First negative review I have seen... blames Pentile

[crzycrkr]

Engadget(a more fair tech site that I still frequent) gave a fair review and gave it an 8

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[flashpiti]

I think that the reason the pentile screen (and it's problems) are a big deal to many people including myself, is the screen, above almost all other specs, is what people interact with and see every day. That's why Samsung has tried to make their screens look good, and probably the biggest reason spec wise why the iphone 4 is such a success. From an engineering standpoint I understand why Moto wanted to use pentile -- it's more battery efficient and less expensive to make, but the problem is that image quality suffers. For those who say it's not a big deal, would you put a screen door in front of your HD tv, or feel ok if image quality sufferred? I doubt it. There's no doubt the screen is adequate, but after looking at it at lunch today, I actually prefer the sharpness of my Bolt's screen and that of the OG Droid to the Bionic's, and for such a cutting edge phone, that shouldn't be happening. Now I'm really looking forward to the prime and will be interested to see if that has pentile and if so, how it affects image quality on such a high res screen.

 

[eallan]

I think that the reason the pentile screen (and it's problems) are a big deal to many people including myself, is the screen, above almost all other specs, is what people interact with and see every day. That's why Samsung has tried to make their screens look good, and probably the biggest reason spec wise why the iphone 4 is such a success. From an engineering standpoint I understand why Moto wanted to use pentile -- it's more battery efficient and less expensive to make, but the problem is that image quality suffers. For those who say it's not a big deal, would you put a screen door in front of your HD tv, or feel ok if image quality sufferred? I doubt it. There's no doubt the screen is adequate, but after looking at it at lunch today, I actually prefer the sharpness of my Bolt's screen and that of the OG Droid to the Bionic's, and for such a cutting edge phone, that shouldn't be happening. Now I'm really looking forward to the prime and will be interested to see if that has pentile and if so, how it affects image quality on such a high res screen.

Well said.

The "prime" will likely not use RGBW. There isn't a reason to use that layout without a backlight (on an oled screen) which means it will likely look much much nicer. If the rumored resolution is true, it will most likely not even be noticeable.

 

[crzycrkr]

I think that the reason the pentile screen (and it's problems) are a big deal to many people including myself, is the screen, above almost all other specs, is what people interact with and see every day. That's why Samsung has tried to make their screens look good, and probably the biggest reason spec wise why the iphone 4 is such a success. From an engineering standpoint I understand why Moto wanted to use pentile -- it's more battery efficient and less expensive to make, but the problem is that image quality suffers. For those who say it's not a big deal, would you put a screen door in front of your HD tv, or feel ok if image quality sufferred? I doubt it. There's no doubt the screen is adequate, but after looking at it at lunch today, I actually prefer the sharpness of my Bolt's screen and that of the OG Droid to the Bionic's, and for such a cutting edge phone, that shouldn't be happening. Now I'm really looking forward to the prime and will be interested to see if that has pentile and if so, how it affects image quality on such a high res screen.

I've never actually had one, so I can't comment personally, but every reputable review I have read for the Bionic and the Photon praise the screen. Many reviews said the Photon screen was better than the EVO 3D's. Again 99% of people don't realize, and the other 1% seems to be split on it.

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[dhp106]

I am going to chime in here. I was skeptical about this pentile display also. Upon entering the Verizon store this morning to check out the bionic I quickly loaded up pictures video and ebook for comparison. I found that yes the grid is noticeable but in turns adds to the texture and characteristic of the phone. It is not a deal breaker. To truly understand it you need to physically use the phone. Do not trust the pictures you see online. I had a charge and an phone 4 and as those screens were nice this phone is also nice. Its not a samsung superamoled plus but it is a dual core lte with freak battery life. Your movies will be fine.

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[jroc]

Yeah I saw that too, I trust Cnet though. I do not, on the other hand, trust Gizmodo for reviews. I might see an interesting product on the site, but I always skip the reviews and check it out somewhere else.

Also, the guys at Gizmodo said they did want to like the phone, but thought it was lack luster. It sounds like your saying vice versa?

Yea, Cnet was saying the opposite. It just surprised for a reviewer from a site like Cnet saying they didnt wanna like and were prepared to be disappointed.

