1. Jaguarandine's Avatar
    Like many of you, when I first heard news about the BGR Aristo leak, I was angry. Although writing had been on the wall for a long time, this leak for me confirmed months of speculation. We would be getting a 720p device rather than the 1080p one we had all hoped for. "How can BlackBerry release a phone with an outdated screen resolution?" and "First the Playbook and now this!" were some of the thoughts floating around in my head. However, after thinking about the issue for a while, my position changed. Let me tell you why.

    **Keep in mind I'm referencing Aristo info from the spec sheet leaked back in Oct, which makes the most sense to me. It includes the following among other tidbits:
    - 1.5 GHz Quad-core Krait
    - 2800 mAh battery
    - 4.65 inch screen size
    - 1280 x 720 OLED screen
    - 136 x 68 x 8.85 (mm) dimensions



    Battery Life:
    All other things being equal, a phone at 720p will have a longer lasting battery than it's 1080p counterpart. It's simple math really. It takes more energy to light up 1080p pixels than 720p pixels. In addition, the amount of energy the hardware must use to draw the screen is also less. The Aristo will come with a bigger battery than many current 1080p devices (like the Galaxy S4 and HTC One, for starters). This will make the battery life that much better.


    Processing Power:
    A 720p device will have less pixels to draw on the screen. Additionally, the BB10 OS is more efficient than the Android operating system. So the Aristo should be comparable power-wise to current Android flagships, even those with higher specs.


    Apps:
    It's been reported that having a smaller number of resolutions will make it easier for developers to port and create their apps, and it makes sense. Many apps from the App Store look better than those from Google Play and easy to see why (don't get me started on Android tablets!) Android apps must have support for a much larger number of different devices. I'm all for increasing the quality of apps, in any way possible.


    Screen:
    The other pros of a 720p Aristo are nice, but the screen itself was the deal-breaker for me. Then I realized that there are several factors involved in creating a good screen.

    • resolution (or perceived sharpness)
    • contrast
    • viewing angles
    • color accuracy
    • brightness
    • outdoor legibility
    • size

    Resolution is just one small part of the experience. Anyone that has seen an Xperia Z can attest to the fact that 1080p doesn't always mean an excellent screen.

    Is it possible for the Aristo to have the best 720p screen on a phone? I think so. A 4.65 inch screen size gives us a PPI of around 316, higher than the Galaxy S III and comparable to the iPhone 5, who's screen is significantly smaller. The S III (and most HD OLED phones) use a PenTile matrix. This decreases perceived sharpness. It's been rumored that the Aristo will use an S-Stripe OLED (used in the Note II), which should make the screen look much better than comparative OLED screens.

    I believe most people can agree that the HTC One X (and X+) has the best display on a 720p device. With the advantages of Super AMOLEDs (viewing angles, outdoor legibility, contrast) and an S-Stripe matrix, the Aristo might be a little better and have one of the best screens (720p, or not) on the market. And I would expect no less.


    Conclusion
    At 136 x 68 x 8.85, this is a fairly compact device. Smaller than an HTC One X, most 1080p phones, and only slightly larger than the Z10 (the Z10 and Aristo are basically the same size). Considering all this, the Aristo sounds like a true BlackBerry flagship and one worthy of standing next to the likes of the Galaxy S III, HTC One, or Xperia Z.
    07-13-13 02:25 AM
  2. 123berryaddicted's Avatar
    Who gives a rip. Really... all the most recent models from BlackBerry, Samsung, and Apple all have amazing screens. I could care less at this point.. clearer?? For what? I think the winner in smartphone sales for the next few years will win on OS UI, and quantity of 'quality' apps... just my opinion of course. Cheers.
    Jaguarandine and amp323 like this.
    07-13-13 02:32 AM
  3. Dgree03's Avatar
    All of what the OP said is not a bad argument, if they price it below other flagship devices... The minute they make the device 199 on contract.. It is DOA.. If the rumored spec are true that is..

    Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
    07-13-13 02:46 AM
  4. Heinz Katchup's Avatar
    Dark theme! Dark theme!! Dark theme!!! Super Duper AMOLED!!!! Release the damn thing already would ya BlackBerry!!!!!
    Nathan Bael likes this.
    07-13-13 02:56 AM
  5. agp101's Avatar
    Tell that to all the consumers who won't even think of buying the A10. So you convinced yourself that lower specs are okay for you basically. Nonetheless, that won't fly with consumers. Dont make me wrote a post about "why consumers won't buy the A10"
    jaymars, bekkay, wtrmlnjuc and 1 others like this.
    07-13-13 07:48 AM
  6. agp101's Avatar
    All of what the OP said is not a bad argument, if they price it below other flagship devices... The minute they make the device 199 on contract.. It is DOA.. If the rumored spec are true that is..

    Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
    No way would anyone buy that at premium high end price. Not with those specs anyway.
    07-13-13 07:49 AM
  7. BBThemes's Avatar
    Conclusion
    At 136 x 68 x 8.85, this is a fairly compact device. Smaller than an HTC One X, most 1080p phones, and only slightly larger than the Z10 (the Z10 and Aristo are basically the same size). .
    OK, so heres my question, if your happy to buy it at 720p, then surely the logical thing is to compared it to other 720p phones.
    so lets look at the latest 720p phone iv seen in the Ascend P6, it costs almost the same (like �10 difference) as the Q5, its quad core 1.5ghz, its 2Gb ram, 1280x720p 4.6" and its 6.2mm thin!

