i gotta say the screen is awful

[tdpolo26]

Any chance you can take a photo of the screen in direct sunlight? The Engadget review, which pretty much pi**ed all over the Droid 4 and seems highly biased against it, said: "Out in broad daylight, even with brightness set to the maximum, we found ourselves continually shielding the phone so as to render its contents readable. This became particularly bothersome where photo-taking is concerned, as we were never quite able to tell what was being framed by the camera's viewfinder. Tilt slightly away from the phone and immediately you'll notice an apparent wash out, although viewing angles didn't take as drastic a hit." Screen performance outdoors is very important to me, not for photos but for reading email, specifically black text on a white screen. My Photon 4G has amazing outdoor/bright sunlight performance but the lack of keyboard is frustrating.

a picture with a camera is never going to give you a real view....but from expierence it is def a good screen in the sun... not a great screen in general but i can def see it in the sun.

 

[anthony_rada]

I agree the screen resolution is not that great. Seems to me like the Droid 4 is a step down from the Droid 3. I just walked out of the verizon store and let me tell you I was not amazed with what I saw on the Droid 4. I was ready to purchase the phone today but it looks like I will be sticking with my Droid 3. Ill just wait for the Droid 5 I'm sure it will be out soon knowing Motorola. (lol)

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[amishdude01]

I must have bad eyes because it looks just fine to me. This is going to be muuuuuuch better than my D1. Obsessively reloading this site and DL is over ;D

Hahaha! I know right. Every damn day for months.

 

[haus]

a picture with a camera is never going to give you a real view....but from expierence it is def a good screen in the sun... not a great screen in general but i can def see it in the sun.

I just wanted to get a sense of contrast...but it's not relevant any longer.

I just got back from the Verizon store. I like the phone, but I wasn't wowed by it. That's not really surprising, since it's not billed as a superphone. It has good points, but the screen was definitely the weakest part. On its own and in the store, it looks fine. I am not bothered by PenTile (I can see it but I'm used to it with the Photon), and even the blue-ish tint isn't a deal breaker. But setting the D4 and my Photon to max brightness and comparing them side by side, the D4 is nowhere near as bright as the Photon. On the other hand, since the D4 was right next to the Droid Razr I compared those and the D4 was brighter. The Droid Bionic was the brightest of the three Droids, coming fairly close to the Photon (I compared the brightness of various identical screens, like the settings page and the Google Search app). Overall I would not call it a bad screen - it looked fine, but it definitely gives me pause and I'm glad I didn't order it sight unseen since I apparently have higher standards which have been set by another Motorola device. Since the display is physically smaller than the Photon but with the same resolution, the higher pixel density makes icons and text look smoother, which is a plus.

My other issue with the screen was that it registered a number of mis-taps. Twice during the 10 minutes I was using the phone in the store, I did a swipe and the phone registered a tap (opening an app instead of sliding home screens). Also, twice I tapped on an icon in the programs menu and a completely different program opened. The second time I actually saw the wrong icon light up for a split second before the wrong program opened (two spaces away from the one I chose). I've never seen that with any other Android device including the Photon, so I don't know if that was just this display unit or if it's something with the D4. I have read at least one other person say they saw the same behavior.

Overall, I'm still tempted but I'm not sure the D4 is worth jumping carriers and paying an ETF for. If the screen was as bright as the Photon I'd have switched without a second thought - the keyboard is really nice - but I guess I'm going to be one of the picky ones.

Since I'm noting some comparisons, I'll also note that switching from landscape to portrait on the Photon is much quicker than the D4, which surprised me since the Photon is maybe 5-6 months old at this point (still dual core though). It's not enough to bother me or prevent me from switching, but it still surprised me.

 

[amishdude01]

I seriously doubt we'll ever see a MAX version of the D4 - there's just no room for it. The Razor had the "hump" which naturally lent itself to getting filled-in with extra battery juice.

I don't see another slider coming out for about a year with the D5 which will be quad core, more ram, and yes, a better screen.

And I'll be loving the D4 until that comes out.

Amen.

 

[loki993]

The colors looked a bit washed out to me. I definitely noticed that words getting weird when scrolling, but hoping that could be take care of with a custom rom. The colors would still be a problem though. Basically I need to figure out if I can type on a touchscreen or not and Im not sure I can.

 

[ezeddiekun]

Holyyy crap.. Some of these guys who compared the Maxx screen vs Droid 4 must be making up ****. I did a side by side comparison between the Droid 4 and Maxx I can see both battery icon are pixelized or blurred. Even the specs backs this up since they BOTH use PENTILE displays. Rezound won't have this problem since its a 720P HD non-Pentile screen. And yes the screen does look a bit off, especially the color. It is brighter compared to my Nexus One's AMOLED. The reason for the washed out colors on the Droid 4 is probably because its using LCD technology while the Razr and Maxx uses AMOLED. I ended up picking up the Droid 4, I gotta say the keyboard weighs more than the quality of the screen. It was a bit of a disappointment to be honest but I didn't have any other choice since this is the best qwerty android out there right now..

 

[Barristro]

My only problem with the screen is that maybe it could have been a tad bit bigger if M would lessen the bezel width. If they stretched it flush to the edge it may have been...

That's an issue I have had with every cell phone and netbook (and smaller) manufacturer. They all could easily add a lot of screen real estate without changing other dimensions of the devices if they wanted to.

A four inch screen isn't impressive; "travel" computers from the 80s had a four inch screen. A four inch screen on a 4.05 inch body is impressive.

 

[debdroid1a]

I love this ****ing phone.

My only problem with the screen is that maybe it could have been a tad bit bigger if M would lessen the bezel width. If they stretched it flush to the edge it may have been a 4.3 without increasing the physical width of the phone.

But I'm loving it, not one complaint yet other than having a weird software issue with the pattern screen lock.

I actually like having a little on the side that isn't screen. Who knows what app I would be opening or messing up if it wasn't there.

Sent from my DROID4 using DroidForums

 

[debdroid1a]

this blurb from Slashgear (http://www.slashgear.com/motorola-dr...view-10212961/)

"The display here is a massive 540 x 960 pixels on 4-inches of space, putting this device at 275 pixels per inch. That’s quite impressive when it comes down to it, it being not quite as rich with pixels as the Galaxy Nexus (at 316 ppi) but certainly ready to contend with the DROID RAZR whose same resolution sits on a slightly larger display, putting it at just 256 ppi. At this close range you wont notice the difference unless you’re holding these devices up next to one another, but the difference is there."

--

ETA: I watched a video from Netflix to try out a full movie. It worked great. I liked the larger screen then my D1 and it was a nice viewing experience. I do need to get me an HDMI cable, because I would prefer it on my 24" TV. But I can watch movies on there if I needed or wanted to.