The Samsung Galaxy S smartphones are by far the most popular Android smartphones , and are flagship products for Samsung to show off its belated and greatest OLED display technology . The video display on the Galaxy S4 is a major sweetening and advance over the Galaxy S III — it has a full HD 1920×1080 resolving presentation with 441 Pixels Per Inch . It is also better calibrate , brilliant , and bigger . We ’ll analyze the Galaxy S4 with an in - deepness documentary serial publication of Lab trial and measurement included below — and size it up next to the competition .
Samsung supply DisplayMate Technologies with an other production unit to test and analyse for our Display Technology Shoot - Out article series . It is likely that the retail units will have additional video display firmware and computer software tweaks and improvements over our test unit . If that is the case , we will update the article when our building block is upgrade by Samsung .
OLED Displays
While most fluid displays are still LCD based , OLEDs have been capturing a apace increase share of the mobile presentation marketplace . The technology is still very Modern , with the Google Nexus One smartphone , launch in January 2010 , as the first OLED presentation Cartesian product that received far-flung notoriety . In a span of just a few geezerhood this young exhibit technology has improved at a very impressive rate , now challenging the carrying out of the best liquid crystal display . Virtually all of the OLED displays used in mobile devices are produce by Samsung Display . We have provided an in - deepness analysis on the evolution of OLEDs in ourGalaxy S I , S II , and S III Display Technology Shoot - Outarticle .
The Shoot-Out
To examine the operation of the Samsung Galaxy S4 we hunt down our in - deepness series ofMobile Display Technology Shoot - OutLab tests and admit the Galaxy S III so as to watch how OLED displays have ameliorate , and the iPhone 5 to define how it compares to a lead high - end LCD presentation . We take display quality very gravely and provide in - depth accusative depth psychology side - by - side comparison free-base on detailed research lab measurement and extensive look at tests with both trial pattern and test images . To see how far smartphones have progressed in just three years see our2010 Smartphone Display Shoot - Out , and for a existent account lesson see our original2006 Smartphone Display Shoot - Out .
Results Highlights
In this Results surgical incision we provide Highlights of the comprehensive Lab measurements and extensive side - by - side visual comparisons using test photos , test images and mental test radiation pattern that are presented in later sections . TheComparison Tablein the following section summarizes the lab measurement in the accompany categories : Screen Reflections , Brightness and Contrast , Colors and Intensities , Viewing Angles , Display Power Consumption , Running prison term on Battery . you could also skip the Highlights and go direct to theConclusions .
By far the most interesting late development in smartphones is a full gamy Definition 1920×1080 presentation in a 5.5 inch or smaller screen size – the same pixel resolution as your 50 column inch bread and butter elbow room HDTV – that ’s very telling ! First of all , this is a benchmark spec with rattling marketing superpower for driving consumer gross revenue . But there are other important reasons for proceed to Full HD in a smartphone — there is a tremendous amount of HD 1920×1080 content available . Displaying that content at its aboriginal answer ( without the need to rescale up or down ) results in the good potential image quality , plus rescaling requires processing overhead that apply ( wastefulness ) precious shelling power . The Galaxy S4 is one of the first few smartphones to declare oneself Full HD .
Apple started a major revolution in display merchandising by introducing their “ Retina Display ” with 326 Pixels Per Inch ( PPI ) on the iPhone 4 in 2010 . While not tantamount to the resolution of the human retina , hoi polloi with 20/20 Vision can not fix the somebody pixels when the showing is support at normal viewing aloofness of 10.5 inches or more . It get a display PPI and Mega Pixel warfare like to what happened with smartphone digital television camera , which is still an ongoing wild goose chase now into the stratosphere .
Hopefully the same thing wo n’t happen with mobile video display because there are tradeoffs involved that affect other important display operation issues . The real question is how high do we require to go before reaching a practical optical PPI limit ? I ’ll cover this in an upcoming article . However , a raw propagation of 400 + PPI exhibit is already here , driven by the desire to produce a Full HD 1920×1080 display on a smartphone silver screen . The Galaxy S4 has an unbelievable 441 Pixels Per Inch . People with 20/20 Vision can not solve the individual pixels on a 441 PPI exhibit for viewing length of 7.8 in or more , which is exceedingly close for viewing a 5.0 in show .
