PenTile matrix is a family of patented
subpixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...
matrix schemes used in
electronic device displays. PenTile is a trademark of
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
. PenTile matrices are used in
AMOLED
AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescence, electroluminescent materia ...
and
LCD displays.
These
subpixel layouts are specifically designed to operate with proprietary
algorithms
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing c ...
for
subpixel rendering
Subpixel rendering is a way to increase the apparent resolution of a computer's liquid crystal display (LCD) or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display by rendering pixels to take into account the screen type's physical properties. It takes ...
embedded in the display driver, allowing
plug and play
In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving resou ...
compatibility with conventional
RGB
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three addi ...
(Red-Green-Blue) stripe panels.
Overview
![Subpixel rendering RG-B-GR alternated geometry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Subpixel_rendering_RG-B-GR_alternated_geometry.png)
"PenTile Matrix" (a
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
from
wiktionary:penta-, penta-, meaning "five" in Greek and
tile
Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...
) describes the geometric layout of the prototypical subpixel arrangement developed in the early 1990s. The layout consists of a
quincunx
A quincunx () is a geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. The same pattern has other names, including "in saltire" or "in cross" in heraldry (d ...
comprising two
red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
subpixels, two
green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
subpixels, and one central
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
subpixel in each unit cell. It was inspired by
biomimicry
Biomimetics or biomimicry is the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. The terms "biomimetics" and "biomimicry" are derived from grc, βίος (''bios''), life, and μίμησ ...
of the human
retina
The retina (from la, rete "net") is the innermost, light-sensitive layer of tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focused two-dimensional image of the visual world on the retina, which then ...
which has nearly equal numbers of L and M type
cone cell
Cone cells, or cones, are photoreceptor cells in the retinas of vertebrate eyes including the human eye. They respond differently to light of different wavelengths, and the combination of their responses is responsible for color vision. Cone ...
s, but significantly fewer S cones. As the S cones are primarily responsible for perceiving blue colors, which do not appreciably affect the perception of
luminance
Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through, is emitted from, or is reflected from a particular area, and falls withi ...
, reducing the number of blue subpixels with respect to the red and green subpixels in a display does not reduce the image quality. However the layout may cause color leakage image distortion, which can be reduced by filters. In some cases the layout causes reduced moiré and blockiness compared to conventional RGB layouts. The PenTile layout is specifically designed to work with and be dependent upon subpixel rendering that uses only one and a quarter subpixel per pixel, on average, to render an image. That is, that any given input pixel is mapped to either a red-centered logical pixel, or a green-centered logical pixel.
History
PenTile was invented by Candice H. Brown Elliott, for which she was awarded the
Society for Information Display
The Society for Information Display (SID) is an industry organization for displays, generally electronic displays such as televisions and computer monitors. SID was founded in September 1962. Its main activities are publishing technical journals ...
's Otto Schade Prize in 2014. The technology was licensed by the company Clairvoyante from 2000 until 2008, during which time several prototype PenTile displays were developed by a number of Asian
liquid crystal display
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat panel display, flat-panel display or other Electro-optic modulator, electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liqui ...
(LCD) manufacturers. In March 2008, Samsung Electronics acquired Clairvoyante's PenTile IP assets. Samsung then funded a new company, Nouvoyance, Inc. to continue development of the PenTile technology.
PenTile RGBG
![Nexus one screen microscope](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Nexus_one_screen_microscope.jpg)
PenTile RGBG layout used in
AMOLED
AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescence, electroluminescent materia ...
and
plasma
Plasma or plasm may refer to:
Science
* Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter
* Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral
* Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics
Biology
* Blood pla ...
displays uses green pixels interleaved with alternating red and blue pixels. The
human eye
The human eye is a sensory organ, part of the sensory nervous system, that reacts to visible light and allows humans to use visual information for various purposes including seeing things, keeping balance, and maintaining circadian rhythm.
