Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlight


Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlightOne of the biggest differentiators between touchscreen smartphones is the display used. Considerations include the type of touchscreen layer (resistive, capacitive), resolution as well as the technology implemented (TFT, OLED). The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 uses a TFT LCD display, whilst many of the newer Android flagships from other manufacturers use AMOLED.

The benefits of the latter is incredible contrast, more vibrant colours and energy efficiency, however a big drawback is screen legibility in direct sunlight. Samsung are looking to rectify this with the introduction of the Super AMOLED screen in their new Galaxy S Android smartphone and S8500 Wave bada handset. Samsung says that their new screens have even better colours, are even more energy efficient and don’t have any problems in sunlight.

Greek site Techblog.gr wanted to put this to the test and compared the Samsung Galaxy S’ Super AMOLED display against the AMOLED display of the HTC Desire and Xperia X10 in direct sunlight. There’s no denying that the Super AMOLED display is vastly improved, but I have to say the Xperia X10 holds up very well. The HTC Desire is distinctly in last place. You can check out the pics below to make your own judgement along with a couple of videos.



Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlight

Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlight

Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlight

Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlight

Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlight


11 responses to “Xperia X10’s LCD versus AMOLED and Super AMOLED in direct sunlight”

  1. IT looks like the sony Ericsson screen is third …theres no denying the super amoled is the best

  2. As far as i can see the xperia has the brightest in sunlight screen.
    Unfortunately the automatic adjusted brightness is very bad.
    Not sure if both three phones use the same settings for automatic adjustment, but the xperia performs pretty bad. Also if you look closely, the samsung has the smoothest motions of all 3 phones, but the xperia looks slow, like with bad hardware.
    I really hope that 2.1 will fix this.
    Do you know if the other two phones are with 2.1 android?

  3. They are i think that they are almost the same except the galaxy s is much smoother but desire is 2.1 and galaxy s is 2.1 x10 is 1.6 and 2.1 is gonna fix it im sure because the display is able to show 127 million collors but android 1.6 is only able to use 65500 and its also gonna make it some im sure

  4. and im sure that the 2.1 update is also gonna make it a bit smoother was what i tried to say

  5. Burkov @ The X10 hardware is fine, it’s the software that is buggy, I replaced X10’s UI with ADWLauncher (home replacement) and it runs smoother than the one given by SE.

    In terms of colors we can’t really blame X10’s screen as android 1.6 has a limit of 65k only, once android 2.1 is out for X10 (or root), then we can do a fair comparison between the 3 phones in terms of color

    X10 is without a doubt better than HTC’s under direct sunlight, it’s brighter than Samsung’s but color wise, Samsung’s better

  6. It looks like he has a screen protector on the X10 screen, which would explain why the screen looks a bit washed out.

  7. @mbaharani: I don’t agree with you. I find the colors on the AMOLED screens over-saturated, not realistic. I’ve never seen such green grass. And at the end is always a matter of taste. Some like this and others like that. So if you say: “I FIND the Super AMOLED the best”, I can’t deny. But that the Super AMOLED IS the best, I disagree.

    But I’m glad to know that AMOLED (not Super AMOLED) is less visible in bright daylight. I’ve a HTC Hero (looking for a replacement with a bigger screen, and all shown were candidates) and I have no complaints about the color, but have difficulty to see what’s on the screen on a sunny day. And a AMOLED would be worse. So the HTC Desire is no option.

  8. I agree with you Eric…
    That is not reserved to phones… TV is same way. samsung LCD or LED TV sets got over saturated colors, Sony’s ones got more naturals colors than other, most realistics for me…
    Reality is better to me than brigthning unrealistics Colors.

  9. Agree with the both of you,
    samusngs’s screen might be “brighter” but the sony-ericsson’s x10 has way better looking colors

  10. How good is X10 Mini Pro screen at the direct sunlight? Is it the same as X10, better or worse?

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