Tim Cook calls Samsung’s OLED screens “awful”, is he right?

[The Game 161]

thoughts?

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, is currently giving a talk right now at the Goldman Sachs’ Technology and Internet conference. Normally we wouldn’t care about this, but Tim just said something that got under our skin. Here’s the full quote:

“When you look at displays, some people are focused on size. There’s a few other things about the display that are important. Some people use OLED displays, the color saturation is awful. The Retina display is twice as bright as an OLED display. I only bring these points up to say there are many attributes to the display, and what Apple does is sweat every detail. We care about all of them and we want the best display, and I think we’ve got it. I’m not gonna comment about what we’re gonna do in the future, but it’s always broader than that which can be defined by a simple number.”

It’s clear that by “some people” he actually means Samsung. So is Tim right? This is going to upset some of you, but we kind of agree with him. Look, Samsung’s OLED screens are great. This writer just got himself a second generation Note and is in total love, but there’s still something to be said about a display that’s properly calibrated.

We can only dream of the day that Samsung starts properly calibrating their high end displays. Maybe they’ll start with the GS4? That’s not to say that OLED is awful, but even the hardcore Samsung fans have to admit that they’re a bit … off.

Now as for which Android device has the best screen currently on the market, that’s an easy answer: HTC’s Butterfly. That phone uses LCD panels from Sharp and JDI. We know Samsung knows how to make stunning panels, just one look at a Nexus 10 is all you need, so here’s hoping they bring that talent to their OLED unit.

http://www.androidauthority.com/tim-...g-oled-155664/

[matttye]

They are over saturated but I like that

[blackhand1001]

No he is not right. I prefer amoled as do many others. You can calibrate them fine and they have much better contrast. Tim cook is a sore loser who feels he has to bash the competition to make up for his products deficiencies. The whole reason they haven't released a larger phone is because iOS has no mechanism to scale properly to different screen sizes (and resolutions) without having to recompile and modify every app. Android, WP7, blackberry 10, and even webos all had this ability. Take the note 2 and the galaxy s3. They both have the same resolution, yet do to the lcd density variable in android the same apps will display more content on the note 2 without any modifications.

When apple designed iOS they assumed that the only resolution they would ever use was 320x480. That was their huge mistake that they will have to deal with. Dumb decision that competitors don't have to deal with.

Also notice that he didn't mention the droid dna or one x both of which have better lcd screens.

[maflynn]

Of course he's going to criticize a competitor's screen and promote his product in turn. Like Steve Jobs, I take anything he says with a grain of salt. His job is to make money for the shareholders, taking pot shots at samsung is just part of his job

[maxosx]

Although I was surprised to hear him issue a cheap shot, what can you expect from any Apple executive.

Narcissism & arrogance is baked into Apples culture. It was modeled & encouraged by Steve himself.

[mattopotamus]

Originally Posted by maflynn

Of course he's going to criticize a competitor's screen and promote his product in turn. Like Steve Jobs, I take anything he says with a grain of salt. His job is to make money for the shareholders, taking pot shots at samsung is just part of his job

I was about to say something similar. It is not a coincident that samsung just announced OLED's and these statements come out.

[onthecouchagain]

The main draw with LCD is the supposed ability to see the screen better in sunlight. Since getting the Nexus 4, I've learned that LCD or AMOLED, it makes no difference -- can see neither in the sun without boosting the brightness to nearly maximum.

My point is, I wouldn't mind going back to Amoled in the S4.

[blackhand1001]

Originally Posted by onthecouchagain

The main draw with LCD is the supposed ability to see the screen better in sunlight. Since getting the Nexus 4, I've learned that LCD or AMOLED, it makes no difference -- can see neither in the sun without boosting the brightness to nearly maximum.

My point is, I wouldn't mind going back to Amoled in the S4.

Exactly.

[Zwhaler]

iPhone screen is wayyy brighter to be sure, the only time it helps is in direct sunlight you can see the screen better. Most of the time indoors the Note 2's screen is too bright anyway and the contrast is superior.

[siiip5]

Not sure how Tim Cook can objective OLED screen technology, since it is used in very high end TV's. Samsung utilizes the "stock" saturation on their phones the way they do for one reason- battery life. Personally, I like and prefer the cooler colored screen. (I set my TV's up the same way. I am not found of displays that are so bright, that you can't dim them enough at night to use comfortably.)

Now, anyone can very easily change the display to render more precise colors on phones like the Note2, but I happen to think the S3 and Note2 already have fantastic screens, with good color and saturation. And they are the equivalent of Apple's description of "retina" displays (although if you get within a few inches of the screen, you can see pixels, but you have to look really close.)

As of 2013 though, this sort of minor quip should be a thing of the past, at least on flagship OEM phones. The new 1080p screens with 440+ppi will bring in some very awesome displays, although Samsung is supposed to be using their new pixel layout for very precise colors and still maintain good saturation (with an increase in brightness for use oputdoors.) This will be on the 4.99" S4 display, so it should look stunning. Of course, all rumors and vaporware for now.