...
is most sensitive to green, especially for high resolution luminance information. The green subpixels are mapped to input pixels on a one-to-one basis. The red and blue subpixels are subsampled, reconstructing the chroma signal at a lower resolution. The luminance signal is processed using adaptive subpixel rendering filters to optimize reconstruction of high spatial frequencies from the input image, wherein the green subpixels provide the majority of the reconstruction. The red and blue subpixels are capable of reconstructing the horizontal and vertical spatial frequencies, but not the highest of the diagonal. Diagonal high spatial frequency information in the red and blue channels of the input image are transferred to the green subpixels for image reconstruction. Thus the RG-BG scheme creates a color display with one third fewer subpixels than a traditional RGB-RGB scheme but with the same measured luminance
display resolution
The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is ...
. This is similar to the
Bayer filter
A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array (CFA) for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camco ...
commonly used in
digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...
s.
Devices
As of 2021, "almost all OLED screens in portable consumer devices use some form of Pentile subpixel layout."
*
Apple iPhone X
*
Apple iPhone XS/XS Max
*
Apple iPhone 11 Pro/11 Pro Max
*
Apple iPhone 12/12 Mini
*
Apple iPhone 12 Pro/12 Pro Max
*
Apple iPhone 13/13 Mini
*
Apple iPhone 13 Pro/13 Pro Max
*
Apple iPhone 14/14 Plus
*
Apple iPhone 14 Pro/14 Pro Max
*
BlackBerry Q10
*
Dell Venue Pro
The Dell Venue Pro, codenamed Lightning, was a smartphone running the Windows Phone operating system. The phone used the T-Mobile network, but was only available for purchase at Microsoft retail stores or directly from Dell.
The launch of the ph ...
*
Galaxy Nexus
The Galaxy Nexus (GT-I9250) is a touchscreen Android smartphone co-developed by Google and Samsung Electronics. It is the third smartphone in the Google Nexus series, a family of Android consumer devices built by an original equipment manufactu ...
*
HTC One S
The HTC One S (codenamed Ville) is a premium smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC as part of the HTC One series which has Beats Audio and runs the Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" mobile operating system with HTC Sense. Announced by HTC ...
*
HTC Desire
The HTC Desire (codenamed Bravo) is the first smartphone of the Desire series developed by HTC. It was announced on 16 February 2010 and released in Europe and Australia in the second quarter of the same year. The HTC Desire was HTC's third fl ...
(AMOLED variants only)
*
HTC Vive
VIVE, sometimes referred to as HTC Vive, is a virtual reality brand of HTC Corporation. It consists of hardware like its titular virtual reality headsets and accessories, virtual reality software and services, and initiatives that promote appl ...
*
Huawei Ascend P1
The Huawei Ascend P1 is an Android-based smartphone manufactured by Huawei. It is shipped with the Android 4.0 OS. It has been released in Canada exclusively for Wind Mobile and is available with or without a subsidy.
The device features a 4. ...
*
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei Mate 20 is a line of Android phablets produced by Huawei, which collectively succeed the Mate 10 as part of the Huawei Mate series. The flagship models, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, were unveiled on 20 July 2018 at a press conference in ...
*
Huawei P30
Huawei P30 is a line of Android-based smartphones manufactured by Huawei. Unveiled on 26 March 2019, they succeed the Huawei P20 in the company's P series line.
Specifications Hardware
Their designs are similar to those of the P20. The P30 P ...
*
Huawei P30 Pro
*
Microsoft Lumia 650
The Microsoft Lumia 650 is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on February 15, 2016. It is the successor to the Microsoft Lumia 640 and is aimed primarily at business users, with support for Microsoft's business applications ...
*
Motorola RAZR i
The Motorola RAZR i (XT890) is a smartphone designed by Motorola Mobility. It was officially announced on 18 September 2012 in London, UK.
The RAZR i is the first smartphone by Motorola to feature an Intel Atom "Medfield" processor/SOC of the ...
*
Motorola Droid 3
The Motorola DROID 3 (GSM/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, UMTS version:Milestone 3) is a smartphone released on July 7, 2011, by Verizon Wireless running the Android (operating system), Android 2.3 operating system by Google. It comes ...
