n1 in a sunlight - Nexus One General

This is a big concern of mine. I love the specs of the n1 but I've read that nothing can be seen on the screen in direct sunlight. I'd buy an HTC HD2 because I can even read books in sunlight with it but they stick with the win mobile and I like to have an android phone. So what do you say about n1 screen quality in comparison to the htc hd2 screen?

NB2 said:
This is a big concern of mine. I love the specs of the n1 but I've read that nothing can be seen on the screen in direct sun light. I'd buy an HTC HD2 because I can even read books in sunlight with it but they stick with the win mobile and I like to have an android phone. So what do you say about n1 screen quality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only people who say this are people who don't know how to use the phone. Basically there is an automatic brightness option that changes the brightness based on how bright it is around the phone. Unfortunately, it seems like this feature always keeps the screen fairly dim, so I don't like it.
I have this feature disabled at all times and keep my phone at maximum brightness. It looks perfectly fine in sunlight.
People who say the screen doesn't work in sunlight don't know how to disable this feature (ie don't know how to use Android / change simple settings).

Paul22000 said:
I have this feature disabled at all times and keep my phone at maximum brightness. It looks perfectly fine in sunlight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen an app on an htc hd2 that changes the brightness automatically but one can adjust the brightness for specific surround conditions (i.e it looks like a graphical equalizer). I do not own the phone but I was told that this app works quite good. Is there something similar for the n1?

I can attest the screen pretty much sucks in sunligh at full brightness. The beaming sun in south florida is relentless.

Yeah, the N1 is hard to read in the bright sun and its not just pooping on stupid people that dont understand computerz or a simple setting that fixes it, it just gives glare in the sun.

Most phones/screens, regardless of their technology, are difficult to see in direct sunlight. But then, why are you trying to read the screen in direct sunlight? Just turn the other way, or shield it with your hand. Not that hard to figure out, really.
I use the automatic light sensor all the time. The only time is gets confused is is in a dim room, bright source (window, lamp) directly in front of the sensor. You have to realize what the sensor is seeing. Often times it's seeing light reflected off your face, hence the up/down/up/down of the screen brightness.
I honestly don't see either as issues with the phone, but the users rather.

I've had no problems using my Nexus One in direct sunlight.

Raymond77 said:
I've had no problems using my Nexus One in direct sunlight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really? i will be honest, i cannot see **** in direct sunlight unless i have the brightness all the way up... and that screen on full brightness is a battery hog...

I have no major probs with mine in direct sunlight, it's not that much different to the G1. I'm sure there are phones with better screens for direct sunlight but it's far from unusable.
The auto brightness feature works fine, you just have to wait a couple of seconds for it to adjust. Only people who don't know how to use the phone disable it and waste all their battery.

JHaste said:
really? i will be honest, i cannot see **** in direct sunlight unless i have the brightness all the way up... and that screen on full brightness is a battery hog...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really. I usually leave the screen set to auto, on the odd occasion I've had to turn it up to the brightest setting, but as the last poster said usually it'll catch up and turn the brightness up itself.

snoopstah said:
I have no major probs with mine in direct sunlight, it's not that much different to the G1. I'm sure there are phones with better screens for direct sunlight but it's far from unusable.
The auto brightness feature works fine, you just have to wait a couple of seconds for it to adjust. Only people who don't know how to use the phone disable it and waste all their battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or people who don't have any problem with the battery? With my use the battery lasts for 20+ hours, which is more than enough time for me to get to a charger again.
I always have the brightness at max and have had it that way for all the phones I've had (where you can set the brightness). If I'm gonna be more than a day without charging it I'll of course turn it down, but it's far from a neccesity for day to day use.
Just checked my phone and it's been off the charger for 16 hours and I still have 53% left on the battery.

Brightness in the direct Thai sunlight is fully adequate. The only problem I've had is that in direct sunlight, everything else is well lit, and so reflects off the screen.
Brightness: no problem
Reflection off the screen: annoying.

