No, not really.

What a thoroughly boring discussion that has distracted the entire tech industry. So many incredible innovations happening, yet everyone's talking this minor bit of errata. Move on!

It is further evidence that smartphones dominate the technology discussion now, with desktop technology fading into the noise. Intel is quickly preparing their very competent assault on the field with the Moorestown processor. It promises some exciting times ahead.

Backtracking on 802.11n with the N1

On the topics of product issues, in a prior entry I noted that I had been enjoying the fruits of 802.11n with the Froyo update on the Nexus One. Shortly after that entry, another update was pushed, FRF91, and my connectivity has become almost unusable unless I disable 802.11n on my wireless router (which was actually the case when I first got the phone, but FRF85 had provided salvation). So now I run two WAPs, with one to serve the 802.11n devices so I needn't cripple it for the N1, and a 802.11g one just to service the smartphone.

On High Density Smartphone Screens

With all of the talk about very high pixel density phones, and the downside of larger-screen phones, the focus of most discussions seems to be purely on the visual clarity of the screen. The actual usability of the on-screen content seems to be ignored.

On the Nexus One I'm dealing with a 252dpi (there is some fakery with the pentile pixel arrangement, but ignoring that), 3.7" screen. A site like the New York Times looks fantastic in landscape mode, with a fully readable presentation of the entire real-web contents. Yet the downside of that high-density, small screen becomes evident when I actually want to interact with the content on the screen. Something as simple as clicking on the category links down the left hand side is an exercise of extreme precision: Each link is approximately the size of a single fingerprint ridge, and they're so densely packed that a mm this way or that way yields the annoyance of a wrongly followed link. Zooming and unzooming just to interact with the screen isn't very enjoyable, and it erases many of the advantages of the pixel density.

Screensize is important, and smaller isn't better when you're talking about a device that doubles as a mini-web appliance. There is a balance to be achieved or the experience is compromised.