Bring on the new Nokia Lumia, HTC One, S4 and Note 3, Motorola X, LG Optimus, Xperia, etc...

[vikingjunior]

Even as a android lover he is right about Samsung screens they lack true whites.

[F123D]

That answer was expected given who it came from.

[xraydoc]

My $0.02....

Owning both an S3 and an iP5, I can say that the S3's screen has a much more hyper-saturated, cartoon-like look. It makes things "pop" but it's nowhere close to accurate (at least compared to all my other video devices). The iP5, while lacking the "pop" and ultra-deep blacks OLED can provide, is much more true-to-source.

[Fernandez21]

I agree with him, it's one of the reasons I've never been interested in a S3, that and design.

Now this doesn't mean OLEDcant improve and be better in the future, but right now I would rather have a good LCD. Can't wait to see the LCD3 that will come out with the M7, suppose to be better than the screen on the DroidDNA, which is the best screen of any smart phone IMO.

[Chundles]

They look oily and I've never seen one with a decent white balance. They either look green or blue.

[blackburn]

Originally Posted by Chundles

They look oily and I've never seen one with a decent white balance. They either look green or blue.

I agree. Never seen an oled screen with good whites. Even the S3.
Anyway the worst offenders in the oled are the fact that many are uneven and the dreaded pentile arrangement of the sub pixels.

(I've tested various devices with oled screens and use one daily, the one I liked the most was on a lumia 900.)

[chrfr]

Originally Posted by Chundles

They look oily and I've never seen one with a decent white balance. They either look green or blue.

I agree, the OLED screens stand out to me as truly awful color. Perhaps it's possible to establish a different base calibration, but as it stands the phones out there that use those displays are unacceptable to me.

[Tinmania]

Originally Posted by chrfr

I agree, the OLED screens stand out to me as truly awful color. Perhaps it's possible to establish a different base calibration, but as it stands the phones out there that use those displays are unacceptable to me.

I love the vibrant color and it was what got me to go for a Note 2. I didn't do much with the S3 but I like how it looks too. Mostly I like the true blacks, which many seem to ignore even though it is in my opinion very important on a display.

On my Note 2 I can easily change the Screen Mode which can change the color dramatically. When set to Movie it looks to me like my iPhone. But I actually prefer the Dynamic setting which is even more vibrant than Standard.




Michael

[paolo-]

I personally find them terrible. I've never seen one with correct white balance, the saturation is over the top and the contrast is weird as well. It might be energy efficient and ok when looking at a gui but I can't stand it for photos or video. I'm very pleased with my N4's display. Maybe they could make the auto brightness adjustment a bit better though.

[Dustman]

Pentile stinks. It's blurrier when compared to a non pentile; ie Note II vs GSIII. That being said, the Super AMOLED Plus on my T-Mobile S2 is awesome. Lower resolution, but great for media consumption in my opinion because the oversaturated colors are beautiful and make any video look great. Not accurate, but beautiful. You either like it or you dont... just like you either like android or you dont.

[Tinmania]

Originally Posted by paolo-

I personally find them terrible. I've never seen one with correct white balance, the saturation is over the top and the contrast is weird as well. It might be energy efficient and ok when looking at a gui but I can't stand it for photos or video. I'm very pleased with my N4's display. Maybe they could make the auto brightness adjustment a bit better though.

I had a Nexus 4 and a Note 2 side-by-side. When the Note 2 was set to Movie mode it looked like the Nexus 4 (which to me is not as nice).

Seems to me Samsung believes more people like the display to be vibrant and that is exactly why they set the default to that. If most people preferred it more subdued they could very easily have that as the default. Don't you think they thought of that?



Michael

[thekev]

Originally Posted by maflynn

His job is to make money for the shareholders, taking pot shots at samsung is just part of his job

Boasting shouldn't have to be part of the job. In my opinion it's unnecessary if you're completely confident in your own technology.

[dkersten]

Originally Posted by blackhand1001

When apple designed iOS they assumed that the only resolution they would ever use was 320x480. That was their huge mistake that they will have to deal with. Dumb decision that competitors don't have to deal with

I'm not sure that is true. If I remember correctly ios was initially developed for a tablet. There is no way apple could think they could get away with that resolution on a 9.7 in display

[blackhand1001]

Originally Posted by dkersten

I'm not sure that is true. If I remember correctly ios was initially developed for a tablet. There is no way apple could think they could get away with that resolution on a 9.7 in display

Its true. Every app only ran at that resolution until 2010. The os has no DPI scaling at all nor a flow layout that scales to different screen sizes and ratios.

[Tinmania]

Originally Posted by blackhand1001

Its true. Every app only ran at that resolution until 2010.

From what I remember there was a different group at Apple working on iOS for tablets than for iPhone/iPod Touch. The iPad launched with a unique version of iOS. They weren't merged together until iOS 4.2 if I remember correctly.

So it would seem likely the iPad group was working with the increased screen size much earlier than 2010 (probably while the main group was already working with retina for the iphone).




Michael