Paul22000 said:
The only people who say this are people who don't know how to use the phone. Basically there is an automatic brightness option that changes the brightness based on how bright it is around the phone. Unfortunately, it seems like this feature always keeps the screen fairly dim, so I don't like it.
I have this feature disabled at all times and keep my phone at maximum brightness. It looks perfectly fine in sunlight.
People who say the screen doesn't work in sunlight don't know how to disable this feature (ie don't know how to use Android / change simple settings).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
False. I know this phone well and disabled the auto brightness within 20 minutes of owning the phone. As much as I love my N1, and would not trade it for any phone, the amazing OMLED screen is one of the worst screens I've used as far as clarity in direct sunlight. This is not an N1 problem, but a problem with OLED screens in general. Assuming the new iPhone that should be released in June will have an OLED screen, it will have the same problem in direct sunlight.
You can buy anti-glare screen protectors that help this problem, but you do sacrifice some of the stunning brightness and clarity of the N1 screen in regular viewing conditions.
There is no way I would trade the N1 screen for the likes of the iPhone screen as the benefits of the OLED screen in non-direct sunlight viewing far outweighs the difficulty seeing the screen in direct sunlight. In fact, the N1 screen is probably its most impressive feature (aside from its blazing speed).

irishrally said:
the amazing OMLED screen is one of the worst screens I've used as far as clarity in direct sunlight. This is not an N1 problem, but a problem with OLED screens in general. Assuming the new iPhone that should be released in June will have an OLED screen, it will have the same problem in direct sunlight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
of cause this is the n1 problem and yours in the end! How are you suppose to take pictures with the n1 if you see nothing on the screen? How you suppose to dial a number if you see nothing on the screen? Saying this is not the phone to blame but the screen manufacturing process sounds stupid to me.

I have never in my life encountered an electronic device with a screen that was perfectly readable in direct sunlight, that is to say, as readable as indoors (not even my laptop plugged in the mains and set to full brightness). Reason: no screen technology can provide as much brightness as the sun. Solution: accept it, and cover the screen with one hand while you use the device with the other....
NB2 said:
of cause this is the n1 problem and yours in the end! How are you suppose to take pictures with the n1 if you see nothing on the screen? How you suppose to dial a number if you see nothing on the screen? Saying this is not the phone to blame but the screen manufacturing process sounds stupid to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
take pictures: look over the device and hit the shutter button..
input: open you jacket and form the number while providing shadow with it, or provide shadow with one hand while forming the number with the other. It's a fact that you need to accept, period.

Video sunlight test
Here is a video I found, it basically compares the N1's screen in sunlight to the Droid's screen at three different brightness levels. Enjoy.
youtube. com/watch?v=YwyJq6oF4wE
note, since I'm new I can't post links... just remove the space

The screen is really nice in normal light but yeah it sucks in the sunlight LOL Probably depends where you live but in sunny South Florida it's a pain sometimes. Doesn't matter which direction you turn definitely have to shield it with your hand and it's still pretty hard to read. I'm looking into getting an anti glare screen protector for it to see how that helps. The display is absolutely beautiful but i'm starting to think maybe oled isn't the best technology for cell phone screens

Oled
The main difference between the screen technology in the N1 and most other phones is that on the N1, as I understand it, each pixel emits its own light (OLED = Organic Light Emitting Diode) as opposed to a 'liquid' film lighted from the back (LCD = Liquid Crystal Display). The only technology that I know of that will work well in direct sunlight is e-ink.
It is not likely that a pixel or a backlight could ever reasonably compete with direct sunlight, but on an LCD screen it is possible for the sunlight to reflect off the back layer or to hold the device is a certain angle to 'perhap's see the image better in sunlight then on the OLED type display.
However, having the N1 myself, I have found that I am able to shade the display in full Southern California Sunlight well enough to function with the device. The OLED display is much too gorgious to give up for LCD in my opinion.

