Retina display type. What is IPS and Retina display
For those who like the products Apple and mathematics, the TUAW website offers to see in numbers the features of Apple products - hardware and software.
Everyone is talking about Retina displays these days, worrying about them not coming to the Mac and anticipating their arrival on the iPad 3 (which we'll almost certainly see on March 7). Here's one thought from Bjango developer Marc Edwards on Twitter: “The Retina pixel count of a 27" Thunderbolt display is 5120 x 2880 = 14,745,600 pixels. With 4K resolution: 4096x2160 = 8847360 pixels. Retina in iPad 3: 2048x1536 = 3145728 pixels." The calculations make us wonder - what could the appearance of a Retina display on the Mac mean? If Edwards is right, is there really nearly 15 megapixels in a Retina and Thunderbolt display?
Maybe it's just a matter of marketing?
What does the term “Retina Display” even mean? It was invented by Apple, giving the following definition:
“The pixel density of a Retina display is so high that the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels.”
The definition makes sense and is a clever marketing ploy, but is that all?
In fact, this technology is not only used by Apple. High-pixel-per-inch-density screens are starting to appear in other devices, such as Asus' Android tablet. The exact term is " Retina display“may only belong to Apple, but the benefits of high-resolution screens cannot belong to Cupertino. Since this new trend For the industry as a whole, it takes a lot of effort to shake off the “marketing dust” and try to look at the technology objectively.
Definition of "Retina Display"
What does it mean to say that individual pixels on the screen are indistinguishable? Of course, the release of the iPhone 4 and the first Retina display was a big leap in resolution: it went from 480x320 to 960x640 (that is, from 163 pixels per inch to 326 pixels per inch (PPI)). This way people understand that distinguishing feature Retina display is a density of 326 HDPE, or 300 HDPE. The latter number is considered the printing industry's generally accepted empirical baseline for "photo resolution".
However, everything is not so simple.
Look at the small print at arm's length. Notice how difficult it is to read. Now bring the text closer to your face and look at it from a distance of a few centimeters from your nose. Notice how much easier it is to read now. It becomes clear that Apple's definition of the term "Retina Display" as "a display with indistinguishable pixels" requires clarification - what exactly should be the distance from the screen to the user's eyes for each specific device. There is a difference - the iMac is on the table, the MacBook is on the table/lap, etc., we hold the iPhone in our hands, and each of us is at a different distance from the eyes.
So, how big does a small pixel have to be to be considered invisible? Math (more precisely, geometry) begins - we need to think about the angle at which we look at the screen.
The viewing angle in this diagram (angle a) is an angle that depends on the interpixel distance (s). As this distance decreases, the angle also decreases. Likewise, the size of an object depends on the distance from which it is viewed - the viewing angle will change depending on the change in the distance from the object to the observer's eyes. Larger objects are clearly visible at a greater angle. The size of the image on the retina is inextricably linked with the size of the object and the distance to it, and is calculated using the following formula:
What happens - the viewing angle is too small to see it? The average person has 20/20 vision - historically determined by the ability to read the letters on a standard vision test chart at an angle of 5 arc minutes (1 arc minute is 1/60th of a degree). What does this mean in terms of pixels? One of the most small fonts Tinyfont by Ken Perlin and Tiny by Matthew Welch are considered, and their letter height is only 5 pixels (including Tiny's descenders). This means that the smallest angle for the average eye is one minute of arc. In fact, one arcminute is the scientifically accepted limit of resolution for the retina of a typical human eye.
Retina on existing Apple displays
We can continue the calculations by taking some typical viewing distances for various Apple devices, combining them with screen sizes and resolutions, and calculating how well the display meets the definition of Retina listed above.
Google kindly provides a table with detailed information about how this data is calculated. Just for fun, let’s take a couple of “non-Apple” devices for comparison - a 50-inch TV, which we will look at from a distance of six feet (about 1.8 meters) and play BluRay discs and DVDs; as well as an Asus tablet Transformer Prime Android with 1920x1200 display resolution.
The table shows surprising things: firstly, it becomes clear that the definition, given by Apple in relation to the Retina display, it corresponds quite closely to the mathematical definition given above. The iPhone 4 screen, which is usually viewed from a distance of 11 inches (28 centimeters), offers characteristics very close to the Retina threshold - which means the calculation methodology is correct.
