps, causing it to look choppy. That is the only thing I hate about the One at the moment. Choppy video in low light. The galaxy s4 (and my old s3) do not have this issue
Galactus said:
Something to add, is that if you take low light video (night clubs, bars, dimly lit rooms etc) the video framerate will fluctuate between 17 and 30fps, causing it to look choppy. That is the only thing I hate about the One at the moment. Choppy video in low light. The galaxy s4 (and my old s3) do not have this issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just different companies prioritizing different things. The One tries to get in enough light regardless of what it has to do, and that means fluctuating frame rates in low light video. The S3, S4 and Lumia do different things in where they force 30FPS, but in return you get much less light in, making the video darker. But the phone is still plenty new, and we can all hope that HTC would give us an option for what we want, shutter speed priority mode please
ArmedandDangerous said:
It's just different companies prioritizing different things. The One tries to get in enough light regardless of what it has to do, and that means fluctuating frame rates in low light video. The S3, S4 and Lumia do different things in where they force 30FPS, but in return you get much less light in, making the video darker. But the phone is still plenty new, and we can all hope that HTC would give us an option for what we want, shutter speed priority mode please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, my issue is that they prioritized something that I'm not used to lol but yeah, hopefully that issue can be fixed
Speaking of the software, if they're gonna include Zoe and all that, I wish they'd provide a Highlight studio of sorts where you can choose the transitions/music/frames etc on the phone.
Currykiev said:
I've just been reading a thread on the S4 forum about the lag on the S4 camera. It can take superb landscape pictures in bright light but it struggles with moving images.
The One on the other hand is extremely fast which translates into, for the most part, images with no blurring. And of course low light pictures are far superior which is what everyone raves about.
It really depends what you want from a camera. I, like you, was worried that 4mp would be too much of a downgrade. I then started to think how I actually used my camera. I predominantly take pictures of my family and friends, kids playing in the park etc. I rarely ever view the pictures I've taken on a device that has a better resolution than 1080p and don't crop images often.
A 4mp camera is far higher resolution than 1080p.
As soon as I started snapping my kids, often indoors at dinner times with only fluorescent lighting, I was happy I plumped for the One. It really is astounding how fast it is, and the pictures look lovely on the phones 1080p display.
I would much rather have lower MP. pictures I can use than constantly having to delete blurry higher MP pictures.
Best thing to do? Check out both forums. They are a far more accurate representation of performance than reviews.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your reply.
Currently I have Galaxy S4 and I am thinking of returning it and going for HTC One. The camera is the only thing holding me back. I am super confused.
Could you please direct me to the two forums you have mentioned, being new I am unable to find them.
Thanks for the help.
Is it really 4 Mega pixels??
I thought it was 4 Ultra Pixels??
Surely that different?
"Ultra Pixel" is a marketing name for this sensor, it's still a 4MP device with bigger pixels to get more light and reach the f2.0 limit. Not more only bigger.
m.r.davies said:
Is it really 4 Mega pixels??
I thought it was 4 Ultra Pixels??
Surely that different?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's 4 Megapixel in resolution, but the sensor has more than 4Megapixels. They extra pixels are used solely to capture light, and that's why it has very good low light capabilities
Here's the technical explanation of this ST Microelectronics CMOS Sensor:
The Camera
The HTC One bucks the trend. Based on the 1/3″ form factor of a camera module and today’s state-of-the-art 1.1 µm pixels, all the latest competitive phones sport 13 Mp resolution. HTC has gone with a larger 2.0 µm pixel (confirmed) and a 4 MP sensor. They are pitching the low light sensitivity as a key feature. The device is a back-illuminated sensor fabricated by STMicroelectronics with die marks 58698A. This is the first BI sensor we have seen from ST.The camera uses the IDG-2021 gyroscope by Invensense for motion stabilization. It is a dual-axis gyro with high resolution ADCs designed specifically for optical image stabilization.The secondary sensor is a 2 Mp, 1.4 µm sensor by OmniVision with die marks OV2A9BA. It is a nice secondary sensor that we have seen before in other phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The moving video is fantastic with the optical gyro.always smooth videos.
And takes great night shots with longer exposure cause it's easy to get a steady photo.
Why does mine say pn071?
Sent from my HTC_PN071 using XDA Premium HD app
Personally I love the 4MP cam in the One. I came from a long line of iPhones and although they're not perfect, I realized that the most I was going to be doing was hold these images for viewing on my computer, sharing at times. Between the 13MP GS4 and the One I thought it was an easy decision to get the One. I just don't see a need for 13MP size picture files laying around in my computer taking up space.
Now I'm just a normal consumer from a photog perspective. I have a graphic arts background, but I rarely perform treatments or heavy manipulation on my own photos. Take some shots with the One demo at your local store. You'll be amazed at the clarity, especially when zoomed in.
So, i used this device for over a month and so far the camera works great to me, i compared it to other phones i got in touch like iPhone 4s, Note 2 and the S3, video recording is just great on HTC One, it just works better in my opinion, great clarity, good autofocus.
As for photos, it's great, all the photos on 100% zoom look bad, but the HTC One photos look modest at 100% zoom so i don't really think camera is a deal-breaker, it's a great camera the thing is HTC opted for a more revolutionary camera and so far i think they've done a pretty good job.
Hi
I've been objectively comparing the display on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 side by side and really question why we have 1080P screens on such small displays. Are we all so gullible we take in the marketing and believe more must be better?
Ignoring any arguments about better colors or contrast between the two phones, which have nothing to do with resolution, and that in my case the Nexus 4 looks little different from the Nexus 5 in color and contrast anyway, what about differences the extra resolution and slightly larger diagonal make?
Personally, I fail to see any differences in day to day use, even looking close up everything looks equal on both displays. Yes if I look very closely, closer than I would ever use the device in day to day use, I can just make out the pixel structure on the Nexus 4 where on the Nexus 5 I can't.
So what about the larger screen size? Well we get an extra 6mm approximately in height on the Nexus 5, the width is the same. This extra height has nothing to do with the greater resolution, but is caused by using non-square pixels on the Nexus 4. The aspect ratio of these displays should be 1.777 (1920/1080 or 1280/720 is 1.777). The Nexus 4 aspect ratio is 1.64, so was squashed vertically, the Nexus 5 is 1.78 so the correct aspect ratio. All they have done with the Nexus 5 is given it the correct aspect ratio, hence the extra 6mm in height and the resulting slightly larger diagonal. This could equally have been achieved using 1280x720.
