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Hi. I'm having problems seeing my screen outside in any sunny environment. I have my phone on max brightness and it is incredibly difficult to see my phone. I am currently using the Berserk 1.3 ROM but have tried various ROMS and I always have problems seeing the phone outside.
I cant quite recall, but I think my gingerbread ROMS were overall much brighter than my ICS ROMS. Is there anything I can flash to my phone to allow the screen to reach a higher brightness?
No. This is entirely hardware. The Sensation has a display that is quite simply not bright enough for outdoor use (you can check GSMarena for the Sensations display stats-its max brightness and contrast ratio aren't enough to be visible in bright light). It has nothing to do with your ROM, and there is no difference between Gingerbread or ICS ROMs. The only thing you can do is run Sense ROMs, as they tend to have a brighter color scheme than stock ICS. The good thing is that LCD tech has improved a lot and evidenced by the One X they can be quite visible outdoors.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA
The Janitor Mop said:
No. This is entirely hardware. The Sensation has a display that is quite simply not bright enough for outdoor use (you can check GSMarena for the Sensations display stats-its max brightness and contrast ratio aren't enough to be visible in bright light). It has nothing to do with your ROM, and there is no difference between Gingerbread or ICS ROMs. The only thing you can do is run Sense ROMs, as they tend to have a brighter color scheme than stock ICS. The good thing is that LCD tech has improved a lot and evidenced by the One X they can be quite visible outdoors.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA
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I call BS on that, although I do like GSMArena. Max brightness and max sunlight mean I can see the screen. It can be kinda hard, but I can see detail down to the pixel.
sshede said:
I call BS on that, although I do like GSMArena. Max brightness and max sunlight mean I can see the screen. It can be kinda hard, but I can see detail down to the pixel.
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Call BS on what? The Sensation's screen is hard to see in direct sunlight because it simply is not bright enough at max brightness. That's a simple fact. I have compared a number of phones' stats (that are notable for being exceptionally visible or not visible in direct sunlight), and it is clear that phones that are notable for how visible they are outdoors (if they are LCD) tend to have over 500 nits brightness at their max and a contrast ratio well over 1000. I too can see the screen outdoors, but what the OP is not happy about is the fact that it is barely visible in direct sunlight. It is subjective, but IMO if you think the Sensation does just fine outdoors than you have a very low standard for displays.
Sensation: 438 nits at max brightness, 720 contrast ratio.
One X: 550 nits at max brightness, 1410 contrast ratio.
Those are measured facts, varying only slightly from one Sensation's display to another and one One X's display to another. The One X's display is far brighter and far more visible outdoors, and it is primarily due to those simple facts that at max brightness it is brighter and it has a greater contrast ratio (its blacks are far deeper). Now maybe the Sensation's screen is good enough for you for outdoor use but for others it just isn't (in fact, its poor brightness and outdoor performance has been one of my main gripes with the Sensation since day 1).
The Sensation has a display that is quite simply not bright enough for outdoor use (you can check GSMarena for the Sensations display stats-its max brightness and contrast ratio aren't enough to be visible in bright light)
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That. I call BS on what you said. You said it's not bright enough for outdoor use. Well, unless you live on the Sun, max brightness provides a decent viewing experience, it's not amazingly super-bright, sure, but it is usable. Then that thing about "max brightness and contrast ratio aren't enough to be visible in bright light". Again, the Sun constitutes bright light (usually about as bright as you'll get when it comes to smartphone use) and with max brightness, it's totally usable.
Is it as easy as being in a low light room? Hell no, but it's not impossible.
I unfortunately expected it to be entirely hardware related. Thanks for answering. And on a sunny day I find it very close to impossible to use. Sometimes its so bad I just see my reflection and pretty much see nothing on the screen itself.
sshede said:
That. I call BS on what you said. You said it's not bright enough for outdoor use. Well, unless you live on the Sun, max brightness provides a decent viewing experience, it's not amazingly super-bright, sure, but it is usable. Then that thing about "max brightness and contrast ratio aren't enough to be visible in bright light". Again, the Sun constitutes bright light (usually about as bright as you'll get when it comes to smartphone use) and with max brightness, it's totally usable.
Is it as easy as being in a low light room? Hell no, but it's not impossible.
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Ah, what you meant was "I disagree". I thought you were calling BS on the display stats (which of course would be strange to call BS on the measured results from a reputable source). Like I said, whether or not the Sensation's display is good enough for you is subjective. I can understand that for some people it is bright enough for outdoor use, but I hope you can understand that for other people (like me and the OP) it isn't bright enough for decent outdoor use in direct sunlight. I used the measured specs to show that the Sensation really is at best objectively a middling performer in brightness, which is why some people are not happy with how the display performs outdoors.
