The Nexus One's Dirty Display Secret - 16 Bit Color

[turbosol16]

The display looks great in my hands, don't really care what some Dr. says about it. All you have to do is hold them side by side and it doesn't take long to realize the Nexus One display looks a lot better then the iPhone display which boils down to the different display technologies.

 

[ikon]

It's opposite for me. If I'm not touching the screen at all the images look perfect, but once I touch it to scroll around then it becomes banded and goes back to normal once I take my finger away.

 

[ikon]

At the end of the day all that matters is that in real world use the Nexus Screen looks way better than the iphone's, plain and simple, as evidenced by anyone who's ever seen a N1 screen in person.

 

[zyxwvu44]

i remember there was color banding on the storm for certain OS builds, and it was all OS related, not the screen. i have a feeling this can be fixed through software

 

[ztmike]

Ah the "fanboi" defense.

If the Nexus Gallery is compressing images, then criticism is warranted. It is beyond me why a device with such a lovely screen would degrade pictures displayed on it.

Displaymate reviews monitors/displays of all types and brands, to inject fanboism into their reputation only reveals the true fanboi.... you.

No product is perfect... including the N1 or iPhone.

Seems if anyone is the fanboy..its you. The people here have gave you the answer on what their seeing and yet..you still believe this "editor" on this website that probably nobody here has even heard of till now?

Who the hell uses a PHONE for being a "photo enthusiast" anyway? I can't even take you serious by that statement.

 

[kilofox]

Seems if anyone is the fanboy..its you. The people here have gave you the answer on what their seeing and yet..you still believe this "editor" on this website that probably nobody here has even heard of till now?

Who the hell uses a PHONE for being a "photo enthusiast" anyway? I can't even take you serious by that statement.

I dont own an iPhone or a Nexus.... but an Eris.

So please... tell me what type of fanboy I am.

I have made it clear... as a photo enthusiast I am interested in DISPLAYING photos I have taken with my Nikon D90 on the Nexus, not pictures I have TAKEN with a Nexus.

Get it?

One other thing... an enthusiast can work with any camera to create a beautiful image, including a phone camera.

http://photocritic.org/amazing-iphone-photos/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/nexusone/pool/

 

[ddh]

As rotohammer explains over at xda: " If I use this picture http://photos.upi.com/slideshow/lbox/7fc13f2a01438c144c13596ef3adaca2/MARS-ROVER.jpg, Which is at 800x616 pixels, I don't see the banding. That tells me its the scaling algorithm in the OS, app or GL library thats causing the stepped gradient, not the AMOLED display itself."

I think this is the answer folks. Thanks for all the comments!

It would be my suggestion to use a better image if we are going to decide whether there is an issue. When viewed on my high end 8bit samsung monitor, there are obvious signs of colour banding. Not sure how one can subjectively analyse image quality of a display device when the source imagery is suspect. I dont own a N1 (yet), otherwise I would test the theory myself.

DDH

 

[Deleted User]

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[mudrock1000]

XDA guys think it's BS too
The Nexus One's Dirty Display Secret - xda-developers

Read through a couple of the pages and you'll get some good detailed things. As far as this goes, I think the problem lies in the OS. The Picture looked good when i was running the Sense UI the other day.

 

[Deleted User]

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[gerryk]

It's opposite for me. If I'm not touching the screen at all the images look perfect, but once I touch it to scroll around then it becomes banded and goes back to normal once I take my finger away.

It may be the case that in order to do full screen animation, that the gfx processor drops into 16bit colour depth to allow for smoother animation, since the amount of data to be blitted would be halved.

 

[jizzoizzm]

some websites have idiot-like editors who never do a full test before posting BS. Apple-phanboys are ruling those crappy websites.

thanks kilofox.

I'm so happy with the Nexus and I waited a long time for something to top the iPhone...now I'm waiting for something to top the nexus. ..I'm hoping the the Verizon version coming in the spring will be better!!!

