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Which is better Super Amoled or IPS matrix. Which is better super amoled or ips? Properties characteristic of amoled matrices




By 2018, the competition between screen technologies had come down to the fact that there were only two worthy options left on the market. TN matrices were supplanted, VA matrices were not used in mobile devices, and something new had not yet been invented. Therefore, competition has developed between IPS and AMOLED. It’s worth remembering here that IPS, LCD LTPS, PLS, SFT are the same as OLED, Super AMOLED, P-OLED, etc. are just variations of LED technology.

On the topic of what is better, IPS or AMOLED, . But technology does not stand still, so in 2018 it will not be superfluous to make adjustments and analyze it taking into account today’s realities. After all, both types of matrices are constantly being improved, some disadvantages are eliminated, or these disadvantages become less significant.

Now let’s try to find out which is better for a smartphone, IPS or AMOLED. To do this, we will weigh all the pros and cons of each technology in order to identify the absolute leader based on the preponderance of strengths or, taking into account the specifics, decide what is better in specific conditions.

Pros and cons of IPS displays

The development and improvement of IPS displays has been going on for two decades, and during this time the technology has acquired a number of advantages.

Advantages of IPS matrices

IPS matrices are the best among all types of LCD panels due to a number of advantages.

  • Availability. Over the years of development, many companies have massively mastered the technology, making mass production of IPS screens inexpensive. The cost of a smartphone screen with FullHD resolution now starts at around $10. Due to their low price, such screens make smartphones more affordable.
  • Color rendition. A well-calibrated IPS screen reproduces colors with maximum accuracy. That is why professional monitors for designers, graphic artists, photographers, etc. are produced on IPS matrices. They have the greatest coverage of shades, which allows you to get realistic colors of objects on the screen.
  • Fixed power consumption. Liquid crystals that form the image on an IPS screen consume almost no current; the main consumer is backlight diodes. Therefore, energy consumption does not depend on the image on the display and is determined by the backlight level. Due to the fixed power consumption, IPS screens provide approximately the same autonomy when watching movies, web surfing, written communication, etc.
  • Durability. Liquid crystals are almost not subject to aging and wear, so in terms of reliability, IPS is better than AMOLED. Backlight LEDs can degrade, but the service life of such LEDs is very long (tens of thousands of hours), so even after 5 years the screen hardly loses its brightness.

An example of a smartphone with a good IPS screen is the 2019 flagship Huawei Mate 20.

Disadvantages of IPS matrices

Despite significant advantages, IPS also has disadvantages. These shortcomings are fundamental and cannot be eliminated by improving technology.

  • The problem of black purity. Liquid crystals, which display black, do not block light from the backlight 100%. But since the backlight of the IPS screen is common to the entire matrix, its brightness does not decrease, the panel remains illuminated, and as a result the black color is not very deep.

  • Low contrast. The contrast level of LCD matrices (approximately 1:1000) is acceptable for comfortable picture perception, but in this regard AMOLED is better than IPS. Due to the fact that the black is not very deep, the difference between the brightest and darkest pixels in such screens is noticeably smaller than in LED matrices.
  • Long response time. The pixel response speed of IPS panels is low, about tens of milliseconds. This is enough for normal image perception when reading or watching videos, but not enough for VR content and other demanding tasks.

Pros and cons of AMOLED displays

OLED technology is based on the use of an array of miniature LEDs located on a matrix. They are independent, so they offer a number of advantages over IPS, but they are not without their disadvantages.

Advantages of AMOLED matrices

AMOLED technology is newer than IPS, and its creators have taken care to eliminate the disadvantages characteristic of LCD displays.

  • Separate pixel glow. In AMOLED screens, each pixel itself is a light source and is controlled by the system independently of the others. When displaying black, it does not glow, and when displaying mixed shades, it can produce increased brightness. Due to this, AMOLED screens demonstrate better contrast and black depth.

  • Almost instant response. The response speed of pixels on an LED matrix is ​​orders of magnitude higher than that of IPS. Such panels are capable of displaying a dynamic picture at a high frame rate, making it smoother. This feature is a plus in games and when interacting with VR.
  • Reduced power consumption when showing dark tones. Each pixel of the AMOLED matrix lights up independently. The lighter its color, the brighter the pixel, so when displaying dark tones, such screens consume less power than IPS. But when displaying white AMOLED panels, they show similar, or even greater, battery consumption than IPS.
  • Small thickness. Since AMOLED matrices do not have a layer that scatters backlight light onto liquid crystals, such displays are thinner. This allows you to reduce the size of your smartphone while maintaining its reliability and without sacrificing battery capacity. In addition, in the future it is possible to create flexible (and not just curved) AMOLED matrices. This is not possible for IPS.

