AMOLED vs LCD

[FearoftheNight]

Hey guys. It's mid 2015! What's the state of AMOLED vs LCD right now? What are the pros and cons of each?

 

[soccerballtux]

http://anandtech.com/show/9394/analysing-amoled-power-efficiency

 

[mmntech]

I think the only thing really holding AMOLED back is cost. IPS displays are a lot cheaper and still offer good image quality. Your average ham & egger isn't going to notice the difference. At least not enough for it to be a deal breaker. So it doesn't make sense for device makers to sacrifice profit margins.

There's also still some longevity issues, especially with the blue diodes. However, that's more a problem with TVs and monitors than it is with phones. Simply because phones have a fairly short shelf life to begin with.

 

[lxskllr]

There's also still some longevity issues, especially with the blue diodes. However, that's more a problem with TVs and monitors than it is with phones. Simply because phones have a fairly short shelf life to begin with.

Has anyone ever seen a burned display? That's a concern of mine, but I don't know how realistic it is.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The state of things in 2015? AMOLED tech surpassed LCD in many metrics only for Android to use a white theme everywhere.

 

[FearoftheNight]

I think the only thing really holding AMOLED back is cost. IPS displays are a lot cheaper and still offer good image quality. Your average ham & egger isn't going to notice the difference. At least not enough for it to be a deal breaker. So it doesn't make sense for device makers to sacrifice profit margins.

There's also still some longevity issues, especially with the blue diodes. However, that's more a problem with TVs and monitors than it is with phones. Simply because phones have a fairly short shelf life to begin with.

why is amoled superior?

 

[stockwiz]

I like that I can abuse my s4 active screen with static images with no burn-in whatsoever. I'll keep it until I see a reason not too for under $300.

 

[Bman123]

I've had burn in on a galaxy nexus and on a note 3. I personally hate amoled screens. They are expensive to replace if broken too

 

[Crono]

I don't have a problem using high quality displays of either type. I like the deep blacks of AMOLED and the vibrant colors, but sometimes you get oversaturated/unrealistic colors out of the box because consumers like the color pop on the flagship AMOLED smartphones. And LCD displays handle white better in regard to battery life.

I have a slight preference on mobile for OLED, but most users who proclaim how great AMOLED is over LCD are either exaggerating the difference or have limited experience with good LCD panels from Sharp or JDI, for example.

 

[s44]

Has anyone ever seen a burned display? That's a concern of mine, but I don't know how realistic it is.

Not personally, but I keep the statusbar toggled off most of the time and don't drive often.

I also read late at night on the phone and love the perfect black background.

 

[ThisIsChrisKim]

AMOLED if money is no object. LCD for cheaper cost devices.

 

[mmntech]

why is amoled superior?

AMOLED's biggest advantages are very high refresh rates and contrast ratios, even vastly exceeding CRT and plasma displays. Response time is well under 1ms. It can also show true blacks, since there's no backlight involved. From what I've seen, colour reproduction is better as well. If you've ever seen one, they look absolutely gorgeous.

Another advantage with OLED technology is you can make very thin displays which can also be flexible.

The key disadvantage I mentioned is longevity. The displays dim over time, with the blue diodes degrading faster than red and green. This can throw off colour balance. It's getting better but it's still an issue.

An IPS display by comparison has very good contrast ratio for LCD but it's not as good as plasma or CRT from my experience. It also boasts higher response times than older TFT panels, which can be undesirable in competitive gaming. Their main advantages are accurate colour reproduction and brightness. However, since it uses a backlight it cannot show true black. It also boasts fantastic viewing angles.

Most mid to high end smartphones and tablets use IPS panels. Samsung is one of the few that's really pushing AMOLED. Lower end devices are probably still using TFT. You get good response time out of them but colour reproduction and viewing angle can be poor.

