The pixel density wars could be coming to smartwatches. While many of today’s top-tier smartphones feature 400 or more pixels per inch, the highest-resolution smartwatches currently top out at around 320 x 320 pixel resolutions with around 240 pixels per inch.
But Phandroid reports LG may be working on an Android Wear smartwatch with a 480 x 480 pixel display that has a PPI of around 300 to 400. At that resolution, it might be hard to tell the difference between a digital watch face and an analog one without holding the phone to your eyeballs (or trying to view a color screen in bright sunlight).
Oh yeah… it also could be a Google Nexus device.
LG hasn’t officially unveiled the new watch yet, but Phandroid reports it’s codenamed “Nemo.” There happens to be a rather famous fish (and sea captain) named Nemo.
You know what else has a fishy-theme? Codenames for Google Nexus devices. The current Nexus 6 is code-named “Shamu.” The Nexus 9 is “Flounder.” And the Nexus 5 is “Hammerhead.”
On the other hand, its not like every Android device with a nautical codename ends up becoming a Nexus device.
The LG G Watch was codenamed “Dory” and the Samsung Gear Live was “Sprat.”
Now… those were the first two Android Wear smartwatches to launch, and it’s likely that LG and Samsung worked closely with Google on their designs. They also run stock Android Wear software, so in a lot of ways, they might as well be Nexus devices. But officially they’re not part of the Nexus family.
So it’s too early to say whether the upcoming LG Nemo will be a Nexus. But I wouldn’t be surprised if LG and Google are working together on the device in some way.
You know, assuming the Phandroid report is true.
This can be a dangerous precedent. We have experienced high-resolution displays on smart phones and physics dictates that the more pixels a display has, the more energy it tends to consume. We have seen battery inefficiencies in UHD displays because of both the display and additional processing power to push images to it. We have not significantly progressed in battery technology to keep this in balance. Unless they do some remarkable engineering, I doubt we will get the battery time we want. Even with fancy optimizations, there are trade offs to ensure this lasts all (or most) of the day. Don’t get me wrong, I want super sharp displays, but even my moto 360’s display is pretty good based on the distance from my face (and crappy eyes). I would prefer advances elsewhere FIRST.
Almost a month ago ZTE announced a watch running Tencent OS with 1.4 inch 400×400 round AMOLED.
2 months ago inWatch T was announce, again running TencentOS and is using a circular 1.4 inch 400×400 AMOLED.
So there are some above 320×320.
Doesn’t really matter what Google does if they can keep pricing watches at 3-4 times more than what sanity dictates.
Forgot to point out that AMOLED means Pentile so faked pixels and the advertised res is not really there. This pseudo-resolution doesn’t offer anywhere close to the same image quality as real pixels.
Yeah, right. It’s not as though Apple was able to sell millions of iWatches at $349+….
Oh wait, yes they did.
You do this every time. When will you finally realize that China and the USA are completely different markets? Comparing prices between the two doesn’t work, and your rants are pointless.
So did other companies, without any if the endless desperate advertising (as always, selling a million with loads of advertising is a runaway success when it’s apple, but a failure when it’s MS or anyone else).
Not sure when your apple advert has to do with the OP’s comment though. Sorry, no one cares.
Google needs to add speaker support to android wear and Nfc.