Color saturation & accuracy

XDA_RealLifeReview · Nov 16, 2020

If you're colorblind, please disregard this thread. Rate this thread to express how you deem the color saturation and accuracy of the Samsung Galaxy S21 / S21+ / S21 Ultra's display. A higher rating indicates that you think that color accuracy is very high and saturation is excellent.

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Slimer777 · Jan 28, 2021

Just bought the Hong Kong version of the S21+. You guys be very careful in your purchase. The 'normal' display mode is very under-saturated and the vivid mode is very over-saturated. White point can be adjusted but it doesn't help with adjusting color saturation at all.

For the ones who buy this phone for color accuracy. You will not be able to tolerate it. Don't know why Samsung is taking a huge step backward on their flagship phone.

The S10 and S20 are both better.

This is still early so I cannot be sure if this is one particular case but it seems like it from the reviews that I can find on the web.

blackhawk · Jan 28, 2021

Vivid mode is always over saturated on the newer Samsung's.
Natural mode on my 10+ pretty good but not good enough to edit photos... not by a long shot.
Color calibration on Android's is/has always been a nightmare...

Slimer777 · Jan 31, 2021

Finally took the time to measure the S21+ display. This is Natural Mode, as expected, very unsaturated colors. The worst part is the shifted greens, almost make my eyes hurt.

Look at the gamma, also as expected. More like a 2.0 instead of 2.2
This is what is giving you the 'washed out' look of this display.

This is measured with an i1Pro so anything above 30 on the grayscale should be accurate. White point is warmer. This is actually acceptable if they can get everything else right!

We need some answers from Samsung. I may go as far as filing a complain to Samsung in order to get a refund.

I am not so sure if they can rectify the problems with a firmware update.

Slimer777 · Jan 31, 2021

I gone out today to see how the Ultra perform. From my eyes, 95% similar to the s21+, totally unacceptable. You better put your sunglasses on if you are planning to use Vivid Mode for display.

Slimer777 · Feb 1, 2021

It is in NATURAL Mode, not VIVID.

Maxit228 · Feb 1, 2021

Slimer777 said:
View attachment 5205239
Finally took the time to measure the S21+ display. This is Natural Mode, as expected, very unsaturated colors. The worst part is the shifted greens, almost make my eyes hurt.

View attachment 5205243
Look at the gamma, also as expected. More like a 2.0 instead of 2.2
This is what is giving you the 'washed out' look of this display.

View attachment 5205245
This is measured with an i1Pro so anything above 30 on the grayscale should be accurate. White point is warmer. This is actually acceptable if they can get everything else right!

We need some answers from Samsung. I may go as far as filing a complain to Samsung in order to get a refund.

I am not so sure if they can rectify the problems with a firmware update.

Thanks for taking the measurements!

Try some of the different screen modes accessible through adb commands.

###

adb shell settings put system screen_mode_setting a number from 0 to 4

- 0 AMOLED Cinema (DCI P3 target)
- 1 AMOLED Photo (Adobe RGB target)
- 2 Basic (sRGB target)
- 3 Natural
- 4 Vivid

###

In order for this to work, you need to set your screen mode to Natural first and switch in and out of the screen mode menu after you've sent the command for the screen to update. Personally, I found that Basic marginally improves upon the Natural color profile without being oversaturated. From what I understand, both Basic and Natural target sRGB yet has a noticeable different output. Though something about the Basic profile still seems off to my eyes.

I didn't discover these commands. Instead I found them over on reddit here.

Slimer777 · Feb 1, 2021

Maxit228 said:
Thanks for taking the measurements!

Try some of the different screen modes accessible through adb commands.