*
Moto X (2nd generation)
*
Nexus One
The Nexus One (codenamed HTC Passion) is an Android smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC as Google's first Nexus smartphone. The Nexus became available on January 5, 2010, and features the ability to transcribe voice to text, an addition ...
*
Nexus S
The Nexus S 4G is a smartphone co-developed by Google and Samsung and manufactured by Samsung Electronics for release in 2010. It was the first smartphone to use the Android 2.3 "Gingerbread" operating system, and the first Android device to su ...
(Super AMOLED variants only)
*
Nexus 6
The Nexus 6 (codenamed Shamu) is a phablet co-developed by Google and Motorola Mobility that runs the Android operating system. The successor to the Nexus 5, it is the sixth smartphone in the Google Nexus series, a family of Android consumer ...
*
Nexus 6P
Nexus 6P (codenamed ''Angler'') (also known as the Nexus 6 Plus, Nexus 6 Pro or Nexus 6 Premium) is an Android smartphone developed and marketed by Google and manufactured by Huawei. It succeeded the Nexus 6 as the flagship device of the Nexus ...
*
Nokia N9
The Nokia N9 (codename '' Lankku'') is a flagship smartphone developed by Nokia, running on the Linux-based MeeGo mobile operating system. Announced in June 2011 and released in September, it was the first and only device from Nokia with MeeGo, ...
*
Nokia Lumia 730/
Nokia Lumia 735
The Nokia Lumia 735 is a Windows Phone 8.1 smartphone developed by Nokia. It was unveiled on 4 September 2014 at IFA Berlin, alongside the Lumia 730. The device is a smartphone with a particular emphasis on selfies, aided by a 5-megapixel, wide-an ...
*
Nokia Lumia 800
Nokia Lumia 800 (codenamed 'Sea Ray') is a smartphone from Nokia, first unveiled on 26 October 2011 at the Nokia World 2011 event. It originally ran on Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" and was Nokia's first device to run the Windows Phone operating sy ...
*
Nokia Lumia 925
Nokia Lumia 925 is a smartphone developed by Nokia that runs Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system. It was announced on 14 May 2013, described as a "new interpretation" of the Nokia Lumia 920, and released in June 2013. A separate 925T ver ...
*
Nokia Lumia 928
*
Nokia Lumia 1020
*
Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016.
In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...
*
Oculus Quest
The Oculus Quest is a virtual reality (VR) headset developed by Oculus, a division of Meta, Inc., released on May 21, 2019.
Similar to its predecessor, Oculus Go, it is a standalone device that can run games and software wirelessly under an ...
*
OnePlus 3
The OnePlus 3 (also abbreviated as OP3) is a smartphone produced by OnePlus. It was revealed on 14 June 2016. The phone was unveiled in a virtual reality event and OnePlus offered its customers Loop VR headsets to experience the event using th ...
*
OnePlus 3T
The OnePlus 3T (also abbreviated as OP3T) is a smartphone made by OnePlus. It is the successor to the OnePlus 3 and was revealed on 15 November 2016.
It is an incremental update to the company's flagship phone being released only 6 months lat ...
*
OnePlus 5
The OnePlus 5 (also abbreviated as OP5) is a smartphone made by OnePlus. It is the successor to the OnePlus 3T, which was released in 2016. The OnePlus 5 was officially unveiled during a keynote on 20 June 2017 and first released on June 20, 20 ...
*
OnePlus 5T
The OnePlus 5T is an Android-based smartphone produced, released and marketed by OnePlus. It was unveiled on 16 November 2017 via a live streamed press event which aired on YouTube. It went on sale on 21 November 2017. It is an incremental up ...
*
OnePlus 6
The OnePlus 6 is an Android smartphone made by OnePlus. It was unveiled on 2 May 2018 and went on sale on 21-22 May 2018.
History
In March 2018, it was announced that the phone would have a "notch", but that there would be an option to hide i ...
