Mura Effect & AMOLED Displays (Note II)

Mura Effect & AMOLED Displays (Note II) - Galaxy Note II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Most of us know by now the limitations of Producing AMOLED Displays for devices such as the Galaxy S, S2, Note 1, S3, and Note 2. All of these devices share the same screen-technology. There is always praise for OLED, but the technology is still pre-mature; that is why when you look at your display in the dark, you come across something called, the Mura Effect. Some folks claim they don't have it on their AMOLED displays. However, all AMOLED displays have this limitation. Obviously, Samsung doesn't want to tell you this. Some might then consider their phone to be defective, whereas some won't.. There is some degree as to how much Mura Effect your display has. Some displays have the Mura Effect in the form of black lines, / blotches, & dots, and some will have them in the form of faint stains, which can only be looked upon when viewed closely in the dark.
From my understanding, the Mura Effect occurs due to the way the display is aligned with the TFT. AMOLED displays are assembled in two layers, the OLED film on top, and the transistor plane below. Due to limitations of the manufacturing process, it is very difficult to get both layers aligned correctly & perfectly to produce a uniform, seamless, display; note that AMOLED displays are very thin. The contacts of the transistors which power the OLED screen are not 100% set on our displays. Therefore, problems begin to stir when you bring the brightness down to the minimum level; insufficient voltage prevents all the pixels on your AMOLED display to light uniformly. That's why brightness unformity issues are very common in AMOLED Displays as well. Voltage is too low at low brightness to get flawless picture quality. The low voltage at low brightness is too low to power all the pixels effectively in our displays. This explains why the Mura Effect shows.
I've made some interesting observations on the past AMOLED display's I've dealt with in the past.
1). In Displays which do not consist of black lines and blotches, but do consist of blocks of faint black stains entailing the Mura Effect; and faint horizontal lines (which become more prominent overtime), burn-in faster, and brightness uniformity issues, become quickly apparent in these particular displays. Colors are warmer compared to the contrary. Some yellowish tint / pink hue is also to be spotted.
2). Whereas, in displays which do display their Mura Effect in the form of lines of little blotches / dots, tend to have a better color reproduction & brightness uniformity, and do not show faint horizontal lines quickly overtime; though they eventually do due to the organic (half-life) nature of OLED's. Yellowish-tint is rarely found. However, blue-tint is more apparent on displays with this degree of Mura Effect.
[Note: Yellowish tint is not the result of glue (common in LCDs); the Yellow tint is a calibration issue, and though sometimes kernel / software updates may resolve the issue, the yellow tint is not completely gone].
My ultimate question is, does the kind of Mura Effect on the AMOLED screen on each Note 2 unit manufacture thus far determine the life expectancy of the display itself? What about the formation of dead pixels? Do dead pixels (due to low-voltage effect) form frequently depending on the extent of Mura Effect on our displays? If my display for instance has black lines / blotches / dots, does that increase my chances of living with a dud phone?

Similarly explained in the following thread from last week,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36908128
The AMOLED Displays use an "Active-Matrix" compared to standard OLED's in today's flag ship televisions which do not have an Active Matrix.
In AMOLED, as a result of continuous low voltage that is being fed into OLED via the TFT even in the lowest brightness, the blacks won't be necessarily black.
Every Note 2 has the Mura Effect like in previous Galaxy Devices. However, the manufacturing process has slightly improved, but not to the extent we all would like it to be.
Unfortunately, I don't consider our displays to feature local dimming, because individual pixels do not actually turn off. Blacks are not blacks, as a result of the varying voltage.
Although there are improvements to the AMOLED display as explained here,
http://www.ignisinnovation.com/technology/ignis-technology-overview/ignis-admo-p-technology
Unfortunately, even though the solution provided in the above link by ignisinnovation has been in the market for a couple of years already, Samsung does not employ these kind of standards, therefore every AMOLED display has the Mura effect but in varying degrees such as in the form of stains, lines, blobs, dots, and splothces. This can also affect the display output when it comes to uniformity because the TFT is solely responsible for the luminescence of individual sub-pixels on the OLED film.
The AMOLED displays are improved with compensation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctA114zaY98
When I say manufacturing has gotten better, I meant that Samsung's method of making slightly better AMOLED displays has been accomplished by changing the voltage and better quality control handling.
The material has been slightly improved; the material used on today's AMOLED displays is purer than let's say the material that was used on the S2 and Note 1.
Let's hope that future AMOLED displays by Samsung will be free of Mura and other Quality Defects.

Compesation for a Relaxed Area,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFgo6CIZgmo

I haven't noticed any such effects with the Note 2, but I did notice them on the Galaxy Nexus, when brightness was turned down 'below' what the factory minimum level was set to (20).

They still exist on all Note 2's in a form which appears less severe and is different from the one you observed in the Galaxy Nexus

winlinmac001 said:
They still exist on all Note 2's in a form which appears less severe and is different from the one you observed in the Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only screen "defect", if you will, that I've noticed on my note 2 is as described below:
When a pure black screen is displayed and it is observed in a completely black room, there is a noticeable red glow emitted from the screen itself. Like the red sub-pixels doesn't turn off completely or something. The brightness contol affects the brightness of the prominent red glow.
Not really an annoyance, and I rarely even care, I just wonder why. I figure if the blacks completely shut off the sub-pixels, It would save battery power (a negligible amount)
I compared this same scenario on a Nexus S that my sister has, and her screen is completely black compared to mine (which glows red).
I just thought I'd make a comment on the subject matter.

hiii,
i bought my note 2 on 29-1-2013
now what i noticed in my screen,
there middle 10% part is shaded with 1% opacity,
if we look closely then it's not noticable as u seen from far,
from naked eyes is too difficult to see,
its not like Colours are gone, only looks like shade,
if i increase brightness to 100% then the small shade like finish.
i m confused that it is defected or not,
is that Normal, does nay body heard that type of case,
Please make me happy,tell me that it is Normal,I dont wana give my phone to bad service guys. :crying:

vebulous said:
The only screen "defect", if you will, that I've noticed on my note 2 is as described below:
When a pure black screen is displayed and it is observed in a completely black room, there is a noticeable red glow emitted from the screen itself. Like the red sub-pixels doesn't turn off completely or something. The brightness contol affects the brightness of the prominent red glow.
Not really an annoyance, and I rarely even care, I just wonder why. I figure if the blacks completely shut off the sub-pixels, It would save battery power (a negligible amount)
I compared this same scenario on a Nexus S that my sister has, and her screen is completely black compared to mine (which glows red).
I just thought I'd make a comment on the subject matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats normal on the Note2, between the Galaxy S/S2/Note1 the note 2 has the 'brightest' blacks while the S1 has the dimmest and they dont really shut off.

I have these dots and lines on my note 2, galaxy s3 (changed 5 times and all of them had it) and my galaxy s plus
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

lopman said:
I have these dots and lines on my note 2, galaxy s3 (changed 5 times and all of them had it) and my galaxy s plus
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had dots on my Galaxy S2, dots and lines on my Note 1, dots/lines on my Tab 7.7
No dots/lines on my Galaxy S and Note 2

I've noticed that the black levels have changed over the last couple of Galaxy-line generations. I never saw anything significant with the Galaxy S, but that was because the blacks were more dark. Moving further into the subsequent years, the blacks began showing the Mura Effect very prominently. Every AMOLED display will have its quality variations. The units that do have the "noticeable" Mura Effect may even survive longer than the units that do have Mura Effect, but without lines, dots, and other artifacts. Its a give or take; if you buy a new AMOLED unit today, you will definitely come across some artifacts, especially dots. Each display manufactured requires special attention in order to perfect the manufacturing process, but this almost never happens in Samsung's assembly line, only because AMOLED technology is a very delicate piece of hardware.

hi.. i have an international SGN2 with normal super AMOLED display which is too much in contrast. if you want to have a crystal clear display why not choose true hd ips screen?
sorry my english..

Many don't choose the True HD IPS screen because many have the misconception that AMOLED displays provide a better color gamut, therefore a providing richer colors, accurate RGB, and premium experience. However, this is no longer necessarily the case. True HD IPS Displays have come a long way and are now thought to be leading the way for mobile displays. AMOLED is not the same as true OLED which provides deeper blacks and bright whites. Even though in an AMOLED display, individual pixels do turn off in the presence of black, the active matrix leaves the transistor film actively on. That's where the term Active-Matrix comes from. So much for AMOLED. It is speculation that Samsung may use SLCD's on their Samsung Galaxy S4 this year, according to a recent article on GSMArena.
rymote said:
hi.. i have an international SGN2 with normal super AMOLED display which is too much in contrast. if you want to have a crystal clear display why not choose true hd ips screen?
sorry my english..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

winlinmac001 said:
Many don't choose the True HD IPS screen because many have the misconception that AMOLED displays provide a better color gamut, therefore a providing richer colors, accurate RGB, and premium experience. However, this is no longer necessarily the case. True HD IPS Displays have come a long way and are now thought to be leading the way for mobile displays. AMOLED is not the same as true OLED which provides deeper blacks and bright whites. Even though in an AMOLED display, individual pixels do turn off in the presence of black, the active matrix leaves the transistor film actively on. That's where the term Active-Matrix comes from. So much for AMOLED. It is speculation that Samsung may use SLCD's on their Samsung Galaxy S4 this year, according to a recent article on GSMArena.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Id prefer sammy go back to LCD's and develop it further, AMOLED just has way to many uniformity issues for those who are not lucky. If sammy can produce a 'backlight bleeding free' SLCD then Im sold, as long as theres a way to increase the color saturation

Is s4 has this kind of issue too? Like mura effect..? I think s4 has too...
Sent from my GT-I9500 using xda app-developers app

Sorry for bumping this thread into 2014, speaking of the Note 4, Samsung seems to have done some interesting software mods, but the hardware is still relatively same behavior when you test the displays using Supercurio's app. It's gruesome to know, but I've been with the AMOELD family since 2011. Have you moved up to the Note 4, EarlZ?
EarlZ said:
Id prefer sammy go back to LCD's and develop it further, AMOLED just has way to many uniformity issues for those who are not lucky. If sammy can produce a 'backlight bleeding free' SLCD then Im sold, as long as theres a way to increase the color saturation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

winlinmac001 said:
Sorry for bumping this thread into 2014, speaking of the Note 4, Samsung seems to have done some interesting software mods, but the hardware is still relatively same behavior when you test the displays using Supercurio's app. It's gruesome to know, but I've been with the AMOELD family since 2011. Have you moved up to the Note 4, EarlZ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I did get the Note 3 for my 24 month contract. Same old issues exist black is still problematic (no more black crush though) as you can see white spots the screen if its not displaying something that is totally black.

