Tablets and smartphones are equipped with screens with different aspect ratios and different pixel densities, but these parameters are rarely indicated in the technical specifications.

Let's try to figure out all the tricks associated with these parameters. Let's start with tablets.
Here is the ratio of screen sizes used in most modern tablets.

Notice how much larger an 8" screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio is visually larger than a wide 7" screen. And the wide 10.1" screen is one centimeter smaller in height than the 9.7" screen.

I have tabulated the parameters of the screens most often used in tablets.

Text on screens with low PPI (dots per inch) is not comfortable to read. I would not buy a tablet with a screen that has a PPI lower than 150. Even the 164 PPI of the iPad mini screen seems insufficient to many. Screens with a PPI greater than 200 are perceived well.

It was a big discovery for me that a 9.7" 1024x768 screen has an even lower PPI than a 7" 800x480 screen.

Modern smartphones use screens with different aspect ratios (3:2, 5:3, 16:9), but they are all pretty close. In the picture I illustrated the ratio of screen sizes with the same diagonal and different aspect ratios.

The table of screens used in smartphones looks impressive.

As you can see from the table, there are very few screens with low PPI. Of course, you should not buy a smartphone with a screen with a pixel density below 170 PPI. But again, it is better for this figure to be above 200.

The vast majority of screens have a square pixel, so the aspect ratio of the screen can be calculated by knowing the number of pixels in width and height. There are only two exceptions - the “wrong” tablet screens with rectangular pixels are 800x480 (should be 800x500) and 1024x600 (correctly should be 1024x640).

I spent the evening creating these pictures and tables primarily for myself. I hope that they will be useful to you too.

Tables in excel file.

Screen resolution- this is the number of vertical and horizontal points that make up the screen. A dot is called a pixel, and therefore resolution is measured in pixels. For example, 800x600 means that 600 pixels fit horizontally on the device’s screen, and 800 vertically.
The higher the screen resolution, the more detailed the picture you can get:

And the clearer the small text inscriptions will look:

In addition to screen resolution, it is also important to consider its size. For example, a resolution of 480x360 on a smartphone with a screen up to 3.2” will be optimal for work - it’s convenient to read text, and photos will be clearer and more realistic when viewed. But on displays from 3.3" and higher with the same resolution, the angularity of images and rough outlines of text will already be noticeable (as in the pictures above).

For convenience, we have made a summary table showing the display quality for various screen diagonals - depending on the resolution used in them:

It is important to remember that using high-resolution screens will reduce the battery life of the device.

Examples of screen resolutions for various devices

Navigators
The display resolution of navigators varies from standard 320 x 240 px. to widescreen 800 x 480 px.

PDAs and smartphones
The display resolution of a PDA or smartphone can be 240 x 320 px. or 480 x 640 px.(VGA resolution). The first is standard, but the second makes the screen more comfortable to work with, since more information is placed on the display and it looks clearer.

Laptops
There are many options for laptop screen resolution:

• SXGA (Super XGA) - screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels. (aspect ratio 5:4).
• SXGA+ - screen resolution 1400x1050 pixels. (4:3 aspect ratio).
• UXGA (Ultra XGA) - screen resolution 1600x1200 pixels. (4:3 aspect ratio).
• WXGA (Wide XGA) - screen resolution 1280x800 pixels. (16:10 aspect ratio). Most common in laptops with a 15.4-inch display.
• WXGA+ - screen resolution 1440x900 pixels. (16:10 aspect ratio).
• WSXGA+ (Wide SXGA+) - screen resolution 1680x1050 pixels. (16:10 aspect ratio).
• WUXGA (Wide Ultra XGA) - screen resolution 1920x1200 pixels. (16:10 aspect ratio).

First, a little about the theory. Screen resolution may vary depending on the device you are using. Some users mistakenly believe that screen size and monitor screen resolution are the same thing. For example, the screen size and its maximum resolution are 1600 x 1200, and the user can set the resolution, for example, 800 x 600. Naturally, the image on the screen will be formed according to the principle that was set by the user himself. As a result, it turns out that screen size and resolution are slightly different concepts. In order to achieve the perfect picture, you need to set the maximum resolution that your monitor supports and then the image will be of the highest quality.

What screen resolutions are there?

Today there are a huge number of monitors and the same number of resolutions. It should be noted that all these devices have different aspect ratios, for example: 4:3, 5:4, 16:9, 16:10 and many others. Widescreen devices with an aspect ratio of 21:9 are in great demand. It's simply not practical to use such devices today, since they are best suited for watching movies shot using the CinemaScope standard. This is directly related to the fact that if you set a different resolution on such a monitor, for example, FullHD (1920 x 1080p), then wide black bars will remain at the edges of the monitor.

As for the resolution of monitors themselves, they are divided among themselves, as you might guess, by aspect ratio. The following are highlighted: For aspect ratio 4:3 -1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1440, 2048x1536. For 16:9 aspect ratio: 1366x768, 1600x900, 1920x1080, 2048x1152, 2560x1440, 3840x2160. For 16:10 aspect ratio: 1280x800, 1440x900, 1600x1024, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, 2560x1600, 3840x2400. The most popular resolutions today are: 1920x1080, 1280x1024, 1366x768.

It is worth noting that the higher the screen resolution, the better the image itself will be, but it can be very small and some owners of such devices will have to change it to a smaller one in order to see anything on the monitor. As a result, of course, everyone can see immediately before purchasing a device in a store what kind of image will be on it and whether it suits them.

Today, e-book reading devices are becoming increasingly popular. Instead of a huge number of books, you only need to have one analogue, the memory card of which can fit a hundred or more works. When choosing such a device, you should pay attention to the screen size of the “reader”.

Instructions

A “reader” is a gadget used to view electronic copies of books. It is believed that screen size affects the ease of reading any document or work. Too large sizes make the device look like or, which is not entirely convenient. The small size makes it look miniature, but the font of the text being viewed is significantly reduced. Therefore, an alternative is needed.

When choosing a device for reading e-books, pay attention to the geometric size of the screen. Different models have the same screen size, but different resolutions. The higher the resolution, the more objects or words can fit on one page. It is recommended to pay attention to models with screens larger than 5" and a resolution of at least 320×460. This standard is designed for comfortable viewing of one paragraph in full screen, which consists of 4-6 small sentences (lines).

It is worth noting that some models allow you to change the displayed font, which significantly affects the placement of a large number of lines on the screen of a portable device. In the store, you can immediately try this function and find a font that will compress the text as much as possible.

Also, do not forget about convenient gadget options, for example, automatic screen rotation. Today, almost every development is equipped with this function, from cameras to portable devices.

The presence of electronic ink technology (E-Ink) will reduce eye strain. When viewing the document, you will notice that the display is as reduced as possible to a regular printed sheet. Another important advantage of this option is the reduction in energy consumption.

Video on the topic

Wide-format monitors are gradually crowding out other analogues from the market. Such displays are worth buying if your computer’s video card supports high-resolution mode.

You will need

• - Instructions for the monitor.

Instructions

Widescreen monitors are displays that have an aspect ratio of 16:9 (sometimes 16:10), rather than the 4:3 aspect ratio of standard monitors. Such displays are more stretched in width. This is very convenient when watching high-definition movies. Start by determining the maximum number of pixels supported by your monitor. Modern devices work with FullHD format (1920x1080 pixels). It is better to choose just such a display.