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720p Displays - 'Cool Factor' or a practical improvement?

I’m going to be buying a new phone soon. I’ve been eyeing up the Galaxy S II but I thought I might as well wait and see what is announced this month. One thing that all top end rumoured phones have in common is a 720p display. I have to admit this alone has tempted me to wait. But then I got to thinking, aside from the ‘cool’ factor. What benefit in the real world will a 720p display bring us?
The two main advantages that I can see are improved PPI and the obvious advantage when playing 720p videos. But a higher PPI means more processing power, which in turn means lower battery life. Also from an admittedly purely lazy point of view it means having to zoom in further to be able to read text.
A 720p display will now mean that 480p videos on youtube and the like will be upscaled and won’t look as good. ‘Just choose the 720p option’ you say. Fine, so long as you’re on wifi. Until 4G hits and is widespread (which in the UK is going to take a while) it will mean longer waits and buffer issues.
Yes I’m nit picking but I’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of a 720p display. I know there will be many more I’ve missed.

i see it from 2 sides....
720p = really nice picture quality
720p bad for some apps/games, which might no longer run properly, unless fixed, or some how the hardware can auto adjust the resolution to stretch it to fit.
720p can be a bit of a pain, if some Apps/Games developer decide to use too small of a touch area, due the larger dot-pix available in the 720p area
that also means DVD quality or lower quality videos played on the 720p will look like blurry or smeared, that can be fixed with software/hardware correction, like games.

^^ All that.
Plus, I don't really see the need for a 720 screen that's around the 4" size. Do you really need pixels that small? They'll be smaller than photons if we carry on like this and then it'll be reality that'll have to catch up with our tech
Personally, I wouldn't hold back for purely that one feature, but who knows what else is round the corner. Get a phone and let it be the best for a few months and then slowly drop down the list. As everyone always says, there's always something better coming, and if you waited then you'd never get anything.
Incidentally, I do have the SGS2, and it is REALLY nice

well definitely 1080p will be around the corner as we already stepped into the 720p kingdom
so 1080p on a 4" display would not be a long wait, but it will really make you think, what's the point of cramming so much in such a little screen
i can see 1080p to be a normal thin on a 10" tablet, but on a phone... that's a bit much
i do hope they don't go beyond 720p on any screen smaller than 5"
imagine running Windows Vista/7 on 15" wide LCD at 1080 (there are many laptops that are actually like that) it's soooooo eye strain-ful, it literally kills the eyes
i always down set the resolution back to something more readable to not strain my eyes

AllGamer said:
i always down set the resolution back to something more readable to not strain my eyes
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Do you need your reading glasses as well, so you can find your pipe and slippers?

i don't wear glasses, and i intent to keep it that way, reason why i prefer an easy reading, on 480 vs 720
on 720 i'll have to probably the the font size twice as big, to make it easily legible when you are in the car, bus/subway, or walking
no i don't get dizzy reading while doing any of the above
many people can't read if they are in a moving vehicle
probably due the same relevant issue about having to scan the text in a small device and straining your vision, while trying to keep an eye on the road and not crashing

AllGamer said:
i don't wear glasses, and i intent to keep it that way, reason why i prefer an easy reading, on 480 vs 720
on 720 i'll have to probably the the font size twice as big, to make it easily legible when you are in the car, bus/subway, or walking
no i don't get dizzy reading while doing any of the above
many people can't read if they are in a moving vehicle
probably due the same relevant issue about having to scan the text in a small device and straining your vision, while trying to keep an eye on the road and not crashing
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I agree with you, therebisbreally no reason to go above 720p resolution on small smartphone devices. I myself notice my eyes begin to hurt after more than thirty minutes or so of heavy reading on my Sensation. Now I know my Sensation does not have 720p but I am just saying the size of the screen and the text on that screen is no doubt a strain on the human eye after extended reading done on the device. 1080p is definitely so,ethimg that should just make it to the larger tablets and not smartphones.
Oh and yes actually paying attention to the road while you are driving is a highly recommended activity lol.

