Unusual 'marching' pixel layout in cell phone display

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Unusual 'marching' pixel layout in cell phone display

Post by rjlittlefield »

A couple of days ago, my cell phone started reporting a weather forecast that I did not recall having seen before: "Dreary".

Image

Well, that seemed a little depressing, especially for the day after Christmas!

But for some reason, I decided to take a closer look.

Through a 10X loupe, the pixel pattern looked odd, different from anything I've ever noticed in a monitor.

Here it is:

Image

That's right: the pixel layout is a left/right marching pattern:
R g b R g b R g b R
b R g b R g b R g b R
g b R g b R g b R g b R
b R g b R g b R g b R
R g b R g b R g b R
b R g b R g b R g b R
g b R g b R g b R g b R
b R g b R g b R g b R
R g b R g b R g b R
Thinking more carefully about this, this seems like a great idea! Significantly less likely to develop colored bands on vertical edges.

Now I'm wondering why this approach is not more common.

I'll take this as an excellent Christmas present!

Cell phone: HTC 10

Camera & lens: Canon T1i with MP-E 65 at 1X and 5X, both images slightly cropped.

Edited to add: The slight "stippling" pattern that shows in the first image is a moiré pattern, caused by the shifting alignment of pixels in the display and pixels in the final image. And the color shift across that image is apparently due to different viewing angles, as the lens has to look at progressively steeper angles away from center. To the naked eye, the display looks completely uniform unless I make a deliberate effort to place my eye very close and compare center versus edges.

--Rik

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