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Technarchy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2012
6,753
4,927
As if this was somehow relevant. Nobody keeps their screens anywhere near the maximum brightness. And when it comes to visibility under the Sun OLED screens have huge advantage because they have infinitely higher contrast. Brightness is not everything.

That's some nonsense for people that never owned a phone with an AMOLED screen.

You end up with a screen so dim and hard to see that you have to crank up your brightness to use your device, but now you've got power consumption issues, so you eat your battery alive.

There might some suckers that still fall for the AMOLED spin, but those that have been there certainly know better.

The GS3 screen is not good.
 

Oracle1729

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 4, 2009
638
0
I agree that the term "Retina" is marketing BS but the retina displays are pretty stunning.
Calling it "low-res crap" is taking it a bit too far don't you think?

Well since I can get a nice big 720p screen from any other high end vendor, I'd say it's pretty accurate. Maybe for 2010 it was a decent screen but my calendar says 2012...apple is literally years behind.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
Resolution is meaningless without screen size, and we have gone full circle.

It is not. Resolution determines exact amount of information the picture delivers. Pixel density on the other hand is meaningless without knowing the viewing distance.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
That's some nonsense for people that never owned a phone with an AMOLED screen.

You end up with a screen so dim and hard to see that you have to crank up your brightness to use your device, but now you've got power consumption issues, so you eat your battery alive.

There might some suckers that still fall for the AMOLED spin, but those that have been there certainly know better.

The GS3 screen is not good.

That's just your biased opinion. Now let's see what experts say about SGSIII display. GSMArena:

"Sunlight legibility is splendid too - the HD Super AMOLED isn't the brightest around, but its reflectivity is so low that even outside in the brightest day, you'll still be able to see what's on the screen quite clearly. As a matter of fact, the Galaxy S III managed to top our sunlight legibility charts."
 

subsonix

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2008
3,551
79
It is not. Resolution determines exact amount of information the picture delivers. Pixel density on the other hand is meaningless without knowing the viewing distance.

We know the viewing distance of a phone more or less no?

Note that for broadcast television standards the use of the word resolution here is a misnomer, though common. The term “display resolution” is usually used to mean pixel dimensions, the number of pixels in each dimension (e.g., 1920 × 1080), which does not tell anything about the pixel density of the display on which the image is actually formed: broadcast television resolution properly refers to the pixel density, the number of pixels per unit distance or area, not total number of pixels.

iPhone 5 326 PPI
S3 306 PPI

Yes, the S3 has more pixels, but the screen is larger. Anyway, calling the iPhone 5 display lo-res is just stupid.
 

theineffablebob

macrumors regular
Jul 29, 2012
111
10
That's some nonsense for people that never owned a phone with an AMOLED screen.

You end up with a screen so dim and hard to see that you have to crank up your brightness to use your device, but now you've got power consumption issues, so you eat your battery alive.

There might some suckers that still fall for the AMOLED spin, but those that have been there certainly know better.

The GS3 screen is not good.

I've used phones with LCD screens, I've used phones with AMOLED screens. They're both fairly equal in viewability in sunlight. No sane person could tell the difference without looking side-by-side. Both are perfectly viewable in sunlight.

And you're insanely biased for saying the GS3 screen is not good. Every review says it's a great screen, even though it's no longer at the top of the pack (that honor goes to the HTC One X and iPhone 5 screens). I've seen the screen myself and it's bright, vivid, sharp, and overall a great display.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
We know the viewing distance of a phone more or less no?



iPhone 5 326 PPI
S3 306 PPI

Yes, the S3 has more pixels, but the screen is larger. Anyway, calling the iPhone 5 display lo-res is just stupid.

iPhone 5's resolution is not that low (although Android phones have 27% higher resolution). It's main problem is a weird shape. It's just too long and narrow. It's OK for movies (but who watches movies on the phone?) but it's sub-optimal for reading, games etc.
 

subsonix

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2008
3,551
79
iPhone 5's resolution is not that low (although Android phones have 27% higher resolution).

Not for a proper definition of resolution, which does refer to pixel density, which broadcast television use, per the quote above. How does Android (an operating system) guarantee 27% more pixels btw, surely that comes down to the handset and it's screen.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
Not for a proper definition of resolution, which does refer to pixel density, which broadcast television use, per the quote above. How does Android (an operating system) guarantee 27% more pixels btw, surely that comes down to the handset.

