The Nexus One's Dirty Display Secret

**kilofoxtrot** · 02-22-2010, 12:34 PM

Only 16-Bit Color !?!?!?!?

I dont have this phone, but as a photography buff, I want my pictures to look good when displayed on my high-end phone.

How do the pictures look on the N1? Do you notice banding of colors?

**Jeremy** · 02-22-2010, 12:46 PM

My screen is bright and clear and images look great. Just my opinion.

**sd_bber** · 02-22-2010, 12:56 PM

looking at the nasa pics in the artice on my n1, im not seeing those rings around the sun. it is clearer on my laptop, but thats my laptop. its really not even that big of a deal.

just another attempt to degrade the nexus?

Roy Aguilera · 02-22-2010, 01:55 PM

Coming from a 9530 that had color banding. It does make a difference. I hate color banding. Good info.
Thanks for sharing.

**kilofoxtrot** · 02-22-2010, 02:07 PM

The actual article comes from displaymate.com not Gizmodo.

**null** · 02-22-2010, 02:21 PM

Kilofox, thanks for highlighting that link. The original article at displaymate.com is definitely worth reading; unfortunately the one at Gizmodo is sensationalist garbage.

**kilofoxtrot** · 02-22-2010, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by null

Kilofox, thanks for highlighting that link. The original article at displaymate.com is worth reading, the one at Gizmodo is sensationalist garbage.

I amended my first post. Thanks.

**null** · 02-22-2010, 02:52 PM

It was interesting to learn about some of the shortcomings of the N1 display. The general look and feel of the N1 is so fantastic, I hadn't consciously noticed them. I look forward to seeing what they have to say about the iPhone's display in comparison.

And I got a good laugh out of the Gizmodo article. Especially the following sentence:

HTC and Google likely made a conscious decision to sacrifice color fidelity, outdoor viewability, and maybe even touch accuracy for a screen that, experientially speaking, blows everything else out of the water. And depending on how anal you are, this is probably fine.

**Joene** · 02-23-2010, 07:53 AM

Smells like IPhone fanboys to me

**ads** · 02-23-2010, 11:09 AM

I guess no one smartphone does every last task the very best. I'd like better color, but wonder how this would affect rendering speed, especially for graphic intensive web pages. I personally value the web rendering and speed thereof, way higher than how the pic gets displayed, although from 16-24 isn't exactly huge. And ultimately, I care about the quality of the saved image, which is a megapixel function. If I want to share a nice pic with more than the person standing next to me, I'm going to put it on the hdtv or print it.

I'm no longer a true photog buff, but even with what I do, if I want to ensure picture quality, I'm going to use a dedicated camera where I have more control. For the point & shoot mode on phones, all I need to see is if focus and my steadiness was good - eg, it's blurry or not, and exposure is such that what I wanted in the pic is lighted properly, not that there's a whole lot you can do about it on a smartphone in a reasonable amount of time.
The phone pics I have are when I don't have a camera with me but just want to capture where I was / who I was with. If I know I want good pics, I take a real camera to ensure that happens.
If you want much more than that, I think these smartphone cams will get there - except for a flash that adds value past 10-12 feet - but we're a generation or two in the future for that to happen.
ADS

**Deathwish238** · 02-23-2010, 02:01 PM

Interesting. I don't see how the color banding can be a real issue. I'm writing this post and the grayish white background of this text book looks uniform without any banding or artifacts or any glitches to speak of. I am a videophile and I know the nexus one screen is not perfect and does have too much red, but all in all its deep dark blacks and bright vivid display make its screen look better than the iPhone or G1 sitting in my study.

GenericMessage · 02-23-2010, 02:18 PM

Sadly AMOLED still has its weaknesses.

OLED itself is far from perfect (even though the color saturation issues are null with this compared to AMOLED. I mean, heck, us at Kodak have been trying to make it amazing since we invented it back in 76')

I, myself, am a member of the OLED team for Kodak. And i'll tell ya what, AMOLED will always have a red issue, and will always be hard to see in direct sunlight, but the color depth can be corrected from getting out of 16bit. But until we can start making OLED for under $400 an inch, AMOLED will be the mainly used screen as far as that goes.

