How bright? - Samsung Galaxy S7 Questions and Answers

Officially from Samsung I read the display gets up to like 800 nits but all these review say it's a little less bright than the S6. What's going on?

It all depends on how you test. AMOLED displays are funny in that they can get MUCH brighter if only a small portion of the screen is lit up. For example, if the entire screen is showing white, the max brightness will only be around 500 nits, but if the screen is mostly black with just a small white dot in the center, the brightness of that dot can probably get up to around 800 nits. To further complicate matters, the maximum brightness will be much lower if you turn off auto brightness because Samsung phones will only use their maximum brightness in auto mode. That's because the maximum brightness they can achieve in auto mode would wear out the display very quickly if Samsung let users set it at that all the time in manual brightness mode, so Samsung only uses it for limited periods of time when out in sunlight in auto mode.

Yeah I'm familiar with the auto brightness from the S6. That's insane though that Samsung advertises it as around 800 nits if what you say is true

It's bright, very bright, even in direct sunlight.

It's the first amoled that I found bright enough to be used in sunlight.. My last amoled was note4

Related

Pulse-Width Modulation - problem or not?

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

Anyone has "backlight" in the Always On display?

I noticed that when I have Always On display at maximum brightness, the device turns on many random white pixels in the area that was supposed to be black, kind of simulating a LCD backlight.
It is noticeable by exposing the sleeping phone to a bright light so it will go to maximum brightness while Always On, then turning off the lights while the brightness is at maximum you can see the "backlight" (white pixels in the black area). As soon the phone adjusts the brightness you can't see it any more.
Here are some pictures, comparing maximum brightness, low brightness and also comparing to a S8.
https://imgur.com/a/pZgzT
Please note that by taking a picture makes it more evident, in reality it looks just like a LCD backlight, not a star constellation like in the picture. Even though it is not bad in reality I am concerned because this should not happen in a black screen in an OLED display right?
I tried replicating this with a regular image and I cannot, I can only see it while in Always On display.
Anyone else having similar issues with the regular Pixel 2? Or even in the 2 XL? I did not notice this happening when I had the 2 XL.
My blacks have always had that LCD type backlight look. I was wondering the same thing but I've seen others with it so I just assume it's the design. Not keen on it but it's not the end of the world for me
To me it only happens in always on display. If I have a black picture on my screen it doesn't show this "backlight"

Outdoor visibility (max brightness)

Rate this thread to express how well you can see the Samsung Galaxy S9+'s display outdoors. In case you've been playing Minecraft for 18 months straight, you might not known how to get outside anymore. Well, find the door and walk through it. A higher rating indicates that it has very high maximum brightness and thus fantastic outdoor visibility in direct sunlight.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Really bright and vivid screen. Super shiny though so at times it can be hard to see the screen because of the reflections.
No viewing issues till date as the screen does crank up very high outdoors.
Outdoor visibility is great especially with Samsung their contrast that changes when it notices your in a bright lit area
These days i'm on the beach and the max brightness kicks in for ~2min from standby then it returns to normal brightness and i struggle to see on the screen. Thats in direct sunlight. I dont know why and how to enable to max when in sunlight.its very disappointing. Its from the heat? I use auto brightness and max brightness kicks in for a couple of min but then it dims and i cant use it . When i adjust the bar it says optimised for sun visibility. But it clearly isnt. All this in normal use.browsing ,some photos,whatsapp...
So for me its disapointing. This is when i need the max brightness most and it let me down
Been using the phone for over a year now in a Tropical Country and even in direct sunlight I have absolutely no issues with the brightness. The phone automatically cranks the display upto it's full potential when it senses a bright environment. Really can't expect it to be any better.

Screen brightness 600 nits. Is this enough?