These AMOLED panels are still in its infantile state, but more like it its pre-teen years undergoing puberty. I'd give it a couple more years for the technology to fully mature.
EarlZ said:
Nope, I did get the Note 3 for my 24 month contract. Same old issues exist black is still problematic (no more black crush though) as you can see white spots the screen if its not displaying something that is totally black.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Related

Disadvantages of AMOLED screen

Hi all.
Last night I accidentally discovered the burnt pixels on my one year old Focus screen The sights of high contrasts Metro-style icons (such as IE, phone and marketplace) are visible on the white background as a darker "shadows" (actual color is like a light-light yellow, close to white). These "shadows" are visible on the white background in the dark only.
It's not a big deal but I'm kinda disappointed
So, my conclusions are:
- high contrasts Metro-style tiles on the home screen are evil, at least for AMOLED screens. However live tiles (probably) can solve the issue (he-he, just thought - may be it's a real reason why MS implemented and pushing live tiles? Kidding );
- periodical changing of tile location on the home screen also can help;
- using AMOLED handsets for development is not so good. The best practice is to keep AMOLED screens off all the time (what is not acceptable for development).

My Focus is one year old, but I don't have any burn in problems some reported. Granted, I don't leave my phone screen on for extended periods, but my live tile arrangement really never changed.
Now that I have the HTC Titan, I have no regrets with the SLCD screen. The colors seem more natural to me. While AMOLED screens certainly have a "pop" factor, it's not a must-have for me.

This is a well known issue that you have to live with: AMOLED will get screen burn-in if it is use for an extend period of time.
I know most of the Android Galaxy phones also have screen burn-in especially on the status bar.
My own Samsung Focus developed screen burn-in (esp. Metro buttons) after only three months of use.

day2die said:
This is a well known issue that you have to live with: AMOLED will get screen burn-in if it is use for an extend period of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about Super AMOLED screens, is problem still persists?

I notice things on my Omnia 7. Normally if i've had a menu open for a minute or more and i switch to a black background i can see a kind of greyish imprint of the last displayed icons.

sensboston said:
How about Super AMOLED screens, is problem still persists?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SAMOLED has it as well. I'm sure it was a big issue in the focus forums last year

The biggest disadvantage of an amoled screen is when you move to another type of screen, and notice just how gray blacks can be. Using my old focus and having the blacks blend with the bezel was so visually pleasing, and the colors had so much pop. I hear that the colors aren't as accurate, but what does that mean really? 90% of what I look at on a phone is arbitrary colors anyway; how would I ever know that the blue tiles are really supposed to be one shade vs. another, and why would I care?
(btw yes, I had the same screen burn-in problem on my focus)

Yeah i had a major burn in problem with my Omnia 7, I think it was something to do with the bright blue theme i used, i have pictures here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=973337

use a screen saver?
Oh ya.. nevermind

Wow... I had no idea of this...
I have a Galaxy S I9000 (as well as an LG Quantum) and luckily it hasn't burnt in...
Is this a really wide spread problem?

renatofontes said:
I have a Galaxy S I9000 (as well as an LG Quantum) and luckily it hasn't burnt in...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to look at your screen in darkness (set white background on the fullscreen first), then say "luckily"

sensboston said:
How about Super AMOLED screens, is problem still persists?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is particularly bad on Super AMOLED screens.
Super AMOLED is still AMOLED.
My Vibrant, if I turn my screen on to the home screen and let it sit there for 10 seconds and then open another app, I can see the shadows on the home screen superimposed onto the app that's running. It's very noticeable, and gets irksome after a while. You won't see that on LCD screens.
The status bar is burnt in, which is noticeable when the phone is used in landscape mode because you can always see that faint strip where the status bar is (in portrait) on the side of the screen.
I set my screen timeout to 30 seconds to "preserve" the screen.
---------- Post added at 05:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------
renatofontes said:
Wow... I had no idea of this...
I have a Galaxy S I9000 (as well as an LG Quantum) and luckily it hasn't burnt in...
Is this a really wide spread problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of Samsung's displays have this issue. Perhaps you just haven't noticed it, or are just fortunate
Not really widespread, and not really a "problem" per se. Just a component of the screen tech. It burns in and shadows easily.
However they have better power management than LCD screens and better brightness, viewing angles, and outdoor visibility - as well as better color saturation and reproduction. For example, I increase my Vibrant's stock battery life by like 4+ hours doing absolutely nothing but putting a true black background on the launcher...
It's a trade-off. It's worth it for someone like you who doesn't notice it, though. It's worth it even for some people who do. It really depends on how long you keep your phone, Lol. If you upgrade yearly it's not that big a deal. I can't see myself going 2 years with the Vibrant as my primary device and dealing with it, though. It's too startling to look at at times, especially after you spend a significant amount of time in one app with static UI elements and move to something else...

If you look at the AMOLED technology, it's understandable really. All the colours displayed on the screen are composed of green, red and blue sub-pixels.
In an AMOLED screen, there is no backlighting. The sub-pixels themselves generate the visible light, hence why the blacks are so black, because the black pixels are not powered on. (Think of an AMOLED screen as having thousands of tiny tiny LED's)
However the problem with AMOLED is the manufacturers could not produce a specific chemical compound for each colour that would wear evenly. For example, the blue sub pixel has a shorter lifespan than the green. When the AMOLED sub-pixels gets used, the intensity of light produced decreases, hence there is uneven wear. The pentile arrangement was to actually arrange the pixels in a way, which as the display wears, the colours look normal. When there are static pixels displayed, a certain portion of sub pixels gets used more than others, hence why you can notice it.
In an LCD, each sub-pixel is a polarizing filter, which filters out either red/blue/green and displays it or blocks it, so an LCD doesn't suffer from screen burn in as much as AMOLED and PLASMA displays.
From day one I have only ever used my phone on the lowest setting and I have alternated every few days from red/green tiles. I have never used blue due to the low lifespan of blues!!

I don't think it's a huge problem if you are smart. I made the mistake of leaving my screen on as often as possible when I first got my focus. Once I started noticing the burn in, I moved my tiles around, put my screen on 2 minute timeout, and didn't notice any more of the burn in. Just the original images.