SmartPhone is a computer and not a TV set. Why would you bring broadcast TV terminology in this discussion? n computer terminology, pixel density is just that - density. Resolution refers to the absolute number of pixels in two dimensions which the Wikipedia page that you referenced explains quite clearly.
 

Dolorian

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2007
1,086
0
The GS3 screen is not good.

Sorry but can't take you seriously here. The S3 has a fantastic screen, as very much every review from reputable publications agree. Is is the best there is? No, but to say that it is garbage or not good is nonsense and just reeks of bias.
 
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subsonix

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2008
3,551
79
SmartPhone is a computer and not a TV set. Why would you bring broadcast TV terminology in this discussion? n computer terminology, pixel density is just that - density. Resolution refers to the absolute number of pixels in two dimensions which the Wikipedia page that you referenced explains quite clearly.

Because, the reference make note of the fact that the broadcast standard properly refer to pixel density. The amount of pixels doesn't tell you anything about image quality, if you do not also mention the area.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
This is absolutely without a doubt the fault of the media and its scramble for headlines. Apple Maps works fine. No it's not as refined as Googles maps but it's also brand new. The problem is... no one has any patience especially these younger kids. And they are the most vocal.

Apple is smart enough to counter the allegations directly and swiftly. It's smart Public Relations and they will be JUST fine in a few months.

The problem here is that Apple is not producing its own map data. They use data from Tom Tom which in 2008 acquired Tele Atlas. Tele Atlas is the company behind map data. Tele Atlas has been in map data business for much longer than Google (since 1984). While they do have decent road/street data they do not have the wealth of information that Google has. They have not been able to collect this data since 1984. How long do you think it may take them to catch up with Google? Forever?

----------

After what I just experienced, I feel bad that Tim Cook has had to apologize.... because Apple Maps are EXCELLENT! -- well, at least here in Toronto.

I just had the best GPS experience ever, hands down.

I got called to a job out of the downtown where I live to an area where I had no idea where the heck I was going. It's nighttime and didn't know the area I was going to.

I got in the car, put the iPhone 5 to my ear and Siri prompted me to speak: "I need to get to xxxx St. Clair Avenue". Siri said: "Here are the directions to..."

The directions were clear and the visual UI was super simple, free of clutter and designed to be read at a glance when driving. Upcoming cross streets are clearly marked and the 3D view makes it easy to understand where you're headed. Instructions came with enough time to get in the proper lane. Distance to your next turn is measured super accurately. I was mere metres away from a turn and the next turn sign indicated that. I also purposefully made a couple of alternate turns and Maps adjusted my route.

When I was at a stop light, I tapped "Overview to see how far along I was and was able to look at the remaining route without cancelling my current directions. The light turned green, I hit resume and was on my way.

Maps took me right to the front door of this brand new restaurant that hasn't been added to any mapping service. Amazing iOS Maps indeed.

Except for the voice commands, that is something we have been able to do do with Smart Phones for about a decade now. No reason to get too excited. Since then we've come to expect way more from Maps applications.

Obviously with Google Maps (non Android) you can do all this and muuch more. For example, when stopped at the intersection you can tap a StreetView icon and the phone will show you the view of the next intersection on your route where you have to make a turn. I helps to know in advance what to expect in unfamiliar places.
 

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
Because, the reference make note of the fact that the broadcast standard properly refer to pixel density. The amount of pixels doesn't tell you anything about image quality, if you do not also mention the area.

"Properly" in this context only refers to the original meaning of the word "resolution". The amount of pixels tells you how much bits of information the picture delivers. Density is absolutely irrelevant. You can reach any density you need by choosing the viewing distance.

----------

"The problem here is that Apple is not producing its own map data. They use data from Tom Tom which in 2008 acquired Tele Atlas. Tele Atlas is the company behind map data. Tele Atlas has been in map data business for much longer than Google (since 1984). While they do have decent road/street data they do not have the wealth of information that Google has. They have not been able to collect this data since 1984. How long do you think it may take them to catch up with Google? Forever?"

And Google gained the majority of its data through Apples installed user base on iOS.

So... not long.