Because we haven't really got a bigger display in the Nexus 5, just a correction of the aspect ratio (hence the width is the same on both), the screen doesn't really show any more information than the Nexus 4. As the display is now thinner compared to the Nexus 4 and due to the Nexus 5 setup, web pages with text will often wrap to the next line sooner than on the Nexus 4, so ironically with the Nexus 5 you may have less shown vertically than the Nexus 4. Sometimes other webpages will suit the taller Nexus 5 a bit better so you get a bit more in, overall though, it's swings and roundabouts.
What 1080P does provide is a faster draining battery as the back light needs to be more powerful to give the same visible brightness than a lower resolution display, and the graphics processor also needs to work much harder with all those extra pixels draining even more battery, that is never good in a phone. Wouldn't it be preferable for a 720P display that is less battery hungry and the R&D invested in better image quality rather than more pixels we can barely discern in such a small area?
So to sum up, what we have here in my opinion is just marketing. LCD phone panels are suffering the same marketing as mega pixels in cameras. Because the manufactures can provide LCD panels with ever growing pixel densities without too much extra cost, they are doing, as bigger numbers sell better and encourage us to replace perfectly good devices.
So for anyone considering the Nexus 5 to replace the Nexus 4 because they consider the larger screen will make the phone better to use for reading web pages etc, after all, the numbers of 1920x1080 compared to 1280x720 are compelling, in reality I'm not sure many people will notice a difference.
Regards
Phil
PhilipL said:
Why 1080P on a 5" LCD panel?
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Click to collapse
Simple: because we can.
And within 2 years we'll see 4K resolutions on such small panels as well so this is just scratching the surface (no pun intended) of hand-held touch-operated display technologies.
The only thing I could practically see as useful is being able to display more content on the screen due to DPI scaling. Even still, I don't think it would be significant enough for the tradeoff of battery drain. And it is less than ideal managing a lot of content on such a small screen.
Maybe as video resolution increases, the displays will be able to offer a slight benefit with a higher resolution (beyond 1080p), however pointless it may be. Perhaps phones with video output could benefit by having a higher resolution being able to be displayed on a much larger screen? I am not sure if this is software or hardware dependent so it could be a null point.
Other than that, I suppose they are available because it is possible. As technology advances, more powerful hardware is needed to support/benefit from it and innovation and all that stuff follows leading to more advanced technology.
So if we do end up going beyond 1080p for phones, there is a chance that it will require other related resources to improve in order for it to be useful. I could see breakthroughs in battery life or efficiency being made to support whatever ridiculous and unnecessary resolution display that may be created.
Sorry if what I said irks anybody for whatever reason, just my opinion of the current situation with phones and HD displays so let's all just be happy
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
I personally think it's noticeably sharper than my Nexus 4
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Just because you can't notice a difference does not mean you can speak for everyone.
5" is the borderline between 720p and 1080p. You can definitely notice the difference at 5.3", 5.5", 5.7", 6" etc., and most of us can see, albeit barely, the difference at 5", so why not get the 1080p goodie?
There are at least 2 benefits: subpixels are much more crowded so there are smaller gaps between them making a larger % of the screen covered (it makes a big difference!), plus no matter if you actually notice the difference, sharper image and more detailed text is more relaxing for your eyes to read.
I guess we could live with a 5" 720p screen, but the good news is: whatever technology debuted some 6 months ago, the Nexus line-up will get it for cheap. So the question is not why 1080p on a 5" LCD panel... but why not?
Because the 720p is awful right now I'll see the difference in a lot of things. Like images, text, internet pages, icons.
I thought the same thing at first, but looking at the screen, it's much sharper than the Nexus 4, especially when it comes to reading. The new thing roboto font complements the resolution perfectly.
BoneXDA said:
5" is the borderline between 720p and 1080p. You can definitely notice the difference at 5.3", 5.5", 5.7", 6" etc., and most of us can see, albeit barely, the difference at 5", so why not get the 1080p goodie?
There are at least 2 benefits: subpixels are much more crowded so there are smaller gaps between them making a larger % of the screen covered (it makes a big difference!), plus no matter if you actually notice the difference, sharper image and more detailed text is more relaxing for your eyes to read.
I guess we could live with a 5" 720p screen, but the good news is: whatever technology debuted some 6 months ago, the Nexus line-up will get it for cheap. So the question is not why 1080p on a 5" LCD panel... but why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "why not", is fairly easy, battery life. As you said the difference in quality is borderline. All of those saying there is a massive difference, well science disagrees with you. What your eye can actually see is defined for the standard 20/20 vision. There is a definitely "shinny new" element, which in many does overpower the science behind what and eye can actually see. It's sort of the same argument for 4k TVs. View distance is key in both.
SykesAT said:
The "why not", is fairly easy, battery life. As you said the difference in quality is borderline. All of those saying there is a massive difference, well science disagrees with you. What your eye can actually see is defined for the standard 20/20 vision. There is a definitely "shinny new" element, which in many does overpower the science behind what and eye can actually see. It's sort of the same argument for 4k TVs. View distance is key in both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Experience very much shows that higher resolution screen does NOT result in higher battery drain. Relative to battery capacity, the Galaxy S4's bigger and higher res screen is far more efficient that the S3's, same goes for the HTC One to One X, LG G2 to Optimus G, and the Nexus 5 does better video playback than the Nexus 4 as well (this is the least CPU-dependant testing that tells the most about the screen). This is because like SoCs, AMOLED and LCD technology also evolved in efficiency.
BoneXDA said:
Experience very much shows that higher resolution screen does NOT result in higher battery drain. Relative to battery capacity, the Galaxy S4's bigger and higher res screen is far more efficient that the S3's, same goes for the HTC One to One X, LG G2 to Optimus G, and the Nexus 5 does better video playback than the Nexus 4 as well (this is the least CPU-dependant testing that tells the most about the screen). This is because like SoCs, AMOLED and LCD technology also evolved in efficiency.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed, technology has evolved and become more efficient, but that does not address the power needs of the same gen tech when looking at 720p vs 1080p, nor viewing distances.
Hi
BoneXDA said:
5" is the borderline between 720p and 1080p. You can definitely notice the difference at 5.3", 5.5", 5.7", 6" etc., and most of us can see, albeit barely, the difference at 5", so why not get the 1080p goodie?
There are at least 2 benefits: subpixels are much more crowded so there are smaller gaps between them making a larger % of the screen covered (it makes a big difference!), plus no matter if you actually notice the difference, sharper image and more detailed text is more relaxing for your eyes to read.