As Big K mentions, blue pixels are the quickest to degrade, that is why you never use a blue theme with an AMOLED display. Also, displaying white actually activates some blue pixels and draws more power, so the black system theme should always be used over white.
Every AMOLED owner should know these 2 things and it is a shame that Samsung and the carriers don't do a better job of informing their customers of these simple facts.
I cringe every time I see an AMOLED phone with a white background and blue theme.

This is why I still stick to Super LCD.
I saw an S2 get a burn in within 2 months of use. Lawl.

ohgood said:
use a screen saver?
Oh ya.. nevermind
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The solution is ridiculously obvious: turn off your screen when you're done using the phone. Duh. That's obvious from a simple battery life perspective.
Of course, I see people *constantly* who just set their phones down with the screen on and walk away. Idiots.

jasongw said:
The solution is ridiculously obvious: turn off your screen when you're done using the phone. Duh. That's obvious from a simple battery life perspective.
Of course, I see people *constantly* who just set their phones down with the screen on and walk away. Idiots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The solution is not ridiculously obvious because other screen types do not suffer from thsi issue, therefor the user who moves from an LCD screen to an AMOLED has absolutely no clue that this screen type has these deficiencies. They simply assume their screen will always look the way it does as long as they take care of their phone.
That is not a bad assumption. It just doesn't jive with this display tech.
I love the deep blacks and color saturation on Samsung's AMOLED screens, but I don't think I can ever convince myself to get another one.
The issue isn't just keeping the screen on. I've always used a 30 second screen time-out on all my phones, so they aren't just sitting there a ton with an image on them. Even when you have something on the screen for like 10 seconds and move to another app you can see the image shadows on the screen. Yes, it gets pretty noticeable after a while to the point where it's constantly drawing your attention.
It's actually worse than the PenTile they use in the 1st gen SAMOLED screens, TBH.

N8ter said:
The solution is not ridiculously obvious because other screen types do not suffer from thsi issue, therefor the user who moves from an LCD screen to an AMOLED has absolutely no clue that this screen type has these deficiencies. They simply assume their screen will always look the way it does as long as they take care of their phone.
That is not a bad assumption. It just doesn't jive with this display tech.
I love the deep blacks and color saturation on Samsung's AMOLED screens, but I don't think I can ever convince myself to get another one.
The issue isn't just keeping the screen on. I've always used a 30 second screen time-out on all my phones, so they aren't just sitting there a ton with an image on them. Even when you have something on the screen for like 10 seconds and move to another app you can see the image shadows on the screen. Yes, it gets pretty noticeable after a while to the point where it's constantly drawing your attention.
It's actually worse than the PenTile they use in the 1st gen SAMOLED screens, TBH.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st gen? It's being used in the Galaxy Nexus, too

It's a really useful point to raise, and something to think about for people using their phones for development. Automatic screen time-outs can be an annoyance when you're testing features (against a real device), and wanting to stay connected (in visual studio) to the phone for debugging info and deployment. I know I have my current phone on most of the day to test tile and page updates etc. so there's bound to be large areas of the screen remaining static for long periods of time.
It's made me think twice about getting a Lumia (which I assume would be prone too) for this reason
I'm surprised manufactures don't include info on it bundled with the phones (e.g. on not having a white background) - that's pretty irresponsible.

Screen problem: Is this affect of Pentile Matrix or not.

Hallo friends, i read lot of about problem with this kind of display( pentile matrix)
I have vertical and horizontal banding too. But this one is something what is bothering me much more.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/208/imgp5137v.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/imgp5134.jpg/

Delarock said:
Hallo friends, i read lot of about problem with this kind of display( pentile matrix)
I have vertical and horizontal banding too. But this one is something what is bothering me much more.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/208/imgp5137v.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/imgp5134.jpg/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's nothing to do with the Pentile Matrix! Definitely a defective screen, return it to the store and ask for a warranty replacement. The 'banding' is more to do with the AMOLED screen technology rather than the Pentile, as it was present on my SGS2, but is generally only visible under certain conditions (background colour/brightness).
Regards.

Is it visible on colors other than grey?

Sure, on blue background too,sometimes on white.(poarws photo with blue background) It depends on brightness.
More visible at white background with high brightnes.
More visible at blue and grey background with lower brightnes.

It does have to do with the Amoled technology, but I doubt it's a defective display. You can try to exchange it to see if it really is defective or not.

I have some vertical and horizontal banding only with lowest brightness at the white background.
With maximum brightness no lines or whatever

AMOLED has a few imperfections here and there, so it's not surprising. But if it's bothering you too much exchange it for another one, it could have less prevalent issues.

Just performed a test using screen test app my screen looks great.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

How high is brightness with test screen
Mine is fine too but 60 percent and more.But this one issue bother me pernament ( no matter if 30 or 70 percent brightnes)
Tuesday iam going for a new piece, hope that will not be affected worse than mine

Try viewing those shades of grey on your phones, it's usually the most problematic color. Use a low brightness setting (around 25%) at a dim environment.

This exists on all OLED screens. Its the exact same on my Nexus S. It has nothing to do with pentile matrix, but OLED.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Yes i had nexus one galaxy s galaxy s II so i can compare,nothing like that before that.
50-60 percent of brightnes

I have the Galaxy Note and it has the same panel as the Galaxy Nexus albeit at 1280x800 instead of the Nexus's 1280x720. (Super AMOLED HD with Pentile sub-pixel arrangement)
My screen is great. The whites are brighter than they were on the Nexus. The Nexus displayed whites with a yellowish tint especially on low brightness. Plus I can't seen any banding on the screen and I have tested it on White, Red, Blue, Green and Grey backgrounds.
Im getting a new Galaxy Nexus in a couple of days. Since this unit is from a later batch I hope that there is no banding on the screen too.

