Screen comparison: G3 vs Xperia Z2 vs Galaxy S5 vs One (M8) vs iPhone 5s
posted by Ray S.
/ Jul 01, 2014, 10:01 AM
With a new flagship handset out of the gate (we're looking at you, LG G3), it's time for us to sit down, power up the calibrators, get our magnifying glasses, and do a nice and detailed inspection of what we're dealing with when it comes to that gigantic, 5.5” display. Frankly, there's a lot going for the G3's display – it's one of the largest ones amongst other AAA smartphones, plus it comes with the remarkable QHD resolution that's supposed to make things even crisper and clearer than usual. But, as our review has already shown, the G3's display isn't quite the breakthrough affair that we were hoping for. That said, the G3 will now have to face some other handsets, whose screens have proven to be pretty exceptional (in one way or the other), such as the Xperia Z2, the One (M8), the iPhone 5s, and, of course, the Galaxy S5.
We'll be testing the displays in a number of areas, including brightness and visibility, resolution, and color reproduction. Let's see who's boss in the display category at this point!
Brightness and outdoor visibility
The first key area that we're going to focus on is brightness and visibility. This is where we find out how well handset displays perform outdoors, where there's plenty of bright ambient light.
Having a powerful brightness output is of utmost importance for every smartphone. After all, what use a massive screen is if you can't read your email while out and about. Recently, cell phone manufacturers have managed to achieve a decent level in this respect, though we're still far from where we need to be. Most high-end Android handsets stick around the 450-nit mark, which often makes for a readable screen outdoors. Readable, but by no means easy to view when the sun is shining brightly. The LG G3 and Xperia Z2 can reach about 450 nits of maximum brightness, while the HTC One (M8) manages to be a bit brighter with its 490 nits.
Meanwhile, another important factor that we have to consider while on the subject of brightness is... minimum brightness. That's right – a metric which is very important for those of us who often use their phones in bed. Basically, the dimmer a phone's screen can get, the better. Some companies have started to actively deal with this – for example, Samsung has specifically made sure that the Galaxy S5 can lower the brightness to as low as just 2 nits! Measuring the handsets' minimum output when displaying solid white, the GS5 proves to be the best proposition in that category, although the iPhone 5s is a very close runner-up with its 5 nits. The LG G3 takes the honorable 3rd spot with its 9 nits, which means it's a bit brighter than what we'd consider comfortable, but still OK. Finally, the HTC One (M8) and Sony Xperia Z2 share the last spot with their 16 nits of minimum brightness. Obviously, you wouldn't want to spend too much time viewing these in the dark.
Brightness and outdoor visibility
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190 Comments
1. jaytai0106
Posts: 1888; Member since: Mar 30, 2011
Kind of disappointed that G3 didn't dominated the competition. However, my Z2 is holding well in this fight :D
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 10:07 AM 20
49. PapaSmurf
Posts: 10457; Member since: May 14, 2012
A 4" 640p screen scored higher than a 5"+ 1080p? Huh?
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 11:40 AM 18
66. farhad_per
Posts: 128; Member since: Mar 26, 2014
Do you have S5...? I own S5 and I get that tiger photo... you can't belive how much this site lying...! The tiger photo was fantastic and more accurate colors...really white...they put a fake photo and related to S5..really shame on PA...every one has S5 get that tiger photo and judge your self..in real that tiger photo in S5 is far better than 5s and most accurate.!
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 1:02 PM 32
160. Furbal unregistered
Yeah it does have a damn good display.
Theres a G2, 1520, M8 and S5 on my desk. I like the M8 better overall but the S5 does outclass it on display.
posted on Jul 11, 2014, 6:31 PM 1
83. enthasuium
Posts: 150; Member since: Nov 21, 2013
Liar Phoerena used Professional Display Mode on s5 instead of Movie Mode.
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 1:53 PM 7
97. techperson211
Posts: 1280; Member since: Feb 27, 2014
Why am I not surprise that iPhone is the no. 1. By the end of the day it's user preference .
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 5:05 PM 0
105. DerryAhmad
Posts: 296; Member since: May 05, 2012
the iPhone shared the same score as Z2 and M8. There's no clear number one. Only number 4 (S5) ;)
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 11:47 PM 1
126. SuperAndroidEvo
Posts: 4888; Member since: Apr 15, 2011
Yo you calling Ray S. a liar?!?
posted on Jul 02, 2014, 11:04 AM 0
58. DEATHSTROKE9
Posts: 399; Member since: Nov 09, 2013
Look at that green white tiger on the GS5 display lol
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 12:11 PM 17
62. enthasuium
Posts: 150; Member since: Nov 21, 2013
Dont believe this pointless article by PA. After 1 month they will come up and Say we apologize , we did wrong
Color Reproduction: HTC m8 beats other
Outdoor : s5, then 5s
Resolution : iphone should be less than 5 , Blurry
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 12:25 PM 7
90. jaytai0106
Posts: 1888; Member since: Mar 30, 2011
My question is... How do we know the camera they used has good color reproduction?
posted on Jul 01, 2014, 2:49 PM 5
130. Busyboy unregistered
If it was taken with an ISOCELL camera it's guaranteed according to sar44
posted on Jul 02, 2014, 5:02 PM 2
124. sar44
Posts: 278; Member since: Apr 14, 2014
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52448559&postcount=4 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2742538
This is good?
OMG. How much you paid sony?
posted on Jul 02, 2014, 9:20 AM 1
125. sar44
Posts: 278; Member since: Apr 14, 2014
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/E-EMm3tl4lI3Gn2D3wcCB0NAcvkbXZfSklIir3qeaiTSf2C_nTx-i7gahuGNcpqBizuvaw=w1246-h750 http://www.ixbt.com/mobile/images/sony-xperia-z2/vs-pict-xr.jpg
posted on Jul 02, 2014, 9:26 AM 1
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