No excuses to not go OLED anymore - Samsung Galaxy S2 shows the way

[Tarzanman]

I would never buy a phone made by Samsung.

Lol, then you'd better get rid of iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS and half of your iPhone 4.

Apple sources quite a few of their components from Samsung.

I prefer my IPS display over OLED.

Well, IPS won't be on the iPhone for long

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/apple-said-to-be-in-talks-with-samsung-to-buy-7-8-billion-worth/

The switch to OLED (whether its AMOLED+ or whatever) is coming.... and you'll probably be one of the first people to proclaim how awesome OLED is when apple gets it.

 

[mrochester]

This isn't about buying a Samsung product, this is about Apple making use of this new display technology.

I wonder what the colour accuracy is like on these new displays? OLED screens typically don't have very good colour accuracy and favour more a high contrast image (this is why they tend to 'pop' when you look at them as the bolder colours are typically more pleasing to the human eye).


No it isn't about buying a samsung product. But, I have a right to say about samsung products because I did not quote anyone. This is a discussion forum. I don't see how I violate the rule so much that you need to quote me. Stay away.

Why don't you start a new thread if you wish to discuss something that isn't relevant to the topic?

Now that there's no more Pentile Matrix, there's really very little reason to not go for OLED. It's just better in every way.

This! That pentile matrix made text and such look quite spidery. Not a patch on the iPhone 4 text rendering. I'm sure Apple will move to OLED as soon as they are possibly able to.

 

[ped]

Really? I don't think so ...

dual-core CPU
Most likely the next revision of the iPhone will use a dual general purpose CPU core processor. However, the A4 already uses a number of custom accelerator cores to accelerate common functions (e.g., video decoding). So the A4 is arguably already a multi-core CPU depending on how you define "core." Additionally, one of the reasons that Android phones makers are so hot and bothered about dual core CPUs (besides using it as a marketing buzz word) is that Android doesn't currently support GPU acceleration of the UI. This is why Android phones are a hair slower at UI functions than iPhones. So Android phones rely on the general purpose CPU for all these functions. Hence, adding a second CPU core will help a lot. For a system like the iPhone that already off-loads a lot of work to custom accelerators, adding a 2nd core might not be that noticeable.

16/32GB of storage
iPhone has had this since 3GS

1GB of RAM
iPhone 4 has 512MB of RAM. Besides looking good on a spec sheet, what do you need more RAM for? Note that an Xbox 360 has 512MB of RAM, and a PS3 only has 256MB. So if you use it efficiently, 512MB is plenty. Over provisioning a resource in a cell phone is a big deal, since it will draw additional power that you can't afford to waste.

8MP HD-video-recording camera
How many Mpixels do you need in your camera? You can make an 8x10 print at nearly 300ppi with 5 Mpixels. Do you print bigger than that? Adding more photosites will just hurt low light performance and burn more power for image processing and storage.

Don't miss that the Galaxy S2 also supports DLNA, which if I'm not mistaken allows streaming of video/audio wirelessly to TVs that support it. Pretty cool if it works as advertised.

 

[Interstella5555]

owned

wow, you really showed me.

 

[Krevnik]

This! That pentile matrix made text and such look quite spidery. Not a patch on the iPhone 4 text rendering. I'm sure Apple will move to OLED as soon as they are possibly able to.

The question I have (and haven't found a good resource on yet) is if this SAMOLED+ display has addressed the bit depth and saturation limitations of OLED tech.

As LCD has gone up to 24-bit color resolution, OLED has been stuck on 16-bit due to how it displays shades of a color (by flickering the pixel itself rapidly). To get 256 levels of color depth on each channel, the refresh rate seems to need to be very high.

Another issue I've seen with OLED displays that Samsung has used is that saturation tends to be very high. Oversaturated in a noticeable way. I'm wondering if this is just a driver choice on the part of Samsung ("look at our bright colors!") or a limitation of the tech that is still being worked out.

 

[Tarzanman]

Another issue I've seen with OLED displays that Samsung has used is that saturation tends to be very high. Oversaturated in a noticeable way. I'm wondering if this is just a driver choice on the part of Samsung ("look at our bright colors!") or a limitation of the tech that is still being worked out.

What I have read is that the different colored diodes inside an AMOLED do not degrade at an equal rate. Supposedly, the blue fades faster than the red and green, so that once the phone is 'middle aged', you get a more balanced white/gray.

As for the saturation, done by choice would be my guess. That is what makes the displays 'pop' when you're playing a video. They look like mini plasma TVs

 

[KoukiFC3S]

Power consumption is too high on those AMOLED. Yea with black colors it doesn't use much, but almost all websites display a lot of white.

 

[bobr1952]

cool...







really? you guys do know that uses samsungs displays, flash memory, and even Apple's A4 chip , my backup for my iPhone is have an older samsung smartphone and some flip phones and they have never given me any trouble...https://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/14/apple-set-to-become-samsungs-biggest-customer-with-7-8-billion-in-contracts/

Must be a different guy in charge of Blu Rays and TVs.