Secondly, the calculations repeat the earlier conclusion that the iPad's double resolution (2048x1536) is quite consistent with the Retina characteristics. Even if you use the tablet at a distance of 16 inches (about 40 centimeters) from your eyes, the results are very close. The same as in Asus tablet– its display can also be considered Retina.
The calculations also show that many modern Mac displays are much closer to Retina performance than they might seem at first glance. 27-inch iMac screen at 28 inches (approximately 70 cm) distance, 17-inch MacBook Pro at a distance of 26 inches from the eyes (66 cm) and an 11-inch screen MacBook Air from a distance of 22 inches (56 cm) - all of these screens have pixels small enough to be on the verge of invisibility.
Besides, iPhone display with a resolution of 480x320 it looks noticeably worse compared to other products created by Apple to date (its density is only 53% of the pixel density of a Retina display). Even the iPad resolution (1024×768), which many are unhappy with, gives in calculations best indicator– 61%. Analysis of the “worst” Mac display (a 24-inch iMac screen at a distance of 28 inches) shows that the size of its pixels is a third higher than the very threshold of invisibility.
Finally, the calculations show why BluRay images look so good. On large TVs at a small distance from the screen (diagonal - 50 inches, distance - 15 cm), a 1080p picture shows 92% of the Retina level - despite the fact that DVD format shows only 36%.
Here you need to take into account two very important points.
First, in order to reach or even exceed the coveted pixel stealth threshold of a Retina display, Apple doesn't need to double the resolution of most of its displays. Not at all - just increase the pixel density of the 27-inch from 2560x1440 to about 2912x1638.
The second point is that people need to understand that they shouldn't be fooled by the idea that the Retina display on the Mac will be much better than existing offerings. The release of the iPhone 4 was a huge step forward after iPhone release 3GS mainly because the 3GS's screen was pretty poor (by today's standards). Existing Mac models have a lot best screens, so they won’t need major improvements.
Beyond arcminutes
Based on the above, you might think that Apple hardly has any reason to change anything at all, since the benefits of high-resolution screens are actually quite modest. But HiDPI does exist, and there are purpose-built screens with densities ranging from 508 to 750 ppi used in the medical industry.
The answer is that our definition of the limits of human vision (details visible at a minute-arc angle) is too primitive. There is much more to consider when considering the interaction of real human vision with computer display technology - including atypical viewing distances, different kinds images and so on. For example, words can be read in much smaller sizes, since our brain has additional benefits in guessing them. The human brain is good tool to recognize different patterns and it will use information from environment to interpret details that the eye cannot clearly make out.
The picture shows several templates that you can check on own display. If you want to try this on the screen of an iOS device, you need to get the corresponding file (for iPhone or iPad) and save it to Camera Roll. This is necessary because iOS will obligingly try to zoom and pan the image, and we want one pixel of the image to occupy one pixel on the screen. After receiving the file in Camera Roll, view the picture on full screen through the Photos app, placing the image in portrait mode. If you start comparing what she looks like Mac screen, iPad or iPhone, you will see the difference in screen capabilities.
Arguments for doubling pixels
Rene Ritchie at iMore makes a strong argument that the iPad's display resolution should be doubled (that is, 2048 x 1536 pixels, rather than somewhere in between, as was the case with the iPhone 4). Intermediate value means that every existing application must either be re-scaled each time (and the image will be fuzzy), or will have different dimensions from the screen. This is because every existing iPad app is hard-coded to run on full screen at 1024x768 resolution.
Things are a little different for desktop users. The density of Apple's existing desktop displays ranges between 92 and 133 pixels per inch. Users are more tolerant of element resizing user interface(of course, within reason).
Consider a 27-inch Thunderbolt display with a density of 109 HDD and a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels, and assume that Apple wants to fit it to Retina specifications. The resolution can be increased to 4192x2358 pixels (the density will be 178 PND), such a display will be better than the display in the iPhone 4. There will be a third fewer pixels than with the native doubling of the resolution (5120x2880). UI elements will appear proportionately larger, but no larger, than on today's 24-inch iMac screen, so they won't appear fuzzy or clunky.
Conclusion
Here are a few things that the authors of the TUAW website tried to convince us of:
— Retina display is not just an attractive marketing concept;
— when determining whether the display is Retina or not, you need to take into account the distance to the screen;
- if a Mac display is upgraded to Retina specs, the changes will be much less noticeable than the improvement iPhone screen 4 compared to the 3GS screen.
Retina Display – proprietary technology Apple company, on the basis of which displays are created for all new mobile devices. The company promotes this technology as a modern miracle, which has no equal, and promises in these screens, in addition to excellent color balance, also a huge pixel density. Basically, there is now an intellectual war between Samsung's Retina and OLED technologies. What's more interesting is that Retina is a familiar TFT technology+ IPS. Plus the dominance of the brand, of course.
TFT, or LCD – screens based on the properties of liquid crystals. These crystals are a liquid that, under certain influences, can turn into a crystal and then become liquid again. This liquid is synthesized at enterprises, building various LCD screens on it. The principle of operation of the monitor is quite simple if you describe it with your fingers. There are two polarizing filters through which the light passes. One of them has a vertical lattice of cutouts, the second – a horizontal one. Between the filters there is an “aquarium” with liquid crystals. Of course, it is very thin, closed, and inside, in addition to crystals, there are paths for passing electric current. The crystals themselves do not reproduce color, but reflect it. When current is applied to the grid, the crystal rotates and changes the direction of light. This is already enough for monochrome displays. When the polarizing plates have one direction, the light at the output of the filter is delayed and a black dot is obtained, otherwise it is a white dot. Color is created using color filters, each of which is hit by a ray from a crystal.
For LCD monitors Various transmission “improvers” have been invented, for example, IPS and TN. Using the first technology, a wide viewing angle of the picture on the screen is organized, as well as more natural colors. The second technology looks narrower and worse, but works much faster. It is impossible to combine them. The concept of TFT, generally speaking, refers to transistor technology on thin film, where each of them enhances the properties of an individual pixel in terms of speed and contrast. In TN, the liquid crystals are located perpendicular to the screen, in IPS - parallel. What is important for the user is that the eye does not see individual pixels at a density above 300 dpi, and Retina technology has already achieved this.
It remains only to talk a little about how, in principle, OLED technologies differ from the basic LCD features. They use a working fluid, which itself, without initiating light, can create a glow, as a result of which much thinner monitors can be obtained using this technology. In addition, OLED monitors use energy much more economically and can work longer without recharging. It is still unknown which technology will win in the future, but already the sizes of Samsung devices are growing and increasing their density by an inch, which is why Retina seems like a technology of the day before. But Apple yet There will be aces up your sleeve – as always.
Today we will look at what Retina Display screen technology is. Retina Display — This new screen wide resolution. It is used on a tablet computer iPad. The resolution of this screen is 2048x1536 pixels. This is significantly more than some monitors. Retina Display technology is an innovation in the market tablet computers. The work done by Apple engineers is worthy of respect.
Previously, people worked with such accurate and high-quality images using only professional monitors (for example, computer monitors type hi-end from various companies), which usually cost over $9,000, but today you can enjoy excellent image clarity by simply buying a tablet with a Retina Display installed.
Especially for iPad
The iPad with Retina display uses IPS technology. Because of this system we get a wider viewing angle. Thanks to this technology, no matter what position your iPad is in, you will always see a great image. Also, the contrast of the Retina display is much higher than previous ones. Because of this White color much brighter and blacks appear significantly darker, resulting in the overall image looking much better. According to Apple engineers, it was quite difficult to make a display with 3.1 million pixels. For achievement highest quality images developers used separation system logic Retina iPad display into two spheres. The pixels themselves remained at the top, and at the bottom there was a signal generation circuit for each subpixel, which determines green, red or blue color.
Additional functions
If you choose Retina Display, what will it do for you? Apple engineers have also improved glass.
It is made from the same materials that are used in helicopter glass. It has undergone chemical treatment, due to which its strength, protection from various types of scratches and its strength have increased. An important feature of this display is that there is a special oleophobic coating that helps prevent fingerprints from appearing and can be easily removed. Also among additional functions Retina features ambient lighting and LED backlighting. It consists of adjusting the brightness of the screen, as a result of which optimal battery consumption occurs without loss of image quality.
Benefits of Retina Display
It's safe to say that when you buy a Retina Display, it's a great product that offers a lot of benefits. iPad screen latest generation stands out not only for its high resolution, but also for its excellent reproduction of colors and shades - especially the absolutely ideal gamma curve and standard color gamut.
As a result, all your videos and photos will look like this tablet exactly as they should be displayed on a “stationary” device. The display brightness reserve is generally up to 407 cd/m2 at maximum. Its deficiency can be noticeably noticeable only in fairly bright sun; in other cases, the battery reserve is quite sufficient. The contrast ratio is about 900:1. This figure has increased compared to the previous iPad generation(where the ratio was 687:1). Anti-glare filter for Retina Display - what is it? A device that copes well with external light interference and prevents the screen from fading or fading under the influence of light. Viewing angles are quite wide, shades are practically not distorted, and the picture remains legible at any viewing angle.