And I thought they did it by keeping 7100 workers on their map team, the fleet of Google cars, paying for quality satellite info, developing software that can scan and interpret the imagery obtained by Google cars. It turns out I was wrong. It was those pesky iPhone users who did the job for Google :confused:
 

subsonix

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2008
3,551
79
"Properly" in this context only refers to the original meaning of the word "resolution". The amount of pixels tells you how much bits of information the picture delivers.

Yes, but we know that the S3 which was used as an example here earlier has a larger screen. It would be pretty bad if you could not view more on a larger screen.

Density is absolutely irrelevant. You can reach any density you need by choosing the viewing distance.

Which in a phone means the ability to chose the length of ones arm.

Anyway, I hope we can quit this, both have hi-res screens no matter how you chose to interpret 'resolution'. I mainly felt like comment due to the "lo-res" talk here earlier.
 

msandersen

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2003
217
31
Sydney, Australia
It is not. Resolution determines exact amount of information the picture delivers. Pixel density on the other hand is meaningless without knowing the viewing distance.
The confusion seems to stem from you referring to Display Resolution (physical dimensions in pixels), where many in the graphics field like me would think of it as pixel density. 326 ppi and a display size of 1136x640 px is not exactly low-res for a phone, is it? The iPhone gains "retina" status at 10.2", where the Pentile display of the SIII requires 15.9".
I answered most of that for someone else on the thread....but the iPhone 5 display is very low res and the only phone pretending to be high end that isn't 720. That pos screen on the iPhone is a crappy resolution and horrible picture quality compared to the competition. Thin size is ********. The 4S is a very thin phone already, give me a large phone with a decent battery life and decent durability. LTE is last year's tech, the fact they finally included it is a second-rate game of catch-up.

See above...I'm talking about core features that every vendor except apple has offered for years and apple still doesn't offer.

It feels so damn flimsy it's like a cheap fisher price toy. The scratches are just another nail in the coffin. Calling the S3 plastic crap just shows you're ignorant and won't even look beyond the apple store.
Most of that is trolling, but basically as I'm sure you already know the iPhone 5 screen is the best around, producing far better images than the SIII, as the iPhone has a properly-calibrated screen and the SIII doesn't; the colours are off and over-saturated. As a photographer you should appreciate that.
Claiming it has a worse screen than the competition is flying in the face of reality; it has better colour, better contrast, better brightness than the SIII, produce sharper images, and has less reflectiveness than any other handheld device. It is a quality screen by any measure regardless whether you prefer another phone. Calling 1136x640 pixels "low-res" for a 4" screen shows your lack of objectiveness. If we were talking about a Tablet, I'd agree that not having 720p would be bad, but we're not; this is a phone. Unlike things like a Galaxy Note, it isn't trying to pretend to be a tablet. It's designed to be a phone that can be operated by one hand and fits easily in a pocket.
Certainly the race to thinness that phones had for decades is questionable at the current level, companies always want something to brag about like the Razr and thinness, just as cameras had the Megapixel race or computers the Megahertz race, none of which had much to do with quality. But there's something to be said for a small light phone that is also a powerhouse. In the case of the iPhone, they have sacrificed battery life, I'd wish for it to be better and I would gladly sacrifice an amount of thinness and weight for it.
Not having LTE before now is hardly an issue as it is only really coming online now to any extent and more specifically the power-efficient chips have only now become available. Same for NFC; it is currently in its infancy and not much used anywhere, so having it is no great benefit. Some had hoped that having it in the iPhone would have kick-started its adoption. Having magnetic coils only makes your phone larger, and personally I hope they don't adopt it as I don't like the idea of another magnetic field being placed near my head, there are enough questions about longterm exposure to phone radiation (microwaves) causing cancers as it is. I don't like the idea of phones becoming wallets either.
As for durability, as I'm sure you know various sites have done drop tests and the iPhone 5 has proven to be extremely durable, tougher than the SIII.
I'm personally not in a hurry for a new phone and will look at what is available in a few years; my 4s serves me well for now.
 

faroZ06

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2009
3,387
1
"Retina" has nothing to do with "resolution". 2x2 pixel display may be retina but definitely not a high resolution.

If a 2x2 screen is retina, it's as high-res as it has to be for a human to not be able to see the pixels at regular viewing distance.

1080p is low res on a 100-foot diagonal display.

----------

steve will never do something like this.
tim you're totally doing a mess in apple.

Well, Steve gave me an iMac that fell apart and ran very slow after a couple of years. He also sold me The Search for Spock on iTunes but refused to let me play it once I bought it. Oh, and let's not forget Ping.
 
