AMOLED almost certainly means Pentile and in Pentile the pixels are faked out of only 2 subpixels instead of 3. The subpizels are also much smaller than in LCD. At 5.5 inch 1080p that's gonna be a significant problem, seen this movie before with users getting mad about how poor the screen is.
Yeah, I never really got the hate over Pentile, even back in the day. Sure the screen was a little cooler, but even my old Galaxy phones (I think the only one I had that WASN'T Pentile was the SII\Epic 4G Touch) didn't have any standout issues with the screens in games, movies or browsing the web.
But I will say the screen on the iPhone 4S that replaced my Galaxy SIII appeared clearer, but being over an inch smaller with the same pixel density, of course it was. That had nothing to do with Pentile technology though.
And I agree with tanooki, I've read a few reviews of modern Pentile phones and critics say it has improved a lot. Considering I didn't have an issue with them before, I doubt I'd be able to tell them any different from a SAMOLED or Retina IPS screen.
>Leica’s partnership also extends to the software, allowing the new camera features to be used.
Interesting. Proper post processing/image processing can make a big difference. We've seen this in the past with some of the vendors using the same camera modules from Sony but getting very different results.
The cameras they 'co-engineered' with Leica performs really well! Lots of detail and with some added touches to the photos taken with this, users will end up with truly amazing photos.
Not a fan of AMOLED and prefer IPS, but have nothing against their choice. At least the P9 has the IPS display though. Odd choice to have AMOLED on the Plus.
First impression: That's an extraordinary amount of power in your hand or your pocket, so what are you going to do with it?
I keep thinking of these super phones as a PC replacement (long before Microsoft labelled that Continuum), one of my desktops is an N3700 Braswell quad core which probably has very much the same CPU/GPU power and works well enough for most tasks on Windows, Remix Android and Fedora.
The only thing missing is some kind of a docking station, which transfers 4k video (or 2x 2k), Gigabit Ethernet, power and cooling.
That docking station should be as unmechanical as possible, because mechanics wear and break, yet provide enough power and (acoustically unnoticible) cooling (e.g. Peltier element cooling the aluminum phone body) to allow the SoC to run at sustained top speeds during desktop operations.
Of course it should also be cheap and commodity, so you can have one everywhere you operate, office desk, meeeting rooms, home office, living room, coffee shop etc.
And your Android should be desktop enabled pretty much the way Remix demonstrates, perhaps even with a (couple of?) full blown Linux Userlands deployable as containers so Ubuntu fans can run Ubunto and Fedora guys their stuff in desktop mode (or even mobile mode, once "desktop Linux" manages to get that right).
All of that implies an unlocked and rooted device of course: Can't have a chinese ultramobile PC manufacturer play admin on my personal computer.
My impression is, smart phones have nowhere to evolve, ultramobile PCs in a smartphone form factor offer plenty of growth opportunities while they pose only organizational, not technical challenges.
I'm looking for a reason to replace my Amoled Note 3 which offers much of that with an MHL/USB docking station that has an HDMI monitor, USB keyboard/mouse and a USB Ethernet adapter connected to it. That runs full blown Softmaker Office or Citrix/RDP clients if a 2.2 GHz Quad Core and 3GB RAM isn't good enough.
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Laxaa - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
The dual camera system sounds really interesting, seeing that the monochrome sensor is more sensitive than the regular bayer one.I guess this alludes back to Leicas own monochrome series, which has superior ISO performance over their colour counterpart.
jjj - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
Excluding pricing, the Plus looked interesting but then they went AMOLED and ruined it.Any clue about 4k video?
fm13 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
what's wrong with AMOLED?jjj - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
AMOLED almost certainly means Pentile and in Pentile the pixels are faked out of only 2 subpixels instead of 3. The subpizels are also much smaller than in LCD. At 5.5 inch 1080p that's gonna be a significant problem, seen this movie before with users getting mad about how poor the screen is.tanooki - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
If you've seen the new Samsung phones you'll see that this is no longer an issue for AMOLED screens.Samus - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
Yeah, I never really got the hate over Pentile, even back in the day. Sure the screen was a little cooler, but even my old Galaxy phones (I think the only one I had that WASN'T Pentile was the SII\Epic 4G Touch) didn't have any standout issues with the screens in games, movies or browsing the web.But I will say the screen on the iPhone 4S that replaced my Galaxy SIII appeared clearer, but being over an inch smaller with the same pixel density, of course it was. That had nothing to do with Pentile technology though.
