Puzzled about DPI meaning

A

akmens

n00b
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Mar 8, 2016
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Hi guys, just a quick question I searched on google and it got me even more puzzled.

DPI resolution is dots per inch or how many information can be displayed on the screen. So as I read and it is quite logical, lower the DPI, less information can be displayed per inch or in other words resolution becomes less detailed in same display area like changing from FullHD to HD resolution. Less information per inch means to display the same ammount of something, it needs to take up more space or become bigger. At least that is how it works on PC's or TV screens and I have used to.

So why is it that changing to lower DPI actually turns everything smaller and makes more screen space available? That is my experience with playing with phone settings and what I have read in the internet.

I thought higher DPI means higher resolution resulting in smaller text and more detailed everything not otherwise.

Also from what I have read lower DPI saves some battery life (not that it matters but theoratically speaking). It would be logical if lower DPI displayed less information on the screen but in reality lower DPI allows to display more information in the screen e.g. there is more screen space available when you can put your homescreen icons or whatever and more anything is more cpu power and less battery life.

What am I missing here? Hope somebody can enlighten me.
 
In the context of displays I think of DPI as a result of a calculation of resolution and size. How it was manufactured. If there is a DPI setting in the OS then I'd say it's software scaling and a decision made during development on how to draw the screen at a given DPI or scale setting.
 
Really rough rule- DPI = dots per inch (like you said). It should mean less GPU and power to run lower DPI, and bigger text. But there is also the issue of DPI being partly invalidated by display types (like pentile), and marketing (the real evil).
 
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