It turns out that the display works at a scaled-down Full HD resolution for most of the time, and that may be a good thing.
Sony made headlines at IFA 2015 by introducing the world’s first smartphone with a 4K display, the Xperia Z5 Premium. While the jury is still out on the practicality of having such a high resolution display on a smartphone, reports indicate that it might work only for specific applications. At other times, the screen runs at a more timid 1080x1920px FHD resolution. Many people have expressed their doubts about the phone actually having a 4K display, further fuelled by the fact that screenshots and other apps also indicate the display running in FHD resolution. GFXBench benchmark site lists the device having just a Full HD display.
An article that appeared on XDA-Developers, has provided some insight as to how Sony claims the Z5 Premium will provide two days of battery backup, despite having a 4K screen. The answer seems to lie with how the phone handles its application rendering processes. Apparently, the phone switches to its full 4K glory while only displaying high resolution pictures and videos. At all other times, the screen only renders in 1080x1920px resolution. Sony uses its proprietary drivers to run the display in 4K for the photo and video applications. That probably explains why the screenshots and other apps show only a FHD resolution for the device.
Changing screen resolution for optimal performance is quite common in computers, but not quite so in case of mobile phones. However, it is not very difficult to implement such a system in Android-powered devices, and can be configured quite easily. Therefore, it seems that by including a 4K screen, Sony has actually set another precedent, by scaling resolutions for different tasks in a smartphone. The advantages of having a variable resolution mechanism are plenty, the battery life probably being the biggest beneficiary.
Pixel density has assumed a similar status today, as the megapixel count of cameras. While VR applications will probably benefit from having a higher pixel density, the current crop of 5.5-inch smartphones with FHD display resolution work quite nicely. The Xperia Z5 Premium reflects a deep-seated desire of Sony to leave the world speechless, that is bordering on arrogance. But is it really worth the premium? You decide.
Source: XDA-Developers
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