Z6 Has a 600 nit screen brightness, my current S8+ has 1000.
Do you think this display is going to get bright enough when we need it?
jrvenge said:
Z6 Has a 600 nit screen brightness, my current S8+ has 1000.
Do you think this display is going to get bright enough when we need it?
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Should be. Those AMOLED brightness figures are a bit misleading. AMOLED brightness depends on what's on your screen. The more white, the less bright it is. A lot of the screen needs to be dark to hit 1000 nits. If you're browsing the web you're likely in the 600 nits territory on your S8. Perhaps even less.
jrvenge said:
Z6 Has a 600 nit screen brightness, my current S8+ has 1000.
Do you think this display is going to get bright enough when we need it?
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You cannot trigger the display brightness to be that bright. That's auto brightness and in direct sunlight. So in other words, unless you sit outside in direct sun. You'll never see 1020nits.
Read below.
The Galaxy S8 is 5 to 10 percent Brighter than the Galaxy S7, and up to 19% Brighter in High Ambient Light with Automatic Brightness. For most image content the Galaxy S8 provides over 460 cd/m2 (Luminance, which is a measure of Brightness sometimes called nits), comparable or higher than most LCD displays in this size class. The measured Brightness on the Home screen is even higher at over 525 nits. When the display Brightness is set Manually with the slider, it can be adjusted to reach a maximum screen Brightness of up to 610 nits, which is impressive. See the Screen Brightness section for the measurements and details
So ideally, slide the slider all the way up on your brightness. That's essentially the Asus screen.

Display isn't bright?

Have had the Note 20 Ultra from T-Mobile since Wednesday and then phones been be great except for two flaws. One is native gestures still not working 100% smooth with third party launchers - which is okay, I am using FNG anyway, but another is the screen brightness.
Despite being in direct sunlight, the panel doesn't get bright. Samsung claims 1500 nits of brightness, it definitely doesn't get there through either manually sliding the brightness or setting it to auto brightness. Definitely isn't as bright as my OnePlus 8 Pro.
I've annoyingly factory reset the phone to no avail. Anyone else having issues?
Yes, it's not great .... my Note 8 is brighter in normal use.
The panel does get brighter in strong daylight but the maximum manual brightness is poor.
AhsanU said:
Have had the Note 20 Ultra from T-Mobile since Wednesday and then phones been be great except for two flaws. One is native gestures still not working 100% smooth with third party launchers - which is okay, I am using FNG anyway, but another is the screen brightness.
Despite being in direct sunlight, the panel doesn't get bright. Samsung claims 1500 nits of brightness, it definitely doesn't get there through either manually sliding the brightness or setting it to auto brightness. Definitely isn't as bright as my OnePlus 8 Pro.
I've annoyingly factory reset the phone to no avail. Anyone else having issues?
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It is some kind of protection bec extra brightness for long time damage Amoled displays so they decided to limit it in normal usage
It's bright but the white point is um, weird.
Reminds me of the Surface Pro IPS panels, always, always, too green!
And the ability to adjust RGB levels has nary an effect!
I want the ability to calibrate the display properly FFS!
I know it's a decent display but gimping the calibration ability makes about as much sense as putting bias ply tires on a Ferrari!
cpufrost said:
It's bright but the white point is um, weird.
Reminds me of the Surface Pro IPS panels, always, always, too green!
And the ability to adjust RGB levels has nary an effect!
I want the ability to calibrate the display properly FFS!
I know it's a decent display but gimping the calibration ability makes about as much sense as putting bias ply tires on a Ferrari!
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If you read what samsung say about its Dynamic Amoled panels you will understand why the white looks weird , they have implemented a Hardware blue light filter which filters the harmful blue light emissions that is why all new samsung displays show white a llitle yellowish , It might not be the best looking but is is safe for your eyes and renders a more accurate colors.
hoss_n2 said:
If you read what samsung say about its Dynamic Amoled panels you will understand why the white looks weird , they have implemented a Hardware blue light filter which filters the harmful blue light emissions that is why all new samsung displays show white a llitle yellowish , It might not be the best looking but is is safe for your eyes and renders a more accurate colors.
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What's the point of having that?
It's clearly inferior to my professional displays.
Proper calibration and white point is *everything*.
It does NOT look yellowish, it has too much green.
That looks horrible.
After using it for a day I cannot believe how much better my Mac, 11 Pro Max and S20 Ultra looks.
Can you please tell me if the screen isn't bright if adaptive mode is turned off? (120hz)
Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk
Brava27 said:
Can you please tell me if the screen isn't bright if adaptive mode is turned off? (120hz)
Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk
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Its significantly brighter with it off
mickeyleah said:
Its significantly brighter with it off
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Yeah, that is what someone pointed out. Thanks
Compared to the Note 10+ it's significantly brighter even in 120Hz, and I often need to lower it even with the adaptive brightness on.
It's somewhere around 1/5 or 1/6th of the brightness bar.

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