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Screen tech terminology help - SAMOLED PLUS, pentile, rgb, gorilla glass, etc

Nvidiaguy07

Nvidiaguy07

Platinum Member
Theres a bunch of phones coming out, and every time the screen is brought up, people seem to argue about what makes a screen the best.

Currently I have a captivate, and i personally LOVE my screen. From what i hear, its pentile, which sucks by some standards. RGB is apparently the best from what i hear.

Then there's the whole naming scheme which confuses the hell out of me. SAMOLED and all the other variations...

Im primarily concerned with the displays on these phones:
Captivate (current phone, good enough, need to be at least as good as this)
iphone (4 and 4s)
galaxy s2
galaxy note
nexus prime

when comparing displays, which of those is the best, and for what reasons.

Also: i know my captivate is gorilla glass, and its freaking awesome. I've never had a screen protector, and i am rough with it, and the screen looks brand new.

I heard a rumor that the nexus isn't gorilla glass? If so, what technology is it, and should i be concerned.
 
SAMOLED or Super Amoled is a Samsung manufactured active matrix OLED screen. The Super means it is optically bonded to the glass of the phone and the capacitive touch layer is integrated directly into the screen so you don't have a gap between the outer glass and the screen like you would on older phones like the Nexus 1.

The Plus added to the end of Super Amoled means it is not Pentile. At identical sizes and resolutions non pentile is better but generally pentile screens can be made at high resolutions (like the 720p Galaxy Nexus) so which is better isn't exactly clear cut. There are also Pentile LCD screens but those basically just suck.

The iPhones use older IPS LCD screens so they will have inferior contrast, black levels and response time compared to any Super Amoled screen. Also they are under saturated by default so they don't have any advantage in color accuracy since the Samsung phones are over saturated by a roughly equivalent amount. There are utilities on the Android market that allow you to calibrate Super Amoled screens so if you used one of those the Samsung phones should also be able to beat the iPhones on color accuracy as well.

The Galaxy S2 and afaik Galaxy Note both use Gorilla glass. The Galaxy Nexus does not however it uses some other form of hardened glass that is supposed to have similar abilities however we will have to wait and see if that is the case. Likewise the iPhone uses some other type of glass that is supposed to be gorilla glass like.
 
Just go to a store and compare an iPhone 4s/Samsung Galaxy S2/Nexus Prime (IPS/SAMOLED+/SAMOLED). Compare color (over/under saturation), sharpness (in picture and text) and contrast (find something that has black and white on it). Then make your own opinion on which of the above qualities you actually care about.

I don't think anyone cares about response time of displays anymore. I personally could never get over the SAMOLED Pentile displays. Text looks terrible and 99% of what I do is read text.
 
Puddle Jumper said:
Galaxy S2 and afaik Galaxy Note both use Gorilla glass. The Galaxy Nexus does not however it uses some other form of hardened glass that is supposed to have similar abilities however we will have to wait and see if that is the case. Likewise the iPhone uses some other type of glass that is supposed to be gorilla glass like.
Click to expand...

Fingers crossed that its as good. This is a big deal to me, because I love the fact that my phone is unscratchable.

As far as seeing them in person, its not always an option. I doubt the galaxy note will get picked up by any us carriers
 
Pliablemoose said:
http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/8/2547725/a-closer-look-at-the-droid-razrs-screen
Click to expand...

That author doesn't do their credibility any favors by starting out complaining that the Razr only has red, green, and blue subpixels. No kidding, that's true for the Iphone 4 and nearly any other screen as well. With pentile the sub-pixel arrangement is what matters and most people prefer the layout used by SAMOLED screens over moto's crappy pentile LCD's.

Stuff like that reminds me how much I appreciate Anandtech's reviews, they are written by people who actually know what they are talking about and include real measurements to go along with their observations.
 
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https://picasaweb.google.com/112947...key=Gv1sRgCIzlyr-YiYS1vQE#5672810329931295970

pentile.jpg


Of course, I'm sure some Apple fanboy photoshopped that...
 
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Pliablemoose said:
https://picasaweb.google.com/112947...key=Gv1sRgCIzlyr-YiYS1vQE#5672810329931295970

pentile.jpg
Click to expand...

And if you zoom in on the text in question you can easily alter the results to show whatever you want.

It looks like they have the Razr's screen at minimum brightness which is why it looks so bad, turn it up some and odds are it would look better than the Droid X2.

