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Hey
I see there is desire for insights and understanding by reading press articles about 2.3.3 color change.
First, a statement:
What I know:
- What I will explain here
- 2.3.3 change looks bad on my device : Colors are washed out, the response is very far from a 2.2 gamma / sRGB calibrated screen should look like.
What I don't know:
- If the result is bad on every screen. Probably not.
It's known Samsung manufactured at least 2 different Super AMOLED screen revisions, and it's possible that 2.3.3 looks perfect on some screens.
Links:
Issue 15039: Android 2.3.3 screen yellowish
What changed:
In 2.3.3, the screen (framebuffer) driver has been updated.
This screen driver consist of several files, including code that calculate gamma adjustment points and brightness levels dynamically based on a reference gamma table.
Change in 2.3.3 can be categorized in 3 types:
Code and gamma points calculations
1/ A new feature introduced is the ability of the driver to read informations from the screen hardware.
So far, there was no detection at all, just configuration sent.
Now the driver has the ability to ask to the screen: "what are your factory calibration levels for Red, Green and Blue"
2/ Another change is in the driver initialization sequence, supposed to setup the internal screen control hardware calculations for gamma 2.2 instead of something else (not specified)
It has the effect of brightening shadows.
Color temperature change
The updated driver has the ability to use multipliers to adjust the screen temperature on the linear scale.
In theory, it should allow to change red/green/blue levels without altering the color rendition accuracy, despite the complex calculations needed to generate color profiles at each brightness levels.
Today, those Red Green Blue multipliers are fixed in stone, but I'll publish shortly a kernel version + an app so you can control them manually.
It will needed to be treated with care because of potential overheat or fast burn-in side-effects at too high brightness levels.
Different Gamma table (aka Super AMOLED color profile)
Colors calibration for Super AMOLED design has almost no common points with current methods applicable to LCD only.
Calibrating a AMOLED screen requires to setup 255 different hardware correction profiles, one per brightness level.
Instead of that, math calculations, based on a reference gamma table are used to setup responses applied by the screen hardware, that control each single led accordingly.
On a LCD screen it's much simpler as the LCD panel response is always the same: One profile is virtually enough as brightness changes correspond to adjustments of the backlight power.
This is why LCD-type adjustment calibration or color change tools (like the one in CyanogenMod) cannot be used to calibrate Super AMOLED screen.
The gamma table has been vastly updated. It also brighten the shadows compared to previous profiles.
However, Google's previous Gamma table exhibited a purple deviation in dark grays, especially at low brightness settings. This new gamma table fixes the issue.
Source files:
- main driver - calculations
- hardware gamma adjustment points placement
- gamma table (and in the same file: screen initializations sequence)
Commits - source changes:
1/ ARM: herring: panel: Adjust pentile gamma table
2/ s3cfb_tl2796: Add support for reading mtp gamma register offsets
3/ s3cfb_tl2796: Add debug function to read current gamma correction registers
4/ ARM: herring: panel: Add support for reading mtp data
5/ ARM: herring: panel: Update gamma table
6/ ARM: herring: panel: Correct color temperature.
Conclusions
The new driver is properly (I would say: smartly!) written. It implement features exactly how it should be done.
Also, it should work well on each screen revision as it adapt to them.
However, something went wrong in the process.
Calibrating a screen cannot be done
Also, this is a Super AMOLED. Contrast Ratio of it is almost infinite.
Trying to apply exactly color profiles designed for lesser screens, with lower contrasts and gamut cannot work, by design.
However it doesn't mean a Super AMOLED screen is condemned to exhibit washed out or absurd over-saturated colors.
In a similar way, calibrating plasma TVs is not easy but can lead to excellent results.
Kernel for color developers, allowing hardware calibration
In this post
and this one
Yes, a third one too
Yet again another one
write in progress... comments welcome already
just a bit of extra info
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/27/nexus-s-2-3-3-update-adjusts-screens-color-temperature-we-go-e/
Poll shows
2607 like the new colors.
727 do not like the new colors.
terryhau said:
just a bit of extra info
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/27/nexus-s-2-3-3-update-adjusts-screens-color-temperature-we-go-e/
Poll shows
529 like the new colors.
157 do not like the new colors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but I think the poll accuracy is affected by the article's photo,
The camera white balance used favor 2.3.3 color rendition.
On the color accuracy topic, the photo is not representative of what you see on the actual screen.
It allows however to calculate differently:
581 (14.9%) "looking good"
170 + 82 + 142 = 394 not happy with the update. "No, my screen looks terrible." + "No, mine's plagued with other bugs here." + "No, everything's gone wrong!"
The poll asks people how they think it looks on their device, not in the picture.
But i agree, polls are inaccurate.
I haven't actually seen the 2.3.3 color profile on my own device because none of the custom kernels here use it. And i don't want to use a stock kernel (cm7 user).
When you update your kernel, will it use the new profile by default?
terryhau said:
The poll asks people how they think it looks on their device, not in the picture.
But i agree, polls are inaccurate.
