AMOLED screens do not have a back light. Rather, each pixel is an Organic Light Emitting Diode that makes its own light. The fact that black color is produced when the pixel is switched off means that reducing how many pixels you have on during regular use of your phone can have a big impact on battery life.
There has been a lot of talk recently about whether phones with AMOLED screens, like the Samsung Galaxy S, can actually save battery by using darker wallpapers and themes. Reader Steve performed a few tests to find out if this was actually true.
With most modern LCD screens, it does not matter what color your pixels are. If they are on, they are consuming the same amount of power. However, AMOLED and Super AMOLED screens are different. They do not have one big back light; instead, each pixel makes its own light. Thus, a pixel displaying a dark color actually consumes less power than a pixel displaying a light color.
But how much less?
That is for 2 reasons.
• The first is that no one spends all day staring at a fully white screen and because no one would ever want to switch to a fully black screen!
• The second is that the screen isn't the only thing using power. . .
Light text on a dark background.
When we use light text on dark background, it means that most of the time we are keeping the pixels switched off to produce black color.
He explains:
He goes on to explain other means in which you can save battery, other than just altering the wallpaper. For example, many apps (like the NewsRob feed reader) offer you the choice of using a standard black-on-white theme, or a white-on-black theme. Steve found that by switching that app's theme, he could save nearly 23% more battery when reading RSS feeds.
Via: Stevemould
Read more ...
There has been a lot of talk recently about whether phones with AMOLED screens, like the Samsung Galaxy S, can actually save battery by using darker wallpapers and themes. Reader Steve performed a few tests to find out if this was actually true.
With most modern LCD screens, it does not matter what color your pixels are. If they are on, they are consuming the same amount of power. However, AMOLED and Super AMOLED screens are different. They do not have one big back light; instead, each pixel makes its own light. Thus, a pixel displaying a dark color actually consumes less power than a pixel displaying a light color.
But how much less?
There seems to be a lot of speculation about just how much battery you can save by changing things like your wallpaper but not much in the way of hard evidence. Therefore, Stevemould come up with some robust answers.
A full brightness white pixel uses 5.8 times more juice than a black pixel. That does not mean you could ever increase your battery life by 5.8 times.
A full brightness white pixel uses 5.8 times more juice than a black pixel. That does not mean you could ever increase your battery life by 5.8 times.
That is for 2 reasons.
• The first is that no one spends all day staring at a fully white screen and because no one would ever want to switch to a fully black screen!
• The second is that the screen isn't the only thing using power. . .
Light text on a dark background.
When we use light text on dark background, it means that most of the time we are keeping the pixels switched off to produce black color.
He explains:
Let us look first at changing wallpaper. I have got no idea what the brightness of the average wallpaper is so I am just going to go with a 50% grey wallpaper for the purposes of this comparison. When the grey wallpaper is used, the average pixel brightness is 47%. For the black wallpaper, it is 15%. Therefore, by changing, I have reduced average pixel brightness by 32%. If I spent all day on the home screen, I would save . . . about 11%.
He goes on to explain other means in which you can save battery, other than just altering the wallpaper. For example, many apps (like the NewsRob feed reader) offer you the choice of using a standard black-on-white theme, or a white-on-black theme. Steve found that by switching that app's theme, he could save nearly 23% more battery when reading RSS feeds.
Via: Stevemould