I guess we could live with a 5" 720p screen, but the good news is: whatever technology debuted some 6 months ago, the Nexus line-up will get it for cheap. So the question is not why 1080p on a 5" LCD panel... but why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not get a 1080P panel, battery life perhaps and better quality 720P? The problem with all those pixels is you have loads of extra transistors and wiring on the display, all that means less of the display is being used to transmit light. If they take the same lithography, i.e. smaller transistors and wires that are required to pack in 1920x1080 to a 5" inch display to a 720P 5" panel, so no gaps and more screen area transmissible to light, it would use less power to back light than 720P displays have used before and would look better and brighter for less battery power than an equivalent 1080P display.
Of course we will get 2k displays or even 4k displays on 5" diagonals, then what will happen is what is happening to mobile phone cameras, it will come a point where they can't add any more pixels (with mobile phone cameras they are down to only measuring a few photons at at time in each pixel hence you get very noisy pictures in poor light), so the next marketing trick to sell to us will be as HTC have done with their cameras, reduce the numbers then tell us that the lower number of pixels were all along better.
By the time most people have covered the display with smudges and dust during normal day to day use, they are not going to notice the difference between a 5" display at 720p and 1080p at normal viewing distances. I've had friends fail to notice the difference between 720P and 1080P on the Nexus 7 with a 7" display let alone a 5" one. One friend actually preferred the 720P panel as he said text looked more like a good computer monitor display and was easier to read!
Don't get me wrong I like the Nexus 5, but think it would have been better with longer battery life and a brighter and better display that would have been available using the same new LCD technology but in a 720P panel. This would also give better manufacturing yields, and so reduce the price of display, with the savings going towards better calibration and consistent displays between devices. There is already a thread about poor quality control with very warm yellow displays on some Nexus 5's yet another Nexus 5 sat next to it is bright white looking completely difference. So much for the benefits of 1080P when no two phones are guaranteed to look the same.
Regards
Phil
Today's 1080 smartphone displays typically use less power overall than the last generation models with 720 displays, believe it or not. Note when I'm saying this I'm leaning more towards the actual display tech itself and not the backlight: when you account for the power requirements of the panel itself (not counting the draw from the backlight) the 1080 panel on the Nexus 5 pulls less current than the 720 on the Nexus 4 (which is more accurately 1280x768 so it's technically a bit more pixels)
The backlight remains the largest draw of current in a smartphone today in typical usage - it's only when you begin to max out the CPU+GPU at the same time will that really begin to sway favor away from the backlight itself.
If I honestly had my choice, I'd have SuperAMOLED(+) tech in every device but the issue there is a) it tends to wash out in direct sunlight (not that I can't cover the device with my hand or something and see it and b) AMOLED dies over time since the organic aspects literally just wear out.
LCDs are still pretty nice in my opinion, and they get the job done just fine, but it sure would be nice to find a way to do a proper backlight that actually get the job done without that massive power requirement that remains attached to that technology even today.
Also, 720p and 1080p are technically video formats, but people just keep right on referring to them as resolutions...
PhilipL said:
Hi
Why not get a 1080P panel, battery life perhaps and better quality 720P? The problem with all those pixels is you have loads of extra transistors and wiring on the display, all that means less of the display is being used to transmit light. If they take the same lithography, i.e. smaller transistors and wires that are required to pack in 1920x1080 to a 5" inch display to a 720P 5" panel, so no gaps and more screen area transmissible to light, it would use less power to back light than 720P displays have used before and would look better and brighter for less battery power than an equivalent 1080P display.
Of course we will get 2k displays or even 4k displays on 5" diagonals, then what will happen is what is happening to mobile phone cameras, it will come a point where they can't add any more pixels (with mobile phone cameras they are down to only measuring a few photons at at time in each pixel hence you get very noisy pictures in poor light), so the next marketing trick to sell to us will be as HTC have done with their cameras, reduce the numbers then tell us that the lower number of pixels were all along better.
By the time most people have covered the display with smudges and dust during normal day to day use, they are not going to notice the difference between a 5" display at 720p and 1080p at normal viewing distances. I've had friends fail to notice the difference between 720P and 1080P on the Nexus 7 with a 7" display let alone a 5" one. One friend actually preferred the 720P panel as he said text looked more like a good computer monitor display and was easier to read!
Don't get me wrong I like the Nexus 5, but think it would have been better with longer battery life and a brighter and better display that would have been available using the same new LCD technology but in a 720P panel. This would also give better manufacturing yields, and so reduce the price of display, with the savings going towards better calibration and consistent displays between devices. There is already a thread about poor quality control with very warm yellow displays on some Nexus 5's yet another Nexus 5 sat next to it is bright white looking completely difference. So much for the benefits of 1080P when no two phones are guaranteed to look the same.
Regards
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read my post above. The Nexus 5 screen is not just higher res, it's brighter, more accurate AND more efficient, therefore it's clearly producing better user experience. Your friend has his opinion, but he'll find very few he'd agree that the Nexus 4's 720p screen beats the Nexus 5's 1080p, and that's the comparison that matters since the 5 is replacing the 4.
The Nexus 5's battery problem comes from the battery itself: at an ever so slightly thicker frame the G2 and Droid MAXX managed to pack in 3000mAh+, too bad Google didn't go for that. But the 5 has still better battery life than the 4, and the 1080p still has better efficiency.
Also, are you really complaining about the price of the 1080p display... on a $350 high-end flagship phone?
because 'murica
thats all, we dont need more than 720p in less than 7", its inperceptible.. but yes we can.
Most people got the phone for the Qualcomm 800 CPU. What does this do? It measures the amount of energy the phone is asking for and makes it as efficient as possible for the phone. Works similarly then you see in a V-Tec or Eco-tec transmission in cars. Also, you gave a lot of opinions in your post, when, you said it would be purely objective. That would make it subjective. *note I didn't say purely subjective, because you did put in some data (objective) results.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
PhilipL said:
Hi
I've been objectively comparing the display on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 side by side and really question why we have 1080P screens on such small displays. Are we all so gullible we take in the marketing and believe more must be better?
Ignoring any arguments about better colors or contrast between the two phones, which have nothing to do with resolution, and that in my case the Nexus 4 looks little different from the Nexus 5 in color and contrast anyway, what about differences the extra resolution and slightly larger diagonal make?
Personally, I fail to see any differences in day to day use, even looking close up everything looks equal on both displays. Yes if I look very closely, closer than I would ever use the device in day to day use, I can just make out the pixel structure on the Nexus 4 where on the Nexus 5 I can't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can kid yourself but I regularly see substantial difference between the N5's 1080p and my GNex's 720p display and the GNex display is about the same as the Nexus 4. If you don't mind missing video information/detail then it makes sense to save some money on a middle of the road phone or buy a slightly overpriced moto x.