I haven't actually seen the 2.3.3 color profile on my own device because none of the custom kernels here use it. And i don't want to use a stock kernel (cm7 user).
When you update your kernel, will it use the new profile by default?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, this poll cannot be accurate as the poll answers are for different questions, mixing color changes and general update modifications.
This poll is invalid by design ^^
You cannot add apples and oranges.
Until we manage to get nice colors from the new driver & gamma table, I'll publish mine with the old solution + the Voodoo color profile applied from the app.
But in this thread yes I'll publish a special kernel running the new code. But with the ability to customize it.
The goal is to let people try adjustments and share them
When the 2.3.3 update was released a few days ago, my immediate reaction was positive. I noticed how dramatically better the greys looked. Colors looked more accurate. I viewed the change as positive. I was quite vocal about how this was a fix, not a problem.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11632473&postcount=7
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11631763&postcount=56
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11630603&postcount=49
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11629424&postcount=41
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11628604&postcount=30
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11618865&postcount=448
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=11618733&postcount=446
Unfortuntately, after nearly three full days of use I must take back every single one of the above posts. My screen looks terrible. The colors ARE more accurate. The greys ARE much better. However, overall my screen looks like it has jaundice. Everything listed in post #49 referenced above (ie. the dialer) does look dramatically better. However, my whites are terrible. They are not "yellow" per se, but they look like they have a slight yellow tinge like a subtle parchament effect. And honestly, I think since I knew this was an intended fix I convinced myself to like it. I figured the yellow was just my imagination because it was overly blue before, and yellow is the opposite of blue. If I look at my Facebook widget, GMail app, or Market app objectively three days later I can honestly say the yellow is real, and it is quite gross. When compared directly to my girlfriend's myTouch 4G the change is even more apparent. It's not that her whites are overly blue...mine really do have a subtle yellow tinge. And although stock and voodoo are both a bit oversaturated, the new 2.3.3 cover profile does appear undersaturated or "washed out."
Last night I reverted to voodoo color and WOW, it was a breath of fresh air. The colors are not as accurate. However, I don't care. The jaundice is gone, and my screen is vibrant again. If I must accept a tradeoff, I'll take the vibrant oversaturated colors over the sickly jaundice update colors. And this is coming from someone who initially viewed the change as overwhelmingly positive. I suppose subtle differences in sAMOLED manufacturing and each person's own perception of color make each person's preference different. Some people's screens may not have the yellow mine does. However after almost three days of trying to like the new profile, and then a VERY throrough comparison of stock 2.3.2, voodoo, and 2.3.3 ...I'll stick with voodoo. I just can't take the LED jaundice.
Thanks for your hard work supercurio. I'm really looking forward to the calibration tools.
You know @mhaedo, if it a screen looks terrible (in some situations) it's always because the color rendition is not accurate.
Despite each screen physical/technical limitations.
People will tell you "it's washed out because it's calibrated" => wrong.
There is nothing more beautiful − objectively − than a accurately color calibrated screen.
I mean, with a calibrated screen you just forget it because everything is how it should be.
Because it becomes neutral, you don't see the screen anymore, only the images displayed on it.
Thanks for your report!
supercurio said:
You know @mhaedo, if it something looks terrible it's because the colors are not accurate.
People will tell you "it's washed out because it's calibrated" => wrong.
There is nothing more beautiful − objectively − than a accurately color calibrated screen.
I mean, with a calibrated screen you just forget it because everything is how it should be.
Because it becomes neutral, you don't see the screen anymore, only the images displayed on it.
Thanks for your report!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well greys are definitely more accurate and look great. However I suppose you are right. As a whole, it is not accurate. I just purchased your voodoo donate market app to support the development. Thanks again.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
supercurio said:
You know @mhaedo, if it a screen looks terrible (in some situations) it's always because the color rendition is not accurate.
Despite each screen physical/technical limitations.
People will tell you "it's washed out because it's calibrated" => wrong.
There is nothing more beautiful − objectively − than a accurately color calibrated screen.
I mean, with a calibrated screen you just forget it because everything is how it should be.
Because it becomes neutral, you don't see the screen anymore, only the images displayed on it.
Thanks for your report!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to disagree that people forget about a color calibrated screen. Actually, I know it to be completely false. Most best buy locations have a color calibrated TV display where they have two TVs side by side; one calibrated and one not. If you ask people which TV looks better 99 out of 100 people will tell you the overly blue saturated TV is clearly more bright and has deeper blacks. Those people are wrong. That is exactly what is going on here and its exactly why Samsung and others do this to displays. I'm all for giving people the choice when it comes to their screens but I'm also for not letting people perpetuate a falsehood; I've looked closely at my screen and my wife's, looked at every "horriblely" yellow tinted screen people have posted pictures of and I stand by my statement that there us nothing wrong. People are just used to horribly tuned screens.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
There is calibration and calibration.
Often, the name calibration is used for reddish screen tones and dull colors.
It should only describe a rendering scientifically accurate that fit the intended target color space.
Most times: sRGB color space.
However, I fully agree on the temperature. 6500K, which is the natural sRGB white point is fine compared to natural colors in exterior, but it's rarely the best choice for screens except for people working on imaging only.