###

adb shell settings put system screen_mode_setting a number from 0 to 4

- 0 AMOLED Cinema (DCI P3 target)
- 1 AMOLED Photo (Adobe RGB target)
- 2 Basic (sRGB target)
- 3 Natural
- 4 Vivid

###

In order for this to work, you need to set your screen mode to Natural first and switch in and out of the screen mode menu after you've sent the command for the screen to update. Personally, I found that Basic marginally improves upon the Natural color profile without being oversaturated. From what I understand, both Basic and Natural target sRGB yet has a noticeable different output. Though something about the Basic profile still seems off to my eyes.

Thanks very much, Maxit228.

I will try this and report back. I am surprised why Samsung doesn't simply put these modes on the Display menu.

Mode 0 and 1 still have way larger color gamut than sRGB so I guess like you said the only mode left is Basic....

Slimer777 · Feb 1, 2021

Ok, tried it and here's what I think.

Mode 0 Cinema, this mode still give you over-saturated colors but at least the green is more correct than Mode 1 and the gamma seems to be closer to 2.2 than Natural or Basic.

Mode 1 Photo, this mode has colors that is not as saturated as Mode 0, kind of in between Cinema and Natural which is good but the green is just too over-saturated and tilts towards cyan so I would rather use the Cinema mode for now

Like you said, Basic looks the same as Natural. I am sure there are subtle differences if we measure it with a spectro but I wouldn't bother.

Pick your poison, Cinema or Photo!

Maxit228 · Feb 1, 2021

Slimer777 said:
Ok, tried it and here's what I think.

Mode 0 Cinema, this mode still give you over-saturated colors but at least the green is more correct than Mode 1 and the gamma seems to be closer to 2.2 than Natural or Basic.

Mode 1 Photo, this mode has colors that is not as saturated as Mode 0, kind of in between Cinema and Natural which is good but the green is just too over-saturated and tilts towards cyan so I would rather use the Cinema mode for now

Like you said, Basic looks the same as Natural. I am sure there are subtle differences if we measure it with a spectro but I wouldn't bother.

Pick your poison, Cinema or Photo!

Thanks for the update. It's a shame that Samsung can't get the calibration correct. Unfortunately Cinema and Photo mode is far too saturated for my tastes and I might just return my S21+ or swap it for the Ultra.

Slimer777 · Feb 1, 2021

Ok, the more I look at Basic, I think it is more accurate than Natural so I dive in and take some measurements. To my surprise, it is quite a bit more accurate than Natural! The color saturation is way closer to sRGB standard than Natural mode.

Unfortunately Gamma is the same as Natural.

Hope this helps.

Maxit228 · Feb 1, 2021

Slimer777 said:
View attachment 5206557
Ok, the more I look at Basic, I think it is more accurate than Natural so I dive in and take some measurements. To my surprise, it is quite a bit more accurate than Natural! The color saturation is way closer to sRGB standard than Natural mode.

Unfortunately Gamma is the same as Natural.
View attachment 5206559

Hope this helps.

Thanks again. I just swapped my S21+ for a S21 Ultra and I agree with you that the Ultra display performs similarly to the S21+ in the natural mode. I do not believe the gamma is as bad though since the Ultra display looks nowhere near as washed out.

In Basic mode, the S21 Ultra display looks very good to me.

Slimer777 · Feb 2, 2021

Maxit228 said:
Thanks again. I just swapped my S21+ for a S21 Ultra and I agree with you that the Ultra display performs similarly to the S21+ in the natural mode. I do not believe the gamma is as bad though since the Ultra display looks nowhere near as washed out.

In Basic mode, the S21 Ultra display looks very good to me.

They wouldn't allow me to return it so unless I go get another Ultra. Is it worth it? You mean the Basic mode on the Ultra looks better than the Basic mode on the S21+ ?

Maxit228 · Feb 2, 2021

Slimer777 said:
They wouldn't allow me to return it so unless I go get another Ultra. Is it worth it? You mean the Basic mode on the Ultra looks better than the Basic mode on the S21+ ?

