A couple of days ago I was at E-Ten's UK launch of three new phones. Two of them, the X800 and the M800 have 2.8 inch VGA screens. I have been a fan of VGA for some time, especially when it comes in a device that easily fits into my shirt pocket. But lack of VGA does not appear to have dampened the excitement over the iPhone which displays only 25% of the detail of these smaller devices. So user interface aside, do you think QVGA is really good enough? Or to put it another way, how much more would you pay to have a VGA screen on your phone?

Post edited by: abraham, at: 2007/11/18 13:48

We've talked about this before, but in the interests of provoking debate (I'm a firm believer that ubiquitous connectivity, more screen real estate and open standards are going to be the main drivers towards the kind of handset I'd like to own) I'll repost my previous answer from LinkedIn below.
I'm hoping that the Android platform with a Google backend and an HTC-engineered handset is going to be my dream device within the next 2 years.


..the iPhone resolution is 320x480 at 160dpi: not 320x240.
This makes a major difference: the browser's useable.

To me, resolution is *really* important: but only if the mobile OS supports it correctly. Windows Mobile 6 VGA devices aren't great, as the fonts and display aren't really designed to be run at this higher resolution.

Once we get a mobile OS that's resolution-independant and uses vector graphics, rather than bitmaps, then the sky's the limit. High res eBook readers are leading the way on this.
Put it this way: if you could have high resolution and an OS that used it sensibly, why would you not want it? It'd make *everything* look better, even at larger font sizes.

Personally I'm steering clear of the iPhone as it just has too many things missing from its spec: it's gorgeous, it's so nearly there but it doesn't do the following:
* allow any 3rd party software - no TomTom sat nav etc
* needs iTunes for Outlook sync - not really popular in a corporate settign
* only available on one carrier in UK
* bluetooth crippled to only support headset - no file transfer, stereo audio
* no 3G
* no MMS

It's a gorgeous device if you think of it as an iPod, simple phone and browser, but it's not a true smartphone. WM6 may be a pig to use, but you can get much more functionality into your handset...
Ric