 

[Phydeaux]

software or hardware, problem exists. software problem != no problem.

let's not be google apologists here. the problem exists and it has to be fixed.

What people are defending is the false accusation of the thread title. The OP (and the linked article) blames the display, which is simply untrue.
Is it a problem? Depends entirely on your point of view. The code used to compress large files wasn't accidentally put into the gallery app. The author put it there intentionally, it isn't a glitch or mistake. Therefore there is nothing "broken" per se. So no, it doesn't have to be fixed.

As far as a work-around for those who don't like the issue, download "Multitouch Gallery" from the market.

 

[tmzbeme]

i was wondering why the heck my uploaded images looked so crap on my nexus, and they looked better on the camera app than the gallery, i can not make out any detail on the gallery at all.
I saw that this is indeed a gallery app issue
Issue 6587 - android - Gallery application shows images at very low resolution/quality - Project Hosting on Google Code
Does anyone have any idea if this has been addresses in froyo?
And is there a better alternate image viewer?
thanks

 

[jbrinkley]

I checked that apple.com on the the stock browser and laptop. It's weird, the moment you touch the screen on the nexus or the + - buttons, there's a pink hue the shows then disappears when the image stabilizes. No big deal to me, but it's there.

 

[GoofyG28]

Does anyone have the Beautiful Widget live wallpaper? I'm looking at mine right now. It's 1am here, so the background sky is a black-to-blue gradient from the top down. I see very clearly the color banding. Not sure if it's the image itself by the developer, but I am beginning to be suspicious... (It doesn't make me love my N1 any less, though!)

 

[snakeybidder]

Kilofox, please buy a real camera mate, dont rely on a phone to take, quote "professional shots" lol

F**k the iphone and f**k anyone else jealous of the Nexus one. Ive owned all of them from symbian to iphone to every other bo***ks out there. Android and my nexus one rules hands down.

Finished

 

[Viralmind]

Kilofox, please buy a real camera mate, dont rely on a phone to take, quote "professional shots" lol

F**k the iphone and f**k anyone else jealous of the Nexus one. Ive owned all of them from symbian to iphone to every other bo***ks out there. Android and my nexus one rules hands down.

Finished

you didn't read the thread, did you?
he said he wants to view the pictures with the phone on the nice screen, not take pictures with an N1.

 

[Ryjabo]

Everything I've read about this points at software, not hardware.

 

[jonno2k]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=637063&page=2
Load this image in the browser:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/154221main_20060807_PIA07997_060802183716.jpg

You will probably see banding, but it will disappear when you scroll or touch the screen. When you let go it will come back.
...
I think this is the answer folks. Thanks for all the comments!

Ya, good test. I tried this image with Opera and it's fine. The stock browser has issues.

 

[0sync0]

The article mentioned in the OP has been edited with this comment:

Google acknowledges these problems for all 2.1 Android phones including the Nexus One and Motorola Droid. The next major release of the Android OS will fix these issues and provide full 24-bit color and improved scaling.

 

[Teknologic]

Does anyone have the Beautiful Widget live wallpaper? I'm looking at mine right now. It's 1am here, so the background sky is a black-to-blue gradient from the top down. I see very clearly the color banding. Not sure if it's the image itself by the developer, but I am beginning to be suspicious... (It doesn't make me love my N1 any less, though!)

That is just the app/wallpaper, don't worry

 

[mudrock1000]

How bout this if there is anyone who thinks this is a issue *points to the right* theres the door. Please gtfo. Sorry to be harsh...but this is ridiculous. The screen is more or less 800X600 pixels, 3.7 inches, 5 mpx camera, and it's better then the iphone 3g. (the iphone 4g though is pretty nice as far as hardware goes. I'm not gonna lie and say that it isn't)

However this should not be a deciding factor because most Movies you will play or things you will watch, you will not notice because it's an effing movie and things move. The rest of the hardware is nicer than the iphone so if you let this get to you, why do you have a phone even?