I think it does: This isn't as advanced as NVIDIA G-Sync or AMD FreeSync, which can have a fully variable refresh rate, but can still alternate the display refresh rate between 120Hz, 48Hz and 24Hz. The iPad does this on the fly depending upon the content you are watching so if you are looking at a still image with no motion on the screen it can drop down the refresh rate to 24Hz to save power and you would never notice it. If you are watching a movie, it can switch to 24Hz or 48Hz depending upon the content. For everything else, it can switch to the full 120Hz.
I was pretty sure ProMotion meant a variable refresh rate that could update the screen when the frame is ready, down to 48 or 40Hz or whatever the minimum is
Holy hell they made the name un-googleable, but there was a developer page highlighting the different modes you could use with ProMotion, including immediate frame display.
I thought it was only the first generation Pro that could step down to lower framerates in chunks, but the ProMotion ones can go from 120Hz all the way down in any number?
What about PWM ? Is that eye cancer still there ? Is there any hope for a oled phone without that ?
How does this compare to the iPhone ? They supposedly have crazy high drive power like 600 mW at 60 Hz. The 12 Pro has more efficient panel supposedly. Is it related to this material somehow ?
This really varies from device to device, and needs real life testing of at least a few minutes in very dark conditions, which is not very practical. My new NEX3S gives me eye strain at the bottom ~5% of the brightness setting, especially in dark mode. While the device has a "low eye strain" display mode(probably DC dimming), ironically the lowest possible brightness in that mode clears the bottom ~5% of the whole brightness range and is too bright to use in absolute darkness, so basically the device gives me eyestrain whenever I try to use it in absolute darkness at an appropriately dim setting. My two past Samsungs never gave me that issue.
I will not be happy until these displays require sunglasses to view safely whilst extracting energy from the Earth's spin. Then we can properly blame Farcebook when the Earth finally grinds, quite literally, to a halt.
"We’re still testing the S21 Ultra for performance and battery life, and are planning a SoC-centric article between the Snapdragon 888 vs Exynos 2100 variants of the Galaxy S21 Ultra soon"
Nice. Yesterday HDTV Test published a video on YouTube about LG Display's new WOLED, it uses a new blue light emitter material, made by DuPont, that uses deuterium instead of usual hydrogen, and enables higher sustained energies. Is this also using that? Seems very interesting.
Could you write a small comparison article between the differences in S20's UHD & S21's FHD Display. Specifically with the Pentile Matrix, how does it affect the clarity with small fonts.
This could be really helpful in deciding to buy a discounted previous year's flagship or the current one.
I got an S21 this year instead of the S21+, so comparison is against the S21+.
Generally, I notice the resolution drop and I don't like it, in terms of how I use my phones (reading in bed at night, phone near me).
It's possible that an S865 S20/S20+ might be a better buy than the S21/S21+, as the S20FE overlaps the new phones too much. But I'll look at this more detail in the next few days I only had the base S21 for a few hours now.
I've had the base S21 for a bit over a week now, comparing it side-by-side with my S20 that I bought in June. From normal viewing distance (1-1.5 feet) the difference in resolution isn't noticeable, but it definitely is if you're looking for it. If you look really closely, the edges of small fonts with higher contrast (black fonts on white) do exhibit the "dithering" effect of the pentile matrix. But you really need to look for it. The natural color profile (which i've always used) seems to be a bit more muted on the s21, and the contrast is noticeably better and noticeably more visible in direct sunlight. The gama/color shift that previous samsung phones have when boosting brightness in direct sunlight is much more controlled, the image is more pleasing. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who prefers the natural profile, but most of the people I know prefer samsung's vivid profile. So your mileage may very.