AllGamer said:
that also means DVD quality or lower quality videos played on the 720p will look like blurry or smeared, that can be fixed with software/hardware correction, like games.
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This is just plain wrong, low resolution video will look just as good on 720p displays.
Sent from my GT-I9100

Maybe i miss-understood your question, but i am using the Galaxy SII
I never had any screen / resolution issues

Well,first off,let's not forget that Android supports changing the DPI in build.prop(I think-haven't bothered in a while).I don't think manufacturers will leave 220-240 dpi of the current devices on 720p devices,but they would rather pump it up,so that everything stays the same size,but is just crisper.That's just my thought though.
On another note,lower resolution videos won't look worse at all.Resolution in that aspect is irrelevant.The same way that you can play a 720p video on a 480p screen without problems,you can do the opposite just as well.Unless some manufacturer decides to f*ck it up with upscaling tricks and stuff that will defo make the image blurry and ugly.
The only really valid argument on the topic,in my opinion,is the possible lack of processing power,especially when it comes to GPUs.We even saw the Mali MP-400,the most powerful GPU on a PHONE (DON'T SAY ABOUT THE A5 IN THE iPAD!!!!) to date,struggle to keep up in the case of the Galaxy Note's resolution.If the next gen of SoCs doesn't improve quite a lot in that aspect,we'll see some performance drops for sure.Not to mention the worst thing,the losses of battery life in case that extra power is met.Not that I mind about battery life as long as it makes it through the day,but many many people do.

Do any of you guys know the p in 720p stands for?
It has nothing to do with resolution, which is what you are all trying to talk about.

Papi4baby said:
Do any of you guys know the p in 720p stands for?
It has nothing to do with resolution, which is what you are all trying to talk about.
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progressive, opposed to the i of interlaced.
Technically 720i use half the vertical pixels for each frame.

Papi4baby said:
Do any of you guys know the p in 720p stands for?
It has nothing to do with resolution, which is what you are all trying to talk about.
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Yes man,we know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p

sgs 2
sent from my cappy. xda app

HD rules

Has anyone tried downscaling our S6 screen to 1080p?

Now before ppl bite my head off asking why, whats the point, im butthurt etc., my reasoning is I, along with many others, did this on my Note 4 and noticed both an increased in performance and battery life. I am just wondering if anyone has tried this yet on the S6? I know the QHD is one of its selling points, but there are some of us who dont notice the difference between 1080p, yet bought the S6 for its excellent build and stellar camera. Anyways, drop a reply if you wanna weigh in!

i would like to know also whether it does increase battery life!

Once you figure out how to remove all those extra pixels, please let us know

I dont think it will improve things nor battery life.
The downscaled resolution will also be on the full screen and will use also all the pixels. Therefor still all the pixels will be used and will be powered on.
Forget it, no chance.

Guessing this would mean GPU working less and therefore less power used. Not sure it would do much though. Of course actual screen power used would not decrease.

The screen can only display it's native resolution. All lower resolution images are upscaled to the native resolution.

ramon.nmgn said:
I dont think it will improve things nor battery life.
The downscaled resolution will also be on the full screen and will use also all the pixels. Therefor still all the pixels will be used and will be powered on.
Forget it, no chance.
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Ah didn't think about that. It's weird though because I analy tested this on my note 4 and noticed a 2 hour difference without fail in battery consumption. Maybe something else I did contributed to that change?. Anyways thanks for weighing in!

1080p as standard !!!!!

https://youtu.be/nP0I6Mb880E
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Yup, this was pretty obviously stated and samsung did tell people. You can turn the resolution up if you require also.

1920/1080 is 1080p....so 1080P+
:laugh:

its a little more than 1080p. Also I speak from experience that you can not tell a difference unless you are looking for it. It is the same screen resolution on the S7's with nougat.

Yep it is. Lets not blow this out of proportion people if you want QHD+ its in the settings under display.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

lordandroid said:
Yep it is. Lets not blow this out of proportion people if you want QHD+ its in the settings under display.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
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that also. lol. its not that bad it being 1080p+ though. It looks almost the same and to most you wont be able to tell.