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faroZ06

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2009
3,387
1
This is exactly what I mean about the apple fanbois who won't even look at what's out there. Every other high end smartphone on the market is 720p. Apple is the only one left with low-res crap.

Retina is meaningless apple marketing BS from 2010 and everyone else is way beyond it.

Bigger displays have to have more pixels, and the other smartphones have huge displays compared to the 4" iPhone. If you think 720p is so good, how about you view a 720p video projected onto a 16000x9000-inch canvas while sitting 5 feet away. It won't be pretty despite how great you seem to think 720p is.

There is important context that you are missing, as you can see. You need to take screen size and viewing distance into account when you're talking about "high/low res". The iPhone is already high-res enough so that it's at the point where adding more pixels while keeping the same screen size would not look any better at normal viewing distance (which is called "retina", and I suggest you look it up before calling people names).

If you want some statistics, the iPhone 5 has 326PPI, and the S3 has 306PPI. And here's a tidy list of the Apple competitors' screen pixel densities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_density

If you want me to buy a high-end Android device for some reason, you should be boasting the upgradeable storage capacity, not the lower-res (in context) screens.

Here, you can read more about meaningless market BS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina_Display
 
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clibinarius

macrumors 6502a
Aug 26, 2010
671
70
NY
The confusion seems to stem from you referring to Display Resolution (physical dimensions in pixels), where many in the graphics field like me would think of it as pixel density. 326 ppi and a display size of 1136x640 px is not exactly low-res for a phone, is it? The iPhone gains "retina" status at 10.2", where the Pentile display of the SIII requires 15.9".

Most of that is trolling, but basically as I'm sure you already know the iPhone 5 screen is the best around, producing far better images than the SIII, as the iPhone has a properly-calibrated screen and the SIII doesn't; the colours are off and over-saturated. As a photographer you should appreciate that.
Claiming it has a worse screen than the competition is flying in the face of reality; it has better colour, better contrast, better brightness than the SIII, produce sharper images, and has less reflectiveness than any other handheld device. It is a quality screen by any measure regardless whether you prefer another phone. Calling 1136x640 pixels "low-res" for a 4" screen shows your lack of objectiveness. If we were talking about a Tablet, I'd agree that not having 720p would be bad, but we're not; this is a phone. Unlike things like a Galaxy Note, it isn't trying to pretend to be a tablet. It's designed to be a phone that can be operated by one hand and fits easily in a pocket.
Certainly the race to thinness that phones had for decades is questionable at the current level, companies always want something to brag about like the Razr and thinness, just as cameras had the Megapixel race or computers the Megahertz race, none of which had much to do with quality. But there's something to be said for a small light phone that is also a powerhouse. In the case of the iPhone, they have sacrificed battery life, I'd wish for it to be better and I would gladly sacrifice an amount of thinness and weight for it.
Not having LTE before now is hardly an issue as it is only really coming online now to any extent and more specifically the power-efficient chips have only now become available. Same for NFC; it is currently in its infancy and not much used anywhere, so having it is no great benefit. Some had hoped that having it in the iPhone would have kick-started its adoption. Having magnetic coils only makes your phone larger, and personally I hope they don't adopt it as I don't like the idea of another magnetic field being placed near my head, there are enough questions about longterm exposure to phone radiation (microwaves) causing cancers as it is. I don't like the idea of phones becoming wallets either.
As for durability, as I'm sure you know various sites have done drop tests and the iPhone 5 has proven to be extremely durable, tougher than the SIII.
I'm personally not in a hurry for a new phone and will look at what is available in a few years; my 4s serves me well for now.

NFC has been around for years. Its only new to iPhone users, and is used quite a bit, outside of the US. A lack of it in my iPhone 4S proved to be a bit annoying in Denmark, but that's aside from the point.
 

malcolmffc

macrumors member
Oct 30, 2007
78
63
I answered most of that for someone else on the thread....but the iPhone 5 display is very low res and the only phone pretending to be high end that isn't 720.

