Qualcomm: Future Smartphone Screens Will Push Resolutions to “6K, 8K, and Beyond”

Ducman69 said:
VR, yo. Even if you don't game, its great for watching videos and 3D movies. Last flight I was on was so claustrophobic, but put that on, couldn't hear anyone around me, felt like I was by myself in a huge theater, and watched a movie in 3D and before I knew it was ready to land.

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Seriously, even on my Nexus 5 with 445ppi, when I use Google Cardboard with it I can very clearly see pixels. For someone to argue that they can't they'd have to be legally blind. If you don't use VR, then no, me personally I can't see a difference between 445ppi and 320ish ppi.
 
From what I understand of the eyes sensitivity to details... anything over 2k on something less then a 60" screen is a horrendous waste of processing power and utterly useless to 99.9% of general product users?
 
DoggyDaddi said:
From what I understand of the eyes sensitivity to details... anything over 2k on something less then a 60" screen is a horrendous waste of processing power and utterly useless to 99.9% of general product users?
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That's not how it works, there are many factors with regards to resolution and how it seen or affects the image quality. Also most processing isn't done at 4k or 1440p or even 1080p on phones, almost all of your content is being upscaled, with the exception of any video content.
 
DoggyDaddi said:
From what I understand of the eyes sensitivity to details... anything over 2k on something less then a 60" screen is a horrendous waste of processing power and utterly useless to 99.9% of general product users?
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Yes, from 12 feet away...
 
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Sounds like a waste of pixels and eye strain to me, unless modifications like the Moto X become common place and we're all able to project the screen on to a wall.
 
Anyone complaining about higher resolutions is an idiot or trying to sell you older screens. LCD's look crummy when they have to display fast motion. Increasing the resolution can substantially help with motion if implemented properly even though you can no longer see the individual pixels.
 
Uh, no.

I value battery life over whatever slight benefit a 4K mobile screen would give me.
 
There is a big difference between discerning every individual pixel vs, noticing the difference in display clarity.

I for one fucking love that my phone has a 2560x1440 display. And the difference is obvious on it when I play 1080p video vs 1440p video. I don't know what is the point when the improvements won't be noticeable anymore, but we're certainly not there yet. It will be the point when you're no longer able to notice jagged edges in any shape drawn on the screen without AA.
 
It's also better to use higher resolution than AA as AA blurs textures around edges to give more solid lines. Not insanely reducing picture clarity but it does look better. Kind of like back in the day, it was better to go up from 1024x768 to 1280x1024 versus using AA as it looked better.
 
How about working on making screens use less power or increase battery life. I don't need 6k+ screens. I want 2+ day battery life. At least 1 day battery life, if I decide to loop a 1080p video for 24 hours.

Or do something else that's useful. More storage.
 
krotch said:
How about working on making screens use less power or increase battery life. I don't need 6k+ screens. I want 2+ day battery life. At least 1 day battery life, if I decide to loop a 1080p video for 24 hours.

Or do something else that's useful. More storage.
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Technology always goes towards least resistance. They always do first what's easiest. And it's not like this is taking away research from battery and storage, they're all very different fields.
 
I don't give a shit about resolutions in future smartphones provided the cpu and gpu chipsets provide adequate power for the resolution, and a battery which doesn't drain too fast powering it.
 
M76 said:
Technology always goes towards least resistance. They always do first what's easiest. And it's not like this is taking away research from battery and storage, they're all very different fields.
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I think the easiest would be just to cram storage in there. Granted they do that, but it's normally way expensive to go from something like 32 gb to 64 gb. Considering the prices of an SSD, it's a bit ridiculous to have a $100 increase for a minor bump in storage.
 
krotch said:
I think the easiest would be just to cram storage in there. Granted they do that, but it's normally way expensive to go from something like 32 gb to 64 gb. Considering the prices of an SSD, it's a bit ridiculous to have a $100 increase for a minor bump in storage.
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SSDs are not compact enough and they are power hungry (in handheld terms). So that's not a fair comparison.

Some people will say they don't ever need 64GB and they should focus on something else instead.

I'd want a phone that has at least 128GB and even that's easily filled when your phone records 4K video. But it's capitalism, if they don't make a product that I want I won't open my wallet for them. And it seems that there are more people willing to pay for 4K than for storage. And I'm not suggesting that's a good thing, it's just how it is.
 