*
OnePlus 6T
The OnePlus 6T is an Android-based smartphone from OnePlus. It was announced on October 29, 2018, before being released on November 6. The launch was originally scheduled for October 30, but was rescheduled to avoid coinciding with Apple Inc.'s ...
* Pantech Burst
*
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
*
Pixel XL
The Pixel and Pixel XL are a pair of Android (operating system), Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line, succeeding the Google Nexus, Nexus line of smartphones. They were official ...
*
Pixel 2
The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel and Pixel XL. They were officially announc ...
*
Pixel 2 XL
The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are a pair of Android (operating system), Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel (1st generation) ...
*
Pixel 3
The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. They were officially an ...
*
Pixel 3 XL
The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. They were officially ann ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S The Samsung Galaxy S is a series of high-end Android phones made by Samsung. It may refer to:
* Samsung Galaxy S (2010 smartphone)
* Samsung Galaxy II
* Samsung Galaxy III
* Samsung Galaxy S4
* Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
* Samsung Galaxy S5
* Sams ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S Plus
The Samsung Galaxy S Plus or Samsung Galaxy S 2011 Edition is an Android smartphone, introduced July 2020.
The Galaxy S Plus features the Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 MSM8255T chipset with a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Scorpion processor which is faster ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S III
The Samsung Galaxy S III (or Galaxy S3) is an Android smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Launched in 2012, it had sold more than 80 million units overall, making it the most sold phone in the S series. I ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S III Mini
The Samsung Galaxy S III Mini (stylized as Samsung GALAXY S III mini, model number: GT-I8190) is a touchscreen-based, slate-sized smartphone designed and manufactured by Samsung. It was announced in October 2012 and released in November 2012. The ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S4
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as the fourth smartphone of the Samsung Galaxy S series and was first shown publicly on March 14, 2013, at Samsung Mobile Unpacked in New York City. It is the succes ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S5
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is an Android-based smartphone unveiled, produced, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy S series. Unveiled on 24 February 2014 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, it was rel ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S6
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is a line of Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Succeeding the Samsung Galaxy S5, the S6 was not released as a singular model, but instead in two variations unveiled and ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Active ( stylized as SΛMSUNG Galaxy S6 active) is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics. In the United States it was only available on the AT&T network. As a variant of the Samsung Galaxy S6, the S6 Activ ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is a line of Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Succeeding the Samsung Galaxy S5, the S6 was not released as a singular model, but instead in two variations unveiled and ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is a line of Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Succeeding the Samsung Galaxy S5, the S6 was not released as a singular model, but instead in two variations unveiled and ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S7
The Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Samsung Galaxy S7 Active are Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The S7 series serves as the successor to the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
The Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Samsung Galaxy S7 Active are Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The S7 series serves as the successor to the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S8
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ are Android smartphones produced by Samsung Electronics as the eighth generation of the Samsung Galaxy S series. The S8 and S8+ were unveiled on 29 March 2017 and directly succeeded the Samsung Gal ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S8+
*
Samsung Galaxy S8 Active
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ are Android smartphones produced by Samsung Electronics as the eighth generation of the Samsung Galaxy S series. The S8 and S8+ were unveiled on 29 March 2017 and directly succeeded the Samsung Gal ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S9
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are Android-based smartphones unveiled, manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy S series. The devices were revealed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 25 ...