Related

Display in direct sunlight conditions

Hi, i would to know the legibility of display in direct sunlight. Is it better of the Omnia display?! Or the same thing?
[email protected] said:
Hi, i would to know the legibility of display in direct sunlight. Is it better of the Omnia display?! Or the same thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would also like to know this as well. i believe touch HD has an ambient light sensor, but it is a different manufacture than that used in iphone. also, the HD's sensor is below two layers of plastic (the screen and the touch/pressure layer), whereas iphone's sensor is just below the glass. so those of you who already have the phone, please report back thanks
buggybug0 said:
i would also like to know this as well. i believe touch HD has an ambient light sensor, but it is a different manufacture than that used in iphone. also, the HD's sensor is below two layers of plastic (the screen and the touch/pressure layer), whereas iphone's sensor is just below the glass. so those of you who already have the phone, please report back thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HD's sensor is not underneath the screen/pressure layer. It is in the opening for the speaker. The screen is not transflective therefore the backlight is required to view the display.
ardsar said:
The HD's sensor is not underneath the screen/pressure layer. It is in the opening for the speaker. The screen is not transflective therefore the backlight is required to view the display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
okay. sooooooooo.... back to the OP's question : does the screen brightness changes when the ambient light changes? and it is good to view in direct sunlight? i couldn't extract the ansswer from your reply.
buggybug0 said:
okay. sooooooooo.... back to the OP's question : does the screen brightness changes when the ambient light changes? and it is good to view in direct sunlight? i couldn't extract the ansswer from your reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes the screen brightness changes with ambient light. Display is comparable to the touch pro when viewing in daylight, but as the iphone is transflective, it will obviously not be as good.
Hi, I've had the Touch HD for 5 days now. The display sensitivity does change according to the ambient light, which I find very useful when going in and out of buildings. The display can be read fairly easy even on direct sunlight. I was reading an ebook without any problems midday with sun over my head. As far as Omnia, I can't judge since I haven't used one. But I can compare it to my old Tytn II which was unusable in direct sunlight. The display on Touch HD is really great.
fuko747 said:
Hi, I've had the Touch HD for 5 days now. The display sensitivity does change according to the ambient light, which I find very useful when going in and out of buildings. The display can be read fairly easy even on direct sunlight. I was reading an ebook without any problems midday with sun over my head. As far as Omnia, I can't judge since I haven't used one. But I can compare it to my old Tytn II which was unusable in direct sunlight. The display on Touch HD is really great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK...this is good.
The Touch HD display is not better than the Touch Diamond display in direct sunlight. Unfortunately it doesn't come close to the superb direct sunlight performance of the iPhone.
I also own the Sedna and although this device is perfectly usable in direct sunlight, even with the display brightness set to 0, the colors are dull and also much worse than on the iPhone under the same lighting conditions.
I can't hide the feeling that HTC just wants to earn easy money, look at the video performance of the Qualcomm chipset, it should have improved from the TyTN II outrage but nothing has happened yet.
HTC wants to build an iPhone killer? I'm pretty sure they can do it. Unfortunately they would need to charge much more for such a unit or at least lower their profit margin. Apparently they don't need to do that...yet.
actually it is not very good ... i cant see well...
any tweaks to make it peform better under sun??
yeah, i can hardly see anything on mine in sunlight, it would be ok to make a call, but to text or read a long text etc is verydifficult, didnt even trey watching a video, are there tweaks or anything for the screen?
disable auto backlight adjustment and crank up the backlight! battery peformance will suffer but its much easier to read. I think there are screen protectors out there than makes the screen more ligible in direct sunlight. try searching for it. dont take my word for it though
You can install Lumos and set it such that in sun conditions, it will respond with an increased backlight performance. At least Lumos will allow your phone to auto-adapt to the light conditions.
As for my personal experience, I have an ultraclear-type screen protector and the HD is pretty much unusable in direct sun light. I guess that with a less classy screen protector, the display would be readable outside but I haven't checked this out yet.
I tried disabling disabling auto adjust and cranking up brightness for sun.
It ATE my battery, left low level screen light on and this just is not a good thing.
I am outside a lot and looking for a solution, cannot believe the screen is so clear and good until you hit the sunlight. This is as I set on laptop and type in sun.

Outdoor under direct sun light?

Does anyone have a clue how the new screen behaves outdoor, especially under direct sun light. My current HD "sucks" on that matter, espaecially when using GPS navigation during day time .
Thanks
yeah, HD sucks under the sun lol.
indoor comparision..
The HD 2 has a light sensor which will control the backlight based on the light in the environment you in. I have seen it on a Rodium and i must say it works very nice!
SNL said:
The HD 2 has a light sensor which will control the backlight based on the light in the environment you in. I have seen it on a Rodium and i must say it works very nice!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not misstaken, even the Touch Diamond had that...
still doesn't answer the "question"
The Touch HD had this too but still sucks under sunlight. Even if you manually set to maximum brightness it was pretty bad under sunlight.
I thinks this is a hard question to answer till the device is in the market
Normally, it is the glass protection of a capacitive screen which gives good readability under the direct sun, while the resistive needs a plastic cover able to catch up the points of pressure filtering a lot of brightness.
In my experience (Samsung Omnia HD), the capacitive is very readable even under the sunlight, BUT, I'm not sure if the 65K colors Vs. 16M colors could affect the result.
I agree dfulgo. Although I'm not sure but I think this might really be the case.
If you have seen this video in youtube (link below) where they compared 7 different phones, even the Omnia2 AMOLED screen cannot compare to the Iphone's sunlight legibility. I think this is really mainly because of the strong reflection on the glass for the Omnia2, and not just the brightness of the screen. And the Omnia HD with capacitive screen looks better in sunlight than Omnia2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8b5Jb_dB3M
I'm hoping this is the case, so we might have good sunlight legibility for the HD2!
warnold007 said:
I think this is really mainly because of the strong reflection on the glass for the Omnia2, and not just the brightness of the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am pretty sure it's because of it being an AMOLED screen. Those always have bad sunlight readability.
I think I read somewhere, that the HD2 was ok outdoors, but I am not really sure. Well, we will know for sure when it's out.
So, "Nothing new under the sun"?
Glass Cover
If Leo have glass cover (like Iphone) outdoor on direct sun light - OK
But if have plastic cover , we must wait for next phone
I hope HTC to use glass screen !!!
Answer???
If anybody have in new HTC HD2 , lets tell us about outdoor properties!!!
if anybody can use search utility, use it
it has glass screen, under sun light it is no problem...
once againt, search utility -> 3rd from right on that brown upper panel... click on search, and add a point of your question...
Please pose a photo of the screen, at least.
Thank's
the hd2 is very good in sunlight ... de best HTC device (screen) untill now.
still the iphone is a little better.
i saw hd2 in real under the sun light. difference with iphone? NO! hd2 perfectly shows its display in any condition. just 2 differences: 1) hd2's glass is more reflecting in comparison with the iphone one, but this doesn't affect its usability 2) the tft-panel adopted in hd2 has got more contrast, black is blacker!
gsmarena
Well, what you say makes me a little bit happier, because there is a preview on gsmarena.com and they say HD2 sucks under the sunlight (though the overall preview is very positive, they say sun light legibility is poor)
I also read a post by xmoo who owns a HD2 said sunlight legibility sucked. :confused
Still no conclusive answer. I guess we need a photo comparison between iPhone, Touch HD and HD2.
mobile-review
According to some pictures from mobile-review (there is a review in russian, google translate is not 100 procent), it looks not so bad (they say it´s better than on previous HTC devices)...problem is the screen reflects too much, but it looks to me colours are not washed out

HTC HD2 Screen Brightness

Am I the only one having trouble with HD2's screen brightness ?
I work in a very shiny-sunny environment (I'm a ski instructor) and I can barely use the phone when I'm working. I manage to use the basic functions, but watching a video is impossible, I just cannot see a thing !
I compared with a friend's Iphone a few days ago and it seems Iphone screen's brigthness is much better. (or is it the material used for the screen itself?) Even though it's sunny, the Iphone shows nice colors and images, when the HTC darken everything, coupled with reflects making the whole thing unusable...
I'm already using a 100% brightness all the time but it doesn't help much when the light is strong. Though it helps draining the battery quicker...
I don't want to start any sterile debate Iphone-HD2, I'm very happy with my HD2. Indoor the screen is just great. I just have that one big problem in my everyday life with that phone...
I have no problem looking at the screen under direct sunlight with auto-adjusted screen brightness setting. 100% screen brightness should not be a problem for me.
Did you use any screen protector? Perhaps different type of screen protector might affect the brightness of the screen, at least by minimal amount.
Mmmh
Maybe the snow reflection and the very high luminosity around here is responsible for this I don't know.
I've always had that problem with my HD2. Yesterday I installed a Zagg Full Body Shield, and it's even worse ! Though there are less reflects (the screen is not so shiny anymore), the screen protector make it even darker.
I'll remove that screen protector, see why here if you're interested : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6255312&postcount=57
podrob said:
Maybe the snow reflection and the very high luminosity around here is responsible for this I don't know.
I've always had that problem with my HD2. Yesterday I installed a Zagg Full Body Shield, and it's even worse ! Though there are less reflects (the screen is not so shiny anymore), the screen protector make it even darker.
I'll remove that screen protector, see why here if you're interested : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6255312&postcount=57
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agreee. 10 char
myth1001 said:
I have no problem looking at the screen under direct sunlight with auto-adjusted screen brightness setting. 100% screen brightness should not be a problem for me.
Did you use any screen protector? Perhaps different type of screen protector might affect the brightness of the screen, at least by minimal amount.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you don't have a problem with viewing your phone outdoors - you live in England.
try an antiglare screen protector, do you have your brightness set to 100%?

[Q] Auto-brightness

There has been a lot said about the screen being dim on this phone, and it's the one and only thing that's holding me back from committing to getting it. Summer's coming and I want to be able to play it outside without having to sit in a dark corner.
I've also read that the auto-brightness feature is mandatory, and that it doesn't work particularly well, so I was wondering if this was the main reason for the reportedly dim screen. My current phone - an AMOLED HTC Desire - is VERY dim with the auto brightness enabled, but thankfully I can turn it off.
For anyone with the phone who is able to test, do you think the screen is bright enough if you cover the light sensor altogether? I'm sure that once the phone is rooted, we'll be able to disable the light sensor altogether, and I'm hoping the screen brightness is purely a software limitation (i.e. fixable) and not a hardware problem (i.e. NOT fixable)
Thanks.
If someone that has theirs already were to check the brightness on boot before the sensors even initialize that might give you a good idea of what it is capable of.
Most android phones i've played with in the past boot at full brightness. Your mileage may varry
Mine arrive tomorrow... dont know until tuesday
I got a slider for the birhgtness, haven't noticed any dimming/brightening automatically, seems just fine to me.
I think that if this problem keeps appearing SE will do something about it, and else the community will
I had mine for a day and sent it back...the auto brightness very temperamental. I would play Gboid emulator (great with new controls btw) and the screen would literally get dim and lighten up constantly every few seconds - under same lighting condition, it became very annoying throughout the day as you end up anticipating it..seems the sensor tries too hard under certain lighting conditions and not having the option to disable auto lighting is just dumb.
The screen is also a terrible fingerprint magnet, and definitely not the best on a cloudy day (Could not test in direct sunlight, this is a rare occurring phenomena here in UK) ...Also dust tends to get into the very fine spacings around the screen.
After an hour of use the phone looked like my kids and dog had played with it for few weeks....Not for me.
But maybe thats just me being spoilt with Nexus S and Ipone4 smudge free, brighter screens.
I dont use the auto-brightness. Ive just manually set it a little lower.
Aightu said:
I dont use the auto-brightness. Ive just manually set it a little lower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see what people are complaining about and... really it's not that bad.
I can see where it might get annoying if you're looking for it, but the screen is not going off and on like some people make it out to be. At least mine is not.
I keep mine at 50% brightness and I don't notice a brightness change even slightly. It's bright enough to see indoors easily and not noticeably worse outdoors than any other non-amoled phone I've owned.
from my experience people are making a mountain out of a mole hill, and the auto-brightness can be disabled with custom roms in the future, just live with it in the mean time. That or ask SE for an update that allows you to disable it.
johnsongrantr said:
I see what people are complaining about and... really it's not that bad.
I can see where it might get annoying if you're looking for it, but the screen is not going off and on like some people make it out to be. At least mine is not.
I keep mine at 50% brightness and I don't notice a brightness change even slightly. It's bright enough to see indoors easily and not noticeably worse outdoors than any other non-amoled phone I've owned.
from my experience people are making a mountain out of a mole hill, and the auto-brightness can be disabled with custom roms in the future, just live with it in the mean time. That or ask SE for an update that allows you to disable it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I keep mine at 60% and don't notice any screen change or anything.
Regarding the fingerprint magnet, you can easily install third party screen-protector to avoid that
Sent from my LT15i using XDA Premium App