I don't think either it's the absolute best choice for a mobile display.
- Cooler (more blue) temperature look better inside especially: more.. white
- We are used to blueish screens. As a consequence 65000 looks strange to most of us.
Polls don't mean a lot, if there are different screen versions, it's possible that the update works great on some screens and not on others.. It's possible that the people answering the Engadget poll have in majority devices with the same screen for which the update worked great.
The Google forums posts say exactly the opposite, 90%+ not happy and only a few happy.
In my opinion it is not possible to think that the colors on the screen of my phone look correct. The screen colors look like something you find on a cheap LCD or an old LCD screen with worn out back light that gives no more contrast.
Anyhow with Supercurio's kernel the issues is temporarily fixed.
Thanks for the hard work!
You're welcome.
It's barely a choice, I would prefer selling my Nexus S than using it with 2.3.3 colors
Voodoo color profile V1 currently is app is far from perfect however. I gave it a 5 or 10 rating only.
− Began porting latest Voodoo color code and code documentation in 2.3.3
kenvan19 said:
I tend to disagree that people forget about a color calibrated screen. Actually, I know it to be completely false. Most best buy locations have a color calibrated TV display where they have two TVs side by side; one calibrated and one not. If you ask people which TV looks better 99 out of 100 people will tell you the overly blue saturated TV is clearly more bright and has deeper blacks. Those people are wrong. That is exactly what is going on here and its exactly why Samsung and others do this to displays. I'm all for giving people the choice when it comes to their screens but I'm also for not letting people perpetuate a falsehood; I've looked closely at my screen and my wife's, looked at every "horriblely" yellow tinted screen people have posted pictures of and I stand by my statement that there us nothing wrong. People are just used to horribly tuned screens.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look, I'll agree that an overtly "blue" tinted screen is not good, both for colour accuracy and the life of your SAMOLED screen.
But, I do not for a minute believe the current 2.3.3 colour profile is anywhere close to "calibrated" or "accurate". It's not. Some are experiencing extreme yellow tint and washout. Also as supercurio's Voodoo colour profile has demonstrated the "purple tint" issue can be eliminated without introducing a yellow tint.
And I will repeat this over and over again until I can't type. NOT all SAMOLED screens are the same as supercurio pointed out. There are displays out there more negatively impacted by the 2.3.3 driver update.
supercurio said:
You're welcome.
It's barely a choice, I would prefer selling my Nexus S than using it with 2.3.3 colors
Voodoo color profile V1 currently is app is far from perfect however. I gave it a 5 or 10 rating only.
− Began porting latest Voodoo color code and code documentation in 2.3.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You rock!
I agree about selling the NS due to 2.3.3. I never intended to unlock my bootloader and mess with the kernel.. But here we are, and thankfully you did the amazing work of helping us out.
And I agree there's room to improve (and I will leave that to the master), there is still too much blue tint on my screen, even if the purple tint has been eliminated. I can imagine obtaining a 6500 temperature on this phone, and not the yellow tinted mess Google provided.
supercurio said:
You're welcome.
It's barely a choice, I would prefer selling my Nexus S than using it with 2.3.3 colors
Voodoo color profile V1 currently is app is far from perfect however. I gave it a 5 or 10 rating only.
− Began porting latest Voodoo color code and code documentation in 2.3.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
based on the downloads of my kernels...people running 2.3.3 prefer "2.3.2 w/voodoo colors" 2:1 over stock "2.3.3 colors"
thanks for your attention
MadFerIt2011 said:
Look, I'll agree that an overtly "blue" tinted screen is not good, both for colour accuracy and the life of your SAMOLED screen.
But, I do not for a minute believe the current 2.3.3 colour profile is anywhere close to "calibrated" or "accurate". It's not. Some are experiencing extreme yellow tint and washout. Also as supercurio's Voodoo colour profile has demonstrated the "purple tint" issue can be eliminated without introducing a yellow tint.
And I will repeat this over and over again until I can't type. NOT all SAMOLED screens are the same as supercurio pointed out. There are displays out there more negatively impacted by the 2.3.3 driver update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are entitled to your opinion but I will just say this: I have not seen a single picture of a screen that possesses this "yellow tint" that does not look normal to me. You're right though, SuperCurio fixed the purple tint without normalizing the colors, however his fix (this isn't meant as a slight to SuperCurio as I am a great believer in his work and his skill as a developer) didn't actually make the screen look natural. I still hold to my belief that what most people are claiming is a bug is really just a result of the fact that manufacturers have been using this type of over-blue saturation for years and that most people's eyes have become accustomed to it not to mention the fact that our eyes are easily tricked into seeing bright blue as brighter white.
kenvan19, you need to see how a professionally calibrated screen look like
supercurio said:
kenvan19, you need to see how a professionally calibrated screen look like
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to calibrate screens professionally. I calibrated all the screens in my home, my parents home and my wife's parents home. I have quite a lot of experience with the subject, actually, and I'd really appreciate not being talked down to about it.
