I make web stuff.Joe Wilcox’s iPhone 4 Reality Distortion Field
Joe Wilcox’s, This blog post could save you from Steve Jobs’ iPhone 4 Reality Distortion Field, reactionary post to the iPhone 4 announcement flowed through my stream several times yesterday; so I read it; and it’s awkward. Wilcox focuses on five areas he felt Jobs distorted reality for consumers: dimensions, screen, camera, HD video, and front-facing camera. I’m more convinced that Joe Wilcox is the one who’s reality is distorted.
Dimensions
“Jobs described the iPhone 4 as the thinnest smartphone.”
He did, and the dimensions are clearly stated.
“Jobs is probably right about the size, although I had limited time to look.”
Looks like Joe agrees, but if he had enough time I’m sure he’d fine a thinner phone that qualified as a ‘smart’-phone. The interesting part is that the iPhone 4 is smaller than previous versions this is welcomed and your jeans will appreciate it.
Screen
“Apple calls the iPhone 4’s 3.5-inch screen a “Retina Display,” which is marketing speak for “We’ve got a high pixel-per-inch panel, but it’s not OLED and we don’t want to say.” Resolution is 960-by-640 pixels, with 326 ppi and 800:1 contrast ratio. Jobs claims the human eye tops out at 300 ppi. Well, yes and no. It’s true for print, but not necessarily for digital displays. Jobs did a little marketing magic, making the iPhone’s 326 ppi seem more important than it really is.”
Lots of goodies here:
-
”Retina Display” is an accurate term to describe the dense display; preferable to HD.
-
OLED displays have too many disadvantages; IPS LCD technology is a better choice, today.
-
Why aren’t 300+ PPI displays above the resolution perceived by the human eye?
“Modern displays having upwards of 300 PPI pixel densities, combined with their non-reflective, bright, evenly lit and interactive display areas, may have vastly more appeal to users than the best prints available on paper.”
Camera
“Steve Jobs really pulled some magician’s distractions when talking about iPhone 4’s 5-megapixel camera. He asserted that megapixels don’t matter, which is just hilarious; pixels don’t matter when Apple is playing catchup (the phone’s camera) but they do matter when trying to get ahead — or appearing so (screen ppi).”
An informed buyer of a digital camera knows about the manufacture’s push to more megapixels, and is also aware of these mythical megapixel numbers. It’s not the number of megapixels which add noise when crammed on small sensors; it’s the size of the sensor that counts!
I have a Cannon G10, a 14.7 megapixel camera; Cannon stopped playing the megapixel game with the G11, a better quality 10 megapixel camera.
HD Video
It’s these types of little snippets that have set an annoying tone through out Wilcox’s post:
“The iPhone 4 will shoot 720p HD video at 30-frames per second. That would have been innovation a year ago. It’s more catch-up today. That said, iMovie for iPhone is trendsetting for the features (It’s not the first on-phone video-editing application).”
Yes, it’s not the first; but it the first one people are going to actually use. Wait a year, check YouTube, and let’s see how many HD videos were recorded from an iPhone; my prediction: the most for any one camera/device.
Front-Facing Camera
“Jobs ended his keynote by touting the iPhone’s new front-facing camera, like the future had come at last. Nokia has shipped handsets with secondary front cameras for years. But US carriers don’t support video calls, although AT&T has a video-messaging service. There’s nothing new about video calling, except that a bazillion bloggers and reporters will make it seem so by day’s end.”
I’ve never made a video call made from the convenience of a phone I had in my pocket, have you? Technology exists long before it becomes practical for people to adopt it; everyone is excited because video calls are now really here.
Sorry Joe, but maybe you should spend your days doing something other than writing negatively about Apple, especially with your distorted sense of reality.
