Why is it so good on Iphone 5?

[Mark W**a]

I played an iPhone 5 and wow, everything is so much crisper, cleaner, and better color than my 4S.

I don't get it, because it's only a higher vertical resolution, it's still the same ppi... Anybody have an explanation for this?

Anyways I can't wait to upgrade to a 5 or 5S next year.

 

[sotie]

The ball moves faster too. Much faster than real life.

 

[Mark W**a]

Huh? I didn't notice any difference in gameplay at all. I'm strictly talking about graphics: everything looks higher resolution, which well, the phone is higher res... but it's the same PPI: in other words, the extra res is because of the difference in screen size, but technically it shouldn't matter since they are both the same PPI. I just figured I'd get to see more of the pinball table, I didn't expect the game to be higher resolution but I guess I'm not looking at this the right way, or Apple just found a way to make things better on the new screen without changing ppi.

 

[netizen]

Do you really want to know?

 

[sotie]

Do you really want to know?

Nice read.

Here are uncompressed screen shots from iPhone 4 and 5. Obviously, these don't account for differences in the physical screens.

iPhone 4:

iPhone 5:

 

[Mark W**a]

Thank you guys!

Well that certainly explains the difference.

It really is a stunning difference. I was blown away.

You can definitely see way more of the pinball machine too.

I played around with her husbands Galaxy S4. It's a bigger screen so you can see more, and it's higher resolution and ppi according to my research. And it definitely looked great, albeit the color is not as good (seemed over saturated).

However that is all moot, because the S4 had a jittery, poor frame rate which shocked me to say the least.

I also personally hate these gigantic phones (aren't phones supposed to be, idk, SMALL) but it does give you a glimpse of how amazing the game would look on a tablet.

I have a question for you guys: what are plans for iPhone 5s? Are they going to try and cram 1080p into the 5's current form factor? And if they can achieve that, is it going to look more impressive than the S4 or will the S4 have the edge by virtue of having a larger screen? Also I pray they never make the iPhone bigger.

In fact id welcome a 1080p in the same size as my 4s! That's my wish

 

[Kevlar]

As a portrait player I found the iphone 5 much worse for TPA than the iphone 4s

 

[sotie]

As a portrait player I found the iphone 5 much worse for TPA than the iphone 4s

I agree. The only way to play on an iPhone 5 is in landscape mode.

 

[sotie]

Thank you guys!

Well that certainly explains the difference.

It really is a stunning difference. I was blown away.

You can definitely see way more of the pinball machine too.

I played around with her husbands Galaxy S4. It's a bigger screen so you can see more, and it's higher resolution and ppi according to my research. And it definitely looked great, albeit the color is not as good (seemed over saturated).

However that is all moot, because the S4 had a jittery, poor frame rate which shocked me to say the least.

I also personally hate these gigantic phones (aren't phones supposed to be, idk, SMALL) but it does give you a glimpse of how amazing the game would look on a tablet.

I have a question for you guys: what are plans for iPhone 5s? Are they going to try and cram 1080p into the 5's current form factor? And if they can achieve that, is it going to look more impressive than the S4 or will the S4 have the edge by virtue of having a larger screen? Also I pray they never make the iPhone bigger.

In fact id welcome a 1080p in the same size as my 4s! That's my wish

Until Apple announces a new product everything is just rumors. That being said I highly doubt that the screen resolution will change on the next iPhone update. If it did then developers would need to create different versions of each of their iPhone apps. That is the sort of thing that Apple has always avoided in the past. Also, if they follow their past trends then the next release will be an iPhone 5S which will have the same body but a better processor and usually some sort of camera upgrade. Rumors are that there will be a dual flash instead of the current single. The 4S brought a beefier processor, upgraded camera and Siri.

 

[Mark W**a]

Until Apple announces a new product everything is just rumors. That being said I highly doubt that the screen resolution will change on the next iPhone update. If it did then developers would need to create different versions of each of their iPhone apps. That is the sort of thing that Apple has always avoided in the past. Also, if they follow their past trends then the next release will be an iPhone 5S which will have the same body but a better processor and usually some sort of camera upgrade. Rumors are that there will be a dual flash instead of the current single. The 4S brought a beefier processor, upgraded camera and Siri.

That doesn't make sense, because the iPad is running at some absurdly high resolution, so I don't see why the next phone can't get a significant resolution increase. As long as you keep it in even intervals, upscalling wont' be an issue.

 

[sotie]

That doesn't make sense, because the iPad is running at some absurdly high resolution, so I don't see why the next phone can't get a significant resolution increase. As long as you keep it in even intervals, upscalling wont' be an issue.