The pixel on most current organic light-emitting diode displays have only 2 sub - picture element in each picture element alternatively of the standard 3 Red , Green , and Blue sub - pixels found in most other video display and display technology . Half of the PenTile pixels have Green and Red sub - pel and the other half have Green and puritanic sub - pixels , so Red and Blue are always shared by two conterminous pixels . This do PenTile displays easier to fabricate and at a downhearted cost . It also improves cleverness and reduces aging effects . Because the eye has lower visual acuteness for people of colour this works very well for photographic and video images . But for digitally generated fine text and graphics with exact pixel layout the eye can visually detect the reduced telephone number of Red and racy zep - pixels unless the number of Red and Blue Sub - Pixels Per Inch is very high-pitched . And it is for the Galaxy S4 – there are 312 Red and Blue Sub - Pixels Per Inch , which is only a few per centum lower than Apple ’s Benchmark 326 PPI iPhone Retina Display . Visually the Galaxy S4 PenTile display delivers first-class ocular acuity across the display board .
Most consumers are not aware that LCD are actually non - linear analog displays that perform really well only as the result of extremely refined electronics and careful factory standardization . This is the same reason why even aliveness room HDTVs provide coarse and imprecise gloss and image controls , and why professional calibration is desirable . One interesting technical development is that the latest OLED display use digital Pulse Width Modulation to specify the brightness level of every sub - picture element . This make it possible for OLED displays like the Galaxy S4 to precisely diverge and directly digitally control their chroma Scales , Gamma values , White Points , color calibration and color direction of the display in microcode or software . Plasma and DLP display also practice digital Pulse Width Modulation , but the OLED display perform better because of high frequencies and fast reply time .
One crucial program of the Digital Display Technology mentioned above is that this makes it comparatively easy to provide a number of different display standardisation options and mount that will appeal to disagree consumer tastes and preferences under various viewing conditions and applications . The Galaxy S4 ( like its bigger full cousin the Galaxy Note II ) includes 5 user selectable Screen Modes : Adaptive , Dynamic , Standard , Professional Photo , and Movie , which we hash out below and include mensuration for the Standard and Movie Modes .
The Galaxy S4 Movie Mode delivers the closest Color and White Point calibration to the standard sRGB / Rec.709 consumer content used in digital camera , HDTV , internet , and data processor content , including virtually all photos and videos . Use the Movie Mode for the good color and effigy accuracy . Its Green primary is still somewhat too saturated – hopefully it will get intone down some as in the Galaxy Note II , which is very accurate . The Professional Photo Mode leave a fair accurate standardisation to the Adobe RGB standard , which is seldom useable in consumers showing , and is very utilitarian for high - end digital picture taking applications . The Standard Mode is the default mode for the Galaxy S4 – it delivers higher semblance saturation , which appeals to some , and is a better choice for high ambient low-cal viewing condition , which moisten out image colors and line . This fashion is very similar to the Professional Photo Mode , but has a more bluish White Point . Its Green primary quill is also too saturated , but observably less than in the Galaxy S III . The Dynamic Mode produces the most vibrant image and word-painting quality .
OLED displays are in the main not as bright as the shining LCD displays . There are two reasons for this : first , while OLED business leader efficiency has been steady ameliorate they are not yet as office efficient as the best LCD . secondly : there is a selling compulsion for grow extremist slender and lightweight smartphones , which sacrifices much needed battery mightiness . Since the display often apply 50 percent or more of the entire smartphone power , various display power direction scheme are frequently used . The Galaxy S4 uses one innovative approach to overcome this — when Automatic Brightness is turn on , the Peak Brightness becomes significantly bright in high ambient firing than is possible with Manual Brightness , up to as eminent as 475 cd / m2 , which is 34 percent high than is possible with Manual Brightness . This is done so that users ca n’t permanently set the smartness to very eminent value , which would ladder down the shelling quickly .
Smartphones are never used in the dark . In fact , they are often used in very bright ambient lighting , which can importantly degrade and wash out their image and picture timber . The Galaxy S4 perform very well in high ambient ignition in spite of its typically lower screen brightness level because it has one of the smallest concealment Reflectance values of any display we have ever tested , and its more saturated colors can aid shorten through the reflected low-cal glower . When Automatic Brightness is turned on , the screen cleverness increase considerably at high degree of ambient lighting as advert above . The Galaxy S4 is then comparable or brighter than most LCD smartphones , but still 15 percent less than the much smaller iPhone 5 , which is the brightest smartphone we have try out .
The Galaxy S4 Movie Mode provides very overnice , pleasing , and accurate gloss and picture tone . The Movie Mode is recommend for indoor and humbled ambient light view . The Standard Mode has significantly more vibrant and concentrated color . Some people like that . The Standard Mode is advocate for medium levels of ambient light look at because it offset some of the reflected glare that wash out the images . The active Mode provides improbably powerful colouring that are overwhelming in small ambient inflammation . The dynamical Mode is recommended for high ambient ignitor viewing only . For all of the Modes a slender fleeceable vividness tint was sometimes noticeable , but not obnoxious . It results from the Green primary election being more saturated than the Red and Blue primaries . readapt the internal colour management could fix this .
