7 ms·

Where are all those Galaxy Nexus subpixels?

60 points by adeelarshad82 15y ago

redmethod 15y ago
An impressive test for sure. The Nexus looks solid. It's good to see that despite the screen being large, it's sharp too. Hoping someone here at the studio picks one up.
barrkel 15y ago
The real downside of OLED, as used in Galaxy Nexus and lots of other places, is the screen noise when the brightness is turned down. Intermediate brightness solid colours look textured, like very high weave linen. It's most noticeable when I'm using the Galaxy Nexus in bed, with the lights off. Worse, this linen texture remains in place even while the displayed image is being scrolled; it's a bit like the screen is permanently dirty. It doesn't really bother me much. The Nexus One was similar, though with the larger pixels, the screen visibly "fizzed" in dark environments - you could see the noise continuously. A bigger downside that does bother me is how much the extra pixels reduce smoothness in the majority of apps that are not hardware accelerated - I replaced the launcher with LauncherPro to get rid of the Google search bar - and now scrolling between home pages is visibly jerky, compared to the Nexus One. Another downside is all the application failures and silent terminations owing to (what I believe are) the extra video memory requirements. It used to be that e.g. after navigating to a web page from the stock news widget, pressing back would reliably take you back to the stock news widget page that you came from. But now, if you navigate to a large web page, it's quite likely that the news widget will have been evicted, and restarted when you press back; and you end up on the wrong tab of the widget, and have lost the scroll position. Similarly, switching between tabs in the browser, or reopening the browser after switching to an app, is much more likely to cause a page refresh. It all feels like a very memory constrained device, much more so than the Nexus One was with Gingerbread. I wrote up my full thoughts on the Galaxy Nexus here: https://plus.google.com/103375824955695810229/posts/A92mZqx7ad1 https://plus.google.com/103375824955695810229/posts/A92mZqx7... My personal verdict: if I could have gotten the Nexus One with larger internal memory (i.e. OK for apps to use) and a working power button, still running Gingerbread, I would prefer it to the Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich. Biggest thing I miss is a reliably located menu button.
- jsight 15y ago
  > I replaced the launcher with LauncherPro to get rid of the Google search bar Isn't the Google search bar just a (removable) widget? I agree with your points about application eviction causing them to restart in a different state. I don't know why Google isn't stricter about requiring their applications to save state and restore to same (as iOS apps are supposed to). At least their first party apps should do this. OTOH, I'm not sure that it is the extra video memory requiring this. I think it may be that they have increased the heap memory allowed for each application significantly. I'm not sure, though... I haven't used ICS yet.
  - generalk 15y ago
    > Isn't the Google search bar just a (removable) widget? On the ICS launcher, no. It's a built-in on all home screens. Don't ask me why they ignored their nice widget system in favor of inflexibility, but there you have it.
    - lurker17 15y ago
      The answer is obvious: to expand Google Search mindshare and lock-in.
    - jsight 15y ago
      Wow, that is really lame. I'm liking the idea of ICS less and less each day now it seems. Its ridiculous that they've gone so far backwards on both this and the voice search functionaity with this release.
- buster 15y ago
  Thanks for your insights.. Actually, i seem to be in the same position as you are.. I love the Nexus One form factor (it's a good size.. Nexus S has a nice size, too).. But after all that flashing i have a very, very low in-call volume. Now, i was looking forward to the Galaxy Nexus.. Where is there no current smaller mobile with decent hardware? Now i'm alternating between Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus... perfect size vs newer hardware... mhh, tough.. :( (In the end i hope Googlorola will release a smaller ICS mobile soon enough ;) )
bradleyland 15y ago
I'm not sure the reviewer has a good understanding of how to interpret the Siemens star chart (referred to as a 600 dpi test image). I'm not entirely qualified to interpret the results either, but I know that differing anti-aliasing and image processing routines can produce significant artifacting in this type of image. This must be factored in to any evaluation. My point is that the better perceived image quality of the star chart on the iPhone isn't necessarily an indicator that the "screen quality" is better. It's just as likely that the image processing in the iPhone has been tweaked to produce an image more in line with what we'd expect to see, at the price of accurate reproduction. This type of trade off is made all the time in image processors found in cameras, televisions, and computer displays. Your preference for one or the other has to do with your priorities. Do you value rigid accuracy in reproduction, even if it results in some artifacts, or do you prefer an image that is free of artifacts at the expense of accuracy?
