iPhone 5 displays outperforms Galaxy S3

[viewfly]

A good scientific review by DisplayMate.

Link is here. http://www.displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_2.htmDisplay

Partial summary:


The iPhone 5 Display:
It’s still a Retina Display with 326 Pixels Per Inch PPI and with a Resolution of 1136x640 pixels. We were hoping for 1280x720, which is Standard High Definition HD, but presumably that will be for the iPhone 6. That’s not a disappointment, just a wish list… Based on our extensive Lab measurements the iPhone 5 has a true state-of-the-art display – it’s not perfect and there is plenty of room for improvements (and competitors) but it’s the best Smartphone display we have tested to date.

We’ll examine the iPhone 5 display in detail below, but here are the Highlights: it is the Brightest Smartphone we have tested in the Shoot-Out series, it has one of the lowest screen Reflectance values we have ever measured, it has the highest Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light for any Mobile device we have ever tested, and it’s Color Gamut and Factory Calibration are second only to the new iPad. What are the downsides? The White Point is still somewhat too blue like most Smartphones, and at Maximum Brightness it has a shorter Running Time than the iPhone 4, which is not surprising since it has a larger screen and a larger Color Gamut but roughly the same capacity battery.


The Galaxy S III Display:
Samsung also features their displays when marketing Smartphones, but they have taken a very different approach – they are using Samsung’s own OLED displays, a new and rapidly evolving display technology that is very different from LCDs, with its own particular set of advantages and disadvantages. It’s a new technology that attracts early adopters, but it has not yet been refined to the same degree as LCDs, which have been mainstream for over 20 years. It’s clear that OLEDs in the near future will do to LCDs what LCDs did to CRTs, but we are not there yet… So OLEDs have a number of rough spots that show up clearly in our objective Lab testing.

We’ll examine the OLED Galaxy S III display in detail below, but here are the Highlights: the Brightness is about half of the iPhone 5 due to power limits from the lower power efficiency of OLEDs and concerns regarding premature OLED aging. The Color Gamut is not only much larger than the Standard Color Gamut, which leads to distorted and exaggerated colors, but the Color Gamut is quite lopsided, with Green being a lot more saturated than Red or Blue, which adds a Green color caste to many images. Samsung has not bothered to correct or calibrate their display colors to bring them into closer agreement with the Standard sRGB / Rec.709 Color Gamut, so many images appear over saturated and gaudy. Running Time on battery is less than the iPhone 5 due to the lower power efficiency of OLEDs, even given that the Galaxy S III has a much larger battery capacity and much lower Brightness.

The Galaxy S III has a PenTile OLED display, which has only half of the number of Red and Blue sub-pixels as in standard RGB displays, like those on the iPhones. The eye’s resolution for color image detail is lower, so this works well for photographic and video image content, but NOT for computer generated colored text and fine graphics because it produces visible pixelation, moiré, and other very visible artifacts, so a PenTile display is not as sharp as its pixel Resolution and PPI would indicate. PenTile technology does have advantages in manufacturing, aging and cost. For a more detailed analysis see our Samsung Galaxy S OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out.

 

[Stuntman06]

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is the power consumption. The SGS3 uses twice as much as the iP5. It is interesting that the author suggests that Samsung make smaller screens with larger batteries.

 

[F123D]

I'd agree with the iPhone screen over the S3's. As much as I like the GS3, I could never get myself to buy one because of the pentile screen. The greenish caste did bother me when I played with the phone. I'm glad Samsung went away from pentile with the Note II and back to a rgb arrangement. Brightness has never been an issue for me as I've always kept my screen brightness low.

 

[siiip5]

Uhh, duh!

Partial summary:

The iPhone 5 Display: ...at Maximum Brightness it has a shorter Running Time than the iPhone 4, which is not surprising since it has a larger screen and a larger Color Gamut but roughly the same capacity battery.

----------

The biggest thing that jumps out at me is the power consumption. The SGS3 uses twice as much as the iP5. It is interesting that the author suggests that Samsung make smaller screens with larger batteries.

That's because the author has been in love with Apple since they started paying him.