I recently bought this tab s7+ It's a humongous tab with a huge 10000 mah battery The only noticeable omission is presence of a VRR screen The refresh rate is locked at 120hz Although the tab still lasts as long as 9 hours I'm just wondering how much improvement VRR would have brought Most of the time I'm usually reading so I have kept it at 60hz The tab has more than 12 hours of screen on time I expect a review on tab s7 plus too from Andrei Please cover some tablets also
I can think of many in my friend circle who would buy/have bought the s7/s7+ tab. Consider it - good press and positive feedback will get better tech out to us.
I mean, my home PC packed up and I cannot stand the office VPN'd firewalled laptop. I can't tell you how much dex on the s10+ helped! If I can get native dex on a samsung tablet, it is my go-to any day of the week. Now only if they had HDMI-in ....
The S21 Ultra exhibits more smearing/ghosting issues than any other phone I've used in years. Both my original and replacement devices have the exact same issue, and it's hugely disappointing. I can't believe I haven't seen any reviewers mention it, because I noticed it immediately when I started using the phone.
In your full review, please take a look at black clipping(for minimum brightness), compare it to some other devices. I watch media at minimum brightness a lot and my s10+(exy) have a lot black clipping, i would like to know how much s21 series improved
"If you’re using your phone in dark or even dim conditions, the variable refresh rate doesn’t work at all, and the 120Hz mode comes at a huge 300mW cost in baseline power."
There is something seriously wrong, probably in their software product management.
So just to clarify, if the ambient brightness in the room is less than 40lux, it defaults to 120hz. and this is regardless of screen brightness?
If I used the inbuilt refresh rate overlay, at the lowest 2 brightness settings, the refresh rate remains at 120hz, but if I bump it up 2 clicks, the refresh rate drops regardless of the ambient brightness?
Is there something I am missing here? Could you set a minimum brightness using a third party app and keep adaptive refresh rate on, seems like it would be worth it from a power draw perspective.
At the very least I've got a routine for dropping to 60hz when using apps like youtube and netflix
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5j3rul3 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Great PanelI Need MORE
5j3rul3 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
:D5j3rul3 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
A Day that All Smartphones get real seamless VRR5j3rul3 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Does iPad Pro with 120 Hz SHARP IGZO Panel, support seamless VRR?michael2k - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I think it does:This isn't as advanced as NVIDIA G-Sync or AMD FreeSync, which can have a fully variable refresh rate, but can still alternate the display refresh rate between 120Hz, 48Hz and 24Hz. The iPad does this on the fly depending upon the content you are watching so if you are looking at a still image with no motion on the screen it can drop down the refresh rate to 24Hz to save power and you would never notice it. If you are watching a movie, it can switch to 24Hz or 48Hz depending upon the content. For everything else, it can switch to the full 120Hz.
https://m.gsmarena.com/understanding_apples_promot...
brucethemoose - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Its still not real VRR, where the panel refreshes whenever a new frame is ready.It'll be some time before OSes + devices implement such a thing. But an iPad Pro isn't going to miss many refreshes running 2D anyway.
tipoo - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I was pretty sure ProMotion meant a variable refresh rate that could update the screen when the frame is ready, down to 48 or 40Hz or whatever the minimum isHoly hell they made the name un-googleable, but there was a developer page highlighting the different modes you could use with ProMotion, including immediate frame display.
tipoo - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I thought it was only the first generation Pro that could step down to lower framerates in chunks, but the ProMotion ones can go from 120Hz all the way down in any number?GC2:CS - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
What about PWM ? Is that eye cancer still there ? Is there any hope for a oled phone without that ?How does this compare to the iPhone ? They supposedly have crazy high drive power like 600 mW at 60 Hz. The 12 Pro has more efficient panel supposedly. Is it related to this material somehow ?
Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
PWM is an integral part of how the displays work, you will not see it go away. I don't know the frequency but I never had an issue with it.The iPhone 12 is at 526mW baseline, it's ok.
s.yu - Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - link
This really varies from device to device, and needs real life testing of at least a few minutes in very dark conditions, which is not very practical. My new NEX3S gives me eye strain at the bottom ~5% of the brightness setting, especially in dark mode. While the device has a "low eye strain" display mode(probably DC dimming), ironically the lowest possible brightness in that mode clears the bottom ~5% of the whole brightness range and is too bright to use in absolute darkness, so basically the device gives me eyestrain whenever I try to use it in absolute darkness at an appropriately dim setting. My two past Samsungs never gave me that issue.Sharma_Ji - Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - link
Never heard of DC dimming or you're just a shill.yasamoka - Thursday, February 4, 2021 - link
Never actually *tried* DC Dimming on an OLED smartphone or you're just blind.philehidiot - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I will not be happy until these displays require sunglasses to view safely whilst extracting energy from the Earth's spin. Then we can properly blame Farcebook when the Earth finally grinds, quite literally, to a halt.NicoSavides - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Do I read it right that in similar condition, screen consumes less in QHD than FHD?isn't if surprising?
danbob999 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
"We’re still testing the S21 Ultra for performance and battery life, and are planning a SoC-centric article between the Snapdragon 888 vs Exynos 2100 variants of the Galaxy S21 Ultra soon"I wonder which variant is the most deadly.
SSTANIC - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Nice. Yesterday HDTV Test published a video on YouTube about LG Display's new WOLED, it uses a new blue light emitter material, made by DuPont, that uses deuterium instead of usual hydrogen, and enables higher sustained energies. Is this also using that? Seems very interesting.Small Bison - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Nice job with the header photo! :Dbug77 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Samsung. Great hardware + horrible software.That never changes.
shabby - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Sounds like you haven't used a Samsung phone in the last 10 years.someotheruser - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
The main issue here is when will we have a dark-mode for the anandtech website?? :)Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Samsung's Internet browser has an awesome working built-in dark mode for webpages. I actually turned it off just for the sake of that article picture.Chaser - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
The news continues to trickle out how impressive the Ultra 21 is in many aspects.patel21 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Great Article Andrei,Could you write a small comparison article between the differences in S20's UHD & S21's FHD Display. Specifically with the Pentile Matrix, how does it affect the clarity with small fonts.
This could be really helpful in deciding to buy a discounted previous year's flagship or the current one.
Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I got an S21 this year instead of the S21+, so comparison is against the S21+.Generally, I notice the resolution drop and I don't like it, in terms of how I use my phones (reading in bed at night, phone near me).
It's possible that an S865 S20/S20+ might be a better buy than the S21/S21+, as the S20FE overlaps the new phones too much. But I'll look at this more detail in the next few days I only had the base S21 for a few hours now.
lilmoe - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I've had the base S21 for a bit over a week now, comparing it side-by-side with my S20 that I bought in June. From normal viewing distance (1-1.5 feet) the difference in resolution isn't noticeable, but it definitely is if you're looking for it. If you look really closely, the edges of small fonts with higher contrast (black fonts on white) do exhibit the "dithering" effect of the pentile matrix. But you really need to look for it.The natural color profile (which i've always used) seems to be a bit more muted on the s21, and the contrast is noticeably better and noticeably more visible in direct sunlight.
The gama/color shift that previous samsung phones have when boosting brightness in direct sunlight is much more controlled, the image is more pleasing.
Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who prefers the natural profile, but most of the people I know prefer samsung's vivid profile. So your mileage may very.
lilmoe - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
edit: and the contrast is noticeably better, and *the image* is noticeably more visible in direct sunlight.---
You don't really notice any color/temperature shifts when sliding brightness from dim to high so the image is also more pleasing in low light.
Despite the lower resolution, I personally like this panel much more than the one I had on my S20. But there's that panel lottery of course...