On the contrary, most are pleased with fine details in images and videos. If we weren't, the entire HD imaging industry wouldn't be where it is today. It's not marketing, it's consumer demand.
1080p is nice but I would have actually prefered a 720p display if it had the great view angles and contrast of the 2nd generation nexus 7. The panel on that is much nicer despite only being 323ppi.
Hi
TiltedAz said:
You can kid yourself but I regularly see substantial difference between the N5's 1080p and my GNex's 720p display and the GNex display is about the same as the Nexus 4. If you don't mind missing video information/detail then it makes sense to save some money on a middle of the road phone or buy a slightly overpriced moto x.
On the contrary, most are pleased with fine details in images and videos. If we weren't, the entire HD imaging industry wouldn't be where it is today. It's not marketing, it's consumer demand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not kidding myself I have both phones, I'm not trying to justify not buying a Nexus 5, I already did
The entire HD industry was built upon HD Ready TVs, at only 720P in the main to start with, set to retina burning brightness and dynamic contrast out the box so they could be sold with contrast ratios of 1,000,000:1 (remember big numbers sell more). The vast majority of people never adjust the TV to true to life settings, and then wonder why anyone with a tan looks orange, even if the tan isn't fake and just accept it! Here in the UK at least, HD broadcasts are so compressed they barely resolve more detail than a standard definition picture should. Our standard definition channels are so compressed they break up regularly into a mosaic of blocks and barely resolve the detail of 360P YouTube clip circa 1995. The vast majority of people don't question the quality, and many thought they were already watching HD just because the TV had an HD sticker on it, and I know a lot of these people. People on the whole don't really care about quality. Marketing swept people towards HD TV, and there are a huge number of people with HD TVs watching nothing more than badly over-compressed standard definition TV and streamed video, none the wiser.
Can a really over compressed 720P video streamed YouTube clip (I don't think they stream 1080P to mobile devices currently) on a 5" display be sharper with more detail when that display is 1080P and not 720P?
If you don't mind missing video information/detail then it makes sense to save some money on a middle of the road phone or buy a slightly overpriced moto x.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do mind missing video information than wouldn't want to watch YouTube or any other for mobile compressed video at all, most of the detail is thrown away in compression. Instead you'd sit down with your friends and family, hire or buy the Blu-ray version of a movie, have a good quality HD TV probably adjusted with a DTS AV decoder and surround sound audio, and enjoy the film as it was intended by the director.
For YouTube clips of someone pouring water over their new Nexus 5 or dropping it on to concrete until it smashes, clips of moody cats, or unboxing reviews of the latest gagdet, I think any resolution of 5" display will do just fine for the vast majority of people.
My argument really isn't relating to us techy types who pixel peek, but the vast majority of people that are persuaded to buy a new mobile phone on the basis of larger numbers driven by marketing, when in reality the benefits are not that great.
Regards
Phil
The Nexus 4 is actually 1280x768, not 1280x720. Anyway, I agree that it has become a marketing game, with 2560x1440 and higher phone displays already planned. It's questionable even if it doesn't cost a penny, because those extra pixels slow down the screen rendering.
The Nexus 5 looks and runs great, but everything's so big I feel like I'm using a toy phone. The PPI really would have made more sense on a 4.5/4.7" screen (or even a 4" screen for us small-handed), and for a budget phone I would have expected 720p (pixels) resolution. This would use less battery which would require less battery so it could have kept about the same thinness (but I'm perfectly happy adding thickness and heft for more battery).
I don't understand Google's thinking behind this phone. It's a great-quality phone, but it's just too big for the things on the screen. They look great about 10 inches away but normal distance from my face, about 7", everything just looks oversized. I feel like at this screen size they could have added another column or row to the launcher and had them match up to the bottom dock shortcuts.
I know how to change the PPI, but I would just more like to know what made Google decide to go with such huge icons and fonts on such a large screen with full HD (1080p) resolution and not add any more real estate to things like Chrome or Settings or anything.
dhinged said:
The Nexus 5 looks and runs great, but everything's so big I feel like I'm using a toy phone. The PPI really would have made more sense on a 4.5/4.7" screen (or even a 4" screen for us small-handed), and for a budget phone I would have expected 720p (pixels) resolution. This would use less battery which would require less battery so it could have kept about the same thinness (but I'm perfectly happy adding thickness and heft for more battery).
I don't understand Google's thinking behind this phone. It's a great-quality phone, but it's just too big for the things on the screen. They look great about 10 inches away but normal distance from my face, about 7", everything just looks oversized. I feel like at this screen size they could have added another column or row to the launcher and had them match up to the bottom dock shortcuts.
I know how to change the PPI, but I would just more like to know what made Google decide to go with such huge icons and fonts on such a large screen with full HD (1080p) resolution and not add any more real estate to things like Chrome or Settings or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't change the PPI, you change the density lol
The Nexus 5 isn't really meant to be as much of a "budget phone" as it is a "developer device" (officially for AOSP, and unofficially on here) or "reference device for other OEMs", hence why it has a 1080p display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800. It just happens to be cheaper as they also cut some corners (and probably to make it burn a smaller hole in developer's wallets).
Anyways, nothing looks "oversized" without changing the density. Most (if not, then all) Android devices have the density set relative to the resolution (NOT physical screen size nor pixels per inch) as well as what sort of device it is (phone or tablet). It's a standard, not "whatever the OEM wants", if an OEM wants something to appear smaller or larger in their bloated system apps, they're going to modify the app itself, not change the density (which affects ALL apps rather than just the intended). I also have a Note 3 (which I never use and just gathers dust), it's the same resolution but much larger, and the stock density on that is also set to 480 (same as the Nexus 5). I also know that the HTC One (M8) and OnePlus One are also set to 480. Just about ANY Android phone with a 1080p display uses 480 (stock, at least), I don't know of one that doesn't.
dhinged said:
The Nexus 5 looks and runs great, but everything's so big I feel like I'm using a toy phone. The PPI really would have made more sense on a 4.5/4.7" screen (or even a 4" screen for us small-handed), and for a budget phone I would have expected 720p (pixels) resolution. This would use less battery which would require less battery so it could have kept about the same thinness (but I'm perfectly happy adding thickness and heft for more battery).
I don't understand Google's thinking behind this phone. It's a great-quality phone, but it's just too big for the things on the screen. They look great about 10 inches away but normal distance from my face, about 7", everything just looks oversized. I feel like at this screen size they could have added another column or row to the launcher and had them match up to the bottom dock shortcuts.