Great mindset to have when reviewing of a new phone, huh...lol

To use HDTV's again...I like looking at my HD channels. But for some channles they dont have HD, doesnt bother me at all. If its something I wanna watch and its on a standard def channel only, that's fine. I know some ppl that ALL they watch is HD channels...and nothing else. I cant do it.

I dont have alot of Blu Ray movies. The clarity doesnt make me only get Blu Ray either. My kids and their mother...all that matters to them is I have a big screen TV, they could cars less about HD channels. Every time we all are looking at something and I switch that movie or show to see it in HD they ask what are you doing??? lol I think my kids mother can see the difference...but it doesnt bother her one way or the other if it was in HD or not.

My kids mother still has a big tube TV, 20" that...to me ....looks so bad I HATE watching TV in her room. She has no problem with it, loves watching TV in her room, even tho she has an HDTV in the living room. I try to get her to watch TV in the living room...I think she just likes lying in bed watching TV. At the same time, if she wants me n her to look at something in the bedroom, I do..even tho I hate her TV. Because...to me...its not that big of a deal.

Folks that hang out at AVS forum, etc probably wont like a pentile screen. Even in that case...I've seen some HDTV settings on there that I thought were too dark, had too much contrast, not enough color, too much color, etc. All different settings and different ppl agreed they liked them....all for the same TV...lol

Everybody isnt the same. So everybody isnt gonna feel the same way about pentile screens. Thats why everybody needs to see them for themselves. And hold your phone at ...your... normal viewing distance. If you can/cant see it at your normal viewing distance is the key.

 

[flashpiti]

I've never actually had one, so I can't comment personally, but every reputable review I have read for the Bionic and the Photon praise the screen. Many reviews said the Photon screen was better than the EVO 3D's. Again 99% of people don't realize, and the other 1% seems to be split on it.

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Not disagreeing with you, but I've read about 5 or 6 reviews today and I don't recall any of them praising the image quality. Many I read said it wasn't bad, but I didn't see any that said it was stellar. Then again I've seen it for myself and have made my own decision, but different strokes for different folks.

 

[flashpiti]

I am going to chime in here. I was skeptical about this pentile display also. Upon entering the Verizon store this morning to check out the bionic I quickly loaded up pictures video and ebook for comparison. I found that yes the grid is noticeable but in turns adds to the texture and characteristic of the phone. It is not a deal breaker. To truly understand it you need to physically use the phone. Do not trust the pictures you see online. I had a charge and an phone 4 and as those screens were nice this phone is also nice. Its not a samsung superamoled plus but it is a dual core lte with freak battery life. Your movies will be fine.

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For me, photos and moving images are the least problematic of a pentile screen. My problems are when reading small or medium sized text like on the kindle app or even the browser. Text appeared very pixelated or blocky to me.

 

[crzycrkr]

Not disagreeing with you, but I've read about 5 or 6 reviews today and I don't recall any of them praising the image quality. Many I read said it wasn't bad, but I didn't see any that said it was stellar. Then again I've seen it for myself and have made my own decision, but different strokes for different folks.

Engadget praised the screens on the Bionic and Photon. So has CNET. The only people I have really seen complaining about it are people on forums. I still say get what you like, but many seem to be making a much bigger deal out of this than it actually is.

 

[dhp106]

For me, photos and moving images are the least problematic of a pentile screen. My problems are when reading small or medium sized text like on the kindle app or even the browser. Text appeared very pixelated or blocky to me.

I specifically checked small text. Reading tapatalk is no problem. Websites? Great. Ebook? Fine. It all looks good.

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[hkklife]

I specifically checked small text. Reading tapatalk is no problem. Websites? Great. Ebook? Fine. It all looks good.

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I personally LIKE the pentile on my DX2 for web page & document viewing. It's sharp, clear and bright. I also like how usable it is outdoors. However, I DETEST it for viewing photos (especially flesh tones) and any kind of action gaming (even Angry Birds has noticable ghosting) or for viewing text while scrolling.

