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The iPhone 5 has been the most anticipated mobile device of 2012 together with its cousin the iPad Mini, which we expect to be seeing shortly. Apple has made displays their most prominent marketing feature because it determines the quality of the visual experience for everything on a smartphone or tablet—including apps, web content, photos, videos, and its camera. The retina displays on the iPhone 4 and the new iPad were significant advancements—not just in sharpness but in picture quality and colour accuracy, which is what provides the display’s real wow factor.
So how good is the display on the iPhone 5? There has been an incredible increase in competition since the introduction of the iPhone 4 in 2010: displays have gotten a lot bigger (possibly too big), more manufacturers are using similar high-end IPS LCDs like Apple, and many smartphones are using the latest OLED displays manufactured by Samsung—with the Samsung Galaxy S III as the premier flagship product.
Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate Technologies has made it his mission to suss out the best smartphone, tablet, HDTV, and multimedia displays from the worst with his Display Technology Shoot-Out series. Here, the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III fight.
First we’ll compare the display on the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 4 to see if it is indeed much better, which could be an important factor for those considering whether to upgrade. Then we’ll compare the iPhone 5 to its primary competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S III, and we’ll also see how well it compares to the outstanding display on the new iPad.
To compare the performance of the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III we ran our in-depth series of Mobile Display Technology Shoot-Out tests on them. We also included the iPhone 4 in order to determine how the display on the iPhone 5 has been improved. We take display quality very seriously and provide in-depth objective analysis side-by-side comparisons based on detailed laboratory measurements and extensive viewing tests with both test patterns and test images. To see how far smartphones have progressed in just two years see our 2010 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out, and for a real history lesson see our original 2006 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out.
In this results section we provide highlights of the comprehensive lab measurements and extensive side-by-side visual comparisons using test photos, test images and test patterns that are presented in later sections. The comparison table in the following section summarises the lab measurements in the following categories: Screen Reflections, Brightness and Contrast, Colors and Intensities, Viewing Angles, Display Power Consumption, Running Time on Battery. You can also skip the highlights and go directly to the conclusions.
Comparing the Displays on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5:
The display on the iPhone 5 is a significant improvement over the display on the iPhone 4. Apple has uncharacteristically understated how much better the display is on the iPhone 5—something that could be an important factor for those considering whether to upgrade. In every category that we measure (except brightness decrease with viewing angle), the performance of the iPhone 5 display has improved over the iPhone 4, sometimes by a bit and sometimes by a lot. Everyone knows about the 18 percent increase in screen area, but here are 3 major display enhancements on the iPhone 5 that we will discuss in detail below:
Screen reflectance on the iPhone 5 has decreased substantially—the iPhone 4 has 52 percent brighter reflections than the iPhone 5. This means you won’t be distracted as much by reflections that appear on the screen. The iPhone 5 has among the lowest reflectance values we have ever measured on a mobile device.
The iPhone 5 has the highest contrast rating for high ambient light for any mobile device we have ever tested, and it’s 57 percent higher than the iPhone 4. This means screen readability in bright ambient lighting has improved substantially—both the image colours and contrast won’t appear as washed out outdoors as on other smartphones, including the iPhone 4.
The colour quality and colour accuracy have improved substantially. The iPhone 5 received a colour gamut and factory display calibration upgrade similar to the new iPad. While it’s not quite as accurate as the excellent calibration on the new iPad, it is still very good and probably more accurate than any consumer display you own (including your HDTV), unless you have a new iPad.
It’s still a retina display with 326 pixels per inch and with a resolution of 1136×640 pixels. We were hoping for 1280×720, which is standard high definition HD, but presumably that will be for the iPhone 6. That’s not a disappointment, just a wish list… Based on our extensive lab measurements, the iPhone 5 has a true state-of-the-art display—it’s not perfect and there is plenty of room for improvements (and competitors) but it’s the best smartphone display we have tested to date.
We’ll examine the iPhone 5 display in detail below, but here are the highlights: it is the brightest smartphone we have tested in the Shoot-Out series, it has one of the lowest screen reflectance values we have ever measured, it has the highest contrast Rating for High Ambient Light for any mobile device we have ever tested, and it’s colour gamut and factory calibration are second only to the new iPad. What are the downsides? The white point is still somewhat too blue like most smartphones, and at maximum brightness it has a shorter running time than the iPhone 4, which is not surprising since it has a larger screen and a larger colour gamut but roughly the same capacity battery.
