Perceived Rendering Thresholds for High-Fidelity Graphics on Small Screen Devices

Small screen devices, also known as small-form-factor (SFF) devices including mobile phones and ultra mobile PCs are increasingly ubiquitous. Their uses includes gaming, navigation and interactive visualisation. SFF devices are, however, inherently limited by their physical characteristics for perception as well as limited processing and battery power. High-fidelity graphic systems have significant computational requirements which can be reduced through use of perceptually-based rendering techniques. In order to exploit these techniques on SFF devices a sound understanding of the perceptual characteristics of the display device is needed. This paper investigates the perceived rendering threshold specific for SFF devices in comparison to traditional display devices. We show that the threshold for SFF systems differs significantly from typical displays indicating substantial savings in rendering quality and thus computational resources can be achieved for SFF devices.