In Windows Phone 8, 1280?720 is actually better than 1280?768

[jhoff80]

And upscaling WVGA assets to WXGA will look good? And I'll be honest, not many good games on WP7.

Well, better than letterboxing or stretching the height of them to fit the screen. It's not just about games either, but that's the easiest example. There's a ton of WP7 apps that are completely abandoned and won't receive any updates. Depending on how the app was written, trying to use it on a different aspect ratio could be a problem (not so much for the ones that use standard Microsoft controls, I don't think, but more so for some of the more custom designs, and definitely for anything that uses XNA).

I'd much rather be able to scale evenly from the old 800x480 to avoid potential messiness going from 15:9 to 16:9. And as for the games not being good, well that's just your opinion.

 

[AngryNil]

Not really. The games selection absolutely sucks compared to the competition. I'm not buying a device for legacy support, I'm expecting better apps and games anyway. I've been able to make do so far with apps that are updated. The non-updated ones are usually plain awful.

 

[Winterfang]

Exactly, the app selection on Windows Phone 7 is so terrible. That I don't think I'll be downloading any of them, I'l focusing on the new made for Windows Phone 8 apps.

The games in particular are shameful. (I'm looking at you 7dollars Pacman game)

 

[Faux Carnival]

16:9 is ridiculous to use in landscape mode.

 

[snowmutt]

I appreciate the article, because I have a heck of a time trying to figure out screen resolutions and ratio's. I read Power User quite a bit, but missed this article.

Everyone's postings help me visualize and understand why a little number makes a huge difference, so thanks.

You stinking smart people aggravate me.....

 

[smoledman]

So does that mean the 1280x720 has room for a fifth row of icons??

 

[pvcleave]

If I am using Internet explorer in landscape mode, or any other app, wouldn't I have more information on a the 768 screen? I do a lot of reading on my phone in landscape mode and that is what is most important to me.

 

[independentvolume]

If I am using Internet explorer in landscape mode, or any other app, wouldn't I have more information on a the 768 screen? I do a lot of reading on my phone in landscape mode and that is what is most important to me.

Nope. It will show the same.

 

[Reflexx]

If I am using Internet explorer in landscape mode, or any other app, wouldn't I have more information on a the 768 screen? I do a lot of reading on my phone in landscape mode and that is what is most important to me.

You should see more in landscape mode with 768, unless the 720 screen has bars on the side.

 

[Winterfang]

Here you can clearly see the extra space advantage of 720p resolution.

In the lumia (middle) you can fit 3 medium tiles and a tiny bit of a 4 tile will show bellow.
In the ATIV/8X (sides) you can fit 3 medium tiles and half of a medium tile will show bellow.

However the space of half a medium tile is enough for a small tile to fit quite confortable in the space bellow on the 720p resolution devices. Meaning you can fit 4 small tiles in that extra space.

Contrary to the Lumia 920 in which the 4 small tiles will be obscured if you put them bellow.

 

[Reflexx]

Click to view quoted image


Here you can clearly see the extra space advantage of 720p resolution.

In the lumia (middle) you can fit 3 medium tiles and a tiny bit of a 4 tile will show bellow.
In the ATIV/8X (sides) you can fit 3 medium tiles and half of a medium tile will show bellow.

However the space of half a medium tile is enough for a small tile to fit quite confortable in the space bellow on the 720p resolution devices. Meaning you can fit 4 small tiles in that extra space.

Contrary to the Lumia 920 in which the 4 small tiles will be obscured if you put them bellow.

That's one reason the Ativ has such a large screen. With the 8X you can see how the 720 resolution makes the tiles smaller to fit on screen. But you do get more info in portrait mode.

On the flip side (literally), with 768 you'd get more information in landscape mode.

Or if we choose to use your terminology, more is "obscured" in 720 in landscape.

16:9 also means that the tiles have to be shrunk down to fit on screen, since there isn't much room for tile width. So I don't expect devices with smaller screen sizes to adopt that ratio. It can work on 4" and above. But at 3.7" we'd have some pretty tiny tiles.

 

[Winterfang]

Exactly, that reminds of the Blackberry Bold 9900. The resolution is only 640X480 but since the screen is just 2.8inch it looks freaking amazing.