Samsung also features their displays when marketing smartphones, but they have taken a very different approach—they are using Samsung’s own OLED displays, a new and rapidly evolving display technology that is very different from LCDs, with its own particular set of advantages and disadvantages. It’s a new technology that attracts early adopters, but it has not yet been refined to the same degree as LCDs, which have been mainstream for over 20 years. It’s clear that OLEDs in the near future will do to LCDs what LCDs did to CRTs, but we are not there yet. So OLEDs have a number of rough spots that show up clearly in our objective Lab testing.
We’ll examine the OLED Galaxy S III display in detail below, but here are the Highlights: the brightness is about half of the iPhone 5 due to power limits from the lower power efficiency of OLEDs and concerns regarding premature OLED aging. The colour gamut is not only much larger than the standard colour gamut, which leads to distorted and exaggerated colours, but the colour gamut is quite lopsided, with green being a lot more saturated than red or blue, which adds a green colour caste to many images. Samsung has not bothered to correct or calibrate their display colours to bring them into closer agreement with the standard sRGB / Rec.709 colour gamut, so many images appear over saturated and gaudy. Running time on battery is less than the iPhone 5 due to the lower power efficiency of OLEDs, even given that the Galaxy S III has a much larger battery capacity and much lower brightness.
The Galaxy S III has a PenTile OLED display, which has only half of the number of red and blue sub-pixels as in standard RGB displays, like those on the iPhones. The eye’s resolution for colour image detail is lower, so this works well for photographic and video image content, but NOT for computer generated coloured text and fine graphics because it produces visible pixelation, moire, and other very visible artifacts, so a PenTile display is not as sharp as its pixel resolution and PPI would indicate. PenTile technology does have advantages in manufacturing, aging and cost. For a more detailed analysis see our Samsung Galaxy S OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out.
While the display PPI and pixel resolution seem to get most of the attention, it is the display’s colour gamut together with the factory display calibration that play the most important role in determining the wow factor and true picture quality and colour accuracy of a display. The colour gamut is the range of colours that a display can produce. If you want to see accurate colours in photos, videos, and all standard consumer content the display needs to closely match the standard colour gamut that was used to produce the content, which is called sRGB / Rec.709. A display with a larger colour gamut cannot show colours that are not in the original content – it just exaggerates and distorts the colours. Most of the recent generation LCD Smartphones have colour gamuts around 60 percent of the standard gamut, which produces somewhat subdued colours. The iPhone 4 has a 64 percent colour gamut, but the new iPad pulled way ahead and has a virtually perfect 99 percent of the standard colour gamut. The iPhone 5 has an almost identical colour gamut to the new iPad and the viewing tests confirm its excellent colour accuracy.
While Apple has clearly made a big effort in getting the colour gamut very accurate for the new iPad and iPhone 5, Samsung has not bothered to calibrate the colour gamut on any of its OLED displays, so they are wildly inaccurate and produce inaccurate and over saturated colours. The Colour Gamut is not only much larger than the standard colour gamut, which leads to distorted and exaggerated colours, but its colour gamut is quite lopsided, with green being a lot more saturated than either red or blue, which adds a green colour caste to many images. The viewing tests bear this out. Compare the colour gamuts in this Figure and below.
Using our extensive library of challenging test and calibration photos, we compared the smartphones to a calibrated professional studio monitor and to the new iPad, which has a virtually perfect factory calibration and colour gamut. As expected from the lab measurements, the iPhone 5 produced beautiful picture quality, much better than the iPhone 4, which has a much smaller colour gamut, and comparable to the new iPad, but with slightly greater image contrast and colour saturation due to its steeper intensity scale and larger gamma. See these colour gamut and Intensity Scale figures for details and explanations.
But what really impressed me was that all of the photos and their colours on both the iPhone 5 and new iPad appeared virtually identical. You never see that in any consumer product unless it has been professionally calibrated (with varying degrees of success). So if you switch devices or share photos and content with friends and family you know that they will be seeing exactly what you are seeing.
The colour gamut of the Galaxy S III is significantly larger than the standard colour gamut so it produces over saturated colours that can appear comic book like and gaudy in some instances. Photos appear with way too much colour. It’s similar to turning the colour control way up on your HDTV. If the images have relatively low colour saturation to begin with then they look more vibrant but not objectionable. However, if the images have vibrant colours to begin with, like a fire engine, then the images can be visually painful to look at. When compared side-by-side to the accurately calibrated iPhone 5 and new iPad, the Galaxy S III looked gaudy.