 

[kiltedthrower]

I've never purchased a phone because of a screen display... TV, yes. The iPhone has a nice screen. But the non-iPhone phones I've had have had a good enough screen. I actually have no idea what my Note has. All I know is YouTube, Netflix, the net, and gaming look good enough I'm happy.

 

[ixodes]

Apple had best enjoy the lead they have at the moment.

Already my weeks old new Samsung Note II is far superior to the S3, and based on my side by side comparison with my iPhone 5, and my iPhone 4S, their are no perceptible differences at this point.

That's the beauty of competition, it gives the advantage to the consumer.

 

[cynics]

We've already argued over this review.

MODS, can we rename this section to "iOS versus"?

People just come here to justify their purchases anyway.

 

[Nabooly]

We've already argued over this review.

MODS, can we rename this section to "iOS versus"?

People just come here to justify their purchases anyway.

Agree...all these threads are so similar might as well group them up and make a sticky with all of them in it.

 

[viewfly]

We've already argued over this review.

MODS, can we rename this section to "iOS versus"?

People just come here to justify their purchases anyway.

Ah you really are a cynic.

There is some really good and useful measurements in the article to read. Apple doesn't win all the time.

 

[mib1800]

Synthetic indicators comparison doesnt mean much in real life. Just like ip5 has a higher browsermark than S3 but actual in webpage load the S3 seems to have the upper hand (see the page load with flash plugin disabled).

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Web-...vs-Galaxy-S-III-vs-One-X-vs-Lumia-900_id35164

I believe 8 out of 10 people you ask will prefer the high contrast and vivid color of the S3 amoled screen than the iph5. The backlit ip5 LCD makes the screen more washed out (worse when you turn up the brightness). Add to the fact, the ip5 screen is so tiny compared to S3.

 

[viewfly]

Synthetic indicators comparison doesnt mean much in real life. Just like ip5 has a higher browsermark than S3 but actual in webpage load the S3 seems to have the upper hand (see the page load with flash plugin disabled).

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Web-...vs-Galaxy-S-III-vs-One-X-vs-Lumia-900_id35164

I believe 8 out of 10 people you ask will prefer the high contrast and vivid color of the S3 amoled screen than the iph5. The backlit ip5 LCD makes the screen more washed out (worse when you turn up the brightness). Add to the fact, the ip5 screen is so tiny compared to S3.

Photo metric science is based on accurate replication of real life as seen by the human eye, and recreated with electronic displays. So no, I don't think most would agree with your assumption.

 

[Stuntman06]

Photo metric science is based on accurate replication of real life as seen by the human eye, and recreated with electronic displays. So no, I don't think most would agree with your assumption.

Conrast ratio is where the SGS3 screen beats the iP5 by a lot. The article does mention that this is not an important factor due to most people do not use it in conditions where this matters. When I first saw that comment, I wasn't sure how to take it. I was wondering if he downplayed this aspect where the SGS3 kills the iPhones because he did not want to highlight advantages of the SGS3 or if in fact it was true that phones are not used in such lighting conditions.

Personally, I use my phone indoors most of the time. I rarely ever use it in the sun. I can see that the iP5 will be better in the sun because its maximum brightness is much higher than on the SGS3. For me personally, I would rarely need my screen to be brighter than the maximum brightness on the SGS3. I use it indoors most of the time. For me, the contrast ratio will likely matter more because of my mostly indoor use.

 

[matttye]

Yep, blacks look great on my phone. I keep it at around 25% brightness as it's plenty bright enough!

 

[Lindsford]

Yep, blacks look great on my phone. I keep it at around 25% brightness as it's plenty bright enough!

I keep mine about 1/3 of the way turned up, looks great.

 

[stridemat]

MOD NOTE

Please keep the thread on topic and in line with the Rules for Appropriate Debate.

 

[VulchR]

The thing that concerns me about OLED's is that they degrade. I suppose it is perhaps not so much of an issue because most people replace their phone relatively often anyway, but those of us who give our kids phones as hand-me-downs need to consider a phone's longevity (or perhaps whether the screen easy to replace?). I honestly forget the source, but I read a technical report somewhere that stated that Samsung expected their OLED's to last for three years and then the degradation would become noticeable.

