Will the Lumia 950/950XL have a ClearBlack screen?

[DoyoubiNoAme]

Trueblack screen on my 930 is definitely one of favorite features. I wonder if MS will use TrueBlack technology on these devices.

 

[Indistinguishable]

re: Will the Lumia 950 have a ClearBlack screen?

I love true black as well!

The rumored specs that Windows Central has published says that the displays are OLED. So it should be good!

 

[Muessig]

re: Will the Lumia 950 have a ClearBlack screen?

Yeah, chances look good!

 

[hprvez]

re: Will the Lumia 950 have a ClearBlack screen?

Too bad they are not true black, not even close to be honest, and there it goes the only good point of an oled. Try one of the last real nokia like the n8 and it's amoled panel, you'll see what pitch black blacks are

 

[a5cent]

re: Will the Lumia 950 have a ClearBlack screen?

I think what you guys are referring to is actually branded as ClearBlack technology. I'm changing the title so let me know if I'm misreading this.

ClearBlack polarising filters reduce the amount of light the glass layers above the display reflects. Although the dark areas of a panel are actually no darker than they would be without the ClearBlack polarising filters, the fact that less light is reflected does make them look as if they were. Of course this only matters in environments where there is ambient light to reflect. Otherwise (at night, in dark rooms) there is no difference between a display with or without ClearBlack technology.

MS owns the ClearBlack trademark. I think it's virtually guaranteed that both 950/950XL will make use of the technology. What type of display technology the devices use (OLED/LED) is completely independent of the ClearBlack technology itself.

Nokia brand names Lumia, ClearBlack, PureView, and others now belong to Microsoft | Windows Central

 

[libra89]

Re: Will the Lumia 950 have a ClearBlack screen?

I think what you guys are referring to is actually branded as ClearBlack technology. I'm changing the title so let me know if I'm misreading this.

ClearBlack polarising filters reduce the amount of light the glass layers above the display reflects. Although the dark areas of a panel are actually no darker than they would be without the ClearBlack polarising filters, the fact that less light is reflected does make them look as if they were. Of course this only matters in environments where there is ambient light to reflect. Otherwise (at night, in dark rooms) there is no difference between a display with or without ClearBlack technology.

MS owns the ClearBlack trademark. I think it's virtually guaranteed that both 950/950XL will make use of the technology. What type of display technology the devices use (OLED/LED) is completely independent of the ClearBlack technology itself.

Nokia brand names Lumia, ClearBlack, PureView, and others now belong to Microsoft | Windows Central

Thank you for this post. I was just about to ask what's the difference between ClearBlack and TrueBlack is :grin:

 

[SteveNoza]

This is one of the great features of Nokia/ Microsoft phones, they HAVE to feature it.

 

[Kram Sacul]

Too bad very little of W10M has the kind of solid black backgrounds to show off an AMOLED screen. WP7-8.1 were pretty much made for it.

 

[Lingeshwaran R]

u can just switch back to tile picture mode and dark theme (like I did)

 

[CapoFantasma97]

u can just switch back to tile picture mode and dark theme (like I did)

That doesn't solve in any way what he's referring to.
An OLED display uses LCD technology, that means there will always be some light even in the black areas.
AMOLED displays however are LED displays, and each macro-led is turned on-off for both colors and absence (black). By turning off the individual leds, the AMOLED display is advantaged with super deep and true black (results may vary with the display quality).

 

[a5cent]

^ Wat?

What Kram Sacul is referring to is that so many app backgrounds in W10M (mail, calendar, settings) are dark gray rather than black. Because of that, we'll never experience the best possible contrast using W10M, even if our devices come with expensive and high quality OLED/AMOLED screens.

I see absolutely no point to this change in the dark theme. I suspect this is just a designer letting his/her subjective design sensibilities (which I don't share), override a design philosophy that was more about achieving objective goals (maximizing contrast for better text legibility, making the UI 'pop' and reduce power consumption on OLED screens).

