Microsoft has apparently decided that Apples retina display on the new iPad just doesnt cut it, as the company has released details covering common screen sizes for Windows 8 which points towards tablets – or slates as per the diagram – with resolutions of up to 2560x1440 pixels which equates to 291 DPI on a 10.1-inch device.
Apples 9.7-inch iPad manages 264 DPI, or slightly higher pixel density than 11.6-inch Windows 8 tablets which will offer a pixel density of 253 DPI with a 2560x1440 display. These appear to be for high-end devices only, so dont expect this to be the standard for Windows 8 tablets when they arrive, as Microsoft is also listing 1920x1080 and 1366x768 as supported screen resolutions.
More importantly though, if you have a device with a resolution of 1024x600 or 1280x720, which in the first case is just about every single netbook – apart from the slightly worse 1024x576 resolution – you wont be able to run the Metro UI. We cant think of a single notebook or screen with 1280x720 resolution though, albeit there were a few TVs with this resolution in the early days of LCD TVs. That said, Windows 8 will support any display with a height of at least 768 pixels, so even old 1024x768 displays will work with the Metro UI.
Microsoft has also worked out what it thinks is the ideal sweet spots for pixel density on various resolution displays, as well as the ideal touch target size, i.e. how big the object youre touching will be on the screen at any given pixel density. As such, a touch target size of around 9mm is apparently ideal on an 11.6-inch display at either 1366x768, 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 resolution.
Another interesting aspect of Microsofts blog post on the subject of displays and resolution for Windows 8 is that the company is asking developers to build apps suitable for higher resolutions and as such wants developers to use scalable vector graphics rather than traditional bitmaps. This is due to the fact that scalable vector graphics will look good at any resolution, whereas bitmaps generally look terrible at non-native resolution. This wasnt done as a direct response to the new iPad, as Microsoft is offering tools to developers that allow them to preview what their Metro apps will look like at various screen sizes and resolutions, something that should hopefully improve the look of Metro apps when Windows 8 launches later this year.
Source: Building Windows 8 blog
No comments:
Post a Comment