[polshaw]

I can't believe how much everything is still framed around the iphone. I think its crazy to call this phone just 'competetive' with the iphone 4S; especially the screen-- it is clearly a significant step up IMO. ICS is surely at a point where it can, currently, safely be considered to be ahead of iOS- especially in its unadulterated 'nexus' form. And whilst pentile isn't perfect, its 720p FFS. If that wasn't enough OLED gives it vastly better blacks, contrast, and potentially power consumption too, not to mention the fact that it's bigger. Unless you happen to have an irrational love for iOS the iphones camera is the single area where the 4S beats out the nexus (perhaps some app availability, but that works both ways). Oh the curse of being one of the 100 phones vs 1.

[joebadmo]

That's debatable. I'm an Android fanboy, but the retina display is a year old and is still debatably the best screen out there. 720p is awesome, but pixel density is still not as high as the retina display, and the sub-pixel density is definitely not.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to figuring out a way to convince myself it's worth paying full price for this phone, and I love a huge screen (Droid X owner). But AMOLED is a mixed bag. I find it to be a bit over-saturated, and the power savings is only for blacks, and overall, I think AMOLED has been shown to consume more power, not less. But the pentile subpixel arrangement is the biggest thing I'm worried about, being one of those people who wants to vomit when looking at a screen like the EVO 4G's.

I'm not saying the retina display is unequivocally better, mind you, I just disagree with you that the NG's screen is "clearly a significant step up."

[polshaw]

You have somewhat proved my point in that some how 'pixel density' is often used as the go-to stat.

It makes no sense to hold this in higher standing than the actual pixel count-- nobody is asking for smaller screens with the same resolution. Simply holding your phone further away would have the same effect as a smaller, more pixel-dense screen. Increased pixel density naturally comes with increased resolution, it is great but not the end in of itself.

The subpixel count is about the same as the iP4 and the pixel count is quite a bit higher. Pentile isn't ideal, but I'd take a 1280x720 pentile display over a 960x480 RGB. every, single. time. Higher resolution has tangible benefits (like better viewing of desktop websites). I'd have to be being actively picky to have any issue with the screen on my SGS, and it should be much less noticeable on the G Nexus.

[orangecat]

The subpixel count is about the same as the iP4

Exactly the same, 1280x720x2 = 960x640x3.

[admiralpumpkin]

Which means that sppi is lower, since the NP has a much bigger screen.

[ugh]

I don’t know. The screens seem a wash to me and whether one is better than the other depends more on taste than specs.

I personally don’t like how those OLED screens look (I like their contrast and blacks, don’t like their colors) and I also dislike PenTile immensely. The screen being larger is actually a negative point for me. I guess it would still be alright for me but only just.

On the whole I get better contrast and blacks and higher resolution with the Nexus but also lower pixel density, worse colors and larger size. Whether one or the other is better for you personally can’t be determined from that.

For me those screens seem about equal with different upsides and downsides. If you like larger screens you might clearly prefer the Nexus.

A clear verdict about the screen doesn’t seem possible, neither one is clearly inferior.

[drivebyacct2]

No offense, but did you read the review? Every single review, including this one, has called the complaints about saturation and Pentile effectively silly at this pixel density. Even the pixel density is barely different than the iPhone, a tiny percent. The size, I'm totally there with you though.

[ugh]

I have looked at screens with a similar pixel density and didn’t like it. I haven’t seen this phone yet but I plan to.

[drivebyacct2]

What other 720p 4.5" Pentile displays have you seen?

[falling]

I have seen and used this phone live. PenTile is still noticeable, especially on clear, uniform color areas and I still wonder how they even thought about releasing it in the first place.

For me, PenTile is a deal breaker.

Also, remember that real pixel density is slightly lower, because each pixel has two subpixels instead of the three in RGB displays: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5000/galaxy-nexus-pentile-disc... (though I don't care as much about this).

[jsz0]

single area where the 4S beats out the nexus

The review doesn't mention it but the GN has a rather weak GPU. Quite a lot slower than the iPhone 4S and actually slower than some of Samsung's other recent Android phones. If you plan to play any 3D games, especially at 720P, the GN is probably not the best choice. We'll have to wait and see what the benchmarks and real world performance are like though.

