High resolution reproduction

[fasst27]

So... A friend purchased an Apple iPad 3 and when we began comparing resolutions, I noticed that a photo (hand touching iPad screen) from Apple's website looked amazing on the iPad, but when I loaded it up on my Galaxy note it looked like a cheap knockoff. Upclose, the iPad could perfectly reproduce the small fingerprint folds on the person's hand and other fine details. Android - nope.

I thought that it may have been due to jpeg compression in the browser, but when I downloaded the photo on to the Note it still looked all compressed.

I understand that the resolutions of the two don't compare, but why are high resolution photos poorly reproduced on Android?

 

[UCLA 15]

This is purely about the displays and has nothing to do with the OS. If something looks better on the iPad, it's because the iPad has a better display, plain and simple.

 

[fasst27]

That can not be correct.

Galaxy Note's screen - 284 PPI

iPad 3's screen - 264 PPI

I'm not talking about screen pixels. I'm talking about image compression. That is for sure done by OS.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

That can not be correct.

Galaxy Note's screen - 284 PPI

iPad 3's screen - 264 PPI

I'm not talking about screen pixels. I'm talking about image compression. That is for sure done by OS.

Maybe...The resolution on the new iPad is still much higher (almost double) which has an effect. PPI isn't the determining factor here, the iPad can display much more information than anything out right now. It excels at fine detail. And sharpness doesn't suffer because it has an RGB layout, not Pentile like the Note.

 

[MrSmith317]

This should actually be taken back to the LCD vs LED thread. The pentile display on the Note doesn't hold up against some of the HTC phones that have 720p SLCD's . So to compare it to the massively superior Retina display is kind of unfair. I may not agree with the way Apple does business, but they've always excelled at presentation.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

To go a little off-topic, I actually like that Apple has put a focus on displays. It makes all other manufacturers step up their game.

I hope they do the same with laptops and desktops too. Displays are always the component that suffers when you have to go cheap, when in reality the price difference between a panel that sucks and one that's a lot better is maybe $10-15.

 

[E_man]

That can not be correct.

Galaxy Note's screen - 284 PPI

iPad 3's screen - 264 PPI

I'm not talking about screen pixels. I'm talking about image compression. That is for sure done by OS.

You are not looking at it right. Resolution is not measured in PPI. It's measured in straight up pixel count for the most part. There are some exceptions. One is where pixel count is actually higher than the detail in the picture. That's not doing anything here. Another is when each pixel is not fully resolving it's detail. This is what's happening on the Note. Due to the pentile display, the Note is resolving at something like 80% of what it should or so. Depends on whose math you use.

Secondly, let's pretend the Note is full RGB, a pixel on the note is equivalent to a pixel on the iPad 3. The note is 1280*800, where the iPad is 2048*1536. The iPad has approximately 3x the number of pixels and nearly twice the resolution. That means that if you full screen a picture on both, the iPad has a huge resolution advantage and can display nearly twice the intricate detail. This is not compression. If you want to make it fairer, hold both devices in portrait mode. Then zoom in on the note so that it is showing half image horizontally. That would let you compare how they displayed the images. Again, this would not work with the note, since the screen has a built in disadvantage with it's pentile display.

Android used to do some funky things with images, but I believe that was all squashed in 2.3. They used to only support 16bits. Here's a read on it for those interested.

To go a little off-topic, I actually like that Apple has put a focus on displays. It makes all other manufacturers step up their game.

I hope they do the same with laptops and desktops too. Displays are always the component that suffers when you have to go cheap, when in reality the price difference between a panel that sucks and one that's a lot better is maybe $10-15.

100% agree. I loved that the iPad came with an IPS display. I've used them on my desktop for years. Thanks to the iPad, I've enjoyed them on various tablets as well.