via Brian Caulfield, Forbes. Peter Misek, Jefferies & Co.:
Also, we believe that Apple and Sharp together have a modified IGZO (indium, gallium, zinc) technology to achieve 330 dpi, which is sufficient for an HD display while not using IPS nor having to include dual-bar LED backlighting. In our view, this should lead to several design advantages, namely the device can be thinner, battery life should be longer, and the overall experience for users should be meaningfully improved.
The benefits of IGZO are plenty: lower cost of manufacturing, up to 30x higher electron mobility than a-Si (amorphous silicon), increased aperture ratio for improved light transmittance, higher resolution in terms of ppi, etc. IGZO would allow for significant cost reductions compared to LTPS (Low Temperature Poly-Silicon) based high resolution LCDs like the rumored 9.7-inch 2048×1536 IPS LCD for the iPad 3.
Misek claims Apple purchased US$500 million to $1 billion in display manufacturing equipment to be installed at Sharp’s Kameyama-based G6 LCD fab for the purpose of producing IGZO-based LCDs for iPhones and iPads.
Update: Juro Osawa, The Wall Street Journal:
Sharp already supplies LCD panels for Apple’s iPhone smartphones, according to the person. The company will be supplying panels for the next iPhone, which is also expected to launch sometime next year, the person added.
“The person” is someone familiar with this matter. I’m guessing Apple will move away from mentioning IPS when touting its display on the iPhone and focus on it being Retina. I expect the same thing for the upcoming iPad 3. And this might explain why there has been a dip in display quality in the iPhone 4S.
Update 2012.02.21: Raymond Soneira:
Update – it is now clear that it is extremely unlikely that IGZO Retina Display LCD panels will be ready for the March iPad 3 launch. Sharp has stated (in their end of 2011 financial statements on the Japan website) that they are experiencing “significant delays” with IGZO, and that production is “expected” to begin in February in the Kameyama No. 2 Plant (not the Sakai Plant as some Wall Street analysts have stated). The word “expected” has been used for a year now to describe IGZO production. Starting production for a new technology is always slow and iffy so at best it will take months to get IGZO panels into iPad 3s. So, unless Sharp is providing misleading information (illegal in the US for a public company) the iPad 3 will not have Sharp IGZO Retina Display LCD panels for many months (if indeed they are coming to the iPad 3).
Samsung Mobile: The Samsung Galaxy Note packs a 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display and that means a pixel format of 1280×720. Resolution is quite high at 277 ppi and due to the size of the display the average usage distance will be somewhere between smaller smartphones and larger tablets. I would put 277 ppi for a 5.x-inch gadget right around the border of being Retina class. Display technical specs looks top notch.
Next is the S Pen, a pressure sensitive stylus. I agree with Steve Jobs that the finger is the most direct and natural way to navigate a multitouch-based user interface like iOS on smartphones and tablets. However the stylus can come in handy and in some cases be better. Two in fact, according to Ben Brooks: hand-written notes and drawing precision things.
I’ve shared quite a bit about my desire to have a smartphone without the phone, but with 3G/4G data connectivity. The biggest portion of my phone bill is voice and voice is the feature I use least. And isn’t voice just zeros and ones? Finally Samsung has seen the light (Update: I am wrong. The Galaxy Note is just a huge phone with a stylus.): The Galaxy Note has the option of HSPA+ or LTE. Now where did I put my man-bag…
Update: Samsung has announced the availability of its S Pen SDK 1.0, which allows adding a canvas and popup windows.
Update 2: Daniel Cooper, Engadget, reports the Samsung Galaxy Note with GSM 850/1900 MHz, WCDMA II/IV bands and a GT-N7000B model number has gained FCC approval today. It’s not LTE, but even with 3G a smartphone untethered from an overpriced voice plan is exciting. Although calling something that has a huge 5.3-inch display a smartphone might be pushing it.
Update 3: Samsung (Flickr):
Samsung’s flagship smart device Galaxy Note has reached 1 million global shipping.
Shipping, as in shipments into the channel, and not sold to people who will use it. I’m not down on the Galaxy Note. I hope smartphones without the phones become more popular as I can’t wait to drop the voice portion, which is the most expensive, of my smartphone bill. An iPod touch with 3G or LTE would be perfect.
Update 4: The Galaxy Note LTE is a go on AT&T.
Update 5: Vlad Savov, The Verge:
The absence of the word “Plus” from the end of the Super AMOLED branding will tell you that the Galaxy Note has a Pentile Matrix display, meaning that every one of its pixels is composed of four subpixels, one each of red and blue plus two smaller green ones. Under a magnifying glass, you’ll see this gives the display a brickwork-like pattern, which has a negative impact on fine-grain detail and can make high-contrast edges appear softer than they are. That’s long been a good reason to avoid the Pentile RGBG layout, but I honestly can’t see any such issues on the Galaxy Note. Its 1280 x 800 resolution deserves the credit, as it leads to a 285ppi pixel density, essentially making the downsides of the subpixel arrangement too small to be discernible. If you want the very best AMOLED display, though, you’ll have to look to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.7 — it has a Super AMOLED Plus screen and looks simply phenomenal.