In direct sunlight outdoors, at max brightness I can in fact see the screen just like you, and I can use the phone, but:
It is extremely washed out
I have to hold it closer to my face (and I have very good vision)
It is extremely prone to reflections
It in general significantly reduces my user experience
Of course I'm not expecting it to perform like magic outdoors and be just as vibrant as it is indoors. Any display is going to look worse in bright sunlight. But what I am saying is that of the range of what we have on the phone market today, you can find a lot of other devices out there that have better displays for outdoor visibility. If "good enough" was the standard then we wouldn't have ever-increasing display resolutions, faster and faster processors, increasing RAM, increasing storage, etc.
The gist of this is that calling BS seems to denote that I said something factually wrong, as if the Sensation "factually" is good enough for outdoor use and that therefore you don't have the right to complain about its brightness. I'm just asking you to understand that it's a subjective matter and that there are a lot of people out there like me who don't think it is good enough.
Must you really be this technical? And if you really want to be this technical, you did say something factually wrong.
its max brightness and contrast ratio aren't enough to be visible in bright light
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This is simply not true, you said it yourself just now.
In direct sunlight outdoors, at max brightness I can in fact see the screen just like you
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Now this is getting out of hand. Let's just let this one go.
sshede said:
Must you really be this technical? And if you really want to be this technical, you did say something factually wrong.
This is simply not true, you said it yourself just now.
Now this is getting out of hand. Let's just let this one go.
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I meant visible enough, so im sorry that what I wrote is as is technically untrue. And I am being this technical because on my list of Sensation cons the display brightness has been one of the two biggest things. Ive also done a ton of research on display technology and specs and found that its one of the few areas of specs where the numbers almost directly correlate with user experience. People often complain that some people worry too much about specs and that the user experience is all that matters, but since for displays the specs actually mean something I take care to get info on them.
As for this getting out of hand, im not trying to be argumentative, so if my tone is that way its just the fact im typing on a keyboard rather than talking in real life, so no hard feelings.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA
Well, first, sensation has two types of screens, and their specs differ.
Second, with specs, or without them, both are unreadable what so ever in direct sunlight, even when using enormously large fonts with black on white or the opposite.
Met a few guys who said I was wrong on a trip to London last year, but it's never that sunny in London. Try Rome for sunny and you'll see nothing on your sensation.
Btw, direct sunlight is not healthy for people ;-)
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using xda premium
@sshede... what the hell is your problem? What that guy is saying is true, those screen specs make for poor outdoor visibility. I don't get how u can argue with that? You're a very stubborn person
Sent from my Sensation using XDA
I agree with Fred. Mine works outside just fine. I can read it clearly in direct sun.
Sent from a rebel ship by storing the message in an R2 unit. (Help me, XDA. You're my only hope)
I can also read and see my screen in the sun .I live in California and It's sunny all the time here where I live. Never had a problem.in fact my old device was impossible to see in the sun but the sensation was amazing and what a difference! I can read and see just fine outside! Funny because my screen is set on almost as DIM As I can get it. I choose this to save battery! Still with
My.brightness turned down I have no problems ....
Sent from my Sensation 4G using xda premium
So I have been playing around with my new 4.7 and immediately noticed that, in comparison to my Samsung S3, slow scrolling with the
thumb on the display causes jerky movement, like a couple of pixels at the time. This looks horrible in comparison to the S3 where every
motion seems perfectly fluid. Has anyone else noticed this and why isn't it implemented the right way? Seems to be an easy fix.
Does the 5.5 suffer from this issue as well?
Note: It's not lag. It's like there aren't enough frames for it to look smooth. This happens during scrolling in webpages and settings etc.
It seems they totally turned off this little project from back in the day:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/google_project_butter.html
"Google Project Butter accomplished its “buttery smooth” responsiveness and “speed infusion” improvements via three main additions: triple buffering, which improves coordination and animation synchronization between the CPU, GPU and display; VSync, which improves graphical performance and increases frame rates to 60fps (frames per second); and touch responsiveness, which predicts a user’s upcoming actions of the screen in order to improve load times for those actions.:
No one willing to test?
Okay :good:
Mine does the same (4.7). But is not something that bother me. It is a cheap device after all.
tudy88 said:
Mine does the same (4.7). But is not something that bother me. It is a cheap device after all.
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Thanks for your input. Whether or not the device is relatively 'cheap' shouldn't really matter, as it's a matter of frame rate and could
be easily tweaked through a software change.
Any input from 5.5 owners?
Hey guys!
I have a question to you, owners of the Galaxy S7. As we know from other threads Galaxy S7 uses PWM to control screen brightness. I am interested in this phone and it has been my favourite to buy. I read many reviews and I was really satisfied for what I saw. And then I entered the Notebookcheck's review of S7 and realised what PWM is. As a result... I have very big question mark when it comes to buying this phone. PWM is seem to be a big defect for me, it's hard to believe that such a company can release a phone, which can produce headaches and eye strain or even make flickering visible to some group of people!