Some of the best OLED displays tend to go to top-end Samsung devices, as the company is the leader in their production. The Samsung Galaxy S10, as well as other models in the middle and upper price categories, are equipped with decent matrices.

Samsung Galaxy S10

Disadvantages of AMOLED matrices

AMOLED matrices also have disadvantages, and the culprit for most troubles is one. These are blue LEDs. Mastering their production is more difficult, and they are inferior in quality to green and red ones.

  • Sineva or PWM. When choosing a smartphone with an AMOLED screen, you have to choose between pulse-width brightness control and blue light tones. This is due to the fact that with a continuous glow, blue subpixels are perceived stronger than red and green ones. This can be corrected by using PWM brightness control, but then another drawback emerges. At maximum screen brightness there is no PWM or the adjustment frequency reaches about 250 Hz. This indicator is on the border of perception and has almost no effect on the eyes. But when the backlight level decreases, the PWM frequency also decreases; as a result, at low levels, flickering with a frequency of about 60 Hz can lead to eye fatigue.
  • Blue Burnout. There is also a problem with blue diodes. Their service life is shorter than green and red ones, so color reproduction may become distorted over time. The screen turns yellow, the white balance shifts towards warm tones, and overall color reproduction deteriorates.
  • Memory effect. Since miniature LEDs are prone to fading, areas on the screen that displayed a bright, static image (for example, a clock or a light-colored network indicator) may lose brightness over time. As a result, even if the element is not displayed, the silhouette of this element is visible in these places.

  • PenTile. The PenTile structure is not a fundamental disadvantage of all AMOLED panels, but is still characteristic of most of them. With this structure, the matrix contains an unequal number of red, green and blue subpixels (Samsung has half as many blue ones, LG has twice as many). The main motive for using PenTile is the desire to compensate for the shortcomings of blue LEDs. However, a side effect of this solution is a decrease in picture clarity, which is especially noticeable in VR headsets.
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Samsung Galaxy S8

Taking into account all the features of both types of matrices, it can be noted that high-resolution IPS is better if you are interested in VR and need maximum picture clarity. After all, in AMOLED, the comfortable perception of virtual reality is slightly hampered by PenTile, and the PWM backlight so far neutralizes the instantaneous response speed. IPS is also better if you have to work more with light colors (web surfing, instant messengers).

AMOLED screens are the future, but the technology is not perfect yet. However, you can safely buy a smartphone with an LED screen, especially if it is a flagship. Brightness, contrast, deep blacks and energy savings when displaying dark tones can overcome all the disadvantages of OLED.

Amoled technology belongs to the South Korean company Samsung. Such screens are used in almost every phone produced by this brand. Smartphones from other manufacturers (including flagships) are produced with IPS matrices. But some brands (for example, OnePlus) purchase Amoled screens from Samsung. Even the new flagships from Apple (iPhone X) received Super Amoled displays, which the American company purchased from the South Korean company.

The essence

AMOLED is an abbreviation, translated into Russian it means “active matrix organic light-emitting diodes”. The difference between the technology is the use of diodes to illuminate each pixel on the matrix. Therefore, crystals and backlight elements are not required.

The matrix structure is as follows:

  1. The cathode layer is the top one.
  2. Underneath is an organic layer with LEDs.
  3. A matrix of thin-film transistors - they control the diodes.
  4. Anode layer.
  5. A backing made of metal, silicone or other material.

AMOLED panels also use the PenTile design. In accordance with it, the subpixels are installed in a checkerboard pattern: in the middle - blue, on the sides - two green, behind them - two red. This arrangement allows you to increase the brightness of the display without increasing power consumption. Therefore, AMOLED displays are brighter than competitors, but at the same time they can be less power-hungry. This opens up opportunities for smartphone manufacturers to increase the autonomy of the smartphones they create. In 2008, Samsung received the rights to the technology. Since then, manufactured phones (even state phones) have used these screens.

AMOLED improvement

Two years later, Samsung engineers managed to remove the air gap between the screen and the sensor. The technology is called Super Amoled. For the user, this meant an increase in picture clarity, brightness, readability in the sun, and a decrease in screen thickness.

Even later, an attempt was made to use a standard RGB subpixel arrangement instead of PenTile. This should have resulted in increased picture clarity, although in practice this is difficult to notice.