*
Samsung Galaxy S9+
*
Samsung Galaxy S10e/S10/S10+/S10 5G
*
Samsung Galaxy S20/S20+/S20 Ultra
*
Samsung Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra
*
Samsung Galaxy Note
The Samsung Galaxy Note series is a discontinued line of high-end Android phablets and smartphones developed and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The line is primarily oriented towards pen computing; all Galaxy Note models ship with a styl ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is an Android phablet smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy Note series. The Galaxy Note 3 was unveiled on September 4, 2013, with its worldwide release beginning later in the month. S ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is an Android smartphone developed and produced by Samsung Electronics. It was unveiled during a Samsung press conference at IFA Berlin on 3 September 2014 and was released globally in October 2014 as successor to th ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 ( stylized as SΛMSUNG Galaxy Note5) is an Android-based phablet designed, developed, produced and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Unveiled on 13 August 2015, it is the successor to the Galaxy Note 4 and part of the Sa ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a discontinued Android-based phablet designed, developed, produced and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Unveiled on 2 August 2016, it was officially released on 19 August 2016 as a successor to the Galaxy Note 5. I ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is an Android-based smartphone phablet designed, developed, produced and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The successor to the discontinued Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Samsung Galaxy Note Fan Edition and Samsung Galaxy No ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (stylized as Samsung Galaxy Note9) is an Android-based phablet designed, developed, produced and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy Note series. It was unveiled on 9 August 2018, as the succe ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
*
Samsung Wave S8500
*
Samsung Ativ S
The Samsung ATIV S was a touchscreen, slate smartphone manufactured by Samsung Electronics running the Windows Phone 8 operating system, upgradeable to Windows Phone 8.1. The ATIV S was Samsung's first Windows Phone 8 device, and one of the first ...
*
Samsung NX10
The Samsung NX10 is a 14.0 effective megapixel APS-C crop CMOS mirrorless interchangeable lens digital camera made by Samsung. It was announced on January 4, 2010 and is one of the first mirrorless cameras with an APS-C sized sensor. Samsung NX ...
*
Sony Xperia XZ3
The Sony Xperia XZ3 is an Android (operating system), Android smartphone manufactured and marketed by Sony Mobile Communications, Sony. Part of the Xperia X series, the device was announced to the public at a press conference held at the annual 2 ...
*
Xiaomi Mi A3
PenTile RGBW
![RGBW PenTile image](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/RGBW_PenTile_image.jpg)
PenTile RGBW technology, used in LCD, adds an extra subpixel to the traditional red, green and blue subpixels that is a clear area without color filtering material and with the only purpose of letting
backlight
A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). As LCDs do not produce light by themselves—unlike, for example, cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma (PDP) or OLED displays—they need illumination ( ambient light or a ...
come through, hence W for
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
. This makes it possible to produce a brighter image compared to an RGB-matrix while using the same amount of power, or produce an equally bright image while using less power.
The PenTile RGBW layout uses each red, green, blue and white subpixel to present high-resolution
luminance
Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through, is emitted from, or is reflected from a particular area, and falls withi ...
information to the human eyes' red-sensing and green-sensing
cone cell
Cone cells, or cones, are photoreceptor cells in the retinas of vertebrate eyes including the human eye. They respond differently to light of different wavelengths, and the combination of their responses is responsible for color vision. Cone ...
s, while using the combined effect of all the color subpixels to present lower-resolution
chroma (color) information to all three cone cell types. Combined, this optimizes the match of display technology to the biological mechanisms of human vision. The layout uses one third fewer subpixels for the same resolution as the RGB stripe (RGB-RGB) layout, in spite of having four color primaries instead of the conventional three, using subpixel rendering combined with
metamer rendering. Metamer rendering optimizes the energy distribution between the white subpixel and the combined red, green, and blue subpixels: W <> RGB, to improve image sharpness.
The display driver chip has an RGB to RGBW color vector space converter and
gamut mapping
In digital imaging systems, color management (or colour management) is the controlled conversion between the color representations of various devices, such as image scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, computer printe ...
algorithm, followed by metamer and
subpixel rendering
Subpixel rendering is a way to increase the apparent resolution of a computer's liquid crystal display (LCD) or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display by rendering pixels to take into account the screen type's physical properties. It takes ...
algorithms. In order to maintain
saturated
Saturation, saturated, unsaturation or unsaturated may refer to:
Chemistry
* Saturation, a property of organic compounds referring to carbon-carbon bonds
** Saturated and unsaturated compounds
**Degree of unsaturation
** Saturated fat or fatty ac ...
color quality, to avoid simultaneous contrast error between saturated colors and peak white brightness, while simultaneously reducing backlight power requirements, the display backlight brightness is under control of the PenTile driver engine.
