Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Tablet Screen Size is a Bit Like Mobile Cell Size: Highly Non-Linear


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Tablet screen size is a bit of a non-linear matter, though it often seems as though it is quite linear. More accurately, screen size and mobile cell coverage area are "linear," but not on a 1:1 basis. 


The typical rule of thumb for decreasing a mobile cell site's coverage is that reducing radius of coverage by 50 percent requires a quadrupling of the number of sites. 


In somewhat similar fashion, an iPad "mini" of about eight inches screen diagonal would have roughly 40 percent more surface area than a seven-inch Kindle Fire or Android Tablet. Apple  might have business reasons for producing a smaller-screen device in precisely the dimensions it seems to be choosing. 

2 comments:

txpatriot said...

Gary I don't understand your math.

Regardless of the aspect ratio, an eight inch screen diagonal means 64 square inches of viewing area. A seven inch screen diagonal gives 49 square inches of viewing area. 64 sq. in. is only 30% greater than 49 sq. in.

How did you get 40% greater?

txpatriot said...

You can disregard my last comment.

I was squaring the diagonal to get the surface area which of course is not correct. I need to use the aspect ratio to determine H and W and only then can I calculate surface area.

But I'll take your word for it!

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