I know how to change the PPI, but I would just more like to know what made Google decide to go with such huge icons and fonts on such a large screen with full HD (1080p) resolution and not add any more real estate to things like Chrome or Settings or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova Launcher is the solution
I liked more the Galaxy Nexus size. Based on my experience "width" is what matters for one-handed phones.
However....5" is not bad. The only f***** thing here is the resolution. 1080p is a waste for a simple 5" screen.
It must be something slightly bigger than 720 without jumping to 1080.
Sent from my Nexus 5
I have no problem with the dpi [emoji4]
thesebastian said:
I liked more the Galaxy Nexus size. Based on my experience "width" is what matters for one-handed phones.
However....5" is not bad. The only f***** thing here is the resolution. 1080p is a waste for a simple 5" screen.
It must be something slightly bigger than 720 without jumping to 1080.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1080 isn't a waste at all. Its HD. If it makes sense on a 32" TV several feet away, it makes sense on a 5".screen several inches away. Its called "viewing distance".
Choosing some arbitrary resolution between 720 and 1080 is a silly idea. These resolutions are a global standard and media content is created to these standards. Choosing something win between would mean no content was optimised for our display so something would be lost in the downscaling or upscaling.
1080p is perfect for the distance you view it. If you sit 1 metre away from a 50" 1080p TV, it won't look HD. It will look lower blocky. That is because the pixels are literally bigger than a 32" TV of the same resolution. Its designed to be viewed from further away. As you move the TV further away, the image gets clearer as the pixels appear smaller.
All PPI is about is measuring the amount of pixels in an inch. This is a fixed value. A 1080 screen always has the same amount of pixels. This means the pixels are bigger on a bigger screen, so the PPI decreases. The smaller the PPI is, the further away you would expect to view it from.
1080p on a 5" screen would be ridiculous if the device was intended to be used at over 1 metre away though. Because that is beyond the optimum viewing distance. It would mean that the image again lost detail.
I think 2k and 4k on this size screen is over kill. But that's not because of these reasons. We would definitely notice a sharper image on the display. The problem is that there is a massive performance hit. The GPU works harder meaning its slower than it would be on a lower resolution. It uses battery because of this.since there is very little content, its not a worthwhile trade off at this time.
That said though, visually it would look better. The screen may need to be 6" to really get the benefit though. Otherwise the PPI would be too high for the viewing distance and your need to move the display closer than the screen closer than the usual distance to get the full effect
DPI is something entirely different. That's what causes the assets on screen (buttons, icons etc) to appear bigger or smaller.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Yeah I know all that. Just saying...1080 is a waste for a 5". A waste of GPU and resources.
We don't really need more than 330ppi on a Phone....
Sent from my Nexus 5
thesebastian said:
Yeah I know all that. Just saying...1080 is a waste for a 5". A waste of GPU and resources.
We don't really need more than 330ppi on a Phone....
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your first sentence directly contradicts your last sentence. If you understood optimal viewing distances you would know that we do need a higher PPI. Why should we be restricted to lower quality videos on a mobile phone?
Yes,it uses more resources to play higher resolution content. But its not a waste because a majority of content is at that resolution
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Well at the distance I use the phone 330ppi is optimal!
I think 330 is ok for phones. Look at the iPhones they've a good screen without having 400+ PPI.
Sent from my Nexus 5
thesebastian said:
Well at the distance I use the phone 330ppi is optimal!
I think 330 is ok for phones. Look at the iPhones they've a good screen without having 400+ PPI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see you're still a bit confused about your argument. PPI is not the unit of measure you should be using. It does nothing to tell us resolution OR screensize so as a number on it's own is entirely useless.
PPI is just a result of resolution and screen size
PPI = width squared + length squared, divided by the square root of screen size.
Optimal viewing distance is about resolution and screen size. The bigger a screen, the further away it needs to be for the resolution to be correct. You can't say "330ppi is optimal" because that's not how it works. You can have 2 completely different resolutions with the same PPI.
For example, on a 5" screen, 720x1500 would be 330 PPI.
Similarly, on a 10" screen, 1500x2950 would be 330 PPI.
The optimal viewing distance of both these example screens is completely different so to say that 330PPI is optimal for a distance is wholly wrong. You cannot use PPI as a valid unit of measure unless you first specify a screen size. There is no such thing as optimal viewing distance for a PPI.
Optimal viewing distance is about resolution and screen size. If you stick to 1 resolution (lets use 1080p as the obvious example), the optimal viewing distance of a 5" screen is less than the optimal viewing distance of a 10" screen. This is because the pixels are bigger on the 10" screen. if you compare an image on a 10" screen to an image of a 5" screen at the same resolution AND distance, and at the opwholeytimal viewing distance of the 5" screen, the 4" image will be crisp and share where as the 10" image will be blocky. You have to increase the viewing distance of the 10" screen to get the same crisp image.
wholey
You can practice this yourself. Put a 1080p movie on your Phone and TV. Watch the movie on your phone at 5" from your face. Watch teh movie on the TV at the same distance. Forget the fact you cannot see the entire screen. Focus on the centre of the screen. You will be able to pick out individual pixels and the section of the screen you are looking at will not appear as a single image. Just a series of blocks. The bigger your TV, the more noticeable this will be.
To get a 330 PPI value on a 4.95" screen like the nexus 5, and maintain 16:9 aspect ratio, you'd be looking at 1450x816 resolution. There are ways to work out optimal viewing distances, but it's quite complex. If you're interested, you can find that information here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_HDTV_viewing_distance
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VD: Viewing distance
DS: Display's diagonal size
NHR: Display's native horizontal resolution (in pixels)
NVR: Display's native vertical resolution (in pixels)
CVR: Vertical resolution of the video being displayed (in pixels)
The optimal viewing distance for a screen the size of a nexus 5 is 7.2 inches (0.6 foot) - which is about what we hold it at.*
*based on:
http://www.calculatorpro.com/calculator/tv-screen-size-calculator/
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html
Now I suppose when we get up to 2k and 4k, there will be a problem. At that distance, the human eye may fail to recognise a difference between 1080p and higher resolutions. To get benefit, the screen would need to be bigger and further away...although some say for those holding the screen right up close to their face, characters will look better
All that said, I can recognise a difference between 720p and 1080p at that distance. So yeah, 1080p is about for a screen our size. Or also for a tablet, which typically would use ant a slightly further way distance than a phone.
So really, it all depends on your eyesight or how short your arms are. If you hold the phone too close to your face, 1080p is not optimal on a 5" screen. You would probably want a smaller screen or a higher resolution, otherwise it may appear blocky. At the appropriate distance for a mobile phone, anything over 1080p may be pointless but bringing it closer may prove beneficial, but that could cause eye strain as you're focusing too close.