My problem with 4K right now is that we don't have the mobile GPUs to be able to power it correctly. When the Note 7 was released (I know, it was recalled) a number of people in a couple of YouTube videos said that in order to get anywhere close to acceptable frame rates when playing games on the Note 7 they had to crank the resolution down to as far as 720p. OK, so why have a 4K screen if you can't push the required amount of pixels at an acceptable frame rate? Who cares if the resolution is high when it looks like a badly made stop-motion animation cartoon!
 
M76 said:
SSDs are not compact enough and they are power hungry (in handheld terms). So that's not a fair comparison.

Some people will say they don't ever need 64GB and they should focus on something else instead.

I'd want a phone that has at least 128GB and even that's easily filled when your phone records 4K video. But it's capitalism, if they don't make a product that I want I won't open my wallet for them. And it seems that there are more people willing to pay for 4K than for storage. And I'm not suggesting that's a good thing, it's just how it is.
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No, SSDs aren't compact enough, but they're using the same memory chips. The same chips used in phones. So if the prices can drop on SSDs for storage size, why aren't we getting that in phones? Yes, space is premium inside a phone, so I don't expect to be seeing 1 TB phones. A a minor upping in it shouldn't be a big deal. I'm still seeing some that are 8 GB, which I don't understand. Wouldn't it just be cheaper to buy the larger single chips nowadays, since they're more mass produced than these smaller chips?
 
HydrasunGQ said:
on such a small screen whats the point?
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Pretty much this. Big numbers sell though. It doesn't matter if your eye can't resolve the difference at that size, nor does it matter that it sucks an unnecessary amount of power to drive that many pixels for zero tangible benefit. It has 8K, so it's the best.
 
4K, 8K on a phone?
Pointless and the huge battery you would need for it would not fit comfortably in that chassis comfortably -- unless they happen to be using one of those new superbatteries that are supposed to be here "any day now...".

I'll pass and keep my options limited to 5.0" - 5.5", 1920 x 1080 -- pretty much the size/density specs of my current Sammy Galaxy S5 (I <3 my swappable batteries & microsd).
 
I guess making those touch part of those screens more responsive is too much to ask.
 
Touch screens seem pretty far along to me. At least it seems good enough on my 6S and Pixel.

I'd like to see more focus on battery life, storage, and general OS improvements on both sides.

I really don't want or need anything greater then 1080p on a 5'' display.

Improve the things that matter. Stop focusing on stupid gimmicks like VR on a phone.

Give me a high quality chassis. Give me buttons that have a nice solid feel to them. Make the display indestructible. Etc..

I want improvements to the things that actually matter in every day usage and long term durability.

But I guess ultimately no manufacturer will really look at improving those things because they ideally want people upgrading every year.
 
Battery is the biggest qualm I have with phones nowadays. It's a huge area to improve on and everything in the market is lacking.
 
Eickst said:
I'd rather have 1080p and 48 hour battery life than 8k and 8 hours on a five inch screen. Of course sheeple will see OMG 8k PHONE!!!11!1!!!one!!!111!!1!
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Ironically the people who are generally labelled as sheep (apple) are happy with "low resolution" displays and have been saying this for ages that higher resolutions are just bullshit.
 
aokman said:
Ironically the people who are generally labelled as sheep (apple) are happy with "low resolution" displays and have been saying this for ages that higher resolutions are just bullshit.
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Been using both iPhone's and various Android's for years..

The pixel density that Apple has stuck with since the iPhone 4 is good enough for me. Yes - The Galaxy S7 is impressive... But I really don't care. As long as the PPI is enough so it's on-par with Apple 'retina' standard it's good enough for me. Anything more and the cost of battery life outweighs the marginal gain in the increased density.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Battery is the biggest qualm I have with phones nowadays. It's a huge area to improve on and everything in the market is lacking.
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It's always curious when I see these complaints. A little better management and the battery life can be tripled or quadrupled. My phone easily lasts over a week with little usage. But even when on holiday where I use it constantly for photos videos, browsing the net, watching videos, it will go 4-5 days without charging. Just remember to turn of fthe damn wifi when you step out of the hotel / house and don't need it anyway. I also turn off mobile data unless I specifically need it for something.
 
sir-gold said:
I'm starting to think that half the people commenting here have never even heard of GearVR, Cardboard, or Daydream.