Great news keep the good work man
I'm getting ready for Donation cheer
kenvan19 said:
I used to calibrate screens professionally. I calibrated all the screens in my home, my parents home and my wife's parents home. I have quite a lot of experience with the subject, actually, and I'd really appreciate not being talked down to about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah okay sorry. I'll be interested by your collaboration then with the upcoming release, especially if you still have calibration hardware !
Am I alone here when I say i'd like to be able to dim this thing a lot more, occasionally?
Thus far I can't find a way to do so. Does anyone know of a way to dim the screen beyond the limitations of the brightness settings?
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
you are not alone, I run at 0% brightness all day and God knows i want even darker at night
Same here. At night i sometimes think the brightness has been turned up. I use at it around 10% during the day and it feels it is way too bright at night
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
download "screen filter" from the market.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
bendoe91z28 said:
download "screen filter" from the market.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got there before me Bendoe, yep, Screen Filter works a treat people, just be sure not to set it too low when you first use it, else you won't "see" anything if you do lol.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Also I recommend running a program with a 'night mode'
- Frank
bendoe91z28 said:
download "screen filter" from the market.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
totally worked!
I am still awaiting my Galaxy Note, but perhaps the following could offer a solution.....
[MOD]Lower Auto-Brightness levels to save battery
This is a mod for the Galaxy S 2 but in theory the method should be ok to apply to the Note. However that said, I have not tried it on the Note (or successfully on my S2 as I always have trouble recompiling the apk) but hopefully it could help some as by applying the mod you can change the default 'lowest value' of auto-brightness from something from around 35 to 5 (on a scale from 0-255) making it light up less in dim environments.
cd993 said:
I am still awaiting my Galaxy Note, but perhaps the following could offer a solution.....
[MOD]Lower Auto-Brightness levels to save battery
This is a mod for the Galaxy S 2 but in theory the method should be ok to apply to the Note. However that said, I have not tried it on the Note (or successfully on my S2 as I always have trouble recompiling the apk) but hopefully it could help some as by applying the mod you can change the default 'lowest value' of auto-brightness from something from around 35 to 5 (on a scale from 0-255) making it light up less in dim environments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked on my NOTE with my KKA ROM! My auto brightness is MUCH better now. Thanks!
ookba said:
That worked! My auto brightness is MUCH better now. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to of helped out!
So to anyone else reading this with the same issue.......follow suit!
The native web browser has 3 energy saving settings that make the screen even darker than 0 brightness, but there's no such setting for the screen in general. I agree that the screen in this device is incredibly bright, and in complete dark you could turn it down a lot more. I'm typing this by daylight with screen brightness at minimum and I find it enough. Of course you need more if the screen is directly on the sun light, but no screen can compete with a nuclear furnace 1 million km wide.
I don't see why people would want to have such a dim screen on their phone, 10% and below also...
What is the point in having a gorgeous nice and bright Amoled screen only using it at 0% brightness?
It's like me buying a Lamborghini and never going any quicker than 50mph...
The Note has such a wonderful screen and it's such a waste when it's dim most of the time...
My screen is on 90% brightness 24/7 and I get 2-3 days use out the phone.
Running my Note with 10 or 20% will get me an extra day or two out the battery but then it means looking at an ugly, dark & very dim screen...
kanej2006 said:
I don't see why people would want to have such a dim screen on their phone, 10% and below also...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe because it IS subjectively too bright in certain scenarios? Like at night for example? (The key work being subjectively.)
And for some, the battery life is more important than somewhat nicer looking screen - I find the screen good enough even at low brightness. The colour rendering naturally suffers, but it's not too bad.
kanej2006 said:
My screen is on 90% brightness 24/7 and I get 2-3 days use out the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even at night...? I can't imagine looking into this 5.3" flashlight at night I feel sorry for your eyes
Pete
kanej2006 said:
I don't see why people would want to have such a dim screen on their phone, 10% and below also...
What is the point in having a gorgeous nice and bright Amoled screen only using it at 0% brightness?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I use it at lowest stock setting 24/7 and it is too bright to my eyes for most situations.
It's like me buying a Lamborghini and never going any quicker than 50mph...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't buy the note for its screen only
My screen is on 90% brightness 24/7 and I get 2-3 days use out the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you don't use it enough I can't get 1 full day (16 hours) with mine at minimal brightness (and no it is not a wakelog or something I use it a lot)
Running my Note with 10 or 20% will get me an extra day or two out the battery but then it means looking at an ugly, dark & very dim screen...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A dim screen is not ugly, at least not to my eyes
Haha, I love the screen and even at night I love the colours/brightness to be STRONG.
Any less than 50% brightness is too dark for me..
Maybe it's coz I sit a few feet away from my 32'' LED IPS TV & therefore I'm used to bright screens...
I just tried the screen brightness on 0% and it looks terrible, weak and washed out colours, I dunno how others are saying it's still too bright...
How do you guys do it?
kanej2006 said:
I don't see why people would want to have such a dim screen on their phone, 10% and below also...
What is the point in having a gorgeous nice and bright Amoled screen only using it at 0% brightness?