Screen Reflectance and High Ambient Lighting:
The screens on almost all smartphones and tablets are mirrors good enough to use for personal grooming. Even in moderate ambient lighting the image contrast and colours can noticeably degrade from ambient light reflected by the screen, including objects like your face and any bright lighting behind you. So low reflectance is very important in determining real world picture quality. This article has screen shots of how images degrade in bright ambient lighting. The iPhone 5 has the highest contrast rating for high ambient light for any mobile device we have ever tested. Because of its low screen brightness the Galaxy S III has a much poorer contrast rating and screen visibility in bright ambient light.
If you have ever walked into Currys or Comet and compared the multitude of HDTVs you know that every single TV produces a different looking picture (and they are all inaccurate). So why should Apple introduce its own Apple Television with an actual TV screen as opposed to just relying on an Apple TV streaming box connected to any TV? Because existing TVs are poorly calibrated and produce inaccurate and inconsistent colors and images that will be poor matches to Apple’s own accurately calibrated iPhones and iPads. The best solution will be for Apple to manufacture its own television with the same accurate calibration as its other displays. Consumers will love the fact that everything including their personal photos, TV shows, movies, and videos will all look exactly the same on all Apple devices.
Smartphone displays are continuing their rapid evolution in performance. Apple has again taken the lead in methodical refinements and factory calibration that are necessary to produce accurate very high picture quality. Based on our extensive lab measurements the iPhone 5 has a true state-of-the-art accurate display—it’s not perfect and there is plenty of room for improvements (and competitors) but it is the best smartphone display we have seen to date based on extensive lab measurements and viewing tests. In particular it is a significant improvement over the display in the iPhone 4 with much lower screen reflections, much higher image contrast and screen readability in high ambient lighting (the highest we have ever measured), and a significantly improved and accurate color gamut and factory calibration that delivers very accurate colors and very good picture quality. While it’s not quite as accurate as the new iPad, it is still probably more accurate than any consumer display you own (including your HDTV), unless you have a new iPad.
The display on the Samsung Galaxy S III uses OLED technology. It’s a new technology that has not yet been refined to the same degree as LCDs, particularly the IPS LCDs on the iPhones, so it doesn’t objectively test or perform as well as the iPhone 5. But OLEDs have been evolving and improving very rapidly as shown in our OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out so it has a very promising future. Here are the biggest issues we found in our extensive lab measurements and viewing tests of the Galaxy S III: the brightness is about half of the iPhone 5 due to power constraints resulting from the lower OLED power efficiency and concerns regarding premature OLED aging. As a result the image contrast and screen readability in high ambient lighting is much poorer than the iPhone 5. The color gamut is not only much larger than the standard color gamut, which leads to distorted and exaggerated colors, but the gamut is quite lopsided, with green being a lot more saturated than either red or blue, which adds a green color caste to many images. And for some reason Samsung has not bothered to calibrate the color gamut on any of its OLED displays, so they are wildly inaccurate and produce inaccurate and over saturated colors.
Suggestions for Apple: Keep up the good work in improving picture quality through accurate display calibration! To produce a better display please don’t make the White Point Colour Temperature so blue—it’s the only significant calibration flaw and it gives some images a bit of a cold bluish caste. The Intensity Scale on the iPhone 5 should be changed to match the excellent calibration of the new iPad. Finally, consumers have varying tastes in colour saturation and image contrast—why not give displays the equivalent of an audio equaliser to let everyone adjust the display to their own personal visual preferences?
Suggestions for Samsung: Keep up the good work in improving OLED displays! To produce a better OLED Smartphone, use a smaller size display (that uses less power), add a bigger battery to increase the screen brightness and running time on battery, and most of all—please calibrate the display so that its colour gamut matches the standard colour gamut and the display delivers accurate rather than distorted, exaggerated, and gaudy colours!
Suggestions for all manufacturers: There is still plenty of room for improvement. See the new iPad shoot-out conclusion for a discussion of the many improvements that are needed for the next generation of Smartphone and Tablet displays.
DisplayMate Display Optimisation Technology
All Smartphone and Tablets displays can be significantly improved using DisplayMate’s advanced scientific analysis and mathematical display modeling and optimization of the display hardware, factory calibration, and driver parameters. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement and quality control so they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in our Display Technology Shoot-Out series. We can also improve the performance of any specified set of display parameters. This article is a lite version of our intensive scientific analysis—before the benefits of our DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology, which can correct or improve all of these issues. If you are a display or product manufacturer and want to significantly improve display performance for a competitive advantage then Contact DisplayMate Technologies.
Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table
We also compare the displays on the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III together with the iPhone 4 based on objective measurement data and criteria. Note that the tested Smartphones were purchased independently by DisplayMate Technologies through standard retail channels.
