14 DAY TRIAL // Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, astronomer, lecturer, and author, has decided to step up to the task of defending Steve Jobs’ claims that the average Joe will not distinguish the pixels on the iPhone 4’s Retina Display 12 inches away. After doing a bit of research (more like pure math), some said that this was false marketing. Plait did a little research on his own, took into account that most people had an average eyesight (rather than 20/20 vision), and concluded, “Jobs is actually correct.”
The astronomer, who spent a few years calibrating a camera on board Hubble, acknowledges that, “Jobs said [iPhone 4] has higher resolution than older models; the pixels are smaller, making the display look smoother.” Plait explains that Jobs claimed the pixels on the new iPhone were so small that they exceeded the eye’s ability to detect them, at 12 inches away.
He reveals how, coming across a Wired article, he had found that Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate Industries had stated that Jobs’ claims were something of an exaggeration. “It is reasonably close to being a perfect display, but Steve pushed it a little too far,” Soneira said, prompting Wired editors to headline the piece “iPhone 4’s ‘Retina’ Display Claims Are False Marketing.”
Plait did not agree, especially with him knowing “a thing or two about resolution as well,” after doing some work on board of the Hubble telescope orbiting our Earth. “Having looked this over, I disagree with the Wired headline strongly, and disagree (mildly in one case and strongly in another) with Soneira,” he writes. “Jobs is actually correct,” he boasts, adding that Apple’s CEO “wasn’t falsely advertising the iPhone’s capabilities at all.” He then proceeds to explain.
Apple shows off the phone's stunning screen in its iPhone 4 video
“Let me make this clear: if you have perfect eyesight, then at one foot away the iPhone 4’s pixels are resolved. The picture will look pixellated. If you have average eyesight, the picture will look just fine […] At the very worst, you could claim Jobs exaggerated; his claim is not true if you have perfect vision. But for a lot of people, I would even say most people, you’ll never tell the difference. And if you hold the phone a few inches farther away it’ll look better. So in my opinion, what Jobs said was fine,” Plait concludes.
The post is fairly long and detailed, but well worth everyone’s attention. Steve Jobs is often criticized for exaggerated claims, while not all analysts delve deep enough into these matters to reveal whether it was plain marketing, or false marketing.