 

[soccerballtux]

The state of things in 2015? AMOLED tech surpassed LCD in many metrics only for Android to use a white theme everywhere.

one of my usual 'wtf google' moments. I no longer give them the capacity to frustrate me. Apple can have the whole market for all I care. Me? I'll just stick to kk4.4

I wonder how samsung shareholders feel about that? It's probably OK considering how many devices they sell and they've made it good enough that it looks good, but..."hey guys, we're going to invest all this money in this technology, and then google is going to change things and negate the primary benefit of it"

 

[darkswordsman17]

one of my usual 'wtf google' moments. I no longer give them the capacity to frustrate me. Apple can have the whole market for all I care. Me? I'll just stick to kk4.4

I wonder how samsung shareholders feel about that? It's probably OK considering how many devices they sell and they've made it good enough that it looks good, but..."hey guys, we're going to invest all this money in this technology, and then google is going to change things and negate the primary benefit of it"

So there's no simple "dark" option for Android? WTF? I guess it is so Google can later go "look at all we've done to improve the UI, it's black!" and they'll cycle back and forth so that there will be big contrast. Much like how we'll probably cycle between "flat" and 3D UI designs.

Crap like that is why I've been rolling my eyes at UI design and discussion for a while now (started around the time people started making a fuss over OSX vs WinXP, and have been almost constantly at both Android and iOS).

 

[Crono]

So there's no simple "dark" option for Android? WTF? I guess it is so Google can later go "look at all we've done to improve the UI, it's black!" and they'll cycle back and forth so that there will be big contrast. Much like how we'll probably cycle between "flat" and 3D UI designs.

Crap like that is why I've been rolling my eyes at UI design and discussion for a while now (started around the time people started making a fuss over OSX vs WinXP, and have been almost constantly at both Android and iOS).

This is one reason I still prefer Windows Phone, though I use Android just as much. Switching between light and dark themes is simple. AMOLED is well suited for WP because of the colorful default tiles and home screen, as well (though you can set transparent tiles and go completely darker if you wish).

I do like Lollipop's UI over Holo otherwise, though, and you can skin/theme Android in custom ROMs like Cyanogenmod or through launchers. My current theme is red and black on Resurrection Remix rather than stock Lollipop. That and other tweaks makes for acceptable battery life on tbis 2013 Moto X I'm using on Sprint.

 

[kpkp]

So there's no simple "dark" option for Android? WTF?

The ROM provider (OEM) can implement a dark theme with "5 minutes" of work. Googles fault is only to not provide one for the Nexus 6, but that's Google stock policy of design uniformity over utility I guess.
For other phones you should blame the Samsungs, Motorolas and LGs of this world.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I don't have a problem using high quality displays of either type. I like the deep blacks of AMOLED and the vibrant colors, but sometimes you get oversaturated/unrealistic colors out of the box because consumers like the color pop on the flagship AMOLED smartphones. And LCD displays handle white better in regard to battery life.

I have a slight preference on mobile for OLED, but most users who proclaim how great AMOLED is over LCD are either exaggerating the difference or have limited experience with good LCD panels from Sharp or JDI, for example.

I agree, although even when corrected OLED still just plain pops compared to LCD.

I don't think it is exaggerating (at least from what I've seen, in fact in this subforum we have a certain user that keeps claiming that Samsung's OLED is bad), and considering that OLED is quite young, when it starts actually realizing it's potential then it will just plain replace LCD tech as it'll likely be equal or better in just about every area.

OLED has other benefits although I'm not sure they matter much on portable, and even they aren't seeing the full realization of them (as in though the response time is way better than LCD, mobile OLED panels still ghost some at least according to Oculus).

Another thing is, isn't it likely that higher resolutions/DPI will actually make OLED more efficient?

 

[darkswordsman17]

This is one reason I still prefer Windows Phone, though I use Android just as much. Switching between light and dark themes is simple. AMOLED is well suited for WP because of the colorful default tiles and home screen, as well (though you can set transparent tiles and go completely darker if you wish).

I do like Lollipop's UI over Holo otherwise, though, and you can skin/theme Android in custom ROMs like Cyanogenmod or through launchers. My current theme is red and black on Resurrection Remix rather than stock Lollipop. That and other tweaks makes for acceptable battery life on tbis 2013 Moto X I'm using on Sprint.