**raremage** · 02-23-2010, 09:29 PM

It's been pointed out and pretty much confirmed on another forum that this is not a display issue, but an application issue.

You can prove this out by browsing to the Nasa site and viewing the picture (or just reading the article from an N1). The 'correct' photo as viewed on the iPhone looks just fine (without banding) on the N1.

However, saving the photo to the gallery and then viewing it, the banding issue appears. This appears to be an issue with the stock 2.1 gallery app and image compression, not an example of a hardware display limitation.

**jasonc624** · 03-09-2010, 06:13 PM

i have a 9530 and the color banding is terrible

**jasonc624** · 03-09-2010, 06:14 PM

also, what two devices are those?

**Entrical** · 03-16-2010, 06:18 PM

iPhone 3GS and N1, respectively.

**Yahma** · 03-17-2010, 11:14 AM

Guys, why is this issue still being discussed?? The assertion that the Nexus One screen is only 16-bit has been debunked over at . There is nothing wrong with the AMOLED display in the Nexus One.

The issue was the review site used an application that compressed the images to 16-bit, and when when it re-displayed the images... viola.. you get the color banding.

Too bad they haven't updated their article.

**dtboos** · 03-17-2010, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by Yahma

Guys, why is this issue still being discussed?? The assertion that the Nexus One screen is only 16-bit has been debunked over at . There is nothing wrong with the AMOLED display in the Nexus One.

The issue was the review site used an application that compressed the images to 16-bit, and when when it re-displayed the images... viola.. you get the color banding.

Too bad they haven't updated their article.

This

And I fully expect them to never update their "article."

**Deathwish238** · 07-10-2010, 12:49 AM

Originally Posted by GenericMessage

Sadly AMOLED still has its weaknesses.

OLED itself is far from perfect (even though the color saturation issues are null with this compared to AMOLED. I mean, heck, us at Kodak have been trying to make it amazing since we invented it back in 76')

I, myself, am a member of the OLED team for Kodak. And i'll tell ya what, AMOLED will always have a red issue, and will always be hard to see in direct sunlight, but the color depth can be corrected from getting out of 16bit. But until we can start making OLED for under $400 an inch, AMOLED will be the mainly used screen as far as that goes.

I don't find the Nexus One even a little hard to read in sunlight. I would know, I walk 15 minutes to class and am walking around campus between 10am and 4pm pretty much everyday. The screen is visible with the autobrightness on. It doesn't look as good as it does in the dark, but neither does any display.

But yes there are red issues for sure...but the black levels are worth it. I don't watch a lot of movies so color accuracy isn't the most important thing to me. Blacks and whites however are.

Originally Posted by raremage

It's been pointed out and pretty much confirmed on another forum that this is not a display issue, but an application issue.

You can prove this out by browsing to the Nasa site and viewing the picture (or just reading the article from an N1). The 'correct' photo as viewed on the iPhone looks just fine (without banding) on the N1.

However, saving the photo to the gallery and then viewing it, the banding issue appears. This appears to be an issue with the stock 2.1 gallery app and image compression, not an example of a hardware display limitation.

Yeah...just don't use the stock gallery if you care. I still use it, it don't really notice because I'm not trying to look for it.

**jrv#ac** · 07-10-2010, 09:24 PM

The N1 is a battery-powered smartphone, not a proofing display at a fashion magazine plugged into an AC wall outlet. I would rather have a 16-bit display if it saved power. I suspect apps prefer 16-bit to save memory.

Not to mention that I've never seen a word anywhere about color calibration of an N1 display (or any other smartphone). It's hard to see obsessing over the low couple of bits in color resolution if you can't even make the significant bits accurate...

**RayStinkle** · 07-11-2010, 02:26 PM

I agree, I don't mind the pentile sub pixel layout at all. Text looks sharp enough to me, And yes I've seen other screens and the difference everyone talks about. It just doesn't bother me. And for The battery savings I'll take it no problem.