Some people say it's a big problem, but reviewers excluding Notebookcheck don't even mention that and say it's a perfect screen. So I have a question to you - what is the truth? Can you see the problem, do you feel bad after using the screen for a long time, is it possible to see flickering at 236 Hz? Thanks in advance for you answers!
No you can't see flickering
You'd have to be super human to see flicking at 236Hz, most PC LCDs are 50-60Hz and you don't see the flickering, florescent lights are 50-60Hz and you can only just see it if the bulb is dying
*Detection* said:
No you can't see flickering
You'd have to be super human to see flicking at 236Hz, most PC LCDs are 50-60Hz and you don't see the flickering, florescent lights are 50-60Hz and you can only just see it if the bulb is dying
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Sorry Detection, but your comparisons fail in this case. What LCD screens have is a 60 Hz refresh rate (or higher for e.g. gaming displays). That means, that the screen content is refreshed/output 60 times a second. But the backlight is not pulsed. It is constantly on. You would really notice a 60 Hz on-off-pulsing of the backlight.
Flourescent lights have an afterglow, and are driven by a 50 or 60 Hz sine wave AC. So it doesn't go off and on instantly.
I own a Galaxy S7 myself and I do notice the flickering. Some people are more sensitive in perception than others. I notice it with different strength in different situations. The dimmer the screen brightness is set, the more it is noticable to me. I assume, it's because of pulse width ratio - the dimmer the brightness is set, the shorter is the on, and the longer is the off time. And it is more noticable to me with bright font on dark backgrounds than the other way round. I'd really say, that this is the biggest disadvantige of Samsung's OLED displays. On my former S3 it was also noticable to me, even stronger due to a lower frequency. But I'd say, I can live with it - I really like the vivid colors of these AMOLEDs on the other hand.
It would be interesting to know if the brightness control of OLED displays of other manufacturers is done the same way, or if there are other techniques existing
Edgar_M said:
Sorry Detection, but your comparisons fail in this case. What LCD screens have is a 60 Hz refresh rate (or higher for e.g. gaming displays). That means, that the screen content is refreshed/output 60 times a second. But the backlight is not pulsed. It is constantly on. You would really notice a 60 Hz on-off-pulsing of the backlight.
Flourescent lights have an afterglow, and are driven by a 50 or 60 Hz sine wave AC. So it doesn't go off and on instantly.
I own a Galaxy S7 myself and I do notice the flickering. Some people are more sensitive in perception than others. I notice it with different strength in different situations. The dimmer the screen brightness is set, the more it is noticable to me. I assume, it's because of pulse width ratio - the dimmer the brightness is set, the shorter is the on, and the longer is the off time. And it is more noticable to me with bright font on dark backgrounds than the other way round. I'd really say, that this is the biggest disadvantige of Samsung's OLED displays. On my former S3 it was also noticable to me, even stronger due to a lower frequency. But I'd say, I can live with it - I really like the vivid colors of these AMOLEDs on the other hand.
It would be interesting to know if the brightness control of OLED displays of other manufacturers is done the same way, or if there are other techniques existing
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You're seriously telling me you can see something flashing at 236 times per second? Sorry but no
I'm one of the persons that if the screens have a low refresh rate I get headaches and get tired, however since long time gone with technology this doesn't happen. I don't have any issue with the phone and use it sometimes hours in a row and for a full load of operations. Car navigation, social messaging, reading news and articles and internet searches. No issue at all for me and it's been a great screen. I use however a 3M privacy film, so it lowers the quality of the screen.
I use this phone in my Gear VR where it is a inch from my eyes and I don't notice any flickering. The screen is great!
It is great, no doubt. But, believe it or not guys, some people do recognize the flickering
Today i was measuring s21 brightness in the store and was shocked i was getting 850lux readings (from s10+ sensor) meanwhile 12 pro max was showing 780 lux. I wanted to compare two phones next to eachother but guy says they cannot take the phones away from the table. Though, super lucky, the guy himself owned an s21(this is not a samsung store in case you missed) and lets me compare them side by side. I compare and s21 is noticably dimmer, very close to my s10+. Now im confused, i got brighter readings then why?
So i took his phone to the store s21 and there was a huge brightness difference. We updated both s21's and after letting them cool down (cuz they dim when hot) the results were still same. His s21 was nowhere near store s21's brightness. His s21 gave about 500lux reading meanwhile store one gave 850.
Take the numbers with a grain of salt since the sensor is s10+ and brightness reading changes depending on if you hold the measured device diagonal or straight.
But turns out review sites arent wrong. S21s manual brightness is rated at 400 nits which explains why its so close to my s10+(310) and so far from 12 pro max.(800) Meanwhile store s21 shows 800nits manually.
