Droid - contrast / color quality compared to Eris (possible to adjust?)

[pushdrops]

I'm ok with scrolling - actually perf overall is just fine with the Droid - but what really bothers me (related to this post is the #1 issue) :

1) colors are washed out (compared to my wife's Eris, we bought both phones less than 30 days ago , hence I'm ready to maybe switch over to the Nexus One , Verizon is very expensive & I really like the Eris <if only it had a larger screen , was a bit faster , took better video - hey - that's the Nexus One! )

2) no music controls w/o unlocking (my wife's Eris has this) - I'm sure there's an mp3 player application out there or will be one that will have this feature

3) the display isn't much wider at all over the 3.2" diag Eris (other words the aspect ratio of the Droid is a bit too tall and skinny for me)

4) I rarely use the h/w key and when I do use it - without the same spelling - predicted word deal as the virtual keyboard, the h/w keyboard is really that much worse for me (maybe if I could type lengthy words that pop up with the predictive deal, i'd actually use the h/w more but i can get way more done quicker with the virt keyboard even in portrait mode thanks to the awesome <better than the Eris> spelling - prediction capabilities of the Droid's virt keyboard

The Droid's display is very nice , in fact if my wife didn't have an Eris & I didn't put them side by side , I prob wouldn't have noticed how washed out the Droid's display is (it's sharper than the Eris but images <photo's , video's> look so much better on the Eris).

The Droid's colors are washed out no matter what the brightness setting (I tried everything - auto disabled , from 0 - 100 and all in between to make it compare to the Eris, no go - washed out no matter what - looking at the same JPG and / or video)...

Here's the only other person (until this thread) that I have noticed to say the same (everyone is so caught up in the sharp <hi-rez> display perhaps they aren't concentrating on the color quality , plus like i said earlier if you don't' have something better to compare to it looks ok: (can't post links due to new acct, sorry ).

In the above linked review the author states that the Eris has better "stock" contrast than the Droid - so I wonder if there's a way to adjust the Droid's contrast ? (this is what lead me to create this thread after not finding anything through searching around for access to the Droid's contrast setting).

Here's a decent looking video (in HQ mode) that I've used to compare the color quality on the Eris to the Droid (if you have access to the Droid plus another smart phone, try to watch this on each one: sorry can't post link - search YouTube for "fender stratocaster custom shop" & the 1st video is of a 2008 model, watch that in HQ mode , if you have an Eris you should see the clear diff in image quality on the Eris over the Droid ).

The BIC lighter app shows a HUGE diff - the metal part of the lighter on the Eris looks like "real metal" , where on the Droid , it just looks like shades of gray . Some of that may be due to the fact that the BIC app is stretched to meet the Droid's funky aspect ratio (anyone else notice that the Droid compared to the Eris and the Nexus One <plus apple phones"> has a really "wide screen" - severely wide aspect ratio?) , so the BIC app is stretched on the Droid - which makes the image stretch , making the color banding not as smooth - it's in the expected mode with the Eris, therefore the colors are more bunched up and not spread out . But that's not the only reason that the lighters look much better on the Eris , you can see that the black background on the Droid is a dark gray versus a truer black on the Eris.

I like the Droid , but because I don't use the h/w keyboard - I find myself liking the Eris (using my wife's at home) over the Droid in most ways (except that it's slower , the smaller overall screen) ... , I just wish that Verizon had the Nexus at the moment, no question I'd go with it (the screen is wider than the Droid's even though they are both 3.7" diag, at least in videos it seems wider when they are next to each other - no review ever states the exact actual screen size of the Droid (or any phone for that matter) - they just state the diag size and resolution - but that doesn't tell all -:

For instance , the Eris has a 3.2" diag screen BUT its screen is ALMOST as wide as the Droid's even though the Droid is much taller than the Eris, in other words, if the Droid had the SAME aspect ratio as the Eris, then the Droid would have a much larger screen that it has - because at 3.7" with the same aspect ratio as the Eris , that means the Droid's screen would be much wider .

Hopefully we can get access to contrast settings on the Droid soon so I can get it looking like my wife's Eris (seeing videos look so much better on the Eris is really getting to me - enough to where I may send back the two phones to Verizon , we have one week left , and move to the Nexus One , why couldn't I have known the Nexus One was coming to Verizon BEFORE we bought our phones 3 weeks ago , if I keep the Droid, it will drive me crazy to know for the same price <likely> I could have the Nexus with a wider display, prob better display if it's like the Eris , lighter <i never use the Droid's h/w keyboard> ...

uuuuhg! if we return to Verizon now we won't be able to get the Nexus at a "new customer" price I bet when it comes out in April , if we keep the two phones of course we can't get a Nexus One in April at a discount, if we go back to our carrier b4 Verizon we'll just be in a bigger mess and still not able to come back to Verizon as a new customer..... , the Droid is great for some folks but i think i'd be better suited with the Nexus, especially at the SAME price...