Advantages of Amoled screens

An obvious plus is reduced screen power consumption. Also, energy consumption strongly depends on brightness (as we remember, brightness depends on the strength of the current passing) - this makes it possible to make the smartphone live longer on a single battery charge by reducing the brightness to a minimum. This also allows the black color to be displayed deeper, since when it is not needed, the black pixels do not receive current and glow at all. The well-known Always On Display technology works on this principle - it illuminates only a small number of pixels on the screen, leaving the rest inactive. For those who don’t remember, Always On Display is a technology that displays the date and time, incoming calls and other information on a locked display. Thanks to the Amoled screen, it does not require much energy - on average, it takes 1-2% from charge to charge.

The vertical and horizontal viewing angles of such displays are wider - they maintain brightness and contrast when viewed at an angle. Physical size is also a plus. Thanks to the reduced thickness, the screen can be placed in a thin case or the freed-up internal space can be used for additional components. As an option, it is appropriate to install a capacious battery with large dimensions.

Minuses

On the plus side, the screen's energy consumption depends on the brightness setting, meaning more battery power is needed to display bright colors. The next disadvantage is the fragility of the internal connections of the screen. With slight mechanical damage, it fails, and with a slight loss of tightness, it will quickly lose color and break.

Shorter service life is a disadvantage. The service life is especially reduced when displaying bright colors - subpixels burn out at different rates, and this leads to a violation of color rendition. Literally 3-4 years ago, the disadvantages included the high price of creating AMOLED panels, but today the cost of production is equal to the cost of creating IPS matrices or even lower.

Comparison with IPS

IPS screens cannot boast of absolute black color and exorbitant contrast, but they have a number of advantages: they do not fade, are more affordable, and convey accurate colors without excesses (in this regard, AMOLED sometimes oversaturates and artificially turns up bright colors). If you take two phones: one with an IPS screen and the other with an AMOLED screen, then the average user simply will not notice the difference between them.

At the moment, a high-quality IPS display is visually no different from a Super AMOLED matrix. It’s just that the latter consumes less battery power, and this is its advantage. Therefore, certain manufacturers (including Apple) are gradually switching to using these technologies in their smartphones.


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In the modern world, technology is developing at an unprecedented speed. Progress has not spared LCD screens either. Today we will figure out what the differences are between AMOLED and IPS technologies, and compare their advantages and disadvantages. We will also try to figure out Super AMOLED or IPS - which is better?

Design features

IPS displays are double-layer LCD screens with LED backlighting. The first layer is crystals, the second layer is the backlight itself. In Super AMOLED technology there is no backlit layer - here each pixel can glow independently.

Colors

The most important advantage of IPS matrices is perfectly accurate color reproduction, real, “living” colors. The colors are exactly what they should be. If the picture is bright and rich, that’s exactly what it will be. Therefore, IPS displays are very popular among photographers and designers, and indeed all people whose work is in one way or another related to graphics.

Super AMOLED matrices have more saturated colors, “acid”, as people usually describe them. Due to their design feature, Super AMOLED screens have perfect black color. After all, black pixels simply do not glow, and they are absolutely invisible even in complete darkness.

Brightness

IPS screens are slightly brighter. This is due to the fact that IPS uses a backlight layer that can glow noticeably brighter than the pixels of AMOLED displays. Therefore, in bright light, IPS technology slightly outperforms AMOLED.

Energy efficiency

Super AMOLED matrices consume less energy, which is good news for mobile device owners. Low power consumption is again due to the feature of black pixels. Such pixels do not glow and do not consume energy. It is worth noting that AMOLED displays are superior to IPS in terms of energy efficiency only when displaying images with a large number of black elements.

Usability

Another interesting feature of AMOLED is that the picture seems to be right on the surface of the screen. Plus, thanks to the very low pixel response speed, the responsiveness of the touch screen increases. This significantly increases the pleasure of using gadgets with AMOLED screens.

Let's sum it up

As you probably already guessed, I won’t give you a definite answer to the question of which is better, Super AMOLED or IPS. Only an ardent fan of this or that technology can give you a specific answer, which I am not. Each technology is good in its own way. I hope that after reading this article you have already decided what you need. Well, if you still have doubts, I suggest you watch a very interesting video « AMOLED orIPS. Comparison":

Climate change is impossible not to notice; the weather has become different all over the world, in any case, it has become different from the usual patterns. Over the past three years, airplanes have started to shake a lot more, although nothing has changed - the pilots are the same, the airplane models and flight routes are the same. But it shakes. Moreover, on the way to New York it began to shake in much the same way as over Mongolia when you fly to China. Turbulence begins over the Norwegian Sea and repeats over the US coast as the plane descends towards New York. But this didn’t happen before.