Minimum brightness

You don't want to give your significant other yet another reason to yell at you while you're reading XDA in bed. Rate this thread to express what you think of the Razer Phone's display minimum dimness. A higher rating indicates that the display can get extremely dim, ideal for reading in very dark environments.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
The saddest part about display is this I quote: "Razer seems to have opted for the latter since the Razer phone has one of the dimmest screens we have ever seen. Its brightness maxes out at just 223 nits. There is no max auto over-burn either, so you are stuck with that. Perhaps the high refresh rate necessitated this sacrifice. Whether or not it was a justified one is up to fans to decide. Contrast is sub-par as well. Definitely not flagship grade." Quote taken from gsmarena : https://www.gsmarena.com/razer_phone-review-1683p3.php
I run my brightness as low as I can usually for battery savings and lifespan of the screen so this makes no difference to me
No phone does well in direct sunlight imo.
kungpaoshizi said:
I run my brightness as low as I can usually for battery savings and lifespan of the screen so this makes no difference to me
No phone does well in direct sunlight imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to disagree. Samsung S7 and newer S models are great in direct sunlight. Same with most Samsung AMOLED panels. usually LCD's are lacking in direct sunlight. And since this phone has such a dim screen, it makes sense.
xocomaox said:
I would like to disagree. Samsung S7 and newer S models are great in direct sunlight. Same with most Samsung AMOLED panels. usually LCD's are lacking in direct sunlight. And since this phone has such a dim screen, it makes sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Idk, I just returned a s8 and that sucked in sunlight. Heh..
kungpaoshizi said:
Idk, I just returned a s8 and that sucked in sunlight. Heh..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Then you'll hate the Razer as it will be far worse than the S8. lol
Na, I accepted long ago that glossy screens and sunlight doesn't go together. Physics and all.. If it's an emergency I'll make it work of course.
I know I'll be happier with the razer before I even touch it because I won't be strongarmed into submission like a Samsung user. That was one disappointment coming from the Windows Phone failtrain. Held out a good number of years..
Plus this has a combo of hardware that is unmatched right now. The software is obviously rough in the camera and display section, but at least it can change. I would hate to be iphone/pixel users atm.
kungpaoshizi said:
I run my brightness as low as I can usually for battery savings and lifespan of the screen so this makes no difference to me
No phone does well in direct sunlight imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, and the fact that having the screen up at full brightness is just way too uncomfortable. Especially under ambient lighting conditions.
Granted, Direct sunlight readability will be an issue but I live in London and most outdoor phone use requiring more than a few minutes of screen viewing just isn't conducive to city life
Right.. Being a grown up now I can do so much more, so hanging around in random places outside usually doesn't happen anymore.
I'm at my computer usually if not at work. I'll just be glad to have this, which is just about as premium as premium gets for a phone, a computer, an entertainment device, and a personal gaming device.
to be fair the screen brightness can go much higher, its just software probably holding back. as the device has an unlocked bootloader, expect alot of custom roms will be able to refine this device. razer will probably be very dev friendly...
Got my phone, I think people complaining about screen brightness just never turned off adaptive brightness or Razer adjusted it since those reviews. The screen gets super bright. Almost as bright as my lumia 950xl.
The white on this is better than the white on that too, and it's an amoled.
Satisfied with the minimum brightness. It's not too blinding.
I find the minimum brightness to be far too bright. I'm rooted, running Magisk and Xposed, but my usual methods for lowering brightness aren't working. Does anyone have a method that does work?

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