[nerdherd]

Originally Posted by Adrynalyne

As I understand, the attachment stuff in Gmail is to be included in an update. Whether thats a maintence release, or 2.1, or both rolled into one, I don't know.

Sweet, I hadn't heard that yet. Where did you see this? (not that I'm doubting, just curious what else is coming)

@pushdrops Wow, it seems as though you really have some gripes about the Droid The Nexus One sounds like it would definitely be better for you (although sadly, still no Sense UI). If you're free of a contract by returning the Droid then I'd say you might want to think about it, but if you used a yearly upgrade to get the Droid then you'll still be locked in and from what I read about how the N1 is going to work you'll have to get a new line with a new contract to get a subsidized price on it.

[banden]

Be careful, there's no subsidies on the Nexus One for family plans on TMobile. I doubt it will be any different with Verizon. This means no add a line for $10.

I also doubt it will be compatible with early upgrades or New Two discounts.

What I find frustrating is it appears they are forcing users to have unlimited texting plans but Google Voice makes that into a waste of money.

[nerdherd]

Originally Posted by banden

Be careful, there's no subsidies on the Nexus One for family plans on TMobile. I doubt it will be any different with Verizon. This means no add a line for $10.

Wow, that's a bummer. If Google doesn't work with the carriers to figure out something better then I think their new phone sales model isn't going to do so well...

[tvandyck7]

Originally Posted by Adrynalyne

That (the choppiness) can be resolved with software optimization. Give it time.

Yeah, I didn't notice it until my wife got me a new iPod for Christmas. If they will fix/update the scrolling to match Apple that would be awesome. That's one of my only complaints.

[breakmyfootoff]

Originally Posted by tvandyck7

Yeah, I didn't notice it until my wife got me a new iPod for Christmas. If they will fix/update the scrolling to match Apple that would be awesome. That's one of my only complaints.

If google doesnt fix it in an OTA, someone will optimize it in a ROM for sure.

[pushdrops]

nerherd - banden - yes i'd def rather the N1 , i like my wife's new Eris in many ways over the Droid (except for the slower CPU , smaller screen , love it's more colorful display, lightness , Sense UI <music controls while locked>) ...

we just moved to Verizon 3 weeks ago , so if we cancel - return the phones , i'll be stuck with no phone until Spring if were to wait for VZW to get the N1 - then we wouldn't have phones in the meantime.

going to T-Mob is an issue because we have TWO phones and there doesn't seem to be a Fam Plan option (plus on T-Mob we'd lose all free calls to Verizon friends - nobody i know has T-Mob, plus lose Top 10 caller deal) ...

If only i would have know the N1 would be out, i would have stayed with Sprint, waited until April - went to Verizon and gotten the Eris and N1 (instead of Eris and Droid - my wife loves the Eris, wouldn't' take an N1 if it were free).

But if like banden said , even with VZW there's no Fam Plan N1 option - that would be an issue too.

I think i'll just wait, keep the Droid - next year (VZW says only a $30 upgrade fee after 1yr eligible for upgrade pricing) get the latest HTC N1 spec like phone (with newer Snapdragon chipset - cooler / less battery use - maybe will also have Sense UI?) - and in the meantime maybe there will be a way to correct the washed out color on the Droid & auto suggestions for the h/w keyboard will appear.

As much as i'd like the N1, it's too diff to switch now since we need TWO phones.

Thanks for all info.

[drizztzou]

Originally Posted by pushdrops

I'm ok with scrolling - actually perf overall is just fine with the Droid - but what really bothers me (related to this post is the #1 issue) :

1) colors are washed out (compared to my wife's Eris, we bought both phones less than 30 days ago , hence I'm ready to maybe switch over to the Nexus One , Verizon is very expensive & I really like the Eris <if only it had a larger screen , was a bit faster , took better video - hey - that's the Nexus One! )

2) no music controls w/o unlocking (my wife's Eris has this) - I'm sure there's an mp3 player application out there or will be one that will have this feature

3) the display isn't much wider at all over the 3.2" diag Eris (other words the aspect ratio of the Droid is a bit too tall and skinny for me)

4) I rarely use the h/w key and when I do use it - without the same spelling - predicted word deal as the virtual keyboard, the h/w keyboard is really that much worse for me (maybe if I could type lengthy words that pop up with the predictive deal, i'd actually use the h/w more but i can get way more done quicker with the virt keyboard even in portrait mode thanks to the awesome <better than the Eris> spelling - prediction capabilities of the Droid's virt keyboard

The Droid's display is very nice , in fact if my wife didn't have an Eris & I didn't put them side by side , I prob wouldn't have noticed how washed out the Droid's display is (it's sharper than the Eris but images <photo's , video's> look so much better on the Eris).

