AndroidTablets

Motorola allegedly working on 2048 x 1536 tablet

- for some reason we don't have an alt tag here

Fudzilla claims to have sources that have played with a next generation Motorola tablet, and it is said to feature a 2048 x 1536 display. That not only triples the resolution from the original Xoom – putting it at 50% more than 50-inch TVs – but also changes the screen ratio from widescreen to 4:3, the same as what the iPad uses. In fact, 2048 x 1536 is exactly the resolution that is likely to be used on a higher resolution iPad, as it is twice the resolution of the current iPad’s 1014×768 in either direction, for a total resolution increase of 4 times.

While the iPad is likely to have this resolution in order to make backwards compatibility and app scaling a simple procedure, the big question is how Android will handle both the ratio and the resolution. While Android apps are theoretically scalable, that doesn’t mean it always work or works well. 1920 x 1024 would have been a logical resolution for them to use instead, but the move to a 4:3 ratio (if this source is credible at all, that is) is likely due to tablets being used more and more and more for reading the web, books, magazines etc – and 4:3 is more suited for that.

Another big question I have to raise with this rumor is how they’re going to power that resolution. Android tablets already have performance issues at 1 million pixels screens (1280 x 800) and this is 3 times that. By the time this tablet is rumored to be released (late this year or early next year) we are sure to have more powerful chipsets as well, but the question is if a resolution bump is really the best use for that added power. I would personally be more than willing to use a tablet with a 1024 x 768 resolution if all the extra graphics and processing power was instead used for things like video decoding and more advanced game features such as more advanced textures and lighting. There is a lot more to beautiful graphics than just the resolution, and while I know that both Motorola and Apple knows this, the problem is that consumers don’t – and they demand what they think they want.

Either way, it’s all just rumors for now – but I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect a bit on this resolution war that is brewing, as I hope not to be caught in it myself.

[via Notebook Italia, Gizmodo]

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Andreas Ødegård

Andreas Ødegård is more interested in aftermarket (and user created) software and hardware than chasing the latest gadgets. His day job as a teacher keeps him interested in education tech and takes up most of his time.

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