The Smartphone Viewing-Distance Problem

Following on from last week's video where I looked at computer screen viewing distances, in this week's video I'm looking at smartphone viewing distance. There is a crazy problem with pixel density and viewing distance with modern smartphones.

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Nothing in this video is medical advice. It is for entertainment only.

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[BenVallack]

Small correction - we've seen 458 ppi since the iPhone X. The iPhone 11 went back to 326 on the normal model. Then 460 or more on the 12 and above.

[Jame-ppzm]

iPhone 12 is also the generation where Apple switched the entire lineup to OLED displays which have a different sub-pixel layout that, generally speaking, looks worse at the same PPI vs LCDs. The bump in PPI doesn't suggest a change of expectations in viewing distance. If anything the standard text sizes have not changed and iPhone displays have only been getting bigger and bigger which only an increase in expected viewing distance could be inferred. The holding phone too close problem, in my opinion, has very little to do with the specifitications of the display or device hardware but rather the overwhelmingly disproportionate optimization of content and apps for a phone-sized display given their proliferation which enables reaching much wider audiences.

[trashviewer]

The thing about kids, is they are small. And consequentially doesn't have long hands, so they physically can't hold the phone far enough from their faces.

[TobiasSample]

What do you think about VR/AR headsets? The screens are super close but also mimic quite a bit of distance 🤔

[janmagtoast]

I actually have my android set to a lower resolution. Not because of viewing distance at all. It just saves a bit more battery and the difference doesn't really bother me at all 😅

[bawbsmith]

I'll be honest, I'm a bit confused about this video.

Yes, phone displays increased their pixel densities, but they've also applied scaling so that everything is the same size as before. You can't really put more content on the screen than before, it's just now everything's clearer, which lets people use it further away if anything.

Since phone screens are becoming physically larger, I'd assume they'd use it slightly further away than before, when we had 3.5/4 inch screens.

[martin_marek]

What do you think about wearing glasses with positive lenses as a compensation?

For the ciliary muscles, looking up close through positive lenses should be identical to looking into the distance. (I realize this wouldn’t change vergence but myopia seems to be more about focus anyway).

I spend a lot of time on my laptop and phone and this seems like it might a reasonable solution. Sure, using a massive TV at distance is better (nice setup!) but perhaps if you’re forced to use your phone / laptop, wearing glasses would help?

[EllyLoel]

I don’t think pixel density is sole or even most impactful thing making people hold phones closer to their faces. Much more impactful is the scale of UI elements, increasing the default font size would honestly be a great first step for anyone wanting to hold their phone further away. But, in the end, I think the most impactful thing is just the shear amount of things that are either best suited for or even just relatively convenient to use on phones. And, alas, that isn’t going to change.

[ParkerBinion]

Ben, what is your take on the Samsung Fold and other Fold phones which offer bigger "Ipad-like" screens? Is this better than the smaller phone if you hold it at the same distance? I would imagine it's better if you hold it further away, but how much further?

[Chrispycode]

How do you have so good audio while being outside?

[ashnur]

I heard that using mirrors or specially selected glasses we can train our eyes to focus to larger distances, helping with this problem somewhat.

[australai]

Give +3 diopter reading glasses a try with phone use. When you hold a large phone at about 25cm distance they’ll give you about a 60 degree diagonal fov with a virtual image distance around 1 meter.

Held only 15cm away they still provide some relief, with a virtual image around 27cm.

[Jokrono]

Something I've done my entire life is focus my eyes past the screens I'm looking at to reduce eyestrain. For a lot of stuff, how much of the entire picture are you processing other than general colour information anyway? I'd be incredibly curious to know what the impact is of me doing so, but I wouldn't know where to begin in designing such a habit oriented study. I was one subject of the myopia study you referenced in a previous video, though!

[TristramOaten]

Ben, great take, but also, great audio! I'm a video producer too, and I'm astonished: How did you get your audio so clean outside in that field?
(Beautiful shot, by the way, I also wonder what uber ND filter you had on the camera shooting into the sun wide open!)

[ChiaDai]

Not sure if it's actually a problem (as mentioned by other comments already, e.g. larger display size / text size, so if anything, further away). I'd wager the phone usage distance hasn't changed much ( mostly constrained by the holding ergonomics ). A much bigger problem, imo, is prolonged usage in one session, which also implies less time focusing on books / monitors / TVs, all of which are further away.

On a separate note, in China, this issue is exacerbated by many mobile-first services (e.g. e-commerce / online shopping, work communication app) that outright lacks or significantly gimps the web / desktop client version of the service.

[denizaydemir]

I’m curious if HMDs like the AVP where you can virtually place screens further away mitigate the myopia problem, and how stark the trade off is for other downsides. The AVP causes some eye strain / tiredness for me after extended wear but I do pick it up occasionally to do some ergonomic, heads up, more distant browsing / content consumption

[yeah]

High ppi screens are way off the maximum resolutions the human eye can utilize at an average adult's arm length, at least for 20/15 vision and above (about 30% of the population). Increasing the ppi after 300 or so obviously has very diminishing returns even for those with the best vision, but text in pariticular will continue to look smoother and crisper well above where you'd expect it to make no difference. In fact I would sort of expect better font rendering to make it easier to view at further distances (holding text closer if it is not readable is a pretty normal response) since I don't think most smartphone resolutions are so bad they force you to hold it further away from your face. Screen size on the other hand is defintiely something that can make you hold your phone closer to your face. When reading or using the internet, people are likely to zoom out or reduce the font size to fit more on the screen and then hold their phone closer to their face.

And I don't think the resolution of the screen has anything to do with why people use their phones instead of more appropriate devices for all computer activities. Even if you can afford to have more than the one or two essential devices you need, the internet is most of what people use their devices for, and it is designed for phones, the type of device everybody has. I'm not surprised people use their high end phones over their cheap laptops once you take that into account. We have also brought up a whole generation on iPads (again partially because they are more affordable than computers) so for them, desktop computers are less familiar than phones unless they are interested in or frequently working with tech, while tablets are an unnecessary expense if you own a smarphone.

I personally hate using my phone and try to use larger screens and better input methods whenever possible, so I do support lowering the cost of phones by getting rid of things that are completely unnecessary to me like a good screen, while keeping a high-end camera, processor and build quality. I basically just use my phone for maps, text/call, and the things that can only be done through an app or I need to access when I'm out and about.

[robertkozak]

Please do a long term follow up of the ZSA Voyager

[Lineriderforever]

Easy to say that people should spend most time consuming context on a big TV, but not everyone has a big TV, and doesn't have the money or space or time to spend at home relaxing, where most of their time might be commuting or out at work or other responsibilities.. but their phone is always there in their pocket.

It's just not going to happen for most people to be consuming media on a big TV vs a phone, everyone has a high def phone screen now, it's always there, and people don't have the opportunity for reasons listed above to be able to make such an adjustment to their life.

[skymakai]

How about the Vision Pro? Does that simulation of distance change how our eyes react and are affected?