 

[mrochester]

The question I have (and haven't found a good resource on yet) is if this SAMOLED+ display has addressed the bit depth and saturation limitations of OLED tech.

As LCD has gone up to 24-bit color resolution, OLED has been stuck on 16-bit due to how it displays shades of a color (by flickering the pixel itself rapidly). To get 256 levels of color depth on each channel, the refresh rate seems to need to be very high.

Another issue I've seen with OLED displays that Samsung has used is that saturation tends to be very high. Oversaturated in a noticeable way. I'm wondering if this is just a driver choice on the part of Samsung ("look at our bright colors!") or a limitation of the tech that is still being worked out.

Personally I prefer the more saturated image - looks more pleasing on the eye! And on a device where colour accuracy isn't really important, I think having a nicely saturated image is preferable over a more accurate but duller looking screen.

 

[RuggedPro]

I would never buy a phone made by Samsung.

lol.

Apple said to be in talks with Samsung to buy $7.8 billion worth of components

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/apple-said-to-be-in-talks-with-samsung-to-buy-7-8-billion-worth/

 

[ped]

Power consumption is too high on those AMOLED. Yea with black colors it doesn't use much, but almost all websites display a lot of white.

That's only because Samsung hasn't started using more than the red material from Universal Display. They may be using red and green now on the S2 since they're claiming an 18% decrease in power consumption for the S2's SAMOLED+ screen. We'll soon know.

But in any event, once Samsung (and others) adopt the red, green (and eventually blue) material from Universal Display OLEDs will be easily beating LCDs in power consumption, even on white screens.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Even if the battery life concerns weren't there, it's not clear Samsung could even keep up with the demand for AMOLED screens on an iPhone.

Remember the shortage of OLED screens causing the Incredible to go SLCD? They sold those by the tens/hundreds of thousands. Apple sells iPhones by the millions.

 

[Ace134blue]

OLED is just a gimmick. Besides the less power usage, it is not way better than any other LCD technology. Refresh rate is also not 600hz. Its several subfields that are 60hz each that add up to 600hz(which Ive heard from multiple people), much like plasma tvs. The contrast ratio is no different either, just because they can turn off leds in black areas doesn't mean it gives better quality overall, just in contrast specs which is usually meaningless. The ONLY reason it looks good in that site you gave us is because it was comparison of a 4+ year old laptop with a 500:1 contrast ratio with a low res of 1024x768.

Really? I don't think so ...

dual-core CPU
Most likely the next revision of the iPhone will use a dual general purpose CPU core processor. However, the A4 already uses a number of custom accelerator cores to accelerate common functions (e.g., video decoding). So the A4 is arguably already a multi-core CPU depending on how you define "core." Additionally, one of the reasons that Android phones makers are so hot and bothered about dual core CPUs (besides using it as a marketing buzz word) is that Android doesn't currently support GPU acceleration of the UI. This is why Android phones are a hair slower at UI functions than iPhones. So Android phones rely on the general purpose CPU for all these functions. Hence, adding a second CPU core will help a lot. For a system like the iPhone that already off-loads a lot of work to custom accelerators, adding a 2nd core might not be that noticeable.

^^ this is all wrong.

 

[ped]

Interesting new webpage on the differences between the older OLED and the SAMOLED+ screen:

http://www.oled-info.com/super-amol...nfo+(OLED-Info:+OLED+tech+news+and+resources)

Earlier today we posted about the Super AMOLED plus resolution - and now we got our answer. It turns out that my calculations about the pentile matrix were incorrect - it fact it uses 2 sub-pixels for each pixel while a 'real' RGB matrix (or Real-Stripe as Samsung calls it) uses 3 sub-pixels for each pixels - and here's your 50% increase. Here's Samsung's own image showing the difference:

It also turns out that a Real-Stripe matrix also takes up more space per pixel. This explains why a 4.3" display that uses Real-Stripe has the same resolution as a 4" with a penTile matrix. But this display should actually be clearer because of the added sub-pixels and better matrix design.

One final bit of good news - according to Samsung, Super AMOLED Plus displays are not only clearer but they're also thinner, brighter and uses 18% less energy than the old Super AMOLED displays!

Nice video mini-review of the Galaxy S2:

http://www.oled-info.com/samsungs-g...nfo+(OLED-Info:+OLED+tech+news+and+resources)

 

[Savor]

Some of the naysayers of OLED need to look up its superiority over LCD.

This thread isn't really about Samsung. They are a volume-selling hardware company that is also irresponsible at software updates. But when it comes to hardware, they do like to push the boundaries.

Again, look up OLED and not compare ppi or resolution like you are pretending you may know anything about looking at screens because Steve Jobs tells us it is "Retina Display" or whatever. These manufacturers keep milking on outdated technology. OLED is the future. And I pray we don't just pass by the 2D OLED over autostereoscopic (glass-free) OLED screens.

