Galaxy Nexus vs. iPhone 4/4S displays

[FreakyLocz14]

The Galaxy Nexus of course. For one it's much bigger and you can pretty much read a complete website zoomed out all the way in landscape. The colors are truer IMO. The iPhone 4s are a little fake looking. Not sure if it's saturation or what, but skin tones and greens such as grass look more realistic on the Galaxy Nexus.

And I've asked it a million times, what's the point of 'retina' type resolution on a 3.5" screen? You have to zoom to read it and then what are you left with? Where's the big advantage? Take up any iPhone 4, browse to cnn.com (landscape - desktop site). I can read everything on the page rather comfortably on the Galaxy Nexus. Yes most will still zoom in but they won't have to zoom very much and most of the page will still be visible. Now try that on the iPhone 4. Sorry but you're gonna zooming to a much smaller area of the page. Like I said, it's pretty pointless.

I agree. The OLED display and the large screen size more than make for a very negligible difference in ppi.

 

[pappy53]

The Rezound has a better screen than either.

 

[anthony2558]

The colors are truer IMO. The iPhone 4s are a little fake looking. Not sure if it's saturation or what, but skin tones and greens such as grass look more realistic on the Galaxy Nexus.

Yes they defiantly made the colors truer. The fascinate, GS2 were almost pastel and not as realistic as the GNex is.

 

[FormerIphoney]

the vibrant colors on the gnex are unparalleled

 

[Mr. Orange 645]

I have both, the iPhone screen is better as far as quality, but it is to damn small. The nexus has a mammoth of a screen and also happens to be drop dead gorgeous.

I agree with Johnly. Im not disparaging the GNex screen at all as it is gorgeous. But the iPhone 4 screen is slightly clearer, especially when it comes to text. Again with that said, after owning and using both I have zero complaints about the GNex screen.

And for those taking offense, this is a matter of opinion on which is better. Some of you really need to lighten up. Geesh.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

I have to say size does matter.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[oktrav]

As someone who's owned both the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus (and the first iPhone 4, the TBolt, the OG Droid and the Bionic, but hey, who's counting), I'd like to weigh in on this thread.

iPhone display is much crisper/sharper looking than GNex, likely due to higher pixel density and the fact that it has a true RGB stripe. Keep in mind that the pixel densities are not really as close as everyone keeps saying. True pixel density should measure total SUB-pixels. Because the "720p" AMOLED panel in the Nexus uses a pentile matrix, each pixel of resolution only has 2 sub-pixels. The iPhone’s 640x960 LCD panel on the other hand uses a true RGB stripe layout, where each pixel is made up of 3 sub-pixels. The iPhone’s 3.5” display has 1,843,200 (640*960*3) total sub-pixels. The Nexus’ display has the exact same 1,843,200 (720*1280*2) total sub-pixels, but with an extra inch diagonally in which to spread out. The difference is plain to see when you hold the two handsets side by side. That’s not to say that the Samsung’s display is bad –it’s absolutely gorgeous- it’s just not as pixel-rich as the iPhone. In practice, the pentile matrix is all but invisible (much UNLIKE the Droid Bionic which was, to my eyes, barely usable, not to mention completely incapable of rendering some of the primary colors).

iPhone also wins in terms of outdoor readability in daylight. Nexus isn't bad/unusable, but definitely noticeably worse when I'm in the car during the day. It doesn't help that Android's auto-brightness setting renders the display pretty much un-readable in almost any lighting condition, requiring me to constantly adjust the brightness manually. The iPhone is just brighter. While I've heard that other AMOLEDs can sometimes verge on being almost painfully bright, the panel in the GNex seems relatively tame to my eyes.

The Nexus’ AMOLED panel wins hands down in terms of color saturation and contrast. I’m now shocked at the relatively drab, seemingly washed out colors when I pick up my girlfriend’s iPhone. Blacks are deep and colors pop. Sure, the color reproduction may be less accurate… the overblown colors and stark contrast may not suite everyone’s personal taste, but I for one have come to love it. In fact, I find it to be quite well suited to a mobile phone’s typically bright and colorful interface. Though I don’t have any personal experience with it, I can’t help but think that Windows Phone’s metro UI –with its white text on black background and brightly colored tiles- was born to be viewed on AMOLEDs.

I’ve noticed that the Nexus’ AMOLED display seems to add a subtle organic-looking texture (artifact?) to large swaths of solid colors. This is particularly noticeable when viewing large blocks of solid grays, blues, etc, especially with the brightness at lower settings. The calculator app is a great example. Upon first noticing this, I thought it was part of some new graphics rendering that Google had introduced in ICS, but then I noticed that this background texture would remain in place as I scrolled text, etc. over the top of it (again, the calculator is a great example). While I was initially somewhat unnerved by this, I’ve actually come to be quite fond of it --it adds a layer of warmth and depth to the otherwise cold and mechanical user interface.

