I wouldn't be surprised if you find Retina displays on Android devices in the coming years, although under a different name. Then we can all watch Apple sue or try to block a phone from being sold (like they are with the Galaxy S III).
ehm retina display is an apple brand name, which tells nothing about the screen. Pretty much all of the current generation high-end smartphone got an a 720p screen which gives a higher PPI than the LG screen in iPhones. S3 uses a 720p pentitle amoled display which means it will look a bit less crisp than a normal RGB screen with the same PPI.
well how am i supposed to know that...
i never tried playing 10-Bit videos on my iPhone
maybe they'll incorporate this feature in their new one this year...
and a better processor and more RAM
I doubt apple or anyone else will incorporate it in the near future, so software decoding is the way to go for a long time in the future. Unfortunately the cpu in iPhone/iPad are pretty weak, and there aren't much hope Apple's next generation will be any better, since they mostly focus on gpu.
Uh, except that requires that this friend has a PS3, 360, or DLNA compatible BD-player. That's a lot more restrictive than just "HDMI-capable HDTV," which are pretty mainstream these days. I have plenty of friends who don't have any of the three but do have the HDTV.
He can always buy an adapter so it can be plugged in to a hdmi cable, even thought it is a shame they didn't add one as standard.
Since I found out that the S3 is using Wolfson DAC for its audio chip, I have been interested in upgrading, but I think I will wait on a phone with an A15 processor.