literally unusable :stalin-gun-1::stalin-gun-2:

  • xXthrowawayXx [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    u/aaaaaaadjsf is right to worry about burn in on oleds, but i've never seen it real bad on a phone before.

    oled displays have a much worse failure mode where the screen just gets dimmer and dimmer till its not lighting in any perceptible way at all. the different colored elements in the screen dim at a different rate, so over time the color balance shifts as well.

    what makes it a showstopper is that it's dependent on both time and use, so a display that's used more and brighter will degrade in one way and a display that's just left in a box for years will degrade in another even if it's never connected to anything.

    so whereas your old lcd interposing on a backlight type display can be replaced and repaired, and new old stock spare parts used for decades, oled devices are destined to most likely never be usable again by the time their displays dim because the spare parts are slowly going bad in storage.

    there's a bunch of mp3 and minidisc players that are basically irreparable trash now because of it. although theyre using a much earlier version of the technology that dimmed worse and faster and are much harder to engineer a replacement display for because of the size, shape and need for a microcontroller to sit in between the device and whatever thing might get grafted in.

    but wait, there's more! do you wanna use graphene os on an android device to be as private and secure as you possibly can be and have full control over your own hardware? well all the best phones for graphene are google pixels and those are universally oled (it's in the name!).

      • xXthrowawayXx [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Batteries are replaceable, capacitors are replaceable, memory can be reflashed. Once oled screens degrade, you gotta get a newer production assembly and suddenly that’s hard to find. When you do find it you’re navigating third party parts, it’s not a good quality Samsung model, now not everything fits right, maybe it doesn’t last as long or isn’t as durable.

        This is of course all true of any assembly or discrete component but on batteries or diodes for example you have wider tolerance and fit ranges, hell there might be a range of standard types and values with their identifiers written right there on the back of the part.

        Oled displays have a lot of the same problems as vfds before them, but with none of the space to stuff a replacement display and microcontroller in there as a replacement.

        I truly hope you’re right, that the displays of today will last into the future. It hasn’t been my experience.

        I also hope that a new standard is developed that leads to more people breaking their stuff and bringing em to me to fix. It would be cool to not have to learn every new insane tech thing I’ll never personally use.

    • red_stapler [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      My VR headset is OLED and about 4 years old; I’ve used it a lot. :thinking-about-it:

      • xXthrowawayXx [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        dimming might actually not be that noticeable on a wearable that's got a monopoly on your retinas.