The Display Performance of the Motorola Droid LCD
The Display Performance of the Motorola Droid LCD
We evaluate the display performance of the Motorola Droid lcd using scientific lab measurements and extensive side-by-side visual tests. The display is compared to the higher performance “Super” displays in the Samsung Galaxy S, Apple iPhone 4 and Nexus One smartphones.
Colors generally shift with viewing angle, sometimes dramatically.
Colors
The Motorola lcd has no shortage of colors to choose from. While the color schemes may be tamer than your average PC, they are more than just eye candy. The best part is that they are backed by some of the most sophisticated color management technologies in the mobile space. As a result, your photos and videos look as good on screen as they do on the go. To help make the whole experience more enjoyable, the Droid includes a nifty little app that lets you configure your home screen and settings to suit your needs. It also lets you set up a sandbox for multitasking based on your location. Lastly, the Android OS includes some of the most feature rich mobile security applications available today.
Brightness
Brightness is an important aspect of LCD displays. It determines the amount of contrast and color that can be seen.
The brightness of a display can be adjusted by changing the Brightness setting in the Settings menu or by selecting Automatic brightness. This allows the phone to adjust brightness based on its surroundings and can help improve battery life.
However, Adaptive brightness can be glitchy and not always work properly. This can cause the screen Motorola lcd to appear too bright in a dark room or too dim outdoors, making it difficult to see.
Thankfully, you can easily reset the adaptive brightness feature in your device to get it working correctly again. This won’t be a quick fix, but it is a good place to start if your adaptive brightness feature is acting up and causing you to constantly change the brightness.
This can also be useful if you notice your screen getting too bright in a dark room or too dimmer outside, as it will re-calibrate to reflect your current lighting habits. It’s a great way to save yourself the trouble of constantly fiddling with your device’s brightness and still keep it comfortable when you need it.
Another important factor is the viewing angle of a display. When you’re looking at a screen, you want to be able to see it from as wide an angle as possible without losing image quality.
The Droid is no exception to this rule. When we tested the device with a variety of viewing angles at a low angle (around 30 degrees), the Peak Brightness dropped by 64 percent. This is a huge drop that’s typical of LCDs.
It also decreased Black Luminance and the Contrast Ratio. The Droid’s Contrast Ratio was incredibly low at 105 and Black Level Brightness was very high at 1.87 cd/m2.
In addition, the Droid has a Dynamic Backlight that reduces the screen’s Peak Brightness if the device is set to dimmer ambient lighting. This behavior is counterproductive and just plain strange.
Contrast
The contrast available on a Motorola lcd depends on several factors, including its backlight. Almost all LCDs produce a glow on-screen instead of true black, which reduces image contrast and can be distracting or annoying in dark environments.
A high level of contrast is essential for a mobile display because it allows the user to clearly see what they are viewing, even in low light conditions. The Droid’s Contrast Ratio of 1,436 is among the very best for a mobile device, and the Bright Contrast Rating of 37 is impressive as well.
Dynamic contrast is a mode that adjusts the power consumed by the LCD as the ambient lighting changes, which can help to increase battery life. It is also used to improve color accuracy and contrast by adjusting the Red, Green and Blue sub-pixels individually.
As you can see, dynamic contrast is a very effective way of making sure the Droid always provides the best possible picture at any given time. This is especially useful when the Droid’s brightness is changing rapidly, for example when watching videos or reading text.
In order to get accurate contrast measurements it is important to measure both the full-screen RGB (Red, Green and Blue) brightness values as well as White, which should equal the sum of Red, Green and Blue. The Droid’s measured Luminance for Red=53, Green=275 and Blue=19 cd/m2, which is 23 percent lower than the measured value for White, 449 cd/m2, so it is using moderate amounts of Dynamic Contrast.
The Droid’s Black Level of 0.165 cd/m2 is also very dark for a mobile display in typical ambient lighting. This is because reflections off the screen dominate the Droid’s background brightness, which makes it difficult to use the Black Level to its maximum potential.
The Droid’s color rendering is excellent, and it Motorola lcd has one of the most accurate color rendering values of any mobile phone we’ve tested. It has a Delta E of 3.8 for the primary colors and 8.5 for the whites, which is incredibly close to industry standard.
Viewing Angles
Viewing angles are one of the most important features to look for when choosing a monitor. They determine how much your image will shift and blur as you move. Generally speaking, a monitor that can be viewed from many different positions will remain clear and readable.
The viewing angle of a display can be affected by a number of factors, including panel standard, the type of glass used to create the display and the position of your head while you view it. IPS panels are superior to VA panels in this respect, as they maintain accuracy even when you’re sitting off-center.
As a general rule, the center of the display should be at eye level for optimal viewing. However, this can be hard to achieve in practice. For this reason, it is often recommended that you choose a monitor with a wider viewing angle.
When you’re sitting at a moderate 30 degree viewing angle, the Peak Brightness of the Droid dropped by 64 percent to 160 cd/m2. At the same position, the Black Luminance decreased by 62 percent to 457 cd/m2.
Colors tend to vary with viewing angle because Red, Green and Blue sub-pixels each shift independently when displayed at different intensities. This effect is typically only seen when the brightness of the LCD changes dramatically, but it can also occur at lower levels as well.
The variation in color with viewing angle can be particularly noticeable in mixtures of colors, such as white and gray. The color shifts are more pronounced for white than for gray because these colors are usually a blend of all of the primary colors.
This variation is due to a combination of the way that Red, Green and Blue sub-pixels shift with intensity as well as how the LCD reflects light onto them. This can result in contrast reversal in some cases, although displays are engineered so that the color and brightness variations are less pronounced for mixtures of colors than for single-colors.
This can be an issue with LCDs in particular, as it can make the image appear more washed out and drab at higher viewing angles. The difference is especially noticeable for wide seating arrangements where the image can be difficult to keep clear.