For additional background and information see the iPad Retina Display Technology Shoot-Out article that compares and analyses the new iPad, the iPad 2, and iPhone 4, and the Samsung Galaxy S OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out that compares and analyses the evolution of the OLED displays on the Galaxy S I, II, and III and compares and analyses PenTile displays compared to standard RGB displays.
This article has been republished with permission from DisplayMate.com, where it can be read in its entirety.
About the Author
Dr. Raymond Soneira is President of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation of Amherst, New Hampshire, which produces video calibration, evaluation, and diagnostic products for consumers, technicians, and manufacturers. See www.displaymate.com. He is a research scientist with a career that spans physics, computer science, and television system design. Dr. Soneira obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Princeton University, spent 5 years as a Long-Term Member of the world famous Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, another 5 years as a Principal Investigator in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and has also designed, tested, and installed color television broadcast equipment for the CBS Television Network Engineering and Development Department. He has authored over 35 research articles in scientific journals in physics and computer science, including Scientific American. If you have any comments or questions about the article, you can contact him at dtso@displaymate.com.
About DisplayMate Technologies
DisplayMate Technologies specializes in advanced mathematical display technology optimizations and precision analytical scientific display diagnostics and calibrations to deliver outstanding image and picture quality and accuracy – while increasing the effective visual Contrast Ratio of the display and producing a higher calibrated brightness than is achievable with traditional calibration methods. This also decreases display power requirements and increases the battery run time in mobile displays. This article is a lite version of our intensive scientific analysis of smartphone and mobile displays – before the benefits of our advanced mathematical DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology, which can correct or improve many of the deficiencies – including higher calibrated brightness, power efficiency, effective screen contrast, picture quality and color and gray scale accuracy under both bright and dim ambient light, and much more. Our advanced scientific optimizations can make lower cost panels look as good or better than more expensive higher performance displays. For more information on our technology see the Summary description of our Adaptive Variable Metric Display Optimizer AVDO. If you are a display or product manufacturer and want our expertise and technology to turn your display into a spectacular one to surpass your competition then Contact DisplayMate Technologies to learn more.
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Canon DSLR Video Compared: 1DX vs 5D Mark III vs 650D
Will be interesting to see how the Lumia 920 stacks up with its Clear Black gizmos..
After using OLED I cannot go back to LCD, it’s just so much brighter, blacks are so black you cannot tell screen from bezel and there is no bleed through. Also the GS3 has a bigger screen which is much nicer for everything because you don’t have to zoom as much and movies are acceptable watching on that size screen where 4 inch is too small still.
Also having seen the GS3 and GS2 next to each other you cannot tell it’s a pentile screen, it looks much better than the GS2 and the whites are much whiter too. Pentile is currently a better choice because the blues don’t fade as fast.
As it’s a mobile you’ll be using it outside most the time so the most important thing is being able to see the screen under sun light, which the GS3 does better in theory. That said however screen restrictiveness comes into play much more than any thing else, people tend to forget about that.
Why I use matted monitor screens over the horrible glossy things Apple always wants to use which are just a cheap way of making colours look better without having to spend any money. With the GS3 having one of the least reflective screens what I saw in a benchmark some time back, I doubt the iPhone 5 will be able to beat it.
Did you read the article?
Experience suggests not…
“With the GS3 having one of the least reflective screens what I saw in a benchmark some time back, I doubt the iPhone 5 will be able to beat it.”
Comments from above:
” it has one of the lowest screen reflectance values we have ever measured”
I would hedge my bets on the iPhone, the dudes above have actually carried on testing, there comments hold more value..
Read the article. The S III display has been proven by display technology specialists to suck compared to the iPhone 5′s display.
Oh, it sucks now?
The biggest thing they harp on about (about 15 times actually) is the accuracy of colours, which is frankly something that is irrelevant for the users. I like the colours on the S3, I don’t need it to be perfectly accurate – who gives a toss? The article kept stating that high contrast images look “painful” on S3 – I can confirm that to be bollocks, quite honestly. Maybe in a dark-room at full brightness, yeah I can see how it’d be painful.
Talking of brightness, I have my S3 on auto-brightness and it rarely even uses full, so why would I care about the maximum brightness? I also regularly use my S3 as a sat-nav in the car (when it’s sunny) and the screen is usable. It could be brighter but the size compensates.
The OLED screen on the S3 is very good and enjoyed by all who ever use it, reflected in the reviews. It’s also considerably larger and has a higher resolution than the iPhone 5 screen so to say that it “sucks compared” is just deluded fanboy bollocks.
