480 pixels, crammed so tightly that there are 160 of them per inch, which is
nearly twice the resolution of a computer screen.)
It’s not, however, the right shape for videos.
Standard TV shows are squarish, not rectangular. So when you watch TV
shows, you get black letterbox columns on either side of the picture.
Some people are fine with that. After all, HDTV sets have the same problem;
people are used to it. At least when letterbox bars are onscreen, you know
you’re seeing the complete composition of the scene the director intended.
Other people can’t stand letterbox bars. You’re already watching on a pretty
small screen; why sacrifice some of that precious area to black bars?
Fortunately, the iPhone gives you a choice. If you double-tap the video as it
plays, you zoom in, magnifying the image so it fills the entire screen. Or, if the
playback controls are visible, you can also tap [ or ].
Truth is, part of the image is now off the screen; now you’re not seeing the
entire composition as originally created. You lose the top and bottom of TV
scenes, or the left and right edges of movie scenes.
Fortunately, if this effect winds up chopping off something important—some
text on the screen, for example—restoring the original letterbox view is just
another double-tap away.
