Pentile screen? Really that bad?

[Poseidon126]

Is the Pentile screen really THAT bad as a display for the Droid Bionic?

I have been hearing a lot about this screen being a huge eye sore for a lot of people, and it looks clear that it will be used for the Bionic.

I currently own a DX1, and I love the screen. Granted I never really payed much attention to the sharpness of how everything looked. But taking a look at some Pentile screens I notice the diagonal pixel like lines and I'm not entirely sure if this will bother me or not.

 

[tehsusenoh]

Here are a few articles related to pentile.

AnandTech - Motorola Droid X2 Review - A Droid X with Tegra 2

A Closer Look at the DROIDX2 and its qHD Display, PenTile at its Not-so-Finest - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

DROID 3 Gets In-Depth Hands-On: Pentile Display And Puny Amounts Of RAM Included

[Review] Motorola DROID X2: Even Raw Horsepower Can't Save This Phone From Mediocrity

I personally don't like it, but text looks nice, and the whites are nice and bright. Go out and look at the X2, Droid 3, Atrix, etc and make your own choice.

 

[trophynuts]

+1 to what he said.

 

[breadnatty08]

Wow, after seeing those pics and video on DL, I'm definitely running far away from those displays. Seriously, my OG Droid's display easily kills it. Sad, Moto, sad.

 

[jroc]

Here are a few articles related to pentile.

AnandTech - Motorola Droid X2 Review - A Droid X with Tegra 2

A Closer Look at the DROIDX2 and its qHD Display, PenTile at its Not-so-Finest - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

DROID 3 Gets In-Depth Hands-On: Pentile Display And Puny Amounts Of RAM Included

[Review] Motorola DROID X2: Even Raw Horsepower Can't Save This Phone From Mediocrity

I personally don't like it, but text looks nice, and the whites are nice and bright. Go out and look at the X2, Droid 3, Atrix, etc and make your own choice.

I have to emphasis this...

One guy at another forum swore up n down that he hated it. Saw an X2 on display and said it looked bad.

Went in the other day, saw another X2 and a D3...and said something must've been wrong with the first one cuz the X2 screen looked better this time.

Just a reminder:

Go out and look at the X2, Droid 3, Atrix, etc and make your own choice.

In that first link tehsusnoh put up....check out to the 2nd picture. Notice how its not zoomed in 100 times, but like at close to normal viewing distances.

Also look at this from Anandtech:

AnandTech - Motorola Droid 3 Review - Third Time's a Charm


Oh yea...one more thing:

Go out and look at the X2, Droid 3, Atrix, etc and make your own choice.

 

[HanSolo]

When I had the DX2 a few weeks ago for about 10 days, I thought the display was crisp and bright. Easy to read in direct sunlight (the OG Droid sucks for that) even with polarized sunglasses on.

It was only after I returned it (I didn't like the lagginess, random reboots) that I read reviews trashing the PenTile display, and wondered to myself "Did I truly like the screen?" and started second-guessing myself.

The truth of the matter, though, is that I didn't notice it. At all.

EDIT: And from everything I've read, it is [most noticeable] if it's a solid green background. That's why the battery display is always used in the reviews that trash it.

But take it from a person who had it for more than a week. It's not bad at all. I liked it. Now, I didn't see any movies on it, but I doubt it has a problem in that area either.

Yes, the 720p screens are coming, but not fast enough for my taste. Maybe in 2 years when I'm up for renewal, they'll have 1080p screens or virtual reality.

 

[Vehtemas]

When I had the DX2 a few weeks ago for about 10 days, I thought the display was crisp and bright. Easy to read in direct sunlight (the OG Droid sucks for that) even with polarized sunglasses on.

It was only after I returned it (I didn't like the lagginess, random reboots) that I read reviews trashing the PenTile display, and wondered to myself "Did I truly like the screen?" and started second-guessing myself.

The truth of the matter, though, is that I didn't notice it. At all.

And from everything I've read, it tends to have a problem only if it's a solid green background. That's why the battery display is always used in the reviews that trash it.

