Sony Launches Phone With World's First 4K HDR Screen; Nokia Brings Back the 3310 Handset (wired.com) 76
Rumors were true. Nokia did launch its 3310 handset at MWC. It's been almost 17 years since the 3310 first came out. In that time the Nokia brand has been bought, sold, and stripped for parts. From a report on Wired: The 3310 is still very much a feature phone. It has a web browser, but only barely -- it's a dumbed-down version of Opera, basically there for emergency tweeting. It exists for you to make phone calls, send texts the way you did a decade ago (T9 FTW!), and play Snake. The 3310 weighs less than three ounces, and its battery lasts an absurd 31 days in standby time, or up to 22 hours of talk time. The new 3310 has a camera, for one thing, a 2-megapixel shooter. It also has a 2.4-inch, 240x320 screen, which is hilariously small and low-res but still a huge improvement over the original. It is priced at 49 Euros ($51). Also at the event, Sony announced that it is not done with putting a 4K screen on smartphones. From a report on The Verge: The XZ Premium has the world's first 4K HDR (2,160 x 3,840, High Dynamic Range) display in a smartphone. Sony has the latest and best Qualcomm chip while others are still offering the Snapdragon 820 and 821, but the Xperia XZ Premium won't be out until late spring or just ahead of the summer. Hell, the demo units shown off ahead of MWC weren't running anywhere close to final software -- so Sony is pre-announcing its new flagship device by a long margin. Other notable features include water resistance, rated to IP65 and IP68, a thinner profile at 7.9mm, and MicroSD storage expandability. The phone's battery is a reasonable 3,230mAh, and there's a fingerprint sensor integrated into the side-mounted power button as usual.
Wrong facts (Score:2)
Actually..the world's first phone with a 4K screen was the Sony Xperia Z5 Pro and it was launched in October 2015. The XZ is not the first 4K screen phone launched by Sony.
Re:Wrong facts (Score:5, Informative)
Actually..the world's first phone with a 4K screen was the Sony Xperia Z5 Pro and it was launched in October 2015. The XZ is not the first 4K screen phone launched by Sony.
It's the first 4k HDR (High Dynamic Range) screen in a smartphone
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Ok..my bad. I did not notice the HDR qualifier...
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The only reason for a 4K display in a smartphone would be to use it in a VR headset, otherwise it's pointless even for text anti-aliasing.
Summer (Score:2)
the Xperia XZ Premium won't be out until late spring or just ahead of the summer
Would that be by American or old world definition of summer?
I'm asking because that difference means a 1.5 month difference in when we can hope to see this.
(American June 21 is first day of summer, old world June 21 is midsummer)
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No one cares. It's a phone that caters to a particular consumer niche who only want a mobile phone for emergencies and traveling; or parents who prefer to give their children a non-smart or less-smart phone. The Nokia 3310 would be perfect for that, there's currently few options/competition in that niche, and this Nokia model has a recognizability/nostalgia edge over the few competitors.
For example my father bought a phone about 2 years ago that rarely leaves his car's glove box. He has a smartphone because
Come on guys, isn't this a bit rediculous? (Score:5, Insightful)
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It makes sense if your goal is to build something that your competition doesn't have and makes people buy it.
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Or if you want cheaper displays to put into a VR setup.
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The only way it makes sense is for VR headsets... when the phone is inches away from your eyeball, then it makes sense... 8k makes sense at that point as I recall.
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Your spelling is rediculous.
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chances are they have a bunch of glass left over from making those new giant TV's and it's a waste of money to throw it away. along with the environmental costs. So they are selling it in phones. Apple was doing the same with Apple TV and it's older chips too.
it's cheaper to sell your junk in a profitless product than throw it away and take the loss on your financial statments
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4k on a 5.5" screen is a little over 800 DPI, which is a bit excessive. 500 DPI is where print looks pretty much perfect, printers go to 600 because it's double the old 300 de-facto standard. So yeah, a 1440p screen is about the reasonable limit for a 5.5" phone, although 1080p is visually perfect and uses less power for most people.
In fact, previous 4k phones have rendered everything at 1080p anyway, except for video and photos which could use the full 4k.
The only reason I can think of to have 4k on a pho
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VR.
No more needs to be said.
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On a 5.5 inch smartphone, 4K is only about 800 pixels per inch, while laser printers are often 1200 or more dots per inch and nobody seems to think that's "rediculous".
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There is a major difference:
As such, significantly more printed dots are required to get the same effective range as a single display pixel.
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Printer dots are binary; screen pixels have 256 shades of gray or 256^3 colors. When printing full color, the effective resolution of a laser printer is way lower than 1200 ppi.
Re: Come on guys, isn't this a bit rediculous? (Score:4, Interesting)
I would love a 4k HDR screen on my phone.
HD resolution is not quite enough for Asian characters... 4k would make them legible even at small sizes.
(and HDR is a good thing for obvious reasons)
apologies if this is a duplicate. browsing +3+ comments on my not-4k phone)
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We're to the point where each jump in resolution isn't as big of a deal as it was before but people saying it doesn't matter are probably using computers with 640K RAM.
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How does that even make sense?
With current trends towards using phones as a basis for VR, and the fact that current flagship phones with their already high-res screens are severely lacking in the image quality department when used in VR, it is the only thing that makes sense for a flagship device.
