Lenovo to join 5 inch smartphone club

It looks like the era of 720p smartphone screens may already be behind us as manufacturers like Sharp, HTC, Oppo and others usher in a new era of 1080p displays for the next batch of superphones.

This week’s official announcement regarding the release of the DROID DNA from HTC continued a trend we have seen of manufacturers pushing the limits of screen size and resolution. The DROID DNA’s 5-inch 1080p display produced by Sharp is certainly an eye-catching feature of the new handset.

Lenovo has unveiled a seven-inch IdeaPad A1 tablet running Android 2.3, due to ship for just $200 with 8GB of storage memory. Meanwhile, ViewSonic unveiled two more seven-inch Android tablets -- a seven-inch, Nvidia Tegra 2-based Android 3.2 tablet called the ViewPad 7x and a lower-end tablet called the ViewPad 7e -- plus a V350 dual-SIM Android 2.2 phone....

Lenovo has introduced 5-inch IPS panel display bearing K860 which houses a quad-core Samsung Exynos mobile processor and runs Android 4.0 ICS version.

Sharp just announced that they have begun production of 5-inch LCD panels that will sport a 1080p display and a 443 pixel per inch (PPI) density.

Asus introduced the new Padfone Infinity today at MWC in Barcelona. The successor to the company’s hybrid tablet/smartphone has a redesign with an aluminum back and edge-to-edge glass display, a 5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and 441 PPI.

Wait, can it be? Yes, HTC has finally revealed its long-rumored 5-inch smartphone, and it’s quite a device. The HTC J Butterfly is the company’s newest feat, sporting a Super LCD 3 1080p panel (440ppi), a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, LTE and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean .

Last week, we got a peek at HTC’s J Butterfly Japan-only Android phone, with a huge 1080p 5-inch display that manages a crazy 440ppi pixel density, and today, Android Central (via The Verge) is claiming a new North American HTC flagship phone coming to Verizon will offer the same screen on our shores.

Fusion Garage announced a 10.1-inch tablet and four-inch smartphone, both running an & Grid OS& operating system that's based on Android -- and said to run its apps -- but adds predictive features and a grid-like UI.