[polshaw]

Noted (can't edit anymore). Thats a shame, especially given the high res display.

Having said that, there is really not widespread use of the GPUs out there today. I hope that will change, but 3d gaming on phones (especially that pushes the GPUs to the limit) is very much niche right now.

[fpgeek]

Odd, given that a GPU-accelerated UI is one of the headline features of ICS. Perhaps they chose a GPU that's better for UI than gaming (but is there such a thing?).

[saturdaysaint]

This and the 4S are different enough that a comparison is hard (as someone that's contemplating either an ICS phone or a 4S soon, I'll vouch for that) - I think "competitive" is a good way to put it.

Siri and the tight integration with Apple TV (specifically, the ability to mirror) are way ahead of their Android equivalents. The countless docks and accessories for the iPhone also give you a lot of options.

The camera looks to be a worthwhile advantage for the 4S - the motion-stabilized video in particular really stand out and make video actually worth watching/sharing.

People dismiss this as pedantic, but iOS's app advantage is still worth noting. GarageBand and iMovie are easily the most sophisticated mobile apps I've seen yet - Android equivalents (there really isn't one for GarageBand) aren't in the ballpark. If you're bored, $.99 will get you a great game optimized for the newest hardware like Scribblenauts or Shadowgun - Android looks to be at least a year behind. There always seems to be an Instagram/Orchestra/Oink with no Android equivalent.

But how do you weigh that against a larger screen that looks far better for reading and video? Similarly, this makes Android's already far superior Maps more useful. And I could see ICS's live voice transcription being just as much of an advantage as Siri. These are arguably more common use-cases than the Apple advantages I just listed.

All this to say that I wish it were an easy choice which were superior.

[gurkendoktor]

I think it's just very practical (regardless of the light it casts, and FWIW, the Nexus got a perfect score).

Comparing form factors with the iPhone works because the iPhones have always been around the same size. Comparing displays to the retina display works because it's the most common smartphone display.

If they said "it's good" or "it's as good as the ObscurePhone X4", it would be harder for me (and probably others) to rate the Nexus.

[gurkendoktor]

(I realized that the perfect score was software, not display, right when noprocrast locked me out, I stand by the rest re: framing everything by the current iPhone.)

[ZeroGravitas]

Pentile is great engineering. Given the choice I'd have a pentile display with the same number of sub-pixels over the alternative any day. If it was the same number of pixels, I'd maybe swing the other way but generally pentile has been a victim of the fanboy wars because (so far at least) Apple hasn't used it.

Though I believe it was rumoured (and frankly would have made engineering sense) for them to use it when they quadrupled the resolution in the iPhone 4 but Samsung couldn't guarantee enough production to fulfil Apple's expected demand. I can easily imagine another world where Apple makes some slick videos explaining the benefits of Pentile and anyone who doesn't have it is mocked, similar to how the iPhone's Retina Display, which they admit in the very name goes beyond the point of visibility in normal use is considered the minimum benchmark for a good screen.

[flyosity]

Pentile may be great engineering but the colors it shows are not true, and it has significant banding across solid colors. As an interface designer, it makes my eyes bleed and my graphics look sub-standard.

[ZeroGravitas]

Are you talking AMOLED or pentile? AMOLED has a distinctive color-cast at low brightness and a color gamut that exceeds the standard which can make it look cartoony, but so do other screens e.g. the iPhones 3 and 4 which have too small a range and can look washed out as a result. The banding sounds like an AMOLED problem too (unless you mean the "stippling" type effect you can see if the pixels are big enough).

But neither of your complaints appears to be related to pentile vs RGB stripe. If you're talking about low pixel density then it's the same Mac OS vs Windows text rendering debate. There's not enough pixels so which kind of ugly do you prefer (or are you used to)? Some people like the hand wrangled pixels, other just let it fall where it lands. Things designed for one system will look worse on the other and especially bad to people who prefer the other look.

[megablast]

Are you talking about from personal experience with the phone, or are you just comparing the screen size and ignoring all the reviews? I think having an irrational love for any device is plain stupid, and you seem to be exhibiting it for this phone.