Samsung outs 'retina display' ARM chippery

What else will H2 have?

FOUR different quad-core ARM SOC platforms from a herd of OEMs under every brand imaginable, running Android and iOS. Sammy would be well advised to let us have our Android. If they want to try and launch the Windows tablet one more time also, just to see it still won't fly then I'm OK with that. But they better not try to hold back the good stuff for that.

It could be argued...

...that Samsung has to let Apple use their patents under Fair Use laws. However, there is no law that says you have to sell to someone.

This is Samsung's ace in the hole. If Apple gets too prickly they just turn off the taps.

not this nonsense again

I thought it was bad enough with the rumours about the ipad 3(4/5/6/7/8/9....) about to have screen resolutions at that level. Remember, they have been rumouring these high res displays for over a year now with nothing more than some basic proof of concept prototypes to show for.

IT

WILL

NOT

HAPPEN

Going above 1920x1080 on a portable screen smaller than 13" is complete nonsense for several reasons:

1. There is no media out there or websites designed for such a high res, so why waste all those extra pixels? As a marketing buzz word? Give me a 1920x1080 Super AMOLED Plus screen over this any day. Infact 1280x800 would suffice if I can have blisteringly good 3D graphics.

2. nobody will actually notice a difference between a 1920x1080 10" screen or one running at 2560x1600 without a magnifying glass. The galaxy S2 for example actually has a lower res than the iphone 4 in a larger screen and yet nobody has complained it lacks sharpness or detail. Such high pixel densities are nothing more than a marketing gimmick with no real discernible benefits in everyday use.

3. The processing power doesn't exist in a portable format to run 3D at a usable frame rate and quality at that res. A desktop graphics card can just about push a reasonable number of polygons at that resolution whilst drawing over 100W of power. Would you rather have highly detailed environments and complex detailing in portable games running at 1280x800 or sub PS 1 quality running at 2560x1600? I know which I would prefer.

4. Has it dawned on anyone that being able to run at such a high res might have more to do with the ability to hook up your tablet to a big screen than actually being able to show it on the device itself?

So please, put a stop to this nonsense once and for all.

But dude, this ain't "Windows"

Not sure why anyone still thinks the main thing holding back "Windows" on ARM is processing power, since Microsoft has made it clear its forthcoming ARM version of "Windows" is just its existing Tiles® OS for phones, marketed as "Windows (Mobile?) 8", or IOW the OS generously "donated" by Palm Inc., a company that actually knew how to make mobile operating systems, unlike Microsoft. It's a shame they weren't asked to design the UI too, or they might have saved Microsoft some embarrassment.

I think the reason for the "declining interest" is therefore pretty-much self evident. Phone 7 currently commands about 0.66% market share (according to Gartner, it's 1.5% for ALL Windows mobile, most of which is WinMo 6.5), so why would Windows 8/ARM a.k.a. Phone 8 be any different? This ain't desktop Windows, folks, and it won't be running any of your Killa Appz® any time soon. Nobody cares.

Good effort by Samsung, though. The Exynos 5250 is a fantastic ARM SoC. I'm sure both Android and GNU/Linux will take full advantage of it.