Funny, I have a similar issue to Delarock's on my Galaxy S2, manufacturing date is 19th of October. I'm still thinking whether to replace it or not since since it's only visible on dark'ish grey, I couldn't replicate it on lighter greys, white, or any other color at various brightness settings.

Delarock said:
Yes i had nexus one galaxy s galaxy s II so i can compare,nothing like that before that.
50-60 percent of brightnes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the same on lowest brightness...
so I always set up my phone to the hightest brightness

Hard for me to get a good photo but you can see the same problem on my NEXUS S screen. Its just a characteristic of OLED displays in general.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Really similar to the screen on my new Galaxy Nexus. I didnt notice the diagonal right away but that is certainly more significant. My screen a rosy hue in the bottom half and especially the lower left.

I'd love to see a similar picture of someone who says that their screen doesn't have it.
(Click for 100% crop)

So are some of these screens defective? Or is it really just the nature of the beast?
How does one tell what manufacturing date their device was made to? Would I be able to go to a store and exchange for a datecode that shows no banding issues?

I am having the same issue ... another thing I notice is weird issues with the camera while in a dark room. If I have my camera on in a low light room, I get this weird "dancing" of black blotches in the really dark areas of that room.
I like all solid black wall paper, I find the fastest easiest way to get it is to turn off the camera flash, put my finger over the lense and take a pic. Worked for every other phone I have but the GNex. I get a weird blotchy image ... now I am on GNex#3 (other 2 I returned for different issues) and I have noticed this camera thing on #1 and now #3. With the first one I assumed this was normal ... but after going from the second one to the third I see a HUGE difference in screens. With phone #2 I was able to do the phone/black wallpaper with no weird distortion. Now the really strange thing is that that same pic taken with the second phone (that displyed pure black on that device) shows up blotchy on device 3.
Hope this makes sense to someone lol cuz reading it back I sound crazy.
I just hope the folks at the Verizon store don't give me a hard time trying to get another one!

Amoled Vs LCD

So I am coming from an LCD screen to the Nokia's Amoled screen and I am curious on Amoled screen is the white supposed to be a "rainbow" color? Like on my LCD screen White is well WHITE no other colors bleeding through. On this amoled screen I am see like a rainbow of colors behind the white like reds, blues, etc it's till white sort of but not as crystal white as the LCD.
Is this by design and something I should get used to? I thought Amoled was supposed to be better...

Laquox said:
So I am coming from an LCD screen to the Nokia's Amoled screen and I am curious on Amoled screen is the white supposed to be a "rainbow" color? Like on my LCD screen White is well WHITE no other colors bleeding through. On this amoled screen I am see like a rainbow of colors behind the white like reds, blues, etc it's till white sort of but not as crystal white as the LCD.
Is this by design and something I should get used to? I thought Amoled was supposed to be better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whites on Amoled appear to be off-white. It's been this way with every Amoled device. I've never seen it to appear "rainbow" colored.
Amoled produces richer more saturated colors and outstanding black levels.
LCD and SLCD is a lot brighter than Amoled (hence the crystal white) but the black levels do not compare.
Before my 900, I was an SLCD fan. But Amoled with the clearblack looks like SLCD on steroids. Minus the lower white levels. Of course this is just my opinion.

So it's possibly just the ultra saturation bleeding through the "whites" that give it the "rainbow" effect. I don't know how else to to describe it. White is simply no white but like a multi spectrum white with other colors bleeding through.

Looking at mine right now the white looks pretty darn white.
The thing I have noticed is for instance when I bought a samsung focus I was torn between it and two HTC Devices... I forget the names. Both were SLCD. I just COULD NOT get past the washed out look of the HTC devices over the samsung.
The nokia is even richer in color than the samsung.

hx4700 Killer said:
Looking at mine right now the white looks pretty darn white.
The thing I have noticed is for instance when I bought a samsung focus I was torn between it and two HTC Devices... I forget the names. Both were SLCD. I just COULD NOT get past the washed out look of the HTC devices over the samsung.
The nokia is even richer in color than the samsung.
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Agreed - I've had the Focus, HD7s, and now the Nokia 900 and the Nokia is so far my favorite. I feel I should point out that the 'Nokia Blue' theme is sharper than the default windows phone blue theme, making the other devices appear washed out when in fact it's the correct color.
But the ability to use the device outdoors was a huge factor in my selection, certainly.

I like all the colors in the amoled except white. White really looks washed out compared to LCD screens and this is the only disappointment I have with amoled screens.

the benefits of an amoled are color saturation, deep rich blacks, and energy consumption on non-white backgrounds
SLCD create more "accurate" colors, that some see as washed out - generally are a bit brighter (lumens) and more white whites
the amoled produce off whites - if you compare the two, but you should not really notice it on an amoled unless you compare it to a true white
also, off angles can produce a slight blue hue to the whites
to each his own - I prefer the amoleds blacks (with the WP7 metro themes), to the washed out colors of an SLCD - but that does not mean you or someone else will too

could it be that your screen might be dirty?
i know on mine if i have some water or oil on the screen it will create a prism effect, which will rainbow the colors, especially with a white screen.
personally i haven't seen whites get a rainbow effect, but they are a little dim, which could be partly due to the screen tech (amoled) and could also be the hardware dimming them intentionally to save on battery (white is a battery killer on amoled screens)
but the inky blacks and pop of color from amoled makes me not really care, as the screen looks brilliant.
and the clearblack display on the nokia is great in the sun.

rainbow colors are only suppose appear on pentile displays. this phone has a true rgb screen so i dont see why

