Screen's quality downgrade?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by John F

Aren't most LCD screens now lit by LEDs? So aren't AMOLED and LCD basically the same, as far as backlighting is concerned?

Yes, but hat does not make them LED phones, and true LED phones are not basically the same as LCD phones. You are perhaps misled by unscrupulous TV manufacturers that mislabel LCD TV's backlit by LEDs as "LED TV".

Each sub-pixel of an AMOLED phone is an individual LED. There is no backlight. But if it is too bright, it will hace all the dark room reading problems of an LCD phone or tablet.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Just out of curiosity are you nearsighted?

I'm not sure. I was farsighted most of my life but about 20 years ago I had lens replacement surgery and I have no idea where that left me. My vision was correctable to 20/20 until this year. I'm now 20/40. I'm not sure if that's nearsighted or not.

I used to be able to read on my Palm 3C and later my Palm E2 just fine. I don't recall having to take breaks but I'm not really sure.

I do more than a little bit of reading on my phone and as long as I do take a short break now and then it's fine. With my Kindle I don't need breaks. I read last night for about 2 hours on my Paperwhite without a break and I could have kept going.

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by John F

Aren't most LCD screens now lit by LEDs? So aren't AMOLED and LCD basically the same, as far as backlighting is concerned?

AMOLED screens are light emitting LED pixels. They have no backlight. They don't need one.

LCD screens are color changing pixels that don't emit light so they have to have a backlight behind the LCD, usually LED.

The reason that's significant is that with the LCD screen the backlight is behind the entire LCD screen and shining through it, even in the dark areas, although not as much. With AMOLED only the bright pixels emit light. That's one of the chief advantages of AMOLED because since the dark pixels don't emit light and there's no backlight the darks are much darker. For the reader that also means less light hitting your eyes.

It is true that in both cases the light that hits your eyes is from an LED but with the LCD screen at the same effective brightness a lot more light reaches your eyes. I should mention that I'm no scientist or engineer and I only know about this stuff from reading about it. I'm not an expert.

Barry

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by John F

Aren't most LCD screens now lit by LEDs? So aren't AMOLED and LCD basically the same, as far as backlighting is concerned?

LCD screens are backlit by LEDs so you are looking at the LEDs shining through the LCD whereas with an AMOLED screen, the LEDs are the screen so no back or front light needed. Since the black areas are not lit at all, an AMOLED screen can have much higher contrast than an LCD screen -- go into a dark room and look at a "black" LCD screen and you'll see anything from a mid to dark grey depending on how high you have the backlight set.

edit: Hmmmm.... perhaps I should have finished reading the thread before responding.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

If you've got eyes that make it difficult to read "glowlight" style front-lit eReaders without watering (like I do), turning down the light to a comfortable level isn't really a solution. The problem is, when you turn down the light you lose contrast, and then you have to strain to see the words. Maybe the "night mode" (temperature) light will be the solution. I don't know. It may be that I'll be using a lighted case for the rest of my life on older eReaders. (Not really that big of a deal for me.)

May I ask, do you read in a dark room? I can't look at a lit screen in total darkness either. It doesn't matter if it's a tablet, phone or a frontlit e-ink reader, in the dark it's virtually impossible for me to use it. I also can't watch TV in a dark room.

Fortunately I do all of my reading in the daylight or under a lamp. Especially in the latter case there is no comparison between a frontlit and unlit screen - the first looks much better and more contrasty (I usually read with the light at level 9, that's on the lower end).

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I also can't watch TV in a dark room.

Are you able to watch movies in a dark theater? If so, maybe you just have your TV too bright. I do almost all my TV watching in a completely dark room.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Are you able to watch movies in a dark theater? If so, maybe you just have your TV too bright. I do almost all my TV watching in a completely dark room.

Now that you mentioned it, yes. Perhaps the difference is that the movie screen is enormous and the contrast between it and the rest of the room is not so sharp as in the case of a much smaller TV screen (my TV is by no means huge). Anyway, I usually watch movies and TV series on my Surface tablet in a dim but not totally dark room. I'm also very nearsighted and this combination feels the most comfortable.