But take it from a person who had it for more than a week. It's not bad at all. I liked it. Now, I didn't see any movies on it, but I doubt it has a problem in that area either.

Yes, the 720p screens are coming, but not fast enough for my taste. Maybe in 2 years when I'm up for renewal, they'll have 1080p screens or virtual reality.

I went and played around with the iPhone and D3.

In my humble opinion the D3 kicks the iPhones ass on the screen.

I like it, I find it to be a very crisp and accurate display.

 

[rushmore]

I had the DX2 and thought the display looked good, but returned it due to stability issues and audio pops (that still are not fixed).

The Droid 3 looks better, but probably due to the smaller display that makes the pentile effect less noticeable.

Do NOT listen to people that try to impose their view as the standard for reference. IMO, the battery efficiency gained with pentile offsets the issue.

 

[sean76]

Its going to come down to preference and the user. If your picky, forget it, don't even bother! But I will say I'm pretty picky, but after playing around with the Photon, I came away saying its not that bad at all! Whites are so crisp, and the screen looks pretty sharp IMO. However, all depends on the user. Maybe I would notice more after using it every day if I owned a phone with this type of screen, especially coming from 2 Samsungs with Amoled screens.

 

[tehsusenoh]

Its going to come down to preference and the user. If your picky, forget it, don't even bother! But I will say I'm pretty picky, but after playing around with the Photon, I came away saying its not that bad at all! Whites are so crisp, and the screen looks pretty sharp IMO. However, all depends on the user. Maybe I would notice more after using it every day if I owned a phone with this type of screen, especially coming from 2 Samsungs with Amoled screens.

I think that Motorola is getting better at pentile, as each device's screen looks better than the last. Atrix was horrible, DX2 was better, D3 was okay, Photon is fine, and I hope that the Bionic continues this trend.

 

[sean76]

I think that Motorola is getting better at pentile, as each device's screen looks better than the last. Atrix was horrible, DX2 was better, D3 was okay, Photon is fine, and I hope that the Bionic continues this trend.

We'll see, if Motorola and Vzw ever get off they're butts and release this thing already...

 

[Poseidon126]

I went ahead and checked out my brothers D3 that he just got.

To be PERFECTLY honest... The screen looked awesome

Yes, of course I noticed those diagonal pixel lines in the battery display. But really, it wasn't all that bad as everyone else is making it out to be.

The entire screen looked mint. Imo I thought the pentile gave the screen a whole flavor if I can say that.

And you are right bluefire1914, they only used the battery display to trash the PenTile screen, it's not even that big of a deal, atleast to me.

So yea, I'm still in for the Droid Bionic, not like the PenTile screen was going to sway my decision anyway. At most if the screen was as bad as I read, it would only force me to have to tolerate it.

 

[messenger13]

To be PERFECTLY honest... The screen looked awesome

Whew! That's all I need to hear.

 

[Sportster]

I was at HHGregg the other day checking out some of the newer phones. Saw the Revolution, a X2, a Thunderbolt and a Samsung phone w/the nice display (don't remember its name but it's one of their newer phones). The Samsungs display was noticeably more colorful and vibrant,but the other phones were no slouches. It's much like comparing TV's side by side. This one has better whites,that one has better contrast,that one better color,etc. I think the real test would be to put the same movie playing on each one and compare that way. You'll see blacks/whites/colors/motion/contrast differences. Then you can truly compare them.

 

[dmodert66]

I really like the screen on my X2. It's plenty clear for me and freakishly awesome in direct sunlight (when compared to my D1). I have read the articles, but they make no sense to me. I don't look at my phone from 2 mm away. Just my opinion though.

 

[johnlgalt]

I really like the screen on my X2. It's plenty clear for me and freakishly awesome in direct sunlight (when compared to my D1). I have read the articles, but they make no sense to me. I don't look at my phone from 2 mm away. Just my opinion though.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ that says it all.

 

[tehsusenoh]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ that says it all.

Some of us have really good vision. But yes, you definitely notice it when it's pressed against your face. I notice it from a few feet, but everyone really needs to just pick a pentile screen up and look at it. It's that simple.