And I agree with tanooki, I've read a few reviews of modern Pentile phones and critics say it has improved a lot. Considering I didn't have an issue with them before, I doubt I'd be able to tell them any different from a SAMOLED or Retina IPS screen.
extide - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
If it was a 1440p display, then probably yes, pentile, but there are 1080p RGB strip AMOLED displays out there, so there is hope.fm13 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
I don't think you'll be able to distinguish RGBG from RGB at this ppi.grayson_carr - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
I certainly noticed it on the Galaxy S5.protomech - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
Noticeable on my brother's Galaxy Note 3 (5.7" 1080p Pentile OLED), though less so than on my Galaxy Nexus (4.7" 720p Pentile OLED).1440p on a 5.5" handset would probably be fine, or 1080p on 5".
fm13 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
absence of UFS storage and OIS makes this phone overpriced. and lack of water resistance is also disappointing.beginner99 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
Yeah if I risk going with Chinese phone if would for sure choose the Mi5 over this. It's cheaper and has better specs on paper.fm13 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
the only thing really going for P9 is it's fast and efficient SoC. but eMMC will make this phone feel sluggish compared to Mi5 and S7 anyway.asfletch - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
Is it definitely eMMC even on the 4GB/128GB P9 Plus? That would be pretty disappointing. Shame there's no OIS for single-sensor photos either.Samus - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
I suspect dual cameras will enable software OIS, at least in black and white.Shadow7037932 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
>Leica’s partnership also extends to the software, allowing the new camera features to be used.Interesting. Proper post processing/image processing can make a big difference. We've seen this in the past with some of the vendors using the same camera modules from Sony but getting very different results.
dezonio2 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
Any info on North American availability/pricing? If the nexus 6p is anything to go by, this should be a very competitive phone if priced right.Ukyo - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
The prices were already listed so it won't be far off in NA pricing which is to say its expensive and in line with other high end smartphones.dezonio2 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
The article doesn't specify whether the pricing includes VAT, that makes a differencefanofanand - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
I was very excited about this until I saw the Cat 6 modem and the $900+ usd price. Thanks but no thanks.Death666Angel - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
I only see € prices, which are very different from $ ones. Usually 1:1, or even in favor of the $, VAT and stuff.Meteor2 - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
The P9 looks superb hardware, but how much does the UI mess with Android?Spunjji - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
Lots and lots. If you want your Android stock (or close to) then you do not want this phone.Ethos Evoss - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
Wooow Simply AMAZING !!nils_ - Wednesday, April 6, 2016 - link
So why are they gimping the non-asian versions? Less memory and no second SIM/microSD?zeeBomb - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
How much is 69% DCI-P3 in a sRGB or AdobeRGB color scheme?halcyon - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
AdobeRGB vs DCI-P3 vs sRGBhttps://dotcolordotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/12...
It's difficult to answer the question, but I'd say that for sure it's near 90% sRGB and maybe 50-65% adobeRGB
Burns101 - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
What kind of NAND does this have?zeeBomb - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
eMMC 5.1Eden-K121D - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
Yuck. No UFS no Buyhalcyon - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
ProsFast enough Soc: Check
Enough RAM: check
Enough Flash + SD card slot : check
DUAL-sim: check (dual stand-by)
Good camera: Check
IR-Blaster: Check
Decent battery size: check (althoug non-removable)
Super-fast charging: check
Cons:
Fash speed: uh-oh (eMMC)
Screen specs: hmmm (1080p older Amoled)
Water-proofing: none
Memory card interface: old/tired - non UFS-II (i.e. slow)
Wait for P9 Max, if it improves on screen and other features...
Or Note 6, if you can hold out for a beast...
SydneyBlue120d - Thursday, April 7, 2016 - link
Is unlimited HEVC encoding with HDR at 2160p60 supported? Thanks.benmoran - Monday, April 11, 2016 - link
The cameras they 'co-engineered' with Leica performs really well! Lots of detail and with some added touches to the photos taken with this, users will end up with truly amazing photos.http://www.anandtech.com/
Not a fan of AMOLED and prefer IPS, but have nothing against their choice. At least the P9 has the IPS display though. Odd choice to have AMOLED on the Plus.
abufrejoval - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
First impression: That's an extraordinary amount of power in your hand or your pocket, so what are you going to do with it?I keep thinking of these super phones as a PC replacement (long before Microsoft labelled that Continuum), one of my desktops is an N3700 Braswell quad core which probably has very much the same CPU/GPU power and works well enough for most tasks on Windows, Remix Android and Fedora.
The only thing missing is some kind of a docking station, which transfers 4k video (or 2x 2k), Gigabit Ethernet, power and cooling.
That docking station should be as unmechanical as possible, because mechanics wear and break, yet provide enough power and (acoustically unnoticible) cooling (e.g. Peltier element cooling the aluminum phone body) to allow the SoC to run at sustained top speeds during desktop operations.
Of course it should also be cheap and commodity, so you can have one everywhere you operate, office desk, meeeting rooms, home office, living room, coffee shop etc.
And your Android should be desktop enabled pretty much the way Remix demonstrates, perhaps even with a (couple of?) full blown Linux Userlands deployable as containers so Ubuntu fans can run Ubunto and Fedora guys their stuff in desktop mode (or even mobile mode, once "desktop Linux" manages to get that right).
All of that implies an unlocked and rooted device of course: Can't have a chinese ultramobile PC manufacturer play admin on my personal computer.
My impression is, smart phones have nowhere to evolve, ultramobile PCs in a smartphone form factor offer plenty of growth opportunities while they pose only organizational, not technical challenges.
I'm looking for a reason to replace my Amoled Note 3 which offers much of that with an MHL/USB docking station that has an HDMI monitor, USB keyboard/mouse and a USB Ethernet adapter connected to it. That runs full blown Softmaker Office or Citrix/RDP clients if a 2.2 GHz Quad Core and 3GB RAM isn't good enough.