The article text says nothing of the OLED’s fantastic black levels and low light contrast (you know, low light, the place where you use your phone a lot). Seriously, put white text on black and put the S3 next to any LCD… very good if you watch movies.
At the end of the day, tests in a lab are just that- test in a lab, and anyone who looks at the 4.8 inches of bright colourful low-reflective S3 screen and says that it “sucks” compared to the iPhone 5 isn’t being objective.
Put an iPhone 5 and an S3 in front of most people, with a movie, images, or text and ask them to point at the one that looks better. That’d be a more interesting test.
I have to agree,
Also something i’m not sure was mentioned, which was key, is that the Samsung S3 has a number of screen settings like a television (Presets basically)
If they used the wrong one, then this test is pointless.
As for Elliot Bridgewater’s comments, Let me guess you have a iPhone 5 in your pocket…. Slightly fanboyish comment there as not once does the review knock the display and say it sucks. Which it clearly does NOT.
Wow it gets like fanboy central on here at times….
I think it’s fairly likely they used the vivid default screen setting, rather than the Natural screen setting.
Which is pretty bad science
I have to agree, the iPhone 5 has the best display I’ve seen on any mobile…
There’s a surprise. Taf do you actually work for Apple? Seriously.
No. Not at all. But you have to use the device before making judgement, I have. Is it also surprise that I have used a better camera on the one x?
The screen really is impressive.
Wouldn’t you like it to be a little bigger Taf? like 4.5″?
4inch is nice, perhaps 4.2 or 4.3 would be nicer, but overall I’m happy. If you offered a 4.5 with no increase in over all dimensions then sure. The one x has a nice screen, nice phone over all, but it’s abit on the large size. I got the iPad if I want bigger when on the move..
I had a feeling you would, mainly because you said so back when Jesus Diaz wrote an article saying the iPhone would always have a 3.5″ screen. You aren’t half the die hard Apple fan he is and I mean that in a nice way.
That’s correct. Sam also said the same, I said we can live in hope.. .
Yeah I agree with Taf. Whilst I’m more than happy with my iPhone’s screen size, a little larger would be fine with me, provided it didn’t increase the overall size of the phone too much.
Bezel-less screens (or perhaps a very small 1mm bezel) would be an impressive future enhancement, I don’t care who does it first but someone should be working on it.
Yeah definitely! I think Motorola came pretty close, shame it was still an ugly phone (in my opinion).
Which phone? You are going to have to be more specific, all the recent RAZRs have looked liked slabs (in my opinion)
I think it’s the Razr i. It has a 4.3″ screen with minimum bezel so it is still relatively small. But like I said, not the best looking phone!
The article is heavily biased towards the iPhone. It basically says the GS3 sucks in comparison. The Screen Reflectance section doesn’t even mention the Samsung’s lower reflectance. The author advises Samsung to make their screens smaller and their batteries bigger. What utter garbage. Dismiss article as useless nonsense and move on.
Oh, ok then, because you know more about screens than DisplayMate and Dr. Raymond Soneira … and science…/s
Yes because people really want smaller screens…
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2011/10/this-is-why-the-iphones-screen-will-always-be-3-5-inches/
http://gizmodo.com/5912327/why-the-next-iphone-wont-be-169
Bahahaha no, even Apple know they don’t, but there’s only one iPhone and they can’t make it too big, with releasing one for smaller hands too.
Yeah, what do you know about colour gamut and reflectiveness and ambient lighting conditions?? Are you an expert like these fella’s?
I’m not an expert in Gamut, no. I never said anything about gamut or Gambit. I said the article is heavily biased toward the iPhone and fails to mention one point where the Samsung beats the iPhone being the low reflectance of the screen. It fails to mention that in a whole section about reflectance.
Taf what are you doing on an iPhone article defending the iPhone? Oh wait, I forgot, it’s all you ever do.
Incidently I have an iPhone myself and have no bias toward it or the GS3. I am just capable of noticing when an article is is unfairly biased toward one item.
In the ‘screen reflectance and high ambient lighting’ section it says; The iPhone 5 has the highest contrast rating for high ambient light for any mobile device we have ever tested. Because of its low screen brightness the Galaxy S III has a much poorer contrast rating and screen visibility in bright ambient light.
So it seems that the brightness lets down the S3 (about half the brightness of the iPhone).
It’s surprising how many people don’t actually read the article.
What’s more surprising is I appear to be learning this only now.
It’s surprising that you still missed my point. I was saying they left out the low reflectivity advantage of the S3 under the reflectance section. Do you need me to write it one more time?
Several times please, send the copies to my office seeing as you have nothing better to do. Many thanks.