Agreed ?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

I couldnt tell on my oneplus 3T, the screen was great.

QHD on a phone is overkill. It's a nice-to-have if you're trying to watch a movie, but other than that it's purely excessive. If someone showed you a 1080p and a QHD display on the S8 or even the s8 plus, I can all but guarantee you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I sure can't with my S7E.

The problem is not that 1080p looks bad. The problem is that this display has a set number of width and height pixels which is defined as 2960 x 1440. So if you want to display a picture which is 2220 x 1080 in a display which size isn't a multiple of the picture you have to interpolate. You somehow need to have just 1080 pixels in a row where there are supposed to be 1440. Why don't they go with 720p instead? Well I guess it would also look shi**y :/
Just my thoughts, I have never seen a S7 or S8 display.
EDIT: I just think about this from a delevoper perspecive. The developer thinks: Let's make a black 2px line there -> it's a 2px line.
Because you cant fit a multiple of 1080 in 1440 the interpolation would make a 2,66px line. As you know you cant color 0.66 parts of a pixel black. So most likely the whole pixel will be black which results in a 3px black line where there should be a 2,66px line. As this happens with every pixel of the display the image won't just get inaccurate but also the GPU has to do some very unnecessary scaling work.

Termynat0r said:
The problem is not that 1080p looks bad. The problem is that this display has a set number of width and height pixels which is defined as 2960 x 1440. So if you want to display a picture which is 2220 x 1080 in a display which size isn't a multiple of the picture you have to interpolate. You somehow need to have just 1080 pixels in a row where there are supposed to be 1440. Why don't they go with 720p instead? Well I guess it would also look shi**y :/
Just my thoughts, I have never seen a S7 or S8 display.
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It's the same as changing the resolution of a computer or monitor display. The interpolation isn't the issue, every manufacture has that down pat. 720p would make a noticeable difference, even in basic browsing and function. 1080p is enough that on a screen the size of the S8 or S8+ you wouldn't be able to see the individual (or interpolated) pixels.

marinebio94 said:
It's the same as changing the resolution of a computer or monitor display. The interpolation isn't the issue, every manufacture has that down pat. 720p would make a noticeable difference, even in basic browsing and function. 1080p is enough that on a screen the size of the S8 or S8+ you wouldn't be able to see the individual (or interpolated) pixels.
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I didn't say that this is not the same. But when I buy a 1080p monitor, I use it in 1080p because thats what it is intended for. You won't see pixels on a 500+ ppi device. But the image will be totally unaccurate and that's not what I generally like to look at. I just tried this in photoshop and the effect is even worse than I thought and demonstrated by that example picture in my last post. Here's what it'll really look like. You want to look at this? Of course it will be very small pixels but do you really don't mind?! I know I do.

Termynat0r said:
I didn't say that this is not the same. But when I buy a 1080p monitor, I use it in 1080p because thats what it is intended for. You won't see pixels on a 500+ ppi device. But the image will be totally unaccurate and that's not what I generally like to look at. I just tried this in photoshop and the effect is even worse than I thought and demonstrated by that example picture in my last post. Here's what it'll really look like. You want to look at this? Of course it will be very small pixels but do you really don't mind?! I know I do.
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That's not at all what it will really look like. Doing something in photoshop is not even close to how it will look in real life. Please look at the phone before you assume what it will look like. I just switched my phone from 1080p to QHD and back again, and I literally cannot tell the difference, even with my face pressed inches away from the phone.

marinebio94 said:
That's not at all what it will really look like. Doing something in photoshop is not even close to how it will look in real life. Please look at the phone before you assume what it will look like. I just switched my phone from 1080p to QHD and back again, and I literally cannot tell the difference, even with my face pressed inches away from the phone.
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You can't negotiate with the pixel science
Most likely the pixels are just to small to see a difference but I will take a look at the phone when I get it to judge wether switching to 1440p or not

Termynat0r said:
You can't negotiate with the pixel science
Most likely the pixels are just to small to see a difference but I will take a look at the phone when I get it to judge wether switching to 1440p or not
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But don't forget these OLED panels use a diamond pentile subpixel arragement, so the interpolation isn't quite the same as a traditional RGB LCD monitor.
It's REALLY REALLY difficult to tell the difference between QHD and 1080p on the S7. At more than about a foot, it's nearly impossible to tell. I know what you're saying, I hate running monitors at non-native resolutions.
If it bugs you that much, just change it.

