The Problem I have with AMOLED Screens

Optimus Nexus

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Nov 14, 2012
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I love my Nexus 6, but the AMOLED screen really is the one thing I would change about it.

AMOLED screens always seem to have a sense that "something is on it." To me, it seems like there is an appearance of grain on the screen or similar to artifacting or "noise" like on a picture. Whereas on LCD screens, like the one on my old One M8, seems very clean and crisp. I don't know if this has to do with the arrangement of pixels on the screen (like pentile matrix) or if that's just how AMOLED screens are.

Do you guys see this with AMOLED as well? Or do you think they're fine?
 
I don't see this with AMOLED ones. I am using my S6 right now and it looks great right now.
 
I don't see this with AMOLED ones. I am using my S6 right now and it looks great right now.
The S6 I admit is different. That is an amazing screen and they did a good job with it. But I'm talking about screens other than the S6 which make up the majority of AMOLED screens which do have that grain look to it.
 
This is a good article explaining the differences, but also references the issue with AMOLED screens that I saw.

"Sometimes when you read about AMOLED screens, you might hear people complaining about something called a “pentile” display. This is a feature of most color AMOLED screens. Instead of having just a single red, blue, and green sub pixel per actual pixel, pentile displays have a RGBG sub pixel layout which has two green sub pixels for each red and blue. The positive of this technology is that you are able to create a screen that is just as bright as normal screens with one third the amount of sub pixels. The negative of pentile screens is that they can appear grainy, or appear to be lower resolution due to the larger, more visible sub pixels."

That summed up my thoughts on AMOLED. Even before reading up on this topic, like I said earlier, I always felt like the screen looked like "something was on it."

Click here if you want to read the rest of the article.
 
having gone from an iphone to a note 3 i havent seen ant down sides of the amoled like you say. i was initially afraid of the sun viewing but the note has been good for the past almost 2 years now for me.
 
Look at what anandtech says about the N6 display.


"I was highly disappointed by these results. Like I said earlier, we've seen great improvements in the quality of AMOLED displays as of late, and Google took color calibration very seriously with the Nexus 5. The Nexus 6 shows significant regression in color accuracy from the Nexus 5, and the maximum brightness is much lower. It should also be noted that despite its higher resolution, its larger size means that compared to the Nexus 5 the*pixel density only increases 12% from 441 PPI to 493 PPI. The use of a PenTile RGBG subpixel layout also means that there is actually an overall decrease in subpixel density.

Overall, the Nexus 6 display is quite poor relative to the displays on other*smartphones like the Galaxy Note 4, iPhone 6, and*HTC One (M7).*It's also a definite regression from the display on the*Nexus 5, which is concerning given the fact that the Nexus 6 is $300 more expensive. It has been speculated that Motorola is unable to source the latest generation of panels from Samsung Display, which would explain why many of the panel characteristics are similar to previous generation AMOLED panels in the Note 3 and Galaxy S4. Although the efficiency of AMOLED displays when displaying black helps to reduce power usage with features like Ambient Display which wakes up the phone when notifications arrive or it is picked up, I don't believe it's worth the trade-off if it involves such heavy sacrifices in color accuracy and brightness."

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8687/the-nexus-6-review/3

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
The AMOLED on my Z30 is wonderful. Not all of them are bad.

Posted via the Android Central App
 
The AMOLED on my Z30 is wonderful. Not all of them are bad.

Posted via the Android Central App

Yep, I agree, my Nexus 4 literally gave (IPS LCD) me eyestrain headaches, instantly from day one on my blackberry z30 I've had none.
 
I am a fan of IPS. I always have like the iPhone, Sony, and LG phones (Nexus ones too). The AMOLED, especially Motorola, make whites seem gray. The S6 seems to have finally solved that.

Posted via Galaxy S6
 
I'm a great fan of AMOLED, but like any screen technology, they're not all created equal. I'd much rather have a high-quality LCD screen than a low-quality AMOLED screen.
 
I love my Nexus 6, but the AMOLED screen really is the one thing I would change about it.

AMOLED screens always seem to have a sense that "something is on it." To me, it seems like there is an appearance of grain on the screen or similar to artifacting or "noise" like on a picture. Whereas on LCD screens, like the one on my old One M8, seems very clean and crisp. I don't know if this has to do with the arrangement of pixels on the screen (like pentile matrix) or if that's just how AMOLED screens are.

Do you guys see this with AMOLED as well? Or do you think they're fine?

My Note 4's SuperAMOLED is clear and crisp.

Motorola and Google are probably using a low quality panel in the Nexus 6.
 
Yes! While the s6 screen is amazing when doing 90% of things it's designed to do. When it comes to taking photos or viewing photos that aren't in UltraHD or hi res etc. They just look grainy and over processed.

I took a photo of myself with the front camera the other day. All effects off, all modes normal etc. And the result is just grainy and airbrushed looking too shiny and just bad.

I sent the image to my S4 and on that screen its clear crisp and sharp. True to life.

Images on Instagram for example, even though they are compressed, on my S4 they look great even if they aren't great quality. Viewing them with the S6 makes them look horrible.

Frustrating.
 
Just like LCD, IPS and AMOLED, etc that are different qualities and benefits/drawbacks. It would be great if we could focus on creating the best screen instead of hundreds of variations that mostly suck. But that is how they arrive at different price points and allow users to choose based on need and budget.
 

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