So if you were to buy it, you only get 400 nits manually. I suppose its a trick to make you believe the screen is super bright but its only in the store.
By enabling video enhancher and opening up youtube, guys s21 also goes up to 800nits, but only in that youtube app and video player (maybe one more thing i forgot too) Keep that in mind if you are shopping for a s21.
Edit: (in case you are curious, store s21 showed 800nits whetever auto brightness was on or off)
Firmware.
blackhawk said:
Firmware.
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We updated both phones to latest if thats what you mean.
But i saw a "display mode"( i am from turkey so dont know exact translation) in store s21 which said stuff like " dont turn this on/off if you arent autohorized. It does stuff like reset the phone regularly" and some bunch of other stuff. It wasnt written there but i suppose this brightness boost comes from that "display mode" or "exhibition mode"
Maybe another one of tricks in the Samsung bag of marketing tricks that they are notorious for.
Operating at or near full brightness with a OLED display is never a good idea though.
You can kill them fast like this especially in direct sunlight.
It's not just the OLEDs in the display, there are thousands of mosfets in there too and very little heat sinking capacity for all of them. The brighter it is, the more heat the display needs to dissipate.
A lot of that heat is dissipated through the front of display it's self.
blackhawk said:
Maybe another one of tricks in the Samsung bag of marketing tricks that they are notorious for.
Operating at or near full brightness with a OLED display is never a good idea though.
You can kill them fast like this especially in direct sunlight.
It's not just the OLEDs in the display, there are thousands of mosfets in there too and very little heat sinking capacity for all of them. The brighter it is, the more heat the display needs to dissipate.
A lot of that heat is dissipated through the front of display it's self.
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Yea but moderation is key. Not like we will use max all the time, but being able to go max whenever we desire is a good experience. Much better than feeling like your display could do better.(know from my s10+)
I think heat isnt much of a concern either since all displays dim when phone reaches a certain temeperature, automatically.
Besides, subpixels wont be max intensity all the time when watching vids or playing games so its not that bad.
As long as you dont blast max brightness 7/24 it should be fine imo
theblitz707 said:
Yea but moderation is key. Not like we will use max all the time, but being able to go max whenever we desire is a good experience. Much better than feeling like your display could do better.(know from my s10+)
I think heat isnt much of a concern either since all displays dim when phone reaches a certain temeperature, automatically.
Besides, subpixels wont be max intensity all the time when watching vids or playing games so its not that bad.
As long as you dont blast max brightness 7/24 it should be fine imo
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High energy blue OLEDs fail first... there already been people reporting "burn in" with OLED displays.
They have a finite lifespan; the brightest stars burn the shortest.
As for thermal throttling, sometimes it works other times things get cooked.
blackhawk said:
High energy blue OLEDs fail first... there already been people reporting "burn in" with OLED displays.
They have a finite lifespan; the brightest stars burn the shortest.
As for thermal throttling, sometimes it works other times things get cooked.
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Burn in could be a display lottery i guess. Of course oleds are very susceptible to it but i think it happening in 1-2 years is too fast unless like, someone uses it at max brightness for few hours every day with white navigation showing(very static). I guess ill have to see how my s10+ fares, so far no issues kind of a heavy user here.
I like the phone and really want to buy it. However, one thing that keeps me hesitant is PWM on this phone. It’s actually lower than P6 pro had https://9apps.ooo/
I would really appreciate to hear some feedback from those who bought it and use it 5+ hrs SOT daily.
How does the display feels on your eyes in general ? How your eyes feel after reading in complete darkness or candle light for a while ?
lanesmang said:
I like the phone and really want to buy it. However, one thing that keeps me hesitant is PWM on this phone. It’s actually lower than P6 pro had
I would really appreciate to hear some feedback from those who bought it and use it 5+ hrs SOT daily.
How does the display feels on your eyes in general ? How your eyes feel after reading in complete darkness or candle light for a while ?
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First, not sure what PWM is and as for how it affects people's eyes is relative to each person's eyes. Not to mention screen settings are customizable per each person's preferences
By PWM do you mean Pulse Width Modulation ? That should not be a problem on any display as long as you don't have extreme high speed eyes.
Maybe refresh rate but starting with 60 hz it also should be easy on eyes, besides you can use 120 hz which is extremely smooth.
As a "wake up early and play with phone" fella I do not have any problems with flickering light or refresh rate.
I haven't had any issues with this phone but I don't seem to be PWM sensitive anyway.
There is far far more to it than just the PWM frequency! The "common" thought on this is that the LEDs are ON for the ON phase of the PWM cycle, and OFF for the OFF phase, but this isn't actually the case because the circuitry and LED cells have *capacitance*, which basically means that they smooth out the pulses, allowing them to blend together and not actually flicker.
Yes, some really really crappy screens will flicker, but these aren't those. The PWM frequency set will account for the capacitance of the circuits.