Re: Note 20 Ultra Not as Vivid Display as Other Galaxy Phones

[clara32]

to be clear my note 20 ultra doesn't hit peak brightness sometimes with adaptive brightness turned OFF and brightness slider to 100%, for whatever reason it'll go darker for awhile and then go back up to peak brightness. I am hoping samsung fixes these issues.

[AndroidPurity]

I have the same problem too. When in vivid color mode and at 100% manual brightness and opening Chrome, or Google Maps, and some other apps, then my display dims. It seems to be apps that mainly have a lot of white and that Samsung might be doing this to save battery. they should not do this when adaptive brightness is turned off!

[clara32]

Do you think samsung will fix the issues? I wonder if the color shift on my display can be fixed, how is the colors on your note 20 compared to note 10? does the note 20 have a warmer color in white areas?

[Kiryn]

Exactly !!!

Whenever I use my Note20 Ultra, I feel the same way; less contrast, less vivid, warmer white, it's really disgusting especially for a pricey latest flagship phone of Samsung !

I hope Samung fixes it very soon on next update !

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@AndroidPurity wrote:

Recently famous tech review channel "Unbox Therapy" posted a first impressions unboxing video of the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra.

While comparing the 2 devices he happened to noticed when comparing the 2 models that the display of the ULTRA was way LESS vivid and LESS bright than the STANDARD Note 20.

He confirmed both phones were set to 100% brightness, both had adaptive brightness OFF, both were set to "Vivid" Screen Mode, and both had the white point in the center.

You can view the video and see the difference yourself in the video here....

https://youtu.be/5IPvqS0NTzU

Go to time stamp 8:50 if you just want to jump right when he realizes the display difference between them, and starts to troubleshoot this strange difference.

I was planning on potentially preordering the Note 20 Ultra so this really bothered me since I prefer a Vivid display. It shows on video he checked every setting except "Adaptive Color Filter" and "Enhanced Video." So I went to look at the Note 20 Ultra in the store to check the phone myself.

My Testing and Results

So I went to Best Buy and they had both the Note 20 & Note 20 Ultra on display.

Bad news... SAME exact results that Lew from Unbox Therapy had. See the pictures of all settings and testing I did below.

In all pictures the Note 20 Ultra is on the Left, the Standard Note 20 on the Right.

Brightness at Max for both displays, and Adaptive Brightness disabled for both devices, and Blue Light Filter disabled for both devices, and both devices set to Vivid mode.
Display Settings

Adaptive Color was also disabled on both devices.
Adaptive Color Filter

Notice the Standard Note 20 on the right has a brighter white point.
White Balance Comparison

This is a 4K UHD wallpaper I downloaded onto both devices. It's the exact same image from the same website. Notice that the Standard Note 20 on the right has more Vivid looking colors with better contrast.
Color Comparison

CONCLUSION:
After spending literally 30+ minutes standing there playing around with both phones, it seems the brightness is pretty close to the same on both. But the Standard Note 20 did seem to have a slight edge on 100% brightness. However the main big difference is the Standard Note 20 has more Vivid colors and Higher Contrast.

I do not think this is because the Note 20 Ultra display is not able to produce colors and contrast as Vivid as the Regular Note 20. I believe it just has to do with the display calibration in the hard coded software of the Ultra that is causing the colors to be more Natural than Vivid.

I came to the conclusion it was a software issue when I was watching the same YouTube video on both displays (Video Enhancer was disabled for both devices), and when playing the video the Ultra suddenly kicked into a more Vivid mode making it look nearly identical to the Regular Note.

Then when closing out of the video and to the YouTube home page it went back to a more Natural color and less contrast mode. Of course that was strange since video enhancer was disabled for both devices.

So this proves the display is capable of being Vivid with High Contrast, but just something in software that Samsung needs to calibrate in the Ultra model. Or maybe worse... potentially this was intentional by Samsung to help preserve battery since it is a 120hz display?

So Samsung needs to.... 1.) Crank up the Vividness of the Vivid mode to at least be Equal to the Standard Note and 2.) Fix video enhancement from turning on during YouTube videos when it's disabled in settings.

 I hope that they push out a early release software update to fix the Vivid color profile on the Ultra. This is technically preproduction software so it COULD change with a software update, but there's of course no guarantee Samsung will fix this.

So if you prefer a Vivid display that Samsung is typically known for, then this is important to keep in mind. Also be aware I noticed there is only 2 screen modes on the Note 20 Ultra for Natural and Vivid. However on my S10 Plus there is 4 different Screen Modes. So hopefully Samsung adds more Screen Modes to the Note 20 Ultra.

What is everyone's thoughts on this? Would this be a deal breaker for you on a $1,300 phone if the Vivid Colors and Contrast is noticeably less when compared to your current phone? or do you prefer a more natural less vivid display?

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[asofan]

Was this problem ever fixed?

I just sold my Note 10+ 5G for $500 and paid $1377 for the Note 20 Ultra only to notice this:

1) Display is dimmer

2) Colors are washed out and not vivid

3) White Balance is incorrect

4) The camera pictures are terrible. Now I don't know if this is a camera problem or of it is the display issue.

I am so disappointed. I wish I hadn't sold my Note 10 plus because this new "flagship" phone is just plain pale and really terrible.

[AndroidPurity]

No, not really. I did a full factory reset of all settings, turned off video enhancement mode to keep it from changing around brightness, and adaptive brightness off, set in vivid mode, with color temp a bit cooler, keep at 90% brightness most the time. All of that helped a little, but no software update has made a change. Seems to be how they have all Note 20 Ultras, so it's not defective devices. But still not as vibrant as the Note 10+ or S20 or OnePlus 8 Pro.

[asofan]

It's a subtle defect but it sure kills the point of buying this phone especially at this price. This is a shame and I thought Samsung would jump to fix the issue with an update before more people notice. But maybe that Samsung is using a cheaper display component.

[AndroidPurity]

I agree. I have 2 guesses why this is happening.

1.) Because its a LPTO display, which is cutting edge new technology that can do variable refresh rate from as low as 20hz to 120hz. The first display they have ever put in a Samsung phone that can do that, and 1 of the first in the world. So I think something about it being variable refresh rate maybe prevents the display from being as vibrant until the technology improves some. If that is the reason hopefully a software update eventually improves it. Sometimes it takes Samsung a few months to include a fix in a update. There is still a little hope.

2.) But on the other hand when I put it on 95-100% brightness the whites and colors are really good to my satisfaction. But I shouldn't need to put a phone super bright just to get really vibrant colors. But still a bit less than others even with 100% brightness. So it could be something they are doing on purpose to save battery, because a more vibrant display uses a bit more energy. If that is the reason, then they should have an option in settings for extra vibrant if thats the case so people can choose.

[asofan]

you bring up another excelkent point. I noticed the battery life on this phone is a lot less than the Note 10 plus. even with the Adaptive brightness on.

[userTXGzZimBL0]

I can confirm. I just got my note 20 ultra replacing a note 8. the note 8 has more vivid colors.

it's like the contrast is turned down too much. everything seems a little washed out. since sprint game me $500 for my note 8, I can live with it but getting that color depth back would be nice