Photon lcd screen.... Pentile or not?

[EarlyMon]

Hi Candice,

Many, many thanks for squaring me away on this.

I hope you caught my reference from last year when this controversy raised in the Evo forum where I faked a blind test, but in fact showed only PenTile images for users to select from. While it did nothing for my popularity, it did show that if bias is removed, things are closer than popular controversy suggests.

I used a previous generation PenTile on my Samsung Moment and no deep complaints about the display at all (indeed, my complaints were specific to my bad luck with that particular phone, and as I like to say, lemons happen).

Thanks for your time answering my questions and your candor. Light integration is often a subject not for the feint-hearted (especially where our perceptual exploits are concerned), even though the metrology associated with how we perceive movement and color go back to the days of RCA Labs and before.

I wish you and your fine firm every success. I doubt you may recall me, but if perchance you associate me with an Earl known in a number of JEDEC committees and working in concert with firms unique to your resume, yes, that's me. I believe I'm forgotten at Motorola but still well-remembered in Korea. If nothing else, I'm known in Hachioji and Cleveland, not to mention Texas. (And if I'm unfamiliar, so much the better, per my usual way of doing things.)

If you find me doing you any disservice, please contact me.

I have about 3 dozen questions left, but expect those involve matters covered either by intellectual property privacy or NDAs.

Again, many thanks for your time and willingness to reduce my ignorance as well as inform your future technology users.

Best regards,
Earl

PS - As you've no doubt guessed, all of this is to conceal my questions regarding your approach to dynamic backlight control on a mobile display. Between us, I'm surprised that you may not find that point alone worth the the price of admission.

 

[EarlyMon]

The second point I wish to clarify is that for PenTile panels, a pixel is NOT represented by just two subpixels. Instead, incoming pixel data is first converted from RGB to RGBW, then subpixel rendered, mapped, using varying levels of intensity, such that the impression on the Human Vision System is nearly the same as for the RGB system. If in a given image, we were to change the value (color and or brightness) of a single pixel, from one to up to ten subpixels values on the PenTile panel may be changed, depending on the the color of both the changed pixel and its surrounding pixels. The human eye always compares and blends colors between "pixels", over a certain area, depending on the colors. Thus, luminance resolution is maintained...

I think that that position is rather well-established and explained on your website (that I've often found rather nice btw, compliments to all those responsible).

I also think that perhaps part of the confusion comes from where Joel stated on his blog concerning contrast:

Remember that PenTile only uses 2 subpixels per pixel on the average, compared to RGB stripe that used 3 subpixels per pixel.

Personally, I have no issue with that, probably because I think I understand the context for Joel's discussion as well as the point he wanted to make. (And I left a thanks for the write-up.)

He does repeat that point as you may already know.

But because of the cognitive dissonance for the general public when trying to understand engineering allocations, you might consider some write-up that ties your main point to his, if you don't mind an outsider's suggestion. (And apologies if that's been done and I missed it. My only point is that it seemed to me that it may be helpful to reducing PenTile confusion for many, a goal that I believe concerns you. That might be beneficial to end-users of your technologies wishing to understand - in for a penny, iow.)

Cheers, thanks a lot, hope this helps!

PS - Your patent (referenced above) clearly establishes that understanding SPR is non-trivial and is a part of an integral solution; again, I applaud your efforts at making the information accessible.

 

[DisplayGeek]

Hi Candice,

Many, many thanks for squaring me away on this.

de nada

I hope you caught my reference from last year when this controversy raised in the Evo forum where I faked a blind test, but in fact showed only PenTile images for users to select from. While it did nothing for my popularity, it did show that if bias is removed, things are closer than popular controversy suggests.

I used a previous generation PenTile on my Samsung Moment and no deep complaints about the display at all

Sorry, we missed that... or at least I did. Joel keeps a closer eye on the PR aspect than I do.

I have about 3 dozen questions left, but expect those involve matters covered either by intellectual property privacy or NDAs.

If the question is regarding something techie, and already covered in our patents, we'd be glad to answer them. Perhaps if you and other folks would like to submit them at our PenTileBlog site? We are trying to get exactly this kind of dialog going with folks.

PS - As you've no doubt guessed, all of this is to conceal my questions regarding your approach to dynamic backlight control on a mobile display. Between us, I'm surprised that you may not find that point alone worth the the price of admission.