It might be a bit of a number game as well, as some have said, but current smartphone screens honestly suck for VR.

Even if the phone does have a 4k display, I'm sure they will do some sort of reduced-resolution mode during regular non-VR use, just for the sake of battery savings.

Also, Qualcomm makes chips, not displays.
They could also be aiming for smartphones that act as the "computer" for a HMD that has it's own screen(s), such as the LG 360 headset, which would still require a 4k+ video processor inside the phone even if the phone itself doesn't have a 4k display.
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Heard of them for sure. But at least 80% of my time is spent working, going to work, and then coming home that I would only use those features on the weekend until the novelty wore off. Then what? I have a phone with a crazy high resolution that barely makes it threw the day when I could have a phone with a 1080p screen that lasts me two days with heavy use or 5 days or more with light use. I'd rather go with the phone that can't do VR but I don't have to religiously charge every couple of hours.
 
M76 said:
It's always curious when I see these complaints. A little better management and the battery life can be tripled or quadrupled. My phone easily lasts over a week with little usage. But even when on holiday where I use it constantly for photos videos, browsing the net, watching videos, it will go 4-5 days without charging. Just remember to turn of fthe damn wifi when you step out of the hotel / house and don't need it anyway. I also turn off mobile data unless I specifically need it for something.
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Cool story. I want a phone that can go all day running at full tilt. No phone out there can do that yet.

Give me 12 hours of running a game / heavy CPU app.
 
M76 said:
It's always curious when I see these complaints. A little better management and the battery life can be tripled or quadrupled. My phone easily lasts over a week with little usage. But even when on holiday where I use it constantly for photos videos, browsing the net, watching videos, it will go 4-5 days without charging. Just remember to turn of fthe damn wifi when you step out of the hotel / house and don't need it anyway. I also turn off mobile data unless I specifically need it for something.
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LOL, no one wants more battery capacity because their phone lasts a week on standby with "little usage". And 4-5 days without charging while watching videos, browsing the net, and viewing photos? Something tells me your idea of "use it constantly" isn't the same as everyone else's especially when you consider that most phones definitely will not support 12 hours of screen on time even with the brightness cranked down, over the course of a week.
 
Merc1138 said:
LOL, no one wants more battery capacity because their phone lasts a week on standby with "little usage". And 4-5 days without charging while watching videos, browsing the net, and viewing photos? Something tells me your idea of "use it constantly" isn't the same as everyone else's especially when you consider that most phones definitely will not support 12 hours of screen on time even with the brightness cranked down, over the course of a week.
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If you need 12 hours of screen on time / day from your phone then you're doing something very wrong with your life. I mean that's crazy time to spend on your phone.

Using constantly to me means I'm walking around sightseeing pulling out the phone every minute to take photos and videos. So maybe the screen is on a few hours total but nowhere near 12 hours.

But I looked it up according to an independent tester my phone has 9-9.5 hours screen time on normal brightness (eg not dialled down) .
 
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M76 said:
If you need 12 hours of screen on time / day from your phone then you're doing something very wrong with your life. I mean that's crazy time to spend on your phone.

Using constantly to me means I'm walking around sightseeing pulling out the phone every minute to take photos and videos. So maybe the screen is on a few hours total but nowhere near 12 hours.

But I looked it up according to an independent tester my phone has 9-9.5 hours screen time on normal brightness (eg not dialled down) .
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Thanks for telling us how to live.

Go away now.
 
Mchart said:
Thanks for telling us how to live.

Go away now.
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So you think it's healthy and productive to spend that much time on your phone?

This is an open forum, not your safe space, I'm not going away just because you wish me gone.
 
M76 said:
So you think it's healthy and productive to spend that much time on your phone?

This is an open forum, not your safe space, I'm not going away just because you wish me gone.
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I trade almost constantly throughout the day on my phone. It barely makes it to the end of the day. Couple that in with a business trip or other things going on and current cell phone batteries DO NOT last long enough.