Besides when did I say the iPhone 4 didn't have better pixel density? The only time I mentioned it was to illustrate the point that nearly all screen only have red green and blue pixels and the author is a moron for complaining about that.
 
Pliablemoose said:
LOL, you guys kill me...
Click to expand...

So the fact that the author implied that he didn't know that red, green and blue are the standard subpixels for screens isn't a problem for you?

There are meaningful differences between standard and pentile subpixel layouts as well as the different flavors of pentile however The Verge isn't the place to go for a discussion on it.
 
Puddle Jumper said:
So the fact that the author implied that he didn't know that red, green and blue are the standard subpixels for screens isn't a problem for you?

There are meaningful differences between standard and pentile subpixel layouts as well as the different flavors of pentile however The Verge isn't the place to go for a discussion on it.
Click to expand...

So pictures aren't accurate or a good way to describe displays?

Sorry, but those pics are showing some pretty crappy screens...

I'm sitting out for the next generation.

A higher density Super AMOLED Plus seems like a logical choice...
 
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Pliablemoose said:
So pictures aren't accurate or a good way to describe displays?

Sorry, but those pics are showing some pretty crappy screens...

I'm sitting out for the next generation.
Click to expand...

So turning a screen to it's minimum brightness to make it look as crappy as possible is the most objective way to compare it? If you want to play that game next time I have my hands on an iPhone 4s I can post some macro shots that make it's retina display look like a complete pos next to Super Amoled. Heck just look at some white text on a black background and tell me Super Amoled is crappy, after all unlike the 4s it can actually display black.
 
Pliablemoose said:
So pictures aren't accurate or a good way to describe displays?

Sorry, but those pics are showing some pretty crappy screens...

I'm sitting out for the next generation.

A higher density Super AMOLED Plus seems like a logical choice...
Click to expand...

I'm not sure zooming in on a 5mm by 10mm bit of screen (or whatever size) is the best way to compare screens. If a website did this for monitors we'd all point and laugh.
 
Those are state of the art superphones being compared to a nearly 2 year old display.

The truth be known, the postage stamp sized screen of the iPhone sucks, IMHO, it needs that pixel density so it doesn't look like crap when you zoom in to actually read something.

I've been very tempted to get a 5-7"phone tablet hybrid.
 
Pliablemoose said:
Those are state of the art superphones being compared to a nearly 2 year old display.

The truth be known, the postage stamp sized screen of the iPhone sucks, IMHO, it needs that pixel density so it doesn't look like crap when you zoom in to actually read something.

I've been very tempted to get a 5-7"phone tablet hybrid.
Click to expand...

Well theres never going to one screen that suits everyone.

We should celebrate having a choice rather than browbeating everyone into one option.
 
I won't buy any of the current gen "superphones" in protest of the screens...

Moto just released this in China:

Sandwiched between the two phones is the TD-SCDMA-friendly MT917 that first appeared earlier this month. Bearing much resemblance to the first Droid RAZR, this rounder-looking device gets bumped up with a larger 4.5-inch 1,280 x 720 LCD (according to its certification document) and the same 13 megapixel camera as the XT928. Similarly though, this model also gains 1mm in body thickness and 11g in weight.
Click to expand...

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/13/...scdma-variants-teased-in-china-the/#continued
 
I personally only trust my own judgement when it comes to phone screens. I've seen reviews that completely bash certain displays but when I see the phone in person I don't see the big fuss.

If you have to go all CSI and zoom/enhance a screenshot to tell the difference... that's just going too far into things IMHO (note I haven't read any links that people have posted in this thread, it's just an overall feeling/opinion on the matter).
 
Red Storm said:
I personally only trust my own judgement when it comes to phone screens. I've seen reviews that completely bash certain displays but when I see the phone in person I don't see the big fuss.

If you have to go all CSI and zoom/enhance a screenshot to tell the difference... that's just going too far into things IMHO (note I haven't read any links that people have posted in this thread, it's just an overall feeling/opinion on the matter).
Click to expand...

Im pretty much the same way. This is more about me having expectations on screens based on stats. also im probably not going to be able to see a prime/note before i buy it, so if i know that one has the same screen as another, at least ill have an idea of how it looks.
 
I don't see the fuss over pentile. It looks fine to me. It's not like I'd use a jeweler's loop to look at a phone LCD anyway.
 
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