There is a really useful chart here
In summary:
If you hold your phone further than the optimal distance, you may get away with losing some resolution as the further away it is, the less you'll notice. OR you need a bigger screen to make it the optimal viewing distance for that resolution
If you hold your phone closer than the optimal distance, you could need to get a higher resolution OR a smaller screen
Like TV's, you should buy the size or resolution based on your fixed viewing distance. For a TV, its the resolution standard of 1080p (because most of our content is that resolution) then you look at the distance your sofa is from the TV stand and buy the correct size. Assuming you need the same resolution for content on your phone, you look at the distance and buy the appropriate screen size. People who hold their phones closer will want a smaller screen for 1080. People who hold them further away will want a bigger screen at that resolution. This trend will continue as content resolution increases, but this cannot go on forever.
Yeah sorry, when i said "phone" i was meant aproximately 5"... Not 4" or 6" or much more.
I was trying to say that I prefer a 5" screen with 720p than a 5" screen with 1080p. Regardless of the lose of quality.
thesebastian said:
Yeah sorry, when i said "phone" i was meant aproximately 5"... Not 4" or 6" or much more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok no worries.
As I say, it depends on how good your eyes are and how far away you hold your phone. 1080 is about right for a 5" screen if you have 20/20 vision and hold your phone an average distance from your face, so the 1080p resolution is the average for our phone.
thesebastian said:
I was trying to say that I prefer a 5" screen with 720p than a 5" screen with 1080p. Regardless of the lose of quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So then this probably means that you hold your phone a little further away than average... and if you do that's fine. It just means that you're outside the bounds of what a Nexus 5 is catered for, which is the masses (average)
EDIT > I'm like you though, but with 1080. 1080 is great for me with a 5" screen. A higher resolution at that size would be almost pointless for me as I would need to hold it closer, so to get a 2k phone, I would need a bigger screen size as holding it closer isn't really an option.
rootSU said:
EDIT > I'm like you though, but with 1080. 1080 is great for me with a 5" screen. A higher resolution at that size would be almost pointless for me as I would need to hold it closer, so to get a 2k phone, I would need a bigger screen size as holding it closer isn't really an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just thought I'd say I agree with you lol 1080p is enough on a phone, for most. On a tablet however, higher than 1080p would be pretty nice if the specifications support it decently.
Lethargy said:
Just thought I'd say I agree with you lol 1080p is enough on a phone, for most. On a tablet however, higher than 1080p would be pretty nice if the specifications support it decently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I also forgot to say that bigger than a 5" screen is also not an option for me as I cant reach everywhere one handed. So I cannot increase screen size and I cannot ergonomically reduce viewing distance, so I am stuck at 1080. With a tablet, one-handed operation wouldn't be a restriction, so I could increase screen size. My viewing distance would be largely the same, so the 1080p resolution could get blocky with a bigger screen if I don't increase the resolution.
Not sure what the next gen of phones I buy will offer. I'm possibly willing to go up to 5.5". BUT I don't think that increase in size would warrant an increase in resolution for me. So if OEM's start to make 2k the standard, I'm going to have a problem.
rootSU said:
Yeah. I also forgot to say that bigger than a 5" screen is also not an option for me as I cant reach everywhere one handed. So I cannot increase screen size and I cannot ergonomically reduce viewing distance, so I am stuck at 1080. With a tablet, one-handed operation wouldn't be a restriction, so I could increase screen size. My viewing distance would be largely the same, so the 1080p resolution could get blocky with a bigger screen if I don't increase the resolution.
Not sure what the next gen of phones I buy will offer. I'm possibly willing to go up to 5.5". BUT I don't think that increase in size would warrant an increase in resolution for me. So if OEM's start to make 2k the standard, I'm going to have a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nexus 5's 4.95" and 1080p already feels perfect.. I have a Note 3 and never use it since I hate the size (and not to mention being a Samsung product). I have a feeling that if newer devices are going to be larger, I'll be sticking with my Nexus 5 for a little longer.
Lethargy said:
The Nexus 5's 4.95" and 1080p already feels perfect.. I have a Note 3 and never use it since I hate the size (and not to mention being a Samsung product). I have a feeling that if newer devices are going to be larger, I'll be sticking with my Nexus 5 for a little longer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that.. Note 2/3 have attractive amoled screens, but when it comes to an actual professional pure crisp and sharp screen nexus 5 is damm good.. Extremely sharp and natural colors
Lethargy said:
The Nexus 5's 4.95" and 1080p already feels perfect.. I have a Note 3 and never use it since I hate the size (and not to mention being a Samsung product). I have a feeling that if newer devices are going to be larger, I'll be sticking with my Nexus 5 for a little longer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think for a lot of people, 5" is the sweet spot.
ali262883 said:
True that.. Note 2/3 have attractive amoled screens, but when it comes to an actual professional pure crisp and sharp screen nexus 5 is damm good.. Extremely sharp and natural colors
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AMOLED.. Personally I think they're ugh. Mostly people who do nothing but Facebook/etc on their silly Samsung devices (aka the majority) say its better, but colour reproduction means nothing to them. Lol. I love the Nexus 5's screen.
Lethargy said:
AMOLED.. Personally I think they're ugh. Mostly people who do nothing but Facebook/etc on their silly Samsung devices (aka the majority) say its better, but colour reproduction means nothing to them. Lol. I love the Nexus 5's screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a compromise. LCD is better colour reproduction but then Amoled have individual pixel lighting, meaning pure black saves energy and also can be used as a night clock without the entire backlight panel lighting up the room.
2 ways to address this.
1) Colour profiles for AMOLED.
2) LED backlighting like TV's for LCD
I love my lcd screen more than my friend's s4 amoled screen [emoji14].. Its colorful but not as sharp as that of nexus 5.. And whites are completely dead..
I am debating whether I should upgrade my Note 3 to the Note 4 in part from movie watching. I am afraid that 1080p movies would look blurry and less sharp due to the pixels being stretched out to fit the 2K resolution. I do not think that the note 4 has upconversion of 1080p to 2K. I do a lot of 1080p movie watching on my note 3 on the go.
If the 1080p movies look worse on the Note 4, I may just get the iphone 6 plus to try out the ios system since I have never own an iphone before. My previous phones were the HTC HD2, Note 1, Note 2 and I am currently using the Note 3.
The screen's so small, I doubt you'd notice a difference.
Mi|enko said:
The screen's so small, I doubt you'd notice a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering the same thing.