It's like me buying a Lamborghini and never going any quicker than 50mph...
The Note has such a wonderful screen and it's such a waste when it's dim most of the time...
My screen is on 90% brightness 24/7 and I get 2-3 days use out the phone.
Running my Note with 10 or 20% will get me an extra day or two out the battery but then it means looking at an ugly, dark & very dim screen...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in complete darkness, at 0% this screen is way too bright. it is absolutely terrible for your eyes to look into it when the lights are out and one absolutely needs some way to dim it further. i can tell you that if you think otherwise, you are damaging your eyes and might want to reconsider how you view screens in general.
best,
jason
I sometimes use my phone in bed at night and on the lowest setting the screen is too bright. It lights up the room and makes it difficult for my girlfriend to sleep. So I found some screen dimming apps and I'll use one or more of them at the same time to significantly dim the screen to an acceptable level.
The main one I use is adjustable: BackLightFilter
Others: Screen Filter, Dimmer (Night Mode)
I really wish CyanogenMod was available for the Note. It contains a Render Effect which lets you turn off red, green, blue, or a combination of those from your screen. I'd leave only red on for good night viewing. Anyone know of an apk or other way to implement this function without having it baked into a ROM?
kanej2006 said:
I just tried the screen brightness on 0% and it looks terrible, weak and washed out colours, I dunno how others are saying it's still too bright...
How do you guys do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are just reading, a book, or xda, it really doesn't matter what the colors are. It is annoying for many to read on a brightly lit screen. This is why the original kindle continues to sell well.
I did the white on black mod for opera and its my preferred browser now.
maxh said:
I really wish CyanogenMod was available for the Note. It contains a Render Effect which lets you turn off red, green, blue, or a combination of those from your screen. I'd leave only red on for good night viewing. Anyone know of an apk or other way to implement this function without having it baked into a ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chainfire 3d.. do it custom as well.. he even has an add on to do auto switching..
fards said:
Chainfire 3d.. do it custom as well.. he even has an add on to do auto switching..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent, thanks! I even have a home screen toggle for it now, something I wished for on CM7.
I've seen many Youtube Note videos with max brightness (some about e-reading), but almost none with the lowest brightness setting.
So, what do you think of reading at night with the Note, with low or no exterior light? Are white letters on black blackground too bright that becomes unconfortable?
What is your experience with apps like screen filter?
Those who come from HTC phones, do you find Note's screen more stressful to your eyes?
I've owned htc and sony phones and the Note's screen is very vibrant and great for night reading. Even on the low brightness in a dark room, you won't have trouble to read unless you have a bad eye sight.
Only people who are used to smaller screens or have pain in the eye will find the night usage painful for their sight. I use it every night before sleeping - no complains so far.
My fear is that Note will be too vibrant and brightfull and will strain my eyes.
For instance, I prefer reading at night with my HD2 than with my Asus Transformer, because it has a lower brightness level.
I don't know about you but I've also own a HD2 and I found the amoled screen very pleasant compare to every htc phones. The brightness can be toggle to suit you. But it's better that you test before in a shop if you are afraid.
There's an app called screen filter on market where you can lower the brightness until the letters are almost invisible. Great for night time reading!
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
I use it on my HD2, but I've read here that Note's screen doesn't deal well with it and the image becomes greyish
Zamboney said:
There's an app called screen filter on market where you can lower the brightness until the letters are almost invisible. Great for night time reading!
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I find it easy to read at night but only with screen filter. Must have app.
It is pretty bright at night, even with white text on a black background, but no problem if you use Screen Filter or one of the other several similar apps to dim it further. I have toggles on my home screen for several different filter levels for different purposes. Also, I use the night-vision mode that comes with Chainfire3D to turn it to red text on a black background, for even better night time reading.
With Fbreader you can just change the color of the text to something closer to black and have night mode with the lowest brightness setting on. Voila! Very clear and easy to read in pitch dark.
.....
My experience is a little different to others in the thread.
I also come from using an HD2 and to me, reading at night is a weakness for the Note. Even with saturation and contrast adjusted, the pentile display really stands out to me when you're (a) in a dark room and (b) holding the Note quite close to your eyes.
Both these are true when I'm reading. It's not particularly uncomfortable but just a bit annoying.
Could you detail further the 'pentile experience'? You see pixels or 'grain'?
I've had lots of other phones and can with certainty say that I've never had a book reader as good as my beloved Note. Pentile or not.
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
myself11 said:
Could you detail further the 'pentile experience'? You see pixels or 'grain'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see the separation between the pixels as I tend to hold it quite close on a low brightness when reading. It doesn't make it any more difficult to read, and of course the resolution outweighs that negative, but it just makes it look a little bit less perfect.
I am using Screendim application and it works much better than screen filter. There is Screendim trial just for three days.
Amoled screen cannot be made lower brightness than the default so it must be using contrast features to make it dimmer.
I have to say that reading is the primary reason why I bought the Note. I read a lot of ebooks. I find the Note to be a perfect size for reading at night in bed.
