DailyTech - RIM's BlackBerry 10 Phones to Get HD Display

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Gadgets RIM's BlackBerry 10 Phones to Get HD Display
Jason Mick (Blog) - August 16, 2012 1:34 PM

17 comment(s) - last by Samus.. on Aug 17 at 1:49 AM

Phones to catch up with current gen. Androids

Research in Motion, Ltd. (TSE:RIM) is hoping that despite a year of delays developers will jump onboard its new mobile operating system platform, BlackBerry 10. It's travelling around the world on the BlackBerry Jam World Tour, giving out alpha hardware to prospective developers.

The phonemaker today announced the screen resolution of its product BB10 products, which are currently expected to launch in the first half of next year. According to RIM its iconic keyboard phones will get a 720x720 pixel display, while the flagship "full touch" devices like London will get 1280x720 pixel (HD) (16:9) displays.

The good news is that HD display resolution is identical to that of most flagship Android smartphones like the One X from HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) and the Galaxy S III from Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (KSC:005930).

However, there's still around half a year until the launch of BB10, so one has to wonder whether Android phonemakers won't be using an even higher resolution display by then, in their never-ending quest to push the hardware envelope.

RIM is hoping that the BB10 launch will save it from an otherwise inevitable fire sale and reroute its plunging market share.

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RE: Nice job RIM

By augiem on 8/16/2012 2:08:36 PM , Rating: 3

Yes, they HAVE to match the specs of what's out there now or they'd be lambasted. The bar has been raised already. Plus these screens are so common they're probably not much more expensive than lower res ones by now.

I don't think there's any real concern about Android phones using higher res displays by 6 month's time. That's not going to happen en masse or the phones would have already been announced well before now. And if one phone does happen to be just announced by then that has a higher res, that's not likely to be the deciding factor for a potential BB purchaser. Besides that, anything higher res would be a marginal improvement at best, and at worst, slow the system down noticeably. Not an issue.

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RE: Nice job RIM

By GulWestfale on 8/16/2012 8:31:32 PM , Rating: 2

there are already 1080p phone displays out there, and HTC is rumored to launch a 5" phone with such a display in the next 6 months.
RIM's big problem is that they focused too much on the business market, and the ease of user and consumer-oriented design of iphone/android passed them by. now they have a lot of catching up to do, and merely matching android specs from last year won't do (only apple can get away with that, due to their clever marketing, and, let's admit it, excellent interface/user experience).

a 720x720 screen sounds nice, i currently have a sony xperia ray (480x854), and the high res on the small 3.3" screen looks fantastic. but without an idiot-proof menu system, killer apps, and the right marketing, RIM really has no chance against android and apple.

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