Super AMOLED vs AMOLED vs LCD in direct sunlight... fight! (video)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted June 21st 2010 3:45AM
posted June 21st 2010 3:45AM
By now you know that (one of) AMOLED's Achilles' heel is readability in direct sunlight. But Samsung's been working hard to fix that with its new Super AMOLED technology. Techblog took the display to task by pitting the Samsung Galaxy S (4-inch, 480 x 800 pixel Super AMOLED) against the HTC Desire (3.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel AMOLED) and Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 (4-inch, 480 x 854 pixel TFT LCD). It's clear from the video embedded after the break that the LCD still has the edge in the harsh Greek sun, but the Super AMOLED certainly makes a much stronger showing than its AMOLED sib. In fact, differences in visibility between the LCD and Super AMOLED are often indistinguishable, like the picture above. That'll be good news for us just as soon as Samsung can start meeting demand... regardless of what Stevie J has to say. Check the video after the break and be sure to click the source for some more side-by-side pics, including a few taken indoors where that Super AMOLED display really shines.
Really glad Engadget did this post. Although they should have used the flagship phones... iPhone, Nexus, Galaxy S
@TheHypnotist I;d say the flagships are in fact the EVO, the iPhone 4, the Nexus One, the Droid X and the Galaxy S and try all of them under the sun.
@TheHypnotist
totally agree. i have never really understood the difference. thanks to engadget, all is clear.
@TheHypnotist To be fair the nexus one and the desire share both the display as well as the digitizer on top of it so it should be exactly the same.
Although the difference is very clear, I still wouldn' t like to do alot of work on either of those three phones.
@TheHypnotist
Why? Everyone knows that geeks burn in direct sunlight.
@TheHypnotist
Great comparison.I'd like to see the Iphone 4's display in this.
@serge You kidding, the Iphone would be dwarfed by all those (You know Engadget doesn't like making the Iphone look bad)
@UnderPaidOrphan
My last phone was a Samsung i8910HD which was AMOLED and my current phone is an HTC HD2 which has a LCD TFT. Comparing them side by side indoors the AMOLED had extremely exaggerated colours which makes movies look fantastic and blacks so deep that the screen looked as if it was off in darkness. The LCD TFT on my HD2 has some backlight bleed (very little) and the colours are much duller BUT much more accurate - I think that comes out in the other video on the techblog site.
@huzzlehoff
It won't be any better than the X10's display. We're talking about the same LCD tech here.
@TheHypnotist
Wow! It's going to be interesting when all these new devices come out! iPhone 4 with Retina Display, Super AMOLED, etc. Jeez! There's so much choice! It's a consumer paradise!
@Android looks Hacked Together
It's Google's flagship by definition. Seriously. It's Google's way of saying: "This should be the minimum of what everyone else is doing." It's the device that every other device should be compared to, as a base model. It's built to Google specifications, running Google's software. It's about as close to an iPhone-like existence as possible.
@TheHypnotist
Please Engadget, make a real comparison, where you give ranks to phones, ending with the one you like the most !
@Android looks Hacked Together
I wouldn't say he's on his high horse. The N1 would come out unfavourably in these tests because it is shocking in direct sunlight.
@Android looks Hacked Together
p.s. stop inventing reasons to call people fanboys
@TheHypnotist
Does anyone notice that if you use your Apple handheld device on a slight angle even in the brightest light conditions, its like viewing off a sparkly paper? Everything is so clear.. I wonder why Engadget or anyone never points this out..
Even if the brightness is set to lowest, you can see and use the device perfectly.
@Armchaircritic
The HD 2 is also limited by WinMo's restriction to 65k or 16 bit colour.
@TheHypnotist
The HTC Desire and the Nexus One are basically the same phone. It would be nice to get the iPhone 4 into the mix. Seeing as how the new iPhone isn't widely available yet, I understand its omission.
@TheHypnotist - I know what you are saying and this is the best comparison test I have seen so far.