Wrong_again - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I appreciate the headline photoTheProv - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
From what APL percentage is this amoled more efficient than a similar spec LCD?Kishoreshack - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I recently bought this tab s7+It's a humongous tab with a huge 10000 mah battery
The only noticeable omission is presence of a VRR screen
The refresh rate is locked at 120hz
Although the tab still lasts as long as 9 hours
I'm just wondering how much improvement VRR would have brought
Most of the time I'm usually reading so I have kept it at 60hz
The tab has more than 12 hours of screen on time
I expect a review on tab s7 plus too from Andrei
Please cover some tablets also
Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
We can't rationalise buying tablets for review given the low interest. Sorry.0razor1 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I can think of many in my friend circle who would buy/have bought the s7/s7+ tab. Consider it - good press and positive feedback will get better tech out to us.0razor1 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I mean, my home PC packed up and I cannot stand the office VPN'd firewalled laptop. I can't tell you how much dex on the s10+ helped! If I can get native dex on a samsung tablet, it is my go-to any day of the week. Now only if they had HDMI-in ....Ptosio - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
:OI always thought tech websites receive their hardware from manufacturers for free for review purposes!?
Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
We have to buy Samsung hardware.Kishoreshack - Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - link
Would be happy write a mail to samsung to provide review unit to Anandtech pioneers of enthusiast tech websiteHope others also do it
ajp_anton - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
I don't like the fact that the recursion in the header image is only two steps deep.Maxpower27 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
The S21 Ultra exhibits more smearing/ghosting issues than any other phone I've used in years. Both my original and replacement devices have the exact same issue, and it's hugely disappointing. I can't believe I haven't seen any reviewers mention it, because I noticed it immediately when I started using the phone.Dorkaman - Thursday, February 4, 2021 - link
Thanks for the heads up. I easily see smearing so I just cancelled my pre order. Gonna try the phone out in a store first.Dorkaman - Friday, February 12, 2021 - link
Back again. I for an S21 Ultra 512GB and can't ser any ghosting and barely any smearing, No worse than my previous S7. Phew.mixmaxmix - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
As a result of the tests so far, does the battery life of the s21 ultra exceed the s20 ultra? ex) internet browsing, pcmarkI would like to refer to it for ordering, please
mixmaxmix - Friday, February 5, 2021 - link
please....dotjaz - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
"it’s still not exactly clear at to the technical reason why Samsung is employing this limitation in the first place"Really? You should know by now low brightness especially with dark mode comes with severe ghosting/smearing. High refresh rate helps a bit.
theblitz707 - Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - link
In your full review, please take a look at black clipping(for minimum brightness), compare it to some other devices. I watch media at minimum brightness a lot and my s10+(exy) have a lot black clipping, i would like to know how much s21 series improvedpeevee - Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - link
"If you’re using your phone in dark or even dim conditions, the variable refresh rate doesn’t work at all, and the 120Hz mode comes at a huge 300mW cost in baseline power."There is something seriously wrong, probably in their software product management.
zarr112 - Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - link
I noticed a pinkish hue when viewing the display off axis. Anyone else? I have the Qualcomm version.Monty1401 - Thursday, February 4, 2021 - link
So just to clarify, if the ambient brightness in the room is less than 40lux, it defaults to 120hz. and this is regardless of screen brightness?If I used the inbuilt refresh rate overlay, at the lowest 2 brightness settings, the refresh rate remains at 120hz, but if I bump it up 2 clicks, the refresh rate drops regardless of the ambient brightness?
Is there something I am missing here? Could you set a minimum brightness using a third party app and keep adaptive refresh rate on, seems like it would be worth it from a power draw perspective.
At the very least I've got a routine for dropping to 60hz when using apps like youtube and netflix
Monty1401 - Friday, February 5, 2021 - link
Also have you noticed any funnier behaviour when the screen is off?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuSr1wSqs-8&fe... shows the screen defaults to 120hz when off, wondering what difference this actually makes to standby drain.
vol.2 - Monday, February 8, 2021 - link
But how's screen burn-in?I'm getting tired of screen burn-in as the new planned obsolescence.