Yes, to my eyes the Basic mode on the Ultra looks better than the Basic mode on the S21+. I believe the gamma tracks closer to 2.2 on the Ultra since colors are nowhere near as light/washed out. I still don't think it's perfect though. For me, it was worth swapping for the improved display nevermind the other improvements the Ultra has over the plus.

superleeds27 · Feb 2, 2021

Bit of a shame if the above is all correct, Hopefully someone else picks up on these issues and Samsung takes note.

Uniformity is the one for me. I'd rather have consistent uniformity on the screen, than perfect colours and a non-uniform display. The S21, well, my unit at least, is uniform.

This was my biggest gripe with the Pixel range, non-uniform screens. Which is why I constantly returned them.

Hoping Displaymate look at the S21 too.

Slimer777 · Feb 3, 2021

superleeds27 said:
Bit of a shame if the above is all correct, Hopefully someone else picks up on these issues and Samsung takes note.

Uniformity is the one for me. I'd rather have consistent uniformity on the screen, than perfect colours and a non-uniform display. The S21, well, my unit at least, is uniform.

This was my biggest gripe with the Pixel range, non-uniform screens. Which is why I constantly returned them.

Hoping Displaymate look at the S21 too.

Yes, I hope Samsung would upgrade their firmware to correct the issue. Should be simple enough for them.

I thought uniformity would not be an issue since the screen is so small and you rarely display a full screen in a uniform color.

Me too, waiting for Displaymate to confirm on the issue.

Slimer777 · Feb 3, 2021

Maxit228 said:
Yes, to my eyes the Basic mode on the Ultra looks better than the Basic mode on the S21+. I believe the gamma tracks closer to 2.2 on the Ultra since colors are nowhere near as light/washed out. I still don't think it's perfect though. For me, it was worth swapping for the improved display nevermind the other improvements the Ultra has over the plus.

I was looking at the Ultra. But I don't need the 100x zoom and I mostly take macro so I picked the S21+.

I will wait to see if other authority can confirm that the Ultra does have a better screen before buying one!

Maxit228 · Feb 3, 2021

Slimer777 said:
I was looking at the Ultra. But I don't need the 100x zoom and I mostly take macro so I picked the S21+.

I will wait to see if other authority can confirm that the Ultra does have a better screen before buying one!

XDA's S21 Ultra display review should be coming up, unfortunately the reviewer doesn't have the S21/S21+. Andrei over at Anandtech noticed the gamma on his S21 unit and will almost certainly bring it up in his full review.

I was actually disappointed in the macro capabilities of my S21+ since the ultrawide has a fixed focus relatively far away. The Ultra is an quite an upgrade since it has PDAF on the ultrawide with the minimum focus about an inch from the lens.

billozy · Feb 5, 2021

I just got the US S21 moving up from the exynos note 9 which feels like a fricking downgrade, side to side the note still has a better panel and color accuracy. I keep the colors in basic mode.
If it wasn't for samsung trade in program, I'd keep the note.

superleeds27 · Feb 10, 2021

Slimer777 said:
Yes, I hope Samsung would upgrade their firmware to correct the issue. Should be simple enough for them.

I thought uniformity would not be an issue since the screen is so small and you rarely display a full screen in a uniform color.

Me too, waiting for Displaymate to confirm on the issue.

Yeah I mean uniformity seems good compared to the Pixel 3/4/5 I returned because of random patchy greys. The S21 on a full grey screen looks fairly uniform to me, or at least to my eyes.

There's times when I feel like it isn't, but, that's purely down to how I'm holding the phone and looking at the screen at certain angle. Square on everything seems fine.

Let's see if FW updates change anything, few reviews popping up saying the screen is well calibrated though?

Slimer777 · Mar 10, 2021

I just updated to the latest Hong Kong firmware and seems like they have made changes to the display mode. Colors become more saturated in 'natural' mode.

You guys try to update to the latest firmware and see if it changes anything. This is for S21+

Color saturation & accuracy

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