They left out the low reflectivity advantage of the S3 under the reflectance section. They left out the low reflectivity advantage of the S3 under the reflectance section. They left out the low reflectivity advantage of the S3 under the reflectance section.
I currently own an iPhone 4s/5 and a GSIII and yes the GSIII’s screen DOES suck compared to the iPhone 5. It’s great for everyday stuff cos it’s big and bright but for photo’s it’s awful, it’s just a vivid bright mess.
You mention the S£ is bright. Brighter than the iPhone5? The article says it’s only half as bright. But many seem to say the S3 is brighter.
I think they’re both pretty bright. I wouldn’t ever have either of them up at full brightness.. my eyes would hurt
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/09/iphone-5-camera-vs-the-competition-whats-the-best-smartphone-shooter/
Well I don’t own both (why would anyone own both?!) but I think photos look great on the S3. Certainly wouldn’t call it “awful”.
If you really have problems, just change the screen mode.
Settings > Display > Screen section.
Here you can choose the screen mode:
Dynamic
Standard
Natural
Movie
You can also enable or disable screen tone auto adjust:
“Save power by adjusting screen tone according to analysis of images”
Seeing as you’ve got both, would you mind giving this a try and comparing colour tone on Natural vs iPhone 5?
I’m pretty convinced that the guys who wrote this comparison just left the phone on default settings (which are pretty damn vivid)
I will have another play around later (I don’t have the GSIII with me right now) but I have played around before… it’s adequate but not as well handled as the iPhone
Strange how DisplayMate have yet to compare the iPhone with the only other LCD screen that holds a candle to it – the HTC One X. That will be an interesting comparison.
I think it’s because the GS3 and i5 are the two biggest players in the smartphone market right now. But I agree with you that they should do a comparison, the One X has a beautiful screen.
I’ve compared the same images on it and an iPad 3 and the One X pips it for me. Yes, the contrast isn’t as good as OLED when you have a black background (app tray, mostly) but in every other situation it’s fantastic – a big, big step up from the Sensation I had before!
I got both one x and iPhone 5, both nice but I prefer the iPhone when they next to each…
I’ve got an iPhone 5 and iPad 3 and they’re both impressive screens. My mate has a One X and I was impressed when I had a play with it. I think it would be a close call and down to personal preference. I’ve never been a fan of OLED, I love the tech but find the colours over saturated and there’s alway a strange hue.
Agree, my iPad 3 screen rocks for sure. The colors on the samsungs are bit on the overcooked side for my liking too. ..
this. I’ve had a decent look at my mate’s S3 in comparison to my One X, and the screen is markedly better on my phone. that’s not to say the S3 has a crap screen, but the One X really excels on this feature.
High Ambient Light is one of the main reasons my s3 is getting sold and why I have an iPhone 5 in front of me now.
Outside, the s3 is as useful as a chocolate tea pot, even at full brightness. We were in France for the summer and it was unbearable. My wife’s iPhone4 however was much better, even in direct sunlight.
I can see that the iPhone5 is streets ahead of both. The facts don’t lie and neither do my eyes.
Here, I’ll fix that opening sentence for you:
“Apple has made displays their most prominent marketing feature because it has no other marketing features.”
Grow up, child.
Why don’t you grow up and get a job, hippy!
What are you talking about? It has a brand new awesome map.
Why dont you grow and and and and, do something or other with something!
I’m a grown-up (well, almost!) Do I receive free internets?
NO!!! No Internets will be rewarded as Flippant prizes any longer, dont get me started on that one Resis, there’s nought but trouble that way!
Bugger!
All of this ‘my phone is better than your phone’ reminds me of when I was a kid and the Spectrum vs Commodore wars. It will always happen no matter how old we get, its just part and parcel of geekdom I guess.
PS Spectrum FTW
ARE YOU MAD?
Commodore was CLEARLY superior!
You’re both wrong, Amstrad 64k green screen was the only real choice.
Oh come off it, now you’re just embarrassing yourself!
In all honesty, I had the 128k colour screen, but I didn’t want to look like a show off.
Haha, I had a Commodore 64 – but being born in 1987, it was retro before I even got my mitts on it!
SAM Coupe
It can get costly
A Short List of Things I’m Really Getting Tired Of:
1. The deluge of online articles poring over every facet of the iPhone 5 with the detail of an electron microscope.
2. The predictability and unrelenting efficiency of certain commenters on every article targeting either each other, each other’s phones, or the cohorts that also bought each other’s phones.
3. The predictability and unrelenting efficiency of certain commenters on every article targeting the authors of said article for contributing to Point 1.
