Total display area

[Gary02468]

Well it's a lose-lose situation. Viewing it one way you lose part of the screen with black bars viewing it the other way you lose part of the video.

That's like saying that your older 2560x1440 screen is lose-lose because you're cropping the original full-4k video to a slightly different aspect ratio.

Any video camera that isn't VR is already cropping reality down to some rectangle. What you see with the S8+ is what you'd see if the video camera's sensor had had a native resolution of 2960x1440 instead of full-4k resolution.

 

[theelite1x87]

I prefer videos in original aspect ratio. No crop or zoom. I compared the S8 plus to my V10 at Best buy streaming the same YouTube video. Even with bars on left and right the video size was about the same as it is on my 5.7inch screen on this V10. That works for me.

 

[rushmore]

Just compare to a 5.2" device for the 8 and 5.5" device for the 8+. If you don't mind black bars for most photo and video content (most probably won't mind), the devices rock.

Crossing fingers the Note 8 has same display portrait width as the Note 7

 

[rushmore]

I prefer videos in original aspect ratio. No crop or zoom. I compared the S8 plus to my V10 at Best buy streaming the same YouTube video. Even with bars on left and right the video size was about the same as it is on my 5.7inch screen on this V10. That works for me.

Compared to my Note 4, most content (image and video) on the 8+ is noticeably smaller. The objective points of reference being the black side bars. Ditto for game emulators. Filling the screen makes the games look way too wide (almost all are 4:3). Even for PSP emulator that is 16:9 games look odd.

Regardless, the devices are nice.

 

[bassplayrguy]

Thanks for breaking this down. I have a note 4, and wanted a slightly smaller phone... I thought the S8 was perfect, until I went to the store and saw it, I couldn't get over the narrowness. It's a bit of an illusion from my perspective because we see the math broke down here. I even made a couple of cut outs of my note 4 and the S8 to ease my mind. I think i made the right choice.

I have seen in some videos though where you can do something to get rid of the black bars on the sides since most of the videos aren't in 18:9 now. I wasn't paying attention to how much it was distorted though.

There is an option to play them full screen. No distortion at all. This display leagues above anything out right now.

 

[rushmore]

There is an option to play them full screen. No distortion at all. This display leagues above anything out right now.

Whuuu? Full screen for image and video content equals cropping and side scrolling games in profile mode are awkward. The display tech is above anything, but the display ratio is not optimized for hardly any content.

Great device, but the the ratio is not content friendly unless do not mind black bars and cropping.