- sebbi 15y ago
  Also the images don't appear to be fullscreen on any of the phones. If some highres image is being scaled and filtered to fit on the screen, than this "test" is definetly not an indicator of screen quality.
- theatrus2 15y ago
  The color test was also bunk - no deltaE tracking, no gamut comparisons, no brightness level comparisons.
- yardie 15y ago
  what we'd expect to see, at the price of accurate reproduction Can you explain what this means. Since our eyes are the only reference we have for interpreting colors (the other being wavelength, and that's just a number) I'm curious what an accurate color really means. I know that we can see billions of colors but only a thousands at the same time.
  - bradleyland 15y ago
    I'm referring to the star chart, not the colors. You'll notice the curvy artifacts in the chart that looks like the ones found at this link: http://www.google.com/search?q=siemens+star+chart http://www.google.com/search?q=siemens+star+chart Those curves are an illusion. They don't actually appear in the image. We see them because of the tiny, staggered parallel lines required to reproduce an angled line using a grid pixel array. You can optimize to reduce this effect by using different anti-aliasing techniques that are specific to the type of display you're using. Apple tends to favor "soft" anti-aliasing techniques over accuracy. They also have the benefit of controlling the entire software stack, so their image processing can optimize for the IPS display used in iOS devices. Some people find the softness downright obnoxious, while others think it results in the most pleasing image. I prefer Apple's method. Color perception is a very broad topic. It's one of those "why is the sky blue" questions that we've all pondered (and frequently arrive at a false conclusion). I'm not nearly knowledgable enough to talk about it with authority, but you should definitely do some Googling, and be sure to keep an open mind. The answer is probably not what you think.
sapphirecat 15y ago
The technical quality of the photos is quite poor. They're way too bright if we're looking for subpixels, since all we see are full pixels, smeared together into blooming white. Also, looking at the HTC Rezound's standard color test, the Verizon logo on the phone is blurred just like the display itself. It would help if the photos were re-done to actually show subpixels, sharply. (Edit: unless I missed the point, in which case the Settings menu shot should suffice: "It's PenTile but it looks pretty nice in actual usage!")
- schraeds 15y ago
  or the lack of subpixels in the case of the Android devices.
eisa01 15y ago
My biggest beef with AMOLED displays is that they require more power. True, at all black they consume less, but in normal use it's more compared to LCDs. I just got a Nokia Lumia 800 and I'm down to one day of battery instead of two with the iPhone 4. The same issue was present with my previous Nexus One. Displaymate did a test to quantify this: http://displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_1.htm http://displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_1.htm Also when displaying text you are more likely to notice the pentile pattern which makes the text unclear at small sizes. Granted, it may not be a problem at 316 ppi of the Nexus, but it's noticeable at 252 ppi of the Lumia 800
myspy 15y ago
According to this wiki site, the iPhone 4 has 326ppi, the Galaxy Nexus 316ppi and the Rezound 342ppi. But I don't think that's the problem. Also there is something about PenTileTechnology standing there, which the Nexus uses. So in the end, it seems this is the reason the iPhone 4 produces a better picture than the Nexus. But I don't know what the HTC problem is. Maybe the display technology? But a
alok-g 15y ago
OP's understanding of these test patterns is incorrect. 'bradleyland' has already commented on the star chart. I'll talk about the second set [1, 2]. >> As you get closer to the end of the spectrum, you can see that the color depth blends together These images are not testing the "spectrum". These test the gamma curves of the display. With reference to [1], the center squares with checkerboard patterns spatially mix two sets of colors to check if the mixture matches the color shade in the surrounding box. If the gamma curves are tuned correctly, all of the outer and inner boxes should blend. Nearly none of the displays I have tested achieve this and calibration is quite involved. [1] http://www.nies.ch/pic/monitor-1280x1024.png http://www.nies.ch/pic/monitor-1280x1024.png [2] http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/REZPIXTEST2.jpg http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/REZPIXTEST2.j...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