Yeah I like Windows Phone/Metro design. I don't know why some people hate it so much.

I recall reading some about 5+ but I think I skipped the UI stuff just because it often ends up being silly opinionated stuff over little things. Only thing I recall was the change to a lighter and somewhat flatter design kinda like iOS did.

That is one positive is Android has more potential for customization. It is one of the big reasons why I don't know that I could live everyday with an iOS device. But I'm personally disappointed with the mobile OSes in general (if only Windows apps had quality level comparable to Android/iOS I'd be happy with it). I might be upgrading phone and getting a tablet this fall and will have a tough time (at least I'm hoping to, as I hope that there will be some new mid and high end Windows Phones to at least consider, and good Nexus devices, and maybe iOS has opened just enough that I could deal with it; tablet wise I'm hoping for maybe iPad Pros with stylus and better multitasking, new Notes maybe with OLED, and then Surface Pro 4 with even better battery life).

The ROM provider (OEM) can implement a dark theme with "5 minutes" of work. Googles fault is only to not provide one for the Nexus 6, but that's Google stock policy of design uniformity over utility I guess.
For other phones you should blame the Samsungs, Motorolas and LGs of this world.

I was thinking that Samsung and the like could remedy that. Android is still a little too wonky with regards to things like that for my tastes.

 

[dawheat]

Don't most oems have theme stores now? I particularly like the dark grey material design theme on my Note 4 (not via a theme store) .

Besides being able to conserve power through only lighting up some pixels (ambient display, watches) oleds also tend to be thinner and less reflective.

I think they're also more power efficient when most of the screen isn't white, and getting close in high apl cases.

 

[sweenish]

Until burn-in is generally not an issue the way it's not an issue in plasma, I don't care.

Add in the dimming, a phone should last for about three years these days before the display is noticeably worse than a new device, and I'm still not ready to switch over. I'll stick with an LCD.

I do hope that by the time I'm in the market for a new phone, my concerns should be addressed, so my opinion is likely moot.

 

[deathBOB]

Until burn-in is generally not an issue the way it's not an issue in plasma, I don't care.

Add in the dimming, a phone should last for about three years these days before the display is noticeably worse than a new device, and I'm still not ready to switch over. I'll stick with an LCD.

I do hope that by the time I'm in the market for a new phone, my concerns should be addressed, so my opinion is likely moot.

Why would you keep a phone for three years?

I have a 2013 Moto X with burn in where the Android status bar and home buttons appear. It's only noticeable when watching videos and even then it's a not really an issue. I wouldn't think twice about getting another OLED phone.

 

[kpkp]

Why would you keep a phone for three years?

Why wouldn't you if it still does all you need?

 

[ThisIsChrisKim]

Why wouldn't you if it still does all you need?

...because we're enthusiasts...

Why buy a RWD sports car if all you needs is a FWD 4 door sedan?

Why eat a lobster when all you need is some oatmeal?

Why build a computer with a GTX 990 Ti when an AMD APU will do?

Same line of thinking. Because this is a hobby of ours.

 

[kpkp]

...because we're enthusiasts...

The smartphone market is one of the most brotherly reaching markets, no one that "matters" is building phones to target the "enthusiasts".

 

[ThisIsChrisKim]

The smartphone market is one of the most brotherly reaching markets, no one that "matters" is building phones to target the "enthusiasts".

Enthusiasts buy top of the line flagships and all the companies that build phones with high-end specs are certainly targeting enthusiasts. Otherwise there'd be complete stagnation with no push forward in the tech. SoC, screens, cameras, storage, all of them are constantly pushing forward.

Enthusiasts constantly switch phones, at least once, if not multiple times a year. The non-enthusiast is the one that buys from a carrier with 2-year 'upgrade' cycles. Well, the typical enthusiast, anyway.

I guess there's value enthusiasts. Those who seek out value, but's kind of like the "other" car enthusiast. The one who hypermiles and eeks out as high as MPG as possible. Not the 'typical' enthusiast.