Also, if you are a creator of screensaver wallpapers for iDevices, then you will undoubtedly be pleased with this display. Making everything fit this screen has become much easier. The display itself helps remove all pixel roughness and gives you an excellent image of the highest quality.
Cons of the system
But, no matter how good this display is, it still has several drawbacks. Firstly, in some devices that have Retina screen, it tends to heat up, which turns out to be unpleasant. Secondly, no matter what they tell us about battery life, this display at maximum brightness drains the device’s battery quite quickly. And thirdly, there are often problems with auto-brightness, which does not adapt well to external lighting, but you can always adjust it manually.
But all these cons of Apple The iPad (Retina Display is one of its best features) cannot spoil the enjoyment of the resulting image quality. Yes and with each new model The display is getting better and better.
Drawing conclusions
Adding up all the features and advantages of the new technology, we can conclude that Retina Display is a wonderful gift. We see that the resulting product fully lives up to all our dreams and expectations about it. The image quality does not change when viewed from different angles, the colors do not interrupt each other or fade, and users will get much more pleasure from reading, viewing video files and photos. Definitely on this moment This is the best tablet display available.
Modern technologies have reached unprecedented heights. At the same time, they are constantly developing and improving. Thus, modern matrices are distinguished by the highest image quality, which was unavailable 5-10 years ago. A striking example modern achievements in screen technology are Retina displays. They have a high pixel density, thanks to which a person sees a flawless picture. But, despite the fact that such technologies have already become a part of everyday life modern people, many people ask the question, Retina LCD display, what is it?
1. What is the Retina matrix
The concept of “Retina” was first used by Apple at the presentation of a new smartphone called iPhone 4. A real genius in the world modern technologies Steve Jobs At the presentation of his new brainchild, he paid quite a lot of attention to the new matrix technology. However, many people wonder logical question, - isn’t “Retina” a common marketing ploy? Is this really a new discovery that the manufacturer of apple products can be proud of?
Answering the question of what an LCD Retina display is, first of all it is worth noting that the word “Retina” itself translated from English means “retina”. The technology received this name for a reason. The fact is that today the name Retina display is used in general descriptions conventional liquid crystal matrices, which have a higher pixel density per square inch, and are used in Apple devices.
In other words, answering the question of what a Retina LCD screen is, we can say with complete confidence that these are ordinary LCD screens made using IPS technology having high density pixels from 220 ppi and above. There is also an unofficial name for this technology – Super Fine TFT (SFT). Nowadays, similar matrices are used on all modern smartphones, tablets, MacBooks and other products from Apple.
It is worth noting that due to the high pixel density, the dots on the screen cannot be seen with the naked eye, which leads to the fact that the image is as close as possible to the pictures on the pages of glossy magazines in terms of quality and perception.
1.1. Retina matrix device
There is no point in talking for a long time about how Retina displays are designed, because as you already know, this is a common IPS matrices A. The only difference is the increased pixel density. Accordingly, the design of such matrices is absolutely identical to the IPS device. We can say that the Retina display is a kind of subtype of the IPS matrix.
Of particular note is the fact that a group of scientists working at Apple managed to separate pixels and subpixels, making it possible to significantly reduce the distance between them. That's what it is main feature this technology.
1.2. Benefits of Retina screens
You already know the Retina screen and what it is, now we can discuss their advantages. Similar displays have a range of undeniable advantages, among which special attention decent image quality. This technology constructing matrices allows you to significantly reduce the distance between pixels. Thanks to this, the image on the Retina display has such a look that the human eye is simply not able to distinguish the grid or any dots. The picture seems as realistic as possible.
Considering the fact that Retina is actually based on an IPS matrix, it is not surprising that today such displays have the best viewing angles. At the same time, the recall speed is not inferior to other modern matrices. In addition, the advantages include high level contrast ratio, which is 900:1. It should be understood that only some species were able to achieve such indicators. best displays, such as Super Amoled and the latest IPS types matrices, one of which is Retina.
Modern Retina matrices not only have high resolution, which exceeds Full HD (1920x1080). In addition, they are distinguished by excellent color rendition, which makes the picture as realistic as possible. The developers managed to come as close as possible to creating a screen that is most optimally perceived by the human visual organs. This means that the image displayed by such matrices is most easily and pleasantly perceived by the eyes.