60 points by adeelarshad82 15y ago

An impressive test for sure. The Nexus looks solid. It's good to see that despite the screen being large, it's sharp too. Hoping someone here at the studio picks one up.

barrkel 15y ago

The real downside of OLED, as used in Galaxy Nexus and lots of other places, is the screen noise when the brightness is turned down. Intermediate brightness solid colours look textured, like very high weave linen. It's most noticeable when I'm using the Galaxy Nexus in bed, with the lights off. Worse, this linen texture remains in place even while the displayed image is being scrolled; it's a bit like the screen is permanently dirty. It doesn't really bother me much. The Nexus One was similar, though with the larger pixels, the screen visibly "fizzed" in dark environments - you could see the noise continuously. A bigger downside that does bother me is how much the extra pixels reduce smoothness in the majority of apps that are not hardware accelerated - I replaced the launcher with LauncherPro to get rid of the Google search bar - and now scrolling between home pages is visibly jerky, compared to the Nexus One. Another downside is all the application failures and silent terminations owing to (what I believe are) the extra video memory requirements. It used to be that e.g. after navigating to a web page from the stock news widget, pressing back would reliably take you back to the stock news widget page that you came from. But now, if you navigate to a large web page, it's quite likely that the news widget will have been evicted, and restarted when you press back; and you end up on the wrong tab of the widget, and have lost the scroll position. Similarly, switching between tabs in the browser, or reopening the browser after switching to an app, is much more likely to cause a page refresh. It all feels like a very memory constrained device, much more so than the Nexus One was with Gingerbread. I wrote up my full thoughts on the Galaxy Nexus here: https://plus.google.com/103375824955695810229/posts/A92mZqx7ad1 https://plus.google.com/103375824955695810229/posts/A92mZqx7... My personal verdict: if I could have gotten the Nexus One with larger internal memory (i.e. OK for apps to use) and a working power button, still running Gingerbread, I would prefer it to the Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich. Biggest thing I miss is a reliably located menu button.

jsight 15y ago
> I replaced the launcher with LauncherPro to get rid of the Google search bar Isn't the Google search bar just a (removable) widget? I agree with your points about application eviction causing them to restart in a different state. I don't know why Google isn't stricter about requiring their applications to save state and restore to same (as iOS apps are supposed to). At least their first party apps should do this. OTOH, I'm not sure that it is the extra video memory requiring this. I think it may be that they have increased the heap memory allowed for each application significantly. I'm not sure, though... I haven't used ICS yet.
- generalk 15y ago
  > Isn't the Google search bar just a (removable) widget? On the ICS launcher, no. It's a built-in on all home screens. Don't ask me why they ignored their nice widget system in favor of inflexibility, but there you have it.
  - lurker17 15y ago
    The answer is obvious: to expand Google Search mindshare and lock-in.
  - jsight 15y ago
    Wow, that is really lame. I'm liking the idea of ICS less and less each day now it seems. Its ridiculous that they've gone so far backwards on both this and the voice search functionaity with this release.
buster 15y ago
Thanks for your insights.. Actually, i seem to be in the same position as you are.. I love the Nexus One form factor (it's a good size.. Nexus S has a nice size, too).. But after all that flashing i have a very, very low in-call volume. Now, i was looking forward to the Galaxy Nexus.. Where is there no current smaller mobile with decent hardware? Now i'm alternating between Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus... perfect size vs newer hardware... mhh, tough.. :( (In the end i hope Googlorola will release a smaller ICS mobile soon enough ;) )

bradleyland 15y ago

I'm not sure the reviewer has a good understanding of how to interpret the Siemens star chart (referred to as a 600 dpi test image). I'm not entirely qualified to interpret the results either, but I know that differing anti-aliasing and image processing routines can produce significant artifacting in this type of image. This must be factored in to any evaluation. My point is that the better perceived image quality of the star chart on the iPhone isn't necessarily an indicator that the "screen quality" is better. It's just as likely that the image processing in the iPhone has been tweaked to produce an image more in line with what we'd expect to see, at the price of accurate reproduction. This type of trade off is made all the time in image processors found in cameras, televisions, and computer displays. Your preference for one or the other has to do with your priorities. Do you value rigid accuracy in reproduction, even if it results in some artifacts, or do you prefer an image that is free of artifacts at the expense of accuracy?

