X50's disappointing colour performance

[Orbsplateau]

X50's disappointing colour performance
.
If you’re picky with colours and you enjoy looking at photos on your PDA, then chances are that you might feel a little disappointed with the X50's screen (especially if you’re used to PDAs with a warm colour bias).

The X50's QVGA screen is nice and sharp. The level of contrast is good too... unfortunately, the screen has a strong cool-colour bias (at least compared to the h19xx, h4150, hx2xxx, and even compared to the rx3xxx though the difference is not as noticeable).

The blue tint basically means that colours seem washed-out and slightly off. When looking at photos, the colours just don't seem as vivid as they should.

See for yourself:




On the left-hand side you see the actual image. On the right, you can see the X50's display in a dark room.


(Edit: although I didn’t get to perform the same test on the X50v's VGA screen, it seems that it too has a strong cool colour bias. )

These shortcomings are not as noticeable during the day, but they're easy to detect in a low-light setting.

Here's a the X50's display during the day (left) and night (right):





The colours look much better during the day.


.


So, Is there anything you can do?

If you’re using a program like Resco’s Image viewer, then you can make certain changes in order to improve the appearance of yours photos. This won’t fix the problem, but at least it masks some of the symptoms.

for example, if you make the following adjustments:
+14 Red
+21 Green
-31 Blue
+21 Contrast

you end-up with the image on the left as opposed to the image on the right:




As you can see, the image on the left is more vivid and has truer colours.


Here's a better test:



The original image is on the left while the X50's display (in a dark room) is on the right.

You can clearly see that the shades of grey actually look like shades of light blue. During the day, this isn't very noticeable, but at night it becomes obvious

once again, if you play with Resco's settings, you might end-up with the image on the left:



Now, the shades of grey look more natural. The yellow and green also look more vivid.


but Resco isn't around when I'm looking at my today screen.




Am I being too picky? probably.
On most reviews though... they say that the X50 has one of the best QVGA screens out there, so I had high expectations.

[Orbsplateau]

X50's disappointing colour performance
.
If you’re picky with colours and you enjoy looking at photos on your PDA, then chances are that you might feel a little disappointed with the X50's screen (especially if you’re used to PDAs with a warm colour bias).

The X50's QVGA screen is nice and sharp. The level of contrast is good too... unfortunately, the screen has a strong cool-colour bias (at least compared to the h19xx, h4150, hx2xxx, and even compared to the rx3xxx though the difference is not as noticeable).

The blue tint basically means that colours seem washed-out and slightly off. When looking at photos, the colours just don't seem as vivid as they should.

See for yourself:




On the left-hand side you see the actual image. On the right, you can see the X50's display in a dark room.


(Edit: although I didn’t get to perform the same test on the X50v's VGA screen, it seems that it too has a strong cool colour bias. )

These shortcomings are not as noticeable during the day, but they're easy to detect in a low-light setting.

Here's a the X50's display during the day (left) and night (right):





The colours look much better during the day.


.


So, Is there anything you can do?

If you’re using a program like Resco’s Image viewer, then you can make certain changes in order to improve the appearance of yours photos. This won’t fix the problem, but at least it masks some of the symptoms.

for example, if you make the following adjustments:
+14 Red
+21 Green
-31 Blue
+21 Contrast

you end-up with the image on the left as opposed to the image on the right:




As you can see, the image on the left is more vivid and has truer colours.


Here's a better test:



The original image is on the left while the X50's display (in a dark room) is on the right.

You can clearly see that the shades of grey actually look like shades of light blue. During the day, this isn't very noticeable, but at night it becomes obvious

once again, if you play with Resco's settings, you might end-up with the image on the left:



Now, the shades of grey look more natural. The yellow and green also look more vivid.


but Resco isn't around when I'm looking at my today screen.




Am I being too picky? probably.
On most reviews though... they say that the X50 has one of the best QVGA screens out there, so I had high expectations.

[surur]

Your picture on my loox 720. Its overexposed due to the flash being so close, but the greens are green and the white sky is white.

Surur

[Orbsplateau]

thanks Surur... i appreciate you taking the time to post your results. your display certainly looks more colourful.

I edited my message a bit and added a day-time picture. Things look better during the day - though still not that great.

Now I'm just curious to see how this looks on an rx3xxx or h4xxx... if I can, I'll test it out this weekend.

[Don't Panic!]

Which program are you using to view the picture on each device? The Pictures program?

[Orbsplateau]

"Don't Panic!" .... :lol: always funny

Anyhow, I've used Applian Picture Perfect and Resco Picture Viewer and I get the same results either way.


I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take a picture, but I viewed the same image on a friend's RX3115 and the colours are difinitely more vivid on the ipaq. :?

[Atomb]

Originally Posted by Orbsplateau

"Don't Panic!" .... :lol: always funny

Anyhow, I've used Applian Picture Perfect and Resco Picture Viewer and I get the same results either way.


I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't take a picture, but I viewed the same image on a friend's RX3115 and the colours are difinitely more vivid on the ipaq. :?

have you tried adjusting the colour settings in Resco Photo Viewer? I just tried your pic on my X50 in Resco Photo Viewer and adjsted the reds/blues/greens and it looks pretty good with a quick adjustment.
(i don't have a camera handy to post a pic of the screen, but you can try for yourself)

[Orbsplateau]

Originally Posted by Atomb

have you tried adjusting the colour settings in Resco Photo Viewer? I just tried your pic on my X50 in Resco Photo Viewer and adjsted the reds/blues/greens and it looks pretty good with a quick adjustment.
(i don't have a camera handy to post a pic of the screen, but you can try for yourself)

Hey Atomb,

yes, I can confirm that things can definitely be adjusted in Resco in order to improve the appearence of the image.

for example, the following adjustments should make a big improvement:
+14 Red
+21 Green
-31 Blue
+21 Contrast


I added some test screens to my original post.

[Menneisyys]

Originally Posted by Orbsplateau

This does NOT refer to the X50v
I hope this doesn't offend any X50 fans out there... but the X50's screen is somewhat disapointing (at least compared to my old h1910 and cassiopeia E200).

Well, it's very hard (or even impossible) to beat the iPAQ 1910 / the old Cassiopeia screens

[Orbsplateau]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys

Well, it's very hard (or even impossible) to beat the iPAQ 1910 / the old Cassiopeia screens

appearently, that seems to be the case! :?

why is that? do the new screens consume less power? are they a lot cheaper to make? are they more durable? can they sing and dance?

Anyway, based on what I've seen, the rx3115 and hx2410 have pretty decent screens. Side-by-side, you'll notice higher contrast and more saturation on the ipaqs compared to the x50 (unfortunately I can't directly compare them to my old 1910 since it's broken).

Dell, if you're listening out there:
+14 Red
+21 Green
-31 Blue
+21 Contrast

(hmm... I wonder if there's a utility that lets you adjust these settings on a pocketPC)

or get your LCDs from the same mfg that HP is getting theirs from. The x50 is a fine machine. It deserves a better display.

[surur]

Originally Posted by Orbsplateau

apparently, that seems to be the case! :?

why is that? do the new screens consume less power? are they a lot cheaper to make? are they more durable? can they sing and dance?

I believe the new screens are transreflective (or transflective), which means they incorporate a reflective layer to supplement the backlight. This dramatically improves performance in sunlight, when the sun is many times more powerful than your backlight could ever be. The trade off is less light transmitted from the backlight.

The older screens were pure transmissive LCD's, like your desktop, and looked brilliant inside, but were completely washed out and illegible outside.

I prefer the current balance vs the very one sides usefulness of the old screens.

Surur