Pixel pushing -- what's the point in Sharp's 5.5 inch 4K 806ppi screen?
It is a given that whatever technology you see in front of you will be bettered if not next week, then next month or next year. Processors will get faster, hard drives bigger, laptops thinner and... well, you get the idea. In the realm of mobile devices there was a time when size meant everything. Mobile phone screens grew larger and larger, but then focus started to switch.
Size, it turned out, was not everything after all; it’s the number of pixels that matters. We started to see ppi figures quoted everywhere, Apple even came up with its own label for the pixel density at which pixels became indistinguishable -- Retina Display. This was just the start of the battle of the pixels, though, and now things are starting to get a bit silly. Sharp has announced a 5.5 inch 4K screen which boasts a pixel density of 806ppi. Say, what?
The first question that comes to mind -- well, the second if you count 'say, what?' -- is why? Just... why?
Let's cover the basics. As reported by TechBlog, Sharp's latest screen measures just 5.5 inches from corner to corner and yet boasts a 4K resolution of 3840 × 2160 pixels. The 806ppi screen is due to start mass production in 2016, but it does force us to question the need for such a screen.
Apple's Retina Display devices vary in pixel density from 220ppi (15 inch third generation MacBook Pro) to 401ppi (5.5 inch iPhone 6 Plus). Steve Jobs said that in order to qualify for a Retina Display label, a screen held 10 to 12 inches away from the eyes needed 326ppi -- although there has been debate about whether the figure should in fact be slightly higher.
The point is that Sharp's upcoming display shrinks a 3840 × 2160 display -- a resolution which is four times that of HD video, don’t forget, and normally found in TVs of 55 inches, 65 inches or even more -- right down to a 5.5 inch unit. If a 65 inch 4K television is considered to offer near-unparalleled quality when viewed from several feet away, how close is one going to have to get to a tiny 5.5 inch screen to really benefit from the quality?
While increasing the resolution of displays is logical and understandable, there comes a point when it is simply being done for the sake of doing it. It sounds good on the spec sheet, but what's the real benefit? And that's before we even start thinking about the battery draw a 4K screen is going to have! It would make more sense to invest the time and money in battery research and development rather than creating a new breed of display that brings few tangible benefits. Sharp will now need to wait for battery technology to catch up, the current breed of batteries just won’t cope!
Maybe it's time to start tapping the brakes on mindlessly increasing the numbers and switch the focus to technological changes that will make a real, noticeable difference.
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