Galaxy Note 3 Display Technology Shoot-Out

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – Samsung Galaxy Note II

Dr. Raymond M. Soneira

President, DisplayMate Technologies Corporation

Copyright © 1990-2013 by DisplayMate Technologies Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

This article, or any part thereof, may not be copied, reproduced, mirrored, distributed or incorporated

into any other work without the prior written permission of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation

Galaxy Note 3

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy S Smartphones are flagship products for Samsung to show off its latest and greatest OLED display technology. The Galaxy Note 3 has the newest generation of OLED display technology. The Lab tests show that it is better than the Note II in every measurement category, and also comparable or better than the display on the Galaxy S4. It has double the resolution of the Note II, which is a major improvement, but the most impressive advancement for the Note 3 is its significantly brighter screen. We’ll cover these issues and much more, with in-depth comprehensive display tests, measurements and analysis that you will find nowhere else.

OLED Displays

While most mobile displays are still LCD based, OLEDs have been capturing a rapidly increasing share of the mobile display market. The technology is still very new, with the Google Nexus One Smartphone, launched in January 2010, as the first OLED display product that received widespread notoriety. In a span of just a few years this new display technology has improved at a very impressive rate, now challenging and even exceeding the performance of the best LCDs. Virtually all of the OLED displays in current mobile devices are produced by Samsung Display. We have provided an in-depth analysis on the evolution of OLEDs in our Galaxy S I,II,III OLED Display Technology Shoot-Out and Galaxy S4 Display Technology Shoot-Out articles.

Samsung provided DisplayMate Technologies with a pre-release production unit to test and analyze for this Display Technology Shoot-Out article.

The Shoot-Out

To examine the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 we ran our in-depth series of Mobile Display Technology Shoot-Out Lab tests and included the Galaxy Note II in order to determine how OLED displays have 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 mobile displays have progressed in just three years see our 2010 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out, and for a real history lesson see our original 2006 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out.

Results Highlights

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 below. The Comparison Table section summarizes the Lab measurements in the following categories: Screen Reflections, Brightness and Contrast, Colors and Intensities, Viewing Angles, OLED Spectra, Display Power. You can also skip the Highlights and go directly to the Conclusions.

The Galaxy Note 3 has the newest generation of Samsung OLED displays since the Galaxy S4 Smartphone, which launched in April. The Lab tests below show that it is better than the Note II in every measurement category, and also comparable or better than the Galaxy S4. It has double the resolution of the Note II, which is a major improvement, but the most important advancement for the Note 3 is its significantly brighter screen…

Impressive Brightness

Up until the Galaxy Note 3, OLED displays have been somewhat to significantly dimmer than competing LCD displays. The Note 3 has changed that in a big way…it’s an impressive 55 percent brighter than the Note II and a solid 25 percent brighter than the Galaxy S4. For most image content it provides over 400 cd/m2, comparable or higher than most LCD displays in this size class. Even more impressive is that when Automatic Brightness is turned on, the Note 3 hits an incredible 660 cd/m2 in high ambient light, where it’s needed (85 percent brighter than the Note II and 40 percent brighter than the Galaxy S4 with Automatic Brightness) – the brightest mobile display we have ever tested in the Shoot-Out series. An impressive achievement for OLEDs!

Multiple Screen Modes and Color Management

Most Smartphones and Tablets only provide a single fixed factory set display calibration, with no way for the user to alter it based on personal preference, the running application, or the ambient light level. An important capability provided by the more recent Galaxy Note and Galaxy S Smartphones is the inclusion of a number of Screen Modes that provide different levels of user selectable color saturation and display calibration based on user and application preferences. The Galaxy Note 3 has 5 user selectable Screen Modes: Adapt Display, Dynamic, Standard, Professional Photo, and Movie, which we discuss below and include measurements for several Modes. The Screen Modes require the implementation of Color Management to adjust the native Color Gamut of the display plus additional factory calibration for each Mode.

Color Gamut and Absolute Color Accuracy

The Note 3 Movie Mode delivers the most accurate Color and White Point calibration for the Standard sRGB/Rec.709 consumer content that is used for virtually all digital camera, HDTV, internet, and computer content, including photos and videos. Use the Movie Mode for the best color and image accuracy. The measured Absolute Color Accuracy for the Movie Mode is an excellent 3.1 JNCD. See this Figure for an explanation of JNCD. The Adapt Display Mode is the default mode for the Galaxy Note 3 – it provides adaptive image processing and delivers higher color saturation, which appeals to some, and is also a better choice for high ambient light viewing conditions, which wash out image colors and contrast. This mode is very similar to the Professional Photo Mode, but has a more bluish White Point. Compare the Color Gamuts in this Figure and below.

Professional Photo Mode

Most high-end digital cameras have an option to use the Adobe RGB Gamut, which is 17 percent larger than the Standard sRGB/Rec.709 Gamut used in consumer cameras. The Professional Photo Mode on the Note 3 provides a fairly accurate calibration to the Adobe RGB standard, which is rarely available in consumers displays, and is very useful for high-end digital photography applications. The measured Absolute Color Accuracy of the Professional Photo Mode is 4.4 JNCD, which is Very Good. See this Figure for an explanation of JNCD.

