After the dust had settled last week following the official announcement of the Galaxy S3, once the details of the device could be properly digested and examined many were disappointed in the handsets screen, and Samsung has since explained their decision in using a PenTile unit.
The handset was launched too much fanfare last week but many Android fans were not happy with the 4.8-inch 720p Super AMOLED display and its PenTile subpixel makeup instead of the more favourable RGB layout. An article on Mobile Burn is reporting that Samsung chose this type of display because of its durability and longevity.
Since the company released the original Galaxy S back in 2010 Samsung has used Super AMOLED or Super AMOLED Plus displays in a number of its smartphones, and many consumers are big fans of them. The AMOLED displays have a good contrast with very saturated and vibrant colours along with good viewing angles. When you first look at an AMOLED screen it has a certain wow factor, even if they may not provide the most accurate colour reproduction, and the company believe they are the best for their mobile devices.
There are some faults with AMOLED displays though as they can deteriorate over time and the original Nexus One is a prime example of that. At the time there were a number of reports of screen deterioration even after a few months of use, and in some cases the screen was unusable, which saw HTC change to Super LCD screens in later versions of the handset.
Philip Berne of Samsung commented that the blue subpixels on AMOLED displays deteriorate the quickest compared to red or green subpixels, but with a PenTile layout the subpixels are arranged red, green, blue, green so they have more green subpixels compared to red or blue than an RGB stripe layout with the same resolution.
This then means that AMOLED screens using the PenTile layout normally have a longer lifespan compared to those with RGB layouts. Considering that many users purchasing Samsung’s smartphones normally keep them for eighteen months or longer the company wants to make sure the screen will still offer peak performance during that time.
Some users do complain though that PenTile displays don’t look as crisp as an RGB display or there is some colour fringing along the edges of images. Berne agreed that PenTile displays faults are pronounced at lower resolutions, but high-resolution displays hide these problems due to the density of the pixels.
The display on the Galaxy S3 has been improved over the 4.65-inch 720p Super AMOLED display found on the Galaxy Nexus, as it has smaller gaps in its subpixels matrix, which reduces the fringing effects of the PenTile layout. As the density of smartphones displays get higher the argument over PenTile and RGB subpixel layouts becomes less relevant.
Are you disappointed with the Galaxy S3 display?