Statistics are a stubborn thing, and they say that the number of insurance cases on airplanes and for their crews has increased several times. That is, insurance companies observe that crews suffer from turbulence, struggle and are injured. But it was not this that struck me, but a conversation with one of my fellow travelers - he argued that with current trends, aviation will stop flying to some African countries in the next 15-20 years; existing civil aircraft and airports are unable to operate at temperatures above 50 degrees. Of course, as always, we will find a way out of this situation, we will build new planes and airports, this has always been the case in the history of mankind. But the trend itself is somehow depressing; the usual way of life is changing. And against this background, companies and people often lack common sense in decision making. As usual, all our topics will be related to this in one way or another - the search for common sense in the telecom market or the statement of its absence. Let's begin.

Operators that distribute SIM cards despite the adopted law - why and why

Something went wrong again, I don’t remember how many times. Near the Akademicheskaya metro station, a girl was handing out some packages, in the morning I passed by and didn’t pay attention, at lunchtime, squeezing through a narrow passage (thanks to the mayor for digging up Moscow and destroying parking lots!), I automatically extended my hand and received, as it turned out, not a leaflet , and two MTS SIM cards. What a surprise, at Savelovskaya they are constantly handing out SIM cards from all three operators. On the Universitet metro station there are a couple of points on the street where Beeline cards are handed out all the time. But MTS has surpassed everyone: eco-packaging, a full-fledged package that costs slightly more than a regular plastic SIM card.

The usual seeding of SIM cards is merciless, the distributors do not make any choice in who they give these cards to. This is just a conveyor belt on which people passing by are card consumers. Many people throw away cards they took by accident; all the trash cans nearby are filled with them. Typically, the dealers never take the cards back and do not put them into circulation, they are only paid for the distribution, they do not care about connections. Each operator has its own strategy, and each of them promotes a specific tariff. It is extremely difficult to pretend that the operators are not involved here, since dealers who do this do not face any punishment, they are simply given some more cards. This time MTS is promoting on-net options and a package of minutes with a fairly favorable tariff, all this is written on the box. Please note that the balance of such a SIM card is not zero, it already has a ruble.

Activating the card is even more fun, you can throw in just a little money and the card will work. In theory, you need to enter your passport data, but you don’t have to do this for a couple of weeks, the connection will work (depending on your luck, cards are usually not blocked for “technical reasons”). Since I am interested in exploring the world, I nevertheless went through the procedure of registering several cards, choosing the data of famous people as the full name, and the passport numbers were a simple and random set of numbers. No one, of course, checked this data (a hint for SB MTS - the cards that were registered were not the ones in the photographs, look for them, and I will count how long they will work with the wrong data).

MTS has a very active SMM, based on the photo of the bags they decided to punish the dealers, this is where telepathy is developed. Although, on the other hand, if you plan to send people to distribute SIM cards and know the metro, then you don’t need to know the SIM card numbers, this is superfluous.

But what struck me most was that the next day MTS employees monitored the exit from the metro and even shared a photo that supposedly proved that no one was handing out SIM cards. Attention, question: how did MTS know which of the four outputs to monitor? Small puncture again. But now the funny thing is: the girl who dealt the cards told some details of what was happening for a small bribe.

She works from morning to evening, she has a plan - she needs to distribute 10,000 cards! In other places, the work is easier, there are fewer cards, but the pay is not the same. For this volume she receives 1,200 rubles, in fact, this is how much she earns per day. My counterpart speaks Russian poorly, but claims that this is good money for her, since other types of work are not available or they pay even less.

It does not work every day, as a rule, it happens for several days in a row, then the work ends, there are no SIM cards. She’s had this part-time job for about six months; she got there with the help of a friend who does exactly the same thing. The “owner” calls and says which metro station you need to come to, puts you in a specific place, the police never come up and are not interested in what is happening: “While I’m handing out cards, no one checks my documents, I’m invisible.” But as soon as the distribution ends, the cloak of invisibility falls off and document checks begin, although this happens at other metro stations. Therefore, this woman tries to travel by ground transport, it takes longer, but is calmer.

During the questioning, I found out an interesting detail: cards are usually distributed more actively in the middle of the month than at the beginning or end. According to my interlocutor, they are brought from somewhere “from a warehouse”. Most often they bring Beeline, but MTS and MegaFon less often. On the other hand, if they bring MTS, they stuff the trunk of the car, the “owner” gives out several large bags and goes to other “points”, returning within an hour to throw more cards. No one says how many cards to deal out in one hand, but if you give three, people almost always throw them away; they usually keep two. It turns out that there are little professional tricks: if you give the cards, do not look the person in the eye and immediately turn to the next one, then he will not return the cards - or maybe he will not throw them away, he will take them with him. Every profession has its own tricks.