Nissan350 said:
Whites on Amoled appear to be off-white. It's been this way with every Amoled device. I've never seen it to appear "rainbow" colored.
Amoled produces richer more saturated colors and outstanding black levels.
LCD and SLCD is a lot brighter than Amoled (hence the crystal white) but the black levels do not compare.
Before my 900, I was an SLCD fan. But Amoled with the clearblack looks like SLCD on steroids. Minus the lower white levels. Of course this is just my opinion.
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AMOLED does not inherently have dim whites. Samsung just programs a dimming condition into the firmware on some its AMOLED panels that make it dim the brightness based on the % of white pixels on the screen (as a sneaky way to improve battery). The Focus S has an extra setting that lets you disable this, but the L900 does not have that setting.

drleospaceman said:
AMOLED does not inherently have dim whites. Samsung just programs a dimming condition into the firmware on some its AMOLED panels that make it dim the brightness based on the % of white pixels on the screen (as a sneaky way to improve battery). The Focus S has an extra setting that lets you disable this, but the L900 does not have that setting.
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I see. Bummer

A dim AMOLED screen also helps prolong the panel life span a lot. AMOLED screens are extremely prone to burn in. Avoid extreme brightness and avoid leave screen on for extended period.
Just remember this: it is very easy to bump up a screen's brightness (brighter back light on LCD) but it is extremely difficult to produce true blackness on a screen. The strength of AMOLE is the true black because it has no back light. Each pixels emit light. Darker black = higher contrast. No LCD can ever match the black level of an AMOLED screen.

foxbat121 said:
A dim AMOLED screen also helps prolong the panel life span a lot. AMOLED screens are extremely prone to burn in. Avoid extreme brightness and avoid leave screen on for extended period.
Just remember this: it is very easy to bump up a screen's brightness (brighter back light on LCD) but it is extremely difficult to produce true blackness on a screen. The strength of AMOLE is the true black because it has no back light. Each pixels emit light. Darker black = higher contrast. No LCD can ever match the black level of an AMOLED screen.
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i wouldnt keep saying that lol, htcs IPS SLD 2 can almost match against the blacks of a super amoled and has better colors all around without having to be pentile. unless you were to compare side to side you would be completely happy with the blacks on the one x.
edit: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/05/htc-one-x-vs-one-s/ compare the blacks, barely a difference unless you were looking hard
i would go with the ips slcd 2 anyday considering no burn, great viewing angles, great battery life especially whites and cloes to as good battery life on blacks, visable outdoors, realistic looking colors/not over saturated, etc. its a balance between good blacks, and good whites. still wouldnt touch the one x though

^^^ above poster have never used an amoled display

slpin said:
^^^ above poster have never used an amoled display
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I most definitely have. from samsungs first amoled screens the behold 2. and both gens of galaxy s.
and i take it you have used the one x? no? since its the only phone with the IPS SLCD "2". not talking about regular SLCD, i have the amaze and the blacks look like crap.
almost every reviewer that has had their hands on nearly every android handset has stated its the best screen they have seen. just my 2 cents.
LCD is growing, OLED is still failing with screen burn.
also, im no htc fanboy (anymore). i really want the lumia 900 actually

Any reviewer says SLCD2 is better or equal to AMOLED has no clue what they are talking about. For the most part, they equal high brightness to better display. Read those reviews carefully. They are probably the same idiots who prefer LCD TVs to Plasma TVs. They made no scientific measurements of the contrast ratio of the screens. So, basically they are simply talking out of their a**.
Yes, LCD has more accurate colors. But it can never have better or equal blacks. There is no way to make LCD panel to block backlight completely.

foxbat121 said:
Any reviewer says SLCD2 is better or equal to AMOLED has no clue what they are talking about. For the most part, they equal high brightness to better display. Read those reviews carefully. They are probably the same idiots who prefer LCD TVs to Plasma TVs. They made no scientific measurements of the contrast ratio of the screens. So, basically they are simply talking out of their a**.
Yes, LCD has more accurate colors. But it can never have better or equal blacks. There is no way to make LCD panel to block backlight completely.
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I guess almost every reviewer that has reviewed this phone talks out of their ass, technobuffalo, engadget, phonedog, telegraph? lol, nearly every review that i have read said that. people who love the galaxy s 2, and both aaron from phonedog and john from technobuffalo used the note as their daily and preferred the one x screen.
just because the blacks are one notch off doesnt mean it's not superior. considering it will have better battery life, much more accurate colors, sharper images (when compared to pentile especially), no screen burn (plasma tvs have that horribly, so id stick with my lcd tv). blacks arent the most important color on a phone lol, and i never said they are better or as good. they are pretty damn close though. especially for being a LCD. after seeing screen burn on plasma tvs and oled screen its hard to say id rather have one. people who want a little bit more black screens are okay with screen burn?
and horrible whites?
also, people who dont stay in a cave all day. the ones who go out side, ips is far superior lol considering you have grea viewing angles and its completely viewable outside.
compared to the galaxy nexus the blacks almost looks exactly the same.
i would rather have amoled screen on wp7, but on android i would probably rather have the sld2
http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/13/lg-renames-optimus-lte-to-optimus-true-hd-lte-disses-samsungs/
look at this photo: http://i43.tinypic.com/2wn7jfd.jpg
you can barely tell a difference between the menu dots and the bezel. opposed to other lcds. it could be comparable to amoled defintely.
outside photo with low brightness: http://i44.tinypic.com/ipqgzs.jpg
still compeltely visible
overal its all about personal preference, but im sure saying that the new screen is comparable and would even be hard to choose from even over super amoled. i was about to ditch LCD honestly (my amaze has horrible blacks) before seeing this screen. too bad its not in other phones.