If lower resolution gets me another 1hr SOT per day, I'll drop all the way to the bottom. Can't tell the diff.

I just changed to 1080 p on my S7E (was at the highest rez setting). Really can't see a difference. Icons and keyboard are a bit larger. Texts are a bit bigger. But as far as sharpness, look of the display, not an issue. Just going to test and see if this makes a difference much on SOT or not. I can always change back to the highest rez setting if I want - takes about 30 seconds to do.

teegunn said:
I just changed to 1080 p on my S7E (was at the highest rez setting). Really can't see a difference. Icons and keyboard are a bit larger. Texts are a bit bigger. But as far as sharpness, look of the display, not an issue. Just going to test and see if this makes a difference much on SOT or not. I can always change back to the highest rez setting if I want - takes about 30 seconds to do.
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This setting should not affect the size of the screen elements (icons, text) at all.

se1000 said:
This setting should not affect the size of the screen elements (icons, text) at all.
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The initial change of setting could change aspect ratios, but a quick restart should fix it.

se1000 said:
This setting should not affect the size of the screen elements (icons, text) at all.
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I use Nova launcher, Swype and Handcent texting app. It changed the size of icons, the size of font, the size of the keyboard and the size of the texts (the bubbles and text font). It did increase the size on all of those. Also increased the size of the quick settings, etc. It's not a big deal, but it did increase the size of things a bit. Has caused no problems so far otherwise.

Wich resolution you use on Oreo

Hi,
Wich resolution you use ? (1080P/1440P)
And why ?
Please say if you have an S8 or S8+.
It would be Better if you are on Oreo (Samsung have working on it in Oreo for less difference on both resolution )

I use 1080p cant see the difference im on s8

Mads4295 said:
I use 1080p cant see the difference im on s8
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Thank, you are on Oreo?

1440P oreo. can see the diffirence in resolution, but not in the battery

deraiz12 said:
Thank, you are on Oreo?
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Yes im on Oreo

1440p for sure. If I need to last battery like for a long time (and forget my powerbank) i´ll just probably use battery saver - 720p. Don´t see reason why use 1080p anyway...

Problems with facebook on 720p. Pictures and videos are cropped.

I have seen big difference in smoothness .
For compared in fhd+ my s8 is more fast than mate 9 of my wife and In qhd+ the mate 9 win .

There's minimal battery difference between running it in fullhd+ and qhd+, the only way you would find some battery savings is if you play games a lot. I'm on oreo beta exynos

1440p. I'd rather it look better than get an extra 15 minutes of battery life

Wow...I can't believe people aren't using the full quality of the screen. You do realise the battery difference is negligible right? Whether you use FHD or QHD+, the display is still having to power up all the pixels. You save maybe 15 minutes of battery, nothing more, by using FHD.
Personally I can definitely see the difference in visual quality.

the_scotsman said:
Wow...I can't believe people aren't using the full quality of the screen. You do realise the battery difference is negligible right? Whether you use FHD or QHD+, the display is still having to power up all the pixels. You save maybe 15 minutes of battery, nothing more, by using FHD.
Personally I can definitely see the difference in visual quality.
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Yes agree with you but in term of performance the difference are no negligible.

