LG 5.5-inch Display Boasts 2560×1440 Resolution with 538ppi
Announced yesterday by Japanese carrier KDDI, the LG isai FL smartphone boasts a 5.5-inch 2560 x 1440 Quad HD display. Other high-end features include a 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, 13.2-megapixel rear and 1.3-megapixel front cameras and a 3,000 mAh battery that powers everything. There is also WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, 4G LTE 150Mbps, Bluetooth 4.0, an IR port, and the phone is waterproof.
Pretty nice specifications, but we are most interested in the new display panel that runs at 2560 x 1440 resolution for a pixel density of 538 pixels per inch (ppi). This smartphone currently has the highest resolution and ppi for any smartphone panel. by comparison, the recently released Samsung Galaxy S5 has 441ppi and the HTC One has 468ppi. Even crazier, the display is only 1.21mm thin with a 1.2mm bezel! LG claims the on-screen images should also be more accurate with 100-percent RGB color reproduction. So, you can now get the better than Blu-ray quality video than you’d get from a standard 1080P TV.
The only issue here is how many people will be able to tell the difference between displays now that the ppi has gotten so large? LG had a display of the LGL22 with its 1920 x 1080 5.2-inch Full HD IPS display that is capable of a pixel density of 423 ppi next to the LGL24 with the 2560 x 1440 WQHD IPS display at 538ppi and they used a magnifying glass over both to show off the difference. It looks like displays have almost advanced to the point that normal human eyes can’t tell a difference. What is the maximum resolution of the human eye? A person with perfect vision should be able to look at display, print, or an object 4 inches (100 mm) from his or her face and the maximum resolution they should be able to see is 2190 ppi. But the legally accepted norm of 20/20 vision should be 876 ppi/dpi at 4 inches! It looks like phone makers have a ways to go beyond 538ppi, but we are getting close to ppi no longer being a feature that matters. Very few people hold their phone 4-8 inches from their face and therefore wouldn’t be able to get any benefits from having such high ppi. Many are now calling ppi the most overhyped marketing stat for smartphones.
We can’t wait for this 5.5-inch Quad HD 2K display to come out on the LG G3 and can’t wait to see if we can tell a difference between a 538ppi display and one with 450ppi or less. We also wouldn’t mind a seeing 2560×1440 displays in VR helmet like the Oculus Rift! That would be very interesting and magnifying glass is already being used!