I thanked this woman for the conversation and more than compensated for the downtime. Therefore, the next day, when I saw her a little further away, I came up to chat.

And what do you think? It was moved ten meters further because the owner said that they would come from MTS to photograph the exit from the metro. And they really arrived. Is it funny? Not that word. To believe that some person handing out SIM cards near the metro outmaneuvered the security service of a huge corporation? Don't tell my slippers.

Since ancient times, one of the key indicators for operators has been the growth of the subscriber base, that is, counting the number of new SIM cards. In Moscow, communication penetration has long exceeded 240%, that is, there are almost 2.5 SIM cards per living person. All M2M solutions must be added here, but even with them, the real picture will be that the number of SIM cards is much larger than phones and smartphones, as well as other devices. The sale of SIM cards has long since reached a plateau, there are no surges in communication stores, there is seasonality, but the typical picture is that sales points are barely making the plan, selling SIM cards by hook or by crook.

Free distribution of SIM cards, which is supported and sponsored by operators (cards cost money), is a way to somehow improve your performance. The idea behind such distributions is simple - let a person have a starter package at home, which he can activate in the next six months, when he needs a SIM card for temporary use, for example, advertise in a newspaper and use a new number so as not to use his main one. Everything about this idea is great, except for efficiency - a third of the cards are immediately thrown into the trash, and a total of 95% of cards end up never activated (I saw an internal study on this topic by one of the operators). Of the remaining 5% who activate such SIM cards, the subscriber's lifespan is on average an impressive 2.5 months. It is impossible to justify such a distribution economically. But all the operators do it, and so they nod at each other and repeat the practice. For operators, such a distribution of SIM cards is a way to slightly increase their subscriber base. Yes, these are crumbs, but today there is no time for fat, everyone is scraping at the bottom of the barrel and trying to squeeze out the maximum possible.

In this regard, an excerpt from a seemingly independent report by Sasha Popovsky about his work at Beeline is indicative (an attempt to disown the fact that Sasha’s position is the position of the company is quite normal, the report itself is about what is happening in the operator market, and it is not bad at all of what is happening on the market – it’s hard to disagree with most of it).

But in general, a search for vision problems and iPhone will bring up a huge number of discussions and articles on this topic. There will be a similar picture for AMOLED screens, and, oddly enough, there is a lot of discussion about products from OnePlus. In them, however, people complain not about their eyes, but about a headache, which, however, is possible in other cases. About OnePlus you can find this topic on their forum.

We almost never talk about visual hygiene in relation to mobile devices. People stare at small screens (and even 6 inches is small) for half an hour, or even more, and then the question arises why their eyes are dry. Even reading a book under a blanket with a flashlight will not put as much stress on your eyes as looking at your phone for an hour. What if you are traveling in a vehicle that also shakes? The load is even greater.

This discussion is not to pointlessly talk about whether IPS/AMOLED or something else is better or worse. Everyone chooses a product based on a number of characteristics, for example, someone does not like high-resolution screens and the ability to set a high brightness level (yes, there are people who like dim screens) - these are their habits, their life experience. I cannot and will not force them to choose screens that are convenient and comfortable for me. But please think about your habits and how you use your phone. In the end, you have one vision, you won’t have another. But problems accumulate gradually, and one day the moment comes when you pass the point of no return. A lot of sensible things have been written about visual hygiene, you can familiarize yourself with them and try to put them into practice, then you will avoid serious problems. And, of course, you should choose products that are comfortable for you personally and do not cause irritation, be it your eyes or your psyche.

I have a very simple and consistent position regarding Speedtest and speed measurements on operator networks. This is the most popular program, which for most global operators has maximum priority on the network; Russian operators are not an exception, but rather the rule in this regard. This means that as soon as the operator sees that you have decided to check the connection speed, he gives you the maximum resource, and you get a result that is different from real life, when such priorities do not work. And when working with different services, you will always get completely different results, so testing in Speedtest in itself doesn’t tell you much. Mobile communications depend on many factors, including cell load, weather, and your phone model, we talked about this in detail in a whole series of materials.

