Author Topic: LCD viewing angle  (Read 3461 times)

giannis1 (OP)

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LCD viewing angle
« on: October 22, 2014, 12:34:33 pm »
I have recently bought a GCW Zero from DragonBox Shop in Germany.
I have noticed that when you look the console from the bottom, the viewing
angle is very poor, in the sense that even a small rotation produces washed out
colors. I find this a bit irritating, so i was wondering if anyone else
has encountered similar issues with their unit.

Senor Quack

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2014, 05:08:27 pm »
The screen is meant to be viewed either perpendicularly to it or looking down at it, not up above at it.  It performs perfectly well for its intended task, IMO.  Keep in mind it's not a super-high-performance Samsung cellphone LCD or OLED screen, it's just a simple 320x240 LCD.  For viewing angle, it compares very favorably with my old GP2X handheld and also my laptop.

Be glad it's not like its spiritual predecessor, the Dingo A320!  That had a 240x320 cellphone LCD rotated sideways so that its brightness was perceived differently in each eye.  Hard to believe they chose that as a screen.

giannis1 (OP)

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2014, 05:37:04 pm »
Thanks for the reply, I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't
anything wrong with my screen. I have been using a psp for many years
for emulation mainly and never encountered similar behavior, i understand that
the specifications of the LCD are different.  Now I feel much better thanks!!

By the way I have another small question, i see the available internal storage indication showing 14gb max.
Since I have the 16gb model, I guess there is some space occupied by the operating system?                                    (sorry, propably has been asked many times!!)


Senor Quack

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2014, 06:24:37 pm »
By the way I have another small question, i see the available internal storage indication showing 14gb max.
Since I have the 16gb model, I guess there is some space occupied by the operating system?                                    (sorry, propably has been asked many times!!)

It has to do with several things:

First, manufacturers of SD cards and hard drives are sort of sneaky when they say something is 16GB.  For a long time, hard drives advertised as, let's say, 512MB were actually 512MiB (binary megabytes not decimal megabytes).  Then, a long time ago one company figured out they could get away with reporting a MB or a GB as 1,000,000 bytes or 1,000,000,000 bytes, respectively.  Pretty soon, the entire storage industry was forced to go along with this.  However, this definition of a MB/GB is not the case in an operating system, where a MB or a GB have always traditionally been 1048576 bytes (2^20) and 1073741824 bytes (2^30), respectively.  There was so much confusion after all this craziness, that MiB and MB are now officially separate units.

Second, there is a good amount of space reserved for the firmware partition, where the OS is held, as you already guessed.  It includes ample room for future additions and upgrades.

Third, there is filesystem bookkeeping overhead for the main data partition (EXT4 filesystem).  The filesystem needs to reserve and use space to keep track of all the complicated work it does, and this is especially so for modern journalling filesystems.

So, that is why you see less freespace available than you might think.  Note that RAM manufacturers do not pull this trick. When you buy a 1GB RAM module you really are getting a device that can hold 2^30 bytes of information.
« Last Edit: October 22, 2014, 07:15:02 pm by Senor Quack »

giannis1 (OP)

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2014, 04:30:23 am »
Thanks for the extensive information, I appreciate it !!

giannis1 (OP)

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2014, 12:29:52 pm »
Sorry for the botherment again, but i've been messing with a Caanoo of a friend
which i have heard has poor viewing angles and it seems to me they are much
better that my zero. My main concern is that even if i tilt the unit a bit
while i'm playing i start losing the brightness and start getting this negative color effect.
I just want to make sure that i didnt get a defective screen
so if anyone has encountered this behavior please let me know.
I have attached a picture to show what i mean.


hi-ban

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2014, 12:39:04 pm »
I have a Caanoo as well as a GCW Zero and the viewing angles of the Caanoo are noticeably worse.

While in my GCW you need a certain angle downwards to get the screen colors distorted, in my Caanoo they start being distorted pretty much from angle 0.0

Anyway, my older flat TV (it was an LG) also did that.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2014, 12:43:17 pm by hi-ban »

giannis1 (OP)

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2014, 12:45:54 pm »
Can you see this kind of negative color effect on your Zero when you tilt it? (hope i'm not exaggerating)

My main concern is if my screen defective somehow, otherwise i can live with it.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2014, 12:49:07 pm by giannis1 »

hi-ban

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2014, 12:54:45 pm »
Can you see this kind of negative color effect on your Zero when you tilt it? (hope i'm not exaggerating)

Yes, but only if i tilt it downwards (like the angle in your pic). The same happens on my older LG TV, in the Caanoo, and it was much worse in the Dingoo, where the color got distorted when tilting the screen in 3 different angles, instead of only one.

That's how "normal" LCD screens work, they all have (at least) one bad viewing angle. Keep in mind this devices have no expensive IPS screens and such stuff.
You could argue if the most convenient way is to put the screen so that the "bad viewing angle" is at the top or at the bottom, but most of the devices which use "normal" LCD screens (even from good brands like LG) have the bad viewing angle at the bottom.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2014, 12:56:34 pm by hi-ban »

giannis1 (OP)

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Re: LCD viewing angle
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2014, 01:11:03 pm »
Ok thanks i understand, i guess my screen is ok, i only see this negative color effect only if i tilt it downwards also.
I have the impression also that the brightness level is a bit too sensitive on the viewing angle,
although i understand that this has to do with the overall cost of the unit.
Other than that i find the Zero excellent.

Anyway thanks for the reply!

 

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