    Also to your Is it possible for the Aristo to have the best 720p screen on a phone? I cant think anyone can say yes, as one of your core reasonings is PPI, and the Z10 having a 720p screen also means the PPI of the Aristo would be less than that of the phone its `better` than.
    Personally I cant see the logic in that which is why I think its a mistake not to go 1080p, however im just one guy, and im sure the market will vote with its wallet.

    Persoanlly though im more worried about the dual core rumours, dual core and 720p means the press will pitch it (rightly or wrongly) against the G2, Nexus 5, iPhone5s and say `its got less specs for the same price`. As a company wanting to make a comeback that's a huge perception issue to have to handle.
    bekkay and Qaxl like this.
    07-13-13 10:16 AM
  8. Pilchard's Avatar

    Personally though im more worried about the dual core rumours, dual core and 720p means the press will pitch it (rightly or wrongly) the G2, Nexus 5, iPhone5s and say `its got less specs for the same price`. As a company wanting to make a comeback that's a huge perception issue to have to handle.
    That's the central issue. Doesn't matter how slick the advert is, how rocking the track behind it, if the punch line is that they want you to pay top end prices for mid tier specs it isn't going to fly.

    The massive Z10 price reductions attest to that. It's a fiercely competitive market and no one wants last year's specs
    07-13-13 10:36 AM
  9. BBThemes's Avatar
    That's the central issue. Doesn't matter how slick the advert is, how rocking the track behind it, if the punch line is that they want you to pay top end prices for mid tier specs it isn't going to fly.

    The massive Z10 price reductions attest to that. It's a fiercely competitive market and no one wants last year's specs
    yup, sadly that's how its viewed.

    BlackBerry A10 leaked picture shows off 5-inch screen | CNET UK This article shows it off already:

    The leak also suggests the A10 has a relatively disappointing screen resolution of 1,280x720 pixels -- nowhere near the Full HD of its top-notch Android rivals.
    But the rumours suggest the A10 only packs a dual-core processor alongside 2GB of RAM, a step down from its competitors' quad-core chips.
    The A10 will be the fourth phone running BB10 software, following the Qwerty Q10 and Q5, and the touchscreen Z10. They're decent enough phones, but they're not as powerful as rivals -- and quite pricey, to boot.
    Sadly those 3 quotes will be echoed across the interwebs if the aristo does release with those rumoured specs
    07-13-13 10:40 AM
  10. mithrazor's Avatar
    ^^^ That right there. If BlackBerry wants to sell phones, unless if they have something up their sleeve, they can expect that to be uttered through the webs. A customer's main resource for information.
    07-13-13 11:56 AM
  11. kbz1960's Avatar
    I could give a rats rear end about 1080p but many many other do.
    07-13-13 11:59 AM
  12. wtrmlnjuc's Avatar
    Sorry, but what was high end last year is mid range this year. That's what the aristo is currently. You can't expect someone to pay for a mid tier phone with high tier prices.

    Also, the new android flagship devices are super fast. Not only in operating speed but in actual smoothness and quality. The 1080p screen is no hindrance to their performance, having a quad core snapdragon 600 does that.

    The A10 will need to have high end specs if they want to compete with android, IOS and windows phone, which will all have at least quad core and 1080p resolutions by this fall.
    bigjman, bekkay, kbz1960 and 1 others like this.
    07-13-13 12:04 PM
  13. Jaguarandine's Avatar
    The Ascend P6 seems like a decent phone on paper (Ascend build quality issues notwithstanding), though I've not seen one in person. I stuck with models most people would be familiar with when comparing, which includes both 720p and 1080p devices.

    The Z10 has one of the best screens of it's size on the market. So does the iPhone 5 (For the record, the z10 is 768p and the i5 is 640p). For some though, they're a little small compared to most other contemporary phones. I'm assuming Aristo will have many of the advantages of a Samsung Super AMOLED screen, and few of the disadvantages. That puts it in a class by itself.

    As far as the dual core rumors go, I doubt them, since most rumors have said quad core. But I think dual core doesn't bother Windows Phone much because by many accounts, they now sit comfortably in 3rd place. If BlackBerry goes dual core again I will be surprised, but no one really knows at this point.

    Is the Aristo a dud? I don't think so. It has better specs than most of last year's 720p phones and many of the 1080p phones as well. The press knows how to beat someone when they're down, and I can't say I'm shocked. They'll print whatever gets hits. I think we all want BlackBerry to be relevant again. These are scary times for the company. Can Aristo be the savior, the thing to turn the company around? No. That kind of thing takes time, and will happen across several devices. But tensions are high and along with it expectations. For me, I took a breath, stepped back, and looked at the big picture. Do you like BB10? I hope so. Because it's this OS, not any one device, that will determine the future of BlackBerry. Personally, I like it a lot. And that brings me a little relief.
    nyfinch likes this.
    07-13-13 02:41 PM
  14. BBThemes's Avatar

    Is the Aristo a dud? I don't think so. It has better specs than most of last year's 720p phones and many of the 1080p phones as well.
    Rumoured specs of Optimus G2, Nexus 5 and new DROID. 2.3ghz quad core, 1080p, 5.2", 3gb ram.

    At what point is the rumoured Aristo spec better?

    Posted via CB10
    Saiga and wtrmlnjuc like this.
    07-13-13 02:51 PM
  15. Jaguarandine's Avatar
    Lol, yes I can count too! 2.3 is indeed greater than 1.5. I'm sure those are going to be some awful powerful Android devices. Faster than the Aristo? Probably so, but not by leaps and bounds. Let's see some benchmarks. There's plenty of time left.
    07-13-13 03:11 PM
  16. BBThemes's Avatar
    There's plenty of time left.
    Really? U don't think they've committed yet? Because with carrier approval being a few months and launch being October kinda time I think 'plenty of time' is something they severely lack.

    Posted via CB10
    h20work likes this.
    07-13-13 03:25 PM
  17. Jaguarandine's Avatar
    If you want to look down the line and say "Android phone X can do this", go ahead. I'm not going to disagree with you. It's not the crux of my argument. I'm saying the Aristo is competitive with all of the phones out now (if you agree with the quad core Krait rumor). They may have already picked the hardware out, but we don't know that. It's difficult to speak with certainty about things in which we are uncertain.
    07-13-13 03:42 PM
  18. FlashFlare11's Avatar
    I think 720p is fine for a 4.2 or 4.65" screen, buy if the Aristo is going to be upwards of 5", I think the resolution needs to be upped. However, whether we need the extra pixels or not isn't the issue; it's whether BlackBerry can convince people to purchase an Aristo for the same price they could be paying for these hardware juggernauts. If BlackBerry can't do this on software alone just yet, then it should make the hardware much more enticing to compensate. I still want an Aristo, but if I'm going to move from my Z10 to one, I shouldn't have to make any compromises in terms of specs, and this includes screen resolution.

    But dual-core vs quad-core on BlackBerry, to me, makes little difference. However, for some on the fence, it does.

    At the end of the day, BlackBerry 10 as an OS is having a bit of a rough time gaining adoption in certain markets and if BlackBerry can get more people to try out the software through more compelling, more powerful hardware, I can't see where this would hurt them.

    Posted via CB10
    wtrmlnjuc and Jaguarandine like this.
    07-13-13 03:56 PM
  19. mithrazor's Avatar
    If BlackBerry has a Snapdragon 800 processor, which is what most phones around that time will launch with. Then I won't mind. I'm assuming that OLED display will still be amazing even at 720p. (I hope so anyway). Since we all know they're not going to launch with 1080p.


    But if they launch with a dual core like the S4 Plus or Snapdragon 400. It's a wrap.

    I'm hoping they won't do Snapdragon 600 either. That would be behind the curve.

    If they're not competitive spec wise, then they're not competitive. They NEED to capture the US market. This is one way of doing so.

    This is the place that pushes the latest and greatest. Not the latest with last years greatest.
    Qaxl likes this.
    07-13-13 04:40 PM
  20. wtrmlnjuc's Avatar
    If BlackBerry has a Snapdragon 800 processor, which is what most phones around that time will launch with. Then I won't mind. I'm assuming that OLED display will still be amazing even at 720p. (I hope so anyway). Since we all know they're not going to launch with 1080p.

    Rumour is it's Super AMOLED. Not pretty at 720p. 1080 is okay because the pixels really are too small to see.
    bekkay likes this.
    07-13-13 10:24 PM
  21. jaymars's Avatar
    I'm saying the Aristo is competitive with all of the phones out now
    Say that's true. The Note 3 and next iPhone will be out in a couple months. Three at the most. Will BB be able to put out a phone to compete with them? Or will the A10 be it, because that certainly will not compete.
    07-14-13 06:03 AM
  22. al750n's Avatar
    720p make me feel sad..will use my z10 or jump to another brand for upgrade..

    Posted via CB10
    07-14-13 07:59 AM
  23. toneytone's Avatar
    I think the A10 isn't coming out with newer specs because it and the Z plus Q will all get updates around the same time. The A10 for me will be replacing my PlayBook as my second carried device. I wouldn't mind it getting a little bigger to match the Note 3.

    Posted via CB10
    07-14-13 03:09 PM
  24. radlink14's Avatar
    All of what the OP said is not a bad argument, if they price it below other flagship devices... The minute they make the device 199 on contract.. It is DOA.. If the rumored spec are true that is..

    Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
    And when has BlackBerry proved to release a phone below other flagship devices? LOL. BB's are expensive (at initial launch), that's a point they're known for.
    07-14-13 06:10 PM
  25. radlink14's Avatar
    720p make me feel sad..will use my z10 or jump to another brand for upgrade..

    Posted via CB10
    If you would jump, which device would it be to?
    Lg g2 looks very nice.
    07-14-13 06:11 PM
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