[Brown Elliott, Candice, Chapter 12, "Image Reconstruction on Color Subpixelated Displays", ''Mobile Displays: Technology and Applications'', Wiley, 2008, ] When the image is mostly desaturated colors, those near white or
grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
, the backlight brightness is significantly reduced, often to less than 50% peak, while the LCD levels are increased to compensate. When the image has very bright saturated colors, the backlight brightness is maintained at higher levels. The PenTile RGBW also has an optional high brightness mode that doubles the brightness of the desaturated color image areas, such as black&white text, for improved outdoor view-ability.
Devices
*
Motorola MC65
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
*
Motorola ES55
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
*
Motorola ES400
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
*
Motorola Atrix 4G
The Motorola Atrix 4G (also known as MB860, ME860 in Asia market, MB861 in Korean market) is an Android-based smartphone by Motorola, introduced in CES 2011 on January 5, 2011. It was made available in the first quarter of 2011. It was introduc ...
*
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is a 10.1-inch tablet computer designed, developed and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The tablet runs Android 4.0.3 (Android 4.1.2 in Europe) and serves as a platform for multimedia consumption including movies, mu ...
2014 version
*
Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro
The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro is an Ultrabook-class convertible device that can be used as both a tablet and laptop computer in the IdeaPad series. Lenovo unveiled the Yoga 2 Pro at the 2013 IFA in Berlin, Germany. It went on sale in the United ...
*
Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro
Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...
* HP ENVY TouchSmart 14-k022tx Sleekbook
* MSI GS60 Ghost Pro 4K
* Lenovo IdeaPad Y50 4K
* Asus ZenBook UX303LN 4K
* Asus ZenBook Pro UX501JW
* LG UH7500/6500/6100
* LG ThinQ G7/G7+
* Oculus Quest 1
Controversy
An ongoing controversy regarding the definition or measurement of resolution of color subpixelated flat panel displays led many people to question the resolution claims of PenTile display products. Journalists have noted that in "''just about every flat-panel TV in existence, each pixel is composed of one red, one green, and one blue subpixel (RGB), all of uniform size''".
In traditional flat-panel screens, the resolution is defined by the number of red, green, and blue subpixels, in groups of three, in an array in each axis. As a result, each pixel or group of subpixels can render any colour on the screen, regardless of neighbouring pixels. This is not the case with PenTile screens.
The Video Electronics Standards Association (
VESA
VESA (), formally known as Video Electronics Standards Association, is an American technical standards organization for computer display standards. The organization was incorporated in California in July 1989To retrieve the information, searc ...
) method of measuring and defining resolution in color displays is to measure the contrast of line pairs, requiring a minimum of 50%
Michelson contrast for displays intended for rendering text. The developers of PenTile displays use this VESA criterion for contrast of line pairs to calculate the resolutions specified. In the RGBG layout the alternate red and blue subpixels are 'shared' or sub-sampled with neighboring pixels. Due to the one third lower subpixel density on PenTile displays the pixel structure may be more visible when compared to RGB stripe displays with the same pixel density. The loss of subpixels for a given resolution specification has led some journalists to describe the use of PenTile as "shady practice" and "sort of cheating".
For a given size and resolution specification, the PenTile screen can appear grainy, pixelated, speckled, with blurred text on some saturated colors and backgrounds when compared to RGB stripe color. This effect is understood to be caused by the restriction of the number of subpixels that may participate in the image reconstruction when colors are highly saturated to primaries. In the RGBW case, this is caused as the W subpixel will not be available in order to maintain the saturated color. In the RGBG case, this effect will occur when the color boundary is primarily red or blue, as the fully populated (one green per pixel) sub-pixel cannot contribute. For all other cases, text and especially full color images are effectively reconstructed.
Advantages and disadvantages
The PenTile layout reduces the number of subpixels needed to create a specified resolution. Consequently it is possible to achieve an HD resolution on a PenTile AMOLED screen at lower cost than other technologies, and most reviewers note that "300 ppi" (as per VESA - not full pixels) resolution displays (such as
Samsung Galaxy S III
The Samsung Galaxy S III (or Galaxy S3) is an Android smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Launched in 2012, it had sold more than 80 million units overall, making it the most sold phone in the S series. I ...