But you shouldn’t take a position of denial and say that Speedtest is meaningless, it’s not. For example, you can understand at the everyday level what the maximum network capabilities of a particular operator are at a specific point and at a specific time. And this will be a relatively fair ceiling for a specific place; it won’t be possible to go higher. You can watch the dynamics of how the network changes, the throughput either grows or falls over time. For example, at my home MegaFon in 4G+ was not loaded for the first six months, I enjoyed the very high connection speed. As soon as people around them began to have more and more 4G+ smartphones, everything became not so fun, the speed decreased, since miracles do not happen. The number of subscribers has not changed, the load in a specific frequency range has simply changed. Those who have frequency aggregation benefit, while those who use simple models and do not have aggregation lose in speed.

A couple of weeks ago I conducted a simple experiment, measured the speed in this program while driving around Moscow, did it on S8+ and iPhone 7. From the point of view of the radio part, they are comparable, plus or minus, and should show the same results. But the SIM cards, respectively, were from MegaFon and Beeline. They blamed me here for saying that this was dishonest and that we should take the same smartphones, but I think that there is no point in this, the result would be the same, this has been tested in previous years. It’s another matter if I took a smartphone from a different league, with a different radio part, which is initially unable to show maximum speed, that would be dishonest.

Look at the changes, I think they speak for themselves. The same point, but in one case we have more or less decent speeds, while Beeline almost never has them (only one point).

Of course, we could extend this experiment indefinitely, make a million of these measurements on our knees, but why? I know that Beeline has a bad network in Moscow, which is why I don’t use this operator’s SIM card as my main one, I don’t have enough coverage and speed. In this aspect, Speedtest performed well, it showed the difference between operators. Any other program for measuring speed is uninteresting here, since in the absence of priority on the network, its results will vary in even greater ranges. And why look for anything else?

So again, single Speedtest measurements are practically useless, but comparison can provide information on how operators differ at certain points. And this is already food for thought.

Nokia's successes in Russia and a little about Nokia 8 and its cost

Still, there is a lot of Asia in us, which cannot be eradicated by anything; a Russian person is a person of brand and habits. No matter how much the memory of Nokia is erased, no matter how much effort the company itself makes to destroy its image and switch people to the Microsoft brand, old emotions cannot be killed. People in Russia love Nokia, and that says it all. When the updated Nokia 3310 came out, it was predicted to be a resounding and unconditional success, and there were even victorious reports about the future or from the future. But the initial interest has passed, and this device is no longer sold in significant quantities, it is too expensive and few people need it.


But with smartphones, a completely different situation happened: Nokia 3/5/6 models entered the market without much fanfare; they appeared on the gray market even before they had time to be officially imported. There were some funny glitches; in part of the batch, the trays for SIM cards were mixed up, they ended up being one card, and not two, as they should be.

The Nokia 5 review will be out this week. A good Chinese smartphone with all the characteristics that correspond to the segment. Not the cheapest, but not the most expensive either. Without any great features, this dish lacks spice and is a bit bland. But there is no reason to shout “horror, horror.”

At the moment, Nokia smartphones are just filling store shelves, but there are already first results, they are moving off the shelves well and are selling well. A few weeks ago it was 7,000 pieces per week, the week before last it was 10,000 pieces. In fact, Nokia has already reached 2% of the smartphone market at the moment, almost catching up with Meizu, and these Chinese have been going to this result for much longer. The same Xiaomi, which has been growing aggressively throughout 2017, accounts for about 3% in weekly sales, that is, at the current rate of growth in Nokia sales, they will catch up with them in September. In my opinion, these sales directly depend on the perception of the Nokia brand, which is maximum in our country (Russia was the key market until the very end and even after that it sold Nokia handsets).

It’s a good question what will happen in six months, when growth stops and people start hearing feedback about the service and how the company solves problems that arise. But we can state as a fact that the initial stage of pumping the market with a new product was successful, the brand gained a foothold and showed very good results.

The release of a model like Nokia 8 was predictable, even to some extent expected. Nokia is trying to create its own interpretation of the flagship and differentiate itself as much as possible from other Chinese.


By and large, we have before us a completely logical continuation of the current model range: a metal body (aluminum 6000 series), a QHD screen, but this is an IPS matrix with a diagonal of 5.3 inches, and for some reason they included something similar to the AlwaysOn mode in Samsung. The chipset is typical for recent Chinese flagships - Snapdragon 835, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal memory, and there are memory cards. The dual camera (the second module is black and white) deserves attention; the first pictures show that it takes good pictures, on par with devices from Huawei with a similar price. But the price in Russia will be 39,990 rubles, which, in my opinion, is extremely expensive. And that's why. There are already many Chinese flagship models on the market built on the same chipset. You can remember OnePlus 5, although from the point of view of retail presence this is a shot into the void. But in terms of characteristics, it has some better features, and some of the Nokia 8 - the main thing is that the price of this solution is lower for the PCT version.