Screen quality better be left to those know how to compare, e.g. those who review hdtv for a living. lmao the stuff you quoted above.
Remember, contrast ratio = brigest / darkest. The slight difference in black level significantly changes the contrast ratio. Not so much on brightness.
Yes, there are magic coatings on LCD screens that make them appear dark then actually is. The problem is such coating could cause black crush or false contour. Of course those phone reviewer didn't test those important aspect of PQ of a panel, did they?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA

foxbat121 said:
Screen quality better be left to those know how to compare, e.g. those who review hdtv for a living. lmao the stuff you quoted above.
Remember, contrast ratio = brigest / darkest. The slight difference in black level significantly changes the contrast ratio. Not so much on brightness.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA
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Not really something to even think about. OLED hasnt been seen on a mobile devices over WVGA resolution WITHOUT pentile, we all know pentile sucks. colors, sharpness, etc. we have HD screens with IPS completely sharp, great colors, etc. just my 2 cents
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/48137-image/100-Crop-Red.jpg <- pentile
you dont need to review tvs to know if a mobile screen is good or not. these people have had their hands on nearly every android/wp7/blackberry/wm6 handset. pretty sure they have some say, especially for engadget always hating on every company besides apple then says the one x has the best screen they have seen lol.
both AMOLED/SAMOLED, and IPS SLCD have 16m colors. except the IPS has better viewing angles, no screen bleed, able to see the screen outside, whites to look blue, etc. you dont need to be a reviewer to know which is better.
unless your like everything on your phone to be black, and nothing but black then i dont see the point of saying oled is better just because the blacks are a notch better..
on different OS i would prefer different types of screens. LCD would be crap on wp7 i think unless you used whites a lot. we have yet to see IPS SLCD on wp7 i dont ever think we will. on android though i and other people like having high resolution, good looking colors, etc. cant have that with amoled unless you like pentile. wvga doesnt cut it with android anymore
take a look at the nokia 701, has lcd with clearblack and the blacks look great one it.

FYI, iPhone 4/4s has IPS screen and yet it looks hazey and has the lowest contrast ratio among almost all smartphone screens. IPS maybe better than other LCD screens. But it is still LCD screen. It is physically not possible to completely block the backlite. Otherwise, we don't need local dimming technology on high end LCD TVs anymore.

Re: How Does Mura Effect Affect AMOLED Displays In Terms of Life Expectancy?
My guess would be, that by the time the mural effects the screen negatively (if at all) you will have moved on to a different phone. As opposed to a TV which is expensive and you'll be keeping it for way longer than a phone.
That's just my 2.cents
Sent from my SGH-T889

Compesation for a Relaxed Area,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFgo6CIZgmo

I've noticed that the screen on my N2 is MUCH better than the screen on my old GS2. That phone had blotches galore, and my N2 only has 2 small, barely noticeable blotches. Better manufacturing & QC is pretty clear by the quality improvement.

That's very agreeable. However, a few Note 2 users have also reported severe blotches on their displays.
What has improved is the number of devices that have left the Samsung Factories with those type of displays.
They are far fewer screens on the Note 2 that have severe Mura compared its older sibling, the Galaxy S2. :good:
kabuk1 said:
I've noticed that the screen on my N2 is MUCH better than the screen on my old GS2. That phone had blotches galore, and my N2 only has 2 small, barely noticeable blotches. Better manufacturing & QC is pretty clear by the quality improvement.
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Is this mura the reason i see some color around black text on white background. Kinda makes the text hazy sort of speak. I assume some displays if put together right wont have this issue. Compared to my s3 which has sharper lines so I find reading on it much better on the eyes. Also my note 2 screen has a warmer tint (even when screen set to standard) vs my s3 which is more cooler.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

What you are describing is completely isolated, and the tint varies from display to display. Because the AMOLED display involves an organic layer, you won't find each display appearing the same, although, white should be white, and when there is too much tint like yellow and pink, then your best option is to get the screen replaced.
aznmode said:
Is this mura the reason i see some color around black text on white background. Kinda makes the text hazy sort of speak. I assume some displays if put together right wont have this issue. Compared to my s3 which has sharper lines so I find reading on it much better on the eyes. Also my note 2 screen has a warmer tint (even when screen set to standard) vs my s3 which is more cooler.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2
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winlinmac001 said:
What you are describing is completely isolated, and the tint varies from display to display. Because the AMOLED display involves an organic layer, you won't find each display appearing the same, although, white should be white, and when there is too much tint like yellow and pink, then your best option is to get the screen replaced.
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Thanks for the info.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

S4
My note 2 shows a greyish background in a black wallpaper in the dark but my friends galaxy s4 doesn't. Does it mean the s4 doesn't have mura effect?

I have no idea what you guys said.. But does that mean if I keep my screen on lowest brightness setting, I'll kill my screen faster? And I was wondering what those bloches were. I thought water got in it or something,

How do you see those blotches and other indication of Mura effect? Can it be seen using screen test? My screen seems to be fine after running screen test though.

For me, ,it is when I'm watching YouTube and the screen is black for any possible reason. Then I see some spots that are darker . Try to load a black picture and loom closely.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

to test this get into a dark room like 100% black or under a blanket and open a black image

Is this mura effect the same thing that the note1 had? The darker pixels? Because if thats it ive yet to find one on my note2
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

This is pretty interesting information, has anyone had such a problem with it that they tried to claim it under warranty? Or does anybody know if something like this or even "burn-in" would be covered by warranty, and has anyone actually tried yet? The reason I'm asking is because I had no clue that burn-in was possible on Amoled screens (this is only the second device I've owned with one), so I found out the hard way by using an alarm clock app every night at first, and it actually burned in the digits in less than a week. I tried using some dead pixel fixer apps which didn't do anything (even though I knew it was going to be pointless), so I still can see the burn in on almost every white or blue screen. I've considered trying to file a warranty claim but I honestly don't know if they would even do it or not, so I just thought I'd see if anyone else has tried. The worst case scenario is that I have insurance so I could just make a claim, but I'd rather not pay the deductible if I don't have to. It's also not extremely bad because I have to point it out or most people don't even recognize it even if they've been using my phone, but the point is that I know it's there. Anyway I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone with the same problem on what you've tried. Thanks.
Sent from the bag phone in my Pontiac Fierro

Wow then I have horse shoes up my ass cause I've never had any of these issues even on the lowest light settings my phone looks perfect and I had no issues with my s3 as well
Sent from my SGH-T889V

Keeping your AMOLED Display at lowest brightness will help prolong the panels' life. Avoiding blue colors is wise; as the blue colors in any AMOLED display are susceptible to easy burn-in due to its poor engineering. Howeverm the Galaxy S4's blue pixels are more susceptible to burn in (due to its Pentile Matrix) than the Note 2's. (which uses a real RGB stripe) Both models sport different AMOLED panel technology. The Galaxy S4 will has Mura Effect too (Check out the respective forums; its a shock). Samsung doesn't seem to realize that solutions are there, instead the company hides the problems under a rug.

I have had 3 AMOLED Galaxy S family phones, and used root apps at night to lower by brightness past what stock lets you go, and I have never see any inconsistencies in my screens, even at 1% you can still see every pixel.... I must have got lucky to have screens that were in perfect alignment lol... :highfive:

I was wondering if mura could be white blotches as well? I have some uneven backlighting it seems on my S4 near the bottom right. I almost thought it was burn in. It's a lighter blotch that's only noticeable in the dark with a dark gray/black background up and it's in the form of a circle. It's not a "blotch" though and seems to not be apparent during actual "full black" backgrounds...
I wish I could capture a photo of it but it doesn't really show up on the photos I've attempted to take in the dark.

Samsung's "solution" to mura

SO ive figured this out a while back but never got the chance to post it.
If you put our note 2 beside a different galaxy series phone(anything older than s3) you'll notice that they display a darker black in a completely black environment, but our phone also has significant to no mura present.
This lead me to thinking, why wont our phone display black? It took a while but i realized that it isnt the oleds that are defective, but rather the TFT behind them cannot be 100% pure(meaning, it cannot be 100% of a certain material) and for that reason some of it could not operate under a certain voltage.
So how is samsung fixing this? Well, they make it so that in the darkest environments, the oleds always get a certain voltage, which results in black not being 100% black(still better than lcds, but we no longer get "infinite contrast"
just putting this out there, if anyone was ever curious.

Hmm very interesting indeed. I thought Note 2 had a different kind of Screen technology out of the whole galaxy series? Would that be a reason as well?

G1Master said:
Hmm very interesting indeed. I thought Note 2 had a different kind of Screen technology out of the whole galaxy series? Would that be a reason as well?
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well, the note 2 uses a new kind of pixel arrangement, so it is full RGB like the phones before nexus/s2, but that doesnt really have much to do with this...it's still based off TFT

winlinmac001 said:
Similarly explained in the following thread from last week,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36908128
The AMOLED Displays use an "Active-Matrix" compared to standard OLED's in today's flag ship televisions which do not have an Active Matrix.
In AMOLED, as a result of continuous low voltage that is being fed into OLED via the TFT even in the lowest brightness, the blacks won't be necessarily black.
Every Note 2 has the Mura Effect like in previous Galaxy Devices. However, the manufacturing process has slightly improved, but not to the extent we all would like it to be.
Unfortunately, I don't consider our displays to feature local dimming, because individual pixels do not actually turn off. Blacks are not blacks, as a result of the varying voltage.
Although there are improvements to the AMOLED display as explained here,
http://www.ignisinnovation.com/technology/ignis-technology-overview/ignis-admo-p-technology
Unfortunately, even though the solution provided in the above link by ignisinnovation has been in the market for a couple of years already, Samsung does not employ these kind of standards, therefore every AMOLED display has the Mura effect but in varying degrees such as in the form of stains, lines, blobs, dots, and splothces. This can also affect the display output when it comes to uniformity because the TFT is solely responsible for the luminescence of individual sub-pixels on the OLED film.
You can also refer to this, http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2010/0277400.html
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its not the manufacturing process that improved
thing is, when the material sint pure enough, some parts of the thin film transistor will not be able to transmit enough power, while others can
this results in some oled getting enough voltage to display say..gray while others display complete black
what happens is that sammy upped the voltages, so the black is now an uniform gray
edit: btw..there is no correction of aging for oled display
only compensation..and tbh witht he direction oleds are going its really not necessary...in the next 10years we should be able to print it off our printer..so it'll be pretty disposable

Quality has improved though.
Right, there is only compensation, slipped my mind, with the same article I posted above, the AMOLED displays are improved with compensation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctA114zaY98
When I mentioned manufacturing, I meant that Samsung's method of making slightly better AMOLED displays has been accomplished by changing the voltage and better quality control handling.
The material has been slightly improved; the material used on today's AMOLED displays is purer than let's say the material that was used on the S2 and Note 1.
AznDud333 said:
its not the manufacturing process that improved
thing is, when the material sint pure enough, some parts of the thin film transistor will not be able to transmit enough power, while others can
this results in some oled getting enough voltage to display say..gray while others display complete black
what happens is that sammy upped the voltages, so the black is now an uniform gray
edit: btw..there is no correction of aging for oled display
only compensation..and tbh witht he direction oleds are going its really not necessary...in the next 10years we should be able to print it off our printer..so it'll be pretty disposable
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---------- Post added at 07:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 AM ----------
Compesation for a Relaxed Area,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFgo6CIZgmo

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