Ortustech launches 4.8-inch 1080p display

That's almost the resolution of my ACD.

:-(. Seems unnecessary (and emasculating).

"To date, that's the highest pixel density found on any portable device, but it may not be for long."

Not so fast with the grand sweeping statements.

Neither the iPhone 4 display, or this 4.8" 1080P display are higher than the 3 inch displays on several cameras that have been available for years.

Most high-end DSLR's have 3 inch, 4:3 ratio, 920,000 pixel displays. Do the math and that comes out to 462 pixels per inch. Quite a bit higher than Apple's 326. Examples are Nikon and Canon DSLR's, and Ricoh's compact cameras.

Apple's genius was in branding the the resolution of their display, and marketing it as a major feature (which it is). The camera manufacturers mistake was not to push the quality of their displays.

One reason for higher density is to reduce secondary effects such as Moire patterns that can be created when periodic data (such as fabric textures) is mapped to a display. These can be visible even when individual pixels aren't discernible.

Here's a little math for you. The minimum angle of resolution for your eye is given by α=1.22*λ/a, where λ is the wavelength of light and a is the pupil diameter, about 2 mm. A little trigonometric approximation shows that α=y/l too, where y is the separation between two points and l is the distance. Plugging in λ~550 nm (green light, mid-range in the spectrum) and y=1/458 in, then solving for l (the closest distance you can resolve the pixels) we get 17 cm. That's a bit smaller than two hand widths. Holding the screen any further away than that, and it's actually impossible to see pixels.

A similar calculation for the Retina Display gives 24 cm, a slightly more reasonable distance to hold a portable device, but still kinda close.

this is *glasses on*... pointless.


but seriously, why? the retina display on my iPhone/iPod Touch with 300+ dpi already has a high enough pixel density to make it pixel less. It's pretty much a pissing contest to go beyond that.