Mobile phone display mega shootout: The full picture

29 November 2010
There are so many of them that it’s pretty hard to make up your mind. It all boils down to LCD vs. LED although this simple fact is easy to overlook. You can go ahead and blame it all on marketing but that’s one thing that just can’t be black or...

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  • m
  • marshall
  • utu
  • 30 Nov 2010

htc desire z(super lcd) not there :(((( i feel like crying now :((

    • R
    • Rog
    • ix9
    • 30 Nov 2010

    I agree. The Super Amoled on the Galaxy S is amazing. Wow'ed all my friends with it. Blacks are pure black (you can't even see the frame of the device in full darkness, nor any edges or grayer areas), color is great, bright, etc.

    I wish I had one in size 55" for my living room TV, it would be outstanding.

    Unfortunately I took back my SGS as it sucked otherwise... had lots of lag (no rom fixes would help properly) and the GPS was so bad it was totally useless.

    But the screen.. ahhh... bliss.

      • h
      • harris
      • uWA
      • 30 Nov 2010

      GSMArena Rockssss,,, you r the best in this business ,,, awesome review great comparison ,,, not at all biased to any one, l0ve u .. i ll g0 for c6-01 !!

        • z
        • zoks
        • ScK
        • 30 Nov 2010

        About 6 months ago I was at a real life gathering of some members of 1 irelevant gaming website.

        There were 22 of us.
        There were several iPhones,1 HTC Desire and 1 Nokia N900.
        I hadn't get my eyes on N900 so I can't coment.
        I've seen a little bit of iPhone screen,and I have to say it seemed very nice.

        HOWEVER,His Majesty HTC Desire blow away every mobile phone screen I've ever seen.
        It blown away nearly every LCD TV's(yes TV's)aside of Aurea and co. offcourse.
        Not sure for Plazma TV's.

        The only problem was that the video image on Youtube over 3G sucked.
        My Sony Ericsson W995 wiped the flore with HTC Desire in 3G department. Even when the video quality of some vids was set to Normal on SEW995 was still better than HQ of HTC Desire.
        We did not test Youtube over Wi-Fi.

        Anyhow Youtube aside It was an incredable experince to see it in action and I wasn't the only1 amazed.

        Since my SE W995 had a "little "accident" " in the meantime I was thinking about Desire,but it's still waaay to expensive+I HATE touchsreen-only phones.

          • S
          • Sails
          • nmT
          • 30 Nov 2010

          Mr. PenTile, 30 Nov 2010Samsung has indeed this PenTile matrix crap. I owned a Sams... moreAgreed. The Pentile cheat is actually visible, but since it doesn't show up in the resolution figures, nobody complains. It would be nice if reviewers pointed it out.

          With CBD only loosing on viewing angles, I would call it a more clear winner. I hope there is no actual resolution limit on the tech, but guess we have to wait for N9 for confirmation.

            • M
            • Michael
            • t7A
            • 30 Nov 2010

            why are lots of people saying that gsmarena are samsung fans or paid by samsung?

            tell us, have you found the fairest mobile reviews over the internet yet?

            is it not gsmarena?


            indeed samsung phones are great. other manufacturer's phone, too !

            or is it just that their technology leads?

            i'm not a samsung fan, nor to any other brands. i just pick what suited my lifestyle best

            it's all in the users people. that is why people are the most unpredictable creatures, they think uniquely

            why not just say

            " hey! my samsung's great!"

            "yeah! my [manufacturer's brand], too!"

              • G
              • Gazprom
              • 3ij
              • 30 Nov 2010

              just marketing, 30 Nov 2010despite those old lcd panels, all new technologies or enhan... moreNo insisting for the best and calling out bluffs like PenTile is vital. Otherwise all manufacturers are going to start using the crap to be competitive in the spec sheet race. Its like the response time and contrast scams on TFT displays all over again.

                • j
                • just marketing
                • sv0
                • 30 Nov 2010

                despite those old lcd panels, all new technologies or enhanced technologies are good enough at all conditions. i think insisting on which one is the best competition is useless.

                  • R
                  • Raffa
                  • xxN
                  • 30 Nov 2010

                  awesome review, thanks guys... I was about to go for HTC DHD, but now that I have clearly seen the weak display I definitely won't... I'll just stick with my Wave... Nokia's C6-01 seems to be the future for them, just have to bring out 3.5" screens with that technology...

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • vaN
                    • 30 Nov 2010

                    Mr. PenTile, 30 Nov 2010Samsung has indeed this PenTile matrix crap. I owned a Sams... more"BUT resolution is worse than Nokia C6-01! Look at texts or particular colurs: they all have black poits in it an especially text looks not sharp enough."

                    Big Deal eh??

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • uRG
                      • 30 Nov 2010

                      Can someone confirm once and for all whether Nokia's AMOLED display tech (N8, E7) is or isn't Pentile?

                        • M
                        • Mr. PenTile
                        • T4d
                        • 30 Nov 2010

                        Samsung has indeed this PenTile matrix crap. I owned a Samsung Wave.
                        Color, contrast, blacks, viewing angle mindblowing...

                        BUT resolution is worse than Nokia C6-01! Look at texts or particular colurs: they all have black poits in it an especially text looks not sharp enough.

                        They didn't compare resolution properly; GMSArena only wrote down the resolution figures. There is a big differnece btw Super-Amoled 480x800 and LCD 480x800.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • syj
                          • 30 Nov 2010

                          Going directly from the first picture, I say Wave and C6-01 take the cake, and maybe the Galaxy S with a close second.

                            • s
                            • skud
                            • 3xL
                            • 30 Nov 2010

                            if the c6-01 has the same resolution like iphone4 i bet this will be the lone winner of all....

                              • G
                              • Gazprom
                              • 3ij
                              • 30 Nov 2010

                              Good article but a big miss was not writing about the PenTile matrix crap used on all samsung displays.

                              BTW, you can control the light sensor on S^3 devices with a app called lightctrl(1.51).

                                • y
                                • youg
                                • th{
                                • 30 Nov 2010

                                wow, AMOLED is really good.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • wYE
                                  • 30 Nov 2010

                                  wow, AMOLED is really good.

                                  i only realized the difference in the screen type.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 4TM
                                    • 30 Nov 2010

                                    I don't even know why GSM Arena bothers with the iphone. The iphone is in a league of its own. Including the iphone in any reviews or articles just stirs up anger, jealousy, and hate among nokia and android lovers. It's better not to include the iphone at all. The iphone will still be a successful device.

                                      • S
                                      • S
                                      • vxL
                                      • 30 Nov 2010

                                      Anonymous, 30 Nov 2010Sharp IS03 is -- 1) Strictly meant for Japanese market, ... moreIt should still get a worthy mention as a possible screen coming to other androids... :/ not even mentioning this point and saying that retina display is strictly iphone4 is a very misleading.

                                      just as the Evo being reborn into the DHD, the IS03 may very well do the same in the near future.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 0BI
                                        • 30 Nov 2010

                                        All phones will be with super amoled when all monitors start using IPS and PVA panels :D