The Galaxy S4 show is a major sweetening and betterment over the Galaxy S III – a good reason to consider swop up . The screen has Full HD 1920×1080 resolution with more than double the number of pel and with 44 percent higher Pixels Per Inch than the Galaxy S III . It is 25 pct shining ( and up to 68 per centum brighter with Automatic Brightness ) and the display is 20 per centum more major power efficient . The Galaxy S4 also has 5 substance abuser selectable Screen Modes and delivers much good characterisation quality and color accuracy .
The iPhone 5 is now more than half room through its product cycle , which is important to keep in mind for our comparing . However , high - conclusion LCD like the iPhone 5 are a very mature and refined display technology , so other than screen size , resolution , and the Pixels Per Inch not much is probable to change in the next contemporaries , no matter what Apple decides to do . The iPhone 5 is significantly brighter than the Galaxy S4 , particularly for cover with mostly peak white backgrounds . Its color standardization is a bit better , although the Galaxy S4 has a more accurate White . The Galaxy S4 has a much bigger filmdom , high declaration , higher PPI , much coloured Shirley Temple Black , and better screen uniformness than the iPhone 5 . They each have their own special strengths and weakness , but if you scan our color coordinatedComparison Table , both showing are quite good and comparable overall – so it ’s currently a draw – we ’ll see how they both evolve and amend in the next multiplication …
Conclusions: An Impressive OLED Display
The Galaxy S4 proceed the speedy and impressive improvement in OLED displays and technology . The first notable OLED smartphone , the Google Nexus One , fare in by all odds last position in our2010 Smartphone Display Shoot - Out . In a span of just three long time OLED showing technology is now challenge the functioning of the best liquid crystal display . Each have their own particular strengths and impuissance , but if you skim our colour coordinate Comparison Table , both displays and technologies do quite well and depend quite good and comparable overall – we ’ll see how they both develop and improve in the next multiplication , which we consider next .
The biggest challenge for OLEDs is continuing to improve their major power efficiency and full screen flower brightness . We measured an telling 20 percentage improvement in great power efficacy between the Galaxy S4 and S III , and a 25 per centum increase in luminosity ( and up to 68 percentage with Automatic Brightness ) . If this keeps up then OLEDs may pull out in the lead of LCDs in brightness and power efficiency in the near future .
Of course , LCD are not standing still either . There has been a remarkable increase in their resolution and Pixels Per Inch . IGZO and more advanced Metal Oxide backplanes will facilitate to significantly better their efficiency and performance . Quantum Dots should assist them to efficiently lucubrate their Color Gamuts to catch up with OLEDs , which is important for delivering accurate color and image dividing line in eminent ambient lighting .
Both organic light-emitting diode and LCD need to carefully extend their color direction and color calibration . The biggest improvements for mobile displays will issue forth from dynamically changing the display Color Gamuts and Intensity Scales to automatically remunerate and correct for reflected glare and image airstream out from ambient light . Which ever one succeeds is probable to win in the next generation of mobile displays
Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table
Below we compare the display on the Samsung Galaxy S4 with the Samsung Galaxy S III and Apple iPhone 5 based on nonsubjective measurement data and criteria . For additional background signal and information see theSamsung Galaxy S OLED Display Technology Shoot - Outthat compares and canvas the evolution of the OLED displays on the Galaxy S I , II , and III .
Below is a fond excerpt of the table ; you cansee the full comparison at DisplayMate .
This article has been republished with permission fromDisplayMate.com , where it can be read in its entirety .
About DisplayMate Technologies
DisplayMate Technologiesspecializes in advanced numerical exhibit engineering science optimizations and precision analytical scientific display diagnostics and calibrations to bear great image and picture quality and truth – while increase the effective visual Contrast Ratio of the display and produce a high calibrated brightness than is achievable with traditional calibration methods . This also decreases display power requirements and increase the bombardment go prison term in wandering displays . This article is a calorie-free variant of our intensive scientific psychoanalysis of smartphone and nomadic exhibit – before the benefits of our advanced mathematicalDisplayMate Display Optimization Technology , which can correct or improve many of the inadequacy – including higher calibrated brightness , king efficiency , effective screen contrast , moving picture caliber and coloring material and grey scale accuracy under both bright and dim ambient luminosity , and much more . Our advanced scientific optimizations can make down cost panels look as good or better than more expensive higher carrying into action displays . For more information on our engineering see the Summary description of ourAdaptive Variable Metric Display Optimizer AVDO . If you are a showing or mathematical product producer and want our expertise and applied science to turn your display into a spectacular one to surpass your contender thenContact DisplayMate Technologiesto memorise more .
SamsungSmartphones
Daily Newsletter
Get the good technical school , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