BTW: OLED and AMOLED are essentially the same basic thing. Neither uses LCD technology

 

[msirapian]

I think there's a lot of confusion here. For instance, saying that N8 had "true black" is a joke. The Nokia 808 did, yes, and it's amoled, with CBD.

Now you may wish to read this great article by Steve Litchfield; there are : ClearBlack (1020, 808), CB Lite (640, 630) and no clear black on the market.

(skip the Pureview part and go the ClearBlack section) : When a brand name outlives its founding technology: PureView and CBD

I think the 950, being high end, will have ClearBlack (the real stuff) with non LCD/IPS screen.

 

[TheJoester09]

This is a bit off topic, so I apologize...

Does OLED mean that it will be compatible with Glance? Or is that dependent on something else? That's pretty much the only feature I'm missing on my Icon, and it would be nice to have on the 950XL.

 

[a5cent]

CB Lite (640, 630) and no clear black on the market.

Thanks for that link misirapian. I hate it when companies do this kind of BS. It's only purpose is too fool people into thinking they are getting something which they just aren't. If it was up to me this would be considered false advertising which consumers could sue over. Even if you're aware of the technical details and what CBD should do, it could be easy to miss this on a L630 unless you test it under bright light before purchasing.

This is a bit off topic, so I apologize...

Does OLED mean that it will be compatible with Glance? Or is that dependent on something else? That's pretty much the only feature I'm missing on my Icon, and it would be nice to have on the 950XL.

No. OLED is just a better match for Glance as it will require less power than a comparable LCD screen. See this for more:

Despite being a Windows Phone USP, all 'Glance screens' are not equal

 

[Jakoh]

Well, Oled should have very good black, as in black as it can get, infinity black.
They both have been advertised to have glance screens.
N9 has some really good blacks.

 

[Krystianpants]

I think there's a lot of confusion here. For instance, saying that N8 had "true black" is a joke. The Nokia 808 did, yes, and it's amoled, with CBD.

Now you may wish to read this great article by Steve Litchfield; there are : ClearBlack (1020, 808), CB Lite (640, 630) and no clear black on the market.

(skip the Pureview part and go the ClearBlack section) : When a brand name outlives its founding technology: PureView and CBD

I think the 950, being high end, will have ClearBlack (the real stuff) with non LCD/IPS screen.

Of course it will. MS will put every goody in there that it can to out perform the competition. It knows it will be reviewed to hell and people will be going into the reviews with pessimism rather than the optimism that apple phones receive. Heck you could put anything into an apple phone and the reviewers will go nuts for it. It's the Apple phone bias and it exists. Most reviewers use Apple in the real world. Only the windows specific sites will be using Windows phones. But they are also usually more savvy people and don't bring too much bias into it. This screen already looks beautiful in the recent store leaks. It's the first pure glass screen with nothing around the edges since the case actually is behind the screen. These recent leaks have really changed my opinion of this phone. The original ones did it no justice.

 

[Kram Sacul]

^ Wat?

What Kram Sacul is referring to is that so many app backgrounds in W10M (mail, calendar, settings) are dark gray rather than black. Because of that, we'll never experience the best possible contrast using W10M, even if our devices come with expensive and high quality OLED/AMOLED screens.

I see absolutely no point to this change in the dark theme. I suspect this is just a designer letting his/her subjective design sensibilities (which I don't share), override a design philosophy that was more about achieving objective goals (maximizing contrast for better text legibility, making the UI 'pop' and reduce power consumption on OLED screens).

Bingo. We're going from a dark theme that had lots of black which blends in really well with the bezel to a dark gray which doesn't. It's a visually weak "dark theme".

The vast chasm separating the design philosophy between WP7-8.1 and W10M is always interesting and depressing. Aside from the start screen and a few other elements there's very little in common. I have no interest in using an Android or iOS wannabe with tiles.