Earl, although reading our patents at the USPTO website is always an option, you can also read a much more understandable explication in my chapter in Mobile Displays: Techologies and Applications:

Wiley: Mobile Displays: Technology and Applications

Or, you can send a request at our PenTileBlog site, and I will email you a PDF of the chapter.

 

[DisplayGeek]

the main difference i noticed in the Photons screen vs my Evo 4G and 3D, was when it was off and you held it at the right angle, you could see squares beneath the glass, almost gridlike. i dont know if this is what makes it Pentile or not, but it was something that i noticed but only when the screen was off. i just looked at my girlfriends Droid 2 and it didnt have a screen like the Photon.

I'm at a loss to explain that... unless the squares are part of the touch panel, rather than the LCD? It may have a different touch panel than the Droid 2? I honestly don't know.

 

[EarlyMon]

Earl, although reading our patents at the USPTO website is always an option, you can also read a much more understandable explication in my chapter in Mobile Displays: Techologies and Applications:

Wiley: Mobile Displays: Technology and Applications

Or, you can send a request at our PenTileBlog site, and I will email you a PDF of the chapter.

I tend to find patents in our industry understandable but that book is intriguing, I must say. I may pop over to your blog and take you up on your offer unless I decide to pony up for the full book this afternoon.

So - PR question - why don't you simply say that:

PenTile features a clearer screen, letting more light through than traditional LCDs and also features dynamic contrast, a feature found on top-of-the-line HDTVs, without sacrificing detail and is centered around how we actually see things.

Anyway, I'm not Joel, nor am I in marketing, but it seems to me that so far, that's the takeaway that anyone can access easily. The subtleties of image processing that you and I do in our sleep is too hard for the Regular Joe or Jane, and much of the discussion and argument here are details trying to get to those points.

Anyway, that's just me, not trying to tell you how to run things, just tossing that out for consideration.

 

[DisplayGeek]

I tend to find patents in our industry understandable but that book is intriguing, I must say. I may pop over to your blog and take you up on your offer unless I decide to pony up for the full book this afternoon.

The book is well worth the price. Dr. Larimer's chapter on human vision is a good place to start before reading my chapter. In fact, I had originally planned to include a section on the HVS in my chapter, until I learned that Jim was contributing to the book. Also, the chapter on MIPI is good to know, as it is used extensively in mobile displays... and in fact, though I never mention it in my chapter, adapting our PenTile core to include support for MIPI was a major project in itself!

So - PR question - why don't you simply say that:



Anyway, I'm not Joel, nor am I in marketing, but it seems to me that so far, that's the takeaway that anyone can access easily. The subtleties of image processing that you and I do in our sleep is too hard for the Regular Joe or Jane, and much of the discussion and argument here are details trying to get to those points.

Anyway, that's just me, not trying to tell you how to run things, just tossing that out for consideration.

Hmm.... I'll let Joel try doing that. I'm guilty as charged... getting too deep, too fast... though, to non-techie folks, I just like to say, "Tastes great, less filling... what's not to love?"

 

[halfdriven]

it is qHD, and almost all the OM's are moving to Pentile displays because they conserve power and have better resolution. Same reason Samsung is used it for their new LCD that has crazy resolution.

 

[EarlyMon]

The book is well worth the price. Dr. Larimer's chapter on human vision is a good place to start before reading my chapter. In fact, I had originally planned to include a section on the HVS in my chapter, until I learned that Jim was contributing to the book. Also, the chapter on MIPI is good to know, as it is used extensively in mobile displays... and in fact, though I never mention it in my chapter, adapting our PenTile core to include support for MIPI was a major project in itself!

What's being accomplished in mobile technologies is just astounding, it really is. Hats off, srsly.

I've always found Albert Rose's monographs cracking good reads, especially the one from 1947, in the Journal of the Optical Society of America, titled, "The Sensitivity Performance of the Human Eye on an Absolute Scale" - that interestingly, was presented in part in a 1945 meeting of the American Physical Society - I've yet to get to "Quantum and Noise Limitations of the Visual Process" but I expect that will be a thriller as well.

Jeez, I haven't worked with NASA since the 80s but I recognize Jim's name from there (his work and Brenton's being required reading in some circles for defense displays and human interfaces back then) - and I would like to see his write-up as applied here.

OK - you're really at the point of getting me to pony up the two yards for that book, you know - I just hope you're happy!