Nexus screen tech - PenTile, dpi, SAMOLED

[EarlyMon]

This thread resulted from a post migration from the pre-launch thread on specifications, speculations and rumors by popular demand.

You may find that you're rejoining the conversation mid-stream, but if you're looking for a good discussion on the Nexus screen tech with details, you've come to the right place.

 

[Loriolus]

I also like to see if Steven's source can answer that. But I don't quite get the concern like you are raising. This topic has been covered many many pages ago.

Even if the soft button stays at the bottom, it leaves 4.3" space according to leaked screen resolution info. And it still retains 320 dpi screen sharpness. How's that worse than 4.3" screen phone with physical buttons? I don't have issue with that. But I'd bet Google implemented auto rotation/hide into ICS.

Like I've mentioned before....forget about 320 ppi if the screen is pentile. GS 2 screen will look better. Really hope that I'm wrong about it being pentile.

 

[BlueBiker]

Like I've mentioned before....forget about 320 ppi if the screen is pentile. GS 2 screen will look better. Really hope that I'm wrong about it being pentile.

Pentile HD still has 60% more subpixels than RGB WVGA:

(1280*720*2) / (800*480*3)

so I think Nexus will look noticeably sharper. But some of the subpixels are white (RGBW) or redundant green (RGBG) and the 4.65" Nexus is a little larger than 4.3" SGS2, so I guess we'll see how they compare when it's released.

 

[Jeepo]

Like I've mentioned before....forget about 320 ppi if the screen is pentile. GS 2 screen will look better. Really hope that I'm wrong about it being pentile.

Can I ask about this? I am coming from a BB and iPhone background. I have an iphone 4 and love the display. I like the SGS2 screen also. But what is pentile and how can it mean that a 720 res screen is worse?!

 

[nj02vette]

Like I've mentioned before....forget about 320 ppi if the screen is pentile. GS 2 screen will look better. Really hope that I'm wrong about it being pentile.

Even pentile, it will look far superior.

Pentile HD still has 60% more subpixels than RGB WVGA:

(1280*720*2) / (800*480*3)

so I think Nexus will look noticeably sharper. But some of the subpixels are white (RGBW) or redundant green (RGBG) and the 4.65" Nexus is a little larger than 4.3" SGS2, so I guess we'll see how they compare when it's released.

And this is why.

 

[TheRoosevelt]

Can I about this? I am coming from a BB and iPhone background. I have an iphone 4 and love the display. I like the SGS2 screen also. But what is pentile and how can it mean that a 720 res screen is worse?!

Basically, Pentile and RGB are two different ways of arranging subpixels of displays. In RGB, each pixel is made of 3 subpixels, red-green-blue. In Pentile, each pixel is only two colors instead of the 3, either blue-green or red-green. These BG and RG pixels alternate to make it seem as if all 3 colors are in every pixel, when truly they're not.

For two displays of the same resolution, a Pentile display will have fewer subpixels, and will thus lead to more graininess and lack of clarity (compare the Galaxy S and the Galaxy S2 displays).

However, like people already said, when comparing a 800x480 RGB display to a 1280x720 Pentile display, the 720p display will still have more total subpixels, and thus should be sharper. So even if the Prime does have a Pentile display (which is most likely), there's nothing to worry about.
The iPhone 4 display comes in at 326 dpi (dots per inch) and the nexus will measure at around 320, so you won't be able to tell the difference. Not to mention that the nexus's screen will be much bigger, so if anything, you'll like it better.

Hope this helps

 

[nj02vette]

Can I about this? I am coming from a BB and iPhone background. I have an iphone 4 and love the display. I like the SGS2 screen also. But what is pentile and how can it mean that a 720 res screen is worse?!

Pentile is a technology where basically every pixel only has 2 sub-pixels rather than the traditional 3. All Samsung AMOLED and SAMOLED displays use pentile, while SAMOLED+ uses traditional RGB.

From a comparable traditional display to a pentile one, the pentile is no question inferior. In areas that have larged filled areas, some colors can have sever banding. Text can also look somewhat fuzzy. But we aren't comparing screens 1:1. This screen will have signifigantly higher resolution than other displays, so the effect should be practically unnoticable.

However, pentile does come with some benefits. It uses less power and is much brighter and doesn't get washed out in sunlight. All very important factors in a mobile device. Couple that with the fact that this will be SAMOLED, and it should be an excellent screen, very close to the excellent screen on the iP4.

That's also assuming that the screen isn't SAMOLED+, which would even be better (except from the battery and brightness perspective).

 

[sjael]

So even if the Prime does have a Pentile display (which is most likely), there's nothing to worry about.

Correct. Consider this GSMArena comparison image between the Galaxy Note, GS2 and iPhone 4.

The Note's screen is an order sharper than the SGS2 (consider that this is a hardcore macro shot, and the 'flyscreen' is invisible with the human eye - consider the visible grid in the iPhone 4 display) and actually appears to have better color reproduction.

Then consider, the Nexus Prime has a ~10% denser screen than the Note.

 

[BlueBiker]

One more thing about PenTile... It isn't "good" or "bad", it's a design that trades off some sharpness (less noticeable at higher resolutions) for the brightness and power savings that nj02vette described. Some hate it and some think it's perfectly fine, so try to see a given screen yourself before ruling it out.

 

[jasaero]

Pentile is a technology where basically every pixel only has 2 sub-pixels rather than the traditional 3. All Samsung AMOLED and SAMOLED displays use pentile, while SAMOLED+ uses traditional RGB.

