Display-analyzing firm DisplayMate has been taking a very close look at the screen on the soon-to-launch Galaxy S5 smartphone, and its findings are sure to have Samsung executives cracking a smile as wide as the device is long.
For most regular folk, display analysis extends to little more than popping down to the local phone store, looking at the screen for a couple of seconds and then offering a carefully considered evaluation like “sharp, ain’t it.” DisplayMate, on the other hand, carries out a battery of exhaustive tests to determine a device’s performance in a huge variety of areas, some of which you never knew existed. In its 7,000-word analysis – yes, seven thousand – of the S5’s display, it concluded it’s pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Best ever
“Based on our extensive lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy S5 is the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested,” DisplayMate president Raymond Soneira wrote in his report.
The Galaxy S5’s 5.1-inch 1080×1920 (432 ppi) Super Amoled display is, according to DisplayMate, a “major improvement” over the S4‘s display “in almost every single test and measurement category.”
It added that it was particularly impressed that the Korean tech giant has been “systematically and significantly improving its OLED display performance with every single Galaxy generation since 2010,” with the S5 continuing the “rapid and impressive” improvement.
Highest, lowest, smallest….
And the gushing praise doesn’t end there. Soneira said Samsung had concentrated on improving all elements of the display, scoring it a bunch of accolades in his highly detailed analysis, including that of highest brightness of all the smartphones he’s ever tested, the lowest reflectance, highest color accuracy, highest contrast rating in ambient light, and smallest brightness variation with viewing angle.
As if that wasn’t enough, the device’s Cinema Mode, Soneira wrote, has “the most accurate colors for any smartphone or tablet display that we have ever measured,” enabling it to produce “beautiful” picture quality.
The comprehensive critique utters barely a bad word about Samsung’s flagship phone, though if you go through it with a fine-tooth comb you’ll discover that in Cinema Mode the contrast and color saturation are “slightly” too high. But only slightly. Samsung can live with that.
Soneira describes his eyes as “experienced and hyper-critical,” so whether the average Joe with his average peepers will notice the improvements is anyone’s guess. Anyway, you’ll be able to find out for yourself soon as the handset lands in stores on April 11.
[DT’s review of the Galaxy S5]