Performance in High Ambient Lighting

Mobile displays are often used under relatively bright ambient lighting, which washes out image colors and contrast, reducing picture quality and making it harder to read the screen. To be usable in high ambient light a display needs high screen Brightness and low screen Reflectance – the Note 3 has both. In fact, with Automatic Brightness turned on, the Note 3 has the highest Contrast Rating for High Ambient Light we have ever measured, which quantitatively measures screen visibility under bright ambient lighting – the higher the better. This article has screen shots that show how screen images degrade in High Ambient Lighting. On the Note 3 the Brightness can be set much higher for Automatic Brightness so that users can’t permanently set the Manual Brightness slider to very high values, which would run down the battery quickly. This extra high level of Brightness is only needed for high Ambient Light. In addition, the Adapt Display, Standard and Dynamic Modes also have much higher Color Saturation, which also improves screen visibility in high Ambient Light.

Viewing Angle Performance

While the Note 3 is primarily a single viewer device, the variation in display performance with viewing angle is still very important because single viewers frequently hold the display at a variety of viewing angles. The angle is often up to 30 degrees, more if it’s resting on a table or desk. While LCDs typically experience a 55 percent or greater decrease in brightness at a 30 degree Viewing Angle, the Note 3 shows a much smaller 22 percent decrease in brightness at 30 degrees. This also applies to multiple side-by-side viewers as well, and is a significant advantage for OLED displays.

A Full HD 1920x1080 Display

The Galaxy Note II (like the Galaxy S III) has a 1280x720 display. The Galaxy Note 3 (like the Galaxy S4)

provides a full High Definition 1920x1080 display, with more than double the number of pixels – the same pixel resolution as your 50 inch living room HDTV – that’s very impressive! First of all, this is a benchmark spec with tremendous marketing power for driving consumer sales. But there are other important reasons for going to Full HD – there is a tremendous amount of 1920x1080 content available. Displaying that content at its native resolution (without the need to rescale up or down) results in the best possible image quality, plus rescaling requires processing overhead that uses (wastes) precious battery power.

Image Sharpness and Pixels Per Inch

The Galaxy Note 3 has a pixel density of 388 Pixels Per Inch PPI, which is very high, but lower than the 441 PPI for the Galaxy S4 and other Full HD Smartphone displays. It’s important to recognize that this is not a decrease in visual image sharpness because the display still appears perfectly sharp for 20/20 Vision at typical viewing distances of 13 inches or more because the Pixels and Sub-Pixels are below normal visual acuity. (The Galaxy Note is 14 percent larger than the Galaxy S4 so it is typically held further away). The Galaxy Note 3 also has a PenTile Sub-Pixel arrangement like the Galaxy S4, with only 2 Sub-Pixels per Pixel instead of the usual 3. But at these very high PPIs, it’s not visually noticeable because of the use of Sub-Pixel Rendering and the Diamond Sub-Pixel arrangement discussed below. For more information on visual image sharpness see High PPI PenTile Displays and Visual Sharpness and Resolution.

Diamond Pixels

A high resolution screen shot of the Galaxy Note 3 (provided by Samsung) shows an interesting design and sub-pixel arrangement, which Samsung calls Diamond Pixels. First of all, the Red, Green, and Blue sub-pixels have very different sizes – Blue is by far the largest because it has the lowest efficiency, and Green is by far the smallest because it has the highest efficiency. The alternating Red and Blue sub-pixel PenTile arrangement discussed above leads to a 45 degree diagonal symmetry in the sub-pixel layout. Then, in order to maximize the sub-pixel packing and achieve the highest possible PPI, that leads to diamond rather than square or stripe shaped Red and Blue sub-pixels. But not for the Green sub-pixels, which are oval shaped because they are squeezed between two much larger and different sized Red and Blue sub-pixels. It’s display art…

Power Efficiency

We measured an impressive 26 percent improvement in power efficiency between the Galaxy Note 3 and Note II. While LCDs remain more power efficient for images with mostly white content (like text screens, for example), OLEDs are more efficient for darker content because they are emissive rather than transmissive like LCDs. In fact, the Galaxy Note 3 is 31 percent more power efficient than the Full HD LCD Smartphones we recently tested for mixed image content (that includes photos and videos, for example) with a 50 percent Average Picture Level, APL.

Screen Uniformity

One subtle but important advantage of OLEDs is their excellent screen uniformity compared to LCDs, which often show hot spots and shadows from edge LED lighting.

Viewing Tests

The Galaxy Note 3 Movie Mode provides very nice, pleasing, and accurate colors and picture quality. The Movie Mode is recommended for indoor and low ambient light viewing. The Adapt Display and Standard Modes have significantly more vibrant and saturated colors. Some people like that. They are recommended for medium levels of ambient light viewing because it offsets some of the reflected glare that washes out the images. The Dynamic Mode provides incredibly powerful colors that are overwhelming in low ambient lighting. The Dynamic Mode is recommended for high ambient light viewing, for some games and cartoons, and possibly for persons with visual impairments.

