Super AMOLED Plus vs Super AMOLED vs Retina Display
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We quickly put the preview unit of the Samsung Galaxy S II that's making the rounds in the office next to last year's best screen technologies - the Super AMOLED display on the Samsung Galaxy S, and the IPS-LCD Retina Display on the iPhone 4.
For pitting three of the most advanced screen technologies on existing smartphones, we used the studio setup you can see here, with diffused lighting on both sides with the same color temperature as daylight, for reference purposes, and then turned the light off for shots in complete darkness. For the camera white balance adjustment, we used three matte patches on cardboard: 90% white, 18% grey, and 1% black (velvet).
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The two sources have the same color temperature as daylight |
The contrast on the Super AMOLED screens is higher, but the iPhone 4's IPS-LCD is brighter, as you can see in the shots below, which comes in handy in broad daylight. Samsung has tried to compensate with a low-reflectance coating, but the results don't seem to be good enough.
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Left to right - Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Apple iPhone 4 | ||
Text on Sammy's newest flagship appears crisper now, than on the display of the Galaxy S, due to the fact that Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus technology uses a normal RGB matrix for the pixel arrangement, not the PenTile one on the first generation, which utilized less subpixels, thus altering the perceived resolution.
Both matrix arrangements, however, can't beat the Retina Display resolution.
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Left to right - Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Apple iPhone 4 |
There is this bluish hue that overcasts the AMOLED displays, and Super AMOLED Plus ones for that matter. Conversely, the IPS-LCD as found on the iPhone 4 manages to present us with somewhat more natural colors, although not as saturated and popping-out.
In the end, here's our summary: what we like more on the iPhone 4's IPS-LCD screen is its incredibly high resolution, natural-looking colors, as well as great outdoor and wide-angle visibility, with the latter being on par with Super AMOLED Plus. The Galaxy S II's Super AMOLED Plus however leaves its mark when it comes to awesome contrasts (these are contrasts, which are near complete awesomeness, by the way), as well as greatly-saturated colors, which can make even the most boring of images stand out.
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Left to right - Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Apple iPhone 4 | ||
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45 Comments
1. rtimi (unregistered) posted on 13 Apr 2011, 07:25 5 2
Wow, and people thought the retina display was so good. the truth is that the smaller screen gave apple the advantage, but we are proud of our SAMOLED+ for coming out to show the world that AMOLED is better when tweaked correctly.
3. Kjayhawk posted on 13 Apr 2011, 08:03 2 3
I don't mean to be that guy, but the iphone 4 is a year old... So no doubt we would see an improvment
7. roldefol posted on 13 Apr 2011, 09:32 2 3
Yeah, let's try this comparison when the SII is actually on the market in multiple countries. By then Apple will have a 3.9" Retina display.
8. 3MTA3 (unregistered) posted on 13 Apr 2011, 09:42 6 6
wait wait wait wait....not 3.9! That's not how crapple works my friend. If anything they will go with a 3.6" on the ifone 5, then next year a 3.7 then the year after 3.8 THEN, three +years from now a 3.9. Just hold your horses son, don't push the fruit company too hard now. You ask for too much and predict technology that is unheard of yet. DOH!
9. roldefol posted on 13 Apr 2011, 09:48 10 2
They'll still find a way to spin a larger display like it's a huge innovation. "We've done extensive medical research indicating that the average human thumb is unable to navigate screens larger than 3.9". This is the world's first ergonomically sized screen in a smartphone. We call it the Retina-Thumb display."
16. Dark4o90 posted on 13 Apr 2011, 16:03 2 0
Despite this i prefer 4.3
29. isaiah (unregistered) posted on 22 Apr 2011, 17:09 0 0
lol your SOOO right that made my day xD screw those apple fanboys rating your comment down :p
22. cheetah2k posted on 13 Apr 2011, 19:28 1 6
This is a FAIL test
Can anyone see any of the SAMOLED screens out doors??
No, I didn't think so
I'm not an iPhone fanboy, but the iPhone SLCD is the only one that works with the sun blazing down
24. biggles posted on 14 Apr 2011, 10:57 1 0
Thank god we don't live on a desert planet with no atmosphere and multiple suns, right? Between clouds, shade, roofed structures, and general planetary rotation, direct sunlight visibility isn't the end-all be-all of display testing.
30. Toshu (unregistered) posted on 23 Apr 2011, 06:26 0 0
Am I the only one who don;t have problems with viewing my Omnia 7 out of the sun?!
32. Sharkaat (unregistered) posted on 04 May 2011, 23:18 0 0
Nope, you're not the only one.
36. bloodymurderlive posted on 01 Aug 2011, 09:19 1 0
Actually, the SAMOLED+ screens are clearly visible in direct sunlight. The Retina Display has a far lower contrast ratio (800:1), so it *has* to be bright to be usable in sunlight, or else the contrast quickly washes out. The SAMOLED+ screens, which have roughly a 40,000:1 contrast ratio, are at least as usable in direct sunlight as the Retina Display, because their brightness is comparable, yet they don't need as much brightness to prevent becoming washed-out thanks to their contrast ratio.
38. jeepster40 (unregistered) posted on 12 Sep 2011, 17:09 0 1
Seems to me the author is saying he like the iPhone screen better??? Maybe you missed when he said the colors are more natural. That means they look the way they are supposed to not artificially enhanced. The only place he even gives samsung a little nod is saturation... So yeah WOW the Retina display is that great and is still better even being a year old... less the a month until the gap gets wider samsung...
44. omniknight posted on 29 Feb 2012, 06:04 0 0
natural ??? i think it applies for camera clicks not for display... wat does a natural color means when u r looking into the phone for reading text or browsing.. wat the .....??
14. remixfa posted on 13 Apr 2011, 12:30 5 3
look how cute that little iphone4 is next to the bigger badder phones. It looks so small.. like a chiuaua next to a doberman and a dane. lol.
39. jeepster40 (unregistered) posted on 12 Sep 2011, 17:12 0 1
Yeah who wants a tablet in their pocket??? Not only does the iPhone look cute next to those other terms its still looks better. A whole year of trying and the others still lag...
43. mooseolly posted on 13 Jan 2012, 18:16 0 0
This is the problem with ixxxxx, 3.5 inch to them will always be the perfect size, anything beyond 4" is a tablet size to them. And when the year 2012 came out with a 4 inch iphone, they will be bragging how perfect their screen size is. It happens all the time for ixxxxx, that's y people like you disgust us.
4. Xpple (unregistered) posted on 13 Apr 2011, 09:07 5 7
It's that nice 4.3" screen that's the win. . .less than 4" on a phone is useless.
5. roldefol posted on 13 Apr 2011, 09:10 4 3
To each his own. I think more than 4" on a phone is a gargantuan.