PenTile Matrix does not require the use of four sub-pixels. The minimum is two and the maximum is ten. Nonetheless the not-quite-Retina but still high ppi seems to have minimized the negative visual effects, especially when rendering text, of PenTile.
Update 6: The Galaxy Note will be available on AT&T on February 19 for US$299.99 with a two year agreement.
Update 7: Tim Stevens, Engadget:
This is a non-Plus display, meaning it uses RGBG sub-pixels. This PenTile arrangement was the subject of many lamentations when the Galaxy Nexus was announced, that presence of extra green sub-pixels causing some display purists to lose sleep, but we didn’t find much to complain about here. Yes, we would certainly prefer a Plus display, and the color reproduction would surely be better if it were, but what’s actually in the phone is beautiful.
Because it’s an AMOLED display the contrast is phenomenal — true blacks and searingly bright whites. Viewing angles are very good, though we did notice a strong shift to blue at particularly extreme angles. And curiously, Samsung (or AT&T) opted to not include the “Screen mode” option found on the international Note that lets you select from three color settings on the display. So, you’re stuck with the default.
The display is not equal to the best, but probably good enough for most. Regarding the experience of jotting down notes on the Galaxy Note:
Annoyingly, though, actually writing with the thing is a challenge. Ostensibly, this phone was designed to replace something like a Moleskine notebook that many journalists stuff in their back pockets, but writing legibly with the S Pen is a difficult proposition. You must write far larger than you would with a pen on paper, so what might have been a few lines of notes can take a few pages of an S Memo.
Again, probably good enough, but not great.
Update 8: Jonathan Geller:
This is a phone, after using it for a few hours, that feels like it is too big to be taken seriously. That’s the end of it.
If only Samsung had dropped the phone function from the Galaxy Note and made it one of the first mini-tablets to use VoLTE.
Update 9: Walt Mossberg:
After testing the Galaxy Note, I have decidedly mixed feelings about it. It isn’t a very practical phone and, as a tablet, it can’t match the experience of the iPad, which is more spacious and has over 150,000 apps designed for it. However, I can see where some folks might consider the 5-inch screen a good trade-off for much better portability than other tablets, and Samsung has done some very interesting work in making the stylus, which is stored in a slot on the device, useful.
And this is hilarious:
via Tina Roth Eisenberg:
Joel Bukiewicz of Cut Brooklyn talks about the human element of craft, and the potential for a skill to mature into an art.
Black & white. Excellent cinematography. And it’s about a guy who makes knives. How cool is that.
Adam Satariano and Peter Burrows, Businessweek:
About five years ago, Apple design guru Jony Ive decided he wanted a new feature for the next MacBook: a small dot of green light above the screen, shining through the computer’s aluminum casing to indicate when its camera was on. The problem? It’s physically impossible to shine light through metal.
Ive called in a team of manufacturing and materials experts to figure out how to make the impossible possible [...] The team discovered it could use a customized laser to poke holes in the aluminum small enough to be nearly invisible to the human eye but big enough to let light through.
I took out my Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and took a look through a loupe. Upon close inspection there really are holes, 37 tiny almost invisible ones. The same laser technology is also used on the sleep indicator on my MacBook Pro. There are two rows of ‘em. Just incredible.
Update: I recently got hold of the Olloclip and fiddled with the macro lens. Here’s a close look at those invisible holes used for the sleep indicator doing their magical thing:
Joanna Stern, The Verge:
Just as before, the line comes in 15.6- and 17.3-inch variants, but these aren’t just normal LCD screens: the very bright Radiance Infinity displays are making a big comeback and are now standard across the lineup. Unfortunately, the base model is saddled with a 1366 x 768 resolution, but you can upgrade to a 1920 x 1080 panel. And even better the 17.3-inch model comes with that full HD display standard.
Radiance Displays-branded LCDs in HP notebooks have been highly praised in the past for their vivid colors and crisp resolution. I hope the new ones in the Envy 15 and 17 are just as good.
Update: Sean Hollister, The Verge:
We were originally told that the HP Envy 14′s luscious Radiance Display would come standard on the new Envy, but I’m sorry to say that’s not the case: the stock $1,100 Envy 15 comes with a 1366 x 768 “HP BrightView” screen, or you can pay an additional $150 for the 1920 x 1080 Radiance option. Our review unit came with the Radiance, so I can’t tell you how well the BrightView performs, but let’s face facts: if you can’t afford $1,249 for the real deal, you’re missing out. This bright, crisp, clear 1080p screen is one of the prime reasons to buy an Envy, and it’s a clear advantage over the 15-inch MacBook Pro, too, which tops out at just 1680 x 1050 resolution. Besides, trust me, 1366 x 768 just doesn’t cut it on a 15-inch screen.
A 1920×1080 pixel format on a 15.x-inch display. Sounds good, but the reality is the fonts and icons are too small for most folks. Yes, you can adjust ‘DPI’ settings on Windows, but not all parts of the UI plays nice and you end up with an uglier version of Windows. The one very good thing about 1920×1080 is watching 1080p HD video. Unfortunately the HP Envy 15 doesn’t have a Blu-ray option, but watching ripped Blu-ray movies on the road would probably be fantastic.
Update 2: The Radiance Display has problems showing red, displays orange instead. More info at Notebook Review’s forum.