2006 Sharp 904SH

333ppi "Retina" screen in 2006 (4 years before iPhone 4)

It's the year 2006 #pastfuturetechnology.

Sharp has hit a critical milestone with the Sharp 904SH. For the first time do we find a high-resolution screen on a mobile phone. With 4 times as many pixels when compared to the 903SH (2.4", 240 x 320px), the 904SH's pixel density comes in at a staggering 333ppi. This gives the 904SH a screen resolution of 480 x 640px at 2.4".

Apart from the ground-breaking screen technology, the phone features the same camera setup as the 903SH with 3.2Mpx and 2x optical zoom, which is still class-leading even for Japanese standards. Osaifu-Keitai FeliCa (NFC payments), GPS and maps support has also finally found its way into the phone.

The 904SH is one of the handsets that became available during Vodafone's transition to Softbank, and therefore comes in both a Vodafone and Softbank edition. Besides the different logos, the colour schemes changed from Black / Purple / Sky Blue to Pink / White / Navy Blue.

Apple would coin the term "Retina" screen with the release of the iPhone 4 in 2010, a reference to the 300+ppi high-density LCD screens like the ones we find on Sharp's devices. By the time this technology was feature on smartphones, it had become the de-facto standard on Japanese feature phones and was relatively "old" news.