It might not make sense to you but that is the way Apple has done it so far... their philosophy is to keep it simple. There are two types of apps: iPhone and iPad. This is a stark contrast to the Android platform where you can see many different versions of apps for different hardware.

 

[netizen]

It might not make sense to you but that is the way Apple has done it so far... their philosophy is to keep it simple. There are two types of apps: iPhone and iPad. This is a stark contrast to the Android platform where you can see many different versions of apps for different hardware.

Or worse, ONE version of the app for many versions of the hardware; which has a completely different set of problems.

Screen resolution can go from 320 x 240 to 2560 x 1600 or higher with every possibility in between and there is no standardized GPU architecture. Even if two manufacturers use the same component they might not include the same kernel instructions, so one device might have Anisotropic filtering, for example, and the next could have direct draw instead. It is very difficult for end users and even more frustrating for developers to try and leave enough "wiggle room" for everyone to be able to play.

 

[Tuomas Hämäläinen]

That doesn't make sense, because the iPad is running at some absurdly high resolution, so I don't see why the next phone can't get a significant resolution increase. As long as you keep it in even intervals, upscalling wont' be an issue.

It does make sense. This is how Apple have transitioned to retina displays in terms of resolution:

iPhone: 320 by 480 -> 640 by 960
iPad: 1024 by 768 -> 2048 by 1536
MacBook Pro 15-inch: 1440 by 900 -> 2880 by 1800
MacBook Pro 13-inch: 1280 by 800 -> 2560 by 1600

Each retina display has exactly four times the amount of pixels (and therefore exactly double the PPI) compared to its non-retina predecessor. That makes it relatively painless for developers to optimise their applications to support the higher resolution while non-optimised applications can simply be pixel-doubled - they don't look that flattering on the retina display but can be displayed crisply, pixel-to-pixel, just like on the non-retina display.

That is also the reason why Apple can't just arbitrarily put a 1080 by 1920 display into an iPhone, because the scaling factor from the previous resolution is not an integer. Doing so would result in fragmentation of the platform.

We're only now starting to get rid of non-retina displays in iPhones with iOS 7 dropping support for iPhone 3GS this autumn. The changes to the OS itself are so profound and require so much effort from the developers, it would be foolish of Apple to introduce a new display resolution into the mix now.

 

[heddhunter]

That is also the reason why Apple can't just arbitrarily put a 1080 by 1920 display into an iPhone, because the scaling factor from the previous resolution is not an integer. Doing so would result in fragmentation of the platform.

I actually believe this will happen sooner rather than later. Technologies like Auto-Layout were introduced with iOS6 to help developers deal with this.

Maybe not this year, I think we'll just get an iPhone "5S" - same physical layout as iPhone 5 but faster CPU/GPU, etc.

 

[Tuomas Hämäläinen]

I actually believe this will happen sooner rather than later. Technologies like Auto-Layout were introduced with iOS6 to help developers deal with this.

Maybe not this year, I think we'll just get an iPhone "5S" - same physical layout as iPhone 5 but faster CPU/GPU, etc.

You might be onto something here. Nowadays iOS is very dependent on on-screen raster graphics rendered for the particular screen resolutions the applications are designed to support, but with iOS 7 taking the direction towards a pure, simple aesthetic with minimal ornamentation, this dependence will most likely be greatly reduced.

Thanks for expanding my views

 

[Mark W**a]

Ok so then iPhone 5S : 1280 x 1920

Just saying imagine a resolution that high packed into that tiny size.

 

[sotie]

Ok so then iPhone 5S : 1280 x 1920

Just saying imagine a resolution that high packed into that tiny size.

It's not going to happen.

 

[Mark W**a]

It's not going to happen.

Ok mr. negativity.

960 x 1400 (or whatever that would be in iPhone 5 display size terms) for iPhone 5S. Just watch

 

[sotie]

Ok mr. negativity.

960 x 1400 (or whatever that would be in iPhone 5 display size terms) for iPhone 5S. Just watch

When I point out that you're prediction will not be implemented by Apple then you call me names and change your prediction. Whatever dude.

 

[Worf]

Its very unlikely that Apple will bother with the PPI war - the screens end up costing more, take more power, and in the end, most people just won't see the difference between the current 326 ppi "retina" and whatever higher resolution you have. And that doesn't include the cost of actually driving the display (more pixels == more CPU and GPU required).

For most people, to see the full 1080p of new Android phones, I bet they'd have to hold the phone right up to their nose. Any further and the 441 ppi of those displays is wasted.

It's just the Android guys have latched onto another number they can "improve". Like screen sizes going from 3.5" to 6+", we now have displays going from pathetic to unseeable.