It will look better due to pixel density
oneandroidnut said:
It will look better due to pixel density
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are wrong. If you put a lower resolution source into a higher resolution screen the picture quality would look worse.
Earthbrain said:
You are wrong. If you put a lower resolution source into a higher resolution screen the picture quality would look worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you have a phone with greater then 1080p?
I have a note 12.2 with 2560 x 1600 resolution and 1080p content looks like standard 480p maybe a little better.
I would find the best resolution as not to take it too big that it take up space on my device or rip too low that I see jagged edges. Definately not 640x480 rips.
natienn said:
I have a note 12.2 with 2560 x 1600 resolution and 1080p content looks like standard 480p maybe a little better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
12.2" screen. Not apples to apples. 1080 content on my G3 looks great.
oneandroidnut said:
do you have a phone with greater then 1080p?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I do not have a phone with resolution greater than 1080p but if you look at the post right after yours from a poster named Natienn then you can see that 1080p content would not look good in higher resolution screen. Maybe because the Note 4 is only 5.7" , the image quality may not be as bad as the bigger screen tablet with higher resolution.
Having a 2k display won't make a 1080p video looks worst, indeed it can look even better.
It will look like normal 1080p
720p movies look great on my 1080p nexus 7 2013, so I'd suspect 1080p movies would look great on a much faster device with a better display.
1080p videos look good on the G3
Sent from my LG G3
Mi|enko said:
The screen's so small, I doubt you'd notice a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
After 3 pixels you get one more (1920 = 3*640 -> 2560 = 4*640). So regulary after 2 pixels, the 3rd one will be streched to match the next 2 pixels (3rd one and 4rd one). So every 3rd px is a double one.
But in reality, there is anti-aliazing and some others algorithm for upscaling, so videos will look even better. So I think, 1080p will look great on Note 4.
Now we are getting mathematical... That's just sad. The quality is dependent on the content. It will either look about the same or slightly better. No need to get all technical or defensive. It's the content that decides.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app
Earthbrain said:
You are wrong. If you put a lower resolution source into a higher resolution screen the picture quality would look worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I believe that in this case you're wrong buddy. Even the source being a lower resolution video than the display it will look better due the pixel density than it would on a Galaxy s4 (for instance) that have a 1080p display.
Obviously to take full advantage you should look for a 2k resolution video but the 1080p video will be better on n4 display (not because of the resolution alone) but because of the screen itself.
Both is same size 5.7" which means the video will look identical, plus side 2K display due to it higher density will make the 1080P movie look much better on Note 4.
my only theory is that if you take standard TV and put in on a HDTV it looks like crap, but if you put it back on a 4:3 old school tv then it actually looks good. But things have changed from back then so we wont really know until we receive the device and see how the hardware and software works with upscaling the video. That's what it all comes down to really.
I bought Gear VR for Note 4 based on positive review, but after using it for two nights, I decide to send it back due to low resolution. Here's my illustration of how resolution is archived and my thought on it:
Movie watching experience: Low resolution ruins it. It's bad to watch anything on a 480p screen at a size of 200". Plus No DTS/AC3 support, no smb support in Oculus cinema.
Kodi supports DTS or AC3, but it also reveals that the field of view from Gear VR only covers part of Note 4's screen. See my illustration in attachment. The header, footer as well as 4 corners are not covered, which means that only central part of a movie is viewable.
Ideally, 720p (1280x720) resolution for each eye can be achieved from Note 4's 2560x1440 screen if the rectangle of half screen inscribed in the the field of view like some cardboard does. But the way Samsung's implementation of it's Gear VR makes it unable to fully take advantage of Note 4's screen. The best movie resolution that Gear VR can archive is 972x546. I understand that Samsung's take is good for VR for there is no unilluminated area within it's field of view.
I wish Samsung would come up with a new product that allow the rectangle of half screen inscribed in the field of view instead of the other way around. I think this can be archived by another set of lenes with less multiply factors than current ones. Even at 720p, the screen doesn't need to be 200". 150" would suits the pixel better.
When it comes to VR, Samsung Gear VR also suffers from low resolution. Plus 360 degree video makes me dizzy. I downloaded and watched almost all 360 degree video from youtube but I'm not impressed enough. The people figures are larger than real life. Everyone looks like giants in these videos. Among videos, I prefer those taken from a steady position. First person action view just makes me dizzy. I think it's due to my brain can't process it when the vr scene is moving around but my head is not.
360 degree picture is quite a pleasure to view though.
Sold mine to a colleague due to the exact same reasons
shadowcliffs said:
I bought Gear VR for Note 4 based on positive review, but after using it for two nights, I decide to send it back due to low resolution. Here's my illustration of how resolution is archived and my thought on it:
Movie watching experience: Low resolution ruins it. It's bad to watch anything on a 480p screen at a size of 150". Plus No DTS/AC3 support, no smb support in Oculus cinema.
Kodi supports DTS or AC3, but it also reveals that that the field of view from Gear VR only covers part of Note 4's screen. See my illustration in attachment. The header, footer as well as 4 corners are not covered, which means that only central part of a movie is viewable.
Ideally, 720p (1280x720) resolution for each eye can be archived from Note 4's 2560x1440 screen if the rectangle of half screen inscribed in the the field of view like some cardboard does. But the way Samsung implements it's Gear VR makes it unable to fully take advantage of Note 4's screen. The best movie resolution that Gear VR can archive is 972x546. I understand that Samsung's take is good for VR for there is no unilluminated area within it's field of view.
I wish Samsung would come up with a new product that focuses on watching movies .
When it comes to VR, Samsung Gear VR also suffers from low resolution. Plus 360 degree video makes me dizzy. I downloaded and watched almost all 360 degree video from youtube but not impressed enough. The people figures are lager than real life. Everyone looks like giants in these videos. Among videos, I prefer those taken from a steady position. First person action view just makes me dizzy. I think it's due to my brain can't process it when the vr scene is moving around but my head is not.
360 degree picture is quite a pleasure to view.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not questioning the validity pic you put up, but can I ask how you came to the conclusion that it only uses 972x546 pixels of the screen? Is it official information, or did you measure it somehow?
Toss3 said:
Not questioning the validity pic you put up, but can I ask how you came to the conclusion that it only uses 972x546 pixels of the screen? Is it official information, or did you measure it somehow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's based on my calculation given my understanding of how it works (as illustrated) is correct. Samsung claims the resolution for each eye is 1440x1280, which is misleading IMO. Same reason as explained in the illustration.
shadowcliffs said:
That's based on my calculation given my understanding of how it works (as illustrated) is correct.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just put my N4 in my Gear VR holding my thumb to the proximity sensor, so that I could see observe the screen when connected and they are not using a completely square image - it looks more like this (except there's a gap in the middle):
It also doesn't the entire width available, but it looks like it's using more than what you have in your picture. The gap between the images is about 4mm and the gap between the image and the sides is about half that (2mm). The top and bottom gaps are about 5mm. So it's definitely using more than 720 pixels for the height, but less than 1280 pixels for the width.