Comparison with the Galaxy Note II

The Galaxy Note 3 display is a major enhancement and improvement over the Galaxy Note II – a good reason to consider trading up. The Full HD 1920x1080 display on the Galaxy Note 3 has more than double the number of pixels and is noticeably sharper then the lower resolution HD 1280x720 display on the Note II, particularly with text and graphics. But the most striking difference is the 55 percent brighter display on the Note 3 (and 85 percent brighter with Automatic Brightness). Consistent with the differences in their Color Gamuts and Intensity Scales, the Movie Mode was slightly more vivid on the Note 3 and the Standard Mode slightly more vivid on the Note II.

Galaxy Note 3 Conclusions: An Impressive OLED Display…

The Galaxy Note 3 continues the rapid and impressive improvement in OLED displays and technology. The first notable OLED Smartphone, the Google Nexus One, came in decidedly last place in our 2010 Smartphone Display Shoot-Out. In a span of just a few years OLED display technology is now challenging and even exceeding the performance of the best LCDs across the board in brightness, contrast, color accuracy, color management, picture quality, screen uniformity, and viewing angles. OLEDs are also considerably thinner than LCDs but still cost considerably more to manufacture.

The Galaxy Note 3 has the newest generation of OLED display technology. The Lab tests show that it is better than the Note II in every measurement category, and also comparable or better than the display on the Galaxy S4. It has double the resolution of the Note II, which is a major improvement, but the most impressive advancement for the Note 3 is its significantly brighter screen, which hits an incredible 660 cd/m2 in high ambient light, the brightest mobile display we have ever tested in the Shoot-Out series. An impressive achievement for OLEDs!

OLEDs need to continue improving their power efficiency, which is critically important for mobile displays. We measured an impressive 26 percent improvement in power efficiency between the Galaxy Note 3 and Note II. While LCDs remain more power efficient for images with mostly white content (like text screens, for example), OLEDs are more efficient for darker content because they are emissive rather than transmissive like LCDs. In fact, Galaxy Note 3 is already 31 percent more power efficient than the Full HD LCD Smartphones we recently tested for mixed image content (that includes photos and videos, for example) with a 50 percent Average Picture Level, APL. If this keeps up then OLEDs may pull ahead of LCDs in total power efficiency in the near future…

What’s Next… The most important developments for the upcoming generations of both OLED and LCD mobile displays will come from improvements in their image and picture quality in ambient light, which washes out screen images, resulting in reduced readability, image contrast, and color saturation and accuracy. The key will be in dynamically changing the display’s color management and intensity scales in order to automatically compensate for reflected glare and image wash out from ambient light. See this article on display performance in ambient light. The displays and technologies that succeed in implementing this new strategy will take the lead in the next generations of mobile displays…

DisplayMate Display Optimization 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, prototype development, and production 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.

Galaxy Note 3

Display Shoot-Out Comparison Table

Below we compare the display on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with the Galaxy Note II based on objective Lab measurement data and criteria. For additional background and information see the Galaxy S4 Display Technology Shoot-Out that compares the Galaxy S4 with the iPhone 5, and the Galaxy SI,II,III Display Technology Shoot-Out that compares and analyzes the evolution of the OLED displays on the Galaxy S I, II, and III.





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.info@displaymate.com.

DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology

All Smartphone and Tablet 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, prototype development, and production 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.

About DisplayMate Technologies

DisplayMate Technologies specializes in proprietary sophisticated scientific display calibration and mathematical display optimization to deliver unsurpassed objective performance, picture quality and accuracy for all types of displays including video and computer monitors, projectors, HDTVs, mobile displays such as smartphones and tablets, and all display technologies including LCD, OLED, 3D, LED, LCoS, Plasma, DLP and CRT. This article is a lite version of our intensive scientific analysis of Smartphone and Smartphone mobile displays – before the benefits of our advanced mathematical DisplayMate Display Optimization Technology, which can correct or improve many of the display deficiencies. We offer DisplayMate display calibration software for consumers and advanced DisplayMate display diagnostic and calibration software for technicians and test labs.

For manufacturers we offer Consulting Services that include advanced Lab testing and evaluations, confidential Shoot-Outs with competing products, calibration and optimization for displays, cameras and their User Interface, plus on-site and factory visits. We help manufacturers with expert display procurement, prototype development, and production quality control so they don’t make mistakes similar to those that are exposed in our Display Technology Shoot-Out series. See our world renown Display Technology Shoot-Out public article series for an introduction and preview. DisplayMate’s advanced scientific optimizations can make lower cost panels look as good or better than more expensive higher performance displays. If you are a display or product manufacturer and want to turn your display into a spectacular one to surpass your competition then Contact DisplayMate Technologies to learn more.

Article Links: Automatic Brightness Controls and Light Sensors

Article Links: Display Technology Shoot-Out Article Series Overview and Home Page

Copyright © 1990-2013 by DisplayMate Technologies Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

This article, or any part thereof, may not be copied, reproduced, mirrored, distributed or incorporated

into any other work without the prior written permission of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation