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Definitely has screen-door effect...

S

ScrapMaker

Newbie
I haven't decided if it's a deal breaker, but a lot of the times when I look at my phone, it almost looks like the pixels are 'dancing.' Then after a second, it looks normal. Depends on the image being displayed, but solid colors cause it mostly. I can easily see the pixels... as if it they have a lot of distance between them. My brother's Epic 4G looks nearly identical. I wish I had my camera, but I left it at work.

I can see the pixels on all content. The phone icon is exceptionally-bad... it looks like a video game from before there was Anti-Aliasing.

Other than that, the phone feels no snappier than my OG Evo 4G. It realls slows down during app downloads/installs... The keyboard becomes frustratingly-laggy sometimes. I never had that problem on my Evo 3D. Standard Android menus are not really that smooth... I am hoping someday that Android can be purely hardware-accelerated, as this is getting pretty ridiculous if you ask me.
 
I'll be a dissenting opinion, and I'm far from legally blind. I'm sensitive to screen door effect, but in normal use I find it (at worst) barely perceptible.

I'm not saying this to be critical -- but I do wonder if you aren't succumbing to the equivalent of audiophile-itis; i.e. it's minor but you notice it so it's a big deal.

Been there, done that on more than one occasion.
 
Nope, it's very noticeable... it's like when you see a car with LED tail lights out of your peripheral vision and they appear to flicker... or when a movie pans in the theater, and you see it look skippy and sluggish... or when you see a movie played in the 3:2 pulldown method... many people don't see that fast, and I almost think that is a part of this. My brother could never tell on his Epic 4G, but looking at it from normal distances it was quite obvious to me. Tonight when I go to bed and take out my contacts, I'll get an even better/unrealistic view of these pixels... I am so far beyond legally-blind without my corrective lenses, that my eyes might as well be microscopes.
 
The screendoor effect is a little more noticeable when the screen is off and you are looking at a certain angle. But, I do have to agree with the OP that the pixels seem to be dancing at times as well as some aliasing effects on the icons. I also notice pixelation underneath the capacitive buttons. But, none of this is bother to me, because I'm loving this phone.
 
z_dawg said:
The screendoor effect is a little more noticeable when the screen is off and you are looking at a certain angle. But, I do have to agree with the OP that the pixels seem to be dancing at times as well as some aliasing effects on the icons. I also notice pixelation underneath the capacitive buttons. But, none of this is bother to me, because I'm loving this phone.
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Yeah the capacitive buttons appear to have the same pixelated/screendoor effect... if you can't see it on the screen, that's what I'm talking about in general.
 
ScrapMaker said:
I haven't decided if it's a deal breaker, but a lot of the times when I look at my phone, it almost looks like the pixels are 'dancing.' Then after a second, it looks normal. Depends on the image being displayed, but solid colors cause it mostly. I can easily see the pixels... as if it they have a lot of distance between them. My brother's Epic 4G looks nearly identical. I wish I had my camera, but I left it at work.
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That's the kicker for me: if a person who notices the effect on the Photon would also notice the effect on the Epic, then that most definitely does not describe me. The Epic's screen looks perfectly crisp to me in all conditions--I've simply never noticed any kind of "screen door" effect on it.

I'm definitely getting the feeling that this is a VERY personal thing, and one has to evaluate the screen for oneself. Speaking for myself, I wonder if I don't see it because, well, my eyes are a bit older and I have to use reading glasses to see anything up-close in any event. I'm probably just not physically capable of resolving such details, which might be the first I'm happy about such a fact. :)
 
Unfortunately I see it too. Solid colors make it more pronounce. I see it in the battery indicator. I notice it very much when watching netflix. It seems more grainy when compare to my Evo 4g. Whenever I see a greyish/white screen I can see the even spaced pixels on the screen while my friends cannot. I guess if you see it, you see it. If you don't, you don't. I'm not forcing myself to see it, but my eyes just notice it naturally.
 
I am definitely noticing sluggish screen performance. I see ghosting like crazy. It's not just sloe menus but actual ghosting artifacts... bizarre. I've never had an LCD do this before.
 
It's been my experience with friends that some people are very sensitive to the screen door effect (myself included) and others don't perceive it at all. And I would agree that if you don't see it on the Epic, there's no way you'll see it on the higher-res Photon.

Interesting that some people describe a "dancing" effect. When I played with the Epic, white text on dark background appeared to buzz. The other way I would describe it is that I had a hard time keeping the edge of the text in focus. For me, that causes discomfort. Not something I can tune out.
 
I looked at an Atrix the other day in anticipation of getting the Photon and I was not very pleased with the screen, but held out hope that there would be some improvement on the Photon. There wasn't.

I see the pixelated text, and where there are largish areas of solid colors, particularly if part of it is shaded, I see the little black pixels used to darken the color.

I'm thinking "wow this is significantly worse than my Evo". Then I played a YouTube video on the photon side by side with the same video on my Evo, and the Photon just looked soooooo much better.

I find that if I obsess over the screen, I notice everything people are talking about. But, if I just use it like I would normally, I don't notice any of it. All in all, I'd like a better screen, but I think it's gonna be fine for me.

And, I have 30 days to change my mind :)
 
novox77 said:
Interesting that some people describe a "dancing" effect. When I played with the Epic, white text on dark background appeared to buzz. The other way I would describe it is that I had a hard time keeping the edge of the text in focus. For me, that causes discomfort. Not something I can tune out.
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This is fascinating to me, simply as a study in variation among people. When I open the Kindle app on the Epic and set it to show white text on a black background, it is perfectly clear to me and exhibits absolutely no "dancing" effect. I've never noticed any kind of defect in the screen and have always considered the Epic's screen to be pretty close to perfect. If I weren't reading this thread, I'd say someone were crazy to say there's anything wrong with it.

I would love to know how it works that some people are so sensitive to this and others aren't.
 
Note also that there two sensitivities involved. One for static images, another for motion.

The explanation for the sensitivities stem from the same place that dictates your eye, hair and skin color and is then impacted by environment after birth.

That we all see differently is not a cliche. ;)
 
I'll notice it sometimes, but I don't think it's as bad as I was expecting it to be. Thankfully I must not be too sensitive to that. I do notice that straight lines will look like dotted lines sometimes, though, which is extremely ugly. Also, graphics will sometimes turn pixelated when scrolling. Like the logo for this forum and the navigation headers (Carriers, Manufacturers, etc).
 
yeah graphics tend to get pixelated when moving on this screen. For the life of me I cannot figure out why Motorola would use this screen design...
 
I just tried Netflix and it was nearly unbearable ... I don't understand this decision. I guess I'll hold onto it for a bit longer and see if I get used to it. I can't go back to Evo 3D unless the root has fixed the low speaker volume. SGSII is a no-go because of the low resolution screen.
 
For me, I can see the effect anytime I move the phone in my hand, or when something moves on the screen. Couple that with motion blur and sluggishness then you get one heck of a screen experience... damn :(
 
ScrapMaker said:
For me, I can see the effect anytime I move the phone in my hand, or when something moves on the screen. Couple that with motion blur and sluggishness then you get one heck of a screen experience... damn :(
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That is exactly when I notice it the most, when the screen is moving.
 
ScrapMaker said:
Nope, it's very noticeable... it's like when you see a car with LED tail lights out of your peripheral vision and they appear to flicker...
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I really thought I was the only one that can see that, people think I am crazy when I try to explain/describe it. It is something I hate to see, but at the same time I like to make the lights jump in my brain for some reason.

ScrapMaker said:
or when a movie pans in the theater, and you see it look skippy and sluggish... or when you see a movie played in the 3:2 pulldown method... many people don't see that fast, and I almost think that is a part of this. My brother could never tell on his Epic 4G, but looking at it from normal distances it was quite obvious to me.
Click to expand...

I hate that stuff too. I'm also usually able to actively perceive interlace vs. progressive video, and different Hz ratings for picture refresh. TV shopping a few years ago was a real chore. :rolleyes:

You and I both seem to have keen eyes. I also have keen ears and can hear minute changes in sound quality (bit rates, frequencies, and EQ etc.)

When I knew the Photon would have a pentile display it pretty much ruled it out of my mind. I can see the "screen door effect" just like you do so I chose the Evo 3D and I am sticking with it. I say this with the utmost respect since I totally understand where you are coming from, but it probably should have ruled the Photon out for you too? If you know you have a sensitivity to something why try to force yourself to suffer through it or complain about it?

I haven't seen the Photon yet, but I plan to stop by Sprint just to check it out with an open mind, even though I'm pretty sure I will notice the "screen door effect". Morbid curiosity I guess since I am more or less satisfied with the Evo 3D. I love seeing different technologies and also what else is out there.
 
ScrapMaker said:
This absolutely cannot be solved by a software update. It's a hardware characteristic.
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You're probably right, I was referring to the subpixel processing rate for the PenTile screen specifically concerning ghosting. That may be software.

If instead the issue on motion ghosting is a low native LCD response rate, that's purely hardware.

PS to PyroSporker - you're characterizing yourself as having a higher flicker fusion threshold.
 
EarlyMon said:
You're probably right, I was referring to the subpixel processing rate for the PenTile screen specifically concerning ghosting. That may be software.

If instead the issue on motion ghosting is a low native LCD response rate, that's purely hardware.

PS to PyroSporker - you're characterizing yourself as having a higher flicker fusion threshold.
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:D I'm putting it on my R
 
PyroSporker said:
I really thought I was the only one that can see that, people think I am crazy when I try to explain/describe it. It is something I hate to see, but at the same time I like to make the lights jump in my brain for some reason.



I hate that stuff too. I'm also usually able to actively perceive interlace vs. progressive video, and different Hz ratings for picture refresh. TV shopping a few years ago was a real chore. :rolleyes:

You and I both seem to have keen eyes. I also have keen ears and can hear minute changes in sound quality (bit rates, frequencies, and EQ etc.)

When I knew the Photon would have a pentile display it pretty much ruled it out of my mind. I can see the "screen door effect" just like you do so I chose the Evo 3D and I am sticking with it. I say this with the utmost respect since I totally understand where you are coming from, but it probably should have ruled the Photon out for you too? If you know you have a sensitivity to something why try to force yourself to suffer through it or complain about it?

I haven't seen the Photon yet, but I plan to stop by Sprint just to check it out with an open mind, even though I'm pretty sure I will notice the "screen door effect". Morbid curiosity I guess since I am more or less satisfied with the Evo 3D. I love seeing different technologies and also what else is out there.
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I think we have the same kind of vision... like single color wheel DLP televisions give me a headache--that's why they came out with 3 color wheel technology.

Honestly the reason I got the Photon was because the creator of the Pentile technology came into these forums and made a really good case for the technology. I was really hoping for it to be a non-issue. I too see scan lines on interlaced media... I can honestly tell the difference between 128kbps, 192, and 320 VBR, as well as true CDA. Satellite radio makes my ears turn red and I get a raging headache... I was one of those crazy people who splurged for 1080p right when it came out, and I had to go with plasma because of true colors and visual accuracy... I guess I should have known better, but the speaker was so HORRIBLE on the Evo 3D that I was just praying for this to be okay... I was wrong :(
 
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