EDIT: I measured it using a tape measure (not any exact numbers, but more accurate than those I came up with).
So based on these measurements the screen would use about 1190 pixels at its widest point, and 1240 pixels at its highest.
The graph shows the best scenario, where movie screen fills your entire FOV. But this is not comfortable for most viewers, and you are likely to "sit back" a little. Since you're looking through the same matrix of pixels, you are then effectively losing screen resolution, going somewhere to 480p like OP mentioned.
What's also sad, when we reach the Holy Grail of 4K (with Note 5), the movie screen would still be only 1460x820.
If you want best experience with 2D HD content, you're better off moving your chair closer to a TV than strapping Gear onto your head.
Nickoz said:
The graph shows the best scenario, where movie screen fills your entire FOV. But this is not comfortable for most viewers, and you are likely to "sit back" a little. Since you're looking through the same matrix of pixels, you are then effectively losing screen resolution, going somewhere to 480p like OP mentioned.
What's also sad, when we reach the Holy Grail of 4K (with Note 5), the movie screen would still be only 1460x820.
If you want best experience with 2D HD content, you're better off moving your chair closer to a TV than strapping Gear onto your head.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually just tried to measure the screen in the cinema mode, and came up with ≈ 45mm. The screen width is 125mm, which means that half that would be 62,5mm, which would give us an approximate horizontal resolution of 45/62,5*1280 = 921pixels. Pretty much explains everything right there. Even with a 4k screen the horizontal resolution in a comfortable mode would only be 1382 px.
The screen height (screen is not a perfect rectangle) at its highest point is ≈25mm. So with a screen height of 70mm that gives us a vertical resolution of 25/70*1440≈514px.
So based on my measurements the resolution you get is pretty much 921x514 (screen is not a perfect rectangle) at the widest and highest parts.
When it comes to watching movies, the screen will be cropped to the aspect ratio of close to 1.78:1, that's how I estimated it at an effective resolution of 972x546 (the biggest 1.78:1 rectangle inscribed in the FOV circle).
You just showed that the actual FOV is not exactly a circle. Now the question is, is the actual FOV inscribed in the theoretical FOV, or the other way around. I guess a way to find out is to look through gear vr at a picture with measurement markers.
And again, in best scenario the effective movie-watching-resolution based on Note 4 screen is 720p (1280x720) considering the aspect ratio of 1.78:1. This best scenario is achieved when the rectangle of half screen (1440*1280) inscribed in the FOV. This is the case in my Chinese version of Google cardboard where the movie screen is smaller (equal to 150" from 10 feet away, more or less) and the pixel is less obvious. So the difference of this Chinese version of Google cardboard vs Samsung Gear VR is like 150" 720p screen vs 200" 5xxp screen.
Not sure about the original Google cardboard for I don't have one.
Toss3 said:
Just put my N4 in my Gear VR holding my thumb to the proximity sensor, so that I could see observe the screen when connected and they are not using a completely square image - it looks more like this (except there's a gap in the middle):
It also doesn't the entire width available, but it looks like it's using more than what you have in your picture. The gap between the images is about 4mm and the gap between the image and the sides is about half that (2mm). The top and bottom gaps are about 5mm. So it's definitely using more than 720 pixels for the height, but less than 1280 pixels for the width.
EDIT: I measured it using a tape measure (not any exact numbers, but more accurate than those I came up with).
So based on these measurements the screen would use about 1190 pixels at its widest point, and 1240 pixels at its highest.
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Nickoz said:
The graph shows the best scenario, where movie screen fills your entire FOV. But this is not comfortable for most viewers, and you are likely to "sit back" a little. Since you're looking through the same matrix of pixels, you are then effectively losing screen resolution, going somewhere to 480p like OP mentioned.
What's also sad, when we reach the Holy Grail of 4K (with Note 5), the movie screen would still be only 1460x820.
If you want best experience with 2D HD content, you're better off moving your chair closer to a TV than strapping Gear onto your head.
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In theory (if my theory is not faulted), to be 1080p movie ready for each eye, the width of the half screen needs to be 1920, which equal to 3840 in whole screen. The height is already more than enough (1440 available, 1080 needed). So the resolution needed from the phone screen is 3840x(1080 to 2160, the former may make the phone too long, but who knows right? The latter will keep the same aspect ratio as Note 4).
Can the lenses on gear vr be replaced so that it will make the screen through it smaller, for watching movie's sake?
I love mine as a great start to mobile VR and i have watch lots of films via oculus cinema. Can't wait for note 5 and new gear vr but perfect start samsung
hashcheck said:
I love mine as a great start to mobile VR and i have watch lots of films via oculus cinema. Can't wait for note 5 and new gear vr but perfect start samsung
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Here I'm mainly talking about movie-watching ecperience. The experience is ymmv. For a guy used to watch movie on a 120" projector screen, or a 60" 3D Samsung TV, gear vr experience is unbearable, while Chinese version Google cardboard is very impressive except for it's build is not goog enough.
shadowcliffs said:
Here I'm mainly talking about movie-watching ecperience. The experience is ymmv. For a guy used to watch movie on a 120" projector screen, or a 60" 3D Samsung TV, gear vr experience is unbearable, while Chinese version Google cardboard is very impressive except for it's build is not goog enough.
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I have a 120" movie screen (only 1080p though), and I personally don't find the experience "unbearable", just not as good. Still think it beats watching the movie on just your phone though or laptop.
Totally agree Toss3
Toss3 said:
I have a 120" movie screen (only 1080p though), and I personally don't find the experience "unbearable", just not as good. Still think it beats watching the movie on just your phone though or laptop.
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Right, I realized that unbearable is too much of a word. I meant to say that I still prefer to watch movies on 120" projector screen or 60" LED TV over current gear vr. It's a pity because gear vr would have done better. I'm impressed with it's build and the quality of lens, but the lens is not of the correct multiply factor for watching movies.
The gearvr resolution actually gets better overtime as you start not noticing the screen door effect the more you use it. Sure it's not perfect but heaps better then the oculus rift dk2. I'm can't wait for note 5 version
Average viewable res is 540p. Void mode shows more content at about 640p since no VR graphics (depending on video format).
I prefer Void due to more of the video res shown, can view laying down and at least 30% more battery life.