Another important advantage of this screen technology is that it has an anti-glare effect. The fact is that the matrix uses a special filter that does not allow the display to fade or fade even in direct sunlight.
1.3. Disadvantages of a Retina display
There is nothing perfect in the world. Like any other technology, Retina matrices also have their disadvantages. Function automatic settings brightness, which is available on any modern device, does not always work flawlessly. In some cases you have to set the brightness level manually. However this a common problem screen, operating system devices, as well as light sensors.
Another disadvantage is that such displays have quite high power consumption, which has surpassed even Amoled matrix. However, to compensate for this shortcoming, the manufacturer equips Apple devices more capacious and powerful batteries.
2. Retina screens in tablets
What is a Retina screen on tablets? As a rule, before buying a tablet, buyers read its description. One of important parameters The thing you should pay attention to is the screen. Very often, when people see the word “Retina,” they don’t understand what it’s about. we're talking about. You already know what a Retina LCD display means, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties when buying a Tablet PC. The tablet's Retina display means that this device has a display with increased pixel density and high resolution.
It is worth noting that scientists managed to further increase the display resolution on the tablet. Now it is higher than Full HD resolution, which is 1920x1080 pixels. For example, iPad4 has a screen size of 2048x1536 pixels. The pixel density is 264 ppi (264 pixels per square inch). Of course, this leads to increased electricity consumption. But at the same time, such permission means even more high quality Images.
3. Review of the iPad mini with Retina display: Video
Of course, today this is no longer the most a high resolution, since the largest companies constantly compete with each other, producing more modern devices, with higher parameters. So, Google company in response to the iPad4 they released the Nexus, which has a resolution of 2560x1600. Of course, this is not a retina screen, although in terms of parameters it is not inferior to it.
4. Retina screens in monitors
This technology is used not only in the manufacture of screens for mobile devices. This display is also used in new laptop models. The first model was a device from Apple called MacBook Pro. It uses a 15-inch screen with a resolution of 2880x1800 pixels. Of course, the pixel density in such screens is 220 ppi.
Thanks to this, users have the opportunity to process images in Full format HD without downscaling the picture.
Retina matrices are a new word in modern technology that open up new level image quality. With the advent of this technology mobile devices, such as tablets, smartphones, laptops and so on, have become one step closer to desktop computers with high quality monitors.
Retina displays and the recently introduced Retina HD displays are often mentioned when discussing Apple products. In this article we will try to determine the differences between these types of displays, and whether these displays are worth the money they are asking for.
What is Retina display? Or, what definition is accurate for displays with this name?
Retina display is more of a marketing ploy than a technical term, but the concept can be defined: it is a screen used in a computing device that has a high pixel density, at which the human eye cannot see individual pixels. In other words, it is assumed that a person will not be able to tell the difference between a photograph of a painting shown on a Retina screen and the painting itself. But this is only in theory.
Retina is owned by Apple. Other companies may produce screens with the same technical characteristics, but they won’t be able to call them Retina. This is a trademark.
What resolution does the Retina display have?
Screen resolutions are given in the format "number of pixels" X "number of pixels". But the key for Retina displays is pixel density (the number of pixels per inch). With the same screen resolutions (in pixels), but different sizes(in inches) pixel densities will vary.
But, even in terms of pixel density, there is no single number that qualifies a screen as Retina, since when determining Retina displays, the distance of the screen from the eyes is taken into account.
In fact, you can more often find the following pixel density indicators for various types devices:
- 326ppi - smartphones
- 264ppi - tablets
- 220ppi - laptops
Are there screens with better performance than Retina displays?
Eat. There are screens that have higher pixel density. Apple itself, since iPhone launch 6, offers an improved Retina HD screen. But many Android devices superior to Apple devices in this indicator, for example LG G3 - 534 pixels per inch.
But, if we recall our previous definition of Retina, then increasing the pixel density is a rather controversial undertaking, because the human eye no longer sees the difference at such high ppi values. Apple themselves spoke about this. But iPhone release 6 can be regarded as an admission that the difference can still be felt.
Difference between Retina and Retina HD.
The term Retina HD refers only to the screens of new Apple smartphones. So what is superior to Retina HD over its predecessor:
- Higher resolution
- Greater contrast
- Wider viewing angle thanks to dual domain pixels technology
- Also, if you look at the screen with glasses, the image on the screen will be brighter than on previous models.