The fact that you think 720p matters on a tiny screen says volumes about you.
 

msandersen

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2003
217
31
Sydney, Australia
How is it absolute quadruple star, Techarchy? I'm curious. I think its a fine display...though I take issue with pentile making it feel oddly dull. Unlike the iPhone, the filter does not create the color (LED/LCD) but the screen itself lights up the colors. LCDs are passive, LEDs are active, and I think that LED is the technology of the future (and everyone would agree) and, like LCD has had time to mature, LEDs will catch up to the resolution on RGB within the next three years, as well as price. And will you still be bashing those displays when in 2-4 years, Apple releases their liquidmetal iPhone solution complete with RGB OLED display?

Of course not.
AMOLED is a technology to watch, but currently it is immature. LCD TV screens were originally panned, Plasma fans deriding its technical qualities. Now that LCD has matured, you don't find many, if any, Plasmas around. Apple has chosen the right technology for the current state of play, in the future when Amoled's colour balance, oversaturation, and power consumption issues are dealt with, Apple will presumably adopt it if they judge it to be a better or as-good for cheaper alternative. The iPhone 5's screen is superb, and Apple has properly calibrated the colours, unlike the Galaxy 3's display which is uncalibrated and badly oversaturated. Which is not a reflection of the display's potential.
 
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swagi

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2007
906
123
Fine by what standard?

The brightness sucks
Color reproduction is horrible
Clearly visible pentile artifacts
Burn in artifacts
Bluish green tint
Lousy power consumption
Wretched outdoor visibility

Really, what exactly does the GS3 display do right?

Just curious...what is your exact experience with the display? And what have you done about that in the settings?

The SG3 offers various color tone setting (to be exact 4) and every preset will cater to someone out there, e.g. I find the "video" preset oversaturated, but YMMV.

Second by default the SG3 uses very little power due to a setting of "Automatic Tone correction" where the phone analyses the pic and then decides how to display the content. Sometimes it's really annoying on text-heavy web pages to have the white so toned down...

...but nevertheless I can go at least two days on a charge in typical use. Hope you can say that for your phone
 

sazivad

macrumors 6502
Jul 21, 2011
327
0
New Jersey
1. Wanna bet DisplayMate takes money from Apple?
2. To anyone open minded enough to actually hold both phones.
3. So because apple marking says it's all you need, you need look no farther. Talk about being ignorant.
4. Comparing smartphone cameras since some fanboi would. imo all smartphone cameras are garbage, but then I'm a professional photographer, if you can't print a perfect 16x20, don't press the button, so this is a non-issue for me.
5. That it's the smallest screen and only one that doesn't do 720p.
6. And the battery-life on the 5 is even worse because Timmy has a hard-on for skinny, skanks and can't make it the same thickness with a decent battery.
7. If you want to compare the A6 to anything else on the market, Apple may as well close the company and go home. Sheep like you say it's about the experience, not processor specs so I didn't mention it, but Apple doesn't come close to competing there.
1. No. You can believe that, though.
2. So, you're going to speak for everyone who hasn't held both an iPhone 5 and a Galaxy S III? Is this issue not a matter of personal preference?
3. What I should've said is, "Siri was the main selling point for the iPhone 4S, which brought Apple in a lot of revenue." It's likely that the main feature of a product would greatly affect the sales of that product, yes?
4. Are you saying that only "fanbois" compare smartphone cameras?
5. For smallness, see this. For 720p, does it really matter, as long as the screen looks good? If I have a 720p screen, and an iPhone 5 screen, and there's no discernible difference between the two, apart from the number of pixels, should it matter? Again, personal preference, but I'm inclined to think it shouldn't. Probably because I'm an iSheeple who has a temple to Jobs in my house.
6. You're saying the iPhone 5 battery life is worse than the 4S? I'm not sure about that.
7. If my Samsung Galaxy S III LTE with a quad-core Samsung Exynos 1400 MHz performs worse than my iPhone 5 with a "mere" 2 core, 1 GHz processor, then it shouldn't matter what the raw specs are.
 
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zbarvian

macrumors 68010
Jul 23, 2011
2,004
2
My god:

iPhone 5 has better build quality, better screen quality, great internals, great camera, and solid battery life.

Samsung has larger display, good internals, good camera, poor materials, bad design (you can't say the S3 has a better physical design). AND IT'S LACKIN WIRELESS CHARJING DUDEZ..

Get a clue. NFC has tiny real-world utility right now. The iPhone 5 is the better overall device, but many people will still be drawn by the huge screen of the GS3.

HTC One X has always been better than the GS3, IMO.
 
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