) make the PenTile effect less obvious than lower resolution PenTile displays (
Droid Razr
The Verizon Droid Razr (GSM/UMTS version: Motorola Razr; both versions styled RAZR) is an Android-based, 4G LTE-capable smartphone designed by Motorola that launched on Verizon Wireless on November 11, 2011. It was announced on October 18, 201 ...
). The second advantage is lower power consumption: the
HTC One S
The HTC One S (codenamed Ville) is a premium smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC as part of the HTC One series which has Beats Audio and runs the Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" mobile operating system with HTC Sense. Announced by HTC ...
's use of a PenTile display makes it more energy efficient and thinner than equivalent LCD screens, giving it better battery life than the
HTC One X
The HTC One X is a touchscreen-based, slate-sized smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC. It was released running Android 4.0.3, (upgradeable to 4.2.2) with the HTC Sense 4.0 skin (later upgradeable to 5.0). The One X is powered by the NVID ...
's IPS LCD. A PenTile AMOLED screen is also cheaper than an RGB stripe AMOLED.
According to Samsung, PenTile AMOLED displays have a longer life span due to having fewer blue subpixels.
Most PenTile displays use rectangular grids of alternating green and blue/red pixels. However the
Samsung Galaxy S4
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as the fourth smartphone of the Samsung Galaxy S series and was first shown publicly on March 14, 2013, at Samsung Mobile Unpacked in New York City. It is the succes ...
uses a PenTile Diamond Pixel array, where the green pixels are oval and repeat in a single line, while red and blue pixels are larger and alternate between the lines of green, ensuring more uniform colours with fewer aberrations compared to the earlier generation PenTile display on the Galaxy S III.
Reception
PenTile displays for smartphones have received a mixed reception. For instance the
Motorola Atrix 4G
The Motorola Atrix 4G (also known as MB860, ME860 in Asia market, MB861 in Korean market) is an Android-based smartphone by Motorola, introduced in CES 2011 on January 5, 2011. It was made available in the first quarter of 2011. It was introduc ...
's display had "inaccurate colours and poor viewing angles, not to mention practically unreadable text at its furthest zoom". Also in a comparison between the original
Droid Razr
The Verizon Droid Razr (GSM/UMTS version: Motorola Razr; both versions styled RAZR) is an Android-based, 4G LTE-capable smartphone designed by Motorola that launched on Verizon Wireless on November 11, 2011. It was announced on October 18, 201 ...
and the cheaper
RAZR V
The Motorola Razr (styled RAZR, pronounced like "razor"; codenamed Siliqua) is a series of mobile phones by Motorola, part of the 4LTR line. The V3 was the first phone shown in the series and was introduced in December 2003 and released in th ...
, the RAZR V's TN TFT LCD (a low-end LCD, compared to the higher-end
IPS panel
IPS (in-plane switching) is a screen technology for liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). In IPS, a layer of liquid crystals is sandwiched between two glass surfaces. The liquid crystal molecules are aligned parallel to those surfaces in predetermined ...
LCD) was found to be much crisper than the Droid Razr's Super AMOLED Advanced PenTile despite both screens using the same 'resolution'.
See also
*
Quattron
Quattron is the brand name of an LCD color display technology produced by Sharp Electronics. In addition to the standard RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) color subpixels, the technology utilizes a yellow fourth color subpixel (RGBY) which Sharp clai ...
– RGB reproduction via RGBY
*
RGBE filter
In digital photography, the RGBE filter is an alternative color filter array to the Bayer filter (GRGB). It similarly uses a mosaic of pixel filters, of red, green, blue and "emerald" ("like cyan" according to Sony), and so also requires demosaic ...
– RGB with an additional emerald subpixel
*
Bayer filter
A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array (CFA) for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camco ...
- RGGB filters used in image sensors
References
{{Reflist
2000 introductions
Computer graphics
Digital typography