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Resolution settings coming to Galaxy S7 in Nougat, phone defaults to FHD instead of QHD

posted by Paul K. / Nov 23, 2016, 6:16 AM

Resolution settings coming to Galaxy S7 in Nougat, phone defaults to FHD instead of QHD

QHD resolution (1440 x 2560) has become somewhat of a standard for Android flagships in the past couple of years. Ever since it became mainstream, users have been divided into two groups — those who think such a crisp resolution is overkill on a relatively small, smartphone display and places a needless burden on the device's hardware; and those who love the super-dense resolution and are all for it. With the Note 7, Samsung showed that it's listening to the arguments of both sides and included an option in the phone's settings for the user to pick which resolution they prefer — HD (720 x 1280), FHD (1280 x 1920), or QHD (1440 x 2560).

Now, the Note 7 might be dead, but the option will make a return pretty soon. Those who participate in the Android 7 Nougat beta program for the Galaxy S7 report that the settings menu of the phone now allows users to pick one of the three resolution choices. What's more interesting is the fact that the phone defaults to FHD (1280 x 1920) when the update is first applied.

Could this be Samsung saying "Yes, it's a bit too much to have a 576 PPI density on a 5.1-inch display", or could it just be a beta-related overlook, which will be fixed in the final version? It's hard to say. Though, we do think that users that don't care enough to poke around in that menu will also probably not care about the QHD resolution option at all, and will be happier with the extended battery life, if the phone happens to default to FHD. So it could be a pretty good, user-conscious move on Sammy's part.

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source: Android Central

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Display 5.1" 1440 x 2560 pixels

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25 Comments

1. drifter77

Posts: 400; Member since: Jun 12, 2015

Thing is, on the Note 7 the change from QHD to FHD gave only a few minutes more... the difference should be at least an hour or more.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 6:21 AM 1

3. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

Most of the drain is due to the panel, not the processor and display panel not being able to pick up. The difference would be an hour or more if the panel was FHD itself. Showing FHD on a QHD display will still consume the same power for the panel, only reducing strain on the processor which is not that much for 2016 processors. This is also the reason I'm against 4k panels on a phone. It doesn't matter what resolution you display the OS in, a 4k panel will draw a lot more power than a 1080p one.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 6:30 AM 9

6. iushnt

Posts: 3086; Member since: Feb 06, 2013

I guess you are talking about LCD. AMOLEDs might work different coz those pixels won't turn on at all.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 6:55 AM 6

12. epdm2be

Posts: 821; Member since: Apr 20, 2012

The powerdrain between FHD and QHD LCD is far less because the most drain comes from the edgelit or backlit lamps/leds. It's the opposite on AMOled. OLed pixels ARE the lightbulbs themselves. So smearing a lower resolution over the full QHD screen only makes the image fuzzier. It might help a lot more if indeed at lower resolutions you only use a smaller portion of the OLed-matrix (like the socalled single hand mode does).

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 7:20 AM 0

17. ebilcake

Posts: 1227; Member since: Jul 16, 2016

With a 4k AMOLED display that could work quite well, it's exactly 4x the number of pixels compared to 1080p so there is potential for power saving. But not with a QHD, scaling is obviously wrong.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 8:14 AM 0

18. xperian

Posts: 418; Member since: Apr 10, 2014

They will be interpolated, not turned off. If they were turned off screen would be too dim.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 8:16 AM 0

19. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

It doesn't work like that man. If only half the pixels turn on, the screen will only be half as bright and you will have to turn the brightness slider higher, effectively draining the same battery.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 8:45 AM 1

25. iushnt

Posts: 3086; Member since: Feb 06, 2013

Okay, got you..

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 5:08 PM 0

11. Macready

Posts: 1818; Member since: Dec 08, 2014

"It doesn't matter what resolution you display the OS in, a 4k panel will draw a lot more power than a 1080p one" Stop repeating this myth, debunked by Samsung ages ago. Fill factor is about the same, as is energy consumption.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 7:15 AM 5

15. epdm2be

Posts: 821; Member since: Apr 20, 2012

Sure, as if Samsung is gonna harm itself by actually telling the truth. Fact is that these days with all the power saving features added into Android AND coupled with less consuming SoC's and RAM we should have significantly more usage-time compared than 3 or 4 models ago. The truth is that all these power-saving features are wasted on ridiculous screen-resolutions which are only beneficial in VR (which isn't the most important part of a PHONE anyway). BTW. Fill factor is NOT the same as is proven time and again in the test done by websites like these and particularly GSMarena. These show fantastic off-screen performance decimated by ridiculous on-screen performance on many QHD devices.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 7:29 AM 0

23. Macready

Posts: 1818; Member since: Dec 08, 2014

"Sure, as if Samsung is gonna harm itself by actually telling the truth." It can be measured quite easily. In fact, this was done by a Dutch website that compared static drain for the S5 LTE with 1440P screen vs the regular S5 with 1080P and the result was within measuring error. You clearly don't know what fill factor stands for, because your "fantastic" comparison compares GPU/CPU drain for higher resolutions. Which was exactly NOT the point of the discussion here. The latest 5 inch 720P AMOLED screens draw similar power compared to the latest 5 inch 1440P AMOLED screens, when given the same source material (and thus output resolution). The only difference in drain comes from extra GPU/CPU power, IF you decide to run at a higher resolution. For example for VR purposes.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 9:52 AM 1

20. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

FILL FACTOR IS NOT THE SAME. Also multiple small LEDs needs more diodes, hence wasting more power than fewer small ones in practice. Not to mention the relatively immature manufacturing process.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 8:47 AM 0

24. Macready

Posts: 1818; Member since: Dec 08, 2014

"FILL FACTOR IS NOT THE SAME. " Don't lie. Samsung proved this with its first 4K prototype. "Also multiple small LEDs needs more diodes" Every subpixel is a diode. Pentile remains Pentile. More pixels, results in an equal increase of diodes for the same technology used. But smaller pixels on the same surface size, for the same total power consumption. "Not to mention the relatively immature manufacturing process" Say what? There's nothing immature about the process. In fact, there are already OLED displays on the market (and have been for many years) with a PPI that exceed 2000. If they have a 4K display, you can bet it's a mature manufacturing process. The only thing that can hurt them, is yields. A completely different discussion.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 10:04 AM 1

9. epdm2be

Posts: 821; Member since: Apr 20, 2012

because the device STILL has to fill those 1440 x 2560 pixels. The only way to get true savings is by using a real FHD screen. Therefore I'd rather have device-manufacturers creating QHD and FHD (cheaper) variants of high-end devices instead of creating 50 new models with tiny differences, or crappy SoC's, or ridiculous large screens with low-resolutions etc... This will improve framerates in games and video though.

posted on Nov 23, 2016, 7:11 AM 1

2. dimas

Posts: 3347; Member since: Jul 22, 2014

My s8 edge lasts 1.5 days on regular use. This is good news for me since that display feature really made me want note 7. Guess s7 edge will be visited by reviewers after the official nougat update comes.