I have never found the brightness an issue... What u need is a good reading app. Thats what makes the difference.
I use Moon Reader Pro and epubeader (free on the Market and can also read .mobi). Both these programs have the ability to change the text color and background and brightness.
I find that black background with pale grey/blue text is the easiest to read while conserving most battery power.
For me, Note is amazing, and if talking about brightness, it can auto-adjust itself.
I agree with documents transformed to pure black backgrounds and maybe 10% black to white text color is perfect for the eye, so you can almost fall asleep while your phone saves battery.
For some reason ScreenFilter worked better on my S2 than it does on the Note. Using ScreenFilter just makes the picture look bad... washed out and difficult to read. I wish my Note could have lower brightness on the lowest setting.
Maybe Samsung doesn't want to go lower to avoid showing imperfections.
Tubgirl said:
For some reason ScreenFilter worked better on my S2 than it does on the Note. Using ScreenFilter just makes the picture look bad... washed out and difficult to read. I wish my Note could have lower brightness on the lowest setting.
Maybe Samsung doesn't want to go lower to avoid showing imperfections.
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I find it better if you use the Voodoo screen tuning app - worth trying
Seriously can't work this one out, do I get my screen changed or not?
Should I wait to see if ICS makes it any better?
This phone is perfect for me except this issue with the blacks / greys. Even when i zoom in on dark parts of pictures taken with the phones camera it turns into a pixelated mess, so this is defiantly not a low quality source issue, its hardware or software related, but which?
Advice please guys. Many thanks!
I know! Right?
The screen Is freaking awesome, simply the best on any smartphone, but why those blacks haven't been fixed yet???
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
I really am at a loss to what you guys are complaining about. I'm either not that fussy, or deluded to the fact that what I think I am seeing as 'bad' I pass off as something else.
From what I've read around the forums, what should be a shaded series of greys/blacks in an area are appearing as blocks of black/darkgrey instead of a gradual change.
I've always thought this was down to how videos/images where compressed or decompressed and displayed - which would almost certainly be software and not hardware?
davexeno said:
I really am at a loss to what you guys are complaining about. I'm either not that fussy, or deluded to the fact that what I think I am seeing as 'bad' I pass off as something else.
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Same here. My blacks look fine most of the time. When I do get grey blockiness I'm pretty sure it's due to poor compression in the video file, because other videos, large black areas look fine.
Can anyone give a link to a video available online in which this problem occurs (and the point in the video we should be looking at).
Maybe then we can get some objective testing with everyone using the same source file.
Maybe even have people doing screenshots to compare screens.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1366014&page=4
I'm rarely using my phone in dark enough conditions to notice.
ICS should improve gradients, but won't fix the black crush if it is indeed a problem with the screen hardware.
I am probably going to regret this, as my Note was perfect except for this black crush issue, but I sent mine back to be replaced. And the issue was not just on videos for me so poor quality encodes are not the problem, I was getting it even with pictures taken with the phones camera. Said pictures taken with the Note displayed fine on my pc and my wifes Galaxy s 2, so it is deffo a problem with the device.
Please lets not turn this into another "who cares" or "its not that noticeable" debate like the other threads, all I am aiming at with this thread from now is to find out if there are any Notes in existence that do not have this issue!
Thanks.
I refuse to look for a problem that is not there.....
There is no phone or portable device in existence that is color accurate, either tonally or temperature or gamma correct out of the box, and to expect such is to be, well, expecting quite a bit too much.
Why do i make that statement?.. Well, given that a monitor or TV at ANY price are not accurately calibrated.
To get an accurately calibrated monitor requires a display worth using, then a color tone/temperature/gamma calibration system (which is ~$200 & up) and software that can use the resulting calibration profiles...
The SGN is a phone... tbh there is no "fault" or "problem" here, other than unrealistic customer expectations...
Would a settings app that could set globally set color temp & gamma be helpful? sure.. there is enough color temp variation in the spread of production tolerances in phone to make this useful... stop a ll the pink white /blue white issues
But will it make the SGN a color accurate display?.. no.
So... lets wave a magic wand and make it so... whats the point? the camera does not justify it, the movies you watch are overly compressed and not color accurate (never mind compression artifacts of banding, blocking and shading), youtube videos have no quality controls.. online TV, website videos and stills have major color saturation issues.. so what content will you access that is going to be useable on a color accurate display?..
well, 4 beers down and 2c more spent..
Mystic38 said:
I refuse to look for a problem that is not there.....
There is no phone or portable device in existence that is color accurate, either tonally or temperature or gamma correct out of the box, and to expect such is to be, well, expecting quite a bit too much.
Why do i make that statement?.. Well, given that a monitor or TV at ANY price are not accurately calibrated.
To get an accurately calibrated monitor requires a display worth using, then a color tone/temperature/gamma calibration system (which is ~$200 & up) and software that can use the resulting calibration profiles...
The SGN is a phone... tbh there is no "fault" or "problem" here, other than unrealistic customer expectations...