For any manufacturer, having a flagship is important, often even without any special prospects for its sale. I am sure that this is the case of Nokia 8, since Chinese smartphones do not sell successfully in the segment of 40 thousand rubles and above, sales are rather sluggish here (with the exception of Huawei). The peak price for Chinese models is 35 thousand rubles, and I am sure that for Nokia 8 this rule is observed to exactly the same extent. But if you look at the line as a whole, the presence of Nokia 8 will push sales of lower-end devices up, it has always been and will be so. On the other hand, those who are considering a purchase in this price category, as a rule, look at Apple and Samsung, and hardly look at other brands, which is proven by sales on the Russian market.

Another myth about the iPhone - it never drops much in price

One of the most long-lived and harmful myths is that the price of an iPhone does not fall; it can always and with a guarantee be sold on the secondary market with almost no loss in price. Once upon a time, the second statement was true, but the first was not, since no one has canceled the laws of the market for Apple and could not cancel it. But the fall in the cost of the iPhone in the first year of the model’s existence and before the release of the update was always minimal. Times have changed, now the company is fighting for market share and trying to sell everything they can, including sharply reducing prices. We partially talked about this in Sofa Analytics.

Entering new price segments forces the company to sell its devices much cheaper, primarily for younger or older models. You have seen the release of the iPhone 5s (yes, it is still being produced!) into the 15 thousand ruble segment; this is the best-selling iPhone, no matter what the company’s fans dream of (50 thousand units per month in the Russian Federation). Now it’s the turn to reduce the price of the iPhone SE, which causes aversion among many, since in winter the device cost much more, and now it has dropped to 20 thousand rubles (the first 16 GB version costs 16,000 rubles, but this is already leftovers, EOL) .


Of course, you can look at prices only and exclusively in the official Apple online store in order to maintain the illusion that prices are stable. But why? Prices change, and very dynamically, now Apple is playing with price positioning, just like other companies. The irony is that in Russia, Samsung, on the contrary, tries to keep prices for PCT devices at a high level, simply constantly offering some accessories in the kit (recently they gave a wireless speaker, before that a tablet). At the same time, there is a gray market for both Apple and Samsung, the prices on which are significantly lower than the official ones. There has been a stratification of the market, each consumer can choose the product that he considers correct. And for the smartest ones, the only option left is to buy the same Samsung with delivery from the USA, then the price turns out to be very good. Both companies calmly look at the gray market and do not make any attempts to fight it, since at the country level, not only sales per channel, but also the number of handsets begin to play a role for them, since they actively sell/promote their own services, including and payment.

Due to the wide supply of both Samsung and Apple on the gray market, the secondary market fell significantly, if in 2016 about 1.2 million iPhones were sold there, then in the first half of the year - only 400 thousand, and the average price of an iPhone sold decreased by 32 %. These are the consequences of how Apple went into the mid-price segment. I will repeat what I said in Sofa Analytics, this is just the beginning, then the pressure on Chinese manufacturers from Apple will grow even more. I see this as a positive factor - now the stakes in this game are raised for everyone, differentiate or die.

Unusual behavior of iPhone and App Store

I decided to make a comparison of the iPhone 7 and a number of other devices, since this question is constantly being asked, but I still haven’t gotten around to it. I set up my account from the cloud, downloaded the applications (everything that was on the iPad), put the iPhone in my pocket and quietly used it for several days until I noticed that the App Store was not working for me when connected to a mobile network. The data transfer settings on the iPhone are located in two places (illogical and completely inconvenient): separately in the network settings, separately in the program settings, where permissions are set for each. I checked both there and there, everything is included. But the App Store just doesn't work. Everything is fine over Wi-Fi, but it doesn’t work with mobile data. I even recorded a video about it.

They began to give me all kinds of advice - for example, to reset the App Store cache, someone complained that they had encountered a similar problem and that only resetting the device and restoring it again helped. After trying all the suggested options, I eventually reset it because nothing helped. This option worked, and the App Store started working again. Why did it happen? Don't know. But a useful article has appeared on another resource, which suggests more than ten ways to deal with such a scourge, and with good sense and daily knowledge that this can happen.

The problem with the iPhone has always been that it's perfect, when everything works, you don't need to configure anything. But if something suddenly starts to go wrong, then dances with a tambourine begin that no one has ever dreamed of on Android. And this fly in the ointment spoils the whole impression of the barrel of honey.

