The word " Resolution ", in the technological field, is often brought up incorrectly when it comes to TV, smartphones, laptops, tablets, monitors, printers, cameras and all devices that have to do with images . Many people do not know what "resolution" means or think, erroneously, that it is only the term to indicate the number of pixels of an image which, the bigger it is, the more it has many pixels and, therefore, it has better resolution.
So if a digital camera has 16 megapixels you can think it is fantastic because the photo it takes has a lot of pixels and therefore has high resolution.
In reality, however, a high resolution image not only has many pixels, but also has a high pixel density per inch (PPI) .
Note : DPI (dots per inch) and PPI are the same if we talk about screens, while if we talk about printing we must always say DPI.
An inch can have ten pixels or even a million, and the higher the pixel density, the more detail will be defined in that inch.
Speaking of screens, resolution is measured by the number of pixels it can display at one time.
The problem with screen resolution is the commercial deception that a phone, TV or monitor is advertised as "large" even though it may actually have the same resolution as a small one.
Resolution, in relation to any type of image, means the ability to resolve details .
For example, a 5-inch smartphone can have the resolution of a 3-inch one, and even if the screen is large, the icons and the space in which to move them will be the same as the small one.
The graphics, in the larger space, are less detailed because the pixels are more distant from each other.
For TV this problem can result in more blurred images because they are always in motion.
The resolution of a screen is very different from the screen size .
A laptop with a 15.6 "screen size can have a number of pixels 1366 x 768 HD ( High Definition ) or 1600 x 900 HD + ( High Definition + ) or even 1920 x 1080 FHD ( Full High Definition ).
The numbers indicating the resolution indicate the number of lines on the screen horizontally X the number of vertical lines.
The more horizontal and vertical lines there are, the higher the screen resolution is.
To see the difference between the various resolutions, you can open an Excel sheet on your monitor and count rows and columns.
- 1366 x 768 has 25 rows from top to bottom and columns from A to T (from left to right).
- 1600 x 900 counts rows from 1 to 32 and columns from A to X.
- 1920 x 1080 counts rows from 1 to 41 and columns from A to AC.
This type of aspect ratio is valid whether the screen is 25 inches or 15 inches.
At the same size, a higher resolution makes the screen image appear smaller or more distant, but at the same time sharper and richer in detail.
On a PC monitor, you can see that the mouse cursor walks much more if the resolution is high rather than low.
The same also happens in video games and in videos where the low resolution in a large screen will make the movements appear more confused, blurred or grainy, of low quality.
READ ALSO: How to choose the LCD monitor and screen resolution
Speaking of photographs, it is useful to understand the concept of image resolution according to the intended use of images.
For example, if you want photos to be viewed on the computer, it is useless to take them at a resolution greater than 2 Megapixels because they would be too large to see even on the largest monitor.
Conversely, if the photos are to be printed, it is right to take them with an 8 Megapixel camera or more, especially in case you want to print posters or large paintings.
DPI (dots per inch), rather than size, determine the print format .
In addition to the number of pixels, printing digital images requires a high dot density so that even the smallest detail without blurring can be printed on paper.
High definition printing of magazines or brochures requires a 300 DPI standard in general, for which, of course, an HD printer is also required.
For low definition printing of posters and billboards, such a high DPI is not necessary because this type of image is viewed from afar, therefore it does not matter if the print seems low definition if viewed from close up.
In practical terms, if we didn't do it before, from now on, every time you buy a phone, a tablet, a monitor, a TV, then, before looking at the screen size, it is more important to check its resolution and not to fall in commercial traps.
READ ALSO: How much Megapixels count in cameras