From a comparable traditional display to a pentile one, the pentile is no question inferior. In areas that have larged filled areas, some colors can have sever banding. Text can also look somewhat fuzzy. But we aren't comparing screens 1:1. This screen will have signifigantly higher resolution than other displays, so the effect should be practically unnoticable.

However, pentile does come with some benefits. It uses less power and is much brighter and doesn't get washed out in sunlight. All very important factors in a mobile device. Couple that with the fact that this will be SAMOLED, and it should be an excellent screen, very close to the excellent screen on the iP4.

That's also assuming that the screen isn't SAMOLED+, which would even be better (except from the battery and brightness perspective).

The power stuffs with PenTile is more for LCD RGBW. On AMOLED it allows brighter max brightness at higher resolutions without cause extreme reductions in the life of the display. Tends to be more a screen life and max brightness advantage rather than anything power consumption related.

 

[gapi]

I don't see the comparison as valid because they are all at different zoom levels.
And I don't wanna talk about Pentile either, eh!

Correct. Consider this GSMArena comparison image between the Galaxy Note, GS2 and iPhone 4.

I wanna touchy feely. Looky see.

The Note's screen is an order sharper than the SGS2 (consider that this is a hardcore macro shot, and the 'flyscreen' is invisible with the human eye - consider the visible grid in the iPhone 4 display) and actually appears to have better color reproduction.

Then consider, the Nexus Prime has a ~10% denser screen than the Note.

 

[sjael]

I don't see the comparison as valid because they are all at different zoom levels.
And I don't wanna talk about Pentile either, eh!

They're at the exact same (camera) zoom level, but the displays each have a different size and density which makes the photo appear different when viewed at 100%.

It's a direct comparison of the level of detail on each display.

 

[BrknKing]

This makes me want to see The Note in person...I just know I wasn't very impressed with my friend's Bionic Screen, but thats my only experience with Pentile so far.

 

[3vil]

They're at the exact same (camera) zoom level, but the displays each have a different size and density which makes the photo appear different when viewed at 100%.

It's a direct comparison of the level of detail on each display.

Actually they are not at the same zoom... look at the size of the fruit.

 

[BlueBiker]

The iPhone 4 display comes in at 326 dpi (dots per inch) and the nexus will measure at around 320, so you won't be able to tell the difference. Not to mention that the nexus's screen will be much bigger, so if anything, you'll like it better.

IMO, the iPhone 4/4S will still look sharper, because PenTile's dpi could be considered exaggerated by 33% since it's based on grainier pixels.

But the Nexus screen should still look terrific (better than any other shipping Android phone), and I agree the much bigger screen will definitely make it nicer for browsing, games, movies, etc.

 

[sjael]

Actually they are not at the same zoom... look at the size of the fruit.

And in the post you quoted, I explained exactly why the size of the fruit is different on each display.

 

[gadget.guy]

i really dont feel like reading through the forums to find the answer, so the prime wont have super amoled hd and istead a pentil!??!?!?!?!! first no exenos, now this!?!??!! ugh

 

[3vil]

And in the post you quoted, I explained exactly why the size of the fruit is different on each display.

I realize that, I think that it would be better compare the same section of the image. even if they had to resize the image to fit.

edit: I am an idiot sorry.

 

[BrknKing]

i really dont feel like reading through the forums to find the answer, so the prime wont have super amoled hd and istead a pentil!??!?!?!?!! first no exenos, now this!?!??!! ugh

As I understand it AmoLED is a screen type and PenTile is a pixel arrangement..it will be both.

 

[3vil]

i really dont feel like reading through the forums to find the answer, so the prime wont have super amoled hd and istead a pentil!??!?!?!?!! first no exenos, now this!?!??!! ugh

it will have a pentile super amoled hd screen. (pentile is just a subpixel layout.)

 

[jasaero]

i really dont feel like reading through the forums to find the answer, so the prime wont have super amoled hd and istead a pentil!??!?!?!?!! first no exenos, now this!?!??!! ugh

SAMOLED HD IS PenTile on the Note and smaller screens. Think the 7.7" tab is non pentile. Smaller the subpixel size the shorter the life of the display for a given brightness. So these tiny HD displays will be pentile. Don't worry they will look plenty sharp compared to any pentile you saw before because of the 5" and smaller size with HD resolution.

 

[sjael]

Think the 7.7" tab is non pentile. Smaller the subpixel size the shorter the life of the display for a given brightness.

It's also due to the fact that Samsung just doesn't have the technology to print more than ~650 sub-pixels per inch yet.

And yes, the Tab 7.7 is RGB stripe.

 

[BlueBiker]

They're at the exact same (camera) zoom level, but the displays each have a different size and density which makes the photo appear different when viewed at 100%.

It's a direct comparison of the level of detail on each display.

Yes. It would've helped to post a link to the original article... which is here.

 

[jasaero]

It's also due to the fact that Samsung just doesn't have the technology to print more than ~650 sub-pixels per inch yet.

And yes, the Tab 7.7 is RGB stripe.

Sorta. My guess is you go below that and it's still dim as you start blowing out pixels after too short a time. Would be curious the brightness/life trade off being made just between the 5.3" 720p Note and this 4.65" 720p Nexus. Also if it's auto brightness is dimmer than some of us wish, how long will the display last if we hack in a brighter setup before the blues get too weak and everything starts to look red/green instead bluish like when these are new?

 

[jasaero]

Yes. It would've helped to post a link to the original article... which is here.

The brightness complaint in this has me concerned. Also, just now read this.