sebbi 15y ago
Also the images don't appear to be fullscreen on any of the phones. If some highres image is being scaled and filtered to fit on the screen, than this "test" is definetly not an indicator of screen quality.
theatrus2 15y ago
The color test was also bunk - no deltaE tracking, no gamut comparisons, no brightness level comparisons.
yardie 15y ago
what we'd expect to see, at the price of accurate reproduction Can you explain what this means. Since our eyes are the only reference we have for interpreting colors (the other being wavelength, and that's just a number) I'm curious what an accurate color really means. I know that we can see billions of colors but only a thousands at the same time.
- bradleyland 15y ago
  I'm referring to the star chart, not the colors. You'll notice the curvy artifacts in the chart that looks like the ones found at this link: http://www.google.com/search?q=siemens+star+chart http://www.google.com/search?q=siemens+star+chart Those curves are an illusion. They don't actually appear in the image. We see them because of the tiny, staggered parallel lines required to reproduce an angled line using a grid pixel array. You can optimize to reduce this effect by using different anti-aliasing techniques that are specific to the type of display you're using. Apple tends to favor "soft" anti-aliasing techniques over accuracy. They also have the benefit of controlling the entire software stack, so their image processing can optimize for the IPS display used in iOS devices. Some people find the softness downright obnoxious, while others think it results in the most pleasing image. I prefer Apple's method. Color perception is a very broad topic. It's one of those "why is the sky blue" questions that we've all pondered (and frequently arrive at a false conclusion). I'm not nearly knowledgable enough to talk about it with authority, but you should definitely do some Googling, and be sure to keep an open mind. The answer is probably not what you think.

sapphirecat 15y ago

The technical quality of the photos is quite poor. They're way too bright if we're looking for subpixels, since all we see are full pixels, smeared together into blooming white. Also, looking at the HTC Rezound's standard color test, the Verizon logo on the phone is blurred just like the display itself. It would help if the photos were re-done to actually show subpixels, sharply. (Edit: unless I missed the point, in which case the Settings menu shot should suffice: "It's PenTile but it looks pretty nice in actual usage!")

schraeds 15y ago
or the lack of subpixels in the case of the Android devices.

eisa01 15y ago

My biggest beef with AMOLED displays is that they require more power. True, at all black they consume less, but in normal use it's more compared to LCDs. I just got a Nokia Lumia 800 and I'm down to one day of battery instead of two with the iPhone 4. The same issue was present with my previous Nexus One. Displaymate did a test to quantify this: http://displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_1.htm http://displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_1.htm Also when displaying text you are more likely to notice the pentile pattern which makes the text unclear at small sizes. Granted, it may not be a problem at 316 ppi of the Nexus, but it's noticeable at 252 ppi of the Lumia 800

myspy 15y ago

According to this wiki site, the iPhone 4 has 326ppi, the Galaxy Nexus 316ppi and the Rezound 342ppi. But I don't think that's the problem. Also there is something about PenTileTechnology standing there, which the Nexus uses. So in the end, it seems this is the reason the iPhone 4 produces a better picture than the Nexus. But I don't know what the HTC problem is. Maybe the display technology? But a

alok-g 15y ago

OP's understanding of these test patterns is incorrect. 'bradleyland' has already commented on the star chart. I'll talk about the second set [1, 2]. >> As you get closer to the end of the spectrum, you can see that the color depth blends together These images are not testing the "spectrum". These test the gamma curves of the display. With reference to [1], the center squares with checkerboard patterns spatially mix two sets of colors to check if the mixture matches the color shade in the surrounding box. If the gamma curves are tuned correctly, all of the outer and inner boxes should blend. Nearly none of the displays I have tested achieve this and calibration is quite involved. [1] http://www.nies.ch/pic/monitor-1280x1024.png http://www.nies.ch/pic/monitor-1280x1024.png [2] http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/REZPIXTEST2.jpg http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/REZPIXTEST2.j...

deleted 15y ago

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