Eric1987

Why does the Heros screen look a lot smoother and clearer? I messed around with one today earlier.

THETRUTH

It's a glass screen

Quis89

Because it is...

Eric1987

How would a glass screen be better? Wouldnt it crack a lot easier? And obviously Quis89 I know it is your post was pretty much useless bro.

jhoff80

Surprised that you would think it's smoother and clearer. It only supports 16-bit color- aka 65,536 colors. The Pre uses 24-bit color, for 16.7 million colors.

Eric1987

Well if you look at it it just looks better. The widgets still look like crap but the actual clarity seems better. Is it OLED? I see some sites say it is and some say its HVGA.

MGoerke

iPhone screen is glass! ii would not have a screen protector on my Pre if it had a glass screen like the iPhone I wish it where glass! a co worker has an iPhone & even without my screen protector his is much smoother to touch & slide your fingers on!

jhoff80

First of all, OLED and HVGA are referring to two different properties. OLED = organic light emitting diode, which is talking about the technology used to light each pixel. HVGA is a resolution of 320x480.

The Pre and Hero both have a HVGA resolution. In fact, this should make the Hero's screen blurrier because of its size. The Hero screen is 3.2" and the Pre screen is 3.1". Making the pixels bigger means it'll be blurrier, though at these screen sizes that doesn't make much of a difference.

The Pre and Hero both also use a standard LCD screen, with (probably, I don't have confirmation on this) an LED backlight to save power and increase brightness over the much older CCFL backlights.

The main difference is as mentioned, the Pre has a curved plastic screen and the Hero has a flat glass screen. I'm not sure if either of those would affect image quality though. They also might use a different type of capacitive sensor in front of the screen too, this I'm not sure about either. But, I do know that the Pre's sensor is very visible when the screen is off, and to some when the screen is dim.

sivan

Yep.

The plastic screen is a central design element on the Pre as it blends with the body.

The iPhone and Hero are industrial slabs with no concessions to ergonomics. You give up a physical keyboard, compactness and better grip in your hand.

It's a shame about the build quality, but the design of the Pre is brilliant.

__________________
Palm Vx > Treo 650 > Centro > G1 > Pre

THETRUTH

Plastic screens get smudged real bad causing your finger to not slide smoothly at times. The hero is not a finger print magnet which is great

jhoff80

It also has an oleophobic coating like the iPhone 3GS so that oils wipe off easier.

THETRUTH

Just a quick wipe on my shirt and its spotless.

roxics

No way. The Hero feels much better in the hand then the Pre. The Pre is a just a little too wide and it's slick, so it feels like it's going to fall out of your hand. The Hero has a much better grip and the soft touch coating on the back is really nice in the hand.

The ergonomics are much better on the Hero then the Pre.

boomhower

I am hoping the next Pre has a glass screen. I would sacrifice some curves for a glass screen that I don't have to put a screen protector on.

sivan

I'm using a Touchstone cover, which is also soft touch. Agree that it would be slippery without it.

But come on the Hero is just a slab.

roxics

Yes but it's a very nice slab.

I'm not saying the Pre looks bad. I think it looks very nice. But I found that holding it in the hand is less comfortable then holding the Hero. That could just be me though. Everyone has different sized hands and preferences.

I just think the Pre has a lot of baby fat to it. It reminds me of an older Creative Zen player. All thick and round and plastic-y.

bigwood212

My brother has an iphone. He dropped it once and his glass screen broke. I've dropped my pre a few times and nada. I like plastic.

Eric1987

I'd prefer plastic too so the glass cant break. And my iphone got fingerprints like crazy my pre is less smudges