HTC Rezound: Best Smartphone Display to Date?

 
 
If you were to build a smartphone with the most advanced hardware and specs available today, you’d probably end up with the HTC Rezound. A brief rundown of the specs:

• Network: Verizon LTE
• Processor: 1.5 GHz dual-core (Qualcomm’s latest mobile processor)
• Display: 1280x720p Super LCD display
• Camera: 1080p video recording with 8 MP camera
• Memory: 32 GB total (includes 16 GB internal RAM, 16 GB microSD)

This is HTC’s second LTE device, preceded by the Thunderbolt, and it has considerably upped the competition with respect to smartphone displays. At 4.3″ and native 720p, the Rezound delivers a ppi count of 342. By comparison, the iPhone 4/4S “retina” IPS displays are 326 ppi. As explained here, ppi is among the most important specs of a smartphone and the most important for reading and viewing graphics and video. The Rezound’s 342 ppi is far and away the new reference to beat and should provide the clearest, sharpest display yet on any mobile platform.

Additionally, its 720p resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio is optimal for viewing HD video and other widescreen content. The Rezound will preserve the HD resolution rather than scaling or cropping the signal.

The Rezound also features Samsung’s Super LCD screen which, along with the AMOLED screens found on Samsung’s recently released Galaxy S II and Infuse 4G, represent a departure from PenTile as they use Samsung’s ‘Real-Stripe’ design. Real-Stripe is a return to the traditional RGB subpixel matrix and can be applied to both LCD and OLED panels. As a result, there should be no visible pixel structure, regardless of viewing distance or the specific colors being displayed. The phone’s elevated ppi count would likely mask any pixelation issues innate to PenTile anyway, but eagle-eyed users won’t have to worry about it for this phone. Its LCD screen means it won’t enjoy the deeper blacks provided by OLED displays such as the Galaxy S II, but its unparalleled image sharpness should more than make up for that.

Specsmanship aside, the red-and-black theme is particularly eye-catching. When compared with the upcoming Galaxy Nexus, Android’s flagship phone, the Rezound is smaller overall, albeit heavier. What’s more, HTC has already confirmed that the Rezound will receive ICS (4.0).

Photo by Slashgear

If you’re someone who regularly reads online or views heavy doses of video on your phone, the Rezound is undoubtedly the clearest, sharpest smartphone on the market. Its other impressive features are just icing on the cake. If I were buying a smartphone today, it’d certainly be the Rezound.