4. The apparent necessity for commenters to take their shoes off at the door and repeat “I am not a number – I am a free man!” to assure other commenters that their comments are devoid of bias or prejudice towards any particular phone manufacturer.
5. The fact that I am probably, and quite hypocritically, fueling this inferno with this comment and possibly becoming quite meta with its conclusion, which follows.
I love Giz UK – not just for its embodiment of British Spirit in its deviation from big brother US but for the excellent, witty and downright clever commenting body. But every single goddamn year (no, make that every single goddamn Apple or Android announcement – still no zealous love for WinPho7/8, anyone?) we get the same goddamn situation. The once shining quality of the comments is muddied by waters of snide, snarky and sardonic anti-wit and pessimism. Jokes become obvious and boring, and to an extent, so do the commenters that post them. The rest of us (or maybe just me) have to sit and wait for it all to blow over and let the restorative power of time fix our broken reporters of the ‘fan zeitgeist’.
Comments are always in proportion to page hits. Androiders, if you don’t like the articles, don’t comment on them and if needs be, don’t read them. Applers, if you don’t want the backlash, don’t comment either. Play a nice game of Scrabble instead. Please note that I coin the terms Androiders and Applers in the same vein as those who coined the terms Directioners and Beliebers, and also note that I leave it entirely to your discretion to figure out why I chose this nomenclature.
I bought my iPhone 5 this morning and was looking forward to it being a little quicker and a little better than my iPhone 4 (I totally agree with other websites which describe the iPhone 5 as boring but highly practical), whilst starting my much better value contract. I say ‘was’ – now I just see it as an object that incites reverence on a religious extremist level from one demographic, and destructive hatred (possibly also on a religious extremist level) from another. Thanks guys.
Giz (Kat) – how about a dedicated Gizmodo UK Mobile site where those who really want it can go about their pissing contests out of everyone else’s way? That way those whose blood pressures remain unaffected by local news in Cupertino can resume the sparkling dialogue around much more neutral subjects? Like, say, the best way to wax an owl, or perhaps some revolutionary new steam-powered egg-poacher that also wipes your bum for you but has the disadvantage of causing cystitis in women as the wiping arm only goes one way.
(Edited to avoid the appearance of targeting individuals, such as those whose names rhyme with Barrel Groans or Spaff)
(Apologies for the re-post)
Journalists love phone stories for the very reasons you describe, the edgier the better. If they can incite arguments it means comments, comments mean impressions, impressions mean more people accidently clicking those annoying invisible banners that run down the side of the page.
I actually think most phones are pretty much even nowadays in terms of tech. These picky articles putting things under a microscope, things that any normal person wouldn’t even notice, just go to prove that. It’s all just minor tweaks, ammunition fanbois can use to throw at each other. It’s all pointless really.
I can’t comment on the tech really, i’ve never used an iPhone 5. I just dislike Apple, the whole Lightning adapter thing sums up why really, they have always done it, with connectors, chargers etc. Blind greed, all companies need to make money, but what they do is bend you over and slowly screw you remorselessly in the ass.
I actually think the Lightening connector (Despite the awful name) is bloody good.
Not trying to stir shit here, but why? What major advantages does it have over micro usb that justify going against the standard that everyone else is using?
No real reason technically although it is all digital so future uses could be interesting. I just like it as a plug, it’s smaller than Micro USB and has the advantage of plugging in either way up. Does have a solid feel about it when you plug it in (on the iPhone 5 anyway)
You are entirely missing the point though, it’s not about being better. It is about creaming punters for an extra $50 for adapters and cables. Locking everyone in to buying ‘Apple only’ hardware by putting chips in them.
They have always done it, even when they were using standard USB they put stupid plugs on them so you couldn’t use other peoples mice and keyboards. This may no longer be true, but it goes to show the ethos the company runs on.
Oh I do agree… but those same punters have had the same connecter for nearly 9 years, it was time for a change and yes it will cost people to switch over. You have to also bear in mind that it’s only been a few years since everyone (apart from Apple) switched to Micro USB, prior to that they weren’t all common either and even now Samsung have their Micro USB back to front so Samsung docks/speakers only work for samsung devices or your phone will be facing the wrong way
The difference there being, I have about 20 micro USB cables in different guises. They all charge my phone, and my kindle, tablet and hell I even have one that charges my cordless mouse, which is nice. Also they cost about 50p and anyone can make them.
I couldn’t care less about docking stations, anyone stupid enough to buy one that only fits one device deserves everything they get. What ever happened to plugging in an earphone jack to a bad ass amp and a pair of speakers.