I just had a very brief hands-on with the DB and I must say that side-by-side with my DX2 (both at full brightness) the Bionic appeared a tiny bit better, at least with the wallpapers (I have the DB wallappers loaded on my X2) and a few image-heavy websites. The Droid 3 also appears better than my DX2 but I think that's due to the smaller screen size. So, yes, the DB appears to have a slightly better screeen compared to the X2 but it still has its issues with greens and all of the scenarios I mentioned above, from what I could tell in a very brief hands on session. I would probably also be more forgiving of the DB's screen if they had squeezed a 4.5" screen in there as the earlier rumors claimed.

 

[darkmatter]

I read as far as him comparing the bionic to the photon, as being nearly identical. D3 is a better comparison. 4g vs 3g being the biggest difference, but same chipset.

And wow at people still complaining about pentile. Watch some hd vids, good luck seeing the pixelization. I have to wonder wtf at people saying it looks like watching movies through a screen door. Every single person I show my phone to, and ask them to look for pixels or the screen door effect, say the image is great. They comment on how crisp and clear the video is.

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[ninjataint]

It looks like a bigger version of the screen my D3 had and the pentile wasn't an issue for me there. As for the phone, snappy and no homescreen lag like the D3 (I didn't have an issue with it anyway), expensive but fast all around.

 

[zenit#AC]

I read as far as him comparing the bionic to the photon, as being nearly identical. D3 is a better comparison. 4g vs 3g being the biggest difference, but same chipset.

And wow at people still complaining about pentile. Watch some hd vids, good luck seeing the pixelization. I have to wonder wtf at people saying it looks like watching movies through a screen door. Every single person I show my phone to, and ask them to look for pixels or the screen door effect, say the image is great. They comment on how crisp and clear the video is.

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I never use my phone to watch movies. 98% of the time the phone gets used for reading text on the screen during communications and for looking at web sites where 99% of useful information is in the text form. This is exactly where Pentile screen performs at its worst. Letters need to be free of any jagged edges and non-smooth diagonal lines. When i look at a pentile screen it feels like I use a computer monitor from 1980s and early 1990s. Absolutely horrid.

Its a pity, if not for screen I would go buy the phone for full retail right now. I check it out today and to my eyes the screen is worse than the thunderbolt, way worse than the original droid X and absolutely horrible compared to the one found on the original droid/droid2.

 

[eygraber]

Love the Phone...Hate the Display

I have been waiting for this phone since it was announced. Now that I have it I am on cloud nine I love it; would also prefer a ROM but this "non-blur" isn't that bad. That being said I hate the display. Absolutely hate it. And only because it is grainy, which is what I feared. Looking at other pentile displays I didn't have this issue, but on the Bionic it was evident immediately. I'm hoping this is just an issue with my phone, even though I'm pretty sure it's not. Regardless, I would never think of getting a different phone (for the time being ) and other than the display this phone is awesome.

 

[greydarrah]

Re: Love the Phone...Hate the Display

I love the phone and the display. To my eyes, the colors are true and beautiful and I love how bright this thing is.

 

[jroth2158]

Re: Love the Phone...Hate the Display

I love the phone and the display. To my eyes, the colors are true and beautiful and I love how bright this thing is.

I am color blind anyway cant really see the pixelation lol

 

[rsantos97]

Re: Love the Phone...Hate the Display

Yeah I was turned off by the display myself. I went to the Verizon kiosk at BJ's this morning to buy the phone but after playing with it for around 45 minutes I decided not to get it. The screen looks pretty bad when using the web. At the default zoom level it looks the worse, it does get better when zoomed in though. The home screen looked fine though. I was very disappointed. The phone was extremely fast though, even with the crappy Verizon Demo app running in the background. The phone also felt good in the hand and was pretty light as well.

 

[Cigar-Junkie]

Its funny, I have been busy setting up email and playing with the phone. I read the post here and it hit me, I totally forgot to look at the display. If i get right up and stare down the battery icon it does look a little grainy but it doesn't bother me a bit.

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[csimme01]

Its funny, I have been busy setting up email and playing with the phone. I read the post here and it hit me, I totally forgot to look at the display. If i get right up and stare down the battery icon it does look a little grainy but it doesn't bother me a bit.

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Same here, I just stared at the battery icon an for the first time saw the "issue" people talk about.
Not a big deal to me. I guess there are advantages to getting older...