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The screen is just astonishing. Going back to the 3GS is painful....

W

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,056
3,978
Seattle
I know it's been said many times, but it must be said again. The screen is phenomenal. Just incredible. Better than any device I've ever seen.

ALSO!

The contrast difference between my 3GS and the 4 is so obvious as to be laughable. At any angle, the iPhone 4 looks so crisp and NOT washed out that it truly looks like a backlit print in an art store. Blacks wash out so quickly on the 3GS, whereas they maintain very deep blacks on the 4.

I'm truly in awe every time I pick up the iPhone 4. It really is THAT gorgeous to look at.

*dribbles some more*

I tried to use my 3GS a little tonight, and before I had an iPhone 4 I recognized it wasn't very high res compared to Androids etc etc, but MAN does it now feel SO much more dated!
 
Well after using my iPhone 5 with its uber-retina display for a few hours, I can't even bear to look at that awful low resolution iPhone 4 screen anymore.
 
The pixel density on the iPhone 4's Retina Display and the crispness that this technology delivers is astonishing, but it ends there.

While pictures and videos look great, the overall GUI, icons, and menus look muted, a tad washed, and a bit drab. I noticed this while looking at the Engadget photos and videos, but thought that the true quality of the display couldn't be captured in pictures or videos.

When I turned on my iPhone 4 today and went to the home screen, after the initial amazement of the sharp icons and text, I quickly noticed that visible contrast and color vibrancy were lacking.

It's sort of like when you buy a new MacBook or iMac, the displays looks dull out of the box until you calibrate them to add some richness. Well, unfortunately Apple doesn't allow us to change the display settings on the iPhone. I would love a contrast or vibrancy slider placed right under the brightness control within the iPhone's settings.

Like I said, your pictures and videos will look good, but no colors 'pop' within the GUI. The keyboard keys look a bit drab and off-white, the blue-gray GUI elements are more of a dull teal blue versus the more bright and vibrant hue as seen on the 3G. Whites overall are bright, but not milky soft white-white.

The color of the icons on the homepage look better, but a bit washy at 100% brightness, but quickly and dramatically lose contrast as you reduce brightness. The icons, menus and overall GUI on my 3G look bright, vibrant and contrasty next to the iPhone 4. However, the 3G looks like a blurry mess in terms of text and image sharpness. It's a shame that Apple could not give us the best of both worlds.

However, if you're coming from the 3GS, you won't notice or care as (and IMHO) that was the worst display in iPhone history (washed out). Coming from the rich and contrasty 3G, you're going to have to get used the lack of vibrancy of the iPhone 4's GUI.

It's almost as if there is a cast or a hue over the display that doesn't allow whites to pop. My eyes get totally distracted by overly (and unnecessarily) 'warm' display. The 3G (or at least the display that was used in *my* 3G) was the happy medium.
 
Sowelu said:
The pixel density on the iPhone 4's Retina Display and the crispness that this technology delivers is astonishing, but it ends there.

While pictures and videos look great, the overall GUI, icons, and menus look muted, a tad washed, and a bit drab. I noticed this while looking at the Engadget photos and videos, but thought that the true quality of the display couldn't be captured in pictures or videos.

When I turned on my iPhone 4 today and went to the home screen, after the initial amazement of the sharp icons and text, I quickly noticed that visible contrast and color vibrancy were lacking.

It's sort of like when you buy a new MacBook or iMac, the displays looks dull out of the box until you calibrate them to add some richness. Well, unfortunately Apple doesn't allow us to change the display settings on the iPhone. I would love a contrast or vibrancy slider placed right under the brightness control within the iPhone's settings.

Like I said, your pictures and videos will look good, but no colors 'pop' within the GUI. The keyboard keys look a bit drab and off-white, the blue-gray GUI elements are more of a dull teal blue versus the more bright and vibrant hue as seen on the 3G. Whites overall are bright, but not milky soft white-white.