Wtf are you guys talking about? The gpu is always running and rendering for full resolution. From what I understand, this "Screen resolution" setting is nothing like the "Screen resolution that you observe in Windows OS...". The difference is just the percieved resolution (BY APPS!!!) similar to what is done on MacOS..

malimukk said:
Wtf are you guys talking about? The gpu is always running and rendering for full resolution. From what I understand, this "Screen resolution" setting is nothing like the "Screen resolution that you observe in Windows OS...". The difference is just the percieved resolution (BY APPS!!!) similar to what is done on MacOS..
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Sorry but I don't agreed with you .
The operation of the gpu is the same as that on video games. If you play in FHD or QHD the request for power is not the same and you need a gpu/cpu more powerful .

A pixel is a pixel is a pixel. The higher the resolution, the "smaller" they seem.... You are still powering on all the pixels regardless ofthe resolution... The resolution, as it was mentioned before, is for the apps to use for scaling (if you ever develop anything for Android, read this article https://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html)
Resolution has little to no effect on battery, everyone stop crying about it...

1440p because I wasn't raised in a barn.
Haha! I just had to put that. I do use it but I have no good reason.

I have to agree with an earlier post that the higher resolution would impact performance.
I tried the highest resolution and I agree, everything looks much better and has close to 0 impact on battery life (if that's your thing) but I did notice a significant drop in performance.
That being said on 1080 there 0 lag, while on the higher resolution there's lag even in basic apps like messaging or contacts.
But that's my experience.
I don't really care that much about battery life on the s8 as it always got me through a whole day of usage, regardless of the settings, but I do care about performance.
I am 99% sure changing the resolution has an impact on gpu.
It's correct that I doesn't impact display power consumption but the gpu has to render more, so it will impact gpu performance.
Just my 2cents

90 vs 60 and Resolution

I am using 60Hz refresh rate as well as FHD+
I do not watch high resolution movies on my phone (I prefer an 80" TV for that) but I have tried running the phone at 90HZ and QHD+ and I just do not see, or feel any difference! My scrolling through apps, and pictures, and web pages move just as fast on 60Hz as they do on 90Hz. The screen resolution also does not appear to change at all between FHD and QHD. Don't get me wrong, my phone is on 10 and running like a champ! I do not know if my battery would run out sooner on the higher rates but I just think that this thing is so fast as it is with all the top line hardware that running it at the higher rates would just use more battery with very limited, to no real benefit.
Am I the only one who feels this way?

As someone who uses a 144Hz gaming display and 90Hz OP7Pro daily 60Hz is painfully choppy...

jaseman said:
I am using 60Hz refresh rate as well as FHD+
I do not watch high resolution movies on my phone (I prefer an 80" TV for that) but I have tried running the phone at 90HZ and QHD+ and I just do not see, or feel any difference! My scrolling through apps, and pictures, and web pages move just as fast on 60Hz as they do on 90Hz. The screen resolution also does not appear to change at all between FHD and QHD. Don't get me wrong, my phone is on 10 and running like a champ! I do not know if my battery would run out sooner on the higher rates but I just think that this thing is so fast as it is with all the top line hardware that running it at the higher rates would just use more battery with very limited, to no real benefit.
Am I the only one who feels this way?
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I would like to know why you bought a 1440p 90hz panel if you wish to use 1080p 60? 1440p is obviously more sharper and cleaner image and higher refreshrate = smoother experience I hate to see these comments "I don't see the difference" I always feel like the user is blind to me the difference is so obvious. But as the comment bellow I also game on a 144hz panel so anything less is choppy to me too. So I guess if you never used a high refresh panel it might be not noticeable to you.

liam_davenport said:
I would like to know why you bought a 1440p 90hz panel if you wish to use 1080p 60? 1440p is obviously more sharper and cleaner image and higher refreshrate = smoother experience I hate to see these comments "I don't see the difference" I always feel like the user is blind to me the difference is so obvious. But as the comment bellow I also game on a 144hz panel so anything less is choppy to me too. So I guess if you never used a high refresh panel it might be not noticeable to you.
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I do not play games on a phone. I have more important things to do with a $700.00 tool. I see just fine. I do not buy a phone based on screen refresh rate or resolution. 1080p on a 6 inch screen is better than many 55 inch TV's. I buy my phones based on price, battery size, and a few other features. So my perception is not wrong. I have tried multiple combinations of the various settings and there is LITTLE to NO appreciable difference! Maybe it makes a difference for games, but come on, games? Oh well, to each his own!