P.S. I flew to New York for a reason, but to tell you about Note 8, however, you can see the first look, a detailed video and everything you need to know on August 23 at 18:00 Moscow time, simultaneously with the global launch. I will describe my impressions of this device and what it can do in more detail in these materials. In the meantime, I traditionally want to wish you a great mood and make good use of the last couple of weeks of summer, it is quickly ending. Although some people may prefer autumn with its rustling leaves and rains. I shake your hands!

Most modern smartphone manufacturers use organic (AMOLED) or liquid crystal (IPS) display types in their devices.

Since their inception, both technologies have undergone a lot of significant changes, which is why the picture quality on touch screens has improved several times. However, the debate over which of the two types of matrices is better or worse still does not subside. Both AMOLED and IPS screens have certain advantages and disadvantages, which is why different smartphone manufacturers prefer different options.

Let’s try to figure out which type of matrix phone would be more appropriate to buy today, but first, let’s figure out what AMOLED and IPS screens are.

What is an AMOLED screen?

The principle of using AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology is the use of organic LEDs and an active matrix consisting of thin-film transistors. The brightness of the image is controlled by the work of electrons that transmit current with a certain strength. The parameters of the desired color are determined by independent LEDs: red, green and blue. More detailed article about AMOLED displays.

Advantages of AMOLED screens

  • High contrast level. It is achieved through the separate operation of all screen pixels, each of which is an independent light source. This allows you to achieve a decent level of brightness and get a picture with rich shades and truly deep blacks.
  • Reduced energy consumption. Becomes available when installing black themes, since this color is generated by turning off individual pixels. As a rule, dark colors drain your phone's battery much more slowly.
  • Instant response speed. High pixel processing frequency allows the use of AMOLED screens for resource-intensive tasks. In this case, the image can boast a decent frame rate, which is useful in games, and when interacting with VR, the overall image quality increases noticeably.
  • Small matrix thickness. The absence of an additional layer on the matrix that illuminates the liquid crystals makes it possible to reduce its size. Due to this, smartphones with AMOLED displays have a thinner body.

Disadvantages of AMOLED technology

  • Color distortion. This is due to the continuous glow of blue subpixels, which are perceived by the eye more strongly than others. To solve this problem, there is pulse-width modulation of screen brightness, but in this case the flickering frequency is reduced, and the eyes get tired faster.
  • . AMOLED screens are susceptible to memory effect, which often leads to deterioration in color quality over long-term use of the device. Blue LEDs, which have a shorter service life, suffer especially in this regard. As a result, color distortion appears.

What are IPS screens?

The use of IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology involves the creation of matrices on so-called liquid crystals. The image is formed using polarized light passed through a color filter. The current display brightness is controlled by horizontal and vertical filters that work on each pixel, regardless of its activity at a given time. Learn more about IPS technology.

Benefits of IPS

  • Accurate color rendition. IPS matrices have the widest shade coverage. Users get the opportunity to see the real colors of objects on the screens. In addition, the picture is not greatly distorted when viewed from different angles.
  • Long service life. Liquid crystals used in IPS screens are not subject to the aging effect, and their service life is quite long. At the same time, the display does not lose its original ability to convey natural colors.
  • Consistent power consumption. Achieved by the simultaneous operation of all display pixels, regardless of their current mode. Liquid crystals practically do not deplete the battery, and the backlight diodes consume energy evenly. For the IPS matrix, it makes no difference what task the smartphone performs.
  • Low cost. Compared to other types of matrices, IPS is a more affordable and accessible technology. Today, a huge number of companies are engaged in the production of devices with such screens, so the choice of smartphones is large.

Disadvantages of IPS

  • Low contrast level. In the case of black colors this is especially noticeable. Due to the fact that the pixels of the IPS matrix cannot be completely turned off independently of each other, instead of deep dark, the result is grayish. The situation is similar with other shades: the degree of contrast is weaker.
  • Slow response speed. This feature is difficult to see when performing basic tasks, but interaction with VR content will not please you with impeccable performance. This manifests itself in both lower frame rates and less smooth images.

Final comparison of IPS and AMOLED

It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question of which is better, AMOLED or IPS. When choosing a smartphone based on the characteristics of its display, you need to be guided by your own needs. It is also important to note that in most modern phones, the above-described disadvantages of matrices, as a rule, are not very pronounced. Of course, the future belongs to AMOLED screens, because they are what leading companies are promoting in the most expensive and prestigious smartphones.