The color of the icons on the homepage look better, but a bit washy at 100% brightness, but quickly and dramatically lose contrast as you reduce brightness. The icons, menus and overall GUI on my 3G look bright, vibrant and contrasty next to the iPhone 4. However, the 3G looks like a blurry mess in terms of text and image sharpness. It's a shame that Apple could not give us the best of both worlds.

However, if you're coming from the 3GS, you won't notice or care as (and IMHO) that was the worst display in iPhone history (washed out). Coming from the rich and contrasty 3G, you're going to have to get used the lack of vibrancy of the iPhone 4's GUI.

It's almost as if there is a cast or a hue over the display that doesn't allow whites to pop. My eyes get totally distracted by overly (and unnecessarily) 'warm' display. The 3G (or at least the display that was used in *my* 3G) was the happy medium.
Click to expand...

You're dead on with this. As a graphic designer, I can pick out things like this instantly. It's one of the first things I noticed compared to my 3G.

To add to what you said, my 32GB is actually pretty cool in color temperature, leaning towards the higher end of Kelvin scale. So is my friend's 32GB. But my girlfriend's 16GB is decidedly warmer. Almost too warm. Something in the between the two casts would have been perfect.

Overall, no spots, no defects, and a very nice display.
 
Sowelu said:
The pixel density on the iPhone 4's Retina Display and the crispness that this technology delivers is astonishing, but it ends there.

While pictures and videos look great, the overall GUI, icons, and menus look muted, a tad washed, and a bit drab. I noticed this while looking at the Engadget photos and videos, but thought that the true quality of the display couldn't be captured in pictures or videos.

When I turned on my iPhone 4 today and went to the home screen, after the initial amazement of the sharp icons and text, I quickly noticed that visible contrast and color vibrancy were lacking.

It's sort of like when you buy a new MacBook or iMac, the displays looks dull out of the box until you calibrate them to add some richness. Well, unfortunately Apple doesn't allow us to change the display settings on the iPhone. I would love a contrast or vibrancy slider placed right under the brightness control within the iPhone's settings.

Like I said, your pictures and videos will look good, but no colors 'pop' within the GUI. The keyboard keys look a bit drab and off-white, the blue-gray GUI elements are more of a dull teal blue versus the more bright and vibrant hue as seen on the 3G. Whites overall are bright, but not milky soft white-white.

The color of the icons on the homepage look better, but a bit washy at 100% brightness, but quickly and dramatically lose contrast as you reduce brightness. The icons, menus and overall GUI on my 3G look bright, vibrant and contrasty next to the iPhone 4. However, the 3G looks like a blurry mess in terms of text and image sharpness. It's a shame that Apple could not give us the best of both worlds.

However, if you're coming from the 3GS, you won't notice or care as (and IMHO) that was the worst display in iPhone history (washed out). Coming from the rich and contrasty 3G, you're going to have to get used the lack of vibrancy of the iPhone 4's GUI.

It's almost as if there is a cast or a hue over the display that doesn't allow whites to pop. My eyes get totally distracted by overly (and unnecessarily) 'warm' display. The 3G (or at least the display that was used in *my* 3G) was the happy medium.
Click to expand...

I noticed the lack of color contrast on my 3GS display compared to my 3g, but I think that this retina display is amazing. Either mine is amazing or yours is defective because the whites pop clear on mine(they area as white as the LED flash.)
 
Something new that I noticed.....


I'm a big fan of polarized sunglasses. With the previous models of the iPhone, I couldn't view the screen in landscape mode, it would fade to black when wearing the polarized sunglasses. The iPhone 4 screen doesn't do this. Instead it gets a very slight rainbow tint (common with polarizing glasses) but the screen is still very readable.

I know that I'm in the minority here, but I'm stoked just the same.
 
I watched Katy Perry's California Gurls in 720p on it...almost swallowed it like a candy bar. Can't wait to show this beautiful beast off!
 
The screen is amazing. Puts previous iPhone screens to shame. It truly does. No issues here with my screen.
 
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