 

[YankeeDudeL]

It's not the most important feature for me, but I know it will be for others. If it helps conserve battery life (as we know what a display can and will do to battery life), and be more visible in sunlight, then I'm satisfied enough.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

As a Photon owner, I will say that I do notice the pentile effect on the screen occasionally, but it does not bother me. The more I use the phone the less I notice it. Some people are different, however, so I strongly urge anyone considering a Moto phone on any carrier to go look at existing models (Droid X2, Droid 3, Atrix, Photon, etc.) in person and make your own judgment. And don't just give it a quick once-over, either. Play with it for a few minutes, then walk away and play with different, non-pentile screen phones (like the Thunderbolt). Then go back to the Moto. When I did this, the pentile effect was actually lessened from my very first initial impression.

You might still notice it. Some people can never unsee it, and that's fine. Others either don't see it or simply choose to ignore it (like me). If the Bionic is anything like the Photon, the overall awesomeness of the phone will provide a compelling counter-argument to any shortcomings you might have with the screen.

TLDR version: go see it in person, more than once, and for more than a few seconds.

 

[HanSolo]

Argh! Why the heck can't someone just sell a stupid phone that is perfect? This has excellent battery life, but is only 3G. Oh, this has lightning fast 4G but the battery only lasts 4 hours. Oh this one will have 4G AND a great battery, but oh, the screen might look like crap.

They should just all make us go back to brick foot-long 1991 phones until they come out with the perfect phone, the one phone that will never go out of date in our lifetimes. 1000 GHz, century-core, thousand channel processor, 5.6" 25000p Super HD screen with no stupid pixels visible at even microscopic levels, 100G speeds that can't mathematically be bogged down even one millisecond until the world population reaches 60 billion people and every single one of those 60 billion people are connected at the same time, and a battery that is tiny, flat, and powered by ambient oxygen. Oh, and it has to be slimmer than the iPhone, and the iPhone has to be destroyed and banned all over the earth.

Until then, just blast us back to Stonehenge. I'm sick of all of this. I want to be happy, like this guy.

 

[johnlgalt]

Capitalism.

If I were to buy the perfect phone, then part of the perfection would be that I'd never need to buy another phone again. And that means hundreds of trillions of dollars / yen / pounds sterling / {insert your favorite currency here} in lost revenues for that company (and all of its competitors).

As a consumer it would be awesome - but also terribly boring - b/cwe'd all have the same damned phone.

As a corporation, it'd be frightening. End of the road. nothing left to make. Time to disband and / or do something new.

 

[HanSolo]

As a consumer it would be awesome - but also terribly boring - b/cwe'd all have the same damned phone.

As a corporation, it'd be frightening. End of the road. nothing left to make. Time to disband and / or do something new.

I don't know. We all have the same teeth, eyes, lungs, hearts, and stomachs. I'm not bored with chewing, seeing, breathing, living, or eating. Just get the stupid same phone and throw a nice colored case on it. It's not like we all have to make the same phone calls or see the same web pages. Also, custom ROMS can still be made. Make the manufacturers just concentrate on ROM creation and charge people for them. I just want a stupid phone that freaking WORKS perfectly.

And, if the phone industry was perfected, what's wrong with moving on and inventing something new? I thought we'd have hover boards and flying cars by now, but all this phone and computer manufacturing has pushed that into the distant future.

 

[zebug]

perfect phone will never be made. Even if you had a 5000 core phone, tomorrow there would be a 5001 core phone. That is what is great about technology....there is no upper limit.

 

[HanSolo]

perfect phone will never be made. Even if you had a 5000 core phone, tomorrow there would be a 5001 core phone. That is what is great about technology....there is no upper limit.

I don't know about that. I haven't seen anything revolutionary in wristwatches, just styles. Same with contact lenses and hot dogs.

 

[zebug]

what you talking about? Wristwatches have changed dramatically over the years, they can now measure your heartrate, track your travels by GPS which you can the upload to various programs..even have battery-less watches that are powered by your movement.

Then why improve contact lens when we've just invented a laser that will permanently fix your vision...and every year hot dogs are made with less and less actual meat...how cool is that