Analyzing Smartphone Displays

Smartphone displays are increasing in quality nearly every day. From displaying HD video to showing off bright, vibrant pictures, these displays are often difficult to differentiate in a quantitative way. Using a color analyzer, however, is useful for a variety of fields relating to smartphones and smartphone displays, and these devices are finding new uses nearly as quickly as the quality of the displays increase.

As smartphone display quality increases across all models and device types, it becomes more difficult to quantify the differences in their display qualities. Simply comparing different models side by side can often yield results, but these results are usually arbitrary, and can change from person to person. Also, different display technologies excel at different types of display task, such as displaying still pictures vs. moving images, and even in the different colors that they can reproduce and, perhaps most importantly, black levels. Thus, it is often necessary for smart phone reviewers, and for smartphone technicians, to employ color analyzers to get accurate, quantifiable information regarding display performance.

Smartphone Displays

 A color analyzer is a special type of device which measures the color production of a display and attempts to analyze it in terms of how the human eye perceives color. These devices are especially well suited to detecting the light which emanates from digital displays and are indispensable tools for smartphone screen analysis. Because they focus on visible light, and because they use special filters which respond to luminescence and color similarly to the way the human eye does, they are able to quantify data which can then be compared across models, and even across different types of device and has several specific uses:

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For device manufacturers:

Because the smartphone market is saturated with cheap, high-end models, one of the deciding factors for many buyers is the overall quality of the display. Thus, smartphone manufacturers are able to use color analyzers not only in the analysis of their own devices, but in the analysis of their competitors’ products as well. Using this technique, and with the help of focus groups and product testers, device manufacturers can turn user feedback into quantifiable measures of display brightness, luminosity, and color reproduction.

For device technicians:

As smartphones become more ubiquitous devices and as their market penetration rises, device technicians will obviously have an increased number of support tickets pertaining to them, and because the majority of these devices feature large touch screens, it is fair to say that device screens will feature in a large portion of those tickets. From dead pixels to discoloration, it is necessary to make quantifiable statements regarding screen malfunctions and color analyzers help technicians put a number on how “blue” the screen looks, for instance, because that information can be used to find problems in the device, or in the manufacturing process.

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For device reviewers:

As is the case with HD televisions, there are many high-quality displays in the smartphone industry, and it’s common for many devices to have very similar screens. Because of this, it is difficult for reviewers to give helpful feedback regarding display quality which leaves consumers confused. With the aid of a color analyzer, though, device reviewers can check for black levels, color levels, luminescence  brightness, and contrast and they can compare these levels across devices to help consumers choose the phone with the best display.

Regardless of the application, color analyzers are useful tools for anyone who either manufactures, tests, calibrate, or repairs smartphone displays. From checking quality across brands, to looking for discrepancies in display color production, these devices fill a number of niches in the area of color analysis, and are finding new uses across the industry every day.