The Samsung Galaxy S III, due to arrive in the U.S. this summer, is the present most hot Android phone. The latest model in Samsung’s Galaxy has launched last week in London and has many impressive features, which includes Siri-like voice control and auto-tagging of photos.
However, the new smartphone may have one weak spot: the display. Samsung decided to give the Galaxy S III a 4.8-inch PenTile display (the company refers to as HD Super AMOLED). The relatively new display tech works differently than other types of screens, using individual pixels in new ways to boost resolution.
This is how it works: In a normal display, the individual pixels are made up of three sub-pixels — one each for red, green and blue (making them “RGB” displays). Those sub-pixels switch on and off depending on what color the pixel is tasked to display.
A pixel on a PenTile screen has just two sub-pixels. It doesn’t need the third because the pixels actually work together to display visual information. If a pixel needs a third sub-pixel, it can efficiently “borrow” one from a nearby pixel to render the proper color. The display is essentially doing more with less, at least in theory.
In practice, it’s much less clear. Reviewers are inclined to view PenTile displays somewhat critically. They believe that the display has some artifacts by the nature of how they work. Comparing a PenTile screen with a regular LCD rated at the same resolution, the PenTile may sometimes appear a bit fuzzy around edges. However, it’s a difficult thing to notice without really looking for it.