Liam definitely has a point. Although I never use 1080 I can understand how 1440 might not be a big enough difference that the extra battery is worth it. However the 90hz is much smoother during everyday use than 60hz. I use forced 90 and it hurts scrolling in any other phone. Don't know how much it affects games

jaseman said:
I do not play games on a phone. I have more important things to do with a $700.00 tool. I see just fine. I do not buy a phone based on screen refresh rate or resolution. 1080p on a 6 inch screen is better than many 55 inch TV's. I buy my phones based on price, battery size, and a few other features. So my perception is not wrong. I have tried multiple combinations of the various settings and there is LITTLE to NO appreciable difference! Maybe it makes a difference for games, but come on, games? Oh well, to each his own!
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I'm pretty sure he was talking about gaming on a 144hz monitor, not on his phone.
So theoretically going from 144hz to 60hz would be a HUGE difference and would definitely be noticeable.

jaseman said:
I do not play games on a phone. I have more important things to do with a $700.00 tool. I see just fine. I do not buy a phone based on screen refresh rate or resolution. 1080p on a 6 inch screen is better than many 55 inch TV's. I buy my phones based on price, battery size, and a few other features. So my perception is not wrong. I have tried multiple combinations of the various settings and there is LITTLE to NO appreciable difference! Maybe it makes a difference for games, but come on, games? Oh well, to each his own!
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90Hz is not only good for gaming. There's was a time when Google Chrome stopped supporting 90Hz (I think it was a month ago). At the very first second I was using Chrome with 60Hz without knowing I just thought "wtf why is it so laggy". So yeah, the difference between 60Hz and 90Hz is very big. Glad chrome supports 90Hz again.

90Hz ftw!

I guess it all boils down to not only "what" you do on your phone, but also "how" you choose to do it...as in which app(s) you choose to get things done. I keep changing settings and even rebooting between changes just to make sure they really take. And I do not see any appreciable difference! Not trying to make trouble, not disparaging this phone at all because I am enjoying it very much! But for me, the way I use it, and the apps that are important to me..the faster refresh rate as well as the higher resolution are anecdotal at best. The whole purpose of this thread for me was to make sure that my phone was truly working properly when using the higher settings. Evidently it is??? YMMV

This is an age-old battle and it's pointless as this is very subjective and changes over time.
Understand that it is normal for a person not to percieve huge difference between 60 and 90Hz if you are used to 60 and going to 90 short term. Your brain needs time to adjust and "speed up" your perception and it takes weeks or months. After that period of getting used to the fluidity of higher refresh display, going back to 60 should seem like a slideshow. Someone used to 60Hz will not see a huge difference, someone coming from 144Hz will immediatelly feel the screen lag at 60. Another thing is dark mode, dark mode indirectly raises your pixel response times, making movement more blurry and the 90Hz less prominent.
As for resolution on this phone, you can clearly see the small text in browsers is more blurry and causes more eye fatigue.
At the end of the day if you value the battery more than screen clarity, it's better to keep both low before you spoil yourself and there's no going back

we all know that on Android 9, not all the apps runs at 90Hz inclued Chrome, the reason is the battery consumption of course
idk if this still true on Android 10, but Chrome is runing at 90Hz on Android 10
so i guess, 1+ unlock the 90Hz to more apps, still mix it with the 60Hz to optimize the battery, so that is why we kind of dont see any differences
the only method to compare is download the Auto90 app from appstore, force the phone to runs at 90Hz all the time then you'll see there is differences or not

I dont mind about resolution since FHD+ is more than Reasonable with color tuning , but the frame rate is one of the main pros of one plus new line up .
So i force all them 90hz on all apps . Leaving iphone users insecurely baffled

I'm usually on a 240hz monitor. The 90hz screen is very nice feeling and whenever I look at my 6t I want to throw up.

^^LOL, good one's