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> "The Nexus One's screen uses a "PenTile" grid, reportedly to reduce costs, which packs smaller green pixel components between red and blue elements. This irre

by axod 16y ago

> "The Nexus One's screen uses a "PenTile" grid, reportedly to reduce costs, which packs smaller green pixel components between red and blue elements. This irregular arrangement of subpixel elements results in the Nexus One providing a less accurate display of lines on the screen." Is that really accurate? Our eyes are less sensitive to green than red and blue so it seems like the nexus one grid is logical. Also anecdotally my Nexus One display actually seems clearer and more vibrant than my iPhone 3g. It'd be cool to have a more technical description of how the 2 approaches compare. Edit: I just took pictures of my iPhone 3G, Nexus One, MBP and Samsung LCD TV. It's a close up of the Google logo on each display. The Samsung one is especially interesting. It does make for a very clear bright display actually. http://axod.net/IPhone3G_Google.jpg http://axod.net/IPhone3G_Google.jpg http://axod.net/NexusOne_Google.jpg http://axod.net/NexusOne_Google.jpg http://axod.net/MacBookPro_Google.jpg http://axod.net/MacBookPro_Google.jpg http://axod.net/SamsungTV_Google.jpg http://axod.net/SamsungTV_Google.jpg

ZeroGravitas 16y ago
Eyes are more sensitive to green, that's why Pentile RGBG as in the Nexus One screens have twice as many green pixels as red or blue ones. Also, as anyone who follows the Apple blog scene knows, the author Mr. Dilger is either a callous manipulator who has hit on a lucrative pro-Apple-troll writing style, or is a very scary individual indeed.
- axod 16y ago
  Oops. Thanks. I knew it was one or the other. The article here seemed to just blindly dismiss it as an "irregular pattern", suggesting it's like that purely for some cost reason - why would it be cheaper to create an irregular pattern rather than a regular one? :/
  - DougBTX 16y ago
    (OT Snark: So, regardless of which way round it is, it's still logical right?)
- frou_dh 16y ago
  See also night vision goggles?
- petercooper 16y ago
  Now I'm confused. If eyes are more sensitive to green, wouldn't fewer green elements be needed to have the same effect? :-) (Or is it that they're more sensitive to the degrees of luminosity rather than the luminosity per-se?)
  - gjm11 16y ago
    The green subpixels in a Pentile display are (1) smaller and (2) more numerous. #1 is OK because to get a given perceived brightness you need less actual energy in green than in red or blue. #2 is good because accuracy in green matters more than accuracy in red or (especially) blue. What's not so reasonable is that AIUI these displays' resolution is usually quoted as if there were the same number of pixels as green subpixels, which would only be reasonable if the human eye simply couldn't see details in red and blue at all. Which is almost true for blue, but not for red.
    - ggruschow 16y ago
      You may be interested to know that nearly all digital cameras advertised resolution is the total number of what you call "subpixels."
      - gjm11 16y ago
        Yup. Which, note, is not the same thing as the way Pentile resolutions are generally cited, it's worse. On the other hand, what you actually get out of the camera (either directly or via whatever rawfile conversion tool you use) is an image with the advertised resolution's worth of RGB pixels. I suppose the equivalent of that would be a display that has as many RGB pixels as it claims, but that suffers from artefacts such that what a given pixel actually displays depends on its neighbours. It's only just occurred to me that this practice of quoting the number of photosites as the resolution of a camera's sensor may help explain the (otherwise entirely indefensible) tendency of camera-makers to specify the resolution of the display on the back of the camera by giving its total number of subpixels. So, e.g., Nikon say that the D3000 has a "large 3-inch, 230k-dot, high-resolution LCD monitor". "230k-dot" means 320x240 pixels = 76,800 pixels = 230,400 subpixels. Bah!
- DisplayGeek 16y ago
  I can't comment on the author, but I can and will comment on PenTile OLED resolution claims: http://www.nouvoyance.com/files/pdf/CV%20Application%20Note%20Measuring%20Display%20Resolution%20RGB%20L6%2012-17-07.pdf http://www.nouvoyance.com/files/pdf/CV%20Application%20Note%... Please download the above white paper on PenTile OLED resolution. Resolution is found by counting the number of monochromatic, desaturated (black&white or otherwise not fully satatured colors) lines and spaces: NOT "pixels" or "subpixels"
nickpp 16y ago
I compared a HTC Desire (same screen with the nexus) with a 3GS side by side. While colors 'pop' more on the desire, they seem to me rather artificial and cartoonish in photos (faces). Text chars margins are slightly irregular under a magnifier lens, but the higher resolution compensates. It becomes obvious when compared with my HD2 (same res) though, so I guess it will look crappy next to the 4G.
keltex 16y ago
Some info on the pentile matrix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenTile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenTile

by axod 16y ago

ZeroGravitas 16y ago

Eyes are more sensitive to green, that's why Pentile RGBG as in the Nexus One screens have twice as many green pixels as red or blue ones. Also, as anyone who follows the Apple blog scene knows, the author Mr. Dilger is either a callous manipulator who has hit on a lucrative pro-Apple-troll writing style, or is a very scary individual indeed.

axod 16y ago
Oops. Thanks. I knew it was one or the other. The article here seemed to just blindly dismiss it as an "irregular pattern", suggesting it's like that purely for some cost reason - why would it be cheaper to create an irregular pattern rather than a regular one? :/
- DougBTX 16y ago
  (OT Snark: So, regardless of which way round it is, it's still logical right?)
frou_dh 16y ago
See also night vision goggles?
petercooper 16y ago
Now I'm confused. If eyes are more sensitive to green, wouldn't fewer green elements be needed to have the same effect? :-) (Or is it that they're more sensitive to the degrees of luminosity rather than the luminosity per-se?)
- gjm11 16y ago
  The green subpixels in a Pentile display are (1) smaller and (2) more numerous. #1 is OK because to get a given perceived brightness you need less actual energy in green than in red or blue. #2 is good because accuracy in green matters more than accuracy in red or (especially) blue. What's not so reasonable is that AIUI these displays' resolution is usually quoted as if there were the same number of pixels as green subpixels, which would only be reasonable if the human eye simply couldn't see details in red and blue at all. Which is almost true for blue, but not for red.
  - ggruschow 16y ago
    You may be interested to know that nearly all digital cameras advertised resolution is the total number of what you call "subpixels."
    - gjm11 16y ago
      Yup. Which, note, is not the same thing as the way Pentile resolutions are generally cited, it's worse. On the other hand, what you actually get out of the camera (either directly or via whatever rawfile conversion tool you use) is an image with the advertised resolution's worth of RGB pixels. I suppose the equivalent of that would be a display that has as many RGB pixels as it claims, but that suffers from artefacts such that what a given pixel actually displays depends on its neighbours. It's only just occurred to me that this practice of quoting the number of photosites as the resolution of a camera's sensor may help explain the (otherwise entirely indefensible) tendency of camera-makers to specify the resolution of the display on the back of the camera by giving its total number of subpixels. So, e.g., Nikon say that the D3000 has a "large 3-inch, 230k-dot, high-resolution LCD monitor". "230k-dot" means 320x240 pixels = 76,800 pixels = 230,400 subpixels. Bah!
DisplayGeek 16y ago
I can't comment on the author, but I can and will comment on PenTile OLED resolution claims: http://www.nouvoyance.com/files/pdf/CV%20Application%20Note%20Measuring%20Display%20Resolution%20RGB%20L6%2012-17-07.pdf http://www.nouvoyance.com/files/pdf/CV%20Application%20Note%... Please download the above white paper on PenTile OLED resolution. Resolution is found by counting the number of monochromatic, desaturated (black&white or otherwise not fully satatured colors) lines and spaces: NOT "pixels" or "subpixels"

nickpp 16y ago

I compared a HTC Desire (same screen with the nexus) with a 3GS side by side. While colors 'pop' more on the desire, they seem to me rather artificial and cartoonish in photos (faces). Text chars margins are slightly irregular under a magnifier lens, but the higher resolution compensates. It becomes obvious when compared with my HD2 (same res) though, so I guess it will look crappy next to the 4G.

keltex 16y ago

Some info on the pentile matrix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenTile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenTile