TELUS HTC Desire Super LCD vs Super AMOLED

[howard]

The upcoming HTC Desire on TELUS has a Sony Super LCD display instead of the European variant's AMOLED. I was intrigued as to how good it is really is so I compared the Desire with a Nexus One (AMOLED), Milestone (LCD) and a Samsung Wave (Super AMOLED I didn't have a Galaxy S with me).

I did test for screen response time but frankly, to my eyes they were all fast enough that I couldn't tell if one was faster than the other - so I didn't include them in the video.

Instead I tested viewing angle and contrast. To test them I downloaded a test dvd from TBlink.com, and then converted the dvd to mp4 files using Handbrake. I used the response time (didn't post the results - nothing interesting to see), and contrast test (posted that one). To test viewing angle I held the phones at an angle.

To save you some reading I thought all the displays were really good, they all had decent colour and respectable viewing angles. The super AMOLED was noticeably less reflective than the others and was blacker with the best viewing angles. Super LCD had similar detail in the rock face video and had a superior horizontal viewing angle compared to a regular AMOLED display. The AMOLED had slightly better blacks (you can't tell from the video - sorry) and slightly better vertical viewing angles. Both Super LCD and AMOLED were very reflective.

All were superior to the Milestone's display - that said I still think the Milestone has a pretty nice display.

One thing I didn't point out in the video is that the Super AMOLED display looks thinner in that the regular AMOLED and LCD displays all felt further back, like you were looking at them through a thicker piece of glass. It's not something that bothered me at all but it was an interesting observation.

[belayson]

great comparison, but a multitouch test of the super lcd would be greatly appreciated aswell!!

edit: just so it doesn't seem as if I'm making a random request, the htc desire with the amoled display has always had multi touch issues especially when compared to the galaxy s or milestone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVlsRCMltDg). I'm only asking to see if HTC may have updated the multi touch panel as well with the display panel since the htc incredible uses the same amoled screen used in the n1/old desire but with an updated multi touch panel akin to that of the galaxy s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWPsM2EdXPw). This hopefully means that HTC abandoned the old multi touch panel previously used in the old desire/n1 and may have made the same switch with the new htc desire displays.

[Ph0z3]

nice vid. you always seem to compare alot of things people dont always think to compare.

tho my milestone is falling to the back of the pack, i still like the display and it does what i need it to.

its deffinetly 2385793875 times better than my extra gashed up sony ericsson w760i!

[Dro]

great comparison, but a multitouch test of the super lcd would be greatly appreciated aswell!!

edit: just so it doesn't seem as if I'm making a random request, the htc desire with the amoled display has always had multi touch issues especially when compared to the galaxy s or milestone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVlsRCMltDg). I'm only asking to see if HTC may have updated the multi touch panel as well with the display panel since the htc incredible uses the same amoled screen used in the n1/old desire but with an updated multi touch panel akin to that of the galaxy s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWPsM2EdXPw). This hopefully means that HTC abandoned the old multi touch panel previously used in the old desire/n1 and may have made the same switch with the new htc desire displays.

I also want to know whether the new Desire uses the clearpad 2000 or not.

[GLHTC16V]

Again, thanks for the video. One of the biggest questions left in my mind was if the Sony S-LCD screen was any good. You've done everyone a great service doing a side by side by side comparison, something that I (and I suppose most others) could never hope to replicate in person.

[bfksc]

The upcoming HTC Desire on TELUS has a Sony Super LCD display instead of the European variant's AMOLED. I was intrigued as to how good it is really is so I compared the Desire with a Nexus One (AMOLED), Milestone (LCD) and a Samsung Wave (Super AMOLED I didn't have a Galaxy S with me).

I'm curious, where did you get a Desire with an S-LCD display?

[digitalsmoke]

Yes I would also like to know if it is using the Clearpad 2000 screen.... I sure hope it isn't.

[paddy501]

Does the Super LCD address any of the resolution issue with the original AMOLED on the the Nexus One, i.e. it did not provide a true 800x640 pixel screen. I am interested in this aspect as I frequently use the phone to look at black and white text document. So the real resolution of the screen is important for that purpose.

It would be most appreciated if you can compare the screens display a text document like PDF file.

[bfksc]

Does the Super LCD address any of the resolution issue with the original AMOLED on the the Nexus One, i.e. it did not provide a true 800x640 pixel screen. I am interested in this aspect as I frequently use the phone to look at black and white text document. So the real resolution of the screen is important for that purpose.

If you take a look at the SE X10 you'll get an idea of how the Desire screen will look. The resolution and display are similar, except the X10 is a larger panel. Reading text is sharp and detailed, but I never took notice of what it was like when zoomed in to the text. I expect it will be good though.

It would be most appreciated if you can compare the screens display a text document like PDF file.

No one seems to be reading this thread...there are unanswered questions from this past week and nothing. I suppose everyone is reading the boring iPhone 4 threads. The fools.

[wired.au]

I wondering the same thing as paddy501 ... I'm assuming the SLCD doesn't have the annoying jaggedness of the PenTile matrix OLED screens?

[RogerPodacter]

i'm pretty sure the SLCD will have the full 3 sub pixels unlike the pentiles. but i havent seen proof yet for sure.

[wired.au]

I hope so! I also wonder if it's a drop-in replacement. My friend's N1 screen broke and it'd be awesome if he could get an SLCD instead of OLED.

[GLHTC16V]

I hope so! I also wonder if it's a drop-in replacement. My friend's N1 screen broke and it'd be awesome if he could get an SLCD instead of OLED.

It should work, but he'd have to run a custom ROM with the S-LCD kernel port. I heard that the last batch of N1's were going to have S-LCD's. I know that a few of the Desires with the AMOLED screens sent in for repairs came back with the S-LCD.

[jdm_mboy]

Yup! no pentiles like the nexus one.

Just picked mine up today.... love it.

i'm pretty sure the SLCD will have the full 3 sub pixels unlike the pentiles. but i havent seen proof yet for sure.

[Dro]

^can you test the multitouch? Does it still only register 2 points? Can it recognize more than 2?