Though very different in character, the iPhone’s IPS LCD panel and Galaxy Nexus’ 720p AMOLED are two of the most beautiful displays I’ve ever seen in any mobile device –and probably, with the possible exception of the HTC Rezound, THE two best displays available for purchase in any mainstream mobile device at this time. As someone who’s used both extensively, I can assure you that you will be very happy with either display…. iOS, on the other hand, I will make no promises about ;-)


--
Travis

 

[droidbeat]

Love the G-Nex display! I'm sure a future real stripe version will be even better than this pentile one. Don't really care how it compares to the iPhone. I only swim in android waters. The larger screen is now the defacto standard. Nobody (who counts) will ever want to go back to squinting and mis-typing.

 

[rufflez]

After having an epic, tbolt , ip4, then a tbolt again... i missed samoled. I love being able to use my phone in the sun. Tbolts screen was the worst at that.

 

[whiteshadow001]

your forgetting the fact that the nexus screen is also much larger than the iPhones. If the screen on the iphone were larger then it would lose dpi.

 

[whiteshadow001]

I agree with Johnly. Im not disparaging the GNex screen at all as it is gorgeous. But the iPhone 4 screen is slightly clearer, especially when it comes to text. Again with that said, after owning and using both I have zero complaints about the GNex screen.

And for those taking offense, this is a matter of opinion on which is better. Some of you really need to lighten up. Geesh.

the only reason it's clearer though is because of how small it is. All those pixels are tightly packed onto that screen. Blow it up in size and the text degrades in quality. I personally like the gnex screen better because of how well it reproduces color and it's a bit easier on the eyes whereas the iPhones sccreen is a bit harsh

 

[Small_law]

iPhone 4 and 4S have a slightly higher pixel density than the Nexus, but it's almost negligable. The Nexus has a true HD 720p display where the iPhone's resolution is lower. Much of the difference is due to the type of display: iPhone is an IPS LCD and the Nexus is Super AMOLED. LCD's are lit differently than AMOLED variants and tend to seem brighter until you crank the brightness on AMOLED. The contrast is definitely better with AMOLED, as is color reproduction.

It's all personal preference, but I loved the color accuracy on the Nexus, which is what I look for in displays. The iPhone is great, but its white balance is a little overpowering. Apple is rumored also to be having a heck of a time scaling the pixel density of the retina display to a large screen size.

 

[qnet]

It's certainly personel preference. I own both phones (until I sell my Iphone 4) and I don't think I've ever seen a screen like the Iphone 4 yet. Don't get me wrong, I love the Gnex's screen and, probably prefer it better because I like how the colors are displayed. However the Iphone 4 display is brighter & clearer. I think it does have something to do with the size. The iphone 4 is just a miniature version of my Imac's display which is awesome (IPS).

One thing I did notice is that the Gnex is superior at playing videos. A music video that came with one of my albums from Itunes looks a lot better on the Gnex than on the Iphone 4. I guess this is were having a true 720P screen helps.

 

[njd915]

iPhone. Dim the iPhone screen to low. you wont see the grainy paint canvas look, how about the dim black lines that run through the nexus, you don't see that on the iPhone. Screen size and brightness I def say nexus has that.

The gnex is not a LCD screen where u touch it or hold it down and you see the liquid display as u touch or press and hold down hard....so really don't know what you are talking about......

 

[anthony2558]

The gnex is not a LCD screen where u touch it or hold it down and you see the liquid display as u touch or press and hold down hard....so really don't know what you are talking about......

If you don't know what we are talking about then why are you replaying? We know the gnex is not a LCD screen, don't recall anyone saying it was. Canvas styling and dim black vertical lines if you don't see them then count yourself lucky.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Kettle]

Do you think the Galaxy Nexus has a better display? Even though the resolution is higher on the GNexus, the much larger screen size means it has a lower ppi (pixels per inch) than iPhone.

My wife and I were both in the market for a new phone this last weekend. We compared the iphone 4s to the Gnex. We both preferred the screen on the Gnex and both walked out the Verizon store with a Gnex. My wife thought the 4s looked old and boring. I thought that was funny coming from someone who is definitely not a techie.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[oktrav]

If you don't know what we are talking about then why are you replaying? We know the gnex is not a LCD screen, don't recall anyone saying it was. Canvas styling and dim black vertical lines if you don't see them then count yourself lucky.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Didn't realize that the canvas-esque artifacts visible at low brightness were considered to ne defects. This being my first AMOLED screen, i figured that that noise just sort of came with the territory. Doesn't bother me (provided it stays as uniform as it is.now). I've actually come to like it a bit.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

My wife and I were both in the market for a new phone this last weekend. We compared the iphone 4s to the Gnex. We both preferred the screen on the Gnex and both walked out the Verizon store with a Gnex. My wife thought the 4s looked old and boring. I thought that was funny coming from someone who is definitely not a techie.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

It will be interesting to see what Apple comes up with in the next few years without Jobs.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[ultravisitor]

Here's a pretty cool comparison tool (make sure to hit "toggle screens"):

Phone Size - Phone size comparison made easy!

I think they're both very nice in terms of resolution, but the Galaxy Nexus ends up winning because of size.

 

[jflexe99]

Size and ppi go to the nitro. I had the same problem on the samoled screens, with grains and lines in low light.... That is unacceptable. The iphone is too small. I have a gorgeous 4.5 inch, with 3 ppi(or so) more than the iphone. This screen is the most gorgeous in my eyes.... If you haven't looked at the lg nitro screen in person... Seriously check it out.