How is the screen quality? - LG V40 Questions & Answers

In some reviews I’ve watched/read the reviewer has said that the v40 screen is nice but not as good as a Samsung s9 plus or note 9. If anyone has been able to compare I would like to know your opinion on this.

Easily the best screen LG has ever released. I find it pretty comparable to the S9 and Note. In the settings there are a ton of fine-tuning options for the screen including color saturation, so you can tweak the levels to your liking.
Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

I agree, when i watch PLEX at home without transcoding i find myself thinking that this looks better than my IPS monitors..

How is a brightness level comparing to Note 9 and G7?

I will say this, my wife has a Pixel 3 which has been found to have a Samsung screen, and I prefer my screen. Not only do we get total control of tuning color, but whites look more white on my LG.

Montechristo said:
How is a brightness level comparing to Note 9 and G7?
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I have not compared it side-by-side with a Note 9, but from memory, I would say it is certainly at least equal. I did compare it with the G7 while in the store, and it seemed to be noticably brighter, not to mention FAR better looking. Its AMOLED is way better looking than the standard LCD in the G7, and leaps and bounds better than the disappointing V30 AMOLED.

Thx for your information. Did you compare the G7 with or without brightness boost?
I'm living in FL, therefore screen brightness is an issue for me.
I answer my own question: G7 display in boost mode is brighter than V40 display.

I have both testing out v40 before I have to give my note in for jump even tho I love the note 9 imma keep the v40 it wont let me post pics from mobile app I'll try from web

How's the grains on the screen? Any unevenness?

20degrees said:
How's the grains on the screen? Any unevenness?
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I don't detect any grains on the screen nor any unevenness. It definitely does not have any of the issues some V30s had.

psawjack said:
I don't detect any grains on the screen nor any unevenness. It definitely does not have any of the issues some V30s had.
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Thanks for the reply. I may pick one of these up.

I prefer it (slightly) over the Note 9.
Spent 4 hours in the store comparing them side-by-side, option to option. Both (and Pixel 3+) are very good, but "to me" the Note 9 seems "brightly" ... (which is my term for it seems to be 'backlit') whereas the V40 looks more natural. The differences are very slight and of course to my preference as my favorite salesperson at the store prefers the 'brightly' screen of the Note 9.
I think they're so close that it's really only a matter of personal preference.

SaintlySins said:
I prefer it (slightly) over the Note 9.
Spent 4 hours in the store comparing them side-by-side, option to option. Both (and Pixel 3+) are very good, but "to me" the Note 9 seems "brightly" ... (which is my term for it seems to be 'backlit') whereas the V40 looks more natural. The differences are very slight and of course to my preference as my favorite salesperson at the store prefers the 'brightly' screen of the Note 9.
I think they're so close that it's really only a matter of personal preference.
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What about "black crush"? and uniformity of dark grey at lowest brighness levels which V30 was mostly bashed for?

Billy Madison said:
What about "black crush"? and uniformity of dark grey at lowest brighness levels which V30 was mostly bashed for?
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If you're being funny, it's a hysterical question ... as when I imagine the test, or even the rational for such a test, I start laughing.
If you're being serious, I don't mean to sound condescending ...
... but I don't know how to entertain the question, as anyone bashing Black, Gray, White or colors at lowest brightness is on a fool's errand.
My imagination:
(... Hey Watson; let's turn down the wattage to the lowest it'll go and still produce an image then find fault with color saturation and separation!
But Inspector, at the lowest wattage certain color separations become too muted to differentiate, especially darker ones.
Yet there are a few that will make a rediculous argument just to keep their post count up, so let's get to work! ) LOLOL. Not pointing that at you Billy Madison, rather the fact that was really an argument, let alone a discussion.
In as serious an answer as I can give ... At 75% to 100% (or even 50%, which is about where I keep my phones the majority of times), the phone was significantly better than my V20 or V30.

SaintlySins said:
If you're being funny, it's a hysterical question ... as when I imagine the test, or even the rational for such a test, I start laughing.
If you're being serious, I don't mean to sound condescending ...
... but I don't know how to entertain the question, as anyone bashing Black, Gray, White or colors at lowest brightness is on a fool's errand.
My imagination:
(... Hey Watson; let's turn down the wattage to the lowest it'll go and still produce an image then find fault with color saturation and separation!
But Inspector, at the lowest wattage certain color separations become too muted to differentiate, especially darker ones.
Yet there are a few that will make a rediculous argument just to keep their post count up, so let's get to work! ) LOLOL. Not pointing that at you Billy Madison, rather the fact that was really an argument, let alone a discussion.
In as serious an answer as I can give ... At 75% to 100% (or even 50%, which is about where I keep my phones the majority of times), the phone was significantly better than my V20 or V30.
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Click to collapse
I don't get why you find it a fool's errand. No one is expecting any screen to be the same at lowest brightness levels as it is at say 50-100%, but there are plenty of cases where a user might be using it at the lowest setting: movie theatre before the film starts, before bed in a dark room, outdoors at night, in a car at night, etc. Not everyone likes to have their phone very bright, especially in dark settings.
I personally have my phone at lowest setting at night—I tend to have my screen brightness significantly lower than my wife's phone and most people I know. I guess I have light sensitive eyes, and I'm sure there are others like that. It's not just to nitpick phone screens in less than optimal use cases.
Anyway, I think it'd be good to know what the screen is like at lowest brightness as well since I plan on getting this phone in the next couple months.

larkhillv said:
I don't get why you find it a fool's errand. No one is expecting any screen to be the same at lowest brightness levels as it is at say 50-100%, but there are plenty of cases where a user might be using it at the lowest setting: movie theatre before the film starts, before bed in a dark room, outdoors at night, in a car at night, etc. Not everyone likes to have their phone very bright, especially in dark settings.
I personally have my phone at lowest setting at night—I tend to have my screen brightness significantly lower than my wife's phone and most people I know. I guess I have light sensitive eyes, and I'm sure there are others like that. It's not just to nitpick phone screens in less than optimal use cases.
Anyway, I think it'd be good to know what the screen is like at lowest brightness as well since I plan on getting this phone in the next couple months.
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I knew I'd upset someone with that post ... again, it's not an attack on anyone in particular.
I too turn my screen down quite low, (never minimum) ... but it's far from even 1% of use and such a infinately miniscule use that at those low wattages expecting great color separation in dark colors seems (to me) laughable.
I'm sorry if speaking my truth offends ... it's only an opinion ... and you know what they say about opinions... they're like butt holes; everyone has them and they both stink.
Sorry if mine stinks.

SaintlySins said:
I knew I'd upset someone with that post ... again, it's not an attack on anyone in particular.
I too turn my screen down quite low, (never minimum) ... but it's far from even 1% of use and such a infinately miniscule use that at those low wattages expecting great color separation in dark colors seems (to me) laughable.
I'm sorry if speaking my truth offends ... it's only an opinion ... and you know what they say about opinions... they're like butt holes; everyone has them and they both stink.
Sorry if mine stinks.
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I'm not upset or offended, your post was just very unhelpful in regards to the previous question, and unnecessarily snarky. Even if it's not a usual use case, that's what Billy was asking.
V30 had horrible graininess, banding, and color shifting, especially at low/minimum brightness settings in many units. I don't see what the issue is with asking if V40 fairs better. Especially since currently it is their flagship device and asking for around $900 for it. The display should at least be serviceable at all brightness levels without any major defects.
@Billy Madison from what I have read and seen in videos, the screen issues seem to have been fixed, but I too would like some further confirmation as to screen quality at low/minimum brightness levels. From what I can tell, it should be fine which is a large reason why I plan on getting this over the V30 even if the V30 at this point is basically half the price. But hopefully more people on XDA can advise whether they experience any issues at these brightness levels.

If there is a difference I don't see it.

Id say the screen is pretty darn good,especially at low light settings when its dark...the most uniform screen ive seen before. Much better than the wife's Note 9.
Sent from my SGP612 using Tapatalk

Easily the best LG screen i've used, much better than what I saw on the old G Flex 2 and V30 in store. Zero uniformity issues from what I can tell and very similar to my note 9, minus some brightness and maybe some saturation.

Related

After using Nexus 4 a few hours, I decide to sell it...

Hi everyone, Nexus 4 is my very first Android phone in my life, I used to use Iphone even though I'm not an IFan. Here is my 2cents why I have to sell it.
Screen Display
Yes !! Nexus 4 comes with TRUE IPS LCD, seems like the same thing on LG OPTIMUS G which I saw at BB and I like it very much. But Nexus 4 is worse than Optiomus G's screen (IDK why?). First of all is it's brightness, my eye is get used to iPhone scrren which has white balance > 600 cd/m, Nexus 4 I bielieve is 470 cd/m ( Optimus G is 471 cd/m but idk why it so much brighter)
Second, the color saturation is so bad, comparing the my Iphone 4s beside, I can tell 4s screen is more colorful, better exposition and nicer contrast.
Low white balance hurts my eyes so badly when browsing website even in a bigger screen...
Except those reasons above, Nexus 4 is the good phone.
Good for you. Bad reasons in my opinion, but I digress
I bet everyone cares
cool story bro.
hopefully the other 3 posts you have made on this website have been just as insightful.
LOL, instagram hipster....
All those "problems" were fixed with gamma control. You lost out on a good phone.
Oh well, in the end it's all about what you want. If you want brighter and over saturated colors then go for it. I keep my phone on auto brightness, it's far from the highest brightness and never had a problem with it. The color seems nice, a little more realistic I think rather then over saturated. The iPhone's do have a nice color though from what I've seen but not a huge difference.
ketjr81 said:
Oh well, in the end it's all about what you want. If you want brighter and over saturated colors then go for it. I keep my phone on auto brightness, it's far from the highest brightness and never had a problem with it. The color seems nice, a little more realistic I think rather then over saturated. The iPhone's do have a nice color though from what I've seen but not a huge difference.
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^^yah this :good:
i don't know what a cd/m measures, but visually comparing my screen to my wife's iphone there is very little difference (apart from size) ...
If you like saturation and good contrast then try AMOLED devices like the S3, it might not look as good as the iPhone though. YMMV.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Too be the screen can be very bright?? I keep my brightness on very low, colours are very nice imo but i think you are an ifan
Thanks for letting us know! Be sure to check back in and keep us updated on any other phone related decisions you make.
Closed

Nexus 4 disappointment

I have to say that i opened my new nexus this morning with excitement. The build quality and style of the phone is great.
That being said as soon as i turned it on i was really disappointed with the screen quality. The colours look washed out like a cheap budget TV in a sun drenched room. Next to an S3 it cant even compare. Side by side comparison with an S3 leaves the nexus looking awful. I put phasebeam live wallpaper on both phones and there really isnt a challenge from the nexus. The blue corner on the nexus is nearly white the colours are so far off. I tried another live wallpaper called Magic Smoke 3D and the blue areas on the S3 are nearly white on the Nexus. Blacks are almost grey too its really poor. I know the OLED vs LCD debate but i think this is more an issue of a very good OLED vs a very poor LCD or at least very poorly calibrated LCD. The Auto brightness is so dim its also useless and i have to set it manually. Its so bad that its dimmer than my OLED which is insane.
Battery life is a real issue. i had nothing of note installed on the phone and went from 74% down to 0 in less than a half days use.
The loud speaker is tinny and sounds pretty bad and the ear speaker is sounding very odd compared to other phones i own.
Stock android has some nice points which i can appreciate but its lacking in other areas which arent easy to live with. No battery percent is a real stupid omission and i know you can mod the phone up but seriously not being able to dial a phone number directly from an email is pretty poor. took me a while to get the copy and paste working to do it.
Whilst a few things are Goolges fault i squarely lay the blame at LG since i saw the Optimus G and i thought the screen was terrible on that also and the other hardware issues are down to cost cutting and lack of care when it comes to colour calibration.
This phone is worth every penny at £280 and thats all its worth. Its nowhere near as good a deal as i believed before i got it in the post this morning. Its certainly not a £400-£500 Phone. Since LG is a screen company its a real shame they screwed this one up so bad.
Its going back to Google on monday and ill think ill wait for the S4.
Maybe try to calibrate it. Mine came out of the box looking good. After some calibration it is not far from the best screen I've used. Also in bright rooms and sun the screen rocks. Maybe you got unlucky?
Also I can get up to 6 hours of screen time usually around 4 though worth heavier use so I cannot relate to this at all
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
If you don't like it then just return it. This really isn't a difficult concept. However, for the price you paid you really can't argue about it.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Couldnt disagree more with the OP ,
but everyone's allowed an opinion .... I think the screen is fantastic and sharp, the S3 imo is oversaturated, and some professionals have said the colours are much truer to life than the S3s , and like @hewettBR said , you could calibrate it to pretty much do anything ya wanted ..
Im a little confused, did you not know what you were getting with stock android? its stock, bone, clean, if you dont like it maybe try a custom rom?
Also the battery life on my device has been fine, gets me through a days usage with 30% left and 3 hours of screen on time, no problem what so ever. also some custom kernels people have got 5-6 hours of screen on time
Just my 2 cents
italia0101 said:
Couldnt disagree more with the OP ,
but everyone's allowed an opinion .... I think the screen is fantastic and sharp, the S3 imo is oversaturated, and some professionals have said the colours are much truer to life than the S3s , and like @hewettBR said , you could calibrate it to pretty much do anything ya wanted ..
Im a little confused, did you not know what you were getting with stock android? its stock, bone, clean, if you dont like it maybe try a custom rom?
Also the battery life on my device has been fine, gets me through a days usage with 30% left and 3 hours of screen on time, no problem what so ever. also some custom kernels people have got 5-6 hours of screen on time
Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know about stock android but i never realised just how lacking stock android can be in areas. Whilst some complex stuff is included other simple stuff is missing. You really dont know whats missing until a feature that you might use every day on an S3 is just not there in Nexus. This isnt as much as a deal breaker as the screen though.
I really dont want true to life screen quality anyway. its a phone and not a window. I want the red green and blues to pop and amaze everytime i look. The contrast should be high and blacks should be dark. With my nexus i have Blue which is actually White! Black which is grey and washed out. I really think i must have a bad sample or maybe its because i have a comparison phone to put the screen against.
irzero said:
I know about stock android but i never realised just how lacking stock android can be in areas. Whilst some complex stuff is included other simple stuff is missing. You really dont know whats missing until a feature that you might use every day on an S3 is just not there in Nexus. This isnt as much as a deal breaker as the screen though.
I really dont want true to life screen quality anyway. its a phone and not a window. I want the red green and blues to pop and amaze everytime i look. The contrast should be high and blacks should be dark. With my nexus i have Blue which is actually White! Black which is grey and washed out. I really think i must have a bad sample or maybe its because i have a comparison phone to put the screen against.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough, if thats how ya feel then thats how you feel
agree
italia0101 said:
Couldnt disagree more with the OP ,
but everyone's allowed an opinion .... I think the screen is fantastic and sharp, the S3 imo is oversaturated, and some professionals have said the colours are much truer to life than the S3s , and like @hewettBR said , you could calibrate it to pretty much do anything ya wanted ..
Im a little confused, did you not know what you were getting with stock android? its stock, bone, clean, if you dont like it maybe try a custom rom?
Also the battery life on my device has been fine, gets me through a days usage with 30% left and 3 hours of screen on time, no problem what so ever. also some custom kernels people have got 5-6 hours of screen on time
Just my 2 cents
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Click to collapse
Totally agree with your answer, y asked a designer to choose which screen look better between the S3 and the Nexus 4, and she choose the nexus 4 because it has more realistic colors she said. I was a GSIII owner and I am not regreat about switching to the nexus 4.
Sorry about my english.
Just ordered mine last night. I too have an s3 right now.
I hope I'm not too disappointed.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
/Waaaaaaa
I mean really....
As someone who had an S3, went to a N4, then went back to an S3 I noticed the following things after going back to the S3:
The S3's screen is nowhere near as sharp as the Nexus 4's. I never thought the difference between pentile and non pentile was big, but it is. Text is far clearer. Colours between the two are preference. I like the pop of the S3s screen.
The S3 is a slow phone. The Nexus 4 craps on it for UI speed.
The Nexus is a beautiful device. It feels really nice in the hand and feels very high end.
The Nexus battery life is rubbish. I do not understand how people are getting 5 hours of on screen time - maybe they have everything turned off. I like to have wifi, gps, BT, 3g all turned on all the time and the Nexus 4 would barely get me through a day. The S3 easily does it and also has the option of spare battery. Also when gaming on the Nexus the battery goes down a % a minute at least. I played sworcery for 20 mins and my battery had gone from 80 to 50something%!
The Nexus 4 gets HOT during demanding gaming. Like, really hot. Changing the kernel fixed this - I don't know how.
I also missed the swipe left/right to call/message from touchwiz.
Stock android quick toggles, whilst looking really good aren't useful at all. All they do is take you to the settings menu.
I think that on screen buttons are far nicer and the back button being on the LEFT is the right place.
Forgot to add - The main reason I switched back was because of the Camera. It is ASS! Just take a look at the photo thread on these very forums for proof. Also lacks burst mode which is a bit annoying. It also took longer to render HDRs and they weren't that great. A lot of people think it's good because they came from a Galaxy Nexus , which had a mid 2010 5MP shooter in it.
I was a s3 user but I do like the nexus 4 color
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
I think the display is worse on the SGIII.
iPhone 5 for example uses Sharp IPS LCD panels and have won many tests against SGIII in terms of display quality and the Nexus 4 uses a newer and better display - though the IPS panel made by LG.
Or perhaps you just like oversaturated colors and the blueish tint that you get from OLED.
http://www.displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_2.htm
spoonboy said:
As someone who had an S3, went to a N4, then went back to an S3 I noticed the following things after going back to the S3:
The S3's screen is nowhere near as sharp as the Nexus 4's. I never thought the difference between pentile and non pentile was big, but it is. Text is far clearer. Colours between the two are preference. I like the pop of the S3s screen.
The S3 is a slow phone. The Nexus 4 craps on it for UI speed.
The Nexus battery life is rubbish. I do not understand how people are getting 5 hours of on screen time - maybe they have everything turned off. I like to have wifi, gps, BT, 3g all turned on all the time and the Nexus 4 would barely get me through a day. The S3 easily does it and also has the option of spare battery. Also when gaming on the Nexus the battery goes down a % a minute at least. I played sworcery for 20 mins and my battery had gone from 80 to 50something%!
The Nexus 4 gets HOT during demanding gaming. Like, really hot. Changing the kernel fixed this - I don't know how.
Stock android quick toggles, whilst looking really good aren't useful at all. All they do is take you to the settings menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting points, but yes the s3 definitely has better battery life than the nexus, unfortunately that is something the nexus isnt good at. But its the fastest android phone, maybe the optimus g as well? I dont know but the nexus is ridiculously fast. Im confident that future android updates will adress those battery issues. In the mean time there are great roms and kernels that give extra juice like franco's kernel or matrix kernel.
I also missed the swipe left/right to call/message from touchwiz.
I agree on the screen, washed out and viewing angles are horrible.
italia0101 said:
Couldnt disagree more with the OP ,
but everyone's allowed an opinion .... I think the screen is fantastic and sharp, the S3 imo is oversaturated, and some professionals have said the colours are much truer to life than the S3s , and like @hewettBR said , you could calibrate it to pretty much do anything ya wanted ..
Im a little confused, did you not know what you were getting with stock android? its stock, bone, clean, if you dont like it maybe try a custom rom?
Also the battery life on my device has been fine, gets me through a days usage with 30% left and 3 hours of screen on time, no problem what so ever. also some custom kernels people have got 5-6 hours of screen on time
Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
spoonboy said:
As someone who had an S3, went to a N4, then went back to an S3 I noticed the following things after going back to the S3:
The S3's screen is nowhere near as sharp as the Nexus 4's. I never thought the difference between pentile and non pentile was big, but it is. Text is far clearer. Colours between the two are preference. I like the pop of the S3s screen.
The S3 is a slow phone. The Nexus 4 craps on it for UI speed.
The Nexus battery life is rubbish. I do not understand how people are getting 5 hours of on screen time - maybe they have everything turned off. I like to have wifi, gps, BT, 3g all turned on all the time and the Nexus 4 would barely get me through a day. The S3 easily does it and also has the option of spare battery. Also when gaming on the Nexus the battery goes down a % a minute at least. I played sworcery for 20 mins and my battery had gone from 80 to 50something%!
The Nexus 4 gets HOT during demanding gaming. Like, really hot. Changing the kernel fixed this - I don't know how.
I also missed the swipe left/right to call/message from touchwiz.
Stock android quick toggles, whilst looking really good aren't useful at all. All they do is take you to the settings menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree on the sharp screen of the Nexus but thats LCD tech and any LCD with 300+ PPI gives that.
My S3 isnt slow though? i tend to use Omega Rom which is rapid. Its easily on par with nexus.
The 400 PPI S4 looks to be the phone for me that will give the sharp text
Dear soon-to-return-nexus-4-users,
You realize the Nexus phone, or any Nexus phone, runs Android WITHOUT any 3rd party skin/addon/UI/etc...?
Yes?
OK. Then Why you ***** about a certain feature exist in a certain 3rd party skin/addon/UI/etc... not available in plain Android?
Next, you should also realize that the pro of owning a Nexus phone is not only about getting updates faster, It's also about the development of Custom ROM/Kernels.
So if you buy a Nexus phone and expect to use it like S3 (i.e. without tinkering the device), you are buying it wrong and I do, REALLY do suggest you return it and go back to your TouchWiz phones.
Later.
it's true google calibration is a bit washed out and weak out of the box
but..
1) let the glue dry and screen burn in for a week or two
2) you can make the colours burn your eyes out with gamma control kernels if you want
irzero said:
The 400 PPI S4 looks to be the phone for me that will give the sharp text
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won't be able to tell the differences under normal usage conditions. Trust me.
And I can already forsee tons of website will use magnifiers to tell you how small the pixels are and how sharp things are.
Let the glue dry?
richteralan said:
You won't be able to tell the differences under normal usage conditions. Trust me.
And I can already forsee tons of website will use magnifiers to tell you how small the pixels are and how sharp things are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Complete waste of phone battery and processing power IMO - why the **** would you want 400PPI when you can't even see the difference!
And no damn website would ever use 400PPI images - simply because they would be HUGE in size.
---------- Post added at 07:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:52 PM ----------
ferris2375 said:
Let the glue dry?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sarcasm i think.

Brightness throttling, disappointing.

I noticed, as other people did too, that the display gets periodically dimmer during use.
What I've discovered is that the display suffers from some "major" brightness throttling, as soon as the CPU reaches around 50°C, the brightness of the display will start to drop from around 410 cd/m² while idle to around 350 cd/m², and will go as low as 300 cd/m² if temperatures remain high. You get to that kind of temperature in about 5 mins of browsing heavy sites (The Verge for example), so you almost never get to actually enjoy the full brightness of the display doing anything heavy.
Personally, 300 cd/m² is way too low for a smartphone, 400 cd/m² is really the minimum for comfortable viewing in sunlight, so this is a total dealbreaker for me.
They really should have gone with a lower ppi screen, 445 ppi is completely overkill compared to 300ish, would have improved performance, battery life, and they wouldn't have needed to throttle the brightness so bad. More isn't always better I guess
If they didn't go with 445ppi screen then people would moan that the phone was last year's tech. Can't please everybody in this world. Plus, they wanted a 5" screen which needs a higher resolution otherwise the ppi would fall below the Nexus 4 - imagine the negative criticism that would create if this years phone had a worse display than last years!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Yeah that wouldn't have been good at all. They have to go with the trend, and also yes I believe that the nexus is a consumer device but because its heavily used by developers like it should be, it will push them more to support XXHDPI displays. There are still many apps that aren't built with XXHDPI in mind and its ridiculous. Resources meant for 720p look awful on 1080p screens. Also I can see a huge difference between such PPI. Anyone who says they can't see the difference between 300ish PPI and 450ish must have terrible vision. I myself have pretty bad vision and can tell. I look at my old iPhone 4 sometimes (yes I was an iPhone owner how terrible) and my god that 320 some PPI looks really really bad compared to my One. Now we are getting to 1440p devices and that sounds crazy. Maybe. I will have to see for myself if 520+ PPI makes a difference to my One and soon to be nexus 5's 440+ PPI.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Hi
shoco said:
I noticed, as other people did too, that the display gets periodically dimmer during use.
What I've discovered is that the display suffers from some "major" brightness throttling, as soon as the CPU reaches around 50°C, the brightness of the display will start to drop from around 410 cd/m² while idle to around 350 cd/m², and will go as low as 300 cd/m² if temperatures remain high. You get to that kind of temperature in about 5 mins of browing heavy sites (The Verge for example), so you almost never get to actually enjoy the full brightness of the display doing anything heavy.
Personally, 300 cd/m² is way too low for a smartphone, 400 cd/m² is really the minimum for comfortable viewing in sunlight in my opinion, so this is a total dealbreaker for me.
They really should have gone with a lower ppi screen, 445 ppi is completely overkill compared to 300ish, would have improved performance, battery life, and they wouldn't have needed to throttle the brightness so bad. More isn't always better I guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How else do you cool a phone that is over heating? There is no active cooling in these devices (i.e. no fan) so the only way to cool the device down is to dial in lower numbers. LG have gone for turning down the LED back-light, which means the CPU can run faster than it might otherwise if it was being baked by the display.
LEDs also hate being hot as they start to age very quickly, so this may also be protecting the backlights. Also the panel uses a high voltage, something like 30 volts to drive the LEDs using a DC-DC convertor, these are not 100% efficient so produce heat as well, another reason it might need to turn the LEDs down. You can't have a slim sexy looking mobile device with 2GHz quad core processor running 100% flat out without it overheating, so passive cooling is used.
This isn't unique to this phone, and many devices uses passive cooling in this way, even my Ivy Bridge desktop computer with a fan has the ability to turn down the CPU clock to help prevent heating issues.
Regards
Phil
shoco said:
I noticed, as other people did too, that the display gets periodically dimmer during use.
What I've discovered is that the display suffers from some "major" brightness throttling, as soon as the CPU reaches around 50°C, the brightness of the display will start to drop from around 410 cd/m² while idle to around 350 cd/m², and will go as low as 300 cd/m² if temperatures remain high. You get to that kind of temperature in about 5 mins of browing heavy sites (The Verge for example), so you almost never get to actually enjoy the full brightness of the display doing anything heavy.
Personally, 300 cd/m² is way too low for a smartphone, 400 cd/m² is really the minimum for comfortable viewing in sunlight in my opinion, so this is a total dealbreaker for me.
They really should have gone with a lower ppi screen, 445 ppi is completely overkill compared to 300ish, would have improved performance, battery life, and they wouldn't have needed to throttle the brightness so bad. More isn't always better I guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Galaxy S4's Chrome would enable auto-brightness when you open it even though the phone has full-brightness enabled.
Not trying to tell anyone how to use their phone, but I see all these complaints about auto brightness and I can't help but wonder, am I the only person that doesn't use it? For years now I've disabled auto brightness on all my phones. I just use a widget that let's me quickly bring it up or down and to be honest its very easy and convenient. I've always felt that it was superior and less awkward than letting autobrightness adjust it for me. The battery savings are great too.
I dont understand why these people cannot make models that are 3 millimeter thicker so they can have all the things in them that we need. larger battery, heatsinks, stereo speaker, and so on. Will be returning it.
I've had no doctor tell me that 3mm extra on my phone will kill me.
Some day this "thin" fad will disappear and companies will start using their heads more when designing their products.
kaywalker23 said:
Not trying to tell anyone how to use their phone, but I see all these complaints about auto brightness and I can't help but wonder, am I the only person that doesn't use it? For years now I've disabled auto brightness on all my phones. I just use a widget that let's me quickly bring it up or down and to be honest its very easy and convenient. I've always felt that it was superior and less awkward than letting autobrightness adjust it for me. The battery savings are great too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never use auto brightness. It always makes the screen too bright. Also, never noticed any dimming, even after 2+ hrs surfing and gaming. Can't wait to see the status bar brightness slider make it back into a rom.
---------- Post added at 05:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 PM ----------
alan-31 said:
I dont understand why these people cannot make models that are 3 millimeter thicker so they can have all the things in them that we need. larger battery, heatsinks, stereo speaker, and so on. Will be returning it.
I've had no doctor tell me that 3mm extra on my phone will kill me.
Some day this "thin" fad will disappear and companies will start using their heads more when designing their products.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can have all that, and for only about $300 more. You have several options, but this is THE best bang for your buck.
kaywalker23 said:
Not trying to tell anyone how to use their phone, but I see all these complaints about auto brightness and I can't help but wonder, am I the only person that doesn't use it? For years now I've disabled auto brightness on all my phones. I just use a widget that let's me quickly bring it up or down and to be honest its very easy and convenient. I've always felt that it was superior and less awkward than letting autobrightness adjust it for me. The battery savings are great too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
auto brightness kicks in even if you have it disabled.
It's normal for the Snapdragon 800. I had the Note 3 and it did the same thing and lowered the brightness more noticeably and during simple tasks such as web browsing. The HTC One does this to some extent, but the N5 handles it better than the Note 3. It's because the phone is thin with no fan to cool down the CPU.. it's normal, unfortunately- all 800s do it.
I love how a lot of people say that they want a lower PPI, but I can almost guarantee you that those same people would complain about this phone having "last year's specs" if it had a 720p screen.
jodvova said:
auto brightness kicks in even if you have it disabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wheres your proof on that. I've not seen it or seen my screen get dim
On S4 just run Chrome it will automatically adjust brightness upon start.
On nexus 5 (I noticed this only today myself), use the phone for 5-10 mins non stop, like browsing, Facebook, flickr, 500px and etc., once the CPU heats up it will start adjusting brightness itself.
In both cases, auto brightness is off in settings and the screen is set to full brightness.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
jodvova said:
auto brightness kicks in even if you have it disabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol , I just had to!
---------- Post added at 08:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 PM ----------
aooga said:
I love how a lot of people say that they want a lower PPI, but I can almost guarantee you that those same people would complain about this phone having "last year's specs" if it had a 720p screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They should just stick with the n4. Hell, I'll sell my gnex for $100 if someone wants 720p.
I've never noticed this... In fact my problem is that I don't use auto brightness because this screen is so freaking bright. I have it pegged at 20% and I have no problem even during the day seeing the screen.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Hi again guys, for those of you who may be interested I found that it is possible to reduce the brightness throttling to some extent by using the app "faux kernel" and setting the mpdecision to "conservative" (using the Qualcomm MPdecision).
The good thing is that it doesn't negatively impact performance, the CPU will still run at max speed if need be but will more aggressively return to lower frequencies when not needed, reducing heating and improving battery life as well. Overall it allows you to browse and staying at around 350 cd/m² instead of dropping all the way to 300 cd/m², which is an improvement.
The problem here in my opinion is that the thermal throttling on the Snapdragon 800 is way too aggressive, 50°c is fine, they should let it go to 60°C before starting to throttle the brightness that hard, there's still plenty of leeway.
aooga said:
I love how a lot of people say that they want a lower PPI, but I can almost guarantee you that those same people would complain about this phone having "last year's specs" if it had a 720p screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got an iPhone 5S yesterday as a replacement for the N5 that I'll be returning, there's litterally zero difference is clarity except for text when you're completely zoomed out that you couldn't read it anyway. In any normal use there's absolutely no benefit at all beyond 330ish ppi, I much prefer the screen of the iPhone 5/5S at 330 ppi with a consistent brightness of 550 cd/m². To me it's a much smarter compromise than 445 ppi throttled to death.
shoco said:
I got an iPhone 5S yesterday as a replacement for the N5 that I'll be returning, there's litterally zero difference is clarity except for text when you're completely zoomed out that you couldn't read it anyway. In any normal use there's absolutely no benefit at all beyond 330ish ppi, I much prefer the screen of the iPhone 5/5S at 330 ppi with a consistent brightness of 550 cd/m². To me it's a much smarter compromise than 445 ppi throttled to death.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about selling it for your fellow xda member?
I can't order it at all.. need it in the next 7 days
shoco said:
I got an iPhone 5S yesterday as a replacement for the N5 that I'll be returning, there's litterally zero difference is clarity except for text when you're completely zoomed out that you couldn't read it anyway. In any normal use there's absolutely no benefit at all beyond 330ish ppi, I much prefer the screen of the iPhone 5/5S at 330 ppi with a consistent brightness of 550 cd/m². To me it's a much smarter compromise than 445 ppi throttled to death.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love the completely lame excuses people give here saying they're going back to the 5s as if we're all supposed to bow down to their infinite wisdom. So really, the only thing that tipped you over was the brightness throttling? My theory is some people just buy the nexus 5, knowing they can return it for a full refund thinking it gives them a chance to come and bash it on the forum, if youre even telling the truth and you actually bought it.
Good riddance.
kaywalker23 said:
I love the completely lame excuses people give here saying they're going back to the 5s as if we're all supposed to bow down to their infinite wisdom. So really, the only thing that tipped you over was the brightness throttling? My theory is some people just buy the nexus 5, knowing they can return it for a full refund thinking it gives them a chance to come and bash it on the forum, if youre even telling the truth and you actually bought it.
Good riddance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's much harder to return the N5 than returning a product you would buy at retail, so no I wouldn't buy it just for the lolz, I genuinely thought, and still think, it's an amazing product. The thing is I can put up with mediocre battery life, dodgy viewing angles, but not with a dim display on top of that.
so how many disappointing threads are we gonna have?

AnandTech's Nexus 5 review

As usual for AnandTech reviews, there's a bunch of really useful (and OBJECTIVE) info to be found here. The sections on the display and battery life were particularly interesting in light of some of the horror stories I've seen in these forums, and the camera section shows that most of the problems can be fixed with software. Overall a really good and helpful read.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7517/google-nexus-5-review
And just FYI, reports are all over the place this morning that 4.4.1 is releasing in the next few days with lots of camera tweaks for speed, autofocus, and contrast.
Screen is Interesting Indeed... . He mentions " best calibrated display iv seen so far in any Android handset"
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
jntdroid said:
And just FYI, reports are all over the place this morning that 4.4.1 is releasing in the next few days with lots of camera tweaks for speed, autofocus, and contrast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I'm legitimately excited
Been waiting for this, thanks!
italia0101 said:
Screen is Interesting Indeed... . He mentions " best calibrated display iv seen so far in any Android handset"
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just like I've been saying...people are getting used to AMOLED displays to the point where they don't really even know what colors are supposed to look like anymore.
maxpower7 said:
It's just like I've been saying...people are getting used to AMOLED displays to the point where they don't really even know what colors are supposed to look like anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that! I was updating my SGS2 the other day and the colours made me feel ill. Consider me a convert!
LCD is just so much easier on my eyes. AMOLED can look beautiful, but every time I switch back to LCD it feels relieving to my eyes... and obviously outdoors AMOLED is nothing compared to LCD.
italia0101 said:
Screen is Interesting Indeed... . He mentions " best calibrated display iv seen so far in any Android handset"
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He did also mention that the black level(too bright) and contrast ratio(low as a result of bright blacks) are disappointing, hence why you hear plenty of people complaining the screen looks "washed out".
also prefer LCD
NovaSense said:
He did also mention that the black level(too bright) and contrast ratio(low as a result of bright blacks) are disappointing, hence why you hear plenty of people complaining the screen looks "washed out".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true. I have an anti-glare screen protector which washes it out even more ha ha. Easy on the eyes in the dark though!
It was interesting that Anandtech's battery tests show quite good battery life, better than most of the other flagships. That lends a lot of hope for all of the people who have experienced mixed or poor battery life.
The camera tests confirmed what I had been observing, that the Nexus 5 actually packs truly excellent camera sensor and lens. The pictures, when the software works right, is really color accurate, really good sharpness across and really good signal & chroma response. But sometimes it takes me many tries to get that picture I want... With the announcement of the software update coming, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll complete the package!
Very interesting too the ART testing, which helps explain why the Moto X runs so well.
Very good review, thanks ^^
Oddly impressive benchmarks and battery stats compared to what ppl. get here on stock, as if AT had a more refined Nexus 5 or a custom ROM.
BoneXDA said:
Oddly impressive benchmarks and battery stats compared to what ppl. get here on stock, as if AT had a more refined Nexus 5 or a custom ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one battery life test AT didn't run is that for standby. From my own experience so far, that's the area where the N5 seems worse than the GNex.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
Theory said:
The one battery life test AT didn't run is that for standby. From my own experience so far, that's the area where the N5 seems worse than the GNex.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes sense... but other reviews had their rundowns too incl. PhoneArena and GSM Arena via heavy browsing and got MUCH worse results, user tests here too... Same goes with benchmarks. AT is trustworthy, but they seem to have a much better Nexus 5 than everyone else except for slower charging (little over 2,5hrs) to everyone else (under 2hrs). They ARE the tech site to trust but they seem off the rails this time...
BoneXDA said:
That makes sense... but other reviews had their rundowns too incl. PhoneArena and GSM Arena via heavy browsing and got MUCH worse results, user tests here too... Same goes with benchmarks. AT is trustworthy, but they seem to have a much better Nexus 5 than everyone else except for slower charging (little over 2,5hrs) to everyone else (under 2hrs). They ARE the tech site to trust but they seem off the rails this time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there will be that much variation in different handsets. I think it's more likely Anandtech have a better standardised suite of tests than other sites.
NovaSense said:
He did also mention that the black level(too bright) and contrast ratio(low as a result of bright blacks) are disappointing, hence why you hear plenty of people complaining the screen looks "washed out".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think blacks are bright only if you have full brightness, and contrast ratio is better if you put the brightness to 30-40 %, the screen is very good.
BoneXDA said:
That makes sense... but other reviews had their rundowns too incl. PhoneArena and GSM Arena via heavy browsing and got MUCH worse results, user tests here too... Same goes with benchmarks. AT is trustworthy, but they seem to have a much better Nexus 5 than everyone else except for slower charging (little over 2,5hrs) to everyone else (under 2hrs). They ARE the tech site to trust but they seem off the rails this time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That had popped into my head too as places such as GSM showed it only getting a max 6hours of wifi browsing vs the 9 or so from Anand.
But then Anand does legitimate PC style testing. Their comparisons use normalized brightness across all phones and you can be sure they receive no incentives from Google as it is much more of an iOS site these days both of which are reasons for the month long wait of the review.
Essentially most places have reviewed the phone "out of the box" with Auto brightness on or or maxed in their testing.
bblzd said:
That had popped into my head too as places such as GSM showed it only getting a max 6hours of wifi browsing vs the 9 or so from Anand.
But then Anand does legitimate PC style testing. Their comparisons use normalized brightness across all phones and you can be sure they receive no incentives from Google as it is much more of an iOS site these days both of which are reasons for the month long wait of the review.
Essentially most places have reviewed the phone "out of the box" with Auto brightness on or or maxed in their testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How true, but there are 3 other sites that I came across that gave the screen the mosy accurate screen for Android. Phone Arena, and the other two were post of links to those reviews, but I don't remember the sites names. Most reviews of the phone were given with the phones brightness turned up to the highest settings. I keep my brightness to about 25% and the phone looks great. AnandTech always has unbiased reviews for Tech. The Battery instandby is very good unless you have RF cycling.
9 hours? someone should get them to dump the system and boot image from that phone.

[Q] How bright is the screen?

I like every aspect of nexus 6
but i'm a bit worried about the brightness of the screen
since AMOLED are kind of infamous for not able to use outdoor
I'm guessing the screen will be similar to Moto X 2014
Anyone who own the phone, can you please share the experience for using the phone under bright sun?
MrHardplastic said:
I like every aspect of nexus 6
but i'm a bit worried about the brightness of the screen
since AMOLED are kind of infamous for not able to use outdoor
I'm guessing the screen will be similar to Moto X 2014
Anyone who own the phone, can you please share the experience for using the phone under bright sun?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the important question. This year's AMOLED's (Galaxy S5, Note 4, Tab S) were very bright... but last year's AMOLED's (Galaxy S4).. not so much. Note 3 was fine however.
some review says moto X 2014 has poor outdoor visibility
and according to phonearena screen measurement, the moto X only has a maximum brightness of 385 nits
Now i'm seriously worried about the N6.....
I will accept anything higher than 450 nits, but 385 nits is just way too low
btw, I always never understood why maximum brightness is not part of the standard specs, it's an important factor, sometimes it's more important than pixel density or color saturation
While I will take all the brightness I can get, I have only struggled a few times with my S4 outdoors. I just don't use my phone all that much in full sunlight. Maybe check a football score during my kid's soccer game. Not exactly mission critical, but I guess it would be nice if it were easier. I certainly wouldn't give up the superior blacks the other 99.99% of the time. But given the awesome screens on the latest Samsungs, we should be able to have our cake and eat it, too.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
It's about this bright [emoji295]️[emoji295]️[emoji295]️
Its brightness is 270 nits (quite dim when you go by the numbers)
While its 850+ on my z3!
I guess I won't be selling my z3 for a n6 after all!
As with most single specs, the luminance in nits only tells part of the story. I'll wait to see what the N6 screen looks like in full sun before making a final decision.
gtalum said:
As with most single specs, the luminance in nits only tells part of the story. I'll wait to see what the N6 screen looks like in full sun before making a final decision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true. Amoled screen have very different reflective properties when compared to an LCD IPS screen. The outdoor viewing experience could and should actually be really good based on all the reviews.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
gtalum said:
As with most single specs, the luminance in nits only tells part of the story. I'll wait to see what the N6 screen looks like in full sun before making a final decision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
scandalousk said:
Very true. Amoled screen have very different reflective properties when compared to an LCD IPS screen. The outdoor viewing experience could and should actually be really good based on all the reviews.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on reviews the screen looks less vivid, less sharp and more dull than the Note 4. The visibility is less also; many reviewers claim the screen has great PPI but overall is not amazing. No surprises here - Samsung saves the best screens for themselves and everyone else gets rejects. For that reason I would've used an IPS display, like the iPhone 6+ (which has great visibility in sunlight, sharp and good colours).
spartanm99 said:
Based on reviews the screen looks less vivid, less sharp and more dull than the Note 4. The visibility is less also; many reviewers claim the screen has great PPI but overall is not amazing. No surprises here - Samsung saves the best screens for themselves and everyone else gets rejects. For that reason I would've used an IPS display, like the iPhone 6+ (which has great visibility in sunlight, sharp and good colours).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's the case then Google clearly chose the ambient display (which requires amoled) over an IPS display. The note 4 arguably has the best screen in the world and we don't don't know if Google could get their hands on the iPhone 6 display. Maybe they tried and still couldn't get it.
Google can still calibrate the display properly. We'll just have to wait and see.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
scandalousk said:
If that's the case then Google clearly chose the ambient display (which requires amoled) over an IPS display. The note 4 arguably has the best screen in the world and we don't don't know if Google could get their hands on the iPhone 6 display. Maybe they tried and still couldn't get it.
Google can still calibrate the display properly. We'll just have to wait and see.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We can also, you know...Make calibrations ourselves as well once Custom Kernels make their rounds..
If colour reproduction is an issue we should have little to worry if we can modify it in due time.
Here's how to find out - go look at one yourself before purchase.
darkrai said:
Its brightness is 270 nits (quite dim when you go by the numbers)
While its 850+ on my z3!
I guess I won't be selling my z3 for a n6 after all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are going to have to post a source for that, because I dont believe the Z3 has 850nit brightness at all. A quick Google search showed nothing of the sort either.
EniGmA1987 said:
You are going to have to post a source for that, because I dont believe the Z3 has 850nit brightness at all. A quick Google search showed nothing of the sort either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://m.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_z3-review-1140p3.php
Go to display section
As a Nexus 4 user, i really love this screen! Its screen colors are like bundis ip5 profile (screen color tuning) with even more whiter whites and superb brightness!
Google for nexus 6
Had to search a lot for nexus 6's
Dr Faustus said:
We can also, you know...Make calibrations ourselves as well once Custom Kernels make their rounds..
If colour reproduction is an issue we should have little to worry if we can modify it in due time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am happy this was answered so i didn't have to make a post just to make sure. i know i have options for dpi and auto brighness controls on my gs2. but i have to wonder why they set it so low in the first place? was it for battery savings? is it because the reflectivity is so good that it didn't need to be higher? is it because it will burn out the organics? if the gs3, 290 nits, was good enough to see outside then i guess this one will be also. it just sucks that it is so low. and i don't know if i would want to trust a kernel that raised it.
darkrai said:
http://m.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_z3-review-1140p3.php
Go to display section
As a Nexus 4 user, i really love this screen! Its screen colors are like bundis ip5 profile (screen color tuning) with even more whiter whites and superb brightness!
Google for nexus 6
Had to search a lot for nexus 6's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sony smarthones have the worst display ever. turn off bravia engine (contrast and vivid) and you will love motorola 720i ;P
PhoneArena state the Nexus 6 is 270nits.
& the Nexus 5 is 485nits
Yet, I'm pretty sure we've seen both phones on Max brightness next to each other with the Nexus 6 being brighter.
In fact, every video I've seen with both the Nexus 6 & Note 4 has shown the Nexus to have the brighter screen with much better whites.
.....explain!?
chrisjcks said:
brighter screen with much better whites.
.....explain!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much better whites? Yes I think so. Brighter? Where on earth did you see it brighter than note 4? Please share a link?
Thanks
plasmastate said:
Much better whites? Yes I think so. Brighter? Where on earth did you see it brighter than note 4? Please share a link?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every video I've seen with both phones together.
If the Nexus 6 is supposed to only be 270nits, how is this possible?
I've also seen an image of the Nexus 5 & 6 together on Max brightness with the 6 being brighter.
Nexus 5 is 485 nits so PhoneArenas 270nits claim makes no sense at all.
Even in PhoneArenas own video, the Nexus looks brighter than the Note 4, easily visible during browsing & the video benchmark etc.
Google Nexus 6 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 4: http://youtu.be/afOEn-zm_y0
It's funny because when I was playing with the Note 4 in a Sprint store I was surprised to learn that the screen was at full brightness. It didn't seem all that bright to me.

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