 

[Merkie]

Really? I don't think so ...
8MP HD-video-recording camera
How many Mpixels do you need in your camera? You can make an 8x10 print at nearly 300ppi with 5 Mpixels. Do you print bigger than that? Adding more photosites will just hurt low light performance and burn more power for image processing and storage.

Does anyone ever print a cell phone photo? Please stop using metaphors from 1999 k thx.

 

[naths]

im currently using a iphone4 and a samsung nexus s,the build quality of the nexus is good but not great,but gingerbread is awesome software,the iphone is much better build quality but needs a bit more customobility on the software side still great though,as for this galaxy S2,it could have a quad-core processor,5 gig of ram,1tb storage...etc etc..its still a samsung,and the TERRIBLE touch-wiz UI,no support,months behind with updates..etc....the only android phones that are good are HTC,iv had a few....solid great phones,and after MWC in barcelona we will see what their latest offerings will be,one things for sure they will be streets ahead of any other phone manufactuor...inc apple...

 

[ped]

OLED is just a gimmick. Besides the less power usage, it is not way better than any other LCD technology. Refresh rate is also not 600hz. Its several subfields that are 60hz each that add up to 600hz(which Ive heard from multiple people), much like plasma tvs. The contrast ratio is no different either, just because they can turn off leds in black areas doesn't mean it gives better quality overall, just in contrast specs which is usually meaningless. The ONLY reason it looks good in that site you gave us is because it was comparison of a 4+ year old laptop with a 500:1 contrast ratio with a low res of 1024x768.

I was going to go on a lengthy post telling you what you were wrong about (pretty much everything you said), but then I thought "why bother?", as it's obvious to everyone who knows anything about OLED that you're wrong.

http://www.oled-info.com/tags/3d-oleds?page=1

 

[foodle]

Does anyone ever print a cell phone photo? Please stop using metaphors from 1999 k thx.

Then there's no point in a megapixel race for phone cameras. Then you're just wasting processing power and storage on pixels you're never going to need.

^^ this is all wrong.

Wow, your amazing technical argument has won me over ... also maybe you should learn to use the forum quote function.

And what pray tell do you think is wrong:
- A4 uses custom accelerators
- Android does not use GPU acceleration in the UI
- iPhone 5 will likely have dual core CPU

 

[dccorona]

Don't knock it till you've tried it. ;-)

The site exists as information - it's not like I'm charging for access or even making money on it.

yea but what on earth is this quote all about?
"a dual-core processor (possibly the first phone to have this - I haven't heard of one up to this point except on paper)"

OLED is just a gimmick. Besides the less power usage, it is not way better than any other LCD technology. Refresh rate is also not 600hz. Its several subfields that are 60hz each that add up to 600hz(which Ive heard from multiple people), much like plasma tvs. The contrast ratio is no different either, just because they can turn off leds in black areas doesn't mean it gives better quality overall, just in contrast specs which is usually meaningless. The ONLY reason it looks good in that site you gave us is because it was comparison of a 4+ year old laptop with a 500:1 contrast ratio with a low res of 1024x768.

use a Zune HD for 5 minutes and then try to tell me the better contrast ratio is useless...it looks far superior, especially with black on the screen. Makes blacks on an iPhone look blue

 

[Krevnik]

What I have read is that the different colored diodes inside an AMOLED do not degrade at an equal rate. Supposedly, the blue fades faster than the red and green, so that once the phone is 'middle aged', you get a more balanced white/gray.

They adjust the size of the different colored subpixels to account for things like that, last time I checked up on the tech. Part of the reason for the SAMOLED displays not having full RGB triplets per pixel.

Personally I prefer the more saturated image - looks more pleasing on the eye! And on a device where colour accuracy isn't really important, I think having a nicely saturated image is preferable over a more accurate but duller looking screen.

I'd rather have the display be accurate, and the software decide if it should be saturated or not. Not saying that OLED can't be accurate, but with Samsung shipping nothing but oversaturated displays, it's hard to tell which it is. It does work on more abstract UI design (like a lot of WP7, and even a lot of iOS), but it winds up just looking terrible with video and photos, IMO. Drowns out details.

 

[vincenz]

What's so special about that screen? You can see the pixels

 

[ped]

yea but what on earth is this quote all about?
"a dual-core processor (possibly the first phone to have this - I haven't heard of one up to this point except on paper)"

It means I haven't seen any other cellphone using a dual-core CPU.

What's so special about that screen? You can see the pixels

Are you (jokingly, I hope) referring to the extreme close-up?

 

[Merkie]

Then there's no point in a megapixel race for phone cameras. Then you're just wasting processing power and storage on pixels you're never going to need.

I agree, it's just that the metaphor he used made my toes curl.

 

[ped]

Then there's no point in a megapixel race for phone cameras. Then you're just wasting processing power and storage on pixels you're never going to need.

Not printing pictures from your cellphone isn't the same as not keeping and viewing those images (on computer monitors, TVs, etc). And there it's good to have high-resolution since you never know how high the resolutions of displays will be in the future.