Would a settings app that could set globally set color temp & gamma be helpful? sure.. there is enough color temp variation in the spread of production tolerances in phone to make this useful... stop a ll the pink white /blue white issues
But will it make the SGN a color accurate display?.. no.
So... lets wave a magic wand and make it so... whats the point? the camera does not justify it, the movies you watch are overly compressed and not color accurate (never mind compression artifacts of banding, blocking and shading), youtube videos have no quality controls.. online TV, website videos and stills have major color saturation issues.. so what content will you access that is going to be useable on a color accurate display?..
well, 4 beers down and 2c more spent..
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Dude, my pc plays / displays these movies and images fine with no artifacts, as does my tv, as does my partners Galaxy s 2, as does my Nexus s, so how can you say that there is no problem?
Anyway, I just had a look at my cousins Galaxy Note and that one is playing these movies fine, and is displaying the pictures taken with my Note without the chess board effect, so if you are happy to pay over £400 for a defective device thats up to you, but many of us expect to get what we paid for.
I just found this on you tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a8aIGeLERg many people find this a problem.
CONTACTMC said:
I just found this on you tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a8aIGeLERg many people find this a problem.
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I agree with you it is a problem and even supercurio has been on it and he is a developer so someting isnt right so lets hope it gets fixed cause many people suffer with it
CONTACTMC said:
I just found this on you tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a8aIGeLERg many people find this a problem.
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The problem is clear enough to see there, but it's not one I've ever noticed on my Note. I just tried playing this YouTube clip on my Note....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syxd2n8S4AE
and could see nothing wrong with the video performance in a darkened (curtains drawn during daytime) room. I wonder how well this clip plays for other people on the Note.
I made a video of the Note playing this clip and I'm uploading it at the moment. It will take a while (81 minutes remaining at the moment) as I shot in 1080p. I'll post a link when it's ready.
FWIW I'm on the latest official ROM and my phone was sourced from Germany in early November. From my perspective there is no problem, which might make it quite hard for Samsung to fix.
My Note is running on ICS (CM9) and the color rendering is substantially improved over stock GB. Gradients are smoother and blacks are rendered cleaner.
My video is up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl0SKxnqa2I
tdodd said:
My video is up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl0SKxnqa2I
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I've played the same clip on my Note and it looks exactly like yours, no banding/crushing/clipping whatsoever.
I've tried a lot of Youtube clips and movie trailers but in only one of them I could see obvious artefacts during a fade out. I played the same clip on my pc and saw the same thing happen there so that's probably just lousy encoding.
Thanks for putting that video up, I hope my replacement looks like yours, its due tomorrow.
I got me new note, this one is set to uk language instead of german like the one I returned. It has the exact same issue, drops from 4 grey to 3 complete black and i am still getting the clipping, bloody Samsung, this was meant to be an upgrade from my nexus s, but most stuff looks better on that! Not gonna excahnge again, I will wait for ICS and see if Samsung actually acknowledge the issue.
@Mystic38. Whilst I agree with you that most consumer devices don't come calibrated to industry standards and that most consumer devices lack the essential settings found on the most basic of professional displays, I fail to see how any colour, contrast, hue, gamma or brightness calibration would affect the overall appearance, unless of course you are cranking the settings beyond anything useful and crushing the dynamics intentionally.
It's difficult to introduce visual banding or blocking in high BIT rate video or lightly compressed images by tweaking settings and calibration by a couple of percent alone, as there are near on 17 million colours. This leaves thousands of grey levels to play with and the human eye shouldn't notice banding or blocking with that many greys.
This presumably points to an issue with the way that video is presented to the screen driver or how the screen driver drives the screen. There's probably an issue with crushing where the hardware converts the digital signal to electronic levels of each AMOLED element. I have seen this problem on other devices, not just phones and most of the time it was rectified after a software upgrade.
Another thing to remember is that companies like Samsung are fully aware and accommodating of the fact that a lot of people now use these types of phones as monitors for photography and video production as I do. I use DSLR Controller and have no problem with crushing. Using the phone as a monitor has been extremely helpful and negated the expense of something which would have cost over 10 times the price.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
I just got round to trying the ,png gamma test file on my Note. It fails the test. Everything below 4 is black and as you go through the numbers from 4 and above there are bands grouping four levels into one tone. Worse still, the tones alternate from greenish to purple instead of being shades of grey. Interestingly if I perform a screen capture the capture is a true reflection of what I see, which implies to me that the Note is actually sending bad values to the screen rather than a hardware problem, because surely the screen capture only cares about the data, not the physical appearance produced.
Looking at the same file on my laptop everything is presented correctly, so obviously the file is not the problem.
Yet despite failing this test I have never noticed a problem with the Note to cause me concern in normal every day use.
tdodd said:
I just got round to trying the ,png gamma test file on my Note. It fails the test. Everything below 4 is black and as you go through the numbers from 4 and above there are bands grouping four levels into one tone. Worse still, the tones alternate from greenish to purple instead of being shades of grey. Interestingly if I perform a screen capture the capture is a true reflection of what I see, which implies to me that the Note is actually sending bad values to the screen rather than a hardware problem, because surely the screen capture only cares about the data, not the physical appearance produced.
