Samsung Display decided to elaborate on its claims that the 5.1" panel of the Galaxy S5 is the best Super AMOLED display it's put in flagships so far. Hot on the heels of the pros at Displaymate concurring with that assessment, Samsung Display issued a blog post explaining the main reasons why.
First off, they confirm the so-called "Diamond" structure for the
arrangement of the subpixels, an alternative to the standard RGB matrix
arrangement. This structure seems is an offshoot of the PenTile matrix
arrangement, but its advantage is an improved fill factor, which
correlates better to the efficiency of the different OLED materials used
to achieve the basic colors. Samsung says that the Diamond Pixel arrangement in its AMOLED panels is actually better than the PenTile
of yesteryear, as it reduces aliasing and artifacts. Still, the number
of green subpixels in the diamond matrix is as high as it would be in a
regular RGB stripe configuration, for instance, while the red and blue
subpixels are 50% less. They are much larger, though, and with a diamond
shape, while the numerous small green subpixels are oval.
This
rendering scheme has allowed Samsung to achieve the same 1080p
resolution as displays with a normal RGB stripe matrix, but with two
thirds of the subpixel count. The overwhelming number of green subpixels
is due to the fact that green is the longest-lasting and most efficient
OLED emitter, while the red, and especially blue, are more taxing on
the battery, and have a shorter lifespan. Now you know why even in the
Cinema mode, which has been measured to be the closest to the standard
sRGB color gamut, the green pulls towards oversaturation - there are
just too many green subpixels in the Full HD Super AMOLED panels. Long
story short, in terms of color representation we can't expect the screen
on the Galaxy S5 to differ much from the one on the Note 3 and the S4, which share the same Diamond Pixel arrangement.
The
big improvements are in brightness and power efficiency, though,
reiterates Samsung. OLED displays don't have backlighting, as LCDs do,
and only count on the light emitted by the organic LEDs in their
structure. Thus, their maximum brightness levels are usually lower than
those of the best LCDs out there. As you can see in the chart below,
however, the 5.1" Galaxy S5 display is 22% brighter than the panel on
the Galaxy S4, and 13% brighter than the Note 3. Those 351 nits might
not sound much compared to, say, the 500+ nits of the iPhone 5s screen,
but here Samsung is giving an example for the typical ambient lighting
levels in your home or office, for instance, where LCDs hit similar
values.
During the Galaxy S5 announcement, Samsung bragged that it can
easily hit 500 nits, which is a remarkable feat for a Super AMOLED
screen. Today it clarified the peak brightness levels further, saying
that in further in certain high ambient lighting situations - for
example, when the summer sun outside is shining directly on the display -
they've measured burst levels of 698 nits, while the S5 hits 475 nits
on the regular outside. This is the highest brightness level achieved by
a mobile OLED panel so far, as only some Nokia Lumias manage to hit 600 nits in those circumstances, so kudos to Samsung here.
Moreover,
the good OLED panels are covered with elaborate low-reflectivity
coatings, which serves to minimize those pesky mirror reflections, so
their visibility outdoor is on par with much brighter screens. Samsung
touts 4.5% reflectivity ratio for the S5, which is amongst the lowest
measured on a mobile screen so far, making the Galaxy S5 panel an
excellent screen for outdoor usage. Last but not least in the brightness
department, the minimum luminance levels are just 2 nits now, which
makes the phone more comfortable to use when you are lying in bed in
complete darkness, and get a message, for instance. The human eye starts
perceiving glare and discomfort in those situations at levels as low as
3-5 nits, says Samsung, so it tried to go even below that with the
minimum brightness level on the S5.
In
addition, the improved organic materials used by the company to make
the new S5 panel led to 27% reduction in its power consumption rates,
compared to previous Super AMOLED editions, like the one on the S4, as
well as measured up to 1080p LCD screens. This allowed Samsung to eke
out about a third longer battery life from the S4 to the S5, while
bumping the battery capacity only slightly.
When we combine that power-sipping display with the new Ultra Power Saving mode on the S5, it should be ranking among the best,
but we'll save the verdict for when we do our own battery test. For
now, it seems that with the Galaxy S5, Samsung has indeed managed to
make its best mobile screen with OLED technology to date.
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