Yes, the way I use a phone is 'healthy and productive' by the M76 horeshit measuring system.
 
6k and 8k on a little 4" to 6" screen? Can't comment on VR, but it strikes me as placebo and marketing for typical use.

Once upon a time in ye olden days 640x480 (and lower) was fine on old school 14" CRTs. Even just several years ago, 1680x1050 for a 20" and 1280x1024 for a 19" were considered fine. I guess everyone is being born with Superman vision these days.
 
M76 said:
If you need 12 hours of screen on time / day from your phone then you're doing something very wrong with your life. I mean that's crazy time to spend on your phone.

Using constantly to me means I'm walking around sightseeing pulling out the phone every minute to take photos and videos. So maybe the screen is on a few hours total but nowhere near 12 hours.

But I looked it up according to an independent tester my phone has 9-9.5 hours screen time on normal brightness (eg not dialled down) .
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Aside from you trying to tell other people how to live, I didn't say anything about 12 hours in a day, I specifically said 12 hours over the course of a week, which is very little usage and not actually possible. You're the one who brought up the idea of these phones lasting 4-5 days with constant usage, and your claim is bullshit since they aren't going to last a week on battery with 1-2 hours of screen on time in a day. Hell, my samsung galaxy s6 which was at 100% when I walked out the door this morning right after I posted my previous reply to you is currently at 70% with only 12% screen on time. Sure, it estimates I could let it run idle till 8pm tomorrow, but it's not going to just sit idle on standby the whole time.

Furthermore, I'd be willing to guess that the 9-9.5 hours of "normal" brightness you can supposedly get according to some independent tester(so you don't even know if you can do this yourself with your own phone?) is also bullshit, because no one is leaving their phone idle for 9 hours while they've got the screen on.

It's completely absurd that not only are you trying to tell other people how they need to be using their phones(some of us use them for work), but you're also a liar about your own phone based on your "use it constantly" nonsense, and act as if other people wanting more battery life in their mobile devices would somehow adversely affect you.

This is like Dell claiming that my laptop can get 12 hours on battery, and 20+ with the extended battery, which is complete nonsense unless I just left it sitting idle for hours instead of actually using the damned thing.
 
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Merc1138 said:
Aside from you trying to tell other people how to live, I didn't say anything about 12 hours in a day, I specifically said 12 hours over the course of a week, which is very little usage and not actually possible. You're the one who brought up the idea of these phones lasting 4-5 days with constant usage, and your claim is bullshit since they aren't going to last a week on battery with 1-2 hours of screen on time in a day. Hell, samsung galaxy s6 which was at 100% when I walked out the door this morning right after I posted my previous reply to you is currently at 70% with only 12% screen on time. Sure, it estimates I could let is run idle till 8pm tomorrow, but it's not going to just sit idle on standby the whole time.

Furthermore, I'd be willing to guess that the 9-9.5 hours of "normal" brightness you can supposedly get according to some independent tester(so you don't even know if you can do this yourself with your own phone?) is also bullshit, because no one is leaving their phone idle for 9 hours while they've got the screen on.

It's completely absurd that not only are you trying to tell other people how they need to be using their phones(some of us use them for work), but you're also a liar about your own phone based on your "use it constantly" nonsense, and act as if other people wanting more battery life in their mobile devices would somehow adversly affect you.

This is like Dell claiming that my laptop can get 12 hours on battery, and 20+ with the extended battery, which is complete nonsense unless I just left it sitting idle for hours instead of actually using the damned thing.
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You should see my phone use. From beginning of day at 7:30 am to end of day midnight, I have about 60% battery life left. Here's my typical daily usage.

5 minutes bluetoothed to headphones listening to mp3s or watching a music video
20 minutes bluetoothed to my car stereo and listening to mp3s
8 hours just doing nothing. Just sitting in a door pocket of my car.
20 minutes bluetoothed to my car stereo and listening to mp3s
5 minutes bluetoothed to headphones listening to mp3s or watching a music video

I don't know why, but the idle time, the phone is doing something for some stupid reason. If I put it in airplane mode, the battery drops to like 82% for the day. Which I still don't get, since I make it so there's no background data and the phone has good cell signal. Why it drops into the 60% range...*shrugs*
 
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