My main mobile device is a Nokia N80, a “multimedia computer” that, at two years old, can soon be considered ancient. By far the single best feature of that phone is the web browser. Now lately I’ve been testing some of the newest N-series devices and many things have definitely improved. However, to my dismay, the most important thing – the browsing experience – has actually taken a step backward.
There’s a very simple reason to it, too: lower screen resolution. Despite the physically smaller screen, the N80′s resolution of 352 x 416 trumps the larger displays of the latest N-series models as they have QVGA displays of 320×240. The QVGA displays are gorgeous to look at, wonderfully bright, physically bigger and all that – but have fewer pixels. Much fewer.
The difference? The N80 has a whopping 90% more usable screen real estate than the newer models. This is a big difference, borderline crucial difference. Check out the below screenshots to get an idea. The left column is from a new N-series device (N73, N76, N81, N82 and N95 all have this screen resolution) while the right column is from an N80. Click to view the full screenshots:
(Note that the bigger image is from the screen that is physically smaller)
Even though I no longer have 20/20 vision, I appreciate the higher DPI of N80 a lot. Instead of lowering the DPI and increasing the screen size, I want the same great DPI of N80 on a physically bigger screen. Then we can start talking about improved browsing experience.