Looking at the same file on my laptop everything is presented correctly, so obviously the file is not the problem.
Yet despite failing this test I have never noticed a problem with the Note to cause me concern in normal every day use.
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Have you viewed it in the gallery or in a browser? With my Note everything below 4 is crushed in the stock ICS browser but I can see everything in the gallery.
pboesboes said:
Have you viewed it in the gallery or in a browser? With my Note everything below 4 is crushed in the stock ICS browser but I can see everything in the gallery.
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I think the gallery uses a different color gradient and temperature than the stock ICS browser, much as if you view a rich encoded black contrast video on the stock video player and on a custom app video player like MX player... you get varying results...
I think this issue is a mix of both a hardware and software one, and though the Official ICS upgrade "might" alleviate this problem, I surely believe also that since this is a combination of a hardware problem, the clippings are still there but perhaps not quite noticeable anymore....
I've only had this device for 4-5 days now. My eyes have been really sore for the past 2 days now. I'm not sure if this is because of the Iris scanner or the Gear VR. Anyone else having the same problem?
How much time have you spent with the Gear VR? Does the problem stop when you put the phone down for a while?
In any event, persistent eye soreness should be diagnosed by a doctor, not by a cell phone forum.
While you wait for your optometrist appointment, have you tried using the blue light filter setting in your pull down menu?
Have you, by chance, suffered any type of head injury (mild or moderate)? Recent change in vision or new optical prescription? Things to consider.
This could be indicative of something far more important than a Note 8, so please do see an Optometrist.
herandy said:
I've only had this device for 4-5 days now. My eyes have been really sore for the past 2 days now. I'm not sure if this is because of the Iris scanner or the Gear VR. Anyone else having the same problem?
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I noticed some discomfort after using the VR....it does say to limit your usage, especially when starting out.
BlueFox721 said:
I noticed some discomfort after using the VR....it does say to limit your usage, especially when starting out.
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Yeah those warnings exist for our protection fortunately. They other issue op could be having is from the device not finished learning brightness preferences as yet. I had to retrain mine negate for whatever reason, it thought I looked to be blinded!!!?
Jammol said:
Yeah those warnings exist for our protection fortunately. They other issue op could be having is from the device not finished learning brightness preferences as yet. I had to retrain mine negate for whatever reason, it thought I looked to be blinded!!!?
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I did too. could be that then
Gary02468 said:
How much time have you spent with the Gear VR? Does the problem stop when you put the phone down for a while?
In any event, persistent eye soreness should be diagnosed by a doctor, not by a cell phone forum.
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It just comes and goes randomly putting the phone down doesn't seem to make a difference that much to me. I think it might be related to the iris scanner though. I've heard some people had problems with it on the S8 as well. Haven't used the Gear VR that much. 4-5 times, half an hour each time.
Bet its the VR...I struggle with this. I'm not sure what impact the Iris scanner might have but its not a bright light so can't imagine it causes too much harm. VR will tire your eyes especially after 30 mins. I watched a live SpaceX rocket launch and had to sit for a few mins after to recover.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.dail...-say-iris-scanner-causing-eye-discomfort.html
You're not alone apparently. I stay away from shining even small amounts of infrared lights in my eyes. It's not with the small chance of damage to me.
How does the amount of IR exposure from a few seconds of iris-scanning compare to the amount of IR exposure from a few seconds of walking outdoors?
Gary02468 said:
How does the amount of IR exposure from a few seconds of iris-scanning compare to the amount of IR exposure from a few seconds of walking outdoors?
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One is artificial, the other is natural. It may be a tiny risk, but Samsung even provides a warning about it when you activate it. My eye sight is just too important to me to risk it with new technology even if the risks are miniscule.
Also, it is the issue of the repeated exposure over a period of time. How many times do you unlock your phone a day? I think that is the concerning aspect in my eyes. Of course an unlock or two will not create eye damage. However, who has done the studies proving that repetitive direct eye exposure to IR lights are benign to eye health? The studies just aren't there.
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Seems like you maybe sensitive to the infared light spectrum used by the iris scanner. I would recommend that you disable iris scanning and use the fingerprint scanner instead.
I don't use Gear VR or the iris scanner and my eyes are fine. I am a heavy user too, with one full battery depletion per day.
I don't have an issue with the iris scanner. I keep the phone about a foot away when I do the iris unlock (both eyes in the 2 circles).
I primarily use my fingerprint, then PIN code, but I rely on iris unlock if my hands are sticky or dirty.
Lower the brightness..
herandy said:
I've only had this device for 4-5 days now. My eyes have been really sore for the past 2 days now. I'm not sure if this is because of the Iris scanner or the Gear VR. Anyone else having the same problem?
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Have you tried lowering the brightness, the Note 8 is a particularly bright phone.
petethepete2000 said:
Have you tried lowering the brightness, the Note 8 is a particularly bright phone.
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It's on auto and usually too dim to be honest, but I've been having around 6-6:30 SoT recently anyways. Black themes from substratum help a lot too.