Retinal neuroscientist examines iPhone 4’s Retina Display: Apple’s claims stand up

“By now it seems that most people on the planet have heard of Apple’s latest iPhone, the iPhone 4 which was released today. One of the many compelling features of the new phone is the Retina Display. When Steve Jobs first invoked this term at the WWDC, my eyebrows were raised. Being a retinal scientist, I was immediately skeptical of just what he meant by ‘retinal display,'” Bryan Jones, retinal neuroscientist and photographer, blogs via Jonesblog.” My mind immediately raced and I wondered if it might have been some of the interesting technology I got to see on my last visit to one of Apple’s technology development labs. I will not say anything about that visit, but this Retina Display, a super high resolution display was new technology that I had not seen before. Essentially it is an LED backlit LCD display with a *326* pixel per inch (960×640) display where each pixel measures a scant 78μm.”

“So… the claim from Steve was that this display had pixels that matched the resolution display of the human retina… A ‘normal’ human eye is considered to have standard visual acuity or 20/20 vision,” Jones reports. “This means that a 20/20 eye can discriminate two lines or two pixels separated by 1 arcminute (1/60 degree).”

Jones reports, “So, if a normal human eye can discriminate two points separated by 1 arcminute/cycle at a distance of a foot, we should be able to discriminate two points 89 micrometers apart which would work out to about 287 pixels per inch. Since the iPhone 4G display is comfortably higher than that measure at 326 pixels per inch, I’d find Apple’s claims stand up to what the human eye can perceive.”

Much more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: If you haven’t seen an iPhone 4’s Retina display is action yet, prepare to be shocked. It makes all other smartphone screens, including older iPhone screens, look like junk. iPhone 4’s screen is effing amazing, regardless of how many Ph.Ds you throw at it.