DisplayMate

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on DisplayMate:

Galaxy S9 display tops iPhone X for best ever

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Galaxy S9
Galaxy S9 is gorgeous, much like iPhone X.
Photo: Samsung

The iPhone X’s reign as the world’s best smartphone display ever has already been overthrown.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 has blown away the display experts at DisplayMate. You’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see if for your self, but Galaxy S9 matches or broke the record for display performance records, earning it DisplayMate’s highest rating ever.

iPhone X boasts best smartphone display ever

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iPhone X
iPhone X wasn't the first, but it certainly boosted the trend.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The edge-to-edge screen on the iPhone X has blown away the professional display testers at DisplayMate, leading the company to call it the most innovative display they’ve ever tested.

Even though Apple doesn’t make the actual OLED display on the iPhone X, DisplayMate’s experts point to the Precision Display Calibration created by Apple that transforms the hardware into “a superbly accurate, high performance, and gorgeous display.”

9.7-inch iPad Pro’s display is practically perfect

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The new iPad Pro may feature smaller bezels.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The TrueTone display on the new iPad Pro may actually be worth all the hype.

Experts at the display evaluating site DisplayMate have finally put the 9.7-inch iPad Pro display through a gauntlet of extensive testing and discovered that Apple’s new display is “by far the best performing mobile LCD display that has ever been tested.”

New sapphire glass screens could be coming to the iPhone 6s

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Apple is gobbling up sapphire supplies at an alarming rate of knots. Photo:
New sapphire glass technology could make it as good as Gorilla Glass. Photo: GT Advanced Technologies
Photo: GT Advanced Technologies

In the lead-up to the iPhone 6, everyone expected Apple to give it a sapphire glass display. Sapphire glass, it was said, would lead to nigh-indestructible screens: Scratched and shattered iPhone displays would become a thing of the past.

Of course, we all know what happened from there. Apple’s sapphire partner, GT Advanced Technologies, completely collapsed, and the iPhone 6 shipped with plain old Gorilla Glass. Yet even if it hadn’t, Apple might not have used sapphire glass, which was much more reflective and harder to read in ambient light than Gorilla Glass.

But here’s the key word: was. A new technology has emerged that might make sapphire glass every bit as good when it comes to viewability as Gorilla Glass.

Retina iPad Mini Comes ‘Distant Third’ In Display Shootout Against Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HDX

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You’ve probably heard that the new iPad mini with Retina display has a significantly smaller color gamut that the larger iPad Air, but how does it compete against rival tablets like the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon’s new Kindle Fire HDX?

According to the experts at DisplayMate, not very well. In fact, the new iPad mini came a “distant third” in their tablet display shootout, thanks to Apple’s “inexcusable” decision to use old technology.

“Apple was once the leader in mobile displays, unfortunately it has fallen way behind,” DisplayMate says.

Which Has The Better Display? Samsung Galaxy S4 Or iPhone 5? [Fight!]

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The iPhone 5 vs. the Samsung Galaxy S4. Which screen is “better” is going to be subjective for most consumers, and largely limited to whether you like the S4s bigger display, or prefer a smaller phone like the iPhone 5. You might also prefer the Galaxy S4’s for its tendency to oversaturate reds and oranges (a side-effect of OLED), or the iPhone 5 for a more balanced color gamut.

But which is objectively the best in the eyes of display experts? Everyone’s favorite display guru Dr. Raymond Soneira has done one of his characteristic shoot-outs between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5, and surprise: there’s no clear winner.

As Expected, iPad’s Retina Display Offers Better Color, Sharper Text Than Microsoft Surface RT

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We had a feeling Microsoft was a little optimistic about the Surface RT's display.
We had a feeling Microsoft was a little optimistic about the Surface RT's display.

Shortly before Microsoft began shipping the Surface RT tablet, the company claimed its ClearType display was superior to the third-generation iPad’s Retina display. We had our doubts, and now Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate Technologies has confirmed we were right to dismiss Microsoft’s claims.

In a display comparison between the third-generation iPad, the Surface RT, and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, Soneira found that Apple’s device offers significantly better color saturation and color accuracy, and sharper text. 