The Droid's colors are washed out no matter what the brightness setting (I tried everything - auto disabled , from 0 - 100 and all in between to make it compare to the Eris, no go - washed out no matter what - looking at the same JPG and / or video)...

Here's the only other person (until this thread) that I have noticed to say the same (everyone is so caught up in the sharp <hi-rez> display perhaps they aren't concentrating on the color quality , plus like i said earlier if you don't' have something better to compare to it looks ok: (can't post links due to new acct, sorry ).

In the above linked review the author states that the Eris has better "stock" contrast than the Droid - so I wonder if there's a way to adjust the Droid's contrast ? (this is what lead me to create this thread after not finding anything through searching around for access to the Droid's contrast setting).

Here's a decent looking video (in HQ mode) that I've used to compare the color quality on the Eris to the Droid (if you have access to the Droid plus another smart phone, try to watch this on each one: sorry can't post link - search YouTube for "fender stratocaster custom shop" & the 1st video is of a 2008 model, watch that in HQ mode , if you have an Eris you should see the clear diff in image quality on the Eris over the Droid ).

The BIC lighter app shows a HUGE diff - the metal part of the lighter on the Eris looks like "real metal" , where on the Droid , it just looks like shades of gray . Some of that may be due to the fact that the BIC app is stretched to meet the Droid's funky aspect ratio (anyone else notice that the Droid compared to the Eris and the Nexus One <plus apple phones"> has a really "wide screen" - severely wide aspect ratio?) , so the BIC app is stretched on the Droid - which makes the image stretch , making the color banding not as smooth - it's in the expected mode with the Eris, therefore the colors are more bunched up and not spread out . But that's not the only reason that the lighters look much better on the Eris , you can see that the black background on the Droid is a dark gray versus a truer black on the Eris.

I like the Droid , but because I don't use the h/w keyboard - I find myself liking the Eris (using my wife's at home) over the Droid in most ways (except that it's slower , the smaller overall screen) ... , I just wish that Verizon had the Nexus at the moment, no question I'd go with it (the screen is wider than the Droid's even though they are both 3.7" diag, at least in videos it seems wider when they are next to each other - no review ever states the exact actual screen size of the Droid (or any phone for that matter) - they just state the diag size and resolution - but that doesn't tell all -:

For instance , the Eris has a 3.2" diag screen BUT its screen is ALMOST as wide as the Droid's even though the Droid is much taller than the Eris, in other words, if the Droid had the SAME aspect ratio as the Eris, then the Droid would have a much larger screen that it has - because at 3.7" with the same aspect ratio as the Eris , that means the Droid's screen would be much wider .

Hopefully we can get access to contrast settings on the Droid soon so I can get it looking like my wife's Eris (seeing videos look so much better on the Eris is really getting to me - enough to where I may send back the two phones to Verizon , we have one week left , and move to the Nexus One , why couldn't I have known the Nexus One was coming to Verizon BEFORE we bought our phones 3 weeks ago , if I keep the Droid, it will drive me crazy to know for the same price <likely> I could have the Nexus with a wider display, prob better display if it's like the Eris , lighter <i never use the Droid's h/w keyboard> ...

uuuuhg! if we return to Verizon now we won't be able to get the Nexus at a "new customer" price I bet when it comes out in April , if we keep the two phones of course we can't get a Nexus One in April at a discount, if we go back to our carrier b4 Verizon we'll just be in a bigger mess and still not able to come back to Verizon as a new customer..... , the Droid is great for some folks but i think i'd be better suited with the Nexus, especially at the SAME price...

Thanks for the details

[Adrynalyne]

Originally Posted by nerdherd

Sweet, I hadn't heard that yet. Where did you see this? (not that I'm doubting, just curious what else is coming)

@pushdrops Wow, it seems as though you really have some gripes about the Droid The Nexus One sounds like it would definitely be better for you (although sadly, still no Sense UI). If you're free of a contract by returning the Droid then I'd say you might want to think about it, but if you used a yearly upgrade to get the Droid then you'll still be locked in and from what I read about how the N1 is going to work you'll have to get a new line with a new contract to get a subsidized price on it.

http://phandroid.com/2009/11/09/moto...december-11th/

My apologies. Looking a little closer, it says Exchange ActiveSync Google Mail. However, maybe it would still apply to use using regular Gmail.

[tvandyck7]

I really don't see how the Droid's screen could even be considered an issue. Camera... Yes, but the screen itself, I have no complaints whatsoever. Like I said before, it kills the iPod Gen 2 screen and the iPhone screen hands down. I have the same movies on my Droid that are on my brand new 32gig Gen 2 iPod and there's no comparison. They look 10X better on the Droid.