iphone 3G screen ratio 16:9 or 4:3 or.....

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Level 1

69 points

iphone 3G screen ratio 16:9 or 4:3 or.....

hey guys

just trying to figure something out here.

on the apple website it says the iPhone 3G's screen is widescreen but then continues to say the resolution is 480 x 320. As far as I know this is neither a 4:3 or 16:9 ratio, seeing 320 is not divisible by 3 or 9.

what's the deal?

also wondering how this affects 16:9 and 4:3 video playback

Intel iMac 20" 2.4 GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.1), 3GB Ram, 320GB HDD internal, 720GB HDD external

Posted on May 7, 2009 9:00 AM

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Answer 1

marairmed58 Author

Level 1

69 points

May 7, 2009 9:01 AM in response to marairmed58

just figured out it's a 3:2 ratio.... why?

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Answer 2

May 7, 2009 9:09 AM in response to marairmed58

Why not? 😉

Technically, it is widescreen, since standard TV is 4:3 (4/3 = 1.33), and the iPhone is 3:2 (3/2 = 1.5, which is >1.25, and actually closer to the ratio of widescreen computer displays, 16:10 = 1.6).

FWIW (not much!), 3:2 is the aspect ratio for still camera 35 mm film.

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Answer 3

marairmed58 Author

Level 1

69 points

May 7, 2009 9:17 AM in response to neuroanatomist

i just don't see the point. they should have just made it 16:9. now 16:9 content has to playback with black bars. Just a poor decision.

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Answer 4

DaVBMan

Level 6

9,292 points

May 7, 2009 9:19 AM in response to marairmed58

Steve Szolcsanyi wrote:

also wondering how this affects 16:9 and 4:3 video playback

Also video playback allows one to view widescreen or 4:3 (like). Double tapping a video while it plays switches between the two. For Widescreen you will get some black bars on top and bottom since it is not precise. Other setting zooms in and crops sides. So you can decide how you want to watch.

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Answer 5

May 7, 2009 9:29 AM in response to marairmed58

Steve Szolcsanyi wrote:
Just a poor decision.

Well, for video playback, perhaps. But, the iPhone does more than play video. First off, it's a phone, so some initial design thought probably went into overall sizing relative to 'average' hand size (whatever that is). To keep the same 320 horizontal lines (in landscape mode for viewing videos), you'd need a 569x320 screen, meaning a phone that would be ~1.4 cm 'taller' than the current phone. Mine is tall enough, thanks...

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