Alasdair, I agree with you on many points there, but unfortunately, there’s not much I can do, other than hope certain commenters grow tired of being pedantic twats, and constantly slapping their wrists like I’m their bloody mother.
When we launched the site, I made the decision NOT to build functionality to ban commenters like the US site does. It’s something I’ve regretted often, but I’m still glad I took that stance.
You took the right stance Kat. I would post more myself but some of the conastant dig’s by fanbois makes me bite my toungue more than anything.
It saddens me that other commenters are deterring regulars such as yourself from commenting. We’re going to have another one of our Q&A sessions this Friday, so I’ll use that opportunity to remind everyone to buck up.
Oh I still read Giz UK everyday. I just don’t always post on some things cos it always ends up a battle that I don’t have time for.
Imagine being a time-strapped editor who so desperately wants to weigh in, but knows she won’t be able to follow through with what’s required of the argument…
I feel your pain Kat
I think it’s always best if you keep out of the comments when they get Angry Kat, Publish the odd Shaming Letter or guideline article but you need to keep above it all or they’ll drag you down! Anyway, you dont need to be explaining yourselves to each new commenter that hates Android or Apple or Gizmodo’s coverage there of.
No it doesn’t…….oh wait
Any chance you can publish your list of Pedantwatcoms please? It could have the dual benefit of reducing our pedantwatness and giggles for those who aren’t on the list.
In the spirit of being “grown-up” (shudder!) I’d like to say well done Apple on having the best screen quality – I’ll never own an iPhone but it sets the bar in screen quality for everyone to equal/beat. What is wrong with that? Nothing! The other manufacturers need to pull their socks up on this and calibrate their screens properly. No shame in that!
well done Apple on having the best screen quality.. (Out of the phones tested)
Well good point – although I reckon it’d probably not be beaten by any other phone. The One X would be an interesting comparison, but I think it’d be even stevens at best, but I would like to see the comparison!
As I said at the top, I would like to see it compared to the new Nokia 920.
Oh so you did! ’twas a long set of comments…. Ditto applies!
The newest phone has the best screen? Not surprising really. Apple (or their suppliers) do generally make excellent hardware.
I’m happy with the S3 screen, and have quickly got used to the size. I also think that a native 720p resolution is perfect for the movies I watch but glad to see iPhone users will be happy with their shiny new toys too.
Alisdair, to some people, arguing over whose is the better phone etc is a lot of fun. A good debate is always satisfying even if its meaningless in the grand scheme of things, such as Android vs Apple. Quite often it doesn’t matter what the debate is about just as long as there is a debate and I think the reason behind it is that its not personal.
Its taboo among most people to discuss and debate ones religion or even political stance, for example, and when those are attacked it becomes very personal. As such, discussing whose is the better phone and/or has a better display (as in this debate) is a an acceptable and social debate whereby comments are not being directed towards the person themselves.
These sort of debates will carry on regardless. We started doing it as kids and will carry on until we pop our clogs no doubt.
I have to say that I laughed at that continuously throughout. What a lovely comment. I also learnt some new words.
Why compare the iPhone 5 with the iPhone 4, ignoring the 4S? That’s like comparing a PlayStation 3 with a PlayStation and then being amazed at all the improvements made.
Except that the 4S screen was exactly the same as the 4. I think the 4 was mentioned specifically because it was the first ‘retina’ screen from Apple.
Or because there are probably far more people considering an upgrade from the 4 as, like me, they had the 4 on a two year deal that just ran out.
This would make a lot of sense!
Bring back the mutant tit!
That’s got to be worth a star.
I have an iPhone 5 and a GSIII and although the GSIII has a big bright screen for photos it sucks. it’s horrid compared to the iPhone 5. Still nice having the big bright screen for everything else but if you take lots of photo’s the iPhone wins hands down.
I think we’re over-using the word suck in the comments. The GS3 might not have as good a display as the iPhone 5 but it’s still a very good display.
Although I’ve seen an iPhone 5 and I am in no way jealous of it in comparison to my GS3, they both look very good displays.
Yeah I take back the “Suck”, it doesn’t suck and it’s only real negative is for photo’s, everything else the huge bright display is nice to use.
I replied to the wrong post above, I ought to have replied here.
But basically I was pointing out the S3 has colour display settings (there is a more natural setting amongst others).
I was interested in how this deals with your issue for photos.
yes there are settings and I’ve played around with those too.. you can make the screen a little better for photo’s but it’s still not quite right.. You fix one issue but create a new one. With regards to just the photo reproduction issue the iPhone definitely handles this a lot better.