Experiences With Cheaper AMOLED Displays

TikPandora · May 26, 2023

So, I just got my first phone with an AMOLED display, a TCL 30 5G. I understand that I shouldn't expect a lot from the screen of a device that costs $250 brand new, but I'm finding myself extremely underwhelmed.

The screen is bright, sharp, and colorful...and the stark contrast difference compared to the LCD of my old Moto Edge (2021) is astounding, but my happiness with it ends there. I have little experience with these sorts of screens except for in Smartwatches.

In low brightness, the display almost looks grainy with noticable translucent "band-like" lines that span across it vertically. Also, at very low brightness, some shades of darker grey just fade completely to black near the bottom left corner of the screen. All of these issues go away when brightness is raised to about 20 percent, but it's still annoying as I use the device often in low light situations.

The most annoying thing though is something the screen does at any brightness. I don't know how to explain it properly. But whatever part of the screen that is closest to your eyes appears to be a different shade. Say, if I hold the phone at the normal angle I hold it at, the very center part of the screen appears to be tinted slightly orange while the top and the bottom are a cooler color temperature. If I then move the phone up and down, I can see the tinted area move slightly up and down with the motions of my hands. It's controllable, repeatable, and downright annoying.

Though, with these quirks out of the way, it's a downright gorgeous screen. I was going to return it and try a different unit, but I actually got this specific device on Amazon during a sale where it was nearly $80 off, and now that it's not on sale anymore there's no way I'm going to full price even if this specific screen sample is a bit funky. After all, there's always the possibility that this is just the characteristics of the certain panel they're using from EDO and that a more expensive replacement could be exactly the same...or even worse.

Basically, what I'm trying to get at, is what is everyone's experiences with cheaper AMOLED displays? When it comes to screens like this, I've never seen a phone cheaper than the TCL 30 5G come with an AMOLED display new. So I'm curious to see if AMOLED phones go even cheaper than $250 (or $170 in my case.)