The iPad Mini’s Display Doesn’t Stack Up Well Against The Competition, But There’s Still Hope

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iPad-mini-vs-Kindle-Fire-HD-vs-Nexus-71

Although the iPad mini is well-reviewed and seems to be something of a hint with early adopters, there is at least one complaint: the display isn’t Retina. In fact, not only is it not Retina, it’s actually decidedly lower resolution than even competing 7-inch tablets like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD 7.

How does the display of the iPad mini stack up against the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD in objective terms, though? Not well, although there’s something Apple could do to make things better.

Why The Microsoft Surface RT Probably Won’t Have A Clearer Display Than The New iPad

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Don't be fooled by Microsoft's claims just yet.
Don't be fooled by Microsoft's claims just yet.

Microsoft claims its new Surface RT tablet, which begins shipping later this month, has a display that’s superior to the Retina display in the third-generation iPad. But according to DisplayMate CEO Dr. Raymond M. Soneira, that may not be the case. After some basic comparisons, Soneira found the Surface tablet’s display is “significantly less sharp” than the new iPad’s.

Does The Retina MacBook Pro Use Sharp IGZO Display Tech Originally Meant For The New iPad?

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MacBook

In the run up to the release of the new iPad, there were many rumors that Apple was going to use Sharp IGZO display technology to make a much more bright and vibrant Retina iPad with much better battery efficiency.

That didn’t pan out: Sharp delayed the debut of IGZO, and Apple instead was forced to release a Retina iPad that was thicker than the iPad 2 in order to accomodate a bigger battery necessary to drive the display.

But according to one expert, IGZO may have crept into the new Retina MacBook Pros…

Apple Had Plans For An iPad With An IGZO Display, But Had To Choose ‘Plan B’

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Infinity Blade has been more successful than Gears of War.
Apparently, this "resolutionary" device was Apple's "Plan B."

Apple’s new iPad seems to have been a huge success since making its debut last month. Although it doesn’t feature a new form factor and actually measures in a little thicker than its predecessor, that high-resolution Retina display, the 5-megapixel iSight camera, and voice dictation have all made this iPad a crowd pleaser, helping Apple shift 3 million units in its first three days of availability.

However, Raymond Soneira, CEO of DisplayMate Technologies, claims that this isn’t the iPad Apple wanted to release. Soneira says that Tim Cook and co. wanted to make the tablet thinner and introduce a new display with IGZO technology from Sharp. Instead, the company had to resort to “Plan B.”

All iOS Devices Lie When They Say Their Battery Is 100%

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Although it takes forever to fully charge, the new iPad costs less than $2 a year to run.
Unplug your iPad just after it reaches 100% and you'll lose up to 1.2 hours of battery life.

Shortly after the new iPad made its debut earlier this month, it was discovered that the way in which the device calculates its battery life is flawed. Despite telling you its charge is at 100%, your device hasn’t actually finished charging.

New data proves that in fact, your device isn’t finished charging until more than two hours after it reaches “100%,” and if you unplug it before then, you could lose around 1.2 hours of battery life. What’s more, it seems all iOS devices misreport their battery life.

Your New iPad Might Be Lying When It Says Its Battery Is At 100%

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battery1
It looks like a full battery, but with your new iPad, looks can be deceiving.
Photo: Apple

It’s a well known fact that the new iPad takes significantly longer to charge than the iPad 2. You can chalk that problem up to the fact that the new iPad has approximately 70% more battery in the same form factor than the iPad 2, requiring almost twice as long to charge. Consequently, the iPad has gone from being something you could charge up in just a few hours to a tablet that needs all night to charge to 100%.

But you shouldn’t stop charging your iPad at 100%. No sirree bob. If you want the most battery life from your new iPad, you should keep the device plugged in for at least an hour after it reports full. Why? The iPad battery gauge lies.

Display Experts Say iPad 3 Retina Display Wouldn’t Be Worth The Performance Hit

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dis

In a shootout to determine which tablet has the best display over at DisplayMate, the iPad 2 came out ahead of the Eee Transformer and the Motorola Xoom. No surprises there.

What might be a bigger surprise is that the display experts over at DisplayMate have seriously approached the idea of whether or not the iPad 3 will get a Retina Display and have concluded that it would be nothing more than a marketing stunt… and would actually lower the quality of the iPad’s display while slowing down the hardware.