@TheHypnotist Why do you think the Nexus one is a flagship, talking about Android. In case you didn't know Desire is similar to NO.
@TheHypnotist
OMG, that Nexus phone ís really bad.
@Ducman69
and we all like to watch films in direct sunlight...
@fourzero40
Yeah, because clearly, bigger is better with phones. How far we've come from the barbaric 90's when every generation of phone got smaller and smaller. What were those idiots thinking, making phones to fit in our pockets instead of our man-purses.
@TheHypnotist the is nothing particularly unique about the nexus screen so I don't see why you think that they should've used it. Yes the iPhone4 display is supposed to be better and would have been nice to have it in the mix but other than that the xperia is quite representative of what you should expect from LCD displays.
@tonicboy
LOL
@Armchaircritic if you saw OLED TV pic you would know that it takes time to get used to true colors after that LCD misshap... ;) with 76% of NTSC color gamut
@fourzero40 The IPS LCD on the iPhone and much higher res would kill the ones here. Then everyone would say it was the res of the screen and not the underlying technology.
In fact the smaller screen if the iPhone gives it a huge advantage here.
@fourzero40
Why would 2 giant phones make the iPhone look bad? Actual humans I speak with already find the iPhone too big.
@serge Nice list, but I would def say that the Droid Inc. belongs in that list as well.
@TheHypnotist
is this really burning issue tearing a divide in the community? all these years of cupping my hands over the sunlight, i don't think i've ever thought once how backwards the technology is..
@TheHypnotist
What a silly post. Using auto-gain videocamera to shoot different brightness/contrast screens from varying angle of incedence.
All amateur shooters should learn one thing first before doing comparisons like this :
Human eye != video camera
Only comparing them directly side by side using human vision will tell the results.
The video camera will distort the results, that is guaranteed.
But hey, it's a real video footage, so it must be right, riiiiight?
@Armchaircritic its oled, the screen was off lol.
@uckApple Um... no... you can't. I don't know of one device you can use perfectly in the sun with the brightness set to minimum. Not my ZuneHD, my Zune30, my iPod touch, my Incite, my brother's Blackberry, my gf's iPhone, or any of my friends' various phones.
@vasra I thought the video that was zoomed out provided the best perspective. In that case, you could compare all 3 without the camera settings play a factor. And since I (we) have extensive experience with LCD screens, we already have a baseline for that. So basically, this shot told me that AMOLED screens suck in sunlight (knew that) and corrected my perspective that Super AMOLED screens were much better than LCD in sunlight. From looking at this video, Super AMOLED = LCD (LCD arguably slightly better, but Super AMOLED seemed to get better looking off axis while LCD got worse)
@vasra How are we to show your type of results online? We can't! So our next best way to show results is with a camera.
@TheHypnotist
iphone does not have AMOLED .. why bother?
@TheHypnotist I just love you picture. DOOM!
@Cy Starkman
The iPhone is too big?! Wow I think my Xperia is too small.
@Chazwell Doom is the fucking boss. You a fan, what songs do you like?
I want blood.
@wemustcontrolpeople
all Phones Android, All phones total different Ui.
@wemustcontrolpeople
ewww i can see right up his nose from down there
@wemustcontrolpeople
Anyway samsung's AMOLED is pentile type. Sad.
Iphone 4 vs Galaxy Comparison fast !
Wow big improvement :3 Sucks knowing this tech is just trickling in while about to jump on the Incredible, but oh well.
Interesting how its done in direct sun to show the flaws.
@nh7tr Interesting indeed, for a test to see how the displays perform in direct sunlight.
@nh7tr
Yeah, I think they should of tested it in a fully blacked out room to test against direct sunlight.
However that would work work..
@nh7tr
time for a math test, now take out your science book and turn to page 12.
I don't care about freaking direct sunlight tests! Just give me S-Amoled!
@suland
Home potato