iPhone 4 Retina Display vs. Human Eye
Did Apple exaggerated the sharpness of the iPhone 4 Retina display? Bonus, iPad display under microscope.
Recently Soneira, a person with NO access to iPhone 4 at the time, claimed Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ iPhone 4 keynote was not telling the truth. The issue? Steve said the iPHone 4 Retina display is sharper than the perception of the human eye.
So did Apple exaggerated the sharpness of the 326 pixels per inch iPhone 4 display? A new study examines the issue with science and an actual product, not idle speculation.
Retinal neuroscientist Bryan Jones at the University of Utah calculates the human eye resolution and examines the iPhone 4 Retina display under microscope.
Jones confirms the resolution of the new iPhone 4 display is as advertised. Jones also points out that the Soneira’s calculations did not consider the actual performance of the eye. Bryan Jones points out that the real human eye with 20/20 vision can distinguish 287 pixels per inch. Thus, Apple is telling the truth, because the Retina of iPhone 4, having 326 pixels per inch, is of higher resolution than that of the human eye.
He also examines the beautiful iPad IPS LCD display under the microscope. It turns out that Apple iPad display uses herringbone shaped pixels, typically used in high quality desktop displays.