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You just need a giant lens in front of it like those monitors in the movie Brazil.
Not a great deal (Score:1)
$51 for that dinosaur? You can find similar featurephones for $15, and basic but usable Android phones for $60.
2G is dead? (Score:5, Interesting)
The specs say 2G. ATT has shut down it's 2G GSM network and I assume others will follow. So this phone appears useless out of the box, at least in the US.
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If only there were other countries where people could use phones
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2G is being shut down in my country too! So in a limited sample size of 2 countries, it's junk! :)
Bring back the N900 (Score:1)
Give me an updated N900 with Maemo5+ Linux(x11f) and updated processor, NFC, memory, updated RF comms, and probably apk installation chroot layer.
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Are you sure?
My screen is only 2.5k, but when I fill my field of vision with it, it's pretty easy to see the pixels on diagonals, and tests with 1 pixel offsets are even easier.
3310 disappointing case-mod (Score:1)
So far as I can see, it's identical in every way to the Nokia/MS 110 - it's just a case mod. Can't believe they've got so much PR out of this.
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So far as I can see, it's identical in every way to the Nokia/MS 110 - it's just a case mod. Can't believe they've got so much PR out of this.
It's different. The camera is placed differently and has a flash, for one. I think the screen is bigger, too, at 2.4 vs 1.8 inches.
Mostly marketing fluff, but not completely. (Score:1)
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is this the replacement pocket protector tech?
Pointless, is pointless (Score:2)
Not sure who I want to slap more, idiot marketeers who think there's a point behind a pocket-sized 4K HDR screen...
...or the morons standing in line at midnight helping justify this shit with their wallets, while ironically bitching about the cost of tech today.
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I suggest you start with yourself for displaying the dangerous narcissistic attitude that everyone's use case is exactly yours and anyone who disagrees is a paid shill.
Useful resolution is determined by pixel arclength from a given viewing distance. I know people who hold their phones so close that it takes up a larger segment of their vision than a 60 inch high definition screen on the other side of the living room. I also know people who use their phones at arm's length. Different people, different hab
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I suggest you start with yourself for displaying the dangerous narcissistic attitude that everyone's use case is exactly yours and anyone who disagrees is a paid shill.
Speaking of things that don't exist, feel free to provide the massive list of people who asked for a 4K HDR screen in a smartphone that justified this.
As far as useful resolution, I'm quite certain screen technology will continue well beyond the capability of the human eye, in the name of profit.
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Cell phones are ridiculously cheap, even the flasgships. People use them for hours a day, at an amortized price of maybe $1-$1.50/day.
$40 phones do exist, just why save a dollar a day on something you use all the time? If you're able to afford the internet service that allows you to post on Slashdot, the only real reason not to get a quality phone is philosophical - you think having a powerful device that gives you access to everything easily actually distracts from quality of life.
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Not everyone wants a phone to access the Internet. The $50 phones can be far more reliable, robust and have batteries that you can charge once a week instead of daily.
They are also lighter and you don't cry when they fall on the floor and your amortized cost just jumped by another $150 because you cracked your screen.
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Maybe a fingerprint scanner (Score:2)
there's a fingerprint sensor integrated into the side-mounted power button as usual
And it will probably be disabled on the US versions, as usual.
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Yeah, I think it's a patent issue. I don't care enough to flash my firmware to a non-US version.
A good Sony handset? (Score:1)
The thing never worked properly. It ate flash memory like crackers. Crashed while receiving phone-calls. I haven't trusted Sony since. Do they actually make good, trustworthy devices?
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When I was looking to replace my old Moto X, I had a couple of criteria:
- Camera had to be good. I end up taking a lot of pictures with my phone, and nothing else I do is going to stress a modern phone
- Couldn't be too big. I like being able to use my phone one handed.
- Couldn't be too expensive. I'm too cheap to spend $600+ on a device I might lose or break, plus I don't really do anything too demanding so I don't need the latest high end stuff.
I ended up with the Sony Xperia X. The pictures, especially lo
Yes but... (Score:2)
Is the new 3310 indestructible?
just a new package (Score:2, Insightful)
Umm ... Nokia or Microsoft or HMD Global has been making and selling these feature phones for many years. While the new 3310 is styled to look somewhat like the original, the feature set appears to match the MRE (MAUI Runtime Environment from MediaTek) phones (such as the Nokia 220 [povertymobile.com], which by the way retailed for ~$29 US) that have been available since the death of Series 40 phones. The real story would be the return of 3 & 3.5G S40 mobiles.
lDIOTS (Score:2)
Nokia hasn't sold it's name (Score:2, Informative)
"Nokia brand has been bought, sold, and stripped for parts."
No, Nokia has LEASED it's name for HMD for next 10 years for phones and tablets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMD_Global
That 3310 better be tough (Score:2)
Due to its reputation, the first thing people will do do is throw it around and see if it breaks before the floor.
3310 is a great burner phone (Score:2)
Highly recommended for White House staffers leaking info to the press.
Butt phones! (Score:2)
Seen on Boingboing. There are phones marketed for their "discretion", but the 3110 doesn't look "comfortable".
Google Cardboard (Score:1)