FWIW - I use OLED's as components in biological sensors I use in my lab, so I am enthusiastic about their potential.

 

[viewfly]

Conrast ratio is where the SGS3 screen beats the iP5 by a lot. The article does mention that this is not an important factor due to most people do not use it in conditions where this matters. When I first saw that comment, I wasn't sure how to take it. I was wondering if he downplayed this aspect where the SGS3 kills the iPhones because he did not want to highlight advantages of the SGS3 or if in fact it was true that phones are not used in such lighting conditions.

Personally, I use my phone indoors most of the time. I rarely ever use it in the sun. I can see that the iP5 will be better in the sun because its maximum brightness is much higher than on the SGS3. For me personally, I would rarely need my screen to be brighter than the maximum brightness on the SGS3. I use it indoors most of the time. For me, the contrast ratio will likely matter more because of my mostly indoor use.

I was confused by the contrast ratio and contrast rating too. But I understand what he means. The S3 OLED have very,very deep blacks. But when used even in indoor room lighting , the average phone surface glass reflection (of room lighting) of 4-6% swamps those deep blacks and places the two displays on similar footing. But since LCD screens have superior brightness (2x), they have the 'contrast rating' advantage. Where the OLED wins is reading in bed with the lights off, in the dark.

 

[Technarchy]

AMOLED displays are terrible. It's not hard to do better

 

[dalbir4444]

AMOLED displays are terrible. It's not hard to do better

Depends on the person. Some people like oversaturated colours and don't care about accurate color reproduction in a phone.

 

[Stuntman06]

Depends on the person. Some people like oversaturated colours and don't care about accurate color reproduction in a phone.

I find that the only time I can tell the difference is if I compare phones side by side. If I am looking at just one phone, I don't notice any issues with colour. The human mind tends to identify colours relative to other colours around it. In general, most phone screens are good enough for the human mind to see the intended colour even if the colours are slightly off. I've had 3 different phones and I do notice that the display showing the same picture has different colours on each phone. However, if I only look at one phone, I don't notice if the colour is off.

 

[dalbir4444]

I find that the only time I can tell the difference is if I compare phones side by side. If I am looking at just one phone, I don't notice any issues with colour. The human mind tends to identify colours relative to other colours around it. In general, most phone screens are good enough for the human mind to see the intended colour even if the colours are slightly off. I've had 3 different phones and I do notice that the display showing the same picture has different colours on each phone. However, if I only look at one phone, I don't notice if the colour is off.

I think that's true for most people. I've heard people complain on forums that the Nexus 4's screen is washed out but it's actually because they're used to the oversaturated screen of the Galaxy Nexus. After a while, they adjust to it. Personally, I really like the Amoled screen, but I know I'll be fine with the N4's screen also.

 

[matttye]

AMOLED displays are terrible. It's not hard to do better

I like them, especially the ones in Samsung's phones. They look so vibrant even though they're not as bright

 

[daveathall]

I find that the only time I can tell the difference is if I compare phones side by side. If I am looking at just one phone, I don't notice any issues with colour. The human mind tends to identify colours relative to other colours around it. In general, most phone screens are good enough for the human mind to see the intended colour even if the colours are slightly off. I've had 3 different phones and I do notice that the display showing the same picture has different colours on each phone. However, if I only look at one phone, I don't notice if the colour is off.

Having thought about it, I very much agree, I can't honestly say that any phone I have owned have always (for me) had great displays.

 

[2298754]

What a bunch of crap to make the Apple fanboys feel good about themselves. The display in the Galaxy S3 is beautiful. Super vibrant and the text is very sharp. My only issue with it is that it doesn't get bright enough.

 

[cynics]

Depends on the person. Some people like oversaturated colours and don't care about accurate color reproduction in a phone.

I have to admit. I have my Samsung HDTV's calibrated and the colors are very accurate but its kind of boring almost washed out in comparison to its store display settings. I leave it there because its right not because I like it.