Quote:
Originally Posted by rogue_librarian
Books printed on paper are superior in terms of quality of display: not only for black and white text, where the gap is rapidly narrowing with dedicated devices, but also for color photos etc. But that's a technical hurdle. The day will come when these devices will be as good if not better than printed paper.
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The problem is that day still seems pretty far off.
The real resolution (in dpi) of computer screens has remained
unchanged for a decade. Screens have become bigger, but there's been almost no change in their density. In 2003 I bought a Palm T3 - it's still going strong and has a 3.7" screen at 480x320 pixels. The iPhone 3GS was launched in late 2009 and guess what - it has a 3.5" 480x320 screen. Six years has produced a change in resolution that's imperceptible.
250dpi WVGA devices are slowly beginning to come out that finally show a respectable resolution bump, but so far that's only happening on small scale 3.5" screens.
Let's put this in perspective: the 166dpi of current 6" eInk screens equates to around 80 line per inch, the same resolution as newsprint. A standard-quality offset press using coated paper typically prints at around 185lpi, 123% more resolution. Truly high-end printing can go up to 300lpi. And print can do that at display sizes that are far larger than an envelope.
Apart from WVGA phones, we're seeing a step
backwards with larger devices, such as the miserly 66lpi of the iPad and similar tablets. Issues of quality control scale exponentially with the size of the display, meaning that it's far harder to sustain resolution as the size goes up.
Electronic display technology still has a long way to go to match the quality of print for demanding applications. Right now it's just about good enough for the mediocre rendition of text. But it's nowhere near the quality that print can provide for images. The recent history of display technology shows little more than stagnation as far as resolution goes. Innovation has focussed instead on low-power and alternative viewing methodologies rather than tackle the tricky and expensive problems involved in improving manufacturing tolerances.
Right now there is no prospect of print dying out. Konrath's article is the digital fantacism typical of someone who needs to